Adrian Tchaikovsky's Blog, page 26

Soundtracks for an Insect Age : The Scarab Path

Time for another soundtrack, this time the musical stylings of Khanaphes.

Track 1 — Overture (A Distant Sadness, from Battlestar Galactica Season 3 by Bear McCreary)

Track 2 — Che Voyaging (The Bunker (Reprise), from Shadow of the Vampire by Daniel Jones)

Track 3 — Che and Thalric (The Lonely Voyage, from Shadow of the Vampire by Daniel Jones)

Track 4 — Meet the Scorpions (The Yahoos, from Gulliver's Travels by Trevor Jones (1))

Track 5 — The Statues of Khanaphes (Cobol's Last Gleaming, from Battlestar Galactica Season 1 by Bear McCreary)

Track 6 — Amnon's Hunt (Main Title, from Walking with Beasts by Ben Bartlett)

Track 7 — Field Battle (Way of the Sword, from The Last Samurai by Hans Zimmer)

Track 8 — Teuthete's Strike (Fear is the Mind Killer, from Children of Dune by Brian Tyler)

Track 9 — Lost in the Catacombs (Main Title from Aliens by James Horner)

Track 10 — The Works of the Masters (The Mage Tower from Icewind Dale by Jeremy Soule(2))

Track 11 — The Blue Lamps / Going after Osgan (What If?, from The Time Machine by Klaus Badelt)

Track 12 — Breaking from the Nightmare (The Master, from The Time Machine by Klaus Badelt (3))

Track 13 — Meyr — (Do You Think I'm Saxon, from King Arthur by Hans Zimmer)

Track 14 — Holding the Bridge (Morlocks, from The Time Machine by Klaus Badelt)

Track 15 - Watching the Past Unfold — (This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home, from Doctor Who Season 3 by Murray Gold)

Track 16 — The River (Lamia's Doll, from Stardust by Ilan Eshkeri)

Track 17 — The Masters' Regret (Bloodshed, from Battlestar Galactica Series 1 by Bear McCreary)

For reference, previous soundtracks can be found at: Empire in Black and Gold, Dragonfly Falling, Blood of the Mantis and Salute the Dark.

(1) Not the recent film with Jack Black but the phenomenal TV movie with Ted Danson that Hallmark (I think) did years ago.

(2) Yes, the computer game, but the did put out a soundtrack.

(3) An extra ten years of purgatory to me for having these two tracks backwards.

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New Story: Cities of Silver

This is going to be the last short for a while, as I'm on the very cusp of starting on Book 9, which so far going under the working title of "I haven't the faintest idea what the title will be" or, given that my publishers have a fondness for punchy titles, "I haven't the faintest idea what the title will be of doom".

Cities of Silver is the first outing for Doctor Ludweg Phinagler (1) who will hopefully return for a few more adventures later. He promises to be a useful vehicle to explore some corners of the kinden's world that the main plot won't have the change to seriously examine (indeed if anyone has anywhere in particular they would like the good doctor to go, by all means pipe up.)

It's also worth saying that I am obviously lying through my teeth about "short". This one ballooned into something more like a novella than a short story. The Doctor does tend to go on.

Finally, this story stands as an artifact within the kinden's world. It is a book (2) printed and sold in Collegium, and cheaply at that, in the general category of "awful books", originally stories to inspire awe, but more lately simply sensationalist unlikely stories. Hence the actual truth of anything that our narrator Fosse sets down should be treated with a pinch of mineral salts.

Nonetheless, the story can be found here. Enjoy.

(1) Anyone who has been obsessively reading this blog since Way Back™ may remember the distant genesis and inspiration here.

(2) or at least an English translation of one, I suppose.

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Brief news — Empire in Black and Gold on kindle for $1.99 (US)

Just a very brief note to say that, if you are replete with Kindle-owning (1) friends who haven't yet met the insect-kinden then Pyr/Prometheus have a limited time promotion on, with Empire going for just $1.99. Then they can buy  the rest full price, damn them .

(1) Kindling? Can you gerund it?

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Shadows of the Apt : the Movie

Absolutely not. Just to clear up, there's been no movement on film rights etc. However, I do get asked (must do a FAQ some time) and I do think about what such a film would look like. Or better still, a GoT-style series. That would be very nice.

