BFS Online: Writing and Mental Health – Readings

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We have six readings from a range of authors – fantasy, science fiction and horror – to help you find your next book (or add to that beautiful TBR pile). Bring your favourite tipple and enjoy some first-rate readings from the SFFH community.

Readings from Readings from Eugen Bacon, Tom Johnstone, Helen Claire Gould, Marie Sinadjan, Catherine McCarthy, and James Marshall. Find out more about them below.

Eugen Bacon (she/her): Eugen Bacon is an African Australian author of several novels and collections. She’s a British Fantasy Award winner, a Foreword Indies Award winner, a twice World Fantasy Award finalist, and a finalist in other awards. Eugen was announced in the honor list of the Otherwise Fellowships for ‘doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction’. Danged Black Thing made the Otherwise Award Honor List as a ‘sharp collection of Afro-Surrealist work’, and was a 2024 Philip K Dick Award nominee. Eugen’s creative work has appeared worldwide, including in Apex Magazine, Award Winning Australian Writing, Fantasy, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction. Visit her website to find out more. Or you can follow her on Twitter or Blueksy. Buy her book here.

Tom Johnstone (he/him): Tom Johnstone is a senior gardener with Brighton and Hove City Council, whose short stories sometimes grow into longer works when he uses too much fertilizer. His fiction has appeared in various publications, including Black Static, Nightscript, The Ghastling, Body Shocks, The Ghosts and Scholars Book of Folk Horror, Terror Tales of the Home Counties, Come October, Supernatural Tales and Best Horror of the Year, as well as the collections Last Stop Wellsbourne, originally published by Omnium Gatherum Books, and Let Your Hinged Jaw Do the Talking, from Alchemy Press. His other accomplishments include an English and Drama degree from Exeter University and a LANTRA certificate in the use of a John Deere ride-on lawnmower. Find out more about Tom here.

Helen Claire Gould (she/her): Helen Claire Gould has been writing since her early teens, having read her first two science fiction novels at the age of nine. Shortly after suffering some miscarriages in 1992 she began writing for therapeutic reasons. She joined a British Science Fiction Association Orbiter, then a Cassandra one, then became administrator for a third. She had joined the Peterborough SF Club, where she met her husband, and contributed to the club fanzine. She set up the Peterborough Science Fiction Writers’ Group, edited two small press collections of short fiction, and organised a weekend workshop on writing for comics. She also had book reviews published in the BSFA review magazine, Vector. In 1995 she returned to full-time education and graduated from Anglia Ruskin University in Geology and Planetary Science in 2000. She taught Geology and Creative Writing evening classes, and edited further collections of short fiction by her Creative Writing students. In 2013 she organised and ran a series of writers’ workshops for Peterborough Arts Festival. Floodtide was her first published novel, followed by The Stallion, a novelette, and She…, a short fiction collection. Her last novel, published in April, was The Zarduth Imperative Discovery, and her latest, TZI Clanship, will be published in the next few weeks. Together, these two books represent a major new project and the start of a series. Most of her stories are set in her own fictional universe. Find out more at her website. You can also find Helen on Facebook and LinkedIn. Find her books here.

Marie Sinadjan (she/her): Marie Sinadjan is a Filipino speculative fiction author based in the UK. She is the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok series, and her short stories have appeared in various literary journals and anthologies. She mostly writes mythology and folklore retellings blended with fantasy, sci-fi, or horror. You can find out more about Marie on her website. Or follow her on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

Catherine McCarthy (she/her): Catherine McCarthy weaves dark tales on an ancient loom from her farmhouse in West Wales. Her published novellas and novels include Immortelle, Mosaic, A Moonlit Path of Madness, and The Wolf and the Favour. Her short fiction has been published in various anthologies and magazines, including those by Black Spot Books, Nosetouch Press, and Dark Matter Ink. In 2020 she won the Aberystwyth University Prize for her short fiction. Time away from the loom is spent hiking the Welsh coast path or huddled in an ancient graveyard reading Dylan Thomas or Poe. You can follow Catherine on Twitter and find out more on her website. Get her book here.

James Marshall (he/him): James is a 54-year-old father of two, husband of one. He lives and works in Devon, UK, running a sports club for local children and young adults in Willand. He started fiction writing under the tutelage of Jenny Kane at her Imagine writing group in Cullompton. He won the ‘Pen to Print’ 2022 short story competition, and The Poster has been shortlisted for their 2023 ‘Book Challenge Award.’ Apart from writing, James is a Masters weightlifter, a keen barbecuer and an avid reader. Find out more about James here. Buy his book here.