Steph Swainston's Blog

New book: Velocity’s Aftermath

A new omnibus of my short stories for Air and Nothingness Press has been published. This reproduces all the material previously published in Wrought Gothic, Aftermath and Turning Point as a single volume, for anyone who missed the previous books (long since sold out).

Available now for pre-order, shipping date 20 March 2023.

286 pgs. perfect bound edition with french flaps – 100 copies (unnumbered)
$25.00US + $6.50s/h (US Orders) or $26.00s/h (Foreign Orders)

Castle Art by Yrgo Students

Students at Yrgo College in Gothenburg produced digital art inspired by The Year of Our War. Max Friberg, their tutor and long-time Castle fan, gave them the task. You can see the amazing and varied works in a slideshow here, displayed by permssion of the artists. Many thanks to Max and his students for bringing these visions to life.

Dopamine turnover in Asperger Syndrome

This website is a showcase for my writing. However, I don’t just write fiction. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (AS), which remains a poorly-understood condition, particulaly in women. Following my diagnosis, I set out to understand what AS was, its causes, and its effects.

In short, I did a great deal of reading and delved deeply into the scientific literature, which itself is far from reaching a consensus. My reading pointed towards AS being a hypo-dopaminergic diso...

Best of British Fantasy 2018

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Velocity was selected for inclusion in Best of British Fantasy 2018 – out today from NewCon Press and available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

Velocity is 26 pages of chariot-racing, cousin-loving and brother-beating action in ancient Micawater! It was previously only available in Turning Point, so if you missed it then, you can catch it (and many tales by other authors) in BoBF now.

My thanks to the editor, Jared Shurin, for including Velocity and for being such an all-round friendl...

Turning Point now shipping

Turning Point is now shipping to everyone who pre-ordered a copy. For those who didn’t pre-order, copies are available from Air and Nothingness right now!
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Turning Point

What’s Steph been doing? Writing short stories, that’s what.

At turning points, we face decisions. Three of the Castle’s immortals – Lightning, Simoon and Jant – relate pivotal moments of their lives. A deadly chariot race forces Lightning to choose between his lover and his family; Simoon must decide what value he places on friendship, and Jant faces the consequence of his decisions to betray others. As a bonus, three short tales of the immortals’ deeds are extracted from the Histories writt...

Rebel, rebel

The paperback of Fair Rebel is out today! It makes an excellent Christmas gift

Tempo

My new long short story, Tempo, was published today (in Dutch) by Quasis. It was translated by wonderful Jasper Polane and the cover art was produced by the talented Todd Sanders.

In the year 625, five years after Saker took his place in the Circle as Lightning, he returns home on leave from the war. Instead of rest, he finds renewed rivalry with his brother Gyr; a rivalry which will be played out in a deadly chariot race which can only have one victor. But Saker has another reason to return...

Whisky rap

By popular request, my whisky rap poem.

Reddit – Ask me Anything

Today — Thursday 1 Dec — I’m on Reddit for an ‘Ask me Anything’ AMA session 7am-midnight GMT/UTC.

Timing worldwide:
2am to 7pm EST
11pm to 4pm PST
8am to 01am Friday Paris GMT+1
6pm to 6pm Friday Sydney GMT+11