Tag Archives: poetry

Despatches from World Fantasy Conference 2025: Day 3 – Saturday 1st November 2025

I woke up feeling off so I had a steady morning and made my appearance at the con hotel in time for my second panel – Queer in Fantasy at noon. It was supposed to be streamed but staffing changes prevented it. Sian took another picture of me. I’m pointing at the book on the table, it’s I Want That Twink Obliterated from Bona Books. I was expressing my excitement.

Chris McCartney, Katie Bruce, and Christopher Caldwell were also on the panel, which was moderated by Burdock Broughton, who writes as April Steenburgh. I was beginning to feel unwell so I didn’t have much helpful to add. I mainly listened to everyone else and asked for a list of the books they’d all recommended. People have said that I made good comments but I have my doubts. I was overwhelmed and had brain fog for most of it.

After this panel I went to the quieter area and did some embroidery. I also made a quick visit to the dealer’s room to buy a book from AK Faulkner, Blind Man’s Wolf, and then planned to head to the ‘Creative Lives’ panel, but I got into the room and the bright lights were too painful, so I sat in the dark corridor, ate my sandwich and read Blind Man’s Wolf.

I attending the only reading I’ve been to this con, by Stephen Cox and AK Faulkner. Stephen Cox read from his Sapphic Victorian murder mystery, The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder, while AK read from Jack of Thorns and Blind Man’s Wolf.

After that I attended the ‘The Role of Reviewers’ panel in the same room. As a reviewer I was interested in how others saw their role, and also I didn’t need to more from the sofa I’d taken up residence on. Then I moved on to the Academic Hour, and listened to early career researchers talk about their research. The talk about Romanian folklore in fantasy was particularly interesting.

At six in the evening my throat started to feel scratchy, and I coughed my way through the ‘Editing and Editors’ panel. Luckily I was at the back and out of the way so I don’t think I bothered anyone. It was interesting, but by this point I was not able to take a lot in. I learnt that editors generally want the best for the writers and there is tension when they work for publishers because they have to balance the demands of publishing as an industry with the needs of the writers they work with.

At 7 p.m. it was the charity raffle. This is a Fantasycon tradition and stalwart Red Cloaks Babs and Marleen came through once again. They announced the ‘big prizes’ and were drawing the smaller prizes afterwards. I didn’t win anything.

Finally, at 7.30p.m. I made it up to the main room for the British Fantasy Awards. The awards were streamed although there were some technical difficulties.

The Aldiss Award – The Dance of Shadows, by Rogba Payne

This is a new award, organised in partnership with the BFS, BSFA, and UKIE to recognise excellence in World Building in Speculative Fiction, whether in books or games. It was presented by Brian Aldiss’ son, Tim.

The BFS awards were compared by Joanne Harris after Tim and Allen finished talking. I’m going to share the results, which are now available on the BFS website.

Best Anthology – Bury Your Gays – An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, Sofia Ajram, Ghoulish Books

Presented by Joanne Harris, and collected on their behalf by same.

Best Artist – Kelly Chong

Presented by Vincent Chong, five time winner of the award and Guest of Honour, who also read out Kelly Chong’s acceptance speech.

Best Audio – Breaking the Glass Slipper

Presented by BFS Secretary David Green, and collected by Lucy and Charlotte. Megan is in Italy.

Best Collection – Elephants in Bloom by Cecile Cristofari – Newcon Press

I judged this one so I already knew the winner. It was actually the first award to be presented after the Aldiss Award, but I’m working through a pre-printed list. The award was presented by Anne Landmann and collected by the author.

Best Fantasy Novel (The Robert Holdstock Award) – Masquerade, by O.O. Sangoyomi – Forge Books/Solaris

This award was presented by the venerable Suniti Namjoshi, a Guest of Honour at the Convention. It was collected by someone I vaguely recognise but I don’t know their name.

Best Horror Novel (The August Derleth Award) – My Darling Dreadful Thing, by Johanna van Veen – Poisoned Pen Press

This award was presented by Lee Murrey and accepted by the author.

Best Independent Press – Flame Tree Press

Award presented by BFS Deputy Chair (and my friend) Sian O’Hara. Award accepted by the ever delightful and eloquent Nick Wells.

Best Magazine/Periodical – ParSec

Presented by BFS Chair and excellent author, who’s new book I will be reviewing 6th December, Shona Kinsella. Award collected by editor, Ian Whates.

