Updates and Prep for World Fantasy Con

September 15, 2025

Stretch your ghost wings and scream

World Fantasy Con: The Past

My very first international genre convention was World Fantasy Con in Brighton back in 2013. I had a few online friends from Live Journal (yes, I’m that old) I was going to meet, but other than that, I knew no one.

Although i did have books out, they were US releases that had never made it to the UK, and being from a country on the arse-end of the universe, i was a total non-entity.

Which is, I think, the best way to experience a con, because you’re just going for the fun of it — you’re not sucked into the ‘omg I need to network and make some buzz’ or whatever.

I ended up having a fantastic time and meeting so many incredible people, so going back to World Fantasy Con in Brighton this year feels like coming full circle.

World Fantasy Con: The Present

This time, instead of flying for seventeen hours from South Africa, I am taking a hopefully leisurely train down to Brighton from Scotland, and staying in a hotel instead of a slightly dodgy backpackers.

i feel so fancy, but also I do not have the energy or will power to stay in a backpackers in Hove, nope.

UK genre cons are homecomings — they’re my chance to see all the lovely people I haven’t seen since the last con, celebrate and commiserate with my writing friends scattered across the world, and enjoy the slight debauchery that is barcon.

Many of my friends will be launching books, or doing panels, so that’s one way I can show my support - by attending, and by buying books (this is why I have a train and not a plane ticket — luggage space.)

I’m not sure if I’m going to be on any panels, but my main goal is just to chill.

In Writing News

Well, hopefully, thumbs held etc, I will have some good news to share soonish, but until then, my work on the editing for the sequel to The Shape of Monsters - A Million Points of Light - is going very well.

I’ve done the major narrative edits, so I’m having a read through now in print to catch any niggling things before I send it back to my editors for their further thoughts.

Here’s a wee spoiler-free snippet:

The smell of rich soil thickened, the sweet green of growing things overwhelming. Sunlight played across Xanthia’s closed eyelids, sparking aching rainbows inside her skull. She winced, and squinted one eye open. The illumination in the glass room had taken on a jade underwater tinge, and the air had turned wet and hot.

‘You’re dreaming.’

The voice was low and familiar, and Xanthia sat up. The pain had dropped out of her bones, leaving her aching joints feeling loose and strong. Unnatural. ‘Of course I am.’

Nico Chalmane was too pale, and shivers of colour moved under his skin, making Xanthia think of deep sea creatures communicating in undulating patterns of luminescence. His black coat billowed and his hair rose and curled as though he was suspended in an ocean current. He grinned at her, and his teeth were white, blinding lights calling creatures to their deaths.

What. More Good news?

You may remember I mentioned my short story GODSKIN had been shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards? Well it turns out it’s also been shortlisted for the World Fantasy Awards, so go little story, you’re doing good there.

You can read GODSKIN online at Strange Horizon

Reading and Watching

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my reading — I’m still on MK Hardy’s The Needfire, and I’m also reading Ken Liu’s collection The Paper Menagerie, but mostly I’ve been head down working.

Until next time,

 stretch your ghost wings and scream