Anna’s 2025 year in review

What can I say? It’s been … busy. It’s amazing to see how much The Write Advice has grown since we began this crazy venture in April 2024.

I’ve had the privilege and the pleasure of working with lots of incredible writers, some at the beginning of their journey, others looking for a new editor or a new direction, and I can safely say there isn’t an aspect of the work that I don’t enjoy. Caveat: my voice gets a little unhappy when I have six mentoring clients in one day, but hey, it can shut up. It usually does by the end, heh.

So, what are the figures? Funny you should ask, I made charts.

I mentored ten people this year, two in conjunction with the British Fantasy Society (applications are still open for next year), some carrying over from last year, and some new. These are writers at wildly varying stages of their careers, from those taking their first tentative steps in the writing world to others who are already published or self-published but looking for accountability and someone to bounce ideas off (quite hard ones, sometimes. It’s like being pelted with rocks).

We’ve navigated the highs of completing a novel-length manuscript (Yay Nick, Rachel, and Jo!) and the lows of realising the direction a story is heading just isn’t working, no matter how much we brainstorm fixes for it. Starting from fresh is a particular kind of pain, but sometimes the only way forward is to go back to the start. I’ve done it myself more than once.

We’ve hurdled thorny subjects such as, But what is author voice, exactly?, and, My characters won’t do what I tell them!, and many more. And many, many times I have done my best to pull readers, Atreyu-like, out of the Swamp of Sadness that is The Middle Of The Book, often while desperately fending off attacks from swarms of Shiny New Ideas.

And that’s just the mentoring side of things…

I’ve worked on developmental edits for four novels and one novella in 2025, covering everything from gaslamp fantasy horror to historical fantasy, epic fantasy, comic fantasy, and modern-day satire.

The writers have, without doubt, been responsive, collaborative, and dedicated. Some have even come back for copy edits afterwards!

See what I did there? Excellent segueing…

One manuscript evaluation and three copy edits later, and my year of editing came to a close at the end of October.

Parasitic Omens, a Gods of Dallalmar novella from Jessica A McMinn, is already out in the world, and I can’t wait to see the others show their faces. There’s some very, very good fiction coming your way from these clients. I can’t wait to see what they do next, and hopefully find another of their manuscripts in my inbox soon.

Here’s to doing it all again next year. ~ Anna

Book Review – Wriggly Little Hands, by Alex Knight

I was delighted to get an ARC of Wriggly Little Hands a couple of months ago, and dived in straight away to a book I’d heard good things about. My first cosy fantasy! Sends up some of the biggest fantasy novels in the Western canon! Lots of terrible jokes!

And, dear readers, boy, did it deliver (despite me having to take a reading hiatus for several weeks, I finished the last hundred pages in a slimy fever immediately before posting this review).

From the gorgeous cover art to the snazzy little chapter headers, Wriggly Little Hands is exactly the sort of absurdist, escapist, delightful fantasy when you just want something fun and light-hearted that doesn’t ask you to think too hard.

And I mean that as a compliment: in a world that persists in being Like This year after year, a book about big-hearted, not-too-bright, cute little guys overcoming all odds mostly by accident and through working together is a wonderful antidote.

For fans of cosy fantasy, lovers of the absurd, and those who believe it IS about the journey not the destination, and it IS about the friends we make along the way, I urge you to get your wriggly little hands on a copy of Wriggly Little Hands. I understand it’s also out in audiobook!

Check out more about Alex Knight at his website here.

~ Anna

Book Review – Sequela, by Cleland Smith

What a very unique, and at times hideous, tale! And the worst/best thing about it is that I can absolutely see the logic of where the seed of this idea came from.

A near-future London in which all risk and reward from trading and business has virtually vanished results in City workers seeking ever more dangerous alternatives to showcase their determination, their ambition, and their willingness to climb the greasy pole of corporate business.