Best Newcomer – Frances White – Voyage of the Damned – Penguin Michael Joseph

Award presented by Taika Bellamy and collected by the author. I reviewed Voyage of the Damned and enjoyed it, but after listening to the Christophers at the Queer in Fantasy panel I’m wondering about the validity of m/m romance written by women. Who is the target audience?

Best non-Fiction – Queer as Folklore: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters – Sacha Coward – originally Unbound, now Manchester University Press

This award was presented by the formidable Farah Mendelsohn, and accepted by a stunned Sacha Coward, who swore quite a bit.

Best Novella – The Last To Drown, by Lorraine Wilson – Luna Press Publishing

I’m not entirely certain who presented this one, but it was collected by the author.

Best Short Story – Loneliness Universe, by Eugenia Triantafyllou – Uncanny Magazine

This was presented by Ian Whates and collected by a representative.

BFS Art Competition

  1. Sophie Jonas Will – Snicket and the Fireflies
  2. Madelina Gaubelonga – The Long Wait
  3. Carlie AF – Lonely Spire

The announcement was made by Jenni Coutts and the artists will have their work printed in the Autumn 2026 issue of Horizons, the BFS periodical.

BFS Short Story Competition

  1. Mull, by J.W. Anderson
  2. The Sphinx, by Marian Gordon
  3. Iterate, by Nathaniel Spain

The announcement was made by Stephen Poore and the winners will have their stories published in BFS Horizons.

The Karl E Wagner Award – Rosemary Pardoe

This award is presented for outstanding contributions to the genre, and this year’s winner was a founder member of the BFS. Shona Kinsella made the announcement.

Legends of Fantasycon – Marlene and Babs the Red Cloaks.

This award is presented to people who make Fantasycon what it is – a joyous celebration of Fantasy. The award was announced by Karen Fishwick and eventually accepted by Babs and Marlene after they’d got a pint at the bar.

After the awards I had a drink with a group of friends and headed back to my hotel because I felt unwell.

Promo Post: Unique Minds, Ed. by Rosemarie Cawkwell

Yes, that’s me. I edited an anthology of work by Autistic people for my employer, Faraway, and now it’s ready for sale. We received funding through the Amazon Literary Partnership, and worked with Matthew’s Hub over in Hull to run creative writing groups.

Here are the details:Link:

https://amzn.eu/d/1OYN9Wr

ISBN: 9781914313073

Blurb: This anthology contains stories, poems and art by neurodivergent creatives and explores the diversity of the human mind and how art is made even more beautiful by the inclusion of voices often left unheard. The power of Autism is not one of ‘blacks and whites’, but a full spectrum of experiences that you may have yet to encounter.

The book is available as a paperback, it is currently available for pre-order with 20th July being publication day.

I have a sci-fi story in there. There are poems and art. There is a piece of memoir and several fantasy stories. I got to read a wide variety of work to as part of my editing process, and the choices were difficult to make. I decided any work by Faraway members would go in automatically, to encourage them to keep writing their stories and poetry, and creating their art.

Plus, they’re really enjoyable works.

There were one or two stories that I had to do a lot of editing on, mainly spelling and grammar. Autistic people can have idiosyncratic approaches to words and sentence structure, and I’ve tried to keep those idiosyncrasies where they make sense. Sometimes I’ve had to correct a systematic misunderstanding of sentence structure that detracts from the work but otherwise not changed anything.

I have a lot of respect for professional editors!

We’re planning to send copies to contributors and sell some copies from our office, so people in the area can buy a copy direct from Faraway. The funds raised will be used to support our work supporting Autistic adults. I’m hoping we make enough for me to restart our creative writing group.

Poetry written at Autscape 2023

I only got home from Autscape at 5.15pm on Thursday. It was amazing. I learnt so much from the most amazing people. It was a wonderful experience, among autistic people being themselves. People wondered around in a variety of clothing, with or without shoes. They joyfully engaged in games and arguments. I cried so much, from being overwhelmed by everything. I met some lovely people, played a great ttrpg campaign, and learned to spin from Jo the Spinner.

I’m still exhausted, so this might be a bit disjointed.

I attended two writing workshops at Autscape this week. I wrote several poems in the process, met some poets and writers, and a few Discworld fans. I am not the only Autistic person who thinks Sir Terry was Autistic!

The first writing workshop I went to was ‘NeurodiVERSE’ with Kate Fox and Janine Booth. I have a copy of Fox’s The Oscillations, and Booth’s Autism Equality in the Workplace: Removing Barriers and Challenging Discrimination. I bought a copy of NeurodiVERSE which they co-edited, and another poetry book from Kate Fox.

