April 2021 – Catriona Silvey

Three years since I started writing the book, and a year and a half after it sold, Meet Me in Another Life is officially out in the US and Canada! It feels weird and amazing and nerve-wracking and very far away — after the past year, it’s sometimes hard to believe other cities exist, let alone other countries. I spent the weekend listening to my character playlists for Thora and Santi and signing tip-in sheets for the upcoming UK special editions (my name has long since lost all meaning and become a series of squiggles — let’s hope it looks more writerly that way).

I wanted to round up a few things that have meant a lot to me in the run-up to this day:

Meet Me in Another Life was selected as an Indie Next pick for May! The list is compiled from the recommendations of independent booksellers, so it was a huge honour to be included (not to mention seeing my book next to Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon, which I can’t wait to read). I loved visiting indies when I lived in Chicago (57th Street Books was my local; A Room of One’s Own in Madison was another favourite). If you’re in the US, why not order the book from Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, whose recommendation helped land it on the list?
I wrote an article for Tor about characters with ever-changing relationships. I love Tor — I’m a regular reader of their content, so it was a dream come true to get to write for them. Plus the research for the article involved reading/re-reading some amazing books.
Meet Me in Another Life was included in this Mashable round-up, ‘9 ways to live your life multiple times’. I loved seeing the book put in context with the many other works that have used this trope. The article does a great job of outlining what makes all the featured books so different despite their similar premise.
It’s been amazing to see reactions from early readers — thank you so much to anyone who has let me know on Twitter or elsewhere that you enjoyed the book. I am very bad at accepting compliments, but I promise it really means a lot.

All in all, I feel very lucky to have got this far, and I’m excited to see what comes next. So: be brave, little book. I hope you find your people.

This weekend is ConFusion, the virtual 2021 edition of Eastercon (the British National Science Fiction Convention). I’ll be on the following panels:

Sat 3rd April, 12 midday: Influences beyond the literary canon. Our panel chat about their biggest influences beyond favourite authors; from cartoons to games to tv shows and beyond.

Mon 5th April, 12 midday: Storytelling through repetition. Time loops, time travel, and replaying games: how narratives are built by repeating actions & discovering new elements – including building relationships, and positive queer depictions.

I’ll also be doing a reading of an excerpt from Meet Me in Another Life – this is scheduled for 7pm on Fri 2nd April. You can see all the events I’m involved in here.

Registration is still open – rates will increase tomorrow to the ‘on-the-door’ rate, so if you’re thinking of registering, now would be a good time! The full programme is available here.