I’ve just received an email informing me that my short story “Arches” has been nominated for The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short science fiction of 2008.

For the last week, my article “How To Communicate More Effectively” has been serialised on the Futurismic website. In case you missed it, there are links below to each instalment:

• 1 – Introduction
  
• 2 – Attract Attention
  
• 3 - Create Interest
  
• 4 – Inspire Desire
  
• 5 – Build Conviction
  
• 6 – Generate Action
  
• 7 – Bringing It All Together

“How To Communicate More Effectively” is aimed at writers, magazine publishers and book publishers in the SF&F field. I’m not claiming to have invented any of these techniques – these are tried and tested methods that have been successfully employed by commercial copywriters for the last sixty years – I’m simply trying to help struggling SF magazines by giving them some “extra ammo” in their appeals for the new readers and subscriptions they need in order to survive.

The lastest issue of Vector dropped through my letterbox this morning, accompanied by an Elastic Press “sampler” – a booklet containing an interview with Andrew Hook, the head of Elastic Press, and three stories:

• Love in the Time of Connectivity by Daniel Marcus
• La Macchina by Chris Beckett
• A Necklace of Ivy by Gareth L Powell

You can also read A Necklace of Ivy for free on the Fictionwise site by clicking here.

The British Science Fiction Association seeks nominations from its members for its annual awards. As my short story collection was published in 2008, three of the stories in it are eligible for the Short Fiction category, as their appearance in the book marked their first time in print:

• Flotsam
• Hot Rain
• Arches

If you’re a member of the BSFA and you enjoyed the book, you might consider nominating one of the stories. If you haven’t read it yet, you can buy it as a printed copy on Amazon or as an ebook via Fictionwise.

(Those of you who enjoyed the book’s title story The Last Reef when it appeared in Interzone, may be interested to learn that Flotsam and Hot Rain are both sequels to that story.)

If you haven’t yet read my short story collection The Last Reef, you might like to know that the ebook version’s currently on sale at half price from Fictionwise - which means you can download the entire 60,000 word book to read on your computer for only $4.00, which is roughly £2.29 - less than the cost of a pint of beer. You don’t need a special ebook reader, as the download is available as a pdf file.

You can read a sample story and buy the book here: http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook71799.htm?cache

As well as the Amazon and Elastic Press sites, you can now pick up a copy of my short story collection via the Bristish Fantasy Society, Waterstones, Inpress, Blackwells, and Books Unlimited.

I’m currently in the early stages of drawing up plans for an exciting new web site. Whilst I’ve enjoyed using this Blogger platform for the last three years, I think the time has come for me to establish a more professional online presence – hopefully by the end of this year. Stay tuned for further updates…

I now have a promotional page on Facebook with a discussion board and some pictures. If you’re on Facebook, why not take a look and join in? http://tiny.cc/35zye

The Friday Flash Fiction Anthology, Illuminations, has been reviewed by The Fix, in an epic article by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro that manages to comment on every one of the sixty-six stories included in the book. And considering that the book was conceived, edited, designed and published in a ridiculously short period of time, I think it stands up pretty well. His comments on my nine contributions are quoted below, along with links to the online versions of the stories, for your reading pleasure:

William observes a “Snowball” from a dome on the surface of the Moon. The pacing in this very short flash piece is effective, the setting works, and, most importantly, the revelation of the last line is entirely consistent with what we know (and don’t know). This poignant, speculative outing is as fresh as snow.

Contemplating “The Point Furthest from the Sun” may lead one to inaction, even as a loved one is having a rough time. I missed the significance of the title, which, based on the skill of the writing, I’m sure was chosen with care. I found it intriguing. The repetition contained in the last two sentences certainly emphasizes the importance of what we’ve learned, but I’m not sure it heightened the experience for me.

The narrator of this tale learns of the horrors inflicted on some “Fresh Meat.” The attention to detail in this very compressed narrative, in conjunction with the sparse, polished sentences and strong rhythm, worked to make it a chilling experience.

A simple misunderstanding at an Amsterdam “Coffee House” informs this quiet, observational piece. It vividly captures a moment in the interaction between two characters and, through implication, portrays the characters and setting more vividly than might appear at first glance. Perfect coffee house reading.

Ed, on his way to take pictures of a crash site, stops at a roadside café and sparks up some conversation with the waitress, “Natalie.” There is an almost Ballardian sense of fragmentation and despair in this well-written tale, which artfully utilizes technological imagery to build tension in the setting and refract the character’s inner selves. An impressive feat given the space, this riveting piece transcends “flash” and approaches a less formalized version of the Ballardian “compressed novel,” in the best possible manner.

An unplanned hyperspace return to Earth provides Diego and Carla with a direct glimpse of cosmic “Lost Toys.” Powell again manages to imagine an intriguing situation and justify it with a rationale that is not only dramatically plausible but also thought-provoking. Some descriptive details, in particular, stand out. A tale to be found and enjoyed.

The revelation that ensues the narrator’s “Thai Curry” dinner with Nina is conveyed with elegance and emotion in this charged, biting, sad tale. With skill aplenty, Powell artfully builds not only a situation, but a mood, and places it in a broader context. More bittersweet than curry, but just as delectable.

In “The Red King’s Nursery,” Lawrence is vastly outnumbered and hopelessly outgunned by an enemy which, in the form of a talking remote, seems overly chatty and casual to be truly menacing. The whys and wherefores become revealed by the tale’s end. Though there were some clever moments and engaging writing, I didn’t find myself caring enough for the character to make this piece work on the psychological front, and I couldn’t ignore the weakness of the ending enough to make it work on a plot level either.

On his six-month watch aboard a starship forty years from its destination, with the remainder of the crew asleep in their pods, Kurt finds himself on “The Long Walk Aft” and the terrible fate to which it leads. The un-subtle situation is described in the no-frills manner in which its protagonist experiences it, and the detachment and realism only serve to strengthen the inevitability of its ending. It brought to mind Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations.” I enjoyed the image of a book being recycled for food; that seems somehow appropriate, under the circumstances.

On the whole, a pretty good review, I thought. You can read the whole thing here: http://thefix-online.com/reviews/illuminations/

In other related news, that cheeky scamp Shaun C Green has done a great impersonation of my flash fiction style over on his blog: http://www.nostalgiaforinfinity.com/?p=127

Now that the paperback version of Illuminations is on sale, Out Two Out have also made it available to download as a pdf, in return for a small donation to charity.

Follow this link to download your copy: http://www.oddtwoout.co.uk/buybooks.html