Fact and Fiction

I am delighted to announce that I’ve been selected for a month-long writer’s residency on Hrísey Island in Iceland. Next May, I’ll be packing my bags and moving to the island! I’m very grateful to Gamli Skóli, a non-profit organisation supporting artists, photographers and writers, who are providing accommodation and working space. I’m hoping to get a grant to cover travel expenses. The residency will be focused on a narrative nonfiction project which I submitted as a part of my application and at the end of the month, there will be an exhibition on the island (I have no idea how I’m going to do this).

They’ve sent me the initial paperwork which points out three times that it is not possible to buy alcohol on Hrísey. However, the island does have forty species of nesting birds, a supermarket, two museums, a restaurant, a hundred and fifty plastic puffin decoys, and a resident ghost. There are also regular ferries to the mainland with a bus to Akureyri, a city with several breweries, shops and a thriving restaurant scene, so I don’t expect to be suffering overmuch.

Duolingo does not offer Icelandic, which means it is now 0 for 3 of the languages I have asked it for (Welsh*, Estonian, Icelandic)!

This was my second application to the residency. I was worried it would a tough sell, as an older woman working on narrative nonfiction. So I’m immensely happy that I get to have this opportunity!

*(to be fair, they added Welsh but not until after I’d left Swansea).

I’m excited to say that my latest story, Cyber Junk, has sold to Nature Magazine. Who decides what’s worth remembering? Cyber Junk explores the generational divide of data hoarding and information overload in the digital age. This will be my eighth appearance in the magazine.

Pilot Error is out now as an e-book at all good bookstores!

Buckle up for an exhilarating ride through the world of aviation mishaps in Pilot Error! Aviation expert Sylvia Wrigley provides an eye-opening exposé of mistakes made in the cockpit, ranging from comical blunders to catastrophic consequences.

Discover the man who crashed a vintage plane for YouTube views, the helicopter pilot who tried to defend receiving a blow-job in the cockpit, and the man who crashed his new plane seven times in seven days. From drunken escapades to mid-air collisions, this collection of true stories will leave you in awe and in stitches.

With vivid storytelling and a keen eye for detail, Sylvia captures amusing, infuriating and tragic screw-ups from all over the world. Pilot Error is a captivating and eye-opening read that will have you shaking your head in dismay with every turn of the page.

Interested? Choose your preferred retailer to buy it now!

I’ve mentioned Tell Me a Story before, a truth-or-lie interactive story-telling event every month here in Tallinn. It’s turned into a core group of story-tellers and we started talking about what else we could do together. These discussions led to a super fun project called Buckwheat Mill, an English-language väriety talk show hosted by Heldeke!

In the English language, they say “chew the fat” to describe people chatting about nothing. In Estonian, they say “mill the buckwheat.”

This is a live-streamed show which means that if you have some time to spare, you could watch some of Tallinn’s best English-speaking performers putting on a show. Oh, and me.

The show is from 19:30 – 21:30 Estonian local time (EEST) and it is FREE, but you need to sign up for an online ticket here: https://fienta.com/buckwheat-mill. Fienta is an established ticket seller platform and they only require your email address to get your ticket for the live stream event.

Not sure what time that is? Well, the show starts at 9:30am in Los Angeles, 11:30am in Dallas, 12:30 in New York City, 5:30pm in London, 18:30 in Mannheim and 01:30am in Tokyo. Or you can visit Time and Date event time announcer which should automagically show the event start time in your local timezone.

I will be doing a multi-media segment officially called The Explosive History of the Astangu Tunnels although in my head, I call it This is where the body is buried.

This is the debut of Buckwheat Mill and we’re all very excited to share it with the world! Please come join us on the livestream!

I’m delighted to share that I have another short story in Nature magazine!

In response to your request for a modification to the atmosphere of break bulk cargo hold 17

I loved the image by Jacey and this introduction on the Nature Futures twitter feed:

Trapped on a cargo ship light years from home, on a journey to who knows where. A group of survivors struggling to keep alive. But there’s only one way to get what they need. They’re going to have to write a letter…

This is my sixth short story in Nature Futures.

I’m excited to announce that, after a long hiatus, I have sold my short story, In  response to your request for a modification to the atmosphere of the break bulk cargo hold 17 to Nature Futures.

This is one of my favorite short story venues and I’m thrilled to be appearing in the magazine again!

Just a quick note to say I am still here and working on getting my life back in order. Bear with me and watch this space.

Next week, I’ll be performing at Theatre-Bar Heldeke! in Tell Me A Story, a fantastic improv event hosted by Dan le Man.

Six people tell six stories. One of them is a lie. Is it me? Is it one of the others? There is no recording so only those attending the event will ever know for sure.

BUT not all is lost! The show will be live in the theatre and streamed online! You can buy an online ticket and take part on Friday the 3rd of December on the YouTube channel at 19:00 Eastern European Time (GMT+2).

That’s 5pm in London and 9am in Los Angeles. Click here to check your local time zone.

This is my second time doing the show and I’m very much looking forward to it.

My introspective piece on attending a convention in the tail end of the pandemic was published in the October issue of Locus magazine.

THIS ESTONIAN SUMMER would have been right at home at the Locus office in California: Sunny days under brilliant blue skies with just a slight breeze to keep the heat from becom­ing stifling. Perfect for the annual outdoor science fiction convention held at Udu Farm in central Estonia. The event wasn’t confirmed until just a few weeks before, but the vaccination program had reached full throttle and infection rates remained low, dwindling almost to zero in June and July.Estcon is remarkable in that the event is always held outdoors, come rain or shine, which means it is the only convention that has been able to convene safely during COVID times. Precautions are taken. So far, not a single COVID infection has been connected to the event.

Guests were encouraged to bring tents in or­der to allow the existing accommodation to be parcelled out per household. I filled my hot-pink backpack with food and clothes, slung my tent and sleeping bag into a crocheted carrier, and took the train south. This was my third outing with my tent, so I considered myself an old hand. I set up in a shady spot by a stream with only minimal cursing and swearing and very little bloodshed (I accidentally stepped on a small frog).

You can read the whole thing on the Locus website.