Callum McSorley's Blog, page 13

Event Horizon

[image error]

It’s almost here: Event Horizon – not the film with Sam Neill (still terrifying) but the monthly reading night in Edinburgh hosted by Shoreline of Infinity.

Usually sci-fi based, tomorrow’s event will be taken over by fantasy webzine Aether/Ichor. I’ll be reading there myself along with some fantastic authors recently published by A/I: Ely Percy, Simon K Brown, Sandra Whitnell and Leigh Harlen (all the way from the US).

The night will open and close with a set by Mixed Signals – expect dark,...

And the winner is…

[image error]

Last week I launched a competition to give away four paperback copies of the latest Hardboiled anthology by Dead Guns Press, which happens to open with my short story Sherry Sherry.

And… We have our winners! Congratulations to Richard, Ross, Fran, and Jamie, your copies of Hardboiled will be winging their way to you next week.

If you’re still keen to read it but were unlucky this time, you can get your hands on a copy by ordering here, it’ll cost you cash-money is all (though it is an absolu...

Indie April

[image error]

It hath been declared that April shalt be the month to celebrate indie publishers, and in that spirit, here are a few words on some of my favourite Scotland-based indies, all doing incredible, interesting stuff right now.

Gutter Magazine – Going it alone after the collapse of its former publisher, Gutter has never been stronger or better. Issue 18, along with a special supplement, The Freedom Papers, became the bestselling title of the Edinburgh International Book Festival last year. A celeb...

Hardboiled Book Giveaway

[image error]

It’s the final week of #IndieApril and I’ve got four lovely paperback copies of Hardboiled to give away!

Published by Dead Guns Press at the end of last year, Hardboiled features my short story Sherry Sherry alongside crime fiction by some fantastic authors including Bill Baber, Ellie Tritch and Jacqueline Seewald.

Want a read on me? Simply put your name in the hat on your preferred social media site and find out if you’re a winner at the start of May.

Rules:

UK only (Sorry, it’s those damn...

Event Horizon 9th May 2019

[image error]

I’m really excited/slightly nervous to be reading at next month’s Event Horizon in Edinburgh!

Hosted by Edinburgh’s British Fantasy Society Award-winning magazine, Shoreline of Infinity, Event Horizon is a free monthly evening of sci-fi spoken word and music (and there’s a raffle, of course).

9th May will be a fantasy special takeover by fellow Edinburgh zine, Aether & Ichor.

I’ll be sharing the stage with some authors recently published in A/I, including the excellent Ely Percy, whose brill...

Sherry Sherry

Last year Dead Guns Press published their first Hardboiled anthology after a couple of years’ hiatus.

My short story Sherry Sherry was included. (Yes, that is a Neil Diamond reference.)

A twist on the old girl in the fridge trope, the somewhat unstable narrator goes on the rampage when she comes home to discover her girlfriend, Sherry, dead.

The other day I finally got my hands on a paperback copy of the book and it looks amazing!

I was also stoked to see Sherry Sherry is the story that kick...

Reading Roundup March 2019

[image error]Prompted by a brilliant short story I read recently (see the first entry below) I’ve written up another round of short reviews of some books I’ve really enjoyed lately:

[image error]Shoreline of Infinity Issue 14 (2019)

The latest offering from Edinburgh’s BFS award-winning sci-fi magazine Shoreline of Infinity might be the best yet. Opening piece ‘Oh Baby Teeth Johnny With Your Radiant Grin, Let’s Unroll on Moonlight and Gin’ by Cat Hellisen is one the most original and stylish short stories I’ve read in...

Aether/Ichor Issue 2 out now

[image error]

It’s here! The second issue of the revamped Aether/Ichor has hit the online shelf.

Scary isn’t just for Hallowe’en. The theme of the Equinox issue is ‘Spooky in Spring’ and in that vein we have vampires, zombies, and ghosts aplenty.

Ed Ahern brews up a tale of witches and reality TV in ‘The Samhain Show’, while Simon K Brown‘s gory ‘Scrapbook‘ features memories that grow on trees. (I myself had a [much less gruesome] memory-growing story published last year in Monstrous Regiment — looks like...

Daughter of Titan: “Thelma and Louise meets RoboCop…”

[image error]

“Let me be honest. I have had major superhero fatigue for a few years now,” says Richard Mooney, the Scottish creator and writer of indie superhero comic, Daughter of Titan. He’s not the only one, with several superhero movies a year being flushed out by Marvel and DC along with countless television series on streaming services – many on the verge of cancellation – it’s unsurprising that people have come to find the genre tiring.

So then why make a superhero comic? “I wanted to write a story...

Plant Life

[image error]My short story Plant Life, which appears in Monstrous Regiment Issue 2: Emerald, tells the story of a man called Ger who plants memories in his garden and they bloom into all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

Ger isn’t much of a gardener to begin with, and relies on a map and set of instructions left by the people who used to live in his house to look after the garden:

“At the time they moved in, Ger wouldn’t have been able to name a single thing growing in the garden. Luckily, the previo...