Shadows of the Apt

Just behold, that's all. Courtesy of the very talented Mr Sullivan.

Recommended reading today is a column from the Escapist where Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, best known for his acerbic game reviews in Zero Punctuation, has some interesting things to say about drama and action sequences. I agree wholeheartedly with his take — far more so for films than for games, but then I run into the issue in […]

John Vandenbrooks of Arizona U, you are the hyperoxygenated wind beneath my enormous wings. As you all know, way back in the Carboniferous the dragonflies, and various other insects, were enormous, as the fossil record records. The assumption has been for a long time that the atmosphere back then was more highly oxygenated, and therefore that […]

Don't forget I, witha lot of other remarkable people, am at Derby Quad this Saturday for Other Worlds . Also the Leeds SFF thing next year that I mentioned has now called itself ConJour, and other guests include Mike Carey, Kate Griffin, Mark Charan Newton, Justina Robson, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Freda Warrington. Yes, yes, I pasted that […]

I appear to have Stuff On already for the next few months, and so: 1. I will be asking pertinent questions of Iain M Banks at the Morley Literature Festival on the 15^th October (next week). All a bit short notice and the actual event was fully booked out before I was even signed up, and given Mr B's portfolio, […]

I't s been a while since I last posted, and this is because the final proofs for Sea Watch have turned up, and this last stage of the publication process that I get involved in is intensive, time-consuming and conducted to a strict deadline. The draft I had of book 7 is also back in the shop, propped up on bricks while I take […]

Following on from the previous two, here is my track listing for book 3. As before, you could probably glean some spoilers from this if you really wanted. Blood of the Mantis (un)original soundtrack Track 1 — The Wasps come to Tharn (Lento, from Aliens 3 by Eliot Goldenthal) Track 2 — Teornis Plots (The Shape of […]

Firstly, thanks to everyone who turned up at the signing on the 14^th, which went very well indeed. Still waiting on a signing down south. I think Tor are seeing what I can link up with. Speaking of Tor, they've put in place a nice new feature of their publicity — authors' A to Zs — rather than bumble about explaining […]

Was my first thought when I got a big ol' box of The Scarab Path from Tor UK this week. Yes, I did write it, but I had no idea it would be so enormous in print. Anyone who felt they were missing some pages from Blood of the Mantis will find them in Scarab Path (1). And I owe […]

Yes, yes, not been posting much recently, but busy with the book, don'tcherknow. Or books, to be precise. Book 5 (The Scarab Path), which has been running a bit late, has finally been packed off, and I won't see it again until it's actually in print (release date start August). Book 6 (The Sea Watch) has come back […]