Welcome to the Climate Fiction Writers League

I have recently joined the Climate Fiction Writers League, an exciting new venture set up by author Lauren James.

The league has members from all over the world who have one thing in common – we have all seen the perils that climate change poses to our planet and have used this threat in our fiction.

From picture books through to YA, adult SF and contemporary fiction you can find books that explore a wide range of scenarios and environmental issues, any of which could be our future.

The books may carry a message, but not at expense of story, so do pop over to the website and see who is involved, sign up to the newsletter, and discover some wonderful books.

Visit the Climate Fiction Writers League here: Climate Fiction Writers League

And read more from Lauren about why she has set up the League over at Tor: Lauren James Launches Climate Fiction Writers League

Flash Fiction Sale

My flash fiction piece of gothic horror, Burgundy, inspired by many summers spent exploring wine country in France, has just been accepted to appear in the forthcoming anthology, 99 tiny Terrors from Pulse Publishing.

Pitch Wars 2020

Pitch Wars is an annual event run by Brenda Drake which offers aspiring authors the opportunity to work with a mentor on their manuscripts and showcase these to prospective agents at the end of the mentoring process. I first gave it a try last year and, although I didn’t get any requests from prospective mentors I did find it an interesting experience. For that reason, and slightly wiser about the process, I decided to give it another go in 2020.

Last year I tried with one of my kid’s books but this time I decided to give the adult market a try with my thriller, the one that keeps coming oh – so close – but has so far failed to find a home – certainly in the UK market. But the US market is a different beast. My main concern with my writing is that it’s too European for the US. But you never know if you don’t try. I may not have been picked as a mentee, but all in all the experience was a very positive one.

So here are a few tips for anyone else planning on participating in Pitch Wars in future.

1. Nail the Query Letter

Different mentors approach reading their submissions in different ways. Some read 

the pages first but some do a first pass based on the query letters, and for this reason it is a good idea to spend some time on this and get it right. US query letters are not the same as the covering letters expected in the UK. Fortunately there is a wealth of information on how to write a good query letter online and a quick google search should see you right.

2. Choose your mentors with care

You can only choose four mentors so spend a bit of time checking them out. In particular read their wish lists as these contain a lot of information about what they are looking for in that particular year – if they’ve mentored before it could be quite different from what they were looking for in the past. My submission was a thriller with a SF twist. Of the four mentors I picked who were asking for thrillers the two who requested for material were both also looking at SF. The ones who didn’t request weren’t. Read into that what you may.

3. Study the showcase

Studying the previous year’s showcase not only gives you an indication of the types of work the mentors chose but also gives an interesting insight into what the agents were looking for. None of them can tell who else has requested from a particular showcase until all the agent requests are revealed at the end of the showcase period. Although nobody was left with zero requests last year there was a huge range from 2 to 35!

4. Make friends

Pitch Wars is a massive networking opportunity so take advantage of that. Make friends, find critique partners, join in the fun and challenges. If your mentor is offering feedback on submissions take it. Whether you get any requests or are picked as a mentee is irrelevant. Use this opportunity to your advantage. You never know where things might lead.

5. Don’t give up

The publishing industry is subjective. Mentors’ choices are subjective. You may feel your submission has vanished into a black hole but don’t be disheartened. Keep writing. Keep developing your craft. The key to success is to keep going. 

Find out all about Pitch Wars here.

Flash Fiction at Newmyths.com

My latest short story – a flash fiction piece called “The Last Library” is now live in Issue 52 of Newmyths.com. I hope you enjoy it.

“The Relic” is Published.

 The Relic, my latest short story, is now in print.

My contributor’s copy of BFS Horizons #11 landed on my doormat on Friday. A lovely volume with beautiful cover art, packed full of poetry and prose. I’ve dipped into it a couple of times already and thoroughly enjoyed what I’ve read and I’m looking forward to working my way through the rest of it in the weeks to come.

Review: Darling there are Wolves in the Woods by L.V. Russell

(This is the third of three reviews for books I purchased during IndieApril.)

The woods are dark and wicked, and perhaps some things would be better off staying lost…Teya Jenkins is ten years old when her sister is taken. Niven is never found, because no one knows where to look. No one but Teya that is, who heard the whispers of the trees and saw the beautiful creatures that dwelled in the shadows. It is only after another tragedy, years later, that Teya finally dares to enter the forest that haunts her dreams, determined to bring home her sister and mend the fractured remains of her family. But someone lingers in the shadows, tempting her away with veiled promises of the thing she’s always longed for….to belong somewhere. Tangled up in the lives of the creatures that stole her sister, Teya risks everything to bring Niven home. In a world of extraordinary monsters, Teya finds herself fighting for not only her life, and for her sister, but also for her heart.

