Where Stephen writes about his writing and other writing things, and some other things as well.
Soul Searching on the Clarke Award 105 Eligible List
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What a fantastic thing... for Soul Searching to be on the Arthur C. Clarke Award "long list" of eligible books – 105 titles read by the judges. 📖❤️🚀
Final Cover – Stephen Embleton 2024 It was a pleasure to create the cover for Sauúti colleague Xan van Rooyen's aetherpunk novella "Waypoint Seven" being published by the newly established Mirari Press in South Africa. It gave me the opportunity to explore my digital illustrating to the extreme by incorporating my design and drawing skills – and it would not be the same if I didn't have an understanding of how physical illustrations (brushwork, pencils, paints and textures) really look. It was daunting to start – particularly wanting to deliver Xan something that did their story justice – no pressure. But with Mirari Press' Marius du Plessis having a love and understanding of design, he gave me so much free reign to play. And with each of the phases below, he encouraged and gave feedback (mostly Wow! and keep going). This is very rare with clients. And it was with this collaboration that the illustration and design blossomed over ten days. GET YOUR COPY OF ...
I am extremely grateful to say I have been awarded a grant by the Royal Literary Fund . It’s not something I would have thought I would need, or even thought existed, if it weren’t for a Brittle Paper article in June . I am always grateful to Brittle Paper for everything they do for our literary community. The criteria for applying, the process and the care and sensitivity from the people involved is rather humbling as well as encouraging, given that the literary merit of my body of work is thoroughly considered along with my financial circumstances. Financial circumstances being the main reason for the existence of the RLF since the 1700s. Apart from having to be a British citizen, they had to read physical copies of two works published in the UK ( Soul Searching and Bones & Runes ). And it is encouraging to know that genre fiction is viewed as having literary merit. Also considered are any broader activities related to writing, from lecturing, public speak...