Guest of Honour - Ida Keogh

Everything you need to know

Ida Keogh is a Surrey based science fiction and fantasy writer. In 2021 she won both the BSFA Award and British Fantasy Award for her short story “Infinite Tea in the Demara Café” from the London Centric anthology (NewCon Press). Her debut novella Fish! was published the same year and was longlisted for the BSFA Award. Her publications include work in Writing the Future (Kaleidoscope), Shoreline of Infinity magazine, the British Medical Journal, Best of British Science Fiction 2020 and 2022, Major Arcana (Black Shuck Books) and charity anthology Fuel.

Find her on Twitter @silkyida or Mastodon @idakeogh@wandering.shop

Newcon Press: Fish! http://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.asp?id=190

Newcon Press: Infinite Tea in the Demerara Cafe http://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.asp?id=184

FISH!

How does the government react when confronted with a vast influx of displaced people fleeing the horror of war? It's a dilemma that tests both resources and humanitarian commitment to the limit, but in the end will it be compassion or self-interest that prevails?

When a previously unsuspected race of Merfolk start to appear on our shores seeking respite, seeking safety,  seeking asylum, how will humanity respond?

Ida Keogh, the 2021 winner of the BSFA Award for best short fiction and the British Fantasy Award for best short fiction, creates an all too believable tomorrow, one that never shies away from major issues. In a gripping tale told from multiple viewpoints, the reader is shown the full gamut of human reactions; by holding us close to each narrator, the author tells a story of grand scale in a very intimate, personal way.

FISH! is a tale of intolerance and exploitation, but also of compassion and sympathy, of rigid official policy offset by the warmth of human empathy. It is a story of prejudice and hatred, but also of understanding and love. A big story in a small book, above all this is a story of wonder.

Reviews:

“There’s something special about a story that can capture society’s fractality in under a hundred pages. Fish! does so, imagining wide-ranging responses to the discovery of Merfolk in the ocean’s depths... Sparse and digestible within a single sitting. Fish! is a narrative where the scale is much greater than scope, and it makes for an incisive mirror to reality.” – Aurealis

“FISH! is an intelligent, thoughtful, and powerful read... Highly recommended!” – Runalong the Shelves

“Well written short and clever.” – LibraryThing reviewer