Tim Major's Blog, page 7

Favourite albums of 2022

Modern composition / minimalism / drone

California collective Wild Up’s performances of Julius Eastman’s works (Vol. 1: Femenine / Vol. 2: Joy Boy) were two of my favourite albums of 2022, and continue to surprise me each time I relisten. Oren Ambarchi provided two excellent albums this year, both of which build directly on the intense, repetitions of his other recent releases. Ghosted is inflected with Mingus-esque bass grooves, whereas Shebang is lighter and more slippery; both are as wond...

Recommendations aplenty

As anybody browsing my previous blog posts can deduce, I love lists. Yes, they can be reductive, sometimes elitist, but they work amazingly as catalysts in terms of recommendations. Find a top-ten list of any media that includes some things you love, and the chances are you’ll also love the list items you don’t yet know.

On that note, I was recently asked to complete a book list for Shepherd.com. Given that my headspace has been so occupied with Sherlock Holmes recently, I opted to put to...

Publication day: Sherlock Holmes and The Twelve Thefts of Christmas

My new Sherlock Holmes novel, The Twelve Thefts of Christmas, is published today! Here’s a picture of me in an unironed but halfway-festive shirt to celebrate.

There are plenty of knotty mysteries within the shiny golden covers of this beautifully designed hardback, but I’ve also tried to make the tone like a sort of ‘holiday special’. It features loads of Holmes favourites in prominent roles: Irene Adler, Mrs Hudson, Mary Watson, Inspector Lestrade, even good old Toby the dog.

Here’s the desc...

‘O Cul-de-Sac!’ reading on Podcastle

I was so delighted when this popped up in my Twitter notifications last night, as I’d spent the day being grumpy with a bad cold…

My sentient-house story ‘O Cul-de-Sac!’ features on the current edition of fantasy podcast PodCastle, read by Nicola Seaton-Clark. While I haven’t had a chance to listen to the full reading yet, I can tell you that Nicola’s delivery is spot on. Hearing her read my story makes me very proud!Click here to hear the reading, or you can find PodCastle via your ...

Open submission calls: October 2022

Shall we ignore the fact that I didn’t post submissions calls in August or September? Sorry, sorry, and I’ll try to be more reliable in future. Anyway, as always (though not always, clearly), here are some of the most interesting open submission calls for writers I’ve spotted this month. If you have a try at any of these opportunities, good luck!

Game On!
Anthology featuring stories which represent ‘unique science fiction and fantasy takes on games, game playing, and games in culture’. (Note th...

US publication day – Sherlock Holmes: The Defaced Men

I was away on holiday when it was published in the UK, so failed to post about it here, but as today is the publication date for my Sherlock Holmes novel THE DEFACED MEN, I thought I’d take the opportunity to celebrate its release!

In this novel, Holmes’s new client is Eadweard Muybridge, the godfather of cinema, whose life is under threat. Holmes and Watson will need to draw on technology associated with cinema in order to solve a mystery that continues to grow and grow.

I had such fu...

Short story: The Marshalls of Mars

My story ‘The Marshalls of Mars’ is published today! You can read it on IZ Digital, Interzone’s new digital offshoot. It’s about marriage and raising a child and nostalgia and isolation and Mars. The terrific art is by Martin Hanford.

Click here to read it for free.

Open submission calls: July 2022

It’s that time again! Here are some of the most interesting open submission calls for SFF/horror writers that I’ve come across recently. As always, best of luck if you pursue any of these opportunities!

CloisterFox
This excellent new British weird-fiction mag launched last month after a successful Kickstarter. The first issue was terrific, and I have high hopes for this magazine in the longer term. The theme for Issue 2 is water.
Word count: 3000–4000 words
Payment: £30 plus copy
Deadline: 24 Ju...

Favourite albums of the first half of 2022

I always look forward to compiling lists at the end of each year, taking stock of my favourite releases. Today I asked myself: Why wait? The fact that we’ve just passed the summer solstice makes this seem a reasonable enough moment to sum up my favourite albums of the first half of the year.

Modern composition

The most thrilling releases I’ve heard so far this year are California collective Wild Up’s treatments of the works of misunderstood but recently re-evaluated genius composer Julius Eastm...

Open submission calls: June 2022

Once again, I’ve trawled the web for SFF/horror open submission calls so you don’t have to. It’s a compulsion, I guess. Good luck if you decide to pursue any of these opportunities!

Monstrous Futures
This anthology to be published by Dark Matter Ink follows a previous volume, Human Monsters. This volume will feature Black Mirror-esque ‘dark sci-fi with an emphasis on exploring our connection with technology and one another through speculative concepts and backdrops’.
Word count: 2000–4000 words...