Happy New Year to everyone.
For me, 2010 will be the Year of the Novel. I set out at the beginning of 2009 with the intention of writing a science fiction novel by the end of 2010, and soon realised that I needed to put in some effort towards catching up with contemporary novel-length science fiction, adjusting my way of thinking from short stories to novels, and continuing to develop my general writing skills.
Authors I’ve read in 2009 include Ian M Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher, Ken Macleod, William Gibson, Eric Brown and Richard Morgan, among others. I’m still reading science fiction short stories, too, and am working my way through a bunch of anthologies as well as recent issues of Analog and Asimov’s. The likelihood of finding someone to publish my novel is small and may well depend on me being able to get some short stories published in professional science fiction mags, so although the novel manuscript should be written and polished by the end of 2010, getting it published is likely to be some way off yet.
Oh, and I joined the British Science Fiction Association late in 2009. My first copy of the regular BSFA magazine Vector arrived recently, and as a BSFA member I’m able to nominate for the BSFA Best Novel award (and others, including the Best Short Fiction award).
Of the non-SF novels that I’ve read in 2009, two stand out as being particularly memorable. One is Rape: A Love Story, by Joyce Carol Oates, and the other is The Woman In The Dunes, by Kobo Abe, which I’ve just finished reading (and absolutely loved). Both were new authors to me.
Back in December I took the train up to London for the Ride the Word event at the Cafe Yumchaa in Soho. I’d been wanting to go to a live reading event for some time and missed the Sparks event in Brighton the previous week because I came down with a bug, and the Short Fuse event in Hastings the following weekend because of a family issue. So, it was nice to get to the Ride the Word event, where a bunch of authors who had contributed to the Short Circuit book edited by Vanessa Gebbie read. As well as meeting up with Vanessa, it also gave me an opportunity to say hello to a few people that I’ve ‘met’ online over the last few years, including Tania Hershman, Sarah Salway and Alex Keegan. I also picked up a copy of Balancing on the Edge of the World, by Elizabeth Baines.
Just before Christmas the Goldfish Bowl writing group met up in Canterbury, and Don took the prize for the best short story on the theme of The Origin of Father Christmas. Katherine Spink also brought along a copy of the short anthology that she’s put together containing a varied bunch of stories by group members.
The Critters Bar writing forum kicks off with Flash League III in early January, an all-play-all flash fiction writing competition with weekly rounds and cash prizes for those with the most points at the end.
Whatever you’re up to in 2010, I hope it’s a great year for you.
I like to imagine that I’m capable of thinking “outside the box”. You know, that good old saying. But during a recent visit to Bluewater, raiding Waterstone’s for something interesting to read, I came across an example of someone thinking “inside the box” and I couldn’t resist buying it.
