Phonicon, Paintwork, and the Heligan Structure

I've done a  short interview about my Doctor Who story The Roots of Evil over on Sarah McIntyre's blog, which she's illustrated with this fantastic drawing of the Heligan Structure, the giant space tree in which it all takes place.

Sarah also asked me which actress I thought should play a female Doctor - but you'll have to look at her blog to see the three I suggested.  In the pictures she's chosen they all look eerily similar - which they didn't at all in my mind's eye; I was thinking more of their personalities or acting styles than their appearances.  But it seems that I subconsciously see the Doctor with a blonde bob...

Thanks to everyone who has re-tweeted and re-posted my bit of Doctor Who news on twitter and elsewhere!

The Roots of Evil is one of the things I'll be talking about at Phonicon, the Sci-Fi extranaganza which is set to take over Exeter's Phoenix Arts Centre this coming Sunday (7th April). Doors open at 10.30 a.m., and I'll be on stage at 11.00, so if you want to see me being interviewed you'll need to be there good an early. (I'll probably be hanging around for much of the rest of the day, though, so feel free to come and say hello).

There's no official bookseller at Phonicon, and I'm not really geared up to sell heaps of my own books. I'll be bringing a small selection with me, but if you want to get books signed it would probably be best to buy them in advance, or nip over to WHSmiths or one of Exeter's two branches of Waterstones (all of which are fairly close to the Phoenix).  The Waterstones nearest the cathedral should also have a few copies of The Exeter Riddles, the short book I wrote for the recent Animated Exeter festival.

And finally, here's a haunting short film by one of my favourite contemporary SF writers, Tim Maughan, (with Alan Tabrett and Laurie Eagle, in association with Arc Magazine). It's set in Bristol, in a future so near that it's almost here, and is based on the opening passage of Tim's powerful anthology Paintwork, which I reviewed on this blog last year. Enjoy - and then, if you haven't already, read the book!