This culture has led to, quite simply, sleeping one’s way to the top, only that is no longer enough. How can anyone truly see your ambition if no one knows who you’ve had sex with.
Enter the horrifying world of STIs worn as markers of position and power, their damaging side effects mitigated through nanotechnology and immunosuppressants.

And enter into this world Dr Kester Lowe, a man who believes that viruses can and should be beautiful, that if people are going to have sex to get ahead, they may as well look good in the aftermath instead of covered in scabs and sores as a mark of their prowess.

This is very much a story of awful people doing awful things to each other, and a handful of decent, fairly nice but flawed people who are drawn into this world with promises of power, money, influence, unlimited research budgets…

It asks the question: just how strict are your morals? If you were offered everything by Big Pharma to do ‘real’ science, to pursue your dream of making the world better, at what point would you bend – just a little – to take that chance? And, of course, what happens, when they know you’ll bend and can therefore bend some more, and more, and more, what then?

When all the money, all the power, and all the influence sits in the hands of corporates, would you sell your soul to make a real difference? The final pages in the book, in particular, really drive home this question in the most horrific way.

This was a viscerally uncomfortable read in places, and despite being more than 10 years old, holds up extremely well in light of today’s politics and ‘politicians/influencers/ celebrities for hire’, who will shill anything for a price.

NOTE: I picked up a sample of this on ebook as I’m working with Smith on her new novel and wanted to get a sense of her style and interests. And then I immediately bought the rest of the book because I was so horribly fascinated by the premise I had to keep reading. I’m really looking forward to helping Smith shape her next work for publication – stay tuned! ~ Anna

Book Review: Centauri’s Shadow by Ross Garner

It takes a fair amount of skill, and, I’m sure, planning, to write a multi-timeline book telling the stories of two characters 40 years apart. Add to that they’re both embarking on a deep space mission to Proxima Centauri, one before and one after a devastating alien attack on Earth’s Mars colony, and things get very complicated.

Ross Garner handles it with aplomb in his debut novel, Centauri’s Shadow. While it might sound like a setup for a spaceships and lasers funfest, it’s actually a very human story about how our personalities and lives are formed by trauma.

Cole Anderson (no relation) loses his family to tragedy as a young man, and is left both physically and mentally disfigured by the experience. His story is one of being ‘othered’ by his peers and growing resentful, even misanthropic as a result. He makes bad decisions, and maybe does some morally questionable things as his story progresses to adulthood and his reluctant journey.

Kyoko Ishihara grows up under the constant threat of imminent war (Hi, Gen X!), with human ingenuity turned wholly to defence against another alien attack. Detached from her own life, she is a willing volunteer for a likely suicide mission to save the planet.

As I said, two timelines can be tricky to handle, but Garner does it masterfully, switching between them in ways that hint at secrets and lies, teasing and then only revealing them when the time is right. This drives the plot and has you questioning how reliable the characters are and what they’re maybe not telling you.

But plot isn’t the real meat of the story here, it’s people, in all their flawed, damaged, destructive glory. It’s both of them stumbling toward their destiny, where their stories eventually intertwine to deliver the story’s climax. Questions are asked about what we do out of fear, what we assume about others and what it means about our very nature.

As I neared the end, I genuinely wasn’t sure which way it was going to go, and while either would have been utterly suitable endings, such was the complexity with which Garner had woven the story, the actual ending felt exactly right. In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed this deeply human tale set against an expansive backdrop of humanity on the verge of alien contact.

Justin

Book Review: The Ruptured Sky

This is Jessica’s debut novel and I had so much fun reading it.

After a slightly confusing start, and a bit of a time jump, we settled into a story of danger, dark magic, treachery, and royalty that got stronger and more compelling the further through the story we got. The stakes are huge, the worldbuilding is impressive, and the action well plotted.

