Stay where people sing. Bad people don't usually sing.

I’m just back from World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, and opening this reminds me that I miss actual blogging — using my real voice, writing about whatever catches my fancy, rather than posting quick updates whenever something happens. Life gets in the way and I need to make a more strategic use of my writing time now that I need to balance teaching, parenting and whatever activism I can squeeze in the cracks, but still, I miss it!

And so it was that I spent four lovely days in Brighton, in the peculiar time-space pocket that are conventions, getting far more beer than sunlight, catching up with friends and making new ones. I was excited to attend my very first award ceremony as a nominee, though I did not think I had any kind of chance of winning, and so decided not to write a speech because let’s be honest, it would only get my hopes up and I’d be disappointed in the end if it did. Pragmatic friends said this was probably unwise, but I didn’t think it would matter.

You know where this is going…

So, I am now the very proud (if still disbelieving) owner of a British Fantasy Award for my short story collection, I am more grateful than ever to have such an amazing editor and supportive friends, and yes, those years of improvising much of my classes on the spot have paid off and I was able to largely wing my acceptance speech without stumbling too much (a glass of wine and some last-minute ‘Wait, what if I actually end up winning?’ thoughts did help!). There were lots of hugs, lots of drinks, messages from friends and family, and lots of opportunities to realise that without so many fine people around me, writing and winning things would be incomparably less fun.

So, thank you, everyone. You’re making life so much brighter.

My novella is available to pre-order! Head over to the NewCon Press website for a peek: https://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.asp?id=270&referer=Hp

Head this way, solar punk fans — pre-orders should open soon! In the meanwhile, take a look at this gorgeous cover art:

In a post-disaster world, where most large cities are kept from crumbling by genetically-engineered ivy, humans are rebuilding communities with the assistance of whales who help them communicate across the world. A professional urban explorer needs to brave the dangers of an ancient ivy-covered museum, in order to root out a rogue AI from pre-disaster times, that is currently threatening vital communication systems between human and whales. In another timeline, a present-day scholar has just found her dream job in a research lab… working with AI.

And if you’re attending World Fantasy Con in Brighton, come and say hello — I’ll be there for the duration of the con, and am especially excited to attend the BFA ceremony as a first-time nominee.

Some readers are enjoying Elephants in Bloom, which I’m very grateful for! After being a Crawford award finalist, my collection is now shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards. Regardless of what the outcome will be, this is extremely rewarding!

My publisher is running a special promotion on the Kindle edition on Monday 7th July and Tuesday 8th, making it available for $1.99 in the US and £1.99 in the UK. If you’re curious… you know what to do!

Back from Eastercon, where I had a lovely time reading from my stories, talking about bodies in fiction with Aliette de Bodard, Lauren Beukes and Benjamin Cain, and catching up with friends I rarely get a chance to see. If we met there and you’re taking a peek at my website — hello, good to see you!

I’m very happy to announce a new story in ParSec: ‘In the tangle of the seas’, post-disaster science fiction set in the Italian Riviera, with whales, flooded bike lanes and hope where everything is lost. Enjoy!

Donna Scott has accepted a story of mine for her upcoming Vivid Worlds anthology from The Slab Press, which will launch in a month, at Eastercon. I will attend the event, come and say hello!

This is an anthology of solarpunk stories, and mine is inspired by the time-honoured tradition of protests in France (an important part of a teachers’ life, and of many other people’s as well), as well as an uncanny sighting a couple of months ago: early in the morning, on my way to work, I ended up cycling along a mostly empty avenue leading out of Aix-en-Provence, lined on each side by huge tractors as a farmers’ protest was starting. Farmers’ protests in recent years have been extremely complex, bringing together people with very different political sympathies and views on what the future of agriculture ought to be; I’ve tried to do justice to that.

‘The Third Time I Saw a Fox’, my 2020 Interzone story which is also featured in my collection, now has a wonderful audio version you can listen for free in Podcastle! Very grateful for the amazing job the audio narrator did, especially with the end of the story, which I’ve wanted to head read out loud for a long while.

In case anyone is wondering: yes, I’ve tried recording myself while I read it. But upon listening, I was too busy being embarrassed by how thick my accent is to really enjoy it…

In more fun news, Elephants in Bloom as well as my Clarkesworld story ‘Down the Waterfall‘ both made the BFSA Awards long list! I am not harbouring excessive hopes of seeing them go much further, but small victories are always welcome. And of course, if you’re voting for the BSFAs and wondering what to read next, I’d be very grateful.

Because talking about other people’s books is a lot of fun, I was very happy to join Chris Lowry from Beyond Cataclysm on his podcast. We talked about Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings, a wonderful, though complex, historical series about the last kings to hold France before the Hundred Years War. I’m very fond of Druon’s work, his utterly gorgeous writing, dry humour and keen sense of historical metaphors, and though I must admit I have more reservations about his politics, his reconstruction of the French Middle Ages as a metaphor for mid-20th-century French politics gave me a lot of think about (and quite a few things to refute, but that’s another story!). It’s wonderfully easy to read, too.

I couldn’t easily access an English translation, so for the podcast, I just read an excerpt I had translated myself. My accent felt appropriate, for once!

Very pleased to announce that Ian Whates bought another of my stories for ParSec, PS Publishing’s excellent magazine!

If you enjoyed my story ‘A Kingdom of Seagrass and Silk’ in issue 6, keep an eye out for this one. It’s broadly similar in themes (pandemic, environmental destruction, hope after all hope is lost), but more science-fiction-y than fantastical; it’s also set by the seaside, though on a different part of the Mediterranean, and it also has whales!

I haven’t updated this site in some time! Not much is new, really (I’ve been working on a number of new things, replenishing my store of stories and novels to submit, so any potential new publication will wait a little). Meanwhile, though, some updates on recent reviews and upcoming appearances:

Elephants in Bloom has been getting some generally positive reviews, which is very gratifying. Here’s one in Run Along The Shelves (with an assorted interview), one in Locus, and you can also find one in Aurealis and one in ParSec #10.

You can also hear me discuss climate fiction on Deborah Davitt’s fascinating Shining Moon podcast (episode 22); and I’ll be talking about Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings in an upcoling episode of Beyond Cataclysm’s This Book I Read podcast; as well as talking about the interactions of French and English-language SFF on an upcoming panel hosted by the 2027 Montreal bid for Worldcon, as part of a project to create bilingual Hugos.