My short story GODSKIN is now live at Strange Horizons. It’s set in the DRIFT universe, which is a book I have started years ago and might one day finish. š Until then, you have GODSKIN, and later this year, SEAGIFTS. Go read Godskin online at Strange Horizons! āDead gods,ā says Aunte Gull as she heaves the shimmering nets, āare almost as useless as live ones.ā We work together, numb
I am a huge fan of Luna Press and the work they are doing as a small Scottish publisher to uplift amazing new and under-represented voices. I’m a little biased, naturally, as they did publish my novel Cast Long Shadows – but there’s a reason Luna Press consistently win awards, such as their last British Fantasy Award for Best Independent Press. The work they put out also consistently gets long-listed,
One of the hardest things for me to do is write shorts without second-guessing myself. As I begin (and I do, just, begin – there is no plan) the first thoughts I have are, ‘oh good I’m having fun – this is fucking weird‘, followed by, ‘shit this is too weird, I can’t sell this‘, to, ‘oh my god, people are gonna judge me hard, just be normal, Cat. Please.‘
I’m the problem. Well, no, unmedicated ADHD is the problem. But I shall attempt to use this website more, and to make the effort to fix up my neglected newsletter. You’ve been warned.
I grew up on Hans Christian Andersen stories, and one of my favourites is The Tinderbox, with its three magical dogs, one with its eyes ‘big as wagon wheels.’ I remember the image from the Storyteller series in particular, and I would go back to that story again and again. So naturally one day I sat down to write a story about a penniless soldier who finds a treasure, falls
This story was first published in the anthology Ghost in the Cogs, a collection of steampunk ghost stories from Broken Eye Books, and was later included in my collection Learning How To Drown, from NewCon Press. I am putting it up online for Pride 2022. It is winter in Pal-em-Rasha and all the roosters have been strangled. We are in mourning. The prince was born white and strange, his dead
These are two post Thief Mage, Beggar Mage ficlets that show the different sides of the same coin. WARNING FOR MAJOR SPOILERS, so definitely only read these if you’ve finished the book. 5 Times Dozha Did Not Fall in Love, and One Time He Did. 1 It was not easy being the adopted child of a dragon, chosen for one thing and one thing only. Dozha knew that Sinastrillia did
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Iām going to put it out there: Iām a writer who has struggled with depression, anxiety, and possible ADHD. Iāve grown up always expecting the worst to happen. When things go wrong I am drowned under an ocean of deep and utter despair. Iāve given up writing more times than Iāve killed house plants. (Itās a skill, okay.) And while Iām joking about it at the moment, there is nothing
How it is July already? Iāve been working on some new and old projects, and trying to light a fire under my creativity again. Reading good books always makes me want to write (and write better than I did before), so Iāve been dipping into Neil Willamsonās excellent collection Secret Language. Heās a very good writer, so always a goto for inspiration. Check out his work here at NewCon Press. Iāve