Welcome to Day 1 of our Twelve Days of Christmas. Kicking off the celebrations in style we have our very own Mister Colin Harvey, author of Winter Song. Although when I say “our very own” we don’t actually own him – there are still 4 monthly payments to make, but we’re almost there.

So, without further ado, put your hands together for Colin, and a seasonal tale, entitled

Alternativity

Last night, or rather, this morning, with the blood of the Sacrament still hanging heavy on my tongue, I dreamt of Magi, and blood.

It’s been years since I went to Midnight Worship, but with never-ending headlines of war and refugee crisis in the East, teenage bloodbaths and other dismal events, I felt increasingly that Christmas was becoming just another day in the calendar. So this year I went, seeking something, some reminder of how special it used to be.

We gave my mother-in-law a lift, and since as usual, she wasn’t ready, we were late. Everywhere we go, regardless of how late we are, Stella’s never ready.

It didn’t matter, as people were still filing into the church at twenty to midnight. The place was full of kids, which boosted the numbers, but I managed not to swat any of the little sods around the ear. With the vicar droning on about the ‘true meaning of Christmas’ even longer than usual, and the extra-strong sacramental wine they handed out in industrial quantities, things seemed normal enough. Read More→

Tomorrow sees the first of our 12 Days of Christmas celebration. From tomorrow until December 24th at 10.00am GMT, we have a little something for you every day. Call it an early Christmas present. Or call it Keith. We really don’t mind.

See you here after 10.00 tomorrow – after all, you wouldn’t want us to send the robot Santas after you, would you…

Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren is out in February in the UK and Australia (July in the US and Canada), Damage Time by Colin Harvey and Soul Stealers by Andy Remic are both out in May in the UK and Australia and June in the US and Canada.

No more preamble, just feast your eyes on the loveliness that follows. Click on the images to make them bigger…

There’s a sort-of-review of Triumff over at Cold Iron & Rowan Wood. The reviewer attempts to describe the piece in a sentence that made me chuckle:

I’m just going to put it down to it being Bloody Weird, which given that it’s Dan Abnett writing for Angry Robot books is probably par for the course.

Over at the World SF blog, Nick Wood namechecks Moxyland author Lauren Beukes, describing her as “a writer to watch – for both now and the future!” which is fair and just.

A truly great post by Colin Harvey over at Crossed Genres in which he describes his processes and influences in creating Winter Song. Grab a cup of coffee before you start this one, though – it’s a good, long read.

The beginning writer often believes that to keep their voice ‘pure’ they should stay free of other writer’s influences by not reading anyone else’s work, but the truth is that no human being is unaffected by the external world, and as we gain experience we realize that that’s actually a good thing, both to carry into the future hints and glimpses of those no longer with us, and that it also makes us better, more rounded individuals. What we used to call ‘wisdom’ is actually an accumulation of experiences, stimuli and thoughts.

And finally, that Bibliophile Stalker, Charles Tan, interviews our very own Tim Waggoner, author of the extraordinarily popular Nekropolis. Gauntlets are thrown…

Learning to write at a publishable level was the biggest hurdle because it takes a while to become good at anything. Writing is often done on your own, with minimal feedback, and it’s difficult to get feedback from publishing professionals because they’re busy doing their own writing. A lot of the teachers who teach writing classes aren’t writing at a professional level yet (and maybe never will), which is WHY they teach. So I slogged along on my own for years, taking a few classes here and there, submitting work and getting rejected by editors, until finally, in my late twenties I began to sell regularly. Pros often speak of persistence being the most important quality that new writers need, and if it’s not the most vital quality, it’s up there.