From the first page I knew I was in for and emotional ride. We are thrown into a family stricken by grief. Teya’s mother sets places at the dinner table for both Teya’s missing sister and absent father and the tension between mother and daughter is palpable. 

We all know that the Fey are not kind, and Teya is vulnerable, desperate to be loved. Another tragedy drives her back to the woods where her sister disappeared, and into their world, at once both fascinating and sinister.

Here she meets Laphaniel, one of the fey, and, like all fey he is both cruel yet fascinating. A relationship starts to form between them, but it is an uncomfortable relationship, for Laphaniel is her captor. He’s a fascinating character, a dark character, but at the same time strangely compelling, and the dynamic between them is both intriguing yet sinister. But all the time Teya just wants to find her missing sister.

This is a superb book. Beautifully and evocatively written with complex and compelling characters. It is the first in a series and as such there are plenty of loose ends left hanging, and loads of unanswered questions.

I hope I don’t have to wait too long for the next one.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

LV Russell/goodreads

Review: Terrestrial Magic by Marina Ermakova

(This is the second of three reviews for books I purchased during IndieApril.)

Most sensible people avoid fire-breathing carnivores that prey on humans. But Jordan has built a career out of studying such legendary animals, creatures thought mythological until their re-emergence in the world three decades ago. She and researchers like her believe that knowledge is the key to reclaiming the land they'd lost back then, when humanity retreated into designated safety zones.

But when the humans moved out, the legends moved in.

They were the descendants of mythical heroes, inheriting the powers of their ancestors, and they weren't afraid of the monsters. Jordan never expected to run into a legend, but when a field expedition turns into a trap for her team, she realizes that one deliberately tried to kill her. It's a diplomatic nightmare the Roman authorities might happily sweep under the rug. But if Jordan doesn't figure out who attacked her and why, they could try again. Yet even if she does solve the mystery, what could one stubborn scientist possibly do to stop a powerful legend?

I really wanted to love this book. It has so much going for it. To start with, the setting. It’s so refreshing to come across a book of this type set somewhere other than America and in this case – Italy – a country I know well.

The concept is also amazing. The idea of the Boom and appearance of legendary animals and people in our world is unique and intriguing. I couldn’t wait to see where the author went with this!

Sadly this is a book which, for me, fails to deliver on its promise. The Italian setting feels superficial. The plot drifts. The action set pieces are well written and the story romps along at a pace, but the suspense is never quite there. The main character, Jordan, has difficulty connecting with her emotions and although this is an interesting aspect of her character it also makes her hard to relate to.

However this is merely one reader’s subjective opinion. Perhaps I was expecting too much. The writing is good and the author has gone to a great deal of trouble on the production side – a great cover and error free text.

As I’ve mentioned the action scenes are well written and pacey. The concept is very clever and interesting. I hope the author will work on the aspects of story structure and plotting and I look forward to seeing how she develops as a writer and reading more of her work in years to come.

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Marina Ermakova/website/goodreads

Review: The Girl from A Thousand Fathoms by David Gullen

(This is the first of three reviews for books I purchased during IndieApril.)

Tim Wassiter, P.I. isn’t a cynical old-school detective with a bottle in the desk, he’s the new-age version with chickens, tea – and a little bit of magic. His ex-partner scoffs, the old lady down the road just wants him to find her missing cat, but Tim knows that magic works. He’s seen the proof and he’s learning to use it to solve crimes.

Money’s tight but now he has his first real case. But what sounds like easy money isn’t as simple as it seems. The mysterious woman who hired him has dangerous friends and they're rapidly losing patience. Tim needs to discover what’s really going on, and fast. Soon there’s an even more mysterious woman, a series of increasingly strange events, and a great many more cats.

As things get more violent, more bewildering and more utterly weird, Tim discovers that this case goes far deeper than he could ever have imagined. Everything is connected, even the past and the future, and everyone is looking for a girl who almost certainly does not exist.

And magic isn’t just real, it’s probably going to get him killed.

What’s not to love about this book! It has to be the most quirky, unusual and entertaining read I’ve had in a long time.

As you can probably guess from the title there is a strong maritime theme running through this book – from mermaids to sea monsters and a good bit of ships and oceanography thrown into the mix (Oh and this author is spot on with his oceanography).

But most of the action takes place in Brighton, which is brought vividly to life. The sense of place is excellent. I could almost smell the sea and sense the vibe of Brighton’s daily life.

