Ben Aaronovitch's Blog, page 25

Currently Reading

Beekeeping: A Seasonal Guide 
by Ron Brown
A charming and practical guide for anyone wishing to keep bees, accompanying the would-be beekeeper through every season of the bee-keeping year. From spring awakening and summer swarms to the autumn honey harvest and providing winter protection, this essential resource guides you each step of the way. There is extensive advice for beekeeping beginners, from siting and smoking your hives to rearing a queen and controlling your swarm. There is also in-depth information for improvers and more experienced apiarists who wish to experiment with different hive-management and queen-rearing techniques. Troubleshooting tips on protecting your hives and keeping your bees healthy are also covered. The book is also packed with practical advice on using beeswax, as well as, of course, extracting and making the tastiest honey.
Finding Shannon: The Inside Story 
by Richard Edwards
On 19 February 2008, a little girl was reported missing. The same thing happens somewhere in Britain every day. Usually they turn up a few hours later, unharmed, having stayed with relatives or slept over at a friend's house, but a few do not. Shannon Matthews did not return and as the days and weeks went by, her whereabouts and her fate became front page news throughout Britain and around the world. And when Shannon was eventually found 24 days later, it was in circumstances that were more shocking and starling than the most lurid tabloid speculation. Now, for the first time, the inside story of the Shannon Matthews' case is told by the one man granted access to the closed world of Shannon's family and the Dewsbury Moor estate on which she lived. In "Finding Shannon - The Inside Story", Richard Edwards reveals the full, inside story of the case that gripped the entire nation and also casts a searching light on what the often vicious media coverage of the estate and its inhabitants says about Britain today.

Useful Notes For Broken Homes I

St. Savoir's Docks 1795St Saviour's Dock You monks alone for five minutes if they’re not developing the foundations of the modern scientific method(1) or throwing peasants off their land they’re developing the mouths of innocuous tributaries of the Thames into major dockyards.
In the 17th Century it became a favoured place to execute pirates. The poor blameless river who’s misfortune it was to have a gibbet hung at its mouth became known as the Neckinger after the slang term for the noose – The Devils Neckcloth.
By the 19th Century it was a horrific rookery where thousands of the London poor were forced to live in horrifically overcrowded and dirty accommodation. It was here that Charles Dicken’s played out the drama of Bill Sykes death and in honour of that great work of literature Doctor Who threw a Dalek out the window in 1984.
More information on the dock can be found here and a description of the course of the Neckinger is here.
(1) Friar Bacon – I mean Fry-er Bacon, did he not want to be taken seriously?
Arkady and Boris StrugatskyАрка́дий Струга́цкий & Бори́с Струга́цкий

Never in a million years would you guess they were SF writers would you?Famous Russian SF writers who wrote, amongst many other things, Roadside Picnic (Пикник на обочине) and Monday Begins on Saturday (Понедельник начинается в субботу). The first was turned into Stalker by that cheerful bugger Andrei Tarkovsky and the latter is important to Broken Homes because of SPOILER not to mention SPOILER and SPOILER.

Actually I don’t know why I brought them up. Look into my eyes this blog never happened, you never here… buy more than one copy of Broken Homes.

