Events: Nottingham Does Comics & ArtBeat

Jay & I will be guests at Nottingham Does Comics on the 13th June.

Weird Worlds and How We Build Them @ ArtBeat 2017

The Speculators (the writing group we are in) will be running this event for the Clarendon Park ArtBeat Festival on Friday 23rd June at 6.30pm.

Friends Meeting House (Small Meeting Room), 16 Queens Rd, Leicester.

How do you create a fictional world? A discussion about world building within SF&F and related genres.

 Event Link

Small Press Day at Forbidden Planet Leicester

smallpressdayWe are taking part in Small Press Day on 9th July to celebrate small press and indie comics.

The event at Forbidden Planet Leicester is:

2.30pm – 5.30pm

23 Silver Street, Leicester, LE1 5EU

Creators appearing as part of the event are:

Drew Sumner – Ink & Booze

Jade Sarson – TeaHermit

Esme Baran – Undine Adventurer

Sally Jane Thompson – Atomic Sheep

& others

Jay & I will be running free ‘Introduction to Writing Comics’ workshops.

The workshops will introduce you to the elements of a comic script, and provide a taster of the foundations of comic book writing.

We are running the workshop twice at:

2.30 – 3.10pm and 3.50 – 4.30pm

To book your place contact Forbidden Planet Leicester with your preferred timeslot.

More info on their FaceBook event and you can book by commenting on the post there.

Here, there and everywhere in May

May turned into a very busy month for us with lots of events with some kind of creative connection…

First off was a visit to The Lakes with friends from The Speculators writing group. No writing was done, but we did lots of sight-seeing of writing-related places.

Writers in the rain!

Writers in the rain – at Wordsworth’s favourite writing spot.

Applied Comics Network Event - information, educational & factual comics.

Applied Comics Network Event – information, educational & factual comics.

Next up was a trip down to London for the inaugural Applied Comics Network Event, which I had been invited to speak at about the sessions I do at work about using comics to communicate research. I’ve blogged this in detail over on my work blog.

We both did readings at the latest Fox Bites event, which is a Leicester event for writers to read 5 minutes extracts of their work in a relaxed atmosphere in a local cafe. Organised by the lovely Adele (aka Aunty Fox) of Fox Spirit Books.

Jay entertains the audience with a sci-fi tale.

Jay entertains the audience with a sci-fi tale.

Jay read his short story Spare Change, which originally appeared in Murky Depths. While I read Once in a Blue Moon, a piece of flash fiction I wrote for the event.

The others writers who read were:

  • Daniel Ribot (author of Vampsov 1938) read his short story A Gentleman’s Agreement.
  • Marianne Whiting read an extract from her Viking novel Sheildmaiden.
  • Carol Leeming read an extract from her choreopoem – The Loneliness of the the Long Distance Diva.
  • Selina talks ancient hearts.

    Selina talks ancient hearts.

    Mayapee Chowdhury read a short story from her collection Embarrassing Siblings, Playground Taunts and other Growing Pains.

  • Leah ‘Ileandra’ Osbourne read an extract from one of her novels.

I went on a rather different creative jaunt during for the second Bank Holiday weekend, as I went on a sewing retreat. It was good fun and I learnt lots of new crafting techniques…

#sewingretreat winding up. Had a great time & learnt lots :-)

Fruits of my sewing labours.

May is being rounded-off with Jay busy working on a short story and a Speculators critiquing session this weekend.

Oh, and April brought the news that To End All Wars has been nominated for TWO Eisner Awards! Very exciting to have written for an Eisner nominated book!

What we’re up to at FantasyCon

It’s only a few days to FantasyCon starts on Friday (and our holiday from the day jobs begin). Here’s the places you’ll be guaranteed to see us at FCon:

Friday 5th Sept

5.00pm – WORKSHOP: Writing for Comics
From idea to sale, what do you have to do? (limited to 20 attendees on sign-up sheet at Registration)
Selina Lock, Jay Eales

Saturday 6th Sept

2.00pm – The Alchemy Press Book Launch
Kneeling in the Silver Light anthology edited by Dean Drinkel
The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 anthology edited by Jan Edwards & Jenny Barber
The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 3 anthology edited by Mike Chinn
Nick Nightmare Investigates limited edition collection by Adrian Cole
Merry-Go-Round limited edition collection by Bryn Fortey

The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 3Jay has a story in The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 3 called The Revenant.

 Inspired by equal parts Lamont (The Shadow) Cranston and Jim (The Spectre) Corrigan, “When the city cries out for justice, the Revenant responds.”

7.00pm – Comics on the Small Screen
Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, the Flash, Daredevil, Peggy Carter – is TV the new cinema for superior superhero drama?
Maura McHugh (m), Selina Lock, Guy Adams, Mike Chinn, Den Patrick

We’re also looking forward to going to some of the other items on the schedule, catching up with friends and meeting new people. We’re always happy to chat, so grab us to say ‘Hi!’ if you’ll be there.