So, just as most folk’s social calendars are filling up in anticipation of the month of December, and specifically Christmas, mine is nearly all emptied out. Which means I’m booked in to do some serious writing over the next couple of months? And I’m happy to report that all is going well on the writing front. The new novel, Autodrome, is proving to be a joy ride of motor sports, kick arse ladies and cool-cat gents, and a bit of death thrown in for good measure. I’ve just finished chapter twelve and am one scene away from launching into the Ramrod Rally on which the novel hinges...exciting stuff!

October 11th and 12th was Newcon 4, and what proved to be my favourite convention to date. The venue was the Fishmarket in Northampton, a glorious greenhouse of a building filled with a crystalline chill and sunlight. On Friday evening we enjoyed a Chinese banquet at quite possibly the largest table of guests I have ever sat at. Ever sociable, we scooted off for an hour or two to the local rock pub before settling in at our hotel for the remainder of the evening for some mildly intoxicated conversation.

First thing on Saturday, I ran a flash fiction workshop and was delighted to meet some really friendly writers and to get some great entries for the Newcon 4 flash fiction competition. Later in the day, I moderated a panel featuring some of the very talented Write Fantastic (Chaz Brenchley, Deborah J. Miller and Juliet E. McKenna) and event organiser extraordinaire Alex Davies. With the panel title, ‘The Write Fantastic: The Way Forward or A Waste of Time’ (hear the audio recording here), I felt obliged to grill these lovely people ever so slightly. But all responded with eloquence and grace, and have since assured me I’m still counted as a friend!

Saturday evening was a blur of sloppy Indian, folk music, birthday cake and celebration, leaving me ever so slightly jaded for Sunday. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my reading with Mark Robson and Chez Brenchley, and before I knew it, it was the end of the con and I’d barely made it to any panels. Sunday evening, Del and I got to relax with guest of honour, Iain M. Banks, the gentlemanly Ken Macleod, the rebel yell that is literary agent, Simon Kavanagh, and some very good friends. Needless to say, the evening soon degenerated into a ménage of heated debate, loud Germans and rather good Star Wars impressions.

Roll on Newcon 5.

On our arrival back home, Halloween weekend promptly took precedence. My father, the eternal party animal demanded a fiesta of the gaudiest degree and bought out every tacky outlet offering ghoul masks, blood splattered tablecloths, plastic wall hangings and shrieking witches. Scarlet enjoyed a party with her school friends in the afternoon, which I survived and even enjoyed. Then the adults descended for the main event in the evening. Thanks to the now-legendary ‘Lakin’ quiz, our living room was soon swarming with charadeers re-enacting Silence of the Lambs (yes, your imagination is smutty!)…come midnight I was more than ready to turn back into a pumpkin!

Sunday November 8th was my workshop and Q and A session at the Alt Fiction Writers’ Retreat in Derbyshire. Having spent most of my life exploring the beautiful peaks and valleys of Derbyshire, it was wonderful to find myself back amidst its atmospheric splendour - especially given the roiling black sky, lashing rain and isolated setting. Once inside however I was greeted by a roaring wood burner and a bunch of incredibly friendly, enthusiastic fellow writers. It was a brilliant afternoon and I was delighted to hear feedback from so many of the weekend’s participants afterwards. Just sorry I couldn’t rescue you all from the Green Sweets of Doom, but maybe the Zombies fraternity who moved in the following weekend were partial. The weekend was particularly fun because our dear friend Sam Moffat came to stay while her other half, Paul Skevington was busy at the retreat. Always fun. Always over too soon.

So now it’s back to my life as a writer…which is really all about the hard slog. In between I hope to enjoy a glass of mulled wine or several over the coming festive period and prepare myself for the wilds of winter come the New Year.

But before all that, I am to London for a riotous weekend with the charming Tom Hunter and his crew, then a smack down in Nottingham’s Rock City the following weekend in the company of my lovely sister. Better dust off the old New Rocks!

xxx

Two days to go and I’ve just agreed to do a reading at Fantasycon this weekend, so best get paper shuffling and see what I can unearth. I’m thinking of a nice reading from the opening to Autodrome, but given that it is an action scene, I may well end up out of breath…Not that there is ever time to breathe at these events. Fantasycon is a wonderful whirlwind of meet and greets, brain-sparking panels, zero food and way too much time spent in the bar. Can’t wait.