We meet an intriguing cast of characters who, at first glance, seen so widely separated in geography and time that surely there is no way they can all be connected – but rest assured that all the threads pull together into a very satisfying conclusion.

I found this book a really cheerful read. Yes some bad and some scary things happen but there is a certain lightness of touch in the writing and I found myself smiling on numerous occasions.

Escapism? Absolutely! And what more could you ask for with all the craziness going on in the world.

This book is an absolute delight and I strongly recommend it.

Amazon UK
Amazon US
David Gullen: website/goodreads

Supporting Indie April

This month is Indie April during which we do our bit to support self-published authors, so I put out a call on twitter asking people to recommend their books and had an amazing response – almost 100 replies to my tweet, and nearly as many book links.

Obviously I can’t read all of them so I had to whittle them down and I’m going to share my process for doing this with you.

First off I specifically asked for UK Amazon kindle links. A large number of authors sent me US Amazon links or links to other sales platforms which are really no good to me so I’m afraid these books didn’t get a look in. However, that still left me with a long list of 40 books. A significant number to choose from.

Some authors included a pitch with their link, which was useful, but I still followed the links for those who hadn’t. My next step was to check them out on Amazon to see if they looked interesting. This was where personal taste comes in. I asked for Sci-Fi, thrillers and fantasy as these are the genres I enjoy most, but also anything else that people thought I might enjoy, and I received an interesting assortment, ranging from children’s books to romance to memoir.

My next stage in filtering through these was to look at them on Amazon to see if the book’s premise was of interest to me. Obviously this was subjective and I skipped over books that other people may love simply because they weren’t by cup of tea. A couple of things worth noting though that did put me off a few.

Firstly, shoddy covers. Most authors had put a fair bit of effort into their covers and some were simply gorgeous, but a few were really cheap and shoddy looking. If you can’t be bothered to make an effort with your cover why would I think you’ve made an effort with your writing?

Secondly the blurb – This does need to be gripping and to the point, giving the reader a clear indication of the book’s premise. Far too many were waffly and unclear. This is your sales pitch. Don’t waste it. I ended up with a shortlist of 12.

Next, I used the ‘look inside facility’. This is where the writing starts to matter. You may have a killer concept but if it’s poorly executed I’m going to pass. Fortunately this wasn’t too much of an issue so my selection was rather more subjective. I now have two amazing looking books lined up on my kindle to read and I’ll be posting reviews of them in due course.

Sale to Neo-opsis

The Canadian SF magazine Neo-opsis has been on my submission radar ever since I started writing and submitting SF short stories and every so often, when I have something I think they may like, I send it their way.

Well I’m delighted to say that my latest offering, ‘The Forgotten City’, has been accepted for publication in a future issue. The contract is signed and sent back and I look forward to sharing this story with you all.

Always check your SPAM!!

I’m normally quite good at this – keeping an eye on my junk or spam folders for any emails that might inadvertently be flagged up and side-lined. But this time one slipped through.

I’ve had a few computer issues lately. Well, when I say issues it’s really called ‘husband upgrading and tinkering’ and doing annoying things such as deleting all my contacts! And somewhere in amongst all this a short story acceptance was marked as junk and then deleted. Or maybe it never got through at all. Whatever the reason I never saw it.

The first I knew was when I checked my junk folder this week there was a message from a few days previously from a magazine editor asking had I received their email of acceptance back in December and was the story still available.

Well clearly I hadn’t and I promptly replied apologising and said that yes, the story was still available and I was happy for them to proceed.

I’ve not heard any more so who knows? But for now I’m marking this as a sale and hopefully I’ll be able to share The Relic with you all in the not too distant future.

Except it’s set during a virus outbreak so maybe they’ve changed their minds!

Short Story Sale to NewMyths.com

My latest short story sale is a flash piece called ‘The Last Library’ which has found a home at NewMyths.com. It is due to be published later this year. I’ll let you know when it comes online.

Living in a Dystopian Novel

There is a blurring of fiction and reality. The world we live in has changed, in many ways not for the better. We thought we were safe, living in our technological bubble. But all that is changing.

It really does feel as if we are players – minor characters in a real-life dystopian novel. We didn’t choose these roles. But now we have to let the story play.

Over the years I have written about climate change – Cli-Fi – Climate Fiction it was called. Nobody reads it any more. Probably because it is real now. Climate fact. I wandered down to the harbour at Spring tide and the roads alongside the harbour wall were awash. Two weeks ago at the last spring tide it was the same. Cars were ploughing through, sending up plumes of spray. The salt water will rot their bodywork but the drivers don’t seem to care.