I'm overjoyed that the Game of Thrones is doing so well, not only because it seems to be a faithful adaptation of an extremely good series, but because, on a selfish note, it might open the door to more fantasy on TV. Secondary world fantasy very seldom gets an airing on TV, because such worlds are usually fairly high concept — you have to clear a lot of basic assumptions to get your head round the world, whereas a series set in the real world with an added fantasy element doesn't require the same level of exposition or work on the part of the viewer.

Game of Thrones has a secondary world with a number of high fantasy elements — the long winter, the undead, the dragons — but Martin does a very masterful job of introducing these gradually, and you don't need to understand any of them to start off in the world. The world that the viewer/reader must assimilate straight off is hustorical in inspiration, its important concepts already accessible.

With that mix of easy-intro that then builds into high fantasy, GoT is an ideal introduction to the genre for a viewing audience — especially an audience already on board with previous HBO series like Rome (and the mainstream/fantasy borderland was always going to be historical fiction).

Shadows of the Apt is higher concept from the start (1) with Aptitide, Art and kinden all having to be cleared from a standing start before anything about it makes sense. However, with GoT opening the door, who knows what might lie in the future?

I seem to have got entirely sidetracked at this point. What I did want to do was make the movie/series pitch.

I reckon most people would agree that a lot of adaptations are not grand — there are gems, but they're gems because they're rare. Films run the gamut from making necessary, respectful changes to the source material to producing some piece of stock tripe that happens to share some character names with the original.

However, it does occur to me that SOTA basically comes with its own epic prequel not specifically covered in the books, but continually drawn on and hinted at — being the Twelve-year War between the Empire and the Commonweal. There is a clear cinematic appeal here: heroic doomed cavalry-charging princes and peasants against the mechanised army of the Wasps. The story could draw on Ironclads and other Commonweal shorts, on related events like the Battle of Masaka where the Sixth Army got smashed, and on material in Heirs of the Blade, much of which takes place in that war's aftermath in the Commonweal. Any adaptation would be able to have its own raft of characters and plot against that backdrop, without constantly treading on the toes of the actual series. There are even characters like Drephos just cutting their teeth during that war, and the conceptual hurdles would probably be lower because the politics are simpler. Makes you wonder why I didn't write that one, really…

Anyway… mere pipedreaming, of course. But still.

(1) I can't stress that I am not saying "better" in any sense. That would be sheer hubris.

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That is not dead which…

In the Mythology panel I was on at Alt Fiction with KD Laity and Mark Chadbourn, the topic came up of writers who created their own enduring mythologies. Tolkien got an airing, of course, but also in the spotlight were writers like Tove Jansson (1) and, of course, HP Lovecraft. Mark pinned Lovecraft as almost in a category of his own, a man who did not particularly set out to create a mythos, but whose ideas sparked so much in the minds of his readers and fellow writers that these days the crawling tentacles of his work have crept just about everywhere in (and even out) of the genre — with homages in film, graphic novel, music and more. Specifically, linking to Lovecraft has become almost a badge of honour for genre writers.

So, it's opportune that I throw my own comedy Mi-go hat into the ring (2) and proudly announce that my first professional short story is coming out courtesy of Miskatonic River Press in a collection entitled Dead But Dreaming 2. This is not an insect-kinden story, obviously, but instead follows paranormal investigator Walther Cohen (3) as he delves into the sinister secrets of… The Dissipation Club. I'm particularly proud, as well, to say that this story was written for the Deadliners, the twice-yearly writer's group I go to, which shows that such groups are definitely worth it.

(1) Some of that Moomintroll **** is terrifying, man. The Hattifatteners will get you if you don't watch out.

(2) My friends went to Yuggoth and all they got me was this oh my god I'm a brain in a jar!

(3) I've written a few about Mr Cohen, and another such, with a less Cthulhoid feel, will hopefully appear in a new anthology edited by Andy Remic some time soon.

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Alt Fiction Reading List

Alt Fiction was a grand success — both as author and as fanboy (and the sentiment "I'm fanboy first and writer second" seemed to be generally seconded by everyone that I met). As you can see from the schedule in the previous post, there was something for pretty much everyone, and I'm very grateful to Alex Davis for the opportunity of being a part of it. To the best of my knowledge a definite nod in the direction of Writing West Midlandsis due as well, as I have the idea that they put a lot of support in. For anyone who didn't go, and especially for fans, aspiring writers and the like who have never been to this sort of convention, I can only encourage you to grab the next opportunity with both hands. The content is good, and the community — writers and fans — is very open.

