This was long overdue

I hate having my picture taken. And I mean really hate it. Whenever a camera is pointed at me, I just freeze up and end up looking like some weird parody of myself. That's why I put off getting new author pics for so long... nine years, in fact!

Thanks to a couple of wonderful pictures snapped at conventions, I could use some that were more recent than that, but even the most recent of those are six years old and, well, there's no getting away from the fact that I'm looking older now. The past six years have been some of the hardest and most traumatic of my entire life and, to be honest, I think it shows.

I don't want to go to Worldcon and have people be freaked out by how much older I look now if all they've seen of me is old photos, so here is my new official author headshot.

And the photo at the top of the page, that I used for the featured image, is one that I just liked, because it makes me look like the subject of one of those portraits that rich people get painted of themselves, and that amuses me. (I really wish I owned that cane, but it was a prop at the studio!)

This is one of the outfits I'll be wearing at Worldcon in Glasgow, so that will help you to recognise me if you're there too. I am painfully shy, so please do feel free to come and say hello and talk to me about nerdy goodness if you wish. I am always utterly delighted to talk about Star Trek: The Next Generation in particular, and to sign any of my books.

I will be arranging a lovely tea date with my Patrons too (I've just posted a behind-the-scenes picture from the photoshoot for them), I'll be exhibiting art in the art show (that you will be able to buy!) and am feverishly hoping that I'll be blessed with some programming appearances. Once the schedule is released I'll pop anything I'm lucky enough to be taking part in on here.

Let me know if I will see you there!