A busy time ahead as we finalise the layout for Best of British Science Fiction 2023 for Newcon Press and over at The Slab continue sifting through the enormous submissions pile for Laughs in Space. Artwork by fabulous Northampton artist and musician Paul Alex Condie has also been arranged.
All of this goes on amidst CHAOS – as we are having our bathroom gutted and renovated. It has meant getting rid of an enormous cast iron bath, sadly – hopefully the scrap merchants that took it will make something lovely of it (probably money). Manny the cat hates the noise and is mainly hanging out in the garden while the sun shines. Don’t blame him. Still it has been an eventful fortnight, and I have much to tell you.
Firstly, the next issue of ParSec Magazine from PS Publishing is imminent, in which I review Sebsatien de Castell’s Play of Shadows, and also get a namecheck for winning the BSFA Award for Best Collection just 20 days ago now…
Get your copies/subs from PS Publishing here.
Speaking of winning awards, the cover of Best of British Science Fiction 2022 has been updated to reflect our win!
And of course, you can pick up copies here over on the Newcon Press website.
And just wait till you see the ToC for Best of British Science Fiction 2023 – you are going to be blown away!
Last week, Most of the Northampton Arts Lab contingent went to see Comedy Crate’s comedy night at The Charles Bradlaugh to see Spring Day, Radu Isac, Michael Legge and regular Arts Labber Robin Ince perform. My photos are pants, but the whole night was expertly captured by Stewart Hogben as per usual. My best photo makes Robin Ince look like he has been bodysnatched.
The next night, Northampton Arts Lab took over The Lab in Northampton for a night of darkly themed comedy cabaret, Shut Up and Die: The Funeral. Neil and I performed as our sketch duo Prison Biscuit, and there was poetry, music, audience-participation sketches, magical ritual, a reverse striptease, and some superb Cthulhu-based filking by Tom Baker. No, not that one. It was a bit bizarre to say the least. A jolly good night was had by all. Just look at all this fun you probably missed.
As if all the dressing up fun/literary malarkey wasn’t over, the Alt Book Club who meet once a month at the White Elephant chose T. J. Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea for this month’s discussion. It seems we have established some kind of tradition for dressing up as characters or themes from the book – last month being ‘sexy robots’ for Chris Beckett’s The Holy Machine. This time we actually took photos.
Neil certainly got some looks while dressed as Zoe. Next month we are reading Welcome to Nowhere by Caimh McDonnell. I wonder what costumery shenanigans that will inspire?
