A Talk with George — Eastercon 2012 part 3

So Saturday really was something of the sort of late night that I (poor tame creature that I am) haven't had since university. However something seriously off about the beds in the place ensured I was up bright and early for the fantasy politics panel (Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch moderating Hail Carriger, David Durham, Jude Roberts — […]

A Talk with George — Eastercon 2012 part 2

Blimey, but I make a meal of these writeups. Will try and hurry things along. Up bright and early to the sort of cooked breakfast that seemed mostly made by people to whom cooking isn't their first language, save for the mushrooms, which were so remarkably good that I can only assume there was one ancient Zen mushroom […]

A Talk with George (1) — Eastercon 2012 part 1

Eastercon 2012 had three win conditions, namely [1] put in a good showing at my own particular panels, [2] see at least some of the other panels [3] have a writer to writer (2) conversation with George R R Martin. Arrived lunchish Friday in the company of Justina Robson, fellow Leeds-based writer, and was treated to sumptuous lunch […]

Easter Eggs for Everybody

Eastercon write up will come soon, but following on from a comment a few posts ago — happy Easter! And in general celebration I do indeed give you an Easter Egg, being deleted scenes from Heirs of the Blade. In the original version there was quite a digressive subplot near the beginning involving Tynisa, Gaved and an old enemy, […]

Guest post on the Tor Blog: The Great Big Series

is here. And no, I am not GRRM's identical twin. He has eclipsed me in my own post, apparently! And for those who saw this before the correction, no, I have no idea what a "Tog blog" is either.

Eastercon Schedule

Damn me, but there is a lot of good stuff at Eastercon, enough that I would need about three of me working in shifts to see all the panels, talks, readings etc. that caught my eye. (Link to schedule here.) My own appearances at the con are: Friday 6th — 5pm — room 12 — I'll be at […]

Watch the Skies!

Not a plug for Paul Cornell's "Saucer Country" but instead the first breath of wind that heralds the arrival of The Air War. As pointed out by Mark Guest in a comment to the last post, the 8th book of Shadows of the Apt will be out 2nd August, meaning I should start thinking about signings for around […]

Letters from the War Front

I've read it's bad practice to blog about how the writing is going, but book 10, man. Seal of the Worm. I had Air War and War Master's Gate pretty well plotted beforehand — the process was quite tight, quite blow by blow. I tend to not set pen to paper (1) until I've got a good […]

Mars, Hunger, Rice

… sounds like an avant garde sequel to Eat, Drink, Man, Woman but anyway. John Carter is good if not great. Beautiful visuals, definitely liking the Tharks (Willem Dafoe's (voicing of) Tars Tarkas in particular). Too much earth stuff at the beginning (there's a whole horse-chase bit that surely could have been cut) and the need […]

Crossed fingers for the red planet

Next Friday, John Carter opens in cinemas (in the UK anyway). There has been a lot of scuttlebutt (1) circulating about the PR for this film, or lack of same, much of it placing the blame on Disney who are releasing it(2). Certainly, although it's a project that various filmy sort of people have been talking about […]