Daynote - Fri 5 Jun 2026
The best launch day a boy could hope for.
A short, photo-heavy one today, because I have to get going to Cymera Festival shortly, and I'm pretty tired after a very busy day yesterday!
After getting back from the (amazing) Bloody Scotland programme launch, we headed into town and met a whole bunch of friends, family and fans at Waterstones West End in Edinburgh. It was a brilliant night with a really good turnout, and my friend Nick Binge did an exceptional job chairing the discussion. Some great questions from the audience too. Here's a selection of pics that I've stolen from social media and family. Hello too to the readers who told me they read the blog in the signing queue - I'm glad somebody is!
ON DECK: I'm doing Narrative Damage this evening at Cymera, then the pub quiz, then I will be running home to finish preparing for my panel the next day with Adrian Tchaikovsky, Fonda Lee and Claire North. Nearly done, just need to actually write down my questions.
LISTENING: In all the flurry of launch stuff yesterday, you might have missed that I was on The Conversation with Nadine Matheson for a second time, on one of her shorter 'Coffee Break' catchup episodes with previous guests. I had a brilliant time chatting with Nadine. Give it a listen.
READING: Racing towards the end of THE LAST CONTRACT OF ISAKO by Fonda Lee (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon), which is good since I'm talking to her tomorrow. But I will have no shortage of things to talk about, given how excellent the book is.
LINK: Absolutely delighted to see that my friend Lorraine Wilson has been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke award, for her fantastic novel THE SALT ORACLE. I was lucky enough to beta-read both this book and the previous one set in the same world, WE ARE ALL GHOSTS IN THE FOREST, and they are both superb. I really hope this shortlisting brings Lorraine's beautiful, haunting speculative work to more readers.
UP NEXT: A quick trip to Lidl because the cupboards are bare (release week is often the week when basic routines begin to crack and fail a bit), then I'm off into town for Cymera. It's going to be an amazing weekend.
Onward!