It's well worth keeping an eye on the Un:bound website where I think the various podcasts are going to be hosted, when they've hacked them into a recognisable format. For myself I caught the Steampunk and acquitted myself reasonably well in Genre Classics and Mythology (1) but there were a host I didn't get to see that I want to catch — military SF. shared worlds, genre vs mainstream and so on.

I won't give a blow by blow here, but one unanticipated side effect of the weekend was that I ended up with a prodigious list of new authors and books to try, so I thought I would pitch a quick rundown of my discoveries and rediscoveries because why not? I'm going to try and link everyone's blogs, too, because that's the done thing (at least according to the relevant panel I attended). Preps to my peeps. Or whatever the hell. I'm hip.

Dan Abnett isn't exactly a discovery, given that he must rate as one of the most prolific writers in history (40 books in 24 years, plus a continuous comics output!) but he does get overlooked because he's best known for tie-in work, such as Dr Who and Warhammer 40k (2) and this often gets dismissed for not being 'serious writing' (3). We got a reading of the start of his Triumff, as a result of which I now own it, along with his new book, Embedded, which promises to be just as good. This is also an example of the excellent titles that Angry Robot are putting out these days.

I ran into Adam Christopher in the Steampunk podcast — his Empire State is coming in December this year, also from Angry Robot, and has gone on my want list — he seems to be something of a doyenne of Facebucket and Twitter as well, and had a lot of interesting things to say on the Publicising your Writing panel.

As he brought it up in the panel, and as I literally finished the last few pages on the train on the way to Alt Fiction, I should say that Cherie Priest's Boneshaker is also a damn good read. I'm also cheating by plugging Tony Ballantyne because I read his Blood and Iron a while ago, but I went to his reading and he did read a concise and elegant story about ants from Nature magazine (6). At the same time (7) Rod Rees gave us an excerpt from his Demi Monde: Winter which I now also own. In fact going back to the hotel on the Saturday ventured into hernia territory with the sheer weight of books I picked up.

Readings, incidentally, are always tricky. They tend to lose out against panels and the like, which are necessarily running at the same time, and all but the most fan-mobbed authors will always turn up wondering if anyone will show at all. Alt Fiction managed to make two good calls here: firstly, giving the readings a small room, so that even a modest turnout became a decent crowd, and secondly by pairing authors, so that nobody ended up absolutely on their own (8).

After the publishing panel, at which my own editor, the elusive Julie Crisp (9), failed to show owing to illness, the next round of readings were Ian Whates, reading from his new City of Hope and Despair (sequel to last year's City of Dreams and Nightmares) as well as a 10 second alliterative short story. Ian is somehow keeping up not only that fantasy series, but a science fiction series as well (The Noise Within/The Noise Revealed) and editing about a thousand anthologies. I sit here with my full time job and family and World of Warcraft account and wonder how he fits it all in. Ian was paired with Colin Harvey who gave us a slice of the bleak near-future of Damage Time. It is getting a little concerning, on a global level, that all the near future stuff I read nowadays is quite so plausibly bleak. Perhaps all those environmentalists have a point, hmm?

The reading I did with Gav Thorpe was pleasantly attended, for my part mostly because I wouldn't shut up about it to everyone I ran into earlier in the day. In the end, I read the Mantis/Empire fight from Salute the Dark and then a semi-comic short story entitled 'Rapture', for its first proper airing ever. Gav himself read a suitably brutal piece from The Crown of the Blood.

Finally for the Saturday (and yes, there was something even later than Gav and my graveyard shift reading spot), I ended up as part of a collective effort on Down Memory late, with Pete Crowther, Paul Cornell and everyone else in the audience, as everyone dusted off their rose-tinted spectacles to give three genre classics apiece — which quickly turned into those books we most remembered from childhood. I think I had actually read over half the titles mentioned, which surprised me — the biggest gap being the hardcore vintage SF end of things. My own maundlin darlings were Wolfe's Soldier of the Mists, Wynne Jones' Power of Three and Paul Biegel's The Seven-Times Search.