The first prompt was: In an ideal world

In an ideal world…

  • We wouldn’t need Autscape
  • We wouldn’t need this oasis of Auties, away from everyone else
  • The food would be better

In an ideal world…

  • Trees would dominate the world and lights wouldn’t buzz and sting
  • And libraries would be fully funded

In an ideal world…

  • I wouldn’t feel lost and alone, or lessened by their disbelief
  • I wouldn’t feel anger at every ‘but you don’t look autistic’

In an ideal world

  • I’d be in a swimming pool all the time
  • Or a never-ending bookshop.

We followed this with writing a list of things we want to communicate in poetry and then write a poem about it. I eventually chose my love of fantasy special editions.

Special Edition #1

Grinning glee in a box

Folded in bubble wrap

A new treasure, just for me

Squealing glee

What will I find?

Shining covers protecting pictures, smooth under hands.

Colours and textures feeding me information in skin and eyes.

A new treasure, just for me.

Crack it open, hear the paper slide, the binding creak.

A new treasure, just for me.

Ink and paper, shade and weight – just right!

The heft, the tone, the contrast – Just right!

Feel it, see it, smell it.

Inhale. Imbibe. Take it all in before I read a word.

End papers rich in colours. Edges Sprayed. Gold foil, unique designs.

Special Editions.

I love them all. New treasures, just for me.

Special Editions #2

Touch

  • Embossed covers
  • Smooth plastic
  • Rough paper
  • Weight in my hands
  • Weight on my fingers

Smell

  • New paper
  • Ink
  • Brown
  • The smell-taste of a newly opened special edition
  • Breathing in the microscopic particles of ink, cellulose, air from another place.

Sight

  • Rainbow paintings
  • Little pieces of art
  • Vibrant colours highlighted in gold
  • A story told before a word is read.
  • Sprayed edges and end papers – hints and chapters untold

Hearing

  • Blue glide on fingers ocver pritective plastic
  • Creak and crack of new books opening
  • Sandpaper slide and shift of page on page.

Taste

  • The taste-smell of a newly-opened special edition.
  • Breathing in microscopic particles of ink, cellulose, air taking me away to another place.

The second workshop was based on the Writing East Midlands Beyond the Spectrum creative writing workshops. It was meant to be run by Pippa Hennessy, but she wasn’t well and her wife Rachel (I’ve probably got her name wrong – she’s a lecturer at one of the universities on Nottingham) ran the workshop instead. In 2020 I interviewed for a shadow writer job on the Beyond the Spectrum project. I didn’t get it, obviously. However, I learnt some useful information from both the workshop on Wednesday and the discussion on Thursday. I’m running a weekly writing workshop at Neurospace in October to December for Faraway, and it turns out the Beyond the Spectrum are trying to find funding for a three-year project, rolled out across the country, and partner organisations to host the workshops. There might be a chance for us to work together in future.

Pippa and Rachel are lovely people.

The first poem I wrote had the prompt:

The best thing about being Autistic.

The best thing about being Autistic is my brain’s ability to make unexpected, often entertaining, and sometimes very weird connections between seemingly unconnected concepts, ideas, and events.
The best thing about being Autistic is monotropic flow – learning all the things – and monologuing – sharing all the things!
The best thing about being Autistic is knowing myself better, understanding how I process.
The best thing about being Autistic is hearing the birds sing, even when there’s traffic; smelling the changes in the weather; spotting the unexpected wildlife; touching the wind; tasting the sea on the air.
The best thing about being Autistic is senses that take in everything – when I’m out in nature.

The second exercise involved writing a list of things that bring me joy, then choose one to write notes about, describing it. Then we had to think about two people who don’t get it and write down what they might say. Finally, I had to write a poem or prose that will help people understand.

I chose the potato, because I’ve just harvested the first potaotes from the allotment.

Ode to the humble spud

Trodden into the dark, cold, wet earth, a mucky old spud.

Buried under layer after layer as leaves of emerald sprout, uncurl from the sodden clay. Only to disappear again.

Still you keep in growing, you, the seed potato, who in time becomes a multitude, seeding, growing, accidentally left in the ground.

Starch hoarded to feed the plants until sunlight and warmth return. Going mushy, rotting when you’re used up all your stores.

Don’t put a fork through it!

