With awards season 2025 on the horizon, here’s a reminder of the many things I had published this year.
Firstly, here’s the list:
Fiction
Dead Notice (Flash Point SF) – 350 words [Link]
Flash fiction (Fantasy/Horror) about the unlife of Harry Hetherington.
Art by Kevin Pabst.
The Badger (Gallus anthology) – 2,700 words [Link]
Short story (SF). Content warning for users of Duolingo.
Invitation (ParSec Magazine #11) – 9,500 words [Link]
Short story/novelette (Fantasy/SF/Horror). Post-Brexit parable about immigration and legacies of collaboration in the UK.
Non-Fiction and Editing
Into the Woods (Shoreline of Infinity #37) – 1,300 words [Link]
Column (Fantasy-leaning). No teddy bear’s picnic.
Goodbye to All That (Shoreline of Infinity #38) – 2,000 words [Link]
Column. Keeping your head when all about you are networking hard.
BFS Journal #24: Fantasy & Gaming (British Fantasy Society) – special issue co-edited with Charly Harbord [BFS members only]
Gaming nerds unite for this largely non-academic exploration of the relationship between fantasy and games, including disability mods in table-top RPGs, the history of adventure books, video-games as a safe space for explorations of gender identity, and more.
Reprint
The Honey Trap (SF Caledonia) – 5,000 words [Link]
The BSFA award-winning story available for free for the first time.
Art by Becca McCall.
Well, that was a busy one, wasn’t it? After a few years in which family issues took priority, 2024 ended up being a bit of a splurge.
With Worldcon visiting Glasgow this year, the summer was inevitably full of new stories. First up, Invitation (ParSec #11, 9.5k, F/SF/H), an exploration of immigration and legacies of collaboration. Hands down it’s the one I’m proudest of this year, and it’s been very gratifying to see reviewers getting to grips with its complexities. Plus my Redwall-loving child self still can’t believe I have a story with a Fangorn cover. [Blog]
This was followed by The Badger (Gallus, 3k, SF), a wee satirical tale about mobile phone apps and their more frustrating features. As someone who doesn’t use language learning apps at all, it’s been a joy to hear the reactions of those who do. It’s part of this year’s Glasgow SF Writers’ Circle anthology Gallus, helmed by E.M. Faulds, Brian M. Milton and Neil Williamson, and it’s chockful of writing from both established authors and ones for whom this is their first publication. We celebrated this at an absolutely packed out launch at Worldcon, one of my personal highlights of the year.
November ended with a surprise wee hit in the form of Dead Notice (Flash Point SF, 350, F/H), which has had some lovely comments on social media in the short time it’s been out. You can read that free online on Flash Point SF now. [Blog]
2024 saw me return to editing, with the release of BFS Journal #24: Fantasy and Gaming, which I co-edited with the wonderful Charly Harbord. After the COVID years, working on the journal was a timely reminder of how much I love helping great writers bring out the best in their writing. We had the privilege of working with some wonderfully insightful writers across six intense months, and I’m really looking forward to watching their work blossom over the next few years. [Blog]
Elsewhere, my run at Shoreline of Infinity continued with two new columns: Into the Woods (1,300), a creative non-fictional piece about what makes this one of my favourite fantasy settings, and Goodbye to All That (2,000), my Joan Didion-inspired piece about finding what matters to you. I’m ever grateful for the opportunity that Shoreline gives me to experiment and explore, and they are truly one of the treasures of UK genre publishing. [Blog and Other Blog]
Finally, this year marks the 10th anniversary of The Honey Trap, which won the BSFA in 2015 for Best Short Fiction. So I was delighted when SF Caledonia’s Noel Chidwick asked if he could give the story a new home. It’s the first time this story has been available for free online, and with art by Becca McCall, so if you’ve yet to read it, now’s your chance. [Blog]
So, what about 2025? There’ll be my column for Shoreline, of course, which will be nearly a decade old by that point. I’ll be working on the latest draft of my novel and other PhD things. (Look, Mum – it’s got a Gantt chart and everything!) Beyond that, I’m afraid I can only be frustratingly vague about some rather exciting conversations I’ve had this year. Hopefully I can spill the beans sometime soon.
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