notes from an unruly body: Life in June
Book launch, Birthday, and press!
In true overwhelmed fashion I am late with the June round-up, but there’s been a very good excuse which I can only use once and so intend to use right now: my debut novel was published this month!!!
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to being a Real Author so this is still completely bizarre.
But what a month it’s been!
There was a book launch at Novel Sheffield, and a release day, and The Guardian chose Awakened as one of their best of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy books released in June which I absolutely didn’t expect, and New Scientist also picked it out as one of their best sci-fi books for the month as well!
I have popped into local bookstores to sign books, and I even made it to London as a guest at the Arthur C Clarke Awards to support fellow Angry Robot author Maud Woolf’s incredible book, Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock, which was shortlisted for the prize.
Of course, as a disabled author, What Does Too Much Must Also Rest, so in-between these events I’ve been sofa-stuck and dealing with vast increases in symptoms, but they have — on this occasion at least — all been for a good cause. (Check back in with me next month to see if they’re still there/I still consider them Worth It!)
What’s struck me about this month, though, is how overwhelmingly kind people have been.
Kate and Joe at Novel not only hosted my launch, but brought me flowers and prosecco, and have championed Awakened all over social media.
My other little coffee shop that I’m a regular at, Chapter One, posted Awakened on their social media alongside the cupcakes I’d saved for them.
Friends and family travelled from miles around to celebrate with me.
The independent designer at The Black Wardrobe where I purchased my raven shirt to wear at the launch from (pictured) shared the photos of my outfit on her Instagram with links to buy the book.
I was utterly terrified to attend the Clarke Awards, but everyone I spoke to there made me feel so welcome, and seemed genuinely excited to have such a new debut author there with them.
Reader-reviewers have been making my book look beautiful online, and tagging me as they say lots of nice things.
Overall, aside from the intermittent crashes, I’m not sure I could have asked for a better release month, and it’s brought home to me just how important community is — both local and online and within an industry — and I feel very lucky to have experienced the best of all of them over the last few weeks.
Oh, and it was also my Birthday — I turned 34 and barely noticed because too much has been going on!
Before I get too soppy, though, let’s move on to what I’ve been enjoying/using to decompress this month.
Books I’ve been reading this month
· Leech – Hiron Ennes
This book is 100% not going to be for everyone but it was entirely for me! It’s a strange, gothic, weird medical dystopia in which doctors are in fact parasites who have a vested interest in keeping their potential hosts healthy. There are fantasy elements, peculiar monsters, ethical considerations of self and health and some genuinely fascinating world-building. I would love to read more in this universe and will be eagerly awaiting whatever Hiron Ennes publishes next.
· All’s Well – Mona Awad
This one’s for the chronic pain crew and the weird girls! A very engaging story of chronic pain, Shakespeare, and a Faustian bargain all wrapped up in Mona’s signature weird-girl chic. I enjoyed it a lot was pleased it didn’t fall into the potential trap of “everything works out fine”. It’s very easy to tell that Mona has personal experience with intractable pain as well.
· The Ministry of Time – Kaliane Bradley
The start of my read of the Arthur C Clarke Award shortlist (having read Julia Armfield’s Private Rites already last year). Honestly, I am sure some hard sci-fi fans will be a little disappointed that there’s not much Science in this, but I was almost irritated by how thoroughly charming I found it. Yes, there’s time travel and questions about race and power, and there is A Plot, but the dynamic between the protagonist and the time-travelling polar explorer she’s meant to help adapt to the 21st century is where the heart of this tale lies. Read this if you want to be annoyed that you now have a crush on a fictionalised version of a historical polar adventurer.
· Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock – Maud Woolf
Another book from the Clarke shortlist, and this one published by my publisher Angry Robot! One of the shortest books on the list, but it packs a lot in. In a world where clones or “portraits” of famous people are ubiquitous, what happens when one clone is made to kill the ones that came before? This book asks questions about selfhood, but also about fame and what it is to be a woman in the spotlight — is there, in fact, time to do everything? What happens when you want something different? Can you ever start again?
· Service Model – Adrian Tchaikovsky
Another from the Clarkes, and I confess I’m a big fan of Adrian’s writing. This book plays with the very basic idea of a robot developing consciousness, but in his hands it becomes something new and interesting. Each section riffs on a different writer’s style, from Agatha Christie to Kafka, and the resulting story is a bizarre descent into the “dark heart” of a failed society.
