Abseiling Lesbians in the House of Lords Happy New Year to everyone at Night Shade and Night Bazaar. Please forgive the heading, but I wanted to get some attention. Also, it does have an element of truth.I haven’t worked in publishing or related fields, or written...

Writers Without Borders “I like the idea of a special Hugo to be awarded (by force, perhaps)...”“...to literary authors who write books dripping with themes filleted from mainstream SF and then deny that it’s SF because it’s not about robots or spaceships.” Terry...

Novels and Movies (Novels that should have been made into movies but haven’t, and movies which are arguably better than novels.)Do Androids Dream of Movie Stardom?Perhaps one of the best movies of any SF novel is Blade Runner. I grew up admiring most of Philip Dick’s...

Reading Habits (Reading habits of a Writer: genre and non-genre favourites.)What do The Hitchhiker’s Guide and Pilgrim’s Progress have in common?Not only the plot device of the innocent abroad. John Bunyan was inspired to write Pilgrim’s Progress after reading The...

Editors (Trusted collaborator or annoying schoolmarm? Experiences with Editors.)“The covers of this book are too far apart.”Apologies in advance for what will be a short post. I really don’t have much to contribute to this thread, simply because I’ve only had one...

SFF Settings (From Middle Earth to Dying Earth: how to create SFF settings)Stanley Kubrick’s Passion for DressmakingStanley Kubrick, when he’d decided to film Thackeray’s novel Barry Lyndon, spent some time researching eighteenth-century costumes. Then he went to all...

Dystopia (From Hunger Games to The Windup Girl: is Dystopia the new Black?)“Things are more like they are today than they have ever been.”Dystopia is a fine word, concentrated and resonant, for society gone wrong. We like to think that complexity (of politics,...

Inspiration or Calculation (Inspiration or calculation? How do you decide what you are going to write?)Alphabet Soup.I feel like I’m full of soup. Possibly also something else beginning with S, but definitely soup. It sloshes around inside me when I walk. It’s made up...