Callum McSorley's Blog, page 10

Granite Noir 2020 – Locals in the Limelight

[image error]The line up for Granite Noir 2020 has been announced! Some big names in fiction, including Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Ben Aaronovitch, and Ambrose Parry (AKA Chris Brookmyre & Dr Marisa Haetzman) and a host of authors from around the world, will be heading to Aberdeen in February to take part in the North East’s biggest crime writing festival.

And so it is that I’m extremely excited to say I’ll be taking part myself as one of the festival’s Locals in the Limelight!

You can see me perform an...

My published stories 2019

As we’re getting towards the end of 2019 and the season of awards eligibility posts, I thought I would join in and recap the stories I’ve had published this year.

Though certainly not reaching the quantity of last year’s published output, this year I’ve had some longer work published (two novelettes that I’m really proud of) and had a short story appear in one of my all-time favourite magazines, Shoreline of Infinity, which has been on my author’s bucket list for ages.

This year I also began...

Reading Roundup Nov 19

It’s the most wonderful time of the—No, no it isn’t. It’s still just November, despite what supermarkets and TV adverts would have you think. Therefore, there is no theme for this particular batch of reading recommendations, just a handful of books I’ve really enjoyed lately. Any of these would make a fantastic present for—

[image error]Killtopia: Volume Two by Dave Cook & Craig Paton (BHP Comics, 2019)

The break-out crowdfunded comic of 2018 is back with its second issue. Killtopia, by writer Dave Cook...

Tam O’Shanter Review

[image error]What do Ayrshire’s most famous son – the poet Robert Burns – and Japanese comic books, called ‘manga’, have in common? Well, nothing… until now, that is. Scottish author Richmond Clements has teamed up with Japanese artist Inko to adapt Burns’s classic horror poem Tam O’Shanter into a manga.

And it is wonderful!

This mash-up isn’t exactly an obvious one – you might be familiar with manga like Akira, Tokyo Ghoul, and Death Note or their on-screen anime adaptations and be wondering how this would...

Hallowe’en Reading

Pumpkin carved, costume on, monkey nuts shelled, neighbour’s house egged and TP’d… Now what? You’ve exhausted your list of Hallowe’en activities and that means it’s time to curl up in front of the fire with a nice glass of warm blood and a good book. Here are some of my spooky (and sometimes schlocky) favourites:

[image error]Resident Evil: City of the Dead by S.D. Perry (1999, Titan Books)

Aaach, zombies! Resident Evil 2, the original 1998 PlayStation One game, is still my favourite video game of all time. It was scary, tense, the...

Read Baby on Board in Tech Noir

[image error]It’s finally here! The Switchblade Magazine/Pulp Modern double feature Tech Noir is out today!

Switchblade and Pulp Modern have teamed up to make a retro cyberpunk anthology with twice the goodness.

My featured short story Baby on Board sees ex-cop Oink, having returned from Mars to his hometown on Earth, Belt City, get embroiled in a kidnapping scheme (mostly) against his will. There are digital ghosts, physical augmentations, eating noodles outdoors in the r...

The Big Issue Crime Writing Competitiom

[image error]I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to say my novel Green Ink was shortlisted for this year’s Big Issue Crime Writing Contest!

From hundreds of entries, Green Ink was one of six shortlisted, though sadly not the winner. That honour goes to Louise Sharland with her novel Vigil, which I will very much be looking forward to reading when it’s published!

My own entry, Green Ink, is a serial killer story set in Victorian Glasgow, taking the reader through the slums and shebeens of the east end to the smoke-blackened...

Always North Review, Shoreline of Infinity 16

[image error]It’s time again for another issue of my favourite sci-fi mag, Shoreline of Infinity!

While the previous edition featured a short story of mine (Secret Ingredients, SoI Issue 15) I’m back to reviewing books in the October offering.

This time around I had the absolute pleasure of reading and writing about Vicki Jarrett’s new novel Always North, published this month by Unsung Stories. It’s a twisty, tricky ‘cli-fi’ ta...

Ness Book Fest

 

[image error]I’m delighted to be heading to Inverness for Ness Book Fest next month to do a reading!

I’ll be reading some flash fiction at the beginning of Mandy Haggith’s nature poetry event at the Inverness Museum & Art Gallery on Thursday 3rd October at 3pm.

[image error]Poet Mandy Haggith

Mandy Haggith is an excellent poet and author. Her most recent books, The Walrus Mutterer and The Amber Seeker, are part of a historical fiction trilogy set in the iron age.

Ness Book Fest will officially launch later that day...

Read The Lunatic Song in Exquisite Aberrations

[image error]The day is finally here! At long last, Exquisite Aberrations has been unleashed upon the public.

A collection of long-form short stories (published by FunDead Publications) that turn traditional Gothic horror tropes upside down by shifting the POV onto LGBTQ people, people of colour, and others often side-lined or othered in the history of the horror genre. The settings may be familiar – fog, gas lamps, haunted Victorian mansions, spooky graveyards – but the stories told will be new. (Read th...