Leaves sprout and spread, stems lengthen and slouch against each other in ranks and squares

(And in the stack of tyres, because we had to use them for something).

Forgotten brethren appearing unexpected among the peas and sweetcorn. And the flower beds.

Roots swelling as flowers like stars bloom against a field-sky.

New potatoes from mud and a mucky old spud.

Some people were kind enough to say they enjoyed my poems when I read them out. I put a certain intonation into my reading, so it’s possible they found that entertaining rather than the actual work.

I hope you enjoyed them.

Coming up

Hey, dear readers, there’s going to be a bit of a change, due to the current pandemic. I have, as many know, a brain weasel issue that makes reading ebooks hard. (I also have various lurgies making me cough, snotty and generally feel rubbish, but as far as I know, it’s not COVID-19.) Unfortunately, due to the dreaded lurgy going around, many blog tours are now digital only.

So, much of this months content will be extract posts, with the odd review booked months ago thrown in.

  • Wednesday (6th) there will be an audiobook review of The Road Not Taken, by Paul Dodgson. This is a memoir of a musical life.
  • 16th – a book review of Black blood, by Jane Eddie. This is a post-Brexit dystopian novel of crime, murder and oil.
  • 22nd – sci fi in translation, The City Among The Stars, by Francis Carsac. I understand this is a Golden Age classic, first time in English. I’m looking forward to it, although the book hasn’t arrived yet.
  • 23rd – These Lost and Broken Things, by Helen Fields. Historical crime, looking forward to getting my teeth into it.
  • 26th – Girl with a gun, by Diama Nammi and Karen Attwood. A biography of Diama, a Kurdish woman who really upset the Iranian government (good for her!). I was originally getting a book for this but SARS-COV-2 decided to unleash itself on humanity so it’s the only ebook I’ll read this month. And that’s because I like Anne and had already agreed to do the review.
  • Currently, June and July are sparsely populated with extracts and promo posts. I apologise for the slow down in my usual review content. I have also had to refuse indie author reviews if they can’t send physical books, because of said disease and brain weasels. It’s a shame because I like supporting them.
  • Pen & Sword reviews will appear intermittently as I get through the towering piles.
  • There may be other books, I’m working my way through my personal TBR pile. I’m working through some of the ones I’ve already started but had to put down to complete blog tour obligations.

Ode to my TBR pile

I keep reading,

One, two, three, books on the left of my chair, books on the right of me

Books in the loo, books in the bedroom, books waiting to be read,

On the TBR pile.

I read and I read,

But it just keeps getting bigger.

There are so many good books, so many authors I need to read and support.

So many indie bookshops and publishers I want to help.

It is inevitable.

I will die surrounded by the books I never had the time to read.

What a cruel world!

So, random reviews might pop up. And, I promise, very little poetry.

Cover Reveal: ‘I Can See The Lights’, by Russ Litten

Blurb

The prose poems in I Can See The Lights are earthy and raw, but also incredibly sensitive. It’s pretty much guaranteed that more than one of them will bring you to tears. Characters are vividly brought to life, and stark but warm environments evoked in a down to earth, yet almost painterly manner by Russ Litten’s uncompromising voice.

Tales of home, of un-belonging, of strife at sea – of a northern city’s beating heart. Told in a mesmeric, stripped-down tone, this collection is a work of genius.

Continue reading “Cover Reveal: ‘I Can See The Lights’, by Russ Litten”

Poem: I should have known

I should have realised
Long ago
There’s something a little off 
About me.

Everyone knew how
To act
To react
To interact
Inate instructions calling time
Picking up the rules and the rhyme.

No one told me the rules of the game
Or even that we were playing, with
No choice but to play.

I learnt the rules, or a strange
Version thereof from
Books.

Because nobody bothered to sit down
And explain the rules of the game, or
that I had to play.

So when i say or do
The wrong thing, try remembering
You knew the rules, how to act, interact, react,
And I’m still learning with every book I read.

 

 

I wrote a poem last night, it’s had some compliments from a number of people. I’m quite pleased with the metaphor and hopefully it gets the message across.

Review: ‘When Science Collapses’, by Christopher Hivner

Author website here

Publisher’s website here

Publication Date: 31st December 2016

Published By: Writing Knights Press

ISBN: 9781541337237

Format: Paperback chapbook

Price: $8.00

 

 

 

 

My Review

Christopher Hivner contacted me a week or so ago, and asked if I’d review his chapbook, When Science Collapses and I agreed. I do enjoy reading poetry now and then. The book arrived very quickly, yesterday while I was packing my house up to move in two weeks. It managed to survive the packing process so I’ve had a chance to read it earlier than I expected.