After that, it’s a quick trip to Croatia for an extended family holiday. I don’t really do holidays all that well, preferring to actually live somewhere and get a proper flavour for the place. But I have read somewhere that they are meant to be relaxing, and it might be nice to see the sun again.

On our return, it’s the much anticipated Newcon 4, a science fiction convention in Northampton organised by some very good friends. I am running a workshop on flash fiction, moderating the unruly Write Fantastic, and giving a reading with the ever exotic Storm Constantine. It is going to be a busy one – but I have been promised a public hanging (not mine…unless the workshop goes to pot) which always makes for a nice day out.

Given current time restraints, this is a mighty short posting then, but I do promise to regale you with tales of compromised writers, midland mayhem, and wine downed at sunset very very soon. Til then, its time to don my sequins and take to the ring…

xxx 

 

A new review of the anthology Celebrations has been posted over at The Fix:

“The Killing Fields” by Kim Lakin-Smith does exactly what its title implies. A whirling dervish of a story set in Shropshire Hills, “reduced to a rabid war zone by gang violence, mafia-owned cartels and vigilantism,” Regan and her sidekick, an eleven-year-old girl eke out a marginal existence in the aftermath of a near-future civil war. It’s fast, brutal, and as nihilistic as anything written since Michael Moorcock introduced Jerry Cornelius
By Colin Harvey

Celebrations can be purchased from Amazon for just £9.99

Summertime, and the living is easy...at least on the writing front. I suspect that, in anticipation of a mass exodus abroad, the convention circuit seems to enjoy a happy siesta for the months of May through to September. While I have to admit to feeling a little lost without my regular dose of good friends, overindulgence and general genre madness, the bonus to this enforced seclusion however is plenty of time to write.

I finally have the first three chapters of my new novel plotted, with Chapter 1 Scene 1 written up a s a clean draft. This book is like a more commercial, kissing cousin of Tourniquet. There are chases, fights, cool machines, feisty females and bovver boys aplenty. But where Tourniquet took its lifeblood from the alt.music scene, the new novel owes a considerable debt to urban SF, fantasy-based steampunk in particular.

Steampunk has always been one of my obsessions. Increasingly though I find myself drawn not just to the theatrical flamboyant costumes and historic bias of the sub-genre, but also to the machines. Oil-slicked, oozing steam like primordial flying serpents, the machines of steampunk have replaced rock music (however temporarily) as my drug of choice. Pistons, valves, cogs, fly-wheels...I come over all of a flutter.

Which is just as well, given Matrix Online's upcoming release - a steampunk special featuring an interview with Bruce Sterling and articles on steampunk music, films and lifestyle. Matrix release date is penned in for 11th July...which gives me a week to finish the layout and breathe at some point in between.

But to get back to the subject of conventions. September will see us returning to the circuit with glee and gusto - at least until the first few glasses of beer have been sunk and the haze of sleep deprivation kicks in. FantasyCon takes place on 19th - 21st September 2008 at Britannia Hotel, 1 St James Street, Nottingham and features GofH's Christopher Golden, James Barclay, Dave McKean and Master of Ceremonies Christopher Fowler. Del and I are attending Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday October 11th 2008 I am holding a Flash Fiction workshop at NewCon 4, which is taking place at the Fishmarket, Northampton, membership is only £40 for the entire weekend with GofH Iain M. Banks, Storm Constantine and Ken Macleod, with special guest Paul Cornell.

Until then, Scarlet and I have the summer holidays to look forward to - oh, and a trip to Croatia to squeeze in between FantasyCon and NewCon. Del and I are off to London more often than not over the coming weekends...I hear Camden beckoning and am powerless to resist.

For now though, I'm making do with the heat and shine given off by great gorgeous clunking machines in my new novel.

Things are steaming up.

 

So here we are in the heart of convention season, and I have just about recovered from my excesses and lack of sleep at Orbital (Eastercon 2008) in time for Alt Fiction later this month.

In all honesty, I think the pressure of getting the BSFA’s media magazine, Matrix, online a couple of days prior to the con meant that I was pretty shattered even before I arrived at Orbital. It’s always nerve-wracking to be involved in implementing change, and folk were understandably reticent. Thankfully, the new format was welcomed with overwhelming enthusiasm. I also got to indulge a personal passion of mine via my article on rock star, film and video director, vegetarian, comic book illustrator and author, graphic artist, shameless self-promoter, and ruler of a worldwide merchandise empire, Rob Zombie…so that was a bonus.

