Stephen Aryan's Blog, page 22
April 19, 2016
Thank Book For podcast with…Stephen Aryan
Normally I’m the one recording the podcasts and interviewing the guests. This time it was my turn to be a guest on the Thank Book For podcast with Tom Bissell and Gemma Todd.
Listen here to find all of the episodes.
We had a lot of fun recording this and there was a lot of chat off mic as well which could have gone on for hours.
In this episode we talk about some of my favourite books, writing in general, different styles of writing, comics, films and remakes, and guilty pleasures.
Book tour next week
Tuesday night I'm in Sheffield, get a ticket here with Eventbrite to attend at Waterstones Orchard Square.
Wednesday night I'm in Middlesbrough, get a ticket here with Eventbrite, to attend at Waterstones Middlesbrough
Thursday night I'm in Whitley Bay at the Library. Click here for more information about the event.
Hope to see you at one of these events.
April 16, 2016
Bloodmage Launch – Birmingham
Last week was the official launch of Bloodmage, book 2 in the Age of Darkness trilogy, at Waterstones in Birmingham. The shop is amazing. It’s six floors full of books, which sounds like heaven to me! I could spend days in there if they’d let me, and they serve food and drink in the cafes, so I wouldn’t starve.
The launch was a great success and I met some lovely people who had read Battlemage and were keen for some answers about what was going to happen next in the trilogy and beyond that.
After the Q and A I did a new reading from Bloodmage that seemed to well and got a few chuckles. I also signed a few books too and had an encounter with an odd man that kept offering people some of his slice of cake…for some reason. I think we were all supposed to be helping him with his diet.
Thanks to everyone for coming along on a very rainy and stormy night. Special thanks to the booksellers who were very lovely and took very good care of me. In two weeks I’m off on tour, and I’ll be heading to Sheffield, Middlesbrough and then back to my home town of Whitley Bay.
April 7, 2016
Bloodmage – unleashed April 12th 2016
Bloodmage is out next week. It feels like only last week I was getting excited in the run up to the release of Battlemage. Well, there’s another book to come out this year as well in October, so the trilogy will be all wrapped up by Christmas.
So I’d better get on with writing the next thing. In the meantime, below are some links to order Bloodmage.
UK – (Waterstones or Amazon UK)
America – (Amazon or Barnes and Noble)
Australia (Hachette Australia)
Audiobook (Audible)
April 1, 2016
April Newsletter is on the way
If you would like to subscribe you can find the page on my website here
March 26, 2016
Post-birthday blog
Friday was another birthday for me, not a landmark one, so following that and a few other developments, I thought I’d do a bit of a round-up blog for the end of this month.
Today I just received copies of the French version of Battlemage – Mage de Guerre – from my French publisher – Bragelonne. So if you want more info or to get your hands on copy in French, their website is the best place to start. It looks amazing and I love the cover.
Next month Bloodmage comes out and I’ve got a few signing events around the UK. I’m really excited about this book in a different way to Battlemage. It was my début book and this is now a chance to show readers that it wasn’t a fluke, and I can do it again. It’s a very different kind of book, so there’s some anxiety about how it will be received if people are expecting more of the same. In some ways I think it is a more accomplished book, but that’s just me.
I’m also doing a Goodreads giveaway, and this is open to people all around the world. I will sign and post 5 copies to 5 winners. There’s still a week left, so you just need to be a member of Goodreads to enter which is free to join.
I’ve just sent back the proof amends for book 3, title currently not announced, which means that is the last time I will see it before it comes out in print later this year. So, technically in terms of writing for the Age of Darkness trilogy…I’m done.
So that brings me on to the next thing. I’ve made a start, and I have a stack of ideas and have written several thousand words in notes. Character arcs, exciting tentpole moments from the story, ideas for where I see the story going at a top level. Then I start breaking it down into segments and themes and chunks. I’m writing it all down and then I start to sift it into some kind of semblance of order. I’ve not booked to attend any conventions this year until Fantasycon at the end of September in Scarborough. So that gives me a few months clear to knuckle down and focus on this next set of books and getting some words done on the first draft of book 1.