Amika, Kio, and Rei-Hai are brilliantly drawn and complex characters with believable motivations and engaging backstories. The consequences of Amika’s magic and the decisions she made at the beginning of the story have far-reaching effects and the guilt she feels as a result is played out very well.

I also enjoyed the secondary characters of Grey and Reminas, who are deliciously complex and deliciously evil respectively. And, while we’re on the subject of ‘delicious’, Rei-Hai being slightly monstrous with non-human eyes and the possibility of savage transformation is very much my kind of jam. The fact that if it happens, it will lead to heartbreak and tragedy is just an added bonus. For me. Not him.

I’m thrilled to be working alongside Jessica to help her bring book 3 to the world. I can’t wait to see where she takes the series.

Meanwhile, I’m excited to read book 2: The Blood Curse ~ Anna

Book Review: Chain-Gang All Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

If I could give this book 100 stars I would.

Superficially, it is the story of Loretta Thurwor and Hamara Stacker, known to their fans as Blood Mama and Hurricane Stacks. They are convicted criminals in a near-future American prison system. A system that has introduced Hard Action Sports – or in other words, a system where criminals can fight to the death in order to earn parole. All they need to do is survive three years on the circuit.

In reality, beneath the story of love and loss and heartbreak and murder is a searing, devastating, and absolutely unflinching novel. It is the most savagely eviscerating book I’ve probably ever read (listened to, and the voice actors were supreme).

The interweaving of real life American byelaws, statistics, and criminal justice protocols with a narrative about convicts fighting to the death for civilians’ entertainment is so brutally effective I honestly don’t know where to start.

Most of the protagonists are murderers and rapists. Despicable, horrible people. But still people. The central premise – that if life is worth living, it’s worth living for us all – forces the reader to wrestle with the fact that they are rooting for and weeping over these rapists and murderers, that evil can be done to evil people and THEY DO NOT DESERVE IT.

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah has written an absolute masterpiece, a searing indictment of the American so-called justice system, and just because we’re not quite at the stage of the premise of the book doesn’t mean we’re not on our way there. The dehumanisation of prisoners is not justified because they dehumanised their victims.

This book should be required reading – or listening – for every person who takes any sort of public office or government position. It forces you to question every superficial belief you have about the nature of justice, who deserves punishment, and what punishment actually looks like.

It is not an easy read. It will not make you happy. But it is a masterpiece. Read it. ~ Anna

Book Review: The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell

The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell

The Outcast Mage is a thoughtful, engaging story about the legacy of prejudice and bigotry on both a grand political and personal level. What happens to a culture generations after they are persecuted and banished? What happens to people who are constantly othered and excluded? And what if those same people wield an unmatchable power?

The city of Amoria exists under a magical glass dome in a desert wasteland, established by mages exiled from their former home many years ago. The political landscape is febrile, with one leading mage, Oriven, intent on driving further wedges between those with and without magic.

Naila is a young mage who can’t use her powers and lives with shame, being caught between two worlds in conflict.

Haelius is a powerful wizard, who came from humble beginnings and bears the literal scars of trying to prove himself.

When Haelius attempts to help Naila learn to use her magic, they discover something neither of them expected, which puts both of their lives in danger.

The story unravels as the two try to find a foothold in a city on the brink of civil war, where every step might see them jailed, exiled or dead.

Annabel Campbell has written a charming personal story of aspiration and hardship set within a broad tapestry of generational trauma and the pernicious danger of fear. I loved spending time with these characters and that ending (!) has me desperate for the next book in the series. Get it on your 2025 wishlist. ~Justin

