Usually I don’t need an excuse to repost the gorgeous cover to Phobophobia, but this time I actually have one. This chilling collection, featuring stories about phobias from A-Z, is now available to order. Please do pick up a copy, especially for the stories by World’s Collider contributors Steven Savile, Jonathan Green and Simon Kurt Unsworth. You can order from the Dark Continents Publishing website. And let me say this, the more I see of DCP, the more impressed I am.

Don’t forget to have a read of the Jonathan Green interview, in which I ask him about World’s Collider, his writing career, his story in Phobophobia, and the price of herring. Well, maybe not that last one.

Also, on December 9th there will be a Phobophobia signing session at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore. The press release has all the details including a list of which writers will be attending.

And, yes, there’s another review of Solaris Rising. I’m not used to anyone actually reading the stories I’ve sold, so this is coming as quite a shock to the system. This review is written by The Fantastical Librarian, and is extremely positive. Of the collection as a whole she says,

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you’re of a mind to dip your toes into Science Fiction, then this is a perfect starting point. At the same time, I think this is also a rewarding read for SF aficionados, if only to be treated to stories by some of their favourites.

…and then adds…

Solaris Rising is one anthology anyone with an interest in SF shouldn’t miss!

I’m delighted to say that she ranked my story as one of her top six in the anthology, which is lovely of her to say.

Another well-thought out conceit was the one central to Richard Salter’s Yestermorrow, in which each person gets a number of allotted days to live but these days aren’t consequential, they jump around in their lives. At first was a little confusing to wrap my head around, but once I got used to the concept, I thought the story was amazing. It was so cleverly done and I loved the interplay between the main character’s job – he’s a detective solving a case – and what we get to see of his private life, the problems this day-jumping causes in his marriage.

So I now have a stupid smile on my face.

Coming next week, a couple of posts actually about writing, which means this news page might temporarily turn into something resembling a blog. I apologise for this and promise to resume normal service immediately afterwards.