Ben Aaronovitch's Blog, page 26

Currently Reading: Afro SF

Afro SF
Science Fiction by African Writers
Edited by Ivor W. Haartmann

Stories from...
Nnedi Okorafor
Sarah Lotz
Tendai Huchu
Cristy Zinn
Ashley Jacobs
Nick Wood
Tade Thompson
S.A. Partridge
Chinelo Onwualu
Uko Bendi Udo
Dave de Burgh
Biram Mboob
Sally-Ann Murray
Mandisi Nkomo
Liam Kruger
Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu
De La Haye
Mia Aderne
Rafeeat Aliyu
Martin Stokes
Clifton Gachagua
Efe Okogu

Locations, Locations, Locations - Moon Over Soho

Moon Over Soho




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AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

CITIZENS OF NORTH AMERICA!REJOICE!
I bring tidings of great joy! And also tidings of slightly less great joy!
First the good news!
From henceforth the Peter Grant series, from BROKEN HOMES onwards, will be published by DAW. That’s right our intrepid police constable is joining the ranks of the yellow sided mass market paperback.
DAW also publish many of my heroes and intend to take advantage of that by blagging as many free copies as I can get my hands on(1).
DAW and I have decided to go with modified versions of the UK covers so at the very least they will be easy to spot.
And now for the news that is not so good.

Unfortunately the first slot open for publication in North America is Febuary 14th 2014 – sorry.

This is actually my fault for delivering late(2) but Betsy Wolfheim, an editor so legendary that even her emails are carved into the walls of lost temples, has said that if I can finish the next book on time she’ll be able to synchronise the release dates for five and six.

However to assuage your anger here is a picture of a humorous cat.



News that is pretty neutral!
An audio version of Broken Homes will be available in North America – ideally around the same time as the book release.

(1) I admit that that this particular aspect is much better news for me than it is for you.
(2) Although on the up side this will give new readers a chance to catch up with the first three books – just saying.

Currently Reading: Orleans

Orleans
By Sherri L. Smith

(Blurb) After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct…but in reality, a new primitive society has been born. Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen soon meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has snuck into the Delta illegally. Navigating the Orleans wilderness, they form an unlikely bond and, in the end, may be each other’s last hope for survival.

Currently Reading: Orelans

Orleans
By Sherri L. Smith

(Blurb) After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct…but in reality, a new primitive society has been born. Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen soon meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has snuck into the Delta illegally. Navigating the Orleans wilderness, they form an unlikely bond and, in the end, may be each other’s last hope for survival.

Locations, Locations, Locations: Rivers of London

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You've Got To Write a Sequel Or Two

EDITOR (spoken)]
You see, Scribbler...

[sung] In this life, one thing counts
On the shelves, large amounts
I'm afraid these don't grow on trees,
You've got to write a sequel or two

You've got to write a sequel or two, boys,
You've got to write a sequel or two.

[WRITERS]
Large amounts don't grow on trees.
You've got to write a sequel or two.

[EDITOR (spoken)]
Let's show Scribbler how it's done, shall we, my dears?

[sung] Why should we break our backs
Stupidly checking facts?
Better get some chapters done.
Better write a sequel or two.

You've got to write a sequel or two, boys,
You've got to write a sequel or two.

[WRITERS]
Why should we all break our backs?
Better write a sequel or two.

[EDITOR (spoken)]
Who says crime doesn't pay?

[sung] Conan Doyle what a fool!
Threw his hero in a pool.
Literature’s fine, if you’ve got the time.
Get out and write a sequel or two.

You've got to write a sequel or two, boys,
You've got to write a sequel or two.

[WRITERS]
Conan Doyle missed his chance.
He had to write a sequel or two.

[EDITOR]
Take a tip from Patterson
He can sit back while it’s done
But I recall, he started small
He had to write a sequel or two.

You've got to write a sequel or two, boys,
You've got to write a sequel or two.

[WRITERS]
We can be like Jim Patterson
If we write a sequel or two.

[EDITOR]
When I see a genre niche,
Both my thumbs start to itch
Only to find some peace of mind
We have to write a sequel or two.

You've got to write a sequel or two, boys
You've got to write a sequel or two.

[WRITERS]
Just to find some peace of mind

[EDITOR AND WRITERS]
We have to write a sequel or two.

Currently Reading: Cider With Rosie and Akenfield

Akenfield by Ronald BlytheBlurb
This colourful, perceptive portrayal of English country life reverberates with the voices of the village inhabitants, from the reminiscences of survivors of the Great War evoking days gone by, to the concerns of a younger generation of farm-workers and the fascinating and personal recollections of, among others, the local schoolteacher, doctor, blacksmith, saddler, district nurse and magistrate. Providing insights into farming, education, welfare, class, religion and death, Akenfield forms a unique document of a way of life that has, in many ways, disappeared.
Cider With Rosie by Laurie LeeBlurb
Cider with Rosie is a wonderfully vivid memoir of childhood in a remote Cotswold village, a village before electricity or cars, a timeless place on the verge of change. Growing up amongst the fields and woods and characters of the place, Laurie Lee depicts a world that is both immediate and real and belongs to a now-distant past.

Upcoming event 1st June 2013

BSFA AGM


Where?
The City of Westminster Archives Centre
10 St Anne’s Street
London SW1P 2DE

When?
1st of June 2013
The AGM is from 10 till 5 PM

What?
I'm on a panel talking about writing Doctor Who at 10:00 AM and then being interviewed at 14:30 PM

Why?
Why? Why? You ask? Because it's there my friend, because it's there!

Films That I Like: Scrooged

CROSS We have spent forty million dollars on a live TV show. You guys have got an ad with America's favourite old fart, reading a book, in front of a fireplace! 
(beat)Now I have to kill all of you.
We continue with my occasional series in which I blog about films I like and the particular aspect of the film that I enjoy. These are not reviews, there is no attempt at objectivity or to create a holistic analysis or in fact any analysis at all. It's just films that I like....

Scrooged(1988) Written by Mitch Glazer  & Michael O'Donoghue Directed by Richard Donner
It has Alfre Woodward in it Which is a good thing in any movie.

GRACE He's fired? But it's christmas

CROSS Thank you, call accounting, stop his bonus.

GRACE (into phone)Eliot Laudermilk - code nine.

It has an excellent Danny Elfman ScoreHe's love of interwining the cheery, the twee and the sinister suit the themes perfectly.

Design and DirectionIt's beautifully directed by Richard Donner who gives some of the early Cross scenes a sort of terrifying granduer and moves things along with wit and economy. I'm particularly struck at the use of practical, almost theatrical stage effects used to evoke the supernatural elements. These were more common in the far off days before routine CGI but while the film has access to the state of the art (in 1988) optical effects it doesn't lean on them.Good examples are the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Present and the use of editing to switch through time periods during the Ghost of Christmas Past sequence.

CROSS Did our people do that? We're going to get phone calls.
J. Michael Riva's production design is also brilliant in this film, I love the off kilter hospital corridor in the Ghost of Christmas Future sequence and the underground sewer and impromptu tomb that Cross finds himself in earlier on.