I’ve known for a while, actually, and have been sitting on my hands waiting for contracts etc. to be finalised.

I rarely write short stories. I don’t enjoy reading or writing them as much as novels, as I like the complexity and character development that’s possible over 100K words. But at World Fantasy Con last year I came away with a good piece of advice from a more experienced writer. (Which is pretty much everyone, let’s face it!)

She said to me that it didn’t matter whether I pursued tradit...