Recently I sold a short story to the forthcoming Eibonvale Press anthology The Once & Future Moon, edited by Allen Ashley. My tale takes place in some prehistoric culture, perhaps in the wilds of Ice Age France… The cover – designed by Eibonvale’s main man David Rix – was recently revealed, and is shown below. When the anthology is out I’ll write a blog about my story, including pictures of my deer bone flute, which inspired one of the tale’s central motifs.
This is the cover for the special edition of Tales From The Spired Inn (pre-order now to secure a copy of this limited edition hardback).
Earlier in the year I was asked by Ian Whates, head honcho at the award-winning Newcon Press, about some short stories set in Kray, the city at the heart of my debut Memory Seed. Ian then asked me whether I would write new material for a proposed volume collecting every Kray short story. I was delighted to accept, and even more delighted when the experience of writing the new material proved to be not only enjoyable and satisfying, but deeply evocative, reminding me of all the mental images, thoughts and feelings I had when writing the original novel.
The new book, Tales From The Spired Inn, is out on October 14th, in standard paperback but also in a special limited edition (see Newcon Press website for details – you can preorder the limited edition). It has six stories:
Dr Vanchovy’s Final Case
Funeral For A Pyuter
Granny
First Temple
Memory Seed
The Green Realm Below
The first story was published in Spectrum SF years and years ago, the second is new, the third came out in Strange Pleasures in 2001, the fourth is new, while the fifth is an extract from the end of the original novel – a pause before the final tale, which actually was the first one I wrote, for Keith Brooke’s Infinity Plus website.
After I finished writing the Factory Girl trilogy I realised there was one further story to tell. This novel, though written by the time Factory Girl was brought out by Infinity Plus Books, was not published at the time.
Factory Girl takes place in 1910 and 1911, but at the very end of the final volume there is a foreshadowing of the conflict to come, as Erasmus, his uncle and Sir Herbert Spencer discuss the likelihood of a forthcoming Continental war. The fourth novel, The Conscientious Objector, is set in 1914 and 1915, and follows Erasmus’ experiences in Europe during those years. One other main character, Claudia Cooper, goes along with him…
The plan is to re-jacket the original trilogy with illustrations by Tom and Nimue Brown, both of whom are well known in the steampunk world. The Conscientious Objector will have an equivalent cover. All four novels should be available around the turn of the year.
Four photos from the third session of Writer’s Lab at Shrewsbury Library. A great time was had by all!
Just a photo (courtesy Shrewsbury Library manager Katherine Berry) of the second session of the Writer’s Lab. Session three is on Tuesday 2nd July at 5.30pm.
A second terrific evening of writerly chat! Many thanks again to Joe Shooman, and all the writers who turned up.
Next Tuesday…
We had a terrific hour at the opening session of the Writer’s Lab yesterday. A really great, positive, happy and generous group of about 20 writers, with whom Joe Shooman and I worked. Very good vibes for the remaining sessions!
Today is session one (of six) of the Writer’s Lab series being hosted at Shrewsbury Library by myself and non-fiction writer Joe Shooman, who works part time at the library. The event is aimed at all those looking to improve their writing skills, get inspiration, and generally pull all the threads together!
Event is 5.30pm – 6.30. Session two will be in a fortnight.
