Review of 2013

I thought I'd put together a summary of my writing landmarks in 2013, as much for my own benefit as for anything else. Sometimes it's useful to take stock.

The year started well with three successive publications:

January: The Third Attractor appeared in Abyss and Apex

February: Ship of Fools appeared in Kasma SF, a Canadian market. The story was beautifully illustrated by Jose Baetas.

Then in March Dagan Books' Fish anthology was released, and included my story The Last Fisherman of Habitat 57.

June saw The Photograph in Lamplight, a quarterly online anthology that was compiled, a couple of months later, into Lamplight Volume 1, a handsome print anthology comprising the four preceding online issues. The Photograph was a horror/paranormal story, my third sale in this genre.

A short flash story, The Biggest Pumpkin in the World was the featured story on Short-Story.me in November, then, in December, Ship of Fools made a second appearance in the year, in the print anthology of humorous SF, Cosmic Vegetable, from Dreamscape Press.

2013 was a good year for conventions. Eastercon was in Bradford, almost local for me, and there was an excellent week in October that started out with Bristolcon, then headed south and east to Brighton for World Fantasy. To cut costs we stayed at a camp site about three miles along the prom. It rained, it was windy, we got wet. But it was wonderful. I met a lot of people I already knew online but hadn't met in person before. They know me, now, as some rugged, dishevelled, wild-man from the north. 

So what about 2014?

Two stories are already in the can. The Abolitionist will appear in issue 8 of the Kindle magazine, Kzine, soon this month. It's a mixed genre story that has found a good home in a magazine that offers stories of diverse styles, and avoids any genre categorisation, allowing the reader to make up their own mind as to what kind of story it is. I'm yet to decide what genre this particular story falls into.

In May I have another double venue, when my spoof fantasy, Bring Me My Broadsword and My Spreadsheets of Fire is set to appear in both the e-zine, Sourcerous Signals, and in the print anthology, Mystic Signals.

Then there's Loncon3, my first Worldcon, and it's in London. I won't be camping out for this one, I promise. I have a reputation to bury.

And that's all. Except that 2014 might also see Elton D Philpotts: Deep Space Accountant hit the Kindle shop. This will be the first in a series of Sphere of Influence novels. Watch this space.