Still Beautiful

As of today The Beauty is available to buy in the US from Titan Books, and that is a very strange thought. I wrote it about five years ago, in the frame of mind that since nobody published my stories anyway I might as well write something entirely to please myself. I put all my favourite things into it including my love and fear of stories themselves. I played freely with words, decided to go all the way with the shock value, and finished it at the point when everyone else would just be getting started, but I was certain I was done. When I put my pen down I thought – that’s the best I can do. I felt that I’d proved an important thing to myself. Am I always a good writer? Far from it. But I can write. Sometimes, I can write.

The idea that it would be liked by others, who then recommended it to their friends, and so on, still strikes me as the most remarkable thing about it. Thank you to everyone who has read it, reviewed it, thought about it. I’m sorry if I put you off mushrooms for a while.

There are a few new publicity posts, interviews and so on, coming up so I’ll just add to the list below as they appear, if anyone wants to check them out:

Rural spaces at Strange Horizons

Talking about the influence of Octavia Butler’s ‘Dawn’ to Tor

Five Stories of Mimicry at Book Riot

An Interview with Paul Semel (about why there isn’t a companion novella called The Handsome)

An Interview with MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape (including my favourite section of the book)

The Beauty as a Future Treasure at Black Gate

As one of three horror novels for a winter reading list from Dread Central

Fungus Among Us: The Barnes & Noble write up