Launch Events

On the 25th of July I shall be seeking to flog as many copies of Broken Homes as is humanly possible. To this end the 25th will mark the start of a three day jamboree of concentrated self promotion.
Thursday the 25th Wallow....
- in Nostalgia as we kick off the 25th of July at Covent Garden Waterstones where the whole Rivers of London thing started off. For it was at this very location that I, a humble bookherd, was given the sacred task of writing a novel.Lunchtime Signing
WATERSTONE'S COVENT GARDEN
Thursday, 25 July 2013, 12:30PM
Join us for a lunchtime signing of Ben Aaronovitch’s magnificent new novel, the latest from the series featuring DC Peter Grant, and his brilliant policing team, who are keeping London safe from the supernatural. Indulge in cake and prosecco, and there will be copies of an exciting limited edition of Broken Homes, which includes a short story set in the Covent Garden branch of Waterstones. Further details: 020 7836 6757
Bask...
- in the radiant glory that is Kobna Holdbrook-Smith who will be reading extracts (with all the correct accents). Then we shall asking each other probing questions such as... so how much did you enjoy reading my book out loud? Fortunately members of the public will be allowed slightly more interesting questions.An evening with Kobna Holdbrook-Smith & Ben Aaronovitch
WATERSTONE'S PICCADILLY
Thursday, 25 July 2013, 6:30PM
Tickets £5/£3 Waterstones Cardholders available in store, via 02078512400/ 02078512419 or events@piccadilly.waterstones.com
Kobna, who reads the DC Peter Grant audio books will be in conversation with Ben and giving an exclusive reading from Broken Homes, before an audience Q&A and book signing. Further details: 02078512419
 Friday the 26thAssuage...
- your guilt at missing the last two events by arriving at the historic Leadenhall branch of Waterstones where, by tradition, every single member of staff must belong to a secret society (which particular secret society is irrelevant).In Store Signing
WATERSTONE'S LEADENHALL MARKET
Friday, 26 July 2013, 12:30PM
Ben Aaronovitch will be in store signing copies of his new book ‘Broken Homes,’ the fourth book in his fantastic Rivers of London series. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment. If you cannot attend the event and would like to reserve a signed copy, please phone the store. Reservations may be limited and dedications cannot be guaranteed. Further details: 0207 220 7882
Take...
- a trip into the Forbidden Zone and dscend into the bowels of London's premiere Science Fiction book shop Forbidden Planet.SIGNING
Forbidden Planet London Megastore
179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR
Friday 26th July 6 – 7pm.

Saturday the 27th
Marvel...
- at the number of posh people who swear blind that they always loved Doctor Who as we go slumming at the BFI for...DOCTOR WHO AT 50
Which is sold out but...
Afterwards I will be signing books at the BFI bookshop...

Currently Reading: The Killing Moon

The Killing Moon
By N.K. Jemisin

The city burned beneath the Dreaming Moon.
In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers - the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe . . . and kill those judged corrupt.
But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh's great temple, Ehiru - the most famous of the city's Gatherers - must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering dreamers in the goddess' name, stalking its prey both in Gujaareh's alleys and the realm of dreams. Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill - or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic.

Television Production

Simon Spanton, my editor at Gollancz, caught me in the lobby of Orion House while I was sneaking in to sign some tip-in sheets and congratulated me on the news that my book had been optioned.
‘I want you to blog about it,’ he said.

‘What do you want me to say?’ I asked.

‘Just write about how you feel,’ he said as the lift doors closed in my face.

How do I feel about optioning Rivers of London for Television?

Frankly I’m terrified.

You see this is not my first time venturing into the gibbon infested wilds of television production and given the mauling I got last time I’m not in a rush to return.
And yet. I love television especially the long form, the 9-13 episode series, where a writer can take time to develop characters, explore sub-plots and occasionally take whimsical side-trips. I long for a chance to stand with the wind ruffling my hair on the shores of Lake Photography, to party with the happy but volatile actor tribes of the plain, to join a stalwart band of fellow writers as we hack our way through the plot thickets of the Forest of Outlines and, let’s not be coy about this, climb the treacherous upper slopes of the Mountains of Money.
Television drama production is horrifically hard to do. To anyone who’s had the most cursory brush with actual production the surprise is not that bad television gets made but any television drama makes it to the screen at all. That good television is made is a tribute to the hard work and professionalism of all the people whose names shoot up the screen in a mad rush at the end of the programme – these are the people I look forward to working with.
So if I’m lucky I will, along with hundreds of others, produce something worth watching and if I’m unlucky… well I don’t want to even think about that.

Upcoming Event

Where?
Waterstones Piccadilly
203/206 Piccadilly
London
W1J 9HD

When?
Thursday, 25 July 2013, 6:30PM

Who?
Ben Aaronovitch and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Why?
 It's WRITER versus ACTOR in a no holds barred knock out conversation death match! Plus exclusive reading of extracts of the upcoming BROKEN HOMES by a man who can actually do all the accent (ie: Kobna)!

How?
For the low low price of £5 (or £3 if you're a Waterstones Card Holder) - tickets available in store or via 02078512400/ 02078512419 or events@piccadilly.waterstones.com.

Once More Into The Breach!

I swore I'd never go back to television!
But let's face it I was lying through my teeth.

