Reading, writing, exciting

I've been inadvertently quiet for a couple of weeks. So busy editing the SF noir novel and reading books that I forgot to blog. To those of you who missed me: sorry. To those of you enjoying the respite: tough, I'm back.

I've got a couple of book reviews out there that you might not have seen, and they're all great novels. First was Wychwood by George Mann, he of the Newbury and Hobbes series of occult Victorian steampunk mysteries. This novel is the start of a new series of contemporary police procedurals, also with an occult twist. You can read my review at The Bookbag.

Then I read We Are The End, the debut novel by Chilean writer Gonzalo C Garcia. Really it's about being young, feckless and in love, but it has a flavour of computer games and rock music so maybe if you enjoyed the film Scott Pilgrim vs The World you might particularly appreciate it. Anyway you can read my review at Disclaimer magazine.

Yesterday I finished Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft, a big-publisher reissue (out in January 2018) of a fantasy novel he self-published a few years ago. It's the first in a series, located in the fabulous setting of the Tower of Babel where a small-town headmaster has become accidentally separated from his wife on their honeymoon, and I'm itching to read book two and find out what happens next. You can read my review of it at The Bookbag.

As if that wasn't enough, I've got flash fiction in an actual print anthology from Ellipsis Zine, which you can buy here if you feel like it (I get royalties...). The book is full of work by the serially-shortlisted of the flash world, the names that crop up again and again, and I can't wait to get my hands on my free copy. I'm in seriously good company.

This week I've also been plotting and planning with Andrea and Roz, my friends from Ilkley Writers who you'll have heard on the radio programme we did about libraries in April. An audacious idea for a library-based writing festival grew out of that programme, and yesterday we agreed on a final form for said festival, with our lovely contact at a local library. When we know whether the library's funding bid has been successful (sometime before Christmas, we hope) we'll know what scale our festival will be on, and I'll tell you more about it. Until then I'm fizzing with excitement at the thought of getting people writing, getting people into libraries, and adding further evidence to Why Libraries Are A Good Thing.