After a late night drinking, arguing about Robert E. Howard and, I think, having Stephen Deas propose an all-author RPG session (10) I did manage to crawl out of bed for "A Writer's Life" panel the next morning, and perhaps the set of baggy, red-veined eyes that met the audience told them more about the writers' life than anyone wanted to know — unless it was Gav Thorpe demonstrating the fine art of deadlines by pitching up late.

After that, I caught Paul Cornell reading a section from his upcoming book Cops and Monsters, coming out next year from Tor, which he places in the metropolitan-police-procedural-urban-fantasy genre, which he and Ben Aaronovitch have fenced out between them (11). Sharing that slot was Rob Shearman, whose book Everyone's Just So So Special is not actually available yet, so more fool me for not grabbing a copy when I had the chance. However, and having heard a great many very fine readers over the weekend (not least Mr Cornell who had to follow him), I take my hat off to Rob for a piece not only masterfully written, but read to within an inch of its life, from comedy to tragedy, with the audience held in the palm of his hand. Seriously, and without hyperbole, if you get the chance to hear Shearman read, do it!

And home, after that, obviously.

(1) remarkably in the latter case as I was a late shoe-in and had done zero prep. However K.A. Laity brought up the Kalevala right at the start which led me to Michael Scott Rohan's Winter of the World series (still a favourite of mine) and after that I never looked back.

(2) Understatement of the month. I've had a friend eulogise to me on the subject for the best part of an hour explaining how Mr A is basically the patron saint of Warhammer 40k continuity.

(3) There is no rule that says a tie-in book must be a bad book (4). However, the curse of the franchise must lead to certain marketing types who have the attitude that "they'll buy it/watch it/wear it just because it has an X logo on it", where X is any established brand you care to name. That there are some very poor tie-in books out there is likely due, by my best guess, to this sort of thinking, which holds that the actual quality of the book will not notably affect its saleability — any dross will do (5). There are some very good tie-in books out there, it's just incumbent on the readership to show that they appreciate the quality, rather than just the label.

(4) And I'm not just saying that in case someone should ask me to write one, although on an unrelated note I am very, very available for Dr Who work…

(5) Coincidentally the title of the new reality TV talent show.

(6) All right, it wasn't about ants. It involved ants. Filtered through my obsessions, however, anything even vaguely related to ants becomes "about ants".

(7) Immediately after, rather. It wasn't like duelling pianos or anything.

(8) Unless the other writer doesn't show. That would be a new low.

(9) Well now she's the elusive Julie Crisp

(10) This is possibly the geekiest version of the invitation only high-stakes poker game I ever heard. My reaction was "Hell yes!"

(11) Although if we expand the geography I reckon you could fit Jim Butcher in there. Having read most of the Dresden Files series and also Ben's two novels, DC Peter Grant and PI Harry Dresden would probably have a lot to talk about over a pint.

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Alt Fiction — 25–26 June, Derby Quad

On the 25th and 26th June I shall be at Alt Fiction doing frankly a load of stuff at Derby Quad – it looks like one of the best convention line-ups I've done, with all manner of sundry panels, workshops and casting of pods(1). Therefore I cordially invite you to:

-        11am-12pm Saturday 25th in Cinema 2 – I'm on the panel "Has Fantasy Moved Past Tolkien", which sounds vaguely as though Professor T is meandering slowly down the freezer aisle at Tescos with a queue of fantasy authors backing up behind him trying to get to the ice cream. Barring serious scientific developments, the professor himself won't be there, although I suspect that, were he able to make his opinions known, he would be mortified if we hadn't covered some ground since Rings was published. I'm joined in this by Graham McNeill, Gav Thorpe, MD Lachlan and Juliet McKenna

-        9-10pm Saturday 25th – Reading, along with Gav Thorpe. Yes, I know, late night slot, so for those not staying overnight it's asking a bit , but: I've not done a reading for a while, and I'm currently still up in the air about what to read. My favourite past bit is the Empire/Mantis fight from Salute the Dark but it's more traditional to read something new. Obviously I've got Heirs of the Blade due October, so a piece from that would be appropriate, but then again, you'll get that book fairly soon, so why tease(2)? As an alternative, and as I'm sufficiently ahead of myself, I may instead wheel out a sneak preview of The Air War, book 8, for the first time ever, so hopefully that's an incentive. This is taking place in the Participation Space.

