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.