That was a wild October, filled with books – books I read, thanks to the local library in particular, and books I wrote. Author copies regularly landed on the doormat. Here they all are:
Fearsome Creatures, a mini-collection of short stories about my favourite monsters, was published by Black Shuck books, as was the very handsome anthology Midsummer Eve, in which I had a story. Thanks to Black Shuck for producing such stylish books.
The Secret Life of Fungi, from Elliott & Thompson, was a non-fiction look into moulds, spores, rusts, yeasts, mushrooms, toadstools, and all forms of fungi. It’s an awe-inspiring world. I hope I conveyed that.
London Centric was published by NewCon Press, and it’s an anthology of futuristic London stories. Except mine, which is mainly set in the past, but you know, the past informs the future and so on… Anyway, really glad to be in that one with some great writers.
And Greensmith, of course, my space journey about plants and planets and love and loss and orange string. Unsung Stories gave me another beautiful book to add to my collection. I answered five questions about Greensmith over at the Breaking the Glass Slipper blog here.
Now to November, which will be a much quieter experience for all sorts of reasons.
Marta Oliehoek is a wonderful illustrator and a horror film fan to boot, so she put her passions together and created a really special book – twenty-one pencil portraits of the eyes of horror fiction writers, along with in-depth interviews with them about their cinematic influences. If you’re a horror fan then this is a real treat, and it includes interviews with authors who have shaped, and who continue to shape, this genre. You can take a look at the line-up and buy a copy here. See if you spot my eye. I’ll give you a hint: I always wear glasses.
Plus you’ll find my latest column for Interzone in the new issue, being mailed out soon. It’s about slow worms. Sort of.
Aliya Whiteley 