Shadows of the Apt

Coming out of a year that was something of a personal triumph and a global disaster it's hard to know how to summarise. Books were perpetrated, and both Spiderlight and The Tiger and the Wolf have turned up on some best-of lists, which is always nice, as well as more love for Children of Time, Guns of the Dawn and Shadows of the Apt.

And, as an especially nice touch, the superb Blasphemous Tomes website posted an extra-complimentary review of The Private Life of Elder Things here which was followed by a spot in the podcast The Good Friends of Jackson Elias (episode 95 where they also talk about the Mythos as SF). I've been a regular listener to this podcast since fellow author Adam Gauntlett put me onto it, which makes the mention particularly nice.

This is mostly a post about What's Transpiring in 2017, which is looking like an interesting and complicated year. There's actually a bit more going on than I can talk about, as some Dread Revelations are reserved for the relevant publisher but…

Books out soon

The sequel to The Tiger and the Wolf, being Book 2 of Echoes of the Fall, is coming out in February. This is The Bear and the Serpent, which will give readers of the first book an idea of where the focus of the story will be. The third book is just in self-editing, and about to be submitted.

Also out early in the year, in this case around Easter, is the second Shadows of the Apt story collection, following on from last year's Spoils of War. This one will be A Time for Grief and will include the same mix of stories — some collected from elsewhere, some entirely new. As Spoils' focus was the 12-Year War, Grief's will be events in the Lowlands (mostly) immediately before and during the time of the novels, including a private detective on the mean streets of Helleron, the founding of Princep Salma and a follow-up for some of the characters featured in the first collection.

Future projects

I have some more SF on the horizon (1), written and submitted but currently unsure of a release date. Solaris will be printing my military SF piece Ironclads (not to be confused with the SotA short), about a hapless band of American servicemen in a corporate-driven war, where the board-members of the big corporations take to the battlefield in invulnerable armoured suits — the continuation of business by other means. Look forward to killer robots, giant mechs, Finnish werewolves and an absolute denial of any giant crabs whatsoever.

For full-length SF, I have sold a new novel with the working title War Dogs to Head of Zeus. This is another near-future piece focusing on bioengineered animal soldiers, and what happens when they get off the leash. Rex is a good dog. For him, being a good dog means doing what his master tells him. Then Rex and his squad of monstrous killers, (Honey, Dragon and Bees) lose touch with HQ and have to start making their own judgment calls. While in no ways connected to Children of Time, Dogs follows some of the same themes, especially the emergence of non-human intelligence (and not just the Dogs themselves) and the challenges that raises for the humans who encounter it.

Children of Time news

A lot of people have asked if there will be a sequel, and the answer is maaaaayebe. I am currently putting together some ideas, and it's just recently shifted from a probably-not to an ‑actually-this-could-work, and so watch this space. I probably won't call it Children of Width, Book 2 of the Dimensions Quartet though.

What is happening, however, is a Children of Time audiobook, which will be my first actual proper Audiobook, from Audible. As audiobooks are another thing I get asked about a lot, this is cracking news and I'm delighted about it.

Conventions and Things

Currently I am looking to be at the following events in 2017, God help me.

18^th February — I will be at Lindum Books in Lincoln for the release of The Bear and the Serpent. Presumably signing and not just lurking about the stacks.

14–17 April — Eastercon (Innominate) Birmingham

12 May — Birmingham SF Group

16–18 June — Fantasmasuria, Ostrosa, Poland

15 July — Edge-Lit, Derby

4–7 August — Nine Worlds, London

9–13 August — Worldcon 75, Helsinki, Finland

22–24 September — Fantasycon (Escape to Fantasycon) Daventry

10–12 November — Novacon 47, Nottingham (Guest of Honour, no less!)

So, you know, my resolutions about Doing Less Stuff died on their arse again, but hey…

(1) I was going to do an event horizon joke, but that would mean the books would never actually get into print. Also, cheesy.