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In her brilliant book, Becoming a Writer (published some seventy-five years ago but still relevant today), Dorothea Brande spoke about two of the most important things a writer needs: the time and the space to write. Well, for me, time has always been a precious commodity, but as a father of four studying for a degree and working full-time there really isn't a lot I can do about that; I grab time when I can and make the most of it. When it comes to space, I've always struggled, too. I have no study, not even a shed or a roomy closet. At the moment, all I have is a tiny desk in the corner of the bedroom where I rest my laptop of an evening and try to produce good words. But it's not really conducive to the production of inspired work. Now, things have changed. Thanks to a family friend I now have a study in her house, and it's a beautiful house. Surrounded by gorgeous flower-filled gardens and a view of the bay that is quite stunning, Peace Cottage is the ideal idyll fo...

I recently joined the British Fantasy Society and as a fully paid-up member I am now eligible to vote in the society's distinguished awards. The long-list is extremely long this year, so long in fact, that the BFS have produced a downloadable PDF of all the nominees which can be found at the BFS website by going here: http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/ I am very pleased to see Allyson Bird's first collection Bull Running for Girls (which I raved about a few blog entries ago) receive not only a recommendation for Best Collection, but her story 'The Caul Bearer' has also been recommended in the Best Short Fiction category. I sincerely hope she does well in both categories and goes on to make it onto the shortlists. This won't be possible, of course, without lots of votes. Well, I know where I will be casting mine, but if you are a member and haven't yet made up your mind, then I would recommend taking a peek at Ally's work. You won't be disappointed. ...

The Hotel Galileo , my first published book, is scheduled to be released next month, and here is a preview of the fantastic cover art by artist Marge Simon. You can view more of Marge's wonderful artwork here: www.margesimon.com The Hotel Galileo will be available from May 2009. Check out the publicity page at the Wolfsinger Publications website: http://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/TheHotelGalileo.html "Sherlock Holmes meets Star Trek meets 28 Days Later" - Rhonda Parrish, editor of Niteblade Magazine "The Hotel Galileo is well-plotted, fast-paced. A Roaring Twenties-style mystery set aboard a space liner, which will leave you wondering 'Whodunit' the moment you crack open the pages." - Lawrence Dagstine, author of Fresh Blood (Sam's Dot Publishing)

Things are moving forward apace regarding publication of my novella, The Hotel Galileo . I was fully expecting it to appear towards the end of the year but publisher Carol Hightshoe contacted me the other day to inform she was hoping to release the book in May. I'm currently working on the advance reading copy and after that it'll be all systems go. I'm so excited. It will be so great to finally have a book 'out there'. I'm already far along with the next book (almost done) and planning a further dark fantasy novel as the next project. I've been dreaming of this moment since I was eleven years old. Twenty-five years of waiting has not lessened the feeling of excitement I'm feeling right now, I assure you. More news to follow...

When it was announced in late 2007 that Paramount Pictures were planning to reboot the Star Trek movie franchise, the initial reaction from fans and non-fans alike was underwhelming to say the least. The last Trek movie, Nemesis (2002), performed poorly at the box office and fans felt it was little more than a pale imitation of the franchise’s arguably finest moment, The Wrath of Khan , but it was just too ‘lite’ to light up the screen and people stayed away in droves. After that, general feeling was somewhere in the region of ‘let sleeping dogs lie’. Then, out of left-field, JJ Abrams ( Alias, Lost, MI:3 ) was attached to the project, and a Spock-like eyebrow was raised all round. Fascinating. Surely, if anyone could inject new life into Gene Roddenberry’s space baby it was Abrams? And so the questions began: which Trek crew would it be? Not The Next Generation , that’s for sure. Not Deep Space 9 . (That one was going nowhere, literally!) Not Voyager , either. (They wrapped that up p...

The writing has continued these past few months but at a slower pace than ever before. I’m surprised, though, how I have trained myself to be more productive despite having less and less time. When I get the odd hour to work on a story, I do it. If I can snatch a couple of hours to do edits on my next book, I do the edits. Time is precious to me now, more so than ever, so I don’t have the luxury of goofing off and faffing about with stuff which is really just procrastination dressed up as something far more important and appealing. You know the stuff of which I speak… Anyway, I recently received an advance from Wolfsinger Publications for my novella ‘The Hotel Galileo’. Such an amazing feeling, hard to describe, and I couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of…I don’t know, that maybe this is a bit more ‘serious’ now. A great but weird feeling. I am looking forward to the book release with barely contained excitement and anticipation. I’m already getting requests from work colleagues an...

Yes, folks, it's that time of year again. Screaming Dreams are holding their annual Dead of Night Awards for Best Author and Best Artist. This is a list of authors/artists who have contributed to the Screaming Dreams ezine Estronomicon or to the eBook section in 2008. Voting closes on March 7th 2009. To cast your vote you can email the editor Steve Upham directly at: steveATscreamingdreams.com, replacing AT with @, and in the message include the name of the author and/or artist you wish to vote for. To see the full list of eligible author and artist names visit the Screaming Dreams website here: http://www.screamingdreams.com/index1.html If you vote for me I will love you forever.