Eclipse…going, going, gone…

Since I announced on April 4 that I was closing Eclipse Online I’ve had a number of queries about its future.  Eclipse artist Kathleen Jennings has just posted about illustrating the final two Eclipse stories, and it has prompted me to clarify my plans for it.

As much as I loved working on the Eclipse series of anthologies and Eclipse Online, I know that it’s time to set it aside for awhile. I only have so much time and energy and I’m committed to a range of projects right now.  When those settle down, perhaps in a year or two, I’d love to revisit it properly, either as an online publication or as a new anthology series, but for the moment it’s definitely on the backburner.

I would, though, like to thank again everyone who worked on both incarnations of Eclipse. It was a blast.

Episode 146: Live with E. Lily Yu!

This week we’re delighted to welcome E. Lily Yu to the podcast. We discuss her work, writing, and all sorts of other stuff.  As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast. And, if you get the chance, try some of Lily’s terrific new stories!

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Seven – ebook

The trade paperback edition of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Seven was published by Night Shade Books back in March. Since then the publishing house has changed hands, with Skyhorse Publishing taking over the print editions of Night Shade’s titles and Start Publishing taking over the ebook editions.

One effect of the transition was that the ebook edition of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Seven was delayed. I’m delighted to see that you can now buy it from:

I would expect it to be available from other digital retailers shortly.  I really appreciate everyone’s patience with this, and hope you enjoy the book!

For future me

I sometimes look back at old blog entries to bring back details of little personal things. Not often, but sometimes. Today is the day, future me, when we went out to see Driving Miss Daisy at His Majesty’s Theatre with mum. Can’t tell you if we enjoyed it, because that’s tonight. Jessica turned thirteen this week. We had a family dinner at Villa Da Vinci, and she got more One Direction stuff than any sane human could ever need. Sophie and you sat at one end of the table, Stephen and Barbara at the other, and much pizza and pasta was consumed in what seemed a good night. Tomorrow there’ll be a small family party at the house, with Jessica M and Bella. Hopefully Jessica S will love it.

This week we also continued our way through Switched at Birth, you failed to do much new reading though you did start re-reading Consider Phlebas following the sad news of Iain Banks death. Last week we watched Gremlins for family movie night (a failure) and this week is Jessica’s choice and she seems to want Some Like it Hot. We’ll see how that goes down.

It was also part of your continuing (but hopefully when you read this, long over) period of minor ill-health. Your ears have settled down after a lengthy period of difficulty, as have your teeth (unconnected though that is). Just to make things happy, though, your right eye is acting up and is blurry. Saw the ophthalmologist who explained what was going in. It should be okay. You have, sadly, put most of the weight you lost back on. Still, you’ve identified the recipe for success so hopefully over the coming months that will turn back around. And a look back at old blog posts (11 years worth) shows you usually have the flu around now, but not this year. Yet.

And, finally, we’re a few weeks away from tax time. A favourite. Still, you’re in pretty good shape for it so if all goes to plan the rest of the year should be easier.  Oh, and Jessica just got up even though it’s 6am, so you tucked her back into bed (she still likes that at thirteen) and she asked if we could go on a family holiday. You should look into that.

Blog tour

And, while this site was unavailable, I was elsewhere. The Fearsome Journeys blog tour is in full swing and just recently I’ve:

been interviewed about Fearsome Journeys over at Gavreads;

provided some writing tips to Civilian Reader; and

talked about selecting the stories for Fearsome Journeys at Beauty in Ruins.

It’s been good fun and I have more posts to get out into the world over the coming week or two. More soon!