· Annie Bot – Sierra Greer
The third “robot book” on the Clarke shortlist this year, and in fact the overall winner! Annie Bot follows a “Cuddle Bunny” (aka, a sex robot) as she navigates the pitfalls of pleasing her owner, Doug, as well as developing self-awareness. What elevates this book, in my opinion, is that Doug is what you would call a “good, Liberal guy”, yet his issues around sex and relationships are a great big fat blind spot in his politics; as such, he loves Annie, but the way he abuses her is the very subtle kind of abuse that many men could be blamed for in their relationships. There was one scene in particular that I found viscerally disturbing, and that is to the book’s credit.
· Extremophile – Ian Green
The final book from the Clarke shortlist, and I have to say this one took me a little while to get into but absolutely stuck the landing. A queer, cyberpunk, bio-hacking dystopia where environmental collapse has driven everyone into… Well, a lot of shit. There’s a lot that’s twisted about this story but only because it’s disturbingly plausible despite the extremes society has fallen into. Again, this one won’t be for everyone but I think it’s fair to say it succeeds on its own merits and despite being very bleak, there’s hope threaded in here as well.
TV I’ve been watching this month
· Hannibal (2013 – 2015)
Look, I know it’s a weird comfort show to have but it is in fact one of my comfort shows. Hannibal and Will have been keeping me company during my recovery periods and I will never apologise!
Games I’ve been playing this month
· The Quarry
I picked this up on a whim and had a lovely few evenings playing it. The Quarry is a horror survival game that’s mostly in the vein of a cinematic “Tell Tale Games-esque” release — it’s about choices, and a few quick reaction times, but the heart of its success is that the characters all feel very real and behave in the way people would actually behave, even when they’re being frustrating. Set at an abandoned summer camp for teams, you play as multiple characters under attack by Something, building (or destroying) relationships and hoping to end the night alive.
Book/Writing News
Well, my debut was launched in June, so there’s a lot to report since then!
The book launch at Novel Sheffield on the 7th was wonderful, and Kate — the owner — reminded me that a couple of years ago when she was running Novel as a pop-up in the local coffee place that I was a regular at, we had a conversation which went something like:
Me: I’m writing a book!
Her: I’m hoping to open a proper bookshop soon! Maybe one day I’ll get to host your book launch?
And in 2025, there we were doing exactly that! Strange how life happens, isn’t it?
Since then, bizarre things have been happening.
· The Guardian selected Awakened as one of their best recent science-fiction, fantasy and horror picks here, New Scientist picked it as one of their best new sci-fi reads here, and SFX magazine gave it a 4 star review, which has to be up there with one of the things to tick off a bucket list!
· I got to attend the Arthur C Clarke Awards in London which was my first ever industry event, and while I am certain I’ve forgotten near enough everyone’s names it was incredible to meet so many people working and making in the sci-fi space.
· I was a guest on the lovely Fiction Fans podcast which you can listen to here, talking all about monsters and chronic illness and sci-fi/horror.
· I also had an essay published in CrimeReads on one of my personal obsessions, the power of abjection to drive change, which you can read here and which was also very kindly selected by This is Horror as one of their Top 5 Must Read Horror Articles of the week.
· Finally, Awakened snuck into The Bookseller’s Disability Issue this month, with a review by Polly Atkin that called it a “Brilliant, evocative debut blending a Frankenstinian exploration of scientific hubris, selfhood, and the ethics of medicine.” Eek!
As ever though, lots more has been going on in the background. I’ve been working with the Taking the PIP campaign trying to prevent Keir Starmer’s devastating plan to cut disability benefits.
There are protests and actions going on around the country in the next week or so, so please visit: https://takingthepip.co.uk/ to get involved.
In the meantime here’s my video explaining the issue and calling on the government to backtrack:
Finally, I was also pleased to lend my name to this open letter from writers to publishers, calling on them to keep generative AI out of publishing, and if you’re a writer/bookseller/librarian please do also consider signing here.
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PHEW! What a month. No wonder I’m knackered!
For now, that’s all from me, and in a couple of weeks I’ll be returning not with a disabled figure from history, but with an interview with Rachel Charlton-Dailey who has written the book on UK disability history which will be releasing in July!
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