Saturday 24 September 2016

This Twisted Earth


I'm not quite sure how to start this post so I'm just going to dive in. 

Hooray!

Today sees the launch of This Twisted Earth at FantasyCon-by-the-sea. The book is a shared-concept anthology devised and edited by Dion Winton-Polak and featuring stories by (among others) myself, Mike Chinn, Jess Nevins, and Adrian Tchaikovsky. Yes, that Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for his novel Children Of Time. Now, I know that I should be using this blog and site to promote myself, but this guy is solid gold. Find his books, buy them and read them. You won't regret it. I'm just happy to be crammed into a book with him! 

I had a blast writing my story for the anthology (titled Little Boy) and I hope the book does as well as it deserves to. I've only read a couple of the other stories so far but they were fantastic, and I can't wait to read the rest when I receive my paperback (and hardback) editions.

You can pick up a copy from here:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01K7LIU08
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K7LIU08

To celebrate the launch (as I sadly can't be there) I'm giving away The Binary Man, former UK #1 cyberpunk bestseller for free on Kindle for the next five days (24/9 - 28/9). Pick up a copy at:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00857DL5G
US:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00857DL5G

Friday 15 April 2016

A New Career In A New Town



Well not quite a new career, but a new aspect to my career.

My first two books for children are now available on Amazon - The Wonderful Tale of Giraffe the Giraffe (who was also a superhero), and The Wonderful Tale of Billy the Lion (who was a little bit afraid of the dark). Whilst not officially being a series yet (can you have a series of two? Isn't that a diptych?) I am hoping that I can add to the Wonderful Tales series in the future, to attract some lucrative benevolent publisher to my wares.

So far they've been very well received (at least I hope so, I'm still waiting for the reviews to come in). They were great fun to write and draw, and the writing process didn't carry the lingering sense of unease that often sits at the back of my skull as I'm writing horror.

I have a few ideas for future books, including a longer story for slightly older children that can incorporate black and white ink illustrations, but for the moment I have another project that I'm trying to nail down within the next six to eight weeks.

You can pick up a copy or five of my children's books below!

The Wonderful Tale of Giraffe the Giraffe (who was also a superhero)

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1523387521
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1523387521

The Wonderful Tale of Billy the Lion (who was a little bit afraid of the dark)

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1530659183
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1530659183

Enjoy your April!

Wednesday 16 March 2016

The Giraffe Lives!


It's alive!

My first book for children, The wonderful tale of Giraffe the giraffe (who was also a superhero) is now available from Amazon! It's only available in paperback because, you know, why Kindle?

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1523387521
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1523387521

I'm also at the painting stage of my second book for children, The wonderful tale of Billy the lion (who was a little bit afraid of the dark) before I get to the juice of writing it. As kiddy books are new to me it would be interesting to know if others write the story first or do the illustrations, but I found that I came up with ideas whilst drawing that then added to the story, so I enjoyed working that way around. It's just a working title at the moment as I haven't decided if I want to continue after this second book, creating a 'Wonderful Tales' series. It would be a good way to sub-divide my children's books from my other novels as I could do a standalone site. This will be mulled over.

So until the second book is done I will leave this here, separate but not separate, a ghost of a giraffe haunting my other books...

In other news, the writing is good right now and I'm making big steps towards my set of goals for 2016, stopping only to get a short story done for a particularly interesting anthology. Whether it's accepted or not is a different matter but it's a fun exercise.

Enjoy your day!

Wednesday 13 January 2016

Looking forward


I had thought about looking back at 2015, but for one reason or other it wasn't my best in writing. I got a lot done, but I didn't get a lot finished, with A Fresh Start as my only release. I hope that the reason for the low production rate was that I became more discerning - as opposed to becoming paralysed by self-criticim - but only time (and eventual reviews) will tell. At the start of 2015 I created a list of 10 - 15 projects that I wanted to finish, and it was far too many. I did some on all of them, and even finished 90% of a novel only to decide that the premise was flawed and... well... a bit dull. It lacked humanity, and believable motive. If I'd written it a few years ago I might have put it out, and it might have done ok (I've read worse stuff, and I'm happy with the setting and some of the characters) but I have to be better now, otherwise there really isn't any point. 

It's all about progress!

This year I have set myself a goal of six projects, one of which is days away from being finished - The Wonderful Tale Of Giraffe The Giraffe (Who Was Also A Superhero).

It isn't horror or sci fi, sorry.

I wrote and illustrated it as a gift for my four year old daughter, and will do the same for my six year old in the next few weeks. I may have to create a sub-section in this site for it if it's worth selling. We'll see. It was definitely great fun to do!

I'll try to become a bit more regular with the blog posts too. I'll take some word fibre, or something.

Onwards!