Ben Aaronovitch(tm) is proud to announce that the Rivers of London series has been optioned by Feel Films.
Feel Films is run by Nick Hirschkorn and is currently producing Joanathan Strange & Mr Norrell for the BBC. Our aim is to produce a TV series that will blow the audiances's socks off and out via their earholes.
This is of course just the beginning of the process and there will be many many...many meetings and proposal documents and ideas being run up flagpoles etc but I'm hopeful we can not just get it done but get it done well.

Zeno Press Release here

Currently Reading: The Living Landscape

The Living Landscape
How to Read and Understand It
by Patrick Whitefield

Being able to read the landscape whilst on a walk makes a huge difference. It is like suddenly seeing the world in colour after being used to a lifetime of black and white. The Living Landscape looks in detail at landscape formation: from rocks, through soil to vegetation and the intricate web of interactions between plants, animals, climate and the people that makes the landscape around us. Each chapter is interspersed with diagrams, sketches and notes that Patrick has taken over two decades of living and working in the countryside. Patrick will inspire you to reconnect with the land as a living entity, not a collection of different scenery, and develop an active relationship with nature and the countryside. This book invites you to actively engage with nature and experience it first hand. Understanding how landscapes evolve is a useful skill for landscape designers, farmers, gardeners and smallholders but it is also a life-enhancing skill all of us can enjoy. Patrick offers us the enduring pleasure that costs nothing and yet offers everything.
I bought this totally by impulse while in browsing through Stanfords, London's most famous map shop, and took it with me to Herefordshire. By just the end of the first chapter I felt a much better understanding of the landscape around me(1).
(1) admittedly I was starting from a very low base here.

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith

REVIEWI don't do full reviews of books. Partly this is because I don't believe that one's subjective and emotional response to a work of fiction can be explained through a misguided and futile process of deconstruction but mostly it's because I'm too lazy.
So here is my review of Orleans by Sherri L. Smith --- It's bloody brilliant and you should read it. Smith has created a world of terrifying beauty and populated it with characters and stories of such intensity that they will drag you screaming through the landscape until they deposit you breathless and emotional on the final page.
WORLD BUILDINGNow, as a writer, I have a craftsperson's appreciation for a skilful piece of work and one of the many outstanding aspects of Orleans is it's world building.
All storytellers create worlds regardless of their setting, the 87th Precinct is as much an act of secondary creation as Middle Earth or Westeros, the London of Bridget Jones is just as imaginary as New Crobuzon. Any author claiming that they don't concern themselves with worldbuilding is either talking bollocks or trying to distract from a lack of craft. That's not to say every writer needs to create their own languages and six thousand years of history in order to write a good book but it does mean that the so-called dichotomy between worldbuilding and story is every bit as false as the canard(1) of plot versus character.
It is not a zero sum game, all stories take place in a world created by the story teller and character and plot are the same thing seen from different angles.
So what is it that Sherri L. Smith does so well that impressed you - I hear you cry(2).
For a start Smith conveys her world in vivid prose, there's no point creating a world if you're too inarticulate to describe it or, worse, bury your reader under a metric ton of exposition to do so.
For the thing-after-the-start she's obviously done lots of research and then, and this is the really crucial bit, considered how every bit might interact with every other bit. What happens when industrial contaminants leach into the roots of the trees that have started to repopulate an urban area? What groups will be best placed to exploit the dangerous ground created when houses are covered over with silt?
And thing-the-last Smith has made the societies that populate her drowned city realistically complex. Often in a post-apocalyptic setting the author slips into the fallacy that low technology cultures lack both moral and structural complexity. Smith, with her blood group tribes, her vestiges of ‘civilisation’ – the nuns, the scientists, Mr Go, the churches – her freesteaders and bloodhunters has thought about the complex ways groups within a larger society interact. This is not simplistic end of the world wish fulfilment it is a fully realised complex society.
(1) as in an untruth not as in a duck or a pair of small control surfaces placed ahead of the main wings on an aeroplane.(2) Or words to that effect

Upcoming Events

Here are some upcoming events - although judging by the gleam in tthe Orion publicist's eye there will be more.

Winchester - 22nd of June 2013
Newbooks Magazine's Readers Conference
Details are here.

The UK - 25th July 2013
Release Day - Broken Homes (Hardback)
+ the audio version.


London - 27th July 2013 - 2:00 PM

BFI 'Doctor Who at 50' Screening of Remembrance of the Daleks
Details can be found here but I think they may be sold out.,