I enjoyed the poems, although poetry isn’t my speciality. They mix personal experience with scientific concepts for affecting results. A small book of only 23 poems, each poem causes the reader to stop and ponder the connections between life events and scientific concepts.

3/5

NaNoWriMo 2016 has begun

And I’m not doing it this year. I want to focus on finishing my novel and editing the first two if I get the chance, plus I’m helping a friend by editing her novel and I have that MA to study for.

However, as a treat I’ve written a poem. I came up with this one early this morning, blame lack of sleep if it’s terrible.

I have questions, by Rosemarie Cawkwell

I have questions, about the universe mainly.…
I’ve always wanted to know, but no one will tell me,
If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding in to?
If I stood on the bow wave of spacetime, what would I see?
Anything? Nothing?
The Void?
What is the Void, Nothingness, Infinity?
If I stood in the Void, which isn’t possible,
I know,
And looked back at our Universe, what would I see?
A perfect sphere, uniform,
A ball of spacetime rolling through the Void,
Or a splat spreading out at different rates.
Would I see other universes rolling through the Void?
Bumping in to ours as both expand?
I have so many questions, and nobody will answer them for me.

 

 

I actually have spent at least two decades trying to work out what the universe is expanding in to and I’ve yet to get an answer from anyone. I’m reading a book at the minute called ‘The Substance of Spacetime’ (I’ll be reviewing it next week, possibly, depends on how busy I get) and I still haven’t got my answers.

Good luck to everyone doing NaNoWriMo this year, I know that some of my fellow MA students are also taking on the challenge whilst studying and I wish them all the best.

 

Local Authors Reviewed: Part One

As you may remember, a few weeks ago I went to a local authors event to do some networking and get opinions on the best self-publishing platform and was given four books by local authors to review. Here are the first three.

As always, I received these in return for honest reviews. I am going to be very honest. Sorry.

Selected Poems, by Michael Nilsen (poetry)

Published by: Matador

Publication Date: October 2015

ISBN: 9781784624705

Price:£9.99

A collection of poems written over a 22 year period and covering a range of themes including nature, autobiography and surrealism.

My Review

The nature poems were the most affecting and well-written, with great imagination. Unfortunately most of the poems didn’t move me all that much although they could have a different effect on other people. Poetry is subjective like that.

The Crooked Link, by David Evardson (General adult fiction)

Published by:Self-published

Publication date: 2016

ISBN: 9781522901259

Price:Unknown

Stanley is a crook, a crook who happens to have stolen money from an even bigger crook in London. When he turns up in Cleethorpes with a plan to buy a house, if he can sell his London flat first. A chain of buyers and sellers build but the chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, and this link is crooked.

My Review

The plot is good but the execution needs work. It feels like a first novel even though the author has written several books before. It doesn’t quite ring true enough to become immersed in the plot, although the attempt at local dialect is good.

Marikka, by Sam Hawksmoor (children’s fiction)

Published by: Hammer & Tong UK

Publication Date: 2015

ISBN: 9781511994224

Price: Unknown

Marikka flees from an arson attack on her home to the sea, where she meets Mika – a runaway working for a sinister, scarred man hiding from the world. Meanwhile her father, long thought dead, searches for her with the aide of ‘the girl who can read objects’.

My Review

The plot reminds me of an Enid Blyton novel that has been modernised, including the sinister, mysterious villains and the evil step-father. I really quite enjoyed it and I admit to bawling like a baby at end. I liked the main characters, the plot was good, the chapter titles funny and the writing fluent. There were editing errors, e.g. instance instead of instant, minor things I had to parse to get the gist of the sentence but nothing that a re-edit won’t fix. Definitely a good one for the young teenager before they move on to more challenging books.

I have just one other book to read, For the love of Emily by Joy Wood. I haven’t started it yet but I will soon. The books are piling up again on my to be read list. I’ve been working on craft projects and writing assignments. Before I start University at the end of September I want to get the non-fiction assignments of my Writer’s Bureau course completed. I’m almost done, I have one task left to do on the final non-fiction assignment, and I shall tackle that tomorrow.

For those following the Saga of the Bath, finally today, after nine and a half weeks, the landlord sent a plumber to replace the old bath with a shiny new one. Or, I should say, the letting’s agent did. I intend to wallow in that thing tomorrow morning.