-        10-11am Sunday 26th I'm doing a panel on The Writer's Life. I have taken this in the general. If I'm supposed to be talking about the life of any specific writer I may be a bit screwed. This is in the Cafe Bar, so if you happen to be hungry or thirsty at around this time you may end up attending whether you want to or not. I'm teaming up for this one with Conrad Williams, Sarah Pinborough, Keith Brooke and Gav Thorpe (who by this time will probably be sick of the sight of me).

-        11-12am Sunday, I will be doing a (somewhat out of breath, given the above) podcast on Genre Classics, and whilst this sounds something like the SFX panel from earlier in the year, I do not in any way guarantee that I won't decide that my favourite classics are entirely different this time round. I'm on this one with Peter Crowther and Dan Abnett.

-        Finally, 2-3pm Sunday, another podcast on Using Mythology in Writing, along with KA Laity and Mark Chadbourn. I'm not sure how much of a spectator sport these podcasts are, but presumably they'll all be recorded, available online, all that jazz.

Quite beside all that, frankly, the entire event schedule is a phenomenal range of people and topics – Dan Abnett and Alistair Reynolds as guest speakers, and a veritable horde of other Names from the industry – both writers (looking forward to catching up with Paul Cornell, Mark Charan-Newton (3) and Ian Whates, particularly) and indeed editors – quite a selection of workshops, panels and podcasts specifically to do with publishing and getting published.

I set out below the footnotes the entire weekend schedule – do come along. For myself, when I'm not actually doing something, I plan to be in the audience most of the time. It's good stuff.

(1)  I think I've said this before, but as a Larper, "podcast" just sounds like the equivalent of a "pod shot", just with a thrown weapon involved.

(2)  Also, I've just disposed of the final proofs on this book, and as any author will tell you, this is basically the time when you just never want to see the damn thing ever again, because every one of its 200,000+ words is etched on the inside of your skull by that point.

(3)  Whose City of Ruin I have just finished, and enjoyed immensely.

Alt.Fiction Schedule

Please note, the schedule is subject to change, and no refunds will be given in case of alterations to the programme or speakers being unable to attend for any reason. Attendees will be notified of any changes to the schedule at the event.

CINEMA ONE

SATURDAY

10am-11am: The Digital Revolution (Panel)

Lee Harris, Damien Walter, Helen Marshall, Cheryl Morgan

11am-12pm: The Infamous Horror Panel

Sarah Pinborough, Mark Morris, Conrad Williams, Adam Nevill

12pm-1pm: Guest of Honour Slot 1

Dan Abnett

1pm-2pm: LUNCH BREAK

2pm-3pm: Scriptwriting Panel

Mark Chadbourn, Robert Shearman, Paul Finch, Jonathan L Howard, Stephen Volk

3pm-4pm: Guest of Honour Slot 2

Alastair Reynolds

4pm-5pm: The World of Publishing (Panel)

John Jarrold, Lee Harris, Julie Crisp, Jon Weir, David Thomas Moore

5pm-6pm: Writing (and Reading) BBC Books (Panel)

Sarah Pinborough, Mark Morris, Robert Shearman, Steve Tribe, Paul Finch, Una McCormack, Guy Adams, James Goss

6pm-7pm: Alt.Ficion Raffle

Run by Sarah Pinborough and Guy Adams

7pm-8pm: DINNER BREAK

8pm-9:30pm: The Cat People (70 minutes)

A screening of Val Lewton's classic 1942 horror

9:50pm-11pm: Curse of the Cat People (73 minutes)

A screening of the disturbing 1944 sequel to The Cat People

12pm-1:30am: Hobo with a Shotgun (86 minutes)

EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW SCREENING

A screening of the grindhouse feature starring Rutger Hauer, one month before its UK release

SUNDAY

2pm-3pm: Ghost Story Screening

Late Night Story – Tom Baker reads 'The Photograph' by Nigel Kneale

Dead of Night – The Exorcism, directed by Don Taylor

3pm-4pm: The Value of Literary Awards

Tom Hunter, Mark Yon, Cheryl Morgan

4pm-5pm: What Next for the Genre?

Conrad Williams, Mark Newton, Dan Abnett, Alastair Reynolds

CINEMA TWO

SATURDAY

10am-11am: Devil's Advocate – Is There Anywhere New for Science Fiction to Go?

