Stephen Hunt's Blog, page 11

Win a chance to fly on a real airship (a rather big one).

You can win a pair of tickets to join Airlander’s latest shareholder, Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson (and various other celebrities) on the first flight of their massive Airlander airship, complete with an invitation to their launch party. You can even pretend you’re on a RAN airship floating over Jackelia . . . Bruce promises he’ll pretend he’s the Commodore if you like.

Win a chance to fly on a real airship (a big one).

In reality, though, the Airlander’s first passenger flight is scheduled to be in 2016. Join them on their maiden voyage over the skies of Bedfordshire and southern England in an entirely new type of aircraft.

The Airlander uses cutting edge materials and engineering, is environmentally friendly, innovative, and Britain at its best. Its technology aims to open up new capacities from delivering humanitarian aid to disaster zones with no runways, to opening up slow travel and unique ways of seeing the Earth from the skies.

To enter for free, get yourself over to here.

Jack Cloudie… airship hunting.

Win a chance to fly on a real airship (a bloody big one).

You can win a pair of tickets to join Airlander’s latest shareholder, Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson (and various other celebrities) on the first flight of their massive Airlander airship, complete with an invitation to their launch party. You can even pretend you’re on a RAN airship floating over Jackelia . . . Bruce promises he’ll pretend he’s the Commodore if you like.

Win a chance to fly on a real airship (a big one).

In reality, though, the Airlander’s first passenger flight is scheduled to be in 2016. Join them on their maiden voyage over the skies of Bedfordshire and southern England in an entirely new type of aircraft.

The Airlander uses cutting edge materials and engineering, is environmentally friendly, innovative, and Britain at its best. Its technology aims to open up new capacities from delivering humanitarian aid to disaster zones with no runways, to opening up slow travel and unique ways of seeing the Earth from the skies.

To enter for free, get yourself over to here.

Jack Cloudie… airship hunting.

New Stephen Hunt novel, In Dark Service, for £1.99 if you pre-order now.

My British publisher Gollancz are reducing the price of their digital e-Book editions debuts this year to £1.99 … for the first week of publication and on any pre-orders as well.

My next novel – the first in my new Far-Called series – ‘In Dark Service’ is one of those being included in their scheme. ‘In Dark Service’ is coming out 15th May 2014, and the e-book pre-orders for it are available on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1cF0pkN.

If print, aka dead tree, is still your bag, the link is http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Dark-Service-Stephen-Hunt/dp/0575092068/

So, if you decide to purchase the e-book at any time up to a week after it’s been published, you’ll do so for less money than a Saturday newspaper!

Now that’s making your budget stretch a little further.

There’s also a USA-link to the e-book at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IXTQ9QY/ – but as usual, Amazon is blocking half the details from my UK-based web connection. I’m currently awaiting news from Gollancz as to whether the e-book will be available at the low intro price in the USA too (or, indeed, at all).

Here’s the blurb . . .

Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He’s living a comfortable, quiet life, obeying the law and minding his own business while raising his son Carter … on those occasions when he isn’t having to bail him out of one scrape or another. His days of adventure are – thankfully – long behind him.

Carter Carnehan is going out of his mind with boredom. He’s bored by his humdrum life, frustrated that his father won’t live a little, and longs for the bright lights and excitement of anywhere-but-here. He’s longing for an opportunity to escape, and test himself against whatever the world has to offer.

Carter is going to get his opportunity. He’s caught up in a village fight, kidnapped by slavers and, before he knows it, is swept to another land. A lowly slave, surrounded by technology he doesn’t understand, his wish has come true: it’s him vs. the world. He can try to escape, he can try to lead his fellow slaves, or he can accept the inevitable and try to make the most of the short, brutal existence remaining to him.

… unless Jacob gets to him first and, no matter the odds, he intends to. No one kidnaps his son and gets away with it – and if it come to it, he’ll force Kings to help him on his way, he’ll fight, steal, blackmail and betray his friends in the name of bringing Carter home.

Wars will be started. Empires will fall. And the Carnehan family will be reunited, one way or another…

Let’s talk about software.

Hey, you. Sit down. It’s time we had that chat. About software. Specifically, the software this author uses to pen his novels.

For decades I’ve been using Microsoft Word, upgrading to the latest version with each new desktop purchased. But I’ve finally succumbed to the warm propaganda issued by my fellow writer Michael Marshal Smith, a stalwart source of many authorly tips at the HarperCollins’ Summer parties hosted at the British Museum. Michael swears by a software program called Scrivener, so I have finally decided to throw my conservative stick-in-the-mud habits to the wind and give said new application a go.

The new Far-called series, book 1 out May 2014, soon to be written with Scrivener (click to see full size).

The main advantage of Scrivener over Word is that as well as being a fully functional word processor, it comes with a nifty project management tool specifically designed for novelists, screenwriters and creatives. Having just handed in the manuscript for ‘Foul Tide’s Turning’ to Gollancz (the sequel to ‘In Dark Service’ and second in the Far-called series), I’m now using Scrivener to plan out the plot for the third fantasy novel in the sequence. So far, colour me impressed. The daily word-count