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Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2 getting accolades!

1/4/2025

Spec Fic for Newbies Volume 2 was recently shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association's award for Best (Long) Nonfiction! My co-author Val and I were well chuffed because Vol 1 was also a finalist in the same category last year. The BSFA awards will be announced at Eastercon in Belfast later this month.

Additionally, Vol 2 made the Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List (as Vol 1 did last year), which means it is on the voting list for the Locus Awards. EVERYONE can vote until April 15!

See the full list here: https://locusmag.com/2025/02/2024-recommended-reading-list/
Vote here: https://poll.voting.locusmag.com/

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UK Ghost Story Festival 2025 & Anthology (with a story from me!)

28/1/2025

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February is UK Ghost Story Festival month! The online event is 14th-16th February and includes over a dozen writing workshops, talks, and author and filmmaker interviews, including a workshop I'm running on Saturday the 15th at 12.30-1.30 called "Who's Haunting You?" in which I will lead writers through a deep dive into the types of ghosts and spirits and how knowing who's haunting you can influence your story. For more info and to get tickets, go here.

The in-person event is 21-23 February at the Museum of Making in Derby. The schedule is chock-full of talks, panels, interviews and workshops. Find more info here and book tickets for individual events here.

Alex Davis, who runs the festival plus several other horror-related events during the year, has put together an anthology of stories from several of the writers who take part in the festival. It's called Spirit Seasons, and I have a story in it called "Hill Witch", about a witch making do without a teacher, a very wicked crone with a family grudge and a bone to pick, and the spirit of a horseback mountain midwife who's been stuck between worlds for a very long time. The anthology is available either at the in-person event or vis post. here are limited copies, so find it here.

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Another story just in time for Halloween!

17/10/2024

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Horror Tree has been a really supportive place since Spec Fic for Newbies came out (check out our video interview with them over on Horror Tree's YouTube channel), and just recently they published my short story "The Oracle at Dairy".

The story was inspired by a nursery rhyme and a really dumb play on words (Oracle at Delphi, get it? I said it was dumb!). But the story itself is about the lengths you go to protecting those you love, and how sometimes you miss what's right in front of you. So read it here, for free!

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Just in Time for Halloween: I Have New Horror Story Out With Black Shuck Books

3/10/2024

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Black Shuck Books has just released its newest anthology, Great British Horror 9: Something Peculiar, which includes my newest short story "Until the Wheel Spins Round Again." The story is about a woman who flips houses for a living, and her newest acquisition is, well, odd, and then the pandemic hits. At night, she hears a baby crying, and she finds curious items hidden behind walls. As you move forward in time with our house flipper, you discover the story of a girl who lived in the same house 400 years earlier, but her story is told backwards until their tales--and situations--overlap.

In addition to my story, there are new stories from several other authors including the always fabulous Grady Hendrix, Michael Marshall Smith, Jonathan Oliver, Rosanne Rabinowitz, and others. Order through Black Shuck Books or at any book retailer.

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Over-the top action! Bizarre aliens! Big pew pews! It's Space Opera! (a podcast)

23/7/2024

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I had a great time over on Journey Through Sci-Fi talking to Matt and James for their Space Opera series. I *love* the MCU, so getting to nerd out about Guardians and Thor: Ragnarok? Oh, it was such hard work! Give it a listen HERE.

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Folk Horror workshop (online) this September!

20/7/2024

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On Saturday, Sept 14, join me (!) and three other authors for a series of writing workshops on Folk Horror! I'll be running the first session, breaking down how to approach Folk Horror into steps that will help you delve into this fascinating subgenre. At the end of my workshop we'll do an activity that will get you writing a whole new story! Read more about the event here and get tickets!

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Face it, your kid is the devil!

14/7/2024

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Over at the British Fantasy Society's blog, I talk about the trope of Evil Children in this month's "Subgenre Deep Dive"! If you're a Gen Xer like me, you remember how scary Damien from The Omen was (as if the bullies in school weren't bad enough!), but just think how terrifying that was for the adults in the room. Now we have enough issues with wretched adults (and too many videos of reprehensible behavior on airplanes!), but scary, possessed kids are a bit more awful now that we are the adults and supposed to be able to raise them better.

This was a LOT of fun to write and is an extended and tweaked version of the "Evil Children" section of the new Volume 2 of Spec Fic for Newbies. So take a look at the post here, and if you dig it you can get 29 more subgenres and major tropes--complete with activities for each to get you writing--into your eyeballs via our dedicated linktree, where a bundle of Volumes 1 and 2 is still being offered by publisher Luna Press at a special price!

*image is a still from Pet Sematary (2019) taken from IMDb

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We're just full of Big Ideas!

10/7/2024

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Over on John Scalzi's famous (or infamous?) blog, Whatever, Val Nolan and I got to talk about the big ideas behind Spec Fic for Newbies Volume 2.

We discuss why we think science fiction, fantasy, and horror are such important genres, especially as a way to describe and discuss the overwhelming things happening in today's political, social, and environmental climate. It's a quick jump to it here.

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Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2 is OUT!

5/7/2024

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Volume 2 of the award-finalist and Locus listed Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror is out now! Val and I had a lot of fun writing this sequel to the well-received first volume, and we even got a #1 New Release banner over on Amazon.

Volume 2 continues the subgenre and trope goodness with a look at 30 new topics, from Astronauts to Ecohorror, Dragons to Mythological Fantasy, and everything in between. Read more on our dedicated Spec Fic for Newbies page!

Available everywhere!

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All the Things

10/4/2024

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So, sometimes things pile up and months later you find yourself realizing that, hey, all these things happened! While I sort a new platform for my subscribers' newsletter, I will take a few minutes to update here :)

First of all: Underhill Academy is no more. It's unfortunate, but Trip and I had to make a fast decision in February about some things, and UA ended up on the chopping block. BUT I will have new editing business news soon (stay tuned). Meanwhile, I am busy copy editing and proofreading for private clients and SFF publishing houses, which I love to do.

Threading the Labyrinth, which lost is home at Unsung Stories last year when the house closed its doors, has been re-issued in a special extended edition with Luna Press. It's available in ebook and paperback at all major book retailers (check the dedicated page here for more).

Spec Fic for Newbies Volume 2 (A Beginner's Guide to Writing More Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror) has been handed in and edits are done. It will cover 30 new subgenres and major tropes of our favorite genres, everything from Astronauts and Eco Horror to Dragons and Werewolves! Pre-orders will open soon and it'll hit the shelves this summer! (more here)

I recently sat down with James & Matt at Journey Through Sci-Fi podcast to discuss MCU's take on space opera: Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok. It was, as always, a lot of fun, and you can listen here.

I was very busy at Eastercon with 5 panels on topics from landscape to horror subgenres, and I am looking forward to Glasgow Worldcon. I'll have a story coming out in an anthology (or two!) this year, and, finally, I am thisclose to finishing a novella and, one day, a new novel. Cross your fingers!

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<<Previous

Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2 getting accolades!

UK Ghost Story Festival 2025 & Anthology (with a story from me!)

Another story just in time for Halloween!

Just in Time for Halloween: I Have New Horror Story Out With Black Shuck Books

Over-the top action! Bizarre aliens! Big pew pews! It's Space Opera! (a podcast)

Folk Horror workshop (online) this September!

Face it, your kid is the devil!

We're just full of Big Ideas!

Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2 is OUT!

All the Things

Tiffani Angus

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