Stealing this format (more or less) from author Dave Goodman, who does a Daynote update semi-regularly ON DECK: I am on the last ten or so chapters of the Monsters novel edits, which is frustratngly close yet still too far. DOING: Tonight is skating with pals; might get some partnered ice dance practice in if it’s not too busy, but mainly working on spins if it is. WATCHING: Doing a
A very long time ago, back in the mists of time, or possibly in 2022, I was on Tiny Bookcase podcast, with a story written for the prompt ‘Currency’, which needed to be around a thousand words, if I remember correctly (see above: mists of time.) While the hosts had great stories, they were funny and political and satirical, and I’m afraid those are things I can’t do. I’m more
It’s a cliché that as you get older, time zips by faster, but it really feels like this year is hurtling past. One of the things that has made this year feel like a weird chug to the top of a hill before the downhill hurtle has been this spring. THIS SCOTTISH SPRING. An endless dreary grey made of wet and cold and febrauries and marches that lasted three months
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. 😛 Until then, you have GODSKIN, and later this year, SEAGIFTS. Go read Godskin online at Strange Horizons! “Dead gods,” says Aunte Gull as she heaves the shimmering nets, “are almost as useless as live ones.” 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