Alastair Reynolds, Tony Ballantyne, Ian Whates, John Jarrold

11am-12pm: Devil's Advocate – Has Fantasy Moved Past Tolkien?

Adrian Tchaikovsky, Graham McNeill, Gav Thorpe, MD Lachlan, Juliet McKenna

12pm-1pm: Ghost Story Screening

A Ghost Story for Christmas – 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens

Introduced by Stephen Volk

1pm-2pm: LUNCH BREAK

2pm-3pm: Devil's Advocate – Is the Ghost Story Dead?

Mark Morris, Adam Nevill, Conrad Williams, Paul Kane

THE BOX

SATURDAY

10am-7pm: Booksales

Murky Depths, Interzone/TTA Press, British Fantasy Society, Alt.Fiction

7pm-8pm: DINNER BREAK

8pm-9pm: Audio Books (Panel)

James Goss, Christian Dunn, Dan Abnett

9pm-10pm: Writing for Young Adults (Panel)

Stephen Deas, William Hussey, Keith Brooke, Chris Wooding

10pm-11pm: Memory Lane – Your Favourite Genre Books (Panel)

Paul Cornell, Peter Crowther, Mark Morris, Juliet McKenna

SUNDAY

2pm-3pm: Comics Panel (Panel)

Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill, Pat Kelleher, Paul Cornell

3pm-4pm: Reading

Robert Shearman and Paul Cornell

4pm-5pm: Publicising Yourself and Your Writing (Panel)

Jon Weir, Marc Gascoigne, Tom Hunter, Adam Christopher, Jenni Hill

MEETING ROOM

SATURDAY

10am-11am: Workshop

Rod Rees – The All-Important First Page

11am-12pm: Workshop

Tony Ballantyne – How to Make Your Writing Boring

12pm-1pm: Workshop

Kim Lakin-Smith – Fleshing the Bones – Dark Fantasy and Characterisation

1pm-2pm: LUNCH BREAK

2pm-3pm: Workshop

MD Lachlan – Start Your Fantasy Novel – Six Principles for Success

3pm-4pm: Workshop

Colin Harvey – Creating a Science Fictional Setting

4pm-5pm: Workshop

Graham Joyce – Writing Sharp Dialogue

5pm-6pm: Workshop

Graham McNeill?

SUNDAY

10am-11am: Workshop

Paul Finch – Prose to Screenplay

11am-12pm: Workshop

Juliet McKenna – Every Word Must Count

12pm-1pm: Workshop

Dan Abnett – Shooty Death Kill in Space 101

1pm-2pm: LUNCH BREAK

2pm-3pm: Workshop

Jonathan L Howard

3pm-4pm: Workshop

Paul Kane/Marie O'Regan – Setting and Location in Genre Fiction

MAC SUITE

SATURDAY

10am-11am: Military Science Fiction (Podcast)

Gavin Smith, Graham McNeill, Gav Thorpe

11am-12pm: The Editors (Podcast)

Marc Gascoigne, Helen Marshall, Steve Tribe, Julie Crisp

12pm-1pm: Breaking into Writing (Podcast)

Rod Rees, Guy Haley, Colin Harvey, Pat Kelleher

1pm-2pm: LUNCH BREAK

2pm-3pm: Steampunk (Podcast)

Kim Lakin-Smith, Adam Christopher, Jennifer Williams

3pm-4pm: Editing an Anthology (Podcast)

Christian Dunn, Marie O'Regan, Ian Whates

4pm-5pm: Tie-in Fiction and Shared Worlds (Podcast)

Pat Kelleher, Dan Abnett, Guy Adams, Guy Haley

5pm-6pm: Young Adult Writing (Podcast)

Chris Wooding, Stephen Deas, William Hussey

6pm-7pm: Writers in the East Midlands (Podcast)

William Hussey, Gavin Smith, Freda Warrington

SUNDAY

10am-11am: Is the Genre Just for Boys? (Podcast)

Mark Newton, Graham McNeill, Jenni Hill, Jennifer Williams

11am-12pm: Genre Classics (Podcast)

Peter Crowther, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Dan Abnett

12pm-1pm: Has Genre Conquered Mainstream? (Podcast)

Ian Whates, Damien Walter, Paul Kane, Jon Weir, Paul Cornell

1pm-2pm: LUNCH BREAK

2pm-3pm: Using Mythology in Writing (Podcast)

