It’s been a weird year of ups and downs in these strange, unsettled and often dark times. Watching the news has been hard to stomach sometimes and writing about what’s going on, either directly or in fiction as subtext or allegory, has been hard too, and yet there have been really good times as I hope the photos below will illustrate. In 2025, I turned 60, my eldest turned 40, my youngest, 25; I went to Poland 5 times, had my 3rd book published, wrote (as yet unfinished) long stuff instead of flash fiction, read at several events including at Halloween, went to some fabulous concerts including Max Richter’s brilliant Sleep at Ally Pally with Harry, saw The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre, had a brill holiday in Pembrokeshire curtesy of bessie mate Clarey Fairy, stayed up a snowy mountain with grumpy husband, attended a wonderful wedding, grew some gorgeous flowers, did cartoons of grandpeeps and loads of crafts with them, watched my youngest son fight in the ring, met a constellation of stellar authors, had two sleeps at Gladstone Library, saw wonderful dawns and sunsets, went to Bat out of Hell the Musical with my Sis and walked up Winter Hill, saw my pup Nolly turn 4, had big fun at the Flash Festival and applied to do a PhD at York St John (more about this in the new year). The non-chronological montage of moments below is by way of documentation and also farewell to the year. Thanks for the memories 2025, but to say I’m looking forward to 2026 and all the writerly challenges it will bring is a wee bit of an understatement, and now we’re past the solstice, it seems like a good time to say farewell. So happy holidays blogosphere peeps. Hope the holidays bring some joy – and see you soon for a brand new start in a couple of weeks.
Seldom do I write posts here that are only about writing, I chat about life, the universe and random stuff-and-shit that’s been happening to me, the family and the world in general, and all of that has, of course, still been going on since last I blogged – Grandpeep birthdays, another dose of covid, harvesting the first of this year’s crops – cherries, courgettes, beans and new potatoes, the huge success that growing pak choi has been (seriously plant some even if you only have a window box – 100% germination rate, you can cook it like spinach, add to soups or eat as a super delicious salad and you keep cutting the leaves and they grow back again and again.) And during all this local stuff the world beyond the garden has continued to be bat shit crazy with wars, escalations, billionaires running riot over the planet, power mad potentates killing at will and elected leaders still putting their fingers in their ears when anyone mentions the word genocide, but, as I set this page up all those years ago to talk about my writing journey, I reckon focussing on a book when I have one out is what I should mostly do right here right now so…
My new book Hostile Environments will publish on 7/8/25 and is available now for pre-orders. Above is the cover and here is the pre-order link https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/hostile-environments-paperback which takes you direct to the paperback ordering place at Northodox. There’s more deets there about the book but in a nutshell it’s a collection of dark short stories and flash fictions that each speak about what makes a place safe or dangerous and how this is as much about who you are and who rules the roost than actual geographical location. Addressing contemporary anxieties like the climate crisis, gender identification, the need for the me-too movement, BLM, the growth of populism, fake truth, the impact of the pandemic, the perils of navigating cyberspace and social media, these stories explore how one person’s sanctuary can be another’s hellscape. I will also be having an on-line Zoom launch on 14/8/25 from 7-8pm. I’ll post more details including how to book a (totally free) ticket to this soon but to whet appetites, it will include readings from Hostile Environments, a Q&A sesh and a super-brief 20 minute writing workshop. It has been proper hard work putting this book together and not at all straightforward what with having to get my weird story shapes and conceits onto the page and every single tale having an accompanying illustration.
Still its very nearly done now thanks to the wonderful peeps at Northodox, to whom I am so grateful and whose 5th birthday it was in June. To celebrate, they had a birthday bash in Leeds Central Library as part of the Leeds Lit Fest and I travelled back oop north to do a reading, including a flash from Hostile Environments which was good practice for the launch. Here’s a photo of me at the gorgeous gothic space that is Leeds Central Library, and another afterwards down the pub with a constellation of other Northodox authors who are just the most lovely and talented bunch of humans. It really was a fun and happy event.
There is however still a lot to do before Hostile Environment’s publication day, highlights of which include my youngest son fighting in a Mauy Thai bout on Saturday which (heaven help me) I’m going to London to watch, then I’m off to Gdansk on Sunday to help with grandpeep Leyla, then its the Flash Festival the weekend I get home, and before any of that, I’ve got to do final, final, final text revisions, so better crack on with those right now and stop all this blogging. I’m not going to sign off though without saying how grateful I feel for all these exciting writing times – a moment of personal joy in this crazy mixed up and often vicious world. All this and I haven’t even mentioned another writing iron I’ve just put into a very different scribing fire, more of which next time if everything progresses according to plan, but suffice it to say that this writing life that I took up at the age of 50 to sort out my mental health and see where it led has brought such joy, affirmation, brilliant friends, a whole new raft of knowledge, a different perspective on the world and, shortly, three published books of which I am seriously proud. I really am so so grateful.
Jan Kaneen Creative and Other Writing 