People have other things to worry about. There’s a virus spreading across the world, out of control in many places. Nobody bothers too much when it’s somewhere else. But it’s not somewhere else. It’s here. It’s happening now.

I went to the supermarket and the shelves were bare. Not all of them, but oddly people are stockpiling toilet roll. There’s a craziness about the world we live in. Historians of the future will study it in great depth, I have no doubt. Maybe they’ll puzzle over the toilet roll panic. I certainly did.

Maybe I need to brush up on my survival skills. Do I know where to forage for food? Could I skin a rabbit? Should I be building a bunker at the bottom of my garden? Or will a well-stocked freezer and larder suffice?

Will it all blow over and life continue as before? Will the summer be one of spritz in the sunshine, laughing at the craziness of it all?

Either way, I still get the feeling that I’ve been trapped in a novel. An oddly surreal novel.

The next few weeks will tell.

The MG Sci-Fi void.

I’m currently pitching a Sci-Fi kid’s novel to agents, so I headed over to my local branch of Waterstones in order to try to identify comparison titles. (Similar books that I can reference in my covering letter to give prospective agents an idea of where on the shelves my story would fit.)

This particular book of mine is aimed at the 10+ market, the same market as Red Rock. It’s quite sciency but not science heavy and I’ve made sure that the science in it is accessible. It’s probably best described as a Girls in STEM story.

So I started searching in the 9-12 age section for similar types of books – and you know what – nothing. I couldn’t find a single book even remotely sciency or Sci-Fi! Nothing! Diddly-squat!!!

So I came home and searched on Amazon. I found a couple but nothing that would really work as a comparison title!

I did the same for YA and guess what? Yup. Apart from the hangovers from the Dystopia boom a while back – and yes, Dystopia is a type of Sci-Fi – but my book isn’t a dystopia, so they weren’t a good match either.

It’s puzzling. There’s a huge drive to encourage STEM subjects at school, and particularly to encourage girls into STEM – it’s nothing new – it’s been going on for a while – so why isn’t this being reflected in kid’s literature?

Then, yesterday I spotted an agent commenting on this very thing. Her inbox was full of YA Sci-Fi – which suggested to her that there were plenty of readers and writers of the genre out there - but editors simply don’t want to buy it.

Clearly there’s a mismatch here. There could be many reasons for it, but as a humble writer rather than an industry insider I wouldn’t know.

All I can say is it doesn’t bode well for the story I’m pitching. Or for my current WIP which has a definite YA feel to it – Maybe I’d be better off pitching it as Adult instead!

Twitter Pitch Contests

Every so often twitter fills up with people pitching their novels in twitter pitch contests. I watch these with interest and sometimes take part. There are a whole raft of contests that run, the main one being #PitMAD but others like #SFFPit and #DivPit crop up at regular intervals.

Over the course of following several of these contests I have made a few observations which I thought I would share with you on the pros and cons of these types of event.

Pros:

1. Distilling the essence of your story into a single tweet is a really good exercise. It makes you think about what your novel is really about and what makes it unique.

2. Looking at the pitches that get a lot of love can help your develop your own pitch, and it’s useful to be able to pitch your book in a single sentence. You never know when that might come in handy.

3. You get a sense of what is popular, both within the US market and in what people are writing. This can fluctuate a lot as the market changes but seeing what’s popular gives an idea of what’s hot right now.

4. I’d never really thought about comparison titles before, but again, it’s a good thing to think about. Where does your book fit with the market? Where do you see it on the bookstore shelves?

5. There’s a lot of camaraderie among participating authors, retweeting the pitches that catch their eye. If you want to connect with other authors on twitter this is a good opportunity.

6. Going to an agent’s profile and looking at what sort of pitches they’ve liked gives you a good idea of what they are looking for. If they’re liking stuff similar to yours it’s probably worth submitting to them, even if they haven’t liked your particular pitch – they could quite simply have missed it in all the noise.

Cons:

1. The feed is public and there’s nothing to stop people picking up on that brilliant idea you just tweeted and going away and doing their own thing with it, so if this is something that worries you, best not to pitch yourself.

2. Not all agents and publishers are made the same and there are definitely some dodgy ones that follow these contests. So if you do get a like from someone you haven’t heard of spend a little time on research. You’re under no obligation to actually submit if you don’t like the look of them.

3. It’s very US focussed. That doesn’t mean International authors such as myself can’t submit but most of the participating agents and publishers are American so they’ll be looking for work that fits the US market.

4. The feed is incredibly busy so don’t overthink it if you don’t get any love. Concentrate on the positives you can take away.