I should start my review of this collection of short stories with a confession: I wanted to be in it. I still love short stories, even if I don’t get time to write (or read!) them enough these days. Music is also very important too me, although I’m strictly a consumer, not a producer, when […]
Today’s a proper Book Birthday – the official release date of Guardians of Paradise. For reasons I’m not entirely sure of, it’s two weeks earlier than originally scheduled. I shall celebrate letting my third book loose on the world in some way yet to be determined, probably involving alcohol. And a reminder about other ‘me […]
This week I’m concentrating on ‘writing admin’, including work on an essay and a book review I’ve been asked to write, and sending out a few short stories in the hopes of selling them. I’m also taking the chance to revisit stories that need rework before they go to a magazine; like the novels, my […]
When I mentioned to a colleague at the current day-job (yes, I’m afraid I still need one of those to get by) that I’d finished the first draft of my current novel he asked whether the next stage was to send it to my editor. Well, no. Getting the first draft down is, for me, […]
I’m pleased (and somewhat relieved) to announce that I’ve finally finished the first draft of Bringer of Light. Right now I’m thinking that, except for a few minor issues, it’s pretty damn good and will hardly need any rework. In about a week’s time I’ll have changed my mind, and it’ll be the worst thing […]
Actually you’ll continue to get rather less than that from me, as although the massive five chapter long, multiple viewpoint conflict is finally over in the first draft of Bringer of Light, there’s still a couple of chapters’ worth of resolution. Given I’m still working on the first draft, it seems a little surreal to […]
The Birmingham SF Group, an esteemed science fiction society which is nearly as old as I am, have kindly invited me along as their guest in September. I’ll be doing an interview and a reading from Guardians of Paradise on Friday the 10th of September, at the Briar Rose Hotel, Bennetts Hill. The doors open […]
Today isn’t really a full book birthday, but it is the day Consorts of Heaven comes out in paperback. The paperback has a new cover, very similar to the old one except with (I think) better colouring and a nicer font for my name. (In contrast to my last imported image this one is tiny […]
Although the climax of Bringer of Light might be exciting for the characters, it’s turning into a bit of a death-march for the author. Between writing it and doing a temporary but full-time day-job I’ve not got a lot of brain left. However, I am one of those writers who is lucky enough to be […]
… I bring you the not-news that my next book title is also the name of a Guild in World of Warcraft. I haven’t checked, but with a name like ‘Guardians of Paradise’ I’m guessing we’re looking at light ‘n’ lawful types. Also from the virtual pages of google alerts, a hit for ‘Principles of […]
Having gone on (at some length) about the writing process, I’m now at the stage of Bringer of Light where I’m abandoning some of those organisational crutches. The questions in the ‘questions’ file have all been answered (or deferred until the next book…). It’s been weeks since I’ve looked at the ‘character’ or ‘reference’ files, […]