Emergence is up on Smashwords and Amazon.
Enjoy!
Category Archives: News
Emergence Cover Emerges
I am aiming to have Emergence in the (virtual) shops by tomorrow noon. Given my fractured sleeping habits of late this is no mean feat and it might happen sooner.
One of the things which has been keeping me up at night is the cover. Okay, that’s a lie, what’s been keeping me up at night is the airless atmosphere, but the cover has taken a while to produce. Not saying it’s my best ever, but it’s probably my most ambitious. This thing has five layers in it! For a professional artist that’s chicken feed, but I get nervous when I have more than one layer.
Anyway, I hope you like it, and that it gives some hints/confuses you regarding the book.
I Hate Summer
That’s probably a bit strong, but summer gets to me. Summer, for those not in England, is something of a strange event. It’s kind of the same as winter, but warmer. Except that recently we’ve had drier winters. And then it turns around and boils you alive for two days before a sudden cold front blows in, just about the time you’d planned a picnic or you’re about to go on holiday to Brighton. (Brighton being a traditional place to holiday in England, though I couldn’t say why. I blame the Victorians.)
So, anyway, the weather is depressing. At night, it has a habit of remaining warm and humid. My sleeping habits could be described as ‘random at best’ most of the time, but recently my sleep has been more like the kind of thing chaotic system mathematicians salivate over. Add in a few other things that could be going better right now… sigh.
Why, you ask, am I telling you this? (If you haven’t asked then… I’m going to tell you anyway.) Well, my motivation is shot. The new Unobtainium book has stalled, partially because I had this other idea I want to flesh out a little, and partially because I can’t actually motivate myself to do much at all. This is a problem, but may not delay the book. It was slated for October anyway, and that’s plenty of time to get the thing in shape. I have two Fox Meridian books ready to go out this month and next which will hopefully keep you happy, and I might have something new to drop in later in the year because I think I’ll try a bit more of that sci-fi thing I mentioned to see whether the characters mesh before going back to Unobtainium-land.
This motivational issue is one of the reasons I’ve been quiet for a while. The other being that I didn’t have much to say. I should be reporting on the next Fox book soon, however. I’m going to need a cover… hmm.
Posted in Fox Meridian, News, Opinion, Unobtainium
Tagged british weather, summer, summer blues
Fox’s World Gets a Little Bit Closer
I failed miserably to get any sleep last night so I was up and watching the BBC’s web site when the news came in that we have voted to leave the EU. I don’t want to get heavily political or give away how I voted or anything, but… Da Fuck!
Anyway, in the universe Fox Meridian inhabits, the EU has broken up thanks to economic and climate pressures. The UK jumped ship prior to the union failing. What remains of the EU is basically the northern European countries, lead by German, and is known as the Nordeuropäische Union, the NU. Most of southern Europe is semi-arid and insolvent, hence the change.
This was based on various future timeline predictions which I did not make, but the way things were progressing in Europe and the rest of the world, it seemed a pretty viable future. We really don’t seem to be keen on fixing the climate, and the economic aspects of the EU are creaking. The refugee crisis has not helped. But… I figured I’d be dead or senile before it all started. Guess I was wrong.
This brought to you by the “We did what?!!” newsroom. Another post with book links coming up soon.
Frostburn Real Soon Now
I’ve done the final edits and I’ll be creating the upload manuscripts this evening (when I’ve recovered). So, Frostburn should be available first thing tomorrow, or later tonight, depending on where in the world you are. I’ll post links tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the next Unobtainium book is currently called King Solamet’s Mines and it’s up to 11,300 words. Might change the title yet, but I think that one fits. It does give a fairly big hint about the plot, but then if you hadn’t figured that much out, you haven’t read the first book…
War of the Steam/Dieselpunk Worlds
I’ve wrapped the first draft of The Ghost in the Doll and I finally got bored enough with all my o available media that I picked up Penny Dreadful on Amazon. Well… only one thing for it, I’m going to have to write another Unobtainium book. Well, not totally promising, but it’s being plotted and researched: Kate, Charles, and Antonia are going back to the Dark Continent.
