Neil Armstrong lives!

‘This Neil Armstrong is not dead’: this story of mine took 20 years to find a home. Granted, for most of that time it had given up hope and settled in a box under a railway bridge. I believed in it, and tinkered with it from time to time, and it really was a case […]

Big grins

I woke up on Wednesday morning to find three rejection emails waiting in my in box. Grumble grumble, oh well, do the editors all get together to co-ordinate this, grumble … Later that day, an acceptance from a magazine that had earlier asked me for some rewrites. Mood completely changed. And now, I’ve just had […]

Billy Ocean knew the Truth

Billy Ocean knew the Truth, that Love Really Hurts … don’t worry about the “without you” bit, no qualifier is required. And to prove it, the speculative fiction anthology ‘Love Hurts‘ (left click on the title to be taken elsewhere) is now available for purchase and your reading pleasure. Marvel at the fools love makes […]

Affirmation

I’m fluctuating somewhere between ‘well, I must be some sort of author if I’m on an author page‘ and ‘don’t be so needy, Stevens’. I am however looking forward to the book coming out, and to ‘The Boulevardier’ and his bad French seeing the light of day.

Best Horror of the Year

Years ago I was helping a junior staff member who was having some difficulties. Ours can be an arduous profession, with long hours, lots of conflict, and difficult policy decisions which have to be defended. She was talking about some of the difficulties she was facing, particularly as a woman of a different background in […]

Speculative Fiction Festival

A little shout out for the NSW Writers’ Centre’s Speculative Fiction Festival (click on the highlighted text to be taken straight to their webpage), being held a the centre in the beautiful grounds of the former mental asylum at Callan Park. I have previously enjoyed many speakers and panels at the Speculative Fiction Festival and […]

The Maggot People

Imagine if Dan Brown had the gumption to really whack us with a truly bizarre confection of a conspiracy about the Catholic Church, instead of that wimpy pile he served up. If you are going to show us an imaginary dark world hidden by a conspiracy of the ages, have a real red hot go […]

My Honourable Lizard

In her list of year’s best short fiction in her December Clavis Aurea column in Apex magazine, Charlotte Ashley gives an honourable mention to my story, ‘My Life as a Lizard‘. I am grateful to Ms Ashley for her kindness, and for her original review, and of course to the folk at Crossed Genres magazine who […]