Improbable Press Blog

By Kizzia Mildmay I don’t come from a military family, I didn’t grow up on or near an army base, I’ve never served—not even in the Territorial Army—and I doubt if I’d pass basic training due to physically not the best specimen going and, more importantly, being incapable of taking orders without question.   But I am, and have been for a very long time, utterly fascinated by the experiences of the men and women who serve Queen and Country in the British Army and find myself drawn to both reading and writing characters with military experience. This interest is,...

My name is Sara, and I’m addicted to Sherlock fan fiction. I’m also a published novelist, short story author, and journalist who gets paid to write—and you can be, too.   I first found Sherlock fan fiction after series two when I realized I couldn’t wait a whole freaking year to have more of John and Sherlock. Around the same time, I developed an infatuation with Benedict Cumberbatch. On sites like A03 and FanFiction.net, I could bathe in a warm bubble bath of Adlock, Johnlock, and even FreeBatch.   At first, I simply read. After a while, though, I started...

The day Improbable Press published A Murmuring of Bees I kind of had a conniption fit on our blog. That moment went something this, only these words below are amended to be even more shouty. Um, I mean encouraging. Write. Write. Please write. Write right now. There are a million things you could do instead that do mostly nothing for you. Watch TV. Scroll Tumblr. Be afraid. It's that last one that's the most damaging. Because unlike those others which sometimes rob you of time, being afraid robs you of courage and of hope. And fear doesn't give anything back,...

A few years ago, I was bustling about the old homestead, being all domestic (making dinner I expect) while an old episode of Poirot played in the living room. And then I heard a voice speak. It was a warm voice. Kind, deep, caring. Whatever tension was in my body vanished in a rush of affection. I felt safe and infused with a sense of incredible wellbeing and the knowledge that whatever might be wrong in the world would be all right. Naturally, this also confused me. Who the hell was speaking that his voice should reach directly into my...

Aranel Parmadil has been part of the Sherlock Holmes fandom for years, and has recorded nearly one hundred podfics of all sorts of Sherlock fan fiction. Though she's a tremendously busy academic in Wales and England, she shared with Improbable Press how she got into recording the stories she loves, and how she feels about her newest venture: Recording audiobooks for Improbable Press, starting with our first book The Night They Met by Atlin Merrick. Aranel, you are so busy teaching full-time in Wales and short courses at Oxford, how on earth did you get into doing podfics? I needed...