Luke Walker's Blog: https://lukewalkerwriter.wordpress.com, page 14
January 17, 2017
Ascent - book cover
Well, I didn't expect to see this for a few months yet, but here it is: the cover for my next book Ascent.
It's published in June so a little while to go yet. In the meantime, here's the cover. Nice, eh?
It's published in June so a little while to go yet. In the meantime, here's the cover. Nice, eh?
January 15, 2017
Hometown - North American publication
So, it's about two weeks before the North American release of Hometown. Feels odd to be saying that six months after the British publication (six months that feels no longer than six weeks, to be honest). It's available for pre-order so feel free to fill your boots and get it as soon as it's released.
US release of Hometown
Canadian release of Hometown
It's also on GoodReads so add it to your lists over there. I'll be posting a few more pieces about the book during the next few weeks including a sample of the opening. Which is nice. Well, I say nice. It's not nice at all but what did you expect? It's a horror story.
With the odd nice bit thrown in. Maybe.
US release of Hometown
Canadian release of Hometown
It's also on GoodReads so add it to your lists over there. I'll be posting a few more pieces about the book during the next few weeks including a sample of the opening. Which is nice. Well, I say nice. It's not nice at all but what did you expect? It's a horror story.
With the odd nice bit thrown in. Maybe.
January 13, 2017
Latest book finished
Finished my new book this afternoon (well, first draft). There's a lot of work to be done to get it into shape which is almost always the way for me. In any case, the working title is Flesh And Blood because a) it fits, and b) I keep writing books with one word titles.
Have a good weekend, people.
Have a good weekend, people.
December 31, 2016
2016: Goodbye to all that
So, 2016 is on its way out and I think most people will be glad to see the end of it. Not that next year is looking like it'll have a promising start, but hey. Let's get at least 24 hours into 2017 before we write it off.
Professionally, it's been a year of ups and downs for me. More rejections for books, stories and from agents than I would like to count, but also acceptances of what I think might be some of the best short fiction I've written; Hometown coming back to life and being published in the summer and the news my next novel, Ascent, will be published in June. Not to forget the North American release of Hometown a month from tomorrow.
I read some great books, watched some good films and even found stuff to watch on the tellybox that wasn't a fucking karaoke contest. I headed into the last year of my thirties, and I wrote quite a bit - much as I'll be doing next year. Related to that, 2017's writing involves finishing the first draft of my current book, leaving it for a few weeks while I edit at least one older book (and probably another); work on the pre-publication stuff for Ascent, go back to the current book to whip it into shape and write a short story or two that I have yet to think about. The stories are out there, though. In the dark. And what the hell? I may even land an agent in 2017. Stranger things have happened.
Stay safe. Be nice. Read some good books.
Professionally, it's been a year of ups and downs for me. More rejections for books, stories and from agents than I would like to count, but also acceptances of what I think might be some of the best short fiction I've written; Hometown coming back to life and being published in the summer and the news my next novel, Ascent, will be published in June. Not to forget the North American release of Hometown a month from tomorrow.
I read some great books, watched some good films and even found stuff to watch on the tellybox that wasn't a fucking karaoke contest. I headed into the last year of my thirties, and I wrote quite a bit - much as I'll be doing next year. Related to that, 2017's writing involves finishing the first draft of my current book, leaving it for a few weeks while I edit at least one older book (and probably another); work on the pre-publication stuff for Ascent, go back to the current book to whip it into shape and write a short story or two that I have yet to think about. The stories are out there, though. In the dark. And what the hell? I may even land an agent in 2017. Stranger things have happened.
Stay safe. Be nice. Read some good books.
December 22, 2016
The Sisters In The Green published
Just in time for Chrimbo, the collection that contains my short (actually, it's quite long) story The Sisters In The Green has been published. This one is a little different for me in that it's a lot longer than my usual short pieces. And for what it's worth, it all worked out quite nicely with my plan of telling a story the reader would be able to get stuck into.
Hope you like it. As always, feel free to let me know here or over on the Twitter.
UK Amazon
US Amazon
Hope you like it. As always, feel free to let me know here or over on the Twitter.
UK Amazon
US Amazon
December 16, 2016
December 11, 2016
Odds and sods and Captain Bollocks
It's an odds and sods sort of Sunday afternoon, so...
