I think of this as the “sabbatical year” but the truth is it’s only the second half that’s been that delirious wild ride of freedom time for reflection, research and writing. I don’t tend to be the kind of person who spends much time looking back, but it’s helpful at times to assess where you’ve been the better to be sure you know where you’re going.

Like the man said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

So things that happened this year were not always easy to measure: laughing with friends, playing with kids, hanging out with my sweetie, travel, reading, all the idling that makes work that much more meaningful. Work hard, play harder. I’m conscious of ‘making the most’ of this flexible year, but I also believe making the most of it means lots of idling (including trips to Orkney and London). We did a lot of work on the house too; hey, I painted that fence! Bit by bit.

Of course, I measure my life in pages mostly. Here’s what I seem to have got published this year:

BOOKS

A Cut-Throat Business: A Chastity Flame Adventure
Tirgearr Publishing: October 2013.

Noir Carnival. Anthology from Fox Spirit Books, July 2013.

Lush Situation: a Chastity Flame Adventure. Tirgearr Publishing. 28 Mar 2013.

The Mangrove Legacy: a comic gothic novel about mystery, romance and pockets by ‘Kit Marlowe‘. Tirgearr Publishing (2013) [reprint]

STORIES

“When Little Joe the Krampus Met.” Digital chapbook [reprint] 4 Dec 2013.

“Carlos.” Flash fiction. Shapeshifters: A Fox Pockets Anthology. Fox Spirit Books, Nov 2013.

It’s a Curse: A Roman Dalton, P.I. Yarn. Blackwitch Press, Nov 2013.

“Kiss Like a Fist.” Noir Nation 3. Sep 2013.

“Losing My Religion.” Kwik Krimes. Ed. Otto Penzler. Thomas & Mercer: August 2013.

“A la Mort Subite.” Short story. Atlantis eBooks/Lite Editions. July 2013. [English/Italian language editions]

“Kerttu.” Etemenanki July 2013 [reprint from Unikirja].

“Black Ethel’s Beast.” Flash fiction by ‘Kit Marlowe’. Piracy: A Fox Pocket Anthology. Fox Spirit Books, Jun 2013.

“Mandrake & Magpies.” Lit Noir 9. Feb 2013. Also collected in Unquiet Dreams.

“Grotesque.” Short story. Thrillers, Killers ‘n’ Chillers. 21 Jan 2013.

“How to Succeed in Academia.” Humour. So It Goes: A Tribute to Kurt Vonnegut, Ed. Max Booth III (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing), 25 Mar 2013.

“Proposal for a New Quiz Show: How to Catch a Millionaire.” Humour. The Short Humor Site. 15 Mar 2013.

NON-FICTION

How to Keep Writing with a Full Time Job. Women’s League of Ale Drinkers, Oct 2013.

“Growing a Thick Skin.” Women Writers, Women’s Books. 27 Nov 2013.

“No-Tears Outlining.” Savvy Authors. 21 Nov 2013.

“Awesome Women of the Middle Ages.” Jump Magazine for Girls. 27 Jun 2013.

“Writing is my haka.” Music of the Night. Ed. Frank Duffy. Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog. 3 May 2013.

“Desert Island Comics, Episode 54: K. A. Laity.” Forbidden Planet International. 13 Apr 2013.

“‘Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Children?’: The Case for Terry Gilliam’s Tideland.” The Cinema of Terry Gilliam: It’s a Mad World. Eds. Anna Froula, et. al. Columbia UP: Mar 2013.

“A Raven’s Eye View: Teaching Scopophilia with Dario Argento.” Fear and Learning. Eds. Aalya Ahmad and Sean Moreland. McFarland. Apr 2013.

“There’s Got to be a Word for It.” Ms. Magazine. 25 Mar 2013.

“All of the True Things I am about to Tell You are Shamesless Lies.” Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing 8 Mar 2013. Reprinted at the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library.

“Noir Goddess: Ida Lupino.” Pulp Metal Magazine Jan 2013.

AUDIO

Spoken word performance of my story “Carlos” mixed with Richard Sanderson’s “Flim Flamingo” from Button Box (Linear Obsessional Recordings)

A found recording: to be featured in Girl at the End of the World, Vol 1

And of course —

COMING IN 2014:

White Rabbit. Novel. Fox Spirit Books, Easter 2014.

Drag Noir. Anthology. Fox Spirit Books, 2014.

The Big Splash, a jazz age novella by Kit Marlowe, Tirgearr Publishing, 2014.

“ZomPoc in Nashville.” Song lyrics. Girl at the End of the World, Vol 1. Fox Spirit Books: forthcoming.

Extricate. Novella (as Graham Wynd). Fox Spirit Books: forthcoming.

“Headless in Bury.” (as Graham Wynd) Missing Monarchs: Fox Pockets Anthology. Fox Spirit Books: forthcoming.

“Rite Here: Ritual, Performance and the Magick of Place.” Alan Moore: Totems & Taboos (On/In Comics Vol. 2) Stephen R. Bissette, ed. SpiderBaby Grafix & Publications (ebook edition: Crossroad Press); forthcoming Winter 2013/4.

Knight of the White Hart. Novel by ‘Kit Marlowe’ — editing the NaNoWriMo medieval adventure for submission.

High Plains Lazarus: A Weird Western Novella. Expanded edition of the long short story (and may be on its way toward a novel…)

Also an untitled fairy tale project for the Fox Spirit Books Feral Tales series.

*The CHASTITY FLAME series will be coming out in print, Summer 2014! Tirgearr Publishing will be making selected titles available in print as a way of testing the waters.

And this is stuff I’ve mostly already written: let’s see how much I can get done before duty calls me back to teaching.

So watch this space, because you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!