KA Laity, Mark Chadbourn, Adrian Tchaikovsky

3pm-4pm: How Not to Get Published (Podcast)

Helen Marshall, Marc Gascoigne, Jenni Hill

4pm-5pm: Genre Non-Fiction (Podcast)

KA Laity, Paul Kane, Damien Walter

PARTICIPATION SPACE

SATURDAY

10am-11am: Reading

Kim Lakin-Smith and KA Laity

11am-12pm: Reading

Jonathan L Howard and Adam Christopher

12pm-1pm: Reading

Peter Crowther and Graham Joyce

1pm-2pm: LUNCH BREAK

2pm-3pm: Reading

Una McCormack and James Goss

3pm-4pm: Reading

Tony Ballantyne and Rod Rees

4pm-5pm: Reading

Mark Chadbourn and Juliet McKenna

5pm-6pm: Reading

Ian Whates and Colin Harvey

6pm-7pm: Reading

Mark Morris and Paul Kane

7pm-8pm: DINNER BREAK

8pm-9pm: Reading

Chris Wooding and Stephen Deas

9pm-10pm: Reading

Gav Thorpe and Adrian Tchaikovsky

10pm-11pm: Reading

Conrad Williams and Sarah Pinborough

SUNDAY

2pm-3pm: Reading

Keith Brooke and Alastair Reynolds

3pm-4pm: Reading

Pat Kelleher and Graham McNeill? (4)

4pm-5pm: Reading

Marie O'Regan and Adam Nevill

CAFE BAR

SUNDAY

10am-11am: The Writers' Life (Panel)

Conrad Williams, Sarah Pinborough, Keith Brooke, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Gav Thorpe

11am-12pm: Who Reads the Genre and Why? (Panel)

Damien Walter, Jon Weir, David Thomas Moore, Paul Cornell

(4)    I'm not sure whether this indicates Graham McNeill isn't quite confirmed for the reading, or whether the author of the schedule is particularly surprised and/or enthusiastic about it.

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New Art — cartoons by Jaroslaw Rybski

Something special this time — Jaroslaw is the translator who has worked on books 5 and 6 for Rebis in Poland, and gave me these cartoons (and more) when I met him at Pyrkon. I've been remiss in holding onto them until now without posting them on site, so here is the first batch.

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Heirs of the Blade put back to October

As I can now consider myself an established fantasy author, it's time to start delaying release of my books to annoy people.

Seriously, though, I've just been told that Heirs of the Blade will be coming out in October this year, not August. I did wonder if we were pushing the envelope release-wise, as I hadn't seen the final proofs (1) and contradictory news on the net had me wondering. Anyway — final confirmation is in that October, probably 1st Friday of, will be the release.

(1) I had faith, but as we all know, proofs deny faith, and without faith… (2)

(2) belated nod to Towel Day.

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New story (as promised) — The Last Ironclad

I've been getting my teeth into some more short story writing before the bell tolls and it's round one for the next actual book (book 9, title still up in the air, unfortunately (1)). This new offering is The Last Ironclad and, as the title suggests, it's a direct follow-on from Ironclads, which you should read first if you haven't already. The reason that this particular story got written, out of the whole bundle of ideas I have bubbling away, is that it's actually important to Heirs of the Blade — in fact, if you're familiar with the shorts on this site, a few faces and names will leap out at you from Heirs. It's an odd thing — the stories were always intended to let me go explore things I didn't think I'd get a chance to — like the Commonweal in the Twelve-Year War. Now Heirs of the Blade is due shortly, and a lot of that is set square in the middle of the Commonweal, where I finally get to show you what life's really like over there (2). That means I've been dredging my own earlier shorts as reference material, and as the plot came together, some of the more interesting characters from the stories became caught in it, feeding back into the series that had spun them off.

As well as the separate story I've written for Tor's proposed author anthology (no word on that yet), I am midway through a third which should get done before I need to start on book 9. This won't be prequel material, but instead a very definite exploration of an area I'm unlikely to go back to much in the series. Anyone who wanted a proper look into Lake Limnia, your time may yet come.

So: I leave you with The Last Ironclad.

(1) Either I get the title right from the start or it's always like a slightly ill-fitting piece of clothing, try as I might…

(2) Stenwold's flying visit in Salute the Dark notwithstanding.

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