Val Nolan

@vallescurarule.bsky.social

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Research Fellow in Aberystwyth English Dept.; Author of Neil Jordan - Works for the Page; co-author of Spec-Fic for Newbies; Sturgeon & BSFA finalist; stories in Year's Best SF, Best of British SF, Interzone, Opulent Syntax, Nature Futures... He/Him.

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Val Nolan

My copy of Andor Analysed has arrived! If you want your own, including another instance of me talking about Star Wars from an organization studies perspective, go here (the PDF is free to download): www.redfuturesmag.com/andor-analys...

There has to be a word for when you spend a whole year writing a story only for world events to render it probably unpublishable overnight 🙃

House is stocked with Taytos once more. All is well again.

Where will the Greenway take you today...? 😀

A theme-tune-to-the-animated-X-Men-stuck-in-my-head sort of day 😂

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Val Nolan

omg, I've had something included in a Story Bundle! I was lucky enough to have something in Best of British SF 2022 (thanks Donna!) And then I got a nice surprise on the description page. "Wait. That's... that's my name!" 🥳 Gerrit here: storybundle.com/bestof

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Val Nolan

Writers: Challenge the agreement/contract that your publishers present you with. They'll start off saying this is our contract, take it or leave it, but it's negotiable. Every contract is. 'Boilerplate' means this is where you start, not where you finish. And learn what 'subsidiary rights' means.

Fascinating...

Aberystwyth Old College's secrets revealed 140 years after firewww.bbc.com Three men died following a "spontaneous combustion" at Aberystwyth's Old College building in 1885.

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Val Nolan

I’m looking forward to this essay on Vonda McIntyre by Una McCormack, and to the other essays in this collection. I spot @vallescurarule.bsky.social and @davidmack.bsky.social on the ToC, and also the intriguingly titled ‘A Coda on Coda’ by Caroline-Isabelle Caron (the ST:Coda novels are awesome).

I have an essay that puts Vonda’s Star Trek novels into the context of her full body of work (including her last, unpublished novel) coming very soon in this collection of essays! mcfarlandbooks.com/product/stra...

Strange Novel Worlds - McFarlandmcfarlandbooks.com Strange Novel Worlds Essays on Star Trek Tie-In Fiction Edited by Caroline-Isabelle Caron with Kristin Noone 978-1-4766-9319-4 978-1-4766-5335-8

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Val Nolan

Reply to

Una McCormack

Strange Novel Worlds - McFarlandmcfarlandbooks.com Strange Novel Worlds Essays on Star Trek Tie-In Fiction Edited by Caroline-Isabelle Caron with Kristin Noone 978-1-4766-9319-4 978-1-4766-5335-8

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Val Nolan

This is a great piece on a great novel.

‘This is especially true of one late-in-the-novel experience of Justin being lost in Seoul’s Gimpo Intl. Airport. This episode is among the most striking in the book, and also one of the most fantastical, as space, time, and logic seems to collapse around Priest’s protagonist.’ Val’s super review 👇

THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT AIRSIDE BY CHRISTOPHER PRIEST: Val Nolan on the genre-defying literary maestro’s final novel // IZ Digitalinterzone.digital ‘There are no aliens or portals here; there is, perhaps, a time/space slippage, but the reality of that is up to each reader to decide. A speculative audience will hum along to the book’s eerie tune.’...

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Val Nolan

Reply to

Dr. Damien P. Williams: The Birthday Beast

Because people seem to not understand how "AI" uses so much water, here's a quick+dirty breakdown: The more data centers you have & the more traditional power you use, the more water you 1a) use To cool & 1b) lose, because they arent perfectly sealed systems, & 2) will need to boil to run turbines.

Remember when some of y'all got real mad at me for doing some back-of-the-napkin math about how much water "AI" likely uses, in light of the fact that they refuse to release their actual numbers? Anyway.

Wonderful bike ride on the Greenway earlier 😀

Finished the second season of #StarTrekProdigy this evening. Absolutely *exceptional* stuff. Has to be one of the all time best seasons of Star Trek! 🖖

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Val Nolan

‘[...] they were the cream of Eton and Oxford and the Royal Navy College in Dartmouth. They were skilled technicians who’d had their politics distorted pint by pint. They were mutineers.’ I love ‘Cofiwch Aberystwyth’. A fantastic story. Get it at Weightless: weightlessbooks.com/interzone-28...

