I got the March BristolCon Fringe readings edited over the weekend, and they are now available for listening below.

First up we have Rosie Oliver who treated us to a short story, a fragment from a novel, and a preview of a new story about C.A.T, her robot cat hero. As she had to catch an early train home, we did her Q&A immediately after her reading.

Next at the microphone was Scott Lewis, freshly escaped from his ordeals rescuing farmers from the floods in Somerset. Scott read the first chapter of the aforementioned novel, which I think is called Aetherjack. It involves a gunfight in a brothel and a rickshaw chase. Please note that in the Q&A at the end of the evening Scott makes it clear that Dash is by no means the hero of the novel.

Our third reader was Roz Clarke, who is probably better known here as one of the editors of Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion. Roz also read a chapter from a novel in progress. As we reveal later in the Q&A, it is set in an alternate world version of Bristol. Roz is a Clarion West graduate, and I think you’ll agree that it shows in this reading. In fact if you are an editor or agent looking for a hot new novel to sell I suggest that you give this a listen, and then drop me a line to ask for Roz’s contact details. If the rest of the book is as good as this, I’d love to publish it, but I know that Roz deserves better than what Wizard’s Tower can do for her.

While Rosie had to rush off and catch a train, Scott and Roz stuck around to answer questions. The Q&A turned into a bit of a meditation on novel-writing technique. We talked about the problems of second chapters, and about the pros and cons of outlining. Kevlin Henney shocked everyone by mentioning the F-word: “finish”. As everyone in the business knows, novels are never finished, they are only abandoned.

Kevlin also gives us a preview of the April Fringe event, which he is curating as it is a flash fiction event. It will take place next Monday (April 14th) — somewhat earlier than usual due to the Easter vacation. As the stories are all quite short, there will be eight readers in total. One of them will be local favorite, Gareth L. Powell, who still holds the record for the most downloads of a Fringe podcast. Also reading will be Kevlin himself, and Jonathan Pinnock, both of whom are Fringe veterans. In addition there will be a story that will feature in The Girl at the End of the World, Vol. 2, forthcoming from Fox Spirit later this year, which will be read by me because I wrote it.