I spent a week at the start of this month in lovely Glasgow for Worldcon – my first one, and an experience I approached with a bit of trepidation, but which ultimately ended up being pretty great.
I’ve been to various cons in the past, and tended to find them a mixed bag.The Bristol comic cons I used to go to with friends were mostly spent in the bar, and the most memorable souvenirs I took home were usually the hangovers. On the other hand, my forays to FantasyCon and the late lamented Nine Worlds involved a lot of very interesting talks but were also a little isolating, as I didn’t know anybody before going, and, well, if walking up to a bunch of strangers and making conversation was a skill I had, I probably wouldn’t be a writer.
But this one worked out at a perfect happy medium. A handful of writer buddies who live in different countries and who I hadn’t seen in some time were there and we got to do some leisurely catching-up, but with plenty of time to wander around at my own pace, attending some interesting panels. Perhaps predictably, my highlights were the panels that focused on Scottish SFF (which seems to be pushing for recognition as a cultural force in a way we could perhaps learn from in Wales) and the languages of Scotland. I also went to a very enjoyable workshop by Tiffani Angus on writing folk horror, and came away with a few intriguing story ideas.
Other than that, my August has mostly been spent picking away at the current novel project, which is about three and a half chapters from a completed draft (and yet the end seems to keep receding into the distant yonder…)
Writing news
No new publications this month, and for once, nothing upcoming. I did stumble across this
of
Fusion Fragment
#21, including "Remember Me as My Best Self".
My
Heartlines Spec
story, "Between Worlds, A Garden" should be free to read on the website later in September -- I'll send out the link next time.
What I've been reading
Josh Jones was a member of my Hay Writers at Work cohort this year, and is an all-round good guy, so I'll admit to a bit of bias here. Happily, his Dylan Thomas Prize-nominated debut collection
is an excellent piece of work, by turns sharp, tender, dark and dryly funny.
What I've been watching
Its creepy digital necromancy of Ian Holm aside,
Alien: Romulus
was a perfectly fine piece of SF horror. Certainly, it was less of a mess than either of its immediate predecessors. It was just that, having watched the original a few days prior, for me "perfectly fine" didn't really cut it.
What I've been listening to
So far, this weekend has mostly been taken over by the new Nick Cave album,
Wild God
-- a muted but powerful meditation on age and grief.
That's all from me for this month. 'Til next time.
JL