I should have posted this a while ago, but the new issue of Focus is on the way (with luck members will have it landing on their doorsteps next week).

The contents of the next issue looks something like this:

Masterclass 3: Bringing Home The Bacon
Chris Priest continues his masterclass series with an article about encouraging stray Irish conrunners to follow you home (not really, it’s about the balance between writing and earning a living).

Escape Velocity
Geoff Nelder talks about launching a magazine and what editors expect from writers.

Planning a Novel
Michael Amos describes how he makes novel writing fun!

Caught in a Web
Jetse de Vries looks at the relationship between writers and fans online.

Beyond the Blog
Paul Raven concludes his two-part look at using the web to promote your work.

Write what you know? No Thanks!
Dev Agarwal suggests sf writers should take the standard advice for writers with a pinch of salt.

PLUS there’s poetry from Edward Comma, a spaceman on the cover courtesy of Stephen Sweet, and other news and stuff.

ALSO in the forthcoming BSFA mailing there’s an issue of Vector that’s bursting at the seams with stuff - including tributes to AC Clarke (with a very nice cover image that I think will have fans smiling) and the second of the BSFA’s Special Editions booklets, Fantasy and SF: The Roots of Genre, featuring essays from Farah Mendelsohn and Paul Kincaid excerpted from their respective new books (and edited by Niall Harrison).

AND: The next update of Matrix Online is also coming soon - a Steampunk special (which happens to feature an article by myself on steampunk cinema).