Matrix Online successfully launched, Del and I headed off to Orbital, Jack and Gin in hand. The hotel was pretty damn big, and might have been lovely if only the heating in our room had actually worked. Luckily we didn’t get to spend much time in those particular four walls, opting instead for the customary circuit of intellectual debates/drunken ramblings with friends, old and new.

Friday night kicked off with the joint book launch of Celebration - the British Science Fiction Association’s 50^th year anthology- and Myth-Understandings from Newcon Press. I’m delighted to have short stories in both anthologies, and it was great to meet folk at the signing afterwards – even if I did forget my pen!

Saturday morning I moderated a panel on ’Supernatural Romance’, and was joined by fellow panellists, Tanith Lee, Jo Fletcher and Pagan Stone. While I would not class myself as a romance writer, I was intrigued to learn about this very popular genre and to spend time on a panel with Tanith, one of the writers who first inspired me to want to put pen to paper. Later, I took part in a deliciously heated panel on ’Religion and Science Fiction’. I have to confess to being slightly daunted, but as is often the case, the anticipation proved far worse than the reality – which was that I had a blast, and hopefully didn’t ruffle too many feather with my hippy pagan ways.

Saturday night was dominated by the BSFA awards. And here are the results:

BEST NOVEL:

’Brasyl’ by Ian McDonald (Gollancz)

The award was presented to Ian McDonald by Neil Gaiman.

 

BEST SHORT FICTION:

’Lighting Out’ by Ken MacLeod (from ’disLocations’; Newcon Press)

The award was presented by Tanith Lee and accepted for Ken MacLeod to Ian Whates, the editor of ’disLocations’.

 

BEST ARTWORK:

’Cracked World’ by Andy Bigwood (cover of ’disLocations’).

 

The award was presented by Charles Stross.

 

BSFA FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY AWARD: BEST NOVEL OF 1958

’Non-Stop’ by Brian Aldiss.

The award was introduced by Rog Peyton and presented by China Miéville. Jo Fletcher from Gollancz, which now publishes ’Non-Stop’ in the SF Masterworks range, accepted the award on Brian’s behalf.

 

So all that remained for Saturday night was to get horribly drunk and dance to the Bangles’ Walk Like An Egyptian…and, yes, I do suspect there is photographic evidence.

On Sunday, I dragged my aching carcass out of bed for the launch of Sarah Singleton’s latest YA novel, The Amethyst Children. Sarah gave a fascinating reading and then let us slurp red wine while going wild over the contents and the cover. Del, bless him, got stuck manning the BSFA table…that’ll teach him for sitting down and opening up his laptop! Sunday night repeated the same pattern as Saturday, if with more evidence of eyeliner and PVC given the evening’s theme of Dark Fantasy. A divine time was had by all…even if I could hardly write my own name on Monday.

Then it was back off into London to collect Scarlet and home. Exhausted, exhausted, exhausted…but happy.

Since returning and giving my liver a rest (yeah, right), I have finished a new short story called ’Johnny and Emmie-Lou Get Married,’ so kitsch as to be untrue, but I had fun. Steampunk, hot rods, urban landscapes, cute chicks and dirty boys…what else could a girl ask for? I’ve also started work again on the plot of my second novel, and am very happy to find that I am much further on than I had thought. Another four chapters or so should see the outline done and dusted. In between, I really must find time to work out what I’m going to cover in my workshop on ’Dark Fantasy’ at Alt Fiction. Don’t worry boys and girls, I’ll pull something out of the bag.

Other news? Went to see Derren Brown live at Derby’s Assembly Rooms on Monday night. I can not even begin to explain how the man ’reads’ minds. Very disconcerting. And last weekend Scarlet bought a Venus Fly Trap. I took comfort in the thought that I might be able to feed it plant food, but oh no, it only eats bugs. Maybe I’ll have to dissect the tarantula and scorpion she keeps on her bedroom wall?

 

xxx

Hands up. I have been more than a little slack updating this blog over the past few months. Huge apologies. Life has been crazy busy in the best sort of way!

Firstly, I was delighted to accept the role of co-editor and designer of the British Science Fiction Society’s (BSFA) media magazine, Matrix. Working alongside the inimitable Ian Whates as editor, and Del in his role as fellow co-editor and development officer, we put out the last print edition of Matrix in November 2007, and have been hard at work on the online version ever since. Matrix Online goes live on Wednesday, 19^th of March 2008. I’m currently working my socks off to finalise the design, write my articles, and lay out all of the content. I await its launch, and subsequent reception, with baited breath.

