Shadows of the Apt

Just a very brief post to announce that a couple of Shadows of the Apt stories have found a wider audience. Firstly, I am in some shockingly good company in the anthology Triumph Over Tragedy, now available on Amazon. This contains my story Spoils of War, originally debuted on this site, and I am joined by the remarkable ensemble cast […]

I confidently expect the final proofs of War Master's Gate to land on my doorstep any day now, which is always the most rushed and least fun part of the whole publishing circus. However, that will be my last farewell to the book until it hits shelves in August this year. It should be a good […]

…does not sound any better than the original. Anyway: Five Things that  they haven't filmed yet, but should Not necessarily Things from this year, admittedly, and my heart has been gladdened by news that Lauren Beukes' Zoo City is actually getting attention in this way, as is Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (and supposedly the rights […]

Actually that sounds entirely wrong now I think about it. Anyway, it's that season when we look back on the year with a sense of vague unease and disappointment and then Tezcatlipoca buries us under a mound of flaming jaguars (1). So: enough of me, but I thought it was would be worth looking at some other books that have […]

After the last post, Alan Brooks has pointed me at some of the stages and deviations the Sea Watch cover went through. I'm hoping Alan will perhaps do a guest post on the various stages of the business, as there's a lot I never really guessed at — as a reader you just see the final cover without any […]

Firstly, I am proud to present the reissued covers for Scarab Path and Sea Watch courtesy of Alan Brooks: I'm particularly proud, in a bizarre kind of way, of the Sea Watch one, not because it looks vaguely like me, although that was a weird coincidence, but because I kid myself that I can see there some trace the piece […]

I appear to have got involved with some sort of devious meme called the Next Big Thing, and have been tagged by the redoubtable Tom Lloyd in his post here. So conjured, I can but obey. And, because I am always on the look out for opportunities to give away snackies, my Next Big Thing what I wrote […]

So: thank you to everyone who came to get books signed at Thought Bubble in Leeds, which put a pleasant debt in Travelling Man's stock if nothing else. Other results of my visit there: Quest to meet Kate Beaton: failed! By the time my signing spot had ended she was on a panel, and some time later there […]

So, as mentioned, I will be at Thought Bubble at Leeds, and will be on the Travelling Man stand happy to sign books, some of which will also be there in a buyable condition. Thought Bubble is taking place mostly over the weekend of 17–18 November at the New Dock Casino in Leeds, opposite the Royal Armouries […]

This post bounces off the edits on War Master's Gate (book 9) that I'm currently going through. When you get this late in a series, the amount of baggage you're inevitably trawling with you becomes quite considerable, despite my best efforts to kill everyone off on a regular basis. Regular readers will have noticed that the amount […]