Meanwhile, I’ve been digging through Steam and Dieselpunk material for inspiration. I’ve got a load of Lady Mechanika comics I haven’t read, more Penny Dreadful to watch, at least one book I should get around to. Plus, well, it’s not quite right, but it’s also so right, Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds is playing as I write this. The original one, not the new version.
Now, War of the Worlds came out when I was a kid. I first heard some of it when a girl in my class brought it in (on vinyl) for a sort of show and tell thing. I was gripped. It was awesome! I put it on my Christmas or birthday list and soon I had my own gatefold album with two records and a very evocative art book which had all the lyrics in it. I’d sit in front of our record player with headphones on and sing along… Yeah, I can’t sing, but hey, I couldn’t here me. Now, probably 35 years later, I can still remember all the lyrics. Not just the ones everyone knows. Oh no, I can remember the duet between the parson and his wife, Spirit of Man. My geek credentials are, apparently, well up to date.
Still have to wonder how the infantryman thought he was going to start a brave new world ‘with just a handful of men,’ but I guess it had to rhyme.
Posted in News, Opinion, Unobtainium
Tagged dieselpunk, Jeff Wayne, Lady Mechanika, Penny Dreadful, steampunk, War of the Worlds
It Has Emerged
Probably a better title for when I release the book, but…
Someone suggested I should post more frequently, even if it’s just something about what stage the writing’s in. Maybe some word counts… Almost certainly not going to do that, because it might be depressing for one thing. And I’m not going to promise to post regularly because… Well, my brain doesn’t work like that. I am lousy at the social media thing because I just plain don’t think of it as a thing to do. Possibly an age thing: I’ve been doing stuff internet related since before it was a thing, but I don’t have the mindset for what it’s become. But…
Since I seem to be in the mood currently (this’ll be 3 posts in 2 days! go me!), here’s the progress update. (And, yes I have updated the What I’m Working On page.)
Emergence is code-complete. That means it’s got all its words in it and it’s moved to the ‘awaiting editing’ phase.
I’m currently working on the plotting for The Ghost in the Doll, a title which will make far more sense when you start reading it, honestly. Yes, it’s also obviously a play on both The Ghost in the Machine and The Ghost in the Shell (which, of course is a reference to The Ghost in the Machine in itself, meta-references FTW!), but there are in-universe elements which will be revealed. First hints in Emergence.
But before I start writing GitD, Frostburn will get its first edit run. As I recall, there’s a missing scene I need to write, so that’s going to take a little longer than usual, but I expect to get started on GitD by the end of this week, barring unforeseen meteorite strikes or robot invasions.
In case you’re wondering, I don’t currently have the slightest clue what’s going to come after GitD. I should probably do something seriously different, but we’ll see where my mind is wheeling in a month.
If You’re Hunting Mink…
You can find her here:
As I type this, I haven’t had notification from Amazon that the process is finished, so Hunting Mink may not be available in all areas. If it’s showing as not available, try again in a few hours.
Ultrahuman Art Dump
Okay, I’m now working on the final edit for Hunting Mink. I am trying to get this out for tomorrow, but I’m taking this opportunity to say that I’m working through corrections in a document, while trying to hold off a blazing headache. I’ll get the book out tomorrow. I’ll work through the pain for my readers. (I will get all the sympathy I can for this.) But it’s slowing my down, and it may delay things a little. Sorry.
As partial compensation for any delay, and because I was going to do this anyway… Some art. We’ve got the cover for Hunting Mink here, and the character sheets for Cygnus, Twilight, and Mink. If you click through any of the character sheets, they’ll take you to the ArtStation page where I put all three sheets plus an extra which may give a little hint of one possible future for Twilight.
Posted in News
Witches and Ray-Guns 