Going to Pieces
Another long hiatus. I am, I kid you not, on the last chapter of the first draft of The Tiger and the Wolf, the first of me new series. This has taken about 10 months to put together, a lot longer than my usual six, partly because it's the first in this setting, hence there's a lot of build and patch work that's gone on throughout, and partly because I've had a whole bucket of other things to do, including working on the MS of Guns of the Dawn (currently slated for a final round of changes before submission), various short stories, and my novel/novella-length serial (1) Spiderlight for Aethernet which I'm just on the last sections of (and it is something I'm very happy with — and that's against the high standard of fiction in the magazine overall).
I am currently working on a big blog post, but it's tricky going, and may be somewhat contentious, so it's not ready as yet. However I might as well gather up a few guest posts I've done and link them here. They actually give a good "state of the art" as to where I am with things, and especially with Shadows of the Apt.
How the series came to be, from the first throes of the RPG it was born out of, all the way to publication. This includes my agent's secret technique for selling a book mostly about insects, to people who rather feel that insects are not the most appealing things in the world. I wrote this for upcoming4.me.
Tor interviewed me before War Master's Gate came out (way back in the days of my youth, all that time ago in August). The topics are, to paraphrase, 1) Jesus, nine books?! 2) Damn, you kill as many people as George RR Martin 3) Seriously, do you like any of your characters? 4) We're surprised you have anybody left for your 10th book, and 5) Yuk, insects! So, you know, pretty standard author interview.
Nine Books, Six Years, One Stenwold Maker
An overview of the series for Civilian Reader, taking in the plot arcs from Empire through to War Master's Gate. This has all the new Alan Brooks covers side by side, which makes for a pleasant sight.
This is me on world-building for Fantasy Book Critic, in a piece that turned out to be surprisingly ranty for a man talking about things that are entirely imaginary. But the imaginary has always been a big part of my life, just this side of attracting the attention of clinicians, so what the hell. As an added bonus, FBC decided to eschew the Very Serious Author photographs that I actually use for publicity shots, and have instead gone for one of me Larping in a floppy hat. Possibly to set off the rantiness.
And lastly, this is my big "what next" piece for Tor, in which I discuss projects both real and highly speculative, even for speculative fiction. I give a little window onto Guns of the Dawn and The Tiger and the Wolf and also talk SF and, er, comedy, apparently. Because one of my great writing strengths has always been my sense of humour.
(1) Apparently 70–80k is a novel. In which case I think Epic Fantasy as a genre needs to go to some sort of counselling.
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