Writing-wise, I'm working on the first draft of a new book. It's as messy as my first drafts always are with scenes I know I'll have to bin completely, others that will be moved around and plotlines that will be massively expanded in later drafts. Overall, it's not terrible even if Hemingway was right: the first draft of anything is shit. In any case, I'm just under 40k at the moment and predict it'll be done by the middle of January. Then, of course, the real hard work begins.
Reading-wise, I've had a mixed bag of books lately - some that have really disappointed me and others (John Connolly's second volume of short fiction) which have been genius from start to finish. I've just started one called I, Lucifer which was a present from my brother. Early days, but enjoyable so far.
Film-wise, I finally got a copy of John Carpenter's In The Mouth Of Madness which I loved. Bonkers but genuinely creepy in places which is always a big plus. The recent remake of Pete's Dragon (you weren't expecting me to watch that, were you?) was excellent, and I'm looking forward to Last Train To Busan if the release date stops being pushed further back.
Other stuff-wise: Chrimbo presents need wrapping, 2016 needs to jog on because it's been a year I think almost everyone would like to forget (not that 2017 is shaping up to a great start with Captain Bollocks becoming President), and I'm looking forward to seeing the publication of Ascent next summer. If the world hasn't ended by then, of course.
Writing-wise, I'm working on the first draft of a new book. It's as messy as my first drafts always are with scenes I know I'll have to bin completely, others that will be moved around and plotlines that will be massively expanded in later drafts. Overall, it's not terrible even if Hemingway was right: the first draft of anything is shit. In any case, I'm just under 40k at the moment and predict it'll be done by the middle of January. Then, of course, the real hard work begins.
Reading-wise, I've had a mixed bag of books lately - some that have really disappointed me and others (John Connolly's second volume of short fiction) which have been genius from start to finish. I've just started one called I, Lucifer which was a present from my brother. Early days, but enjoyable so far.
Film-wise, I finally got a copy of John Carpenter's In The Mouth Of Madness which I loved. Bonkers but genuinely creepy in places which is always a big plus. The recent remake of Pete's Dragon (you weren't expecting me to watch that, were you?) was excellent, and I'm looking forward to Last Train To Busan if the release date stops being pushed further back.
Other stuff-wise: Chrimbo presents need wrapping, 2016 needs to jog on because it's been a year I think almost everyone would like to forget (not that 2017 is shaping up to a great start with Captain Bollocks becoming President), and I'm looking forward to seeing the publication of Ascent next summer. If the world hasn't ended by then, of course.
November 29, 2016
The Sisters In The Green available to order
November 20, 2016
Telling myself a story
Last weekend, I finally decided I'd had enough of researching my next book and sat down to start the first draft. I had enough info to begin it; I had my outline and a character sketch and I had a clear plan for how I wanted to get it from the opening to the end. I knocked out about 2,500 words over a few hours which is, roughly speaking, my average rate. It was a little messy but that's fine. It's a first draft after all, and while I know some writers who like to have every page pretty much perfect before they move on to the next one, that isn't me by a long way.
So, the next day I had a quick read of the preceding few hundred words and began my session. Within minutes, I hit a wall. Everything was off with the story. I tried it from a few different angles, but after best part of three hours, I'd written a little less than fuck all. Whichever way I went for it, nothing worked. Listening to my wife's suggestion of leaving it alone and sleeping on it made sense, and it took to the next afternoon for me to realise I'd started the book in the wrong place - too much going on, too much to keep track of and too many characters appearing all at the same time. I binned the original opening, started it from a later scene with the plan of summarising what happens before in either conversation or a few memoy scenes. So far, it appears to have worked. I'm about 8k in and while it's (again) messy as hell and I can already see that scenes will need moving around to make sense, it's not awful. I haven't got a fix on the characters yet although it's slowly coming with a couple of them and it's all quite loose and baggy compared to the tight, streamed story I wanted to write. No matter though. That's what the next drafts are for.
Anyway, the whole thing has reminded me of something I know but it's something I keep forgetting whenever I start a new book. For me, the first draft is telling myself the story. Nobody else: just me. While I have an outline and know what I want to say, the story is in charge and I have to tell it to myself before I tell anyone else. Over the next few months, that's exactly what I'll be doing with this tale of family and how to survive the end of the world.
