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 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

Blood everywhere and not a bit worth saving! That’s the motto of today. Photoshop is all well and dandy, but up until five minutes ago it has refused to let me make a neat little splattering of blood on my print artwork, no matter how many times I try it. Snowflakes, yes. Abstract leaves, yes. Marble angles, yes. Blood? No, no, no…but I have finally beaten Adobe’s fine multimedia application into submission, oh yes

Just as well really as the artwork is currently being sucked up by the Magic Printing Fairies, ready to be regurgitated in a week or so’s time as our merchandise stand for the Swadlincote Ghost Festival. I can’t wait! I think it’s going to be a ball, plus the wonderful goddess Zoe is on stall duty too, offering Indian head massages and reflexology in her guise as HunkyDory Holistics

Other news…I have just completed a music review for rock three piece, Uniting the Elements. Check it out under Music Reviews. I am also delighted to be on chapter 8 of Rob MacKellar’s debut novel, the Black Flame (www.robmackellar.com), a must-read for all fans of high fantasy. Rob is a clean, concise writer with a delicious ability to spill fresh blood with each turn of the page…and so back to blood.

One of those weird, crazy days today that starts off surreal and continues in the same vein. Woke up to find a giant crow flapping round the bathroom, having somehow made its way down the chimney and proceeded to throw itself against the window for many hours and left a beautiful mess to deal with in the process. Then I managed to spill dog mixer all over the kitchen floor. The highlight of this screwy day had to be a photo shoot with the local newspaper, with me as the most awkward model in history. To top things off, the mini me decided to take two hours to go to sleep. Ah, kids. Couldn’t eat a whole one.

The one bonus of this imposed sabbatical from the laptop had to be the hundred or so pages of Gregory Maguire’s magickal/political pastiche of witchery in Oz, ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’. Having made the ill-informed decision that this would be appropriate reading matter for said mini me while going to sleep (ha!), I was more than taken back by the dry, often harsh, boudoir humour of the book – but like a heart in a tin man, it’s grown on me. The green-skinned Elphaba is a joy of a character, all done-wrong-by, wrongfully green, and plumped full of subterranean knowledge like a bad apple. Gorgeously dark, mind-engaging stuff.

On the writing front, I’m currently working on a short story for an anthology of women writers. I’m eking it out, but the going is slow because there seem to be a million and one tasks to complete and, somewhat disappointingly, I haven’t sprouted octopussy arms. So I thought I would add to the chaos by having a reading and signing session on the 1st August!

Good job I’ve discovered a new favourite tipple. Hendricks…gin. Well, old habits die hard.

Love and dark light.

Kim Lakin-Smith x

A little under a week and Tourniquet will be released to the big bad, mad world. It’s the weirdest feeling. It feels like centuries ago and yet, at the same time, only yesterday that the dark lord and I were enjoying a gin and tonic and JD and coke in Nottingham’s rock bar, the Tap and Tumbler, and musing about a gothic wonderland where we would truly feel at home. Fast forward a few years and Renegade City, albeit in the guise of my novel, Tourniquet, has finally been fleshed out, edited, proof read and given its release date.

So 21st of May it is. Recent weeks have been one long hard slog of web sites updates, marketing research and incidental odds and ends of writing, with the odd convention thankfully sprinkled in-between.

Derby Alt Fiction was a blast. A great excuse to catch up with old friends, go to the odd panel and drink copious amounts of the hard stuff. Graham Joyce’s workshop on dialogue was one of the highlights, although I’m not sure I hold seventies British TV show, The Liver Birds, in such holy reverence as the great man himself.

But to get back to the topic that is forever on my mind, I am delighted that Tourniquet will feature some incredible cover art from Lucas Swann, keyboardist with Uninvited Guest and alt. DJ, and cover model, lead singer Dean Hathway. Thanks to Lucas, Roses has been brought back from the dead in his full dark, messianic glory. Now all that’s left to do is spread the word…

Ah, no electricity, no Internet, which gives me a damn good excuse to start up my blog again. Very long time, no talk. This lull has, for the most part, been due to my getting a contract with Storm Constantine's Immanion Press.

In 2007, Immanion will be publishing Tourniquet, the first novel in my Tales from Renegade City series.
It has been a very exciting year! I met Storm at Derby Alt Fiction in April and we hit it off. Strom very kindly said she'd take a look at Tourniquet. A few days later, I got the call that I had been dreaming about for the greater part of my life. Storm liked the book! A few weeks later, I signed the contract, and have been working steadily on the edits with my gorgeous and surprisingly kind editor, Donna, ever since.

So how have I found the publication process so far? Well, it's a weird thing, full of delirium, ecstatic highs and emotional lows (all self-induced when the inevitable demon of Self Doubt has reared its ugly head). I've been overwhelmed by the gentle process by which Donna has enabled me to put across exactly what I was trying to say without rewriting any part of the novel for me. I've also learnt I'm an absolute dunce when it comes to grammar, but no news there.
Aside from editing Tourniquet, I've also embarked on the delightful circuit of literary conventions. Del and I have made some amazing friends; artists, writers, thespians, editors, and many more from across the artistic spectrum. We've also been drunk at stupid o'clock in the morning more often than I would dare to hazard a guess at!

Consequently, if I could give one concrete piece of advice to any aspiring writer then, it would be to get yourself out there. Conventions are wonderfully weird events, blending every hue of geek, greb, fan, academic, arsehole and pisshead in a great psychotropic melting pot. A truly trippy experience!

So, as 2006 draws to a close, I find myself musing on a revelation of a year, one in which dreams have started to solidify into a hell of a scary, out there reality, and in which I've finally realised that the power to make them come true is down to a good slurp of Dutch courage, bloody-minded tenacity, and an ability to talk shit into the small hours.

Have a good one!
xxx

Ever the hypocrite, I've been thinking today about the way I should be doing things, as opposed to the things I actually do do.

For instance - Say What You See. I expect its a worthy truism for the wannabe writer, but personally the phrase just reminds me of the insidious TV quiz host, Roy Walker, and his 'hilarious' show, Catchphrase....which always takes me on to the out-take when puzzle pieces were removed in a more than unfortunate order and Mr Chips, the animated performer of said catchphrase charades, was revealed in a compromising right-hand shake...I digress.

What I'm really talking about here is how to capture a scene effectively.

Take today, for example. I've been trying to sum up what the inside of the dome looks like, through the eyes of one of my main characters, Jezebel. Over and over and over again, I've scribbled down variations of the same few sentences, refusing in a donkey-like, if feminine,fashion, to move on until I got it. Yeah, so its a major problem of mine, my consolation being that I read Jeanette Winterson saying something about how she worries over every single word in her books. So I guess its all down to whether you, as a writer, feel the poetry of words is just as significant as the plot - a flowery approach, perhaps, that gives some readers real hard satisfaction and makes other vomit (personally I'll take my chances with the none-regurgitating variety, thanks.)

So, point. Here's the mantra. Remove yourself from the pc, writing pad, typewriter or slate. Close your eyes. Imagine the scene. And say what you see.

Or, alternatively, you could just do what I ended up doing instead. Drink wine. Get pissed and suddenly everything just flows.

c ya xxx