The Ides of September 2025

Greetings Picklesversians!

The 13th of September is here, which means it’s the Ides once again, and it’s time for my monthly message. Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

🎉 WOB Sustainable Story Award

👩‍💻 Behind the scenes

🧊 An assortment of cool things

Let’s dive in!

🎉 WOBSS Award

I wasn’t allowed to tell you last month because the public announcement was made after the Ides, but…

Time Hack was shortlisted for the World of Books Sustainable Story Award! 📚🎉💚

In case you don’t already know, World of Books is a company that buys and sells pre-loved books. It’s a great example of the ‘circular economy’ where we reuse things rather than throw them away. (You can find another example of the circular economy within the ArkTech series. Most of the shops within the Wreck’s borrowing district operate as Libraries of Things [which they call gear libraries] where people can rent items they only need occasionally like ballgowns, blenders, or books.)

This was the first year of the award and it was open to authors in the UK with at least one published book who are writing on the topic of sustainability. Thirteen authors were shortlisted in total, with three prizes available: £15,000 for the winner, with two runners up receiving £5000 each.

The shortlisted authors were invited to attend an award event in London, which took place on Wednesday 10 September.

And… <drumroll> 🥁

I didn’t win anything! 

Never mind… every time a reader says my book brought them joy, that’s worth way more than any giant sack* of prize money. 💕

*It’s a curious truth that I always think of money as being kept in sacks. (It’s possible I’ve watched too many cartoons. 💰)

👩‍💻 Behind the scenes

Way more exciting than the shortlisting news is that Time Hack is now in the very final stages of production! Here’s some of what’s been going on:

Bravo reading is complete

Huge thanks to all the wonderful bravo readers who read the pre-publication copy and gave me such useful feedback. You’ll be credited in the acknowledgements, but for now I’m sending a giant barrel* of appreciation to… (in alphabetical order)…

Amanda Lloyd, Andrea Vinkler, Andrew Yeoman (aka The Sassy Vicuna), Annette Nowosielski, Beth C, Brandon H, Carol Robin, Chris Edgoose, Clare Williams, Clive D’Urban, Glyn Hughes (aka Dusty), JimGalaxy, Linda B, Neil Barrett, Richard Treadgold, Robert Williams, Ron Searls, Rowan Raven McLaughlin, Roy Allan, and Tanya S.It was a real pleasure to read your comments and I’m so delighted that you enjoyed the book!

*Money may live in sacks, but appreciation is stored in barrels (apparently, according to me).

Bravo edits, copyediting and proofreading

Since receiving the feedback, I’ve been making some adjustments to the draft. After that it’s the formal copyediting and proofreading phase, where the detailed wording of the manuscript is checked, along with the punctuation and formatting, to ensure it reads as smoothly as possible.

Publishing

Then it’ll be ready to go, and you’ll be able to read it… Not long now! 🥳

😎 Cool things

There’s a lot going on right now. Here are a few highlights…

🦙 Speaking event

On Saturday 20th September, I’ll be giving a talk about sustainability in storytelling at a literary event – the No Limits Festival at Normanby Hall in Scunthorpe (not to be confused with Mablethorpe). Entry is free for all, and in addition to author talks, there’ll be entertainment such as live music and alpacas! (I’m not sure how the authors are going to compete.)

David is planning to record the talk, so I’m hoping to share the link to the video with you next month. If you’re in the Lincolnshire area and you fancy stopping by, please do. I’m on at 10.30 am. I’ll have my special pens at the ready for signing books as well as a new set of ArkTech bookmarks and postcards (printed on recycled paper, of course).

🎧 Audiobook for $1.99

If you’re in the US or Canada and if you haven’t already picked up a copy of the audiobook of Artificial Selection, it’s on sale at only $1.99 for a few more days on Chirp.

It’s narrated by multi-award winning voice actor Kristin Atherton. She has a very lovely voice, so if you enjoyed the book, I recommend checking out this format.The deal ends on Wednesday September 17th.

📚 Ebook in libraries

Amazon recently changed their rules about ebooks enrolled in Kindle Unlimited – they can now be made available to public libraries! I think books should be accessible to all so I’m delighted about this change.

And as a result, I’m pleased to share that the ebook of Artificial Selection is now available to request through your local library (as is the audiobook). The same will be true for Time Hack when it comes out. Hurray!

🎨 ArkTech artwork!

My cousin’s son is a pixel artist and he recently did me the great honour of creating some ArkTech artwork. The image is too large to share in an email, but you can check it out here.

I love the attention to detail. Can you spot:

Charlotte?

Strait and Narrow?

The Citrine memorial?

An ArkTech platform?

An infestation of adorable rats?

🧊 Geo-engineering news

There have been articles in the news this week about why geo-engineering solutions like Solar Radiation Modification (aka SRM, as used by IQUO to cause the Melt) are a bad idea.SRM theoretically works by dropping reflective particles into the sky which reflect more of the sun’s rays away from the planet. Unfortunately, the impact of using such approaches is hard to model – it could cause unpredictable droughts, flooding and acid rain.  

Apparently, the UK government occasionally holds focus groups where they ask science fiction authors how to avoid creating a dystopian future. I hope they invite me next time… I’d give them a bucketload* of advice about SRM. 

*Money – sacks; appreciation – barrels; advice – buckets. You heard it here first.

⚡️️ Goodbye gas

This part isn’t an advert for antiflatulent pills, but rather a note of celebration that David and I are now the proud owners of an Air Source Heat Pump. Our boiler was on its way out so we took advantage of the UK government grant supporting the switch. On Thursday this week, the nice people from Octopus energy came and removed our gas meter, and we’re now able to run our house on renewable electricity. 

Right, that’s all from me this month.

I hope all’s well in your own personal universes.

Walk in the sun,

Marianne