Many Passengers, Three Lobes, One Le Guin

The first time I read Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan I was in my twenties, on a lazy beach holiday with nothing to do but read; the sun was punishing and the room was a dark cave. I moved from balcony to bed, straining in either situation to see the pages. It was one of those perfect collusions of book, time and place. I read it three times that week. Through that, I moved on to The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness, her wonderful novellas, and many more of her works. I see her influence in pretty much everything I write.

I’m not alone in feeling the strength of her influence, and the anthology Revolution in the Heart proves that. Lots of amazing authors have contributed stories in which we try to do justice to her reach. Well, that’s probably impossible, but it was great to try, and I’m really pleased to have contributed a story to this. It’s available to pre-order now, but it’ll be published towards the end of this year. Revolution in The Heart: Stories Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin, edited by Jonathan Strahan and published by Titan Books.

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But much sooner than that! I’ve got a new story in the latest edition of Three-Lobed Burning Eye. I think it’ll be available to read on the website as from tomorrow, and it’s a bit of SF horror called The Thing That Ate Itself. It’s great to be back in Three-Lobed Burning Eye, which is always a place to find brilliant voices telling surprising stories. If you’re a Patreon follower of 3LBE, I think there will also be a Q&A with me about the story available to subscribers.

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And a big thank you to Rachel Knightley for asking me along to the Writers’ Gym podcast to talk about subjects such as the difficulty of freeing up the mind to write whatever comes along, which led to a lot of wandering talk of buses and passengers and refusing to be an expert. You can listen to that conversation – and lots of other conversations that’ll cover pretty much all writing experiences – here. It’s a great resource. Thanks Rachel!