Shadows of the Apt

I'm on the very point of heading to Manchester for the Starburst Mediacity (1) film festival, where among other things I may get to guest on an episode of the Brave New Words podcast, but just a brief post on Things I Have Coming Out shortly or later this year.

Firstly, I am one of a few contributors to Rebellion's Dracula, Rise of the Beast, a series of novellas documenting the history of gothic literature's most notorious monster. My contribution details a lifelong clash between the titular vampire and a historical one, namely Elizabeth Bathory, whose personal history just got more and more suitable for vampiric fictionalising as I researched it — not just the whole bathing in blood business, but that her warmonger husband enthusiastically adopted the trademark practices of Vlad the Impaler, for example. Ghastly people, but useful to your humble chronicler.

Next up, and being released in just a couple of weeks at Eastercon in Harrogate is the latest offering from the Tales of the Apt series, For Love of Distant Shores from Newcon Press. I am particularly excited about this one. It is also a series of novellas following the same pair of characters through the less-explored areas of the SotA world. A few familiar names drift through the narrative but mostly we're following Doctor Phinagler and his long-suffering assistant as they plumb depths and the far places of the world for good old Collegiate scholarship, uncover horrible secrets, meet new kinden and eventually discover a secret that has ramifications beyond the actual SotA series itself. The cover art is by Jon Sullivan, whose iconic work helped shape the series in its early days.

Third out, at the start of April, is The Hyena and the Hawk, third and concluding volume of the Echoes of the Fall series from Pan Macmillan. Anyone who's got as far as the end of The Bear and the Serpent is probably wondering 'How the hell is he going to dig himself out of that hole?' and now you get the chance to find out. Also released at the same time will be the audiobooks for all three Echoes of the Fall novels, which are being read by Kyla Garcia. I should also give a shout out for the beautiful cover design by Neil Lang for all three books of Echoes. The trio together look incredible.

Finally, due out a bit later this year (July) is Redemption's Blade, first book of After the Fall, a new fantasy series from Rebellion. The war is over, the dark lord done for, and now the armies of the free have to pick themselves up out of the wreckage and remember that they don't actually like each other very much, and now everyone has troops in everyone else's back yard, and just what do you do with all those monsters and evil legions that have failed to conveniently vanish away with their evil master. War profiteers, glory hounds, refugees, religious persecution, and Celestaine, labouring under the burden of being the wielder of the sword that did for the dark lord, is setting out to try and fix the world somehow. I had more fun writing this than just about anything else, so I hope it makes a splash when it hits the shelves.

(1) And, because I'm fond of the film, Megamind, my internal monologue does pronounce it with the emphasis on the 'a'.