Wonderful interview here with the great Donna Scott, editor of the Best of British Science Fiction anthology series. Very grateful that, among the stellar stories and writers she mentions, my 'Cofiwch Aberystwyth' gets a shout-out. Thank you, Donna! 😀 clarkesworldmagazine.com/scott_interv...

Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasyclarkesworldmagazine.com Stories That Stick in the Brain: A Conversation with Donna Scott by Arley Sorg

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Val Nolan

You had me at “exceedingly dry in-jokes for recherché subcultures”

#StarTrekProdigy is absolutely *knocking it out of the park* with these second season two-parters! 'Last Flight of the Protostar' and 'Ascension' are *Grade A* Star Trek. Exciting, emotionally meaningful stories pushing both plot and character arcs forward. Bravo!

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Val Nolan

First published in IZ 299, ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at Airside by Christopher Priest’, @vallescurarule.bsky.social Val Nolan’s tremendous review, now free to read at @interzone.digital 👇 interzone.digital/thirteen-way... Get IZ 299 at Patreon, @weightlessbooks.bsky.social & @scarletferret.com

Buy “INTERZONE #299” on Patreon | INTERZONEwww.patreon.com Check out INTERZONE’s shop on Patreon

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Val Nolan

Very much enjoying this panel with @tiffaniangus.bsky.social and @vallescurarule.bsky.social about their Specfic For Newbies books (@lunapress.bsky.social) and their processes and writing thoughts. You can see it on catch up on the @britfantasysoc.bsky.social page, I believe, if you buy a ticket.

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Val Nolan

5 mins in & I'm already having flashbacks to chatting with @vallescurarule.bsky.social & @tiffaniangus.bsky.social for @horrortree.bsky.social when Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 1 came out. So much fun. Together, they are JOYOUS. Go grab vol 2 of Spec Fic for Newbies from @lunapress.bsky.social.

Back from the first break and we're talking SUBGENRES. BFS Chair @shonak.bsky.social chats with @vallescurarule.bsky.social and @tiffaniangus.bsky.social, co-authors of Spec Fic for Newbies. Volume 2 was just released this week by @lunapress.bsky.social!

Not having to hear about Tory nonsense every day anymore is going to be such a *genuine* relief 😀

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Val Nolan

Write that thing. Make it weird. Make it sad. Make it funny or kinky or scary or whatever you want. Write what makes you happy.

We've made it to the mid-season point of #StarTrekProdigy's *excellent* second season and, no spoilers, it has to be said that 'The Devourer of All Things I & II' are *tremendous* Star Trek episodes brimming with treats for fans old and new! 😀 🖖

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Val Nolan

The WEALTH of Scottish SFF coming out at Worldcon this year. As is only correct. 😽

Nova Scotia Vol 2 anthology, edited by @neilwilliamson.bsky.social and Andrew J. Wilson, is now available for pre-order! Discover the contributors! www.lunapresspublishing.com/post/ken-mac...

Ken MacLeod: Nova Scotia Vol 2 Anthology. Pre-Order Available Now!www.lunapresspublishing.com Nova Scotia Vol 2 anthology, edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J. Wilson, is now available for pre-order!

Had a dream last night that we somehow got a second little kitten. But, also, it had swallowed a small radio and so it didn't so much meow as play Hip Hop when it wandered past 😂

Happy Independence-From-Conservative-Misrule-Day to voters heading to the polls in the UK today!

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Val Nolan

I recently wrote about being a co-author complete with advice on how to approach a project with someone else. Find it on the Women Writers, Women's Books site! booksbywomen.org/how-i-accide...

How I Accidentally-on-Purpose Ended Up a Co-author, and You Can, Too! - Women Writers, Women's Booksbooksbywomen.org By Tiffani Angus As writers, we tend to be solo workers, so to many of us, the idea of writing with someone else…? Bite your tongue! Being a co-author can be scary and mean losing things: a say in you...

Exciting book post today! Includes my retrospective essay on the New Frontier series! 😀 Really looking forward to reading the other contributions! 😀 You can find a copy here: mcfarlandbooks.com/product/stra...

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Val Nolan

What else do you need when the school holidays are looming? Gotta love the creepy kids! PS go grab Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2 (and Vol 1 if you don't have it) and support indie publishing as well as @tiffaniangus.bsky.social @vallescurarule.bsky.social & @lunapress.bsky.social 💪

In this latest edition of her regular column, @tiffaniangus.bsky.social—co-author of Spec Fic for Newbies (including the just-released Volume 2!)—brings forth the creepy kids. britishfantasysociety.org/subgenre-dee...