Despite the various traumas that have rattled our world from pole to pole, 2025 was a pretty good year for yours truly. Esperance came out in May to terrific reviews, including just recently best-of-2025 lists from Booklist, CrimeReads, and LA Public Library among others. Readers have been kind; and I had the opportunity to meet readers, fellow authors, and a whole bunch of delightful people at a variety of book festivals, including Cymera, the Harrogate Crime Writers Festival, and Bloody Scotland. All in all, I couldn’t have asked for better experiences.
As for 2026, one hopes that the world will calm down a bit while, literarily speaking, there are a lot of fun things to look forward to. LOD is on track to be published in the fall, I’ve had a military SF short story accepted for publication (a real departure for me), and I am putting together an outline for a third Quiet Teacher novel. No title as yet, so let’s just call it Murder in the Third for now. 🤣
On top of that, Moniack Mhor, Scotland’s Creative Writing Centre, has asked me to present an online masterclass (their word, not mine) on worldbuilding. It’s on their website for February 5th so it’s all official and far too late for me to back out. As regular readers of this blog will know, I am a huge fan of Moniack Mhor, having attended three times now on writers’ retreats. This, though, is the first time I have been asked to teach and I’m a wee bit nervous about it. So much so that, appalling procrastinator though I am, I have already prepped the presentation and finalized the slides! 😇 Fingers crossed it goes OK. Nerves aside, I am really looking forward to it.
Then, starting on February 8th, I am back on tour. That’s when I will be taking part in a panel devoted to police procedurals at the Cheshire Crime Writers Festival in Frodsham. (I was going to add Frodsham’s county, but if you can’t figure that out there is something seriously wrong with you.) After that, on February 21st,I will be back at Granite Noir, in Aberdeen Scotland. I had a freezing good time last time I was there (although my blog makes no mention of the temperature!) and am looking forward to renewing acquaintances and meeting a whole bunch of fun new people. Hopefully, it will be warmer than last time but, as it’s Aberdeen in February, I’m not counting on it. Hopefully the weather will be warmer for Shetland Noir, this June. I don’t have full details of the program yet, but I am confident that, like last time, it will be an absolute blast!
So, lots to be looking forward to. Here’s hoping 2026 will be a better year for everyone.