And for what it's worth, now America has put Greg Stillson in charge, it's become that much harder to scare people with fiction.
So, the next day I had a quick read of the preceding few hundred words and began my session. Within minutes, I hit a wall. Everything was off with the story. I tried it from a few different angles, but after best part of three hours, I'd written a little less than fuck all. Whichever way I went for it, nothing worked. Listening to my wife's suggestion of leaving it alone and sleeping on it made sense, and it took to the next afternoon for me to realise I'd started the book in the wrong place - too much going on, too much to keep track of and too many characters appearing all at the same time. I binned the original opening, started it from a later scene with the plan of summarising what happens before in either conversation or a few memoy scenes. So far, it appears to have worked. I'm about 8k in and while it's (again) messy as hell and I can already see that scenes will need moving around to make sense, it's not awful. I haven't got a fix on the characters yet although it's slowly coming with a couple of them and it's all quite loose and baggy compared to the tight, streamed story I wanted to write. No matter though. That's what the next drafts are for.
Anyway, the whole thing has reminded me of something I know but it's something I keep forgetting whenever I start a new book. For me, the first draft is telling myself the story. Nobody else: just me. While I have an outline and know what I want to say, the story is in charge and I have to tell it to myself before I tell anyone else. Over the next few months, that's exactly what I'll be doing with this tale of family and how to survive the end of the world.
And for what it's worth, now America has put Greg Stillson in charge, it's become that much harder to scare people with fiction.
November 6, 2016
About a thousand years ago
About a thousand years ago (well, the mid to late nineties), I was part of a tight group of friends which meant quite a few nights in various pubs or in people's houses to drink cheap lager and watch them flick their dog ends on the garage roof so their parents didn't find out they smoked. Pretty much the same as anyone else at that age.
Jump forward twenty years and, for the most part, trips to the pub with a big group has died a quiet death. Kids, work, money issues, marriages, separations, people moving away, day to day life and the general passage of time...it's all had an effect. And while (again for the most part) the group I was part of back then is still tight, it seems these days we only all get together for big occasions like weddings. As the last one was a couple of years back, it's fair to say there's been no big gathering without a reason for doing so in a long time. Until yesterday, that is.
A mate of mine who's now married with a baby and living in sunny Kent orgainsed a reunion of sorts for this weekend. When he first mentioned it, I assumed he meant everyone piling into a pub on a Saturday night but that's because my wife and I don't have any kids. The plan was for a giant lunch which meant people could bring the small ones and not have to sort babysitters. Now that more of us have kids than don't, it only made sense.
In any case, beer was drunk, food was scoffed and babies dribbled while the time between now and back when kids were a ridiculous idea (ditto being best part of forty) mattered but only in the good ways because we're still here. Different, but still here.
And if you want that length of time summed up in a photo, it won't be the group shots we took at the end of the gathering. For me, it's this shot from the lake outside the pub where we took a walk while the sun went down.
And it's in every single word of Hometown.
Jump forward twenty years and, for the most part, trips to the pub with a big group has died a quiet death. Kids, work, money issues, marriages, separations, people moving away, day to day life and the general passage of time...it's all had an effect. And while (again for the most part) the group I was part of back then is still tight, it seems these days we only all get together for big occasions like weddings. As the last one was a couple of years back, it's fair to say there's been no big gathering without a reason for doing so in a long time. Until yesterday, that is.
A mate of mine who's now married with a baby and living in sunny Kent orgainsed a reunion of sorts for this weekend. When he first mentioned it, I assumed he meant everyone piling into a pub on a Saturday night but that's because my wife and I don't have any kids. The plan was for a giant lunch which meant people could bring the small ones and not have to sort babysitters. Now that more of us have kids than don't, it only made sense.
In any case, beer was drunk, food was scoffed and babies dribbled while the time between now and back when kids were a ridiculous idea (ditto being best part of forty) mattered but only in the good ways because we're still here. Different, but still here.
And if you want that length of time summed up in a photo, it won't be the group shots we took at the end of the gathering. For me, it's this shot from the lake outside the pub where we took a walk while the sun went down.
And it's in every single word of Hometown.
