Teaching SF and F with Aliette

 I'm pleased to announce that, in conjunction with Literature Wales, Aliette de Bodard and I will be teaching an online course in writing SF & Fantasy.

https://www.tynewydd.wales/course/digital-course-sci-fi-fantasy/

This course will be held over four online sessions on the following dates:

Tuesday 14 November, Tuesday 21 November, Tuesday 28 November & Tuesday 12 December 2023 from 7.00 – 8.30 pm

Over four online sessions, Aliette and Alastair will address the peculiar challenges and opportunities open to anyone wishing to write science fiction, fantasy or their related sub-genres. Drawing on their own experiences across a range of literary styles and formats, from short stories to novels and extended series, they’ll cover the mechanics of crafting a story, from planning and plotting, to the use of voice and viewpoint, setting and mood. They’ll address the unique challenges of worldbuilding within the literatures of the fantastic, from the use of language to evoke a time and a place to the invention of social systems and far-future technologies, and how to make those creations seem real to the reader. They’ll talk about the different stages of writing; from initial drafts to polishing, how to prepare work for submission and how to make the most of the literary marketplace, from traditional venues to the online world and self-publishing. They’ll bring invaluable experience in problem-solving: how to come up with ideas, how to work around creative blocks, how to make a good story better – and, always, how to find fun and fulfilment in your craft, wherever it takes you. The future is wide open!

If you're interested in the course, hop over to the link above for all the information you need. Or, drop a question here.

Al

A thought.

 I'll believe in the validity of AI-generated art the day an AI withholds its art.

RIP Croz

 

A soul/funk classic to start the year.

 I heard this a couple of times over the last year or two on Trevor Nelson. Wow, what a tune! Dig that bassline.

Happy New Year everyone.

Merry Christmas

 

Best wishes to all at the end of 2022, and with good thoughts for 2023. Let's have a bit of Kylie (she's half Welsh, don't you know) with this festive banger.

Warm wishes,

Al

RIP Christine McVie

 The death of Christine McVie has been much reported. Here's a lovely track from the album she did with Lindsey Buckingham a few years ago.

I've finished a book

 Last week I delivered MACHINE VENDETTA, the third in the Prefect Dreyfus series. All being well, it should appear in 2023. I don't want to say too much more about it until at least the final round of editing (which won't be finished until well until next year) but here at least is the provisional cover copy, subject to change:

Panoply is a small, efficient police force, dedicated to maintaining the rule of democracy among the ten thousand disparate city states orbiting the planet Yellowstone.

Ingvar Tench was one of Panoply's most experienced operatives. So why did she walk alone and virtually unarmed into a habitat with a vicious grudge against her organisation?

As his colleagues pick up the pieces, Dreyfus must face his conscience. Four years ago, when an investigation linked to one of his most dangerous adversaries got a little too personal, Dreyfus arranged for Tench to continue the enquiry by proxy.

In using her - even though he had his reasons - did Dreyfus also put her in the line of fire?

And what does Tench's misadventure tell him about an enemy he had hoped was dormant?

The book marks the end of my ten-novel contract, and since I've stated my intention to do standalones for at least the next few years, it's also the last word on both Dreyfus and the Revelation Space universe for the foreseeable.