Writing
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To the Stars and Back: An anthology tribute to Eric Brown
In May 2023, our friend Eric Brown passed away after a battle with cancer. Eric was a wonderfully talented author whose body of work – in science fiction, children’s fiction, and crime – was filled with humour and humanity, as Eric himself was. I first met him at an Eastercon many years ago, and as… Continue reading
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Cakes & Ale Episode 33: An Interview with Daniel M. Bensen
In this episode we chat with author Daniel M. Bensen about his new speculative biology novel Interchange. In this sequel to 2019’s Junction, a group of humans attempt to travel across the many biomes of the alien planet beyond the wormhole on Earth. Daniel discusses how his worldbuilding process leant itself to creating the geography and… Continue reading
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Episode 23 – An Interview with Cherry Potts
This week we are joined by Cherry Potts, author and founder of Arachne Press. Cherry is the author of fantasy novel The Dowry Blade and the short story collection Mosaic of Air. Her work is often inspired by myth and fairy tales, while exploring the politics and humour found in everyday lesbian life. She is… Continue reading
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Episode 22 – An Interview with Michael Cobley
This week we are joined by Science Fiction and Fantasy author Michael Cobley. Mike is the author of the Humanity’s Fire space opera series and the Shadowkings epic fantasy trilogy. He is also the author of many short stories including the collection Iron Mosaic. We talked to Mike about his long career as a writer,… Continue reading
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Episode 21 – An Interview with Donna Scott
This week we are joined by author, editor, stand-up comedian and Chair of the British Science Fiction Association, Donna Scott. Donna is a professional editor who has worked with many SF and Fantasy authors including the legendary Alan Moore. Her short fiction has been widely published in magazines and anthologies, and she has been given… Continue reading
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Episode 20 – An Interview with Chris Beckett
Award-winning science fiction author Chris Beckett joined us to talk about his work. Chris is the author of six novels and dozens of short stories in a career spanning more than 25 years. His novel Dark Eden was the winner of the 2013 Clarke award, while his short fiction collection The Turing Test won the… Continue reading
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Survival Tips for NaNoWriMo
It’s almost here! Evening comes early, and the green summer shades of my village are overthrown by waves of red and gold. Children in dressed as ghosts and ghouls go trick-or-treating around the houses and fireworks light up the night skies. It must be time to write a novel. I first tackled NaNoWriMo in 2005.… Continue reading
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Episode 19 – NaNoWriMo 2017
Before NaNoWriMo 2017 kicks off, we are joined by Cambridge Municipal Liaison Ian Rennie to talk all about the annual 50k novel writing challenge. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, sees hundreds of thousands of people all over the world attempt to write a 50,000 word novel during the 30 days of November.… Continue reading
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Episode 18 – Small Press Day
We’re celebrating Small Press Day on 8 July by interviewing the people behind some of our favourite small press publishers. We spoke with Mark Toner, co-founder and art director of Shoreline of Infinity about running a genre magazine and putting on live sci-fi cabaret events. We met up with Ian Whates, founder and editor at… Continue reading
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Short form speculative fiction and where to find it
To follow up on our recent podcast about short fiction in SF&F (Episode 15), we’ve put together a list of some of the sources of speculative fiction that we have encountered. This is not a list of authors of short fiction, but rather the places where one might look to get a feel for genre… Continue reading