I have a new short story on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 14 December 2018 at 3:45pm. It's called Pale Blue Dots, and it's about what happens when our personal virtual assistants (like Siri and Alexa) get too clever for our own good. Thanks so much to Jeremy Osborne at Sweet Talk Productions for commissioning and producing the story, and to Teresa … [Read more...]
New short story on BBC Radio 4
I have a new short story on BBC Radio 4 on Fri 9 June at 3:45pm. It's called Companions, and it features a robot and an imaginary grandma. Big thanks to Jeremy Osborne at Sweet Talk Productions for commissioning me, and actor Lee Ingleby, for making it sound so terrific. The story will stay on the iPlayer for the next 30 days. … [Read more...]
KJ Orr interview – Light Box
KJ Orr's debut short story collection - Light Box - has recently come out, and it's brilliant, so I wanted to ask her about it. Here's the interview. AM: Why did you call the collection Light Box? KJO: It made sense for a number of reasons, and my hope is that there is pleasure in coming across some of those while reading, so I won’t point … [Read more...]
The Penguin Book of the British Short Story
I'm so thrilled that my story The 40-Litre Monkey has been included in The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. Editor Philip Hensher read over 6,000 short stories, going all the way back to Daniel Defoe, to make his selection for this incredibly handsome two-volume collection of British short stories. I can't quite believe that my story is … [Read more...]
Joan Wilder vs Palpatine, and a weekend of London lit fests
It was so exciting last night to see two huge characters from my childhood on stage together: Kathleen Turner, who I will always think of first as romance novelist Joan Wilder from Romancing the Stone, and Ian McDiarmid, the dreaded evil emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars movies. The play was Bakersfield Mist. Joan Wilder plays a boozy trailer … [Read more...]
Short stories come in pairs
When I write short stories, I write them in pairs. This is why: I think the best gift a writer could have would be the ability to read their own work as if they'd never seen it before. But a truly objective perspective on your own work is impossible. It helps to leave a draft in the draw for a few days, weeks or months, but I've found that if I … [Read more...]
How do you like your story endings, open or closed?
Do you want clear answers at the end of a story, or do you prefer doing a little investigative work and close reading to unpick the clues, or do you dig story endings that are wide open, where you can chew over the story and make your own interpretation? I ask because I got another email this week from someone who'd read my story, The Stormchasers, … [Read more...]
BBC Radio 4 Extra to broadcast five of my short stories
Every day next week, 17-21 March 2014, BBC Radio 4 Extra will be broadcasting my stories at 11am, 9pm and 4am. Here are the programme details. There'll be five stories in all, from both of my short story collections, Instruction Manual For Swallowing and The Stone Thrower: Fewer Things The 40-Litre Monkey Remember the Bride Who Got … [Read more...]
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