As usual, it was a superb show. I was especially touched by the keynote speaker, June Scobee Rodgers, Founding Chairman of Challenger Center for Space Science Education, who described the moment her husband died in the space shuttle disaster. It was inspiring to hear how she moved forward with her life to create something worthwhile from the awful situation.

I was unable to attend the ceremony for various reasons, so I watched the writers and illustrators collect their prizes. For me, the week was been a vicarious existence…not ideal, really.

I am looking forward to my goody parcel arriving from LA (hopefully real soon), especially getting some copies of the book in my grubby mitts!

The book cover is in the post below–click on it and you’ll go to amazon where you can buy it .

I love the cover art–when I first saw it it had a suited figure–an environmental suit–giving a sci-fi feel. The new figure gives it a fantasy feel.

I must say it looks stunning…

Click on the image to go to Amazon to pre-order!

The cover is fantastic…created by Andy Bigwood, BSFA award-winning artist.

The anthology features speculative stories from local writers in the south-west of England. I am really looking forward to reading the other. I know Gareth L. Powell, who recently signed a deal with Solaris, is another author who will appear in it.

Click on the image to find out about Wizard Tower Press…

Excellent job by an excellent artist–follow the links near the story to see his other stuff.

IGMS stands out amongst online, professional magazines due their commitment to commission artwork to illustrate each story they buy. The quality of the stories is simply superb…

Read my story and the other excellent stories in the issue, as well as the stunning artwork here…

First a little background–comics were my first love. I hated reading and the only way my parents could get me reading ANYTHING was to buy me comics. It was the ’70s, so every Saturday some spotty kid would deliver Beano and a few others I don’t remember the names of now. Later it was 2000 AD (I had issue 1, damn it!), Spiderman, Ironman, The Phantom, etc, etc. So that’s my credentials…

The film was good. I have pretty low standards and expectations when I go and see a film full of teenage boys and their Dads, but the film pretty much grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and didn’t let go until the end. There were some cool bits–quite a few–plus the odd plotish issue, but nothing terrible. Would I recommend it? Well, if you like the first one, then you’ll like this one…

Yup, you guessed it–a time travel story and one I really enjoyed writing. Michael, the editor, says it should be in their December issue.

On the flip side, my brain is already going mad with regards story generation. So I am developing various electronic notebooks full of cool ideas (I think they are).

So, hey-ho, back to work I go…

It was a day of firsts. I met OTHER WRITERS–for the first time, ever! Wow…it’s odd when you think about it, but I’d never met another writer before and I met two that day.

The first was a writer who won Writers of the Future and appeared in Vol. 25 with an excellent story ‘Risqueman’. Mike and his wife, Sarah, were kind enough to share their experience of the Writers of the Future week in LA, including a story about bumping into Sandra Bullock in the hotel’s gym. The gave me the low down, the highs, the jet-lag. All great stuff.

The second writer I met was a pro-writer who was kind enough to mentor me over the last year or so. A great guy, who took time out of his busy schedule to have a drink with me, talk sci-fi and even introduce me to an agent. The agent asked me to send him stuff when I have some chapters of a manuscript done. I think that is what is called a ‘solicited manuscript’. Amazing.

The great thing about going to the Con was that it was a slap in the face. I have been doing a University course for the last 6 months and it totally took over my life. I’d like to point out that I hate academic work–I find it dry…The Con got me re-focused on writing. Meeting my mentor and the agent got me re-focused on writing a novel. I have 6 weeks left until the course is done (late May)…then I am gonna write a novel…

Thanks, Brad, for the kick in the arse about the blog…