ParSec #9 has been released today, so you can buy it immediately and read stories by M.R. Carey, Tim Lebbon, E.M. Faulds, and the legend himself, Michael Moorcock! Plus, an interview with yours truly. I just received PS Publishing’s newsletter in which my friend, the editor Ian Whates, has written an introduction to this issue and described me as “a veritable human Swiss Army knife”, which brings to mind that amazingly strange film with Daniel Radcliffe. I think he means I am a very busy person, not that I have the ability to power marooned men across the ocean with my flatulence.
I have to say, busy as I am, I always have time for a bit of surrealism, and I do like Swiss Army Man. This year has already brought us more surrealist delights in the form of Poor Things and the Boy and the Heron, which I’ve seen at the cinema and enthused about to all and sundry. A great start to my film-watching year in 2024, and quite frankly I don’t know how they can be topped. We’ll just have to wait and see.
My 2024 Setlist has also been updated with Moving Pictures, a Rush tribute band as seen at the Black Prince last weekend. I’m unlikely to be able to go and see the actual Rush, but these musicians were pretty darn good. Someone remarked to me, “Well they better have a decent drummer, because Neil Peart was the best.” Yes, they did, and she was excellent. And while the gig didn’t have the raucous energy of Therapy? last year and being in an actual mosh pit, I still got a few bruises from the one-woman mosh pit flailing drunkenly in the front row (and at points it seemed auditioning for Riverdance). Lady, it’s not the prog way! You need to stand with one hand holding a pint, one thumb in the belt loop of your jeans and nod very slightly to the rhythm while staring at the amps. That’s prog rock!
I’m heading into the weekend feeling extremely chipper. I’m probably a day or so away from compiling my Table of Contents for Best of British Science Fiction 2023, which is great. In the meantime, I learned yesterday that Best of British Science Fiction 2022 has been selected for the Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List 2023. This is amazing! It’s such a huge deal for me. I’m extremely chuffed! Of course, the real stars are the authors who wrote the stories I picked, so my joy may be slightly vicarious. Nonetheless, it’s real.
Right, now this is important (and quite exciting): the list “seeds” the Locus Awards, which means Best of British Science Fiction 2022 is actually in the running for an award in the Best Anthology category. I know I’m up against some giants, but if you have loved what I do then please consider voting for Best of British Science Fiction 2022 in these awards. Here is the link to the 2023 Poll & Survey. The Poll decides the winners of the Locus Awards, presented in June 2024, and is open to all to vote on. You will be asked to fill in a small survey first about what you like to read if you are not already a subscriber. Please do vote for me!
And, in breaking news, I will be appearing at two conventions this March:
At Sci-Fi Weekender in Great Yarmouth 14-16th March, I will be interviewing steampunk author and member of the Anti-Poet Paul Eccentric. I will also be on a panel with Paul, Bryony Pearce and Peter Indiana Allison.
And at Levitation, the Eastercon convention in Birmingham on 29th March, I will be performing a stand-up set. Come and see me!
