2022: The Year of Long and Short Sight
There’s a sweet spot, about a foot from my nose, where I can read without my glasses. Further away, and everything is a blur. Closer, and the letters start swimming around, forming their own patterns. But in that sweet spot, everything gains clarity, and there’s no effort to seeing the words on the page.
The trick is to hold the book in a certain position. If only my arms didn’t get tired. If only I didn’t want to also read things that were far away, or up close. If only I didn’t like the strange patterns letters can make when I’m not paying attention. It should be so much easier to only concentrate on this place, these words. That’s a trick I’ll have to master.
Anyway. Looking back over my unfocused writing year, I’m surprised to see some things swim into view. The paperback releases of both Skyward Inn and The Secret Life of Fungi were very exciting moments (complete with lovely new covers) and I had the thrill of being able to find things I’d written in both the fiction and non-fiction shelves of the local bookshop. I signed a few copies, and spent a bit of time visiting first one, and then the other, feeling quite pleased with myself.
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Most of the new short stories that found their way out into the world this year had certain themes running through them. See if you can spot them.
Knotlings (The Dark) was the tale of a woman with a strange habit who passes it on to her son – but such things don’t always bring a family closer.
Cold Trade appeared in F&SF magazine, and it’s about aliens who trade across worlds, reducing everything to a transaction until some unhelpful feelings start to crop up on an ocean world, with uncommunicative monsters of the deep thrown into the mix.
In Beneath Ceaseless Skies, my story Rich Growth was set in a place where expensive and unusual flowers grow – but if you don’t pay attention, they can be fatal. How to pass on that knowledge to those who come after you?
Plans for Expansion was narrated for the Drabblecast as part of their HP Lovecraft month. Beware entering the ancient castle, lest you lose your sanity. Only £5 entry fee a time.
Another podcast appearance at Fictionz – my tale of a decapitated head that appears in the bedroom of an underachiever, From the Neck Up, was given an airing.
A few stories from last year found their ways into ‘Best of’ anthologies, which was lovely. Fog and Pearls at the Kings Cross Junction was published in Year’s Best SF & Fantasy 2021, and More Sea Creatures to See now appears in Best of British SF 2021. It’s so good when stories have a life beyond that first publication, and go on to find new readers.
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Skyward Inn made the shortlist for both the Arthur C Clarke award and the British Science Fiction Association award for Best Novel, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Clarke award presentation, and get a wander around the new exhibition of science fiction at the London Science Museum. It was a brilliant night. I also managed to turn up at FantasyCon, the British Fantasy Society convention, and I even unexpectedly found myself on a panel talking about the language of horror with amazing writers such as Priya Sharma and Laura Mauro. Great company, and an interesting subject to chat about.
Where else did I pop up? On BBC Radio 6 Music, talking to Lauren Laverne about fungi for her Monday morning Supernature slot. We chatted about where you can find fungi (answer: everywhere). And I taught an online workshop at the National Centre for Writing about subverting the demands of genre. We had a really fun time doing some exercises where you swap from one genre to another, and everyone produced some great opening paragraphs of stories.
It was a quiet year for Interzone magazine, which is going through some exciting changes, but my regular column Climbing Stories did make an appearance, on the subject of consumerist alien deities, and there are a few more columns lined up for next year’s issues. It’s great to continue to be a part of Interzone.
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Writing-wise, it’s been a quiet year for news of upcoming projects, but I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to share some exciting things in the new year. I have been working away on two novels, including a co-operative work that has been a joy. It has energised me and taught me all kinds of things, and has been a brilliant experience. The other novel has been a mess of grand intentions leading to a spectacular bout of weirdness, taking up a lot of time and energy. Phew.
Short stories have been written, too, and they should be popping up in a few anthologies and magazines throughout the year. I’m really pleased to have a story coming up in the last ever issue of Black Static, too. That’s been an important magazine for me, providing a home for me since I started writing. I’ll be very sad to see it end.
What else? I’ll teach another workshop in March, this time firmly in the horror genre. I think tickets are still available if you’re interested.
And I’ve got the urge to write some flash fiction. Maybe 2023 could be my year of finding that sweet spot, not too close and not too far away, where I concentrate on the here and now a little bit more, and try to see things clearly.
I’ll post about my favourite reads of 2022 at the end of the year, but for now, have a brilliant Christmas, and thanks for reading.