Book Review: The Company of the Wolf, by David Wragg

Dave Wragg continues to be one of the best, and most criminally underrated, authors working in modern fantasy today.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the Articles of Faith duology, with Tales of the Plains, Wragg has stepped up in terms of craft, storytelling, and sheer manic comedy.
Not many people can make you cry on one page, and then cry with laughter a few pages later. I hesitate to make a comparison this big, but I really can’t think of anyone else: his work, while being very, VERY different in scope and approach and number of expletives, reminds me in this regard of the great Sir PTerry Pratchett.
Company of the Wolf picks up soon after The Hunters, with Ree and Javani slogging through the mountains in an effort to get to the fabled Ashadi, land of milk and honey. Things are, predictably, going about as well as you would expect. They get even more like you would expect, in terms of cock-ups, miscommunication, Ree’s general levels of irritability (stratospheric) and Javani’s world-shatteringly large pre-teenage attitude, as the novel progresses.
Where The Hunters moved at a breathless, frenetic pace – you can’t really have a chase that doesn’t, unless it’s a very boring one – things are slightly slower with COTW, at least in the beginning.
Javani’s act of heroism when she saves a stranger from an attack by bandits on the road results in, well, let’s just say Ree would rather she’d left the poor man to the bandits’ predations. And so, it would seem, would the rest of the town they stumble upon not long after.
What follows is a tale of found and actual family, and navigating the joys and pitfalls of both, set against a backdrop of ever-increasing tension with the promise of ecstatic violence drawing closer by the day.
Wragg’s gift for character is matched only by his gift for giving those characters absolutely unforgettable voices, and in this we are treated to two prime examples – Captain Manatas, and Anri the hunter. Never have I read dialogue like it, and some of Anri’s truly astonishing insults will stay with me forever.
There’s absolutely no middle-book slump here, or even a slump in the middle of the book.
The characters are in the driving seat of this narrative, and whether they’re driving you off a cliff or up the wall, there’s nothing the reader can do but cling on – and enjoy every second of the ride.
Sublime ~ Anna

Book review – Mistress of Lies, by K M Enright

Mistress of Lies is a fantastic first instalment in what promises to be a dark and delicious series.
Shan, Samuel and Isaac are complex, flawed, and deeply relatable characters, moulded and broken and moulded again by the worlds they live in and the choices they make.
Shan is the titular Mistress of Lies, gathering information and spinning a web in order to accomplish her goals. She plays the long, patient game to effect what she hopes is real change in their city and country, but for others, the long game is simply too distant. They take more radical action.
I really enjoyed Anton’s character arc, as well. Rich and privileged in all ways but the one that really matters – his inability to use magic. Because of that, despite his family name and its status, he is forever on the outside of society, an Unblooded. Only not like the other Unblooded, who are mostly poor and desperate and rapidly growing angry at how they are treated by the Blood Workers – the elite.
In a city of growing civil unrest and class tension, Shan, Samuel and Isaac are ostensibly working together – but in reality they’re all falling apart.
The romantic and sexual tension between the trio was incredibly well done, and added a great deal to the overall narrative, making the final plot twists that much more devastating.

K M Enright is a powerful new voice in fantasy and I could really go on and on about this one, but you should just read it yourselves – not only that, but today is publication day! Congratulations, I loved this book! ~ Anna

20% Discount – Limited Time Only!

It’s Worldcon time! From 8th to 12th August 2024, thousands of SFFH fans will descend upon Glasgow, Scotland, like a plague of nerdy locusts to talk, read, write, and listen to all things genre, while likely consuming vast quantities of food, drink, alcohol, and hangover cures.

In honour of the beautiful chaos to come, Anna is offering a 20% discount on all editing and manuscript evaluation services.

But wait! There’s more!

If you email thewritingadvisors@gmail.com during the course of Worldcon itself (i.e. between 8th and 12th August) quoting WORLDCON20 in the subject line, you’ll secure the 20% discount but you don’t need to have a MS ready to go immediately. The discount code is valid for THREE CALENDAR MONTHS, giving you chance to finalise your manuscript, decide on the level of service you need, and/or set aside the fee.

The usual payment structure will apply, with the 20% discount applied up front.

20% off, to be used within 3 months, with nothing to lose by enquiring? Sounds like a damn good deal to me.