I am 50

Last year I turned 50.

It's a natural time to reflect on the things and moments that shape you. And these days I tend to focus on the good rather than the bad.

Over on BlueSky, I've posted a thread of 50 things that made me the writer and creator I am, the ingredients that are the most important to me.

You can view these influences here: https://bsky.app/hashtag/Iam50

And Happy New Year to you all - may it be a prosperous one in all that you do.

Throwbook Thursdays Issue 1

Look!

There!

Up on the floor!

Is it a throw! Yes!

Is it a book! Oh yes!

Then it's Throwbook Thursdays!

So there you go, no more explanation is needed. Except to say, here's the first book on the list, perhaps the most-read book in my collection (I think I musta read it a gazillion times as a teenager).

For £4.99, How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction contained more sensible advice than any writing courses, degrees, etc. that I paid for/enrolled in/attended in all my years. Do you want writing advice from Ray Bradbury? You got it! Dean R. Koontz? Absolutely. Ramsey Campbell? Are you kidding? Sure! And so many more. 

Any budding SF, Horror, or Fantasy authors should track this down where they can. Like all the Throwbook Thursdays, these books are no longer in print. They are treasures to hunt down where you can, unearth and dust off, and covet. Throwbacks, yes, but when you think so many amazing books are out-of-print, and only remembered by those privileged 80s or 90s readers, then there's a lot of you out there that are missing out.

Each week I'll post another throwbook here and on Bluesky. If you like, comment on Bluesky, and if I can help you track down a copy, even better!

If you're reading this, then you've come to a safe place...

... And you're not alone. 

Moral sense prevails over X

Last week I was heartened to see that Pan Macmillan, publisher of my Secret War books, decided to take a stance against unsocial media, and the toxic behaviour some social media companies are blatantly demonstrating. It will be no surprise to some reading this, that I refer to the X-Twitter platform that I and other writers have vacated since Elon Musk took over.

This is not about freedom of speech, and it never was. It's about responsible speech. Or in this case, a platform that encourages toxic behaviour (not disruption, no, but encouraging behaviour that is damaging to society, or the unwillingness to do anything about hate). Social media companies have a particular problem with that, and X is not alone in being irresponsible. However, at least they're not encouraging it. When a platform's owner starts spreading disinformation, alarm bells ring.

So I am glad that Pan Mac has taken this position. Other publishers should also start seriously thinking about this. As a writer, I am led by a moral compass as much as financial means, and when I start hiking around books next year I will make decisions based on how a publisher promotes my works and where, rather than how big or successful they are.

As for this writer, I've now taken to Instagram's Threads. It is what Twitter used to be before it turned to the Darkside. It's a place where you'll feel a lot safer (although let's just be honest here, any social media platform is a magnet for trolls and attention seekers), and it's also more creatively unshackled. 

You'll find me on there now. Just as you will find some of my other writer-friends there. It's the new home of writers and writing, so join us over on Threads. You'll find us a friendly, helpful bunch - because writing isn't just a solitary gig, you know?

Amendment 6th January 2025:

Since writing this post, a lot has changed in the world. Meta is one such thing that has changed, or perhaps it was always this way, it just took time for it to come about. I don't like to mix writing with politics, but I do have a moral compass, and it's at odds with Meta, a business that overtly funds very right-leaning politicians, particularly popular right-wing politicians that are far off the spectrum. Meta has funded Donald Trump to be the next US president. This is enough for me to no longer endorse Meta, which has frankly become an unsocial media in every way, much like X. You'll no longer find me writing or promoting my work there, as you might not on Amazon for much longer either. 

Sometimes you just need to listen to what your soul says, rather than darkening it with a faint promise of wonders.

Crime Scene 2: the death of art (or how the fans can fight back)

Let's imagine this crime scene together, shall we...?

J.K. Rowling has announced that Harry Potter book 8 is to be released this Friday. Fans young and old are clamouring (and clambering) for what will be the publishing event of the year. On Friday, online sales begin at 9am... 

But at 9:30am all copies of the book are sold out. 

At 9:40am a site on the internet (let's call it eBay) starts selling copies at 5 times the cover price, at around the £100 mark. Most of the people who have ordered copies have ordered around eight so they can scalp people on the internet (the scalpers call it reselling). The fans don't get their copies, and the author doesn't get any of the profit. In other words, everyone but the scalpers loses out.

Sound familiar?

Thankfully, I work in an industry where this isn't a real problem - it has other problems, let's be honest about that, but doesn't suffer the scalping scourge that hits other parts of entertainment. And I don't think it suffers this because there isn't the opportunity to. I'm pretty certain if Harry Potter Book 8 is published, then there will be plenty of vultures trying to squeeze money out of fans and the author... It's just that fans who are readers aren't that stupid.

And let's face it, you'd have to be really stupid to buy a resell ticket for seven or eight times the value via those scalping sites such as Viagogo. 

Unfortunately, there are people who are that stupid, which is why I and other writers are still in jobs, because we make money out of stupid people too (just as we make money out of the vultures we write about). We don't exploit them, no. We just write about them.

Do you want to know what's better than reading about yourself in a novel because you are one of those people? 

I'll tell ya, it's not being one of those stupid people. It's not being a vulture either.

It would make me, and other authors I think, happier if it wasn't that easy to write about stupid people, so please don't be one of them. Avoid the scourge of scalpers that society would be better off without. Avoid the businesses that lets them thrive (Live Nation, that means you), and for the artists who are allowing this exploitation, please treat your fans with more respect. Sure, some might be stupid, but they're loyally so. 

Fans are an artist's lifeblood. And what are you without them?