Daynote - Wed 10 Sep

Back on it this morning and feeling very good, with a nice walk into the bargain. Poppy the Labrador lolloped over to say hello, which was lovely. It is that slightly annoying part of the year where it's chilly enough for a jacket when I leave the house but I'm boiling halfway through my walk. But the mercury is dropping fast, so fairly soon I'll be zipping my jacket all the way up and maybe even considering a hat.

ON DECK: A very solid 1,600 words (exactly! I had 1,599 words when I finished so I added one word to round it out - the word was 'metal') this morning. Having my microlined chapters ready to go makes such a difference - I can just dive in and type without all that awkward staring at the wall trying to figure out what this scene even is.

Yesterday I also made a reprint sale of one of my SF short stories to a new anthology! More on that in a separate blog post later today.

LISTENING: Another excellent In My Good Books episode this morning with my fellow Debut Prize nominees. Today's is Richard Strachan, author of THE UNRECOVERED. Even though we've been chatting for the better part of three months on WhatsApp I'm still really enjoying getting to know the other shortlisters even better through this series.

WATCHING: Didn't watch anything in the end aside from the tail end of a random Simpson's episode. But tonight, definitely, KING & CONQUEROR.

READING: I've started on NO ONE TO HOLD THE DISTANT DEAD by KL Schroeder, a forthcoming novella from Psychopomp which I've been lucky enough to receive an ARC of. I know Kristen through the Edinburgh SFF Discord server and I've enjoyed their short fiction before, so I'm really looking forward to this novella. The first chapter did not disappoint.

LINK: Speaking of the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, I really enjoyed this interview with last year's winner Allan Gaw.

UP NEXT: I'm starting to make lunch and dinner plans with people for Bloody Scotland and thinking about what to pack and when we'll need to leave and all of the logistics of a weekend book festival, so all of a sudden it feels very much upon us. Exciting!

My debut panel with the other shortlisters is sold out, but as of yesterday there was a few tickets left for my spy panel with Kim Sherwood, DB John and Vaseem Khan. Grab your tickets here.

And as of this Friday, it will also be exactly a year since A RELUCTANT SPY came out. Crazy, huh? I've also got a blog post brewing on that front.

But for now, head down and let's get to Friday. Onward!