Other things are ticking along in the background, comic book projects are still going and also I’m still doing two podcasts a month with Bags of Action and Comic Book Outsiders. There will be an announcement next month about the podcasts, and an adjustment, but generally not a lot will change. I still love doing it which is why I’m still doing them 8 years on from when we started.
Spring is here so that means it’s time for me to start planting stuff out again in the garden, fruit and veg. I never thought I’d become a bit like Tom and Barbara from The Good Life, but hey, it’s happened. I enjoy it, it keeps me active, and home grown stuff tastes yummy. That also reminds me, now that I’ve moved to a new area of the country, there are a lot of different local breweries to try. So I might be posting a few more real ale reviews on the website soon.
My reading has been pretty slow lately as it’s been busy with book 3 work, but I’m gradually getting to the end of Assassin’s Quest. I am enjoying it, but the book is very dense and about 800 pages, so it is taking me a while. My to read pile is mocking me, so I’m going to try make more time to read as it becomes a bit quieter for the next few months. Right, time to get back to pondering the next big thing.
March 11, 2016
Bloodmage UK tour dates
Bloodmage is out in the UK and USA on April 14th from my publisher Orbit books and I will be visiting a few places in the UK on a launch tour .
Thursday 14th April
Waterstones Birmingham High Street – 7pm – The event is free but please call 0121 633 4353 to reserve a seat.
Tuesday 26th April
Waterstones Orchard Square – Sheffield – 6.30-7.30pm – in conjunction with Sheffield SFF social club. The event is free but please call 0114 272 8971 to let them know you’re attending or visit the SFSF website for a ticket.
Wednesday 27th April
Waterstones Middlesbrough – 6-7pm – I will be in conversation with Niel Bushnell. We will be talking about our path to publication, science fiction and fantasy and there will be a Q and A and signing after. The event is free but you will need a ticket to attend. Tickets can be obtained in store or by calling and speaking to a bookseller on 01642 242682.
Thursday 28th April
Whitley Bay Library – 7pm. Tickets are £1.50 which includes refreshments and you will need to contact them to reserve a seat on 0191 643 5390
March 10, 2016
Bloodmage is here….early!
Even though it is not out for another month, today I received a box full of copies of Bloodmage! Feast your eyes on these lovelies. I can’t stop looking at them and sitting them next to my copy of Battlemage. It is so close now to the release date!
I’ve also arranged a few more UK events and will be releasing the details as soon as I can, but these will be next month, and they will be in the North. In the meantime, enjoy the view!
March 4, 2016
Guest Post at Ragnarok Publications
I recently wrote a guest post for the lovely people over at Ragnarok Publications about some of the things I think are the hardest part about being a writer.
This post was partly inspired by a discussion I saw elsewhere on social media and it inspired me to write down my thoughts on the subject.
Click here for the full article.
February 22, 2016
Book 3 is away…
It is getting close to the end of February and it’s time for another quick update. I’ve been pretty quiet on here and haven’t written a new post in a while as I’ve had my nose to the grindstone. The copy edit for book 3 came in and it was two and a bit weeks of solid graft, in addition to the day job. But it is now done and has gone off to the publisher. Phew. So, that means there is only one more stage of checking, when I get the proof, before it then becomes an ARC (advanced read copy). Soon after that the book comes out!
Is it still a dark art?
Thinking about the copy edit and then the final proof stage it made me wonder, is there any mystery left to the publishing process? By that I mean, if you are reading this, and you are an aspiring author, do you know what all the stages are that a book goes through before it is published with a traditional publisher? Is there any bit that you don’t understand?
Obviously the process is different if it is digital or self published. I am curious, with so many authors, and people within the industry, now talking about much of what seemed like a dark art to me online, is it all clear now?
Let me know as I’m very curious. Not only about this, but I also still see so many posts, articles and YouTube videos about how to get published and how to approach an agent, and they are full of bad and unhelpful information.
So, I’m now pondering what next, writing some short stories, focusing on some comic book projects and scribbling ideas for the next big thing. Also I’m catching up on some TV I missed the first time around, plus other stuff I’ve never seen. All of which is me trying to relax.