Alongside my work on Matrix, and the design and development of a new website for the BSFA, I have worked as design consultant for Newcon, a SF convention which will take place at The Fishmarket in Northampton on Saturday October 11^th and Sunday October 12^th 2008. Guests of honour are Iain M Banks, Storm Constantine, Ken Macleod, and special guest, Paul Cornell. Visit http://www.newcon4.com for further details. Del and I will definitely be in attendance.

On the writing front, I’ve been working on my second novel, and have given it the provisional title of Heteroclite. I’m taking a new approach with Heterclite and plotting the novel in great detail rather than working to an outline. The theory is that this will free me up to concentrate on the quality of my writing rather than the nuances of plot. So far, Heteroclite is shaping up very nicely and along the urban SF lines I’m so keen to stay true to.

Other news? I have two short stories coming out in anthologies in March. Myth-Understandings features some of the UK’s top writing talent, and I’m thrilled to have my dark fantasy story, ’Heart Song’, included. My SF short story, ’The Killing Fields’ will feature in Celebration, an anthology celebrating 50 years of the BSFA. Both anthologies will be launched at Eastercon in March. I also have a Victorian ghost story called ’The Shadow Keeper’ coming out in All Hallows magazine later in the year.

So, the daffodils are coming out, mornings are getting lighter and I’ve started a fiercer new exercise regime – which means it must be spring. Convention season. First off is Eastercon. Orbital takes place between the 21^st and 24^th of March at the Radisson Edwardian hotel, Heathrow. Guests of honour are Neil Gaiman, Chine Miéville, Tanith Lee and Charles Stross. It sounds like a blast. Then in April, it’s Alt Fiction at Derby, perhaps my favourite convention from the point of view of my work as a writer. Alt Fiction manages to combine workshops with readings, panels, interviews and signings. All in all, a helluva day.

So no let up for the wicked…That said, we have been busy digging a giant swimming pool in our garden, otherwise known as the new patio. Thanks to our residents hounds, I can’t work out if there is more earth inside the house than outside at the moment. On a plus note, we do have three impromptu Celtic burrows on our drive thanks to said swimming pool and several tonne of shovelled earth. I like it. It gives me just another excuse never to set foot in the quagmire which is our garden, and with all of the creepy crawly that entails.

So how exactly did I end up with a five year old daughter who keeps a framed tarantula and a framed scorpion on her bedroom wall? I’ve been assured that they are dead.

xxx

Kim will be at two panels at this year's Eastercon.

Supernatural Romance  
Jo Fletcher, Kim Lakin-Smith, Tanith Lee,  Mark Newton and Paigan Stone.
11:30-12:30 Saturday 22nd March Victoria/Edward Suite.

Religion in Science Fiction
Fatima Ahad, Chaz Brenchley, Kim Lakin-Smith, Tony Lee, Rita Medany.
17:00 Saturday 22nd March Royal Suite

More details see Orbital 2008 (Eastercon) website.

Kim will be hosting a Dark Fantasy workshop at the prestigious Derby based event, Alt.Fiction.

'Alt.Fiction is an annual one-day literature event which takes place in Derby, aiming to bring together UK talent in the fields of science-fiction, fantasy and horror writing. The event typically takes place in late April/early May and the date for 2008 is Saturday 26th April'

Authors appearing at Alt.Fiction 2008:

Sarah Ash
Chaz Brenchley
Eric Brown
Mike Carey
Simon Clark
Pete Crowther
Christian Dunn
Steve Gallagher
Marc Gascoigne
Lee Harris
Stephen Hunt
John Jarrold
Graham Joyce
Kim Lakin-Smith
Tim Lebbon
Brian Lumley
Michael Marshall Smith
Mark Morris
Philip Palmer
Sarah Pinborough
Adam Roberts
Justina Robson
Brian Ruckley
Simon Spurrier
Charlie Stross
Darren Turpin
Conrad Williams

The Ghost Story Society of Canada will be publishing one of Kim's more haunting short stories, The Shadow Keeper, in their magazine All Hallows. Expect to see it mid/late 2008.

BTN the glossy magazine placed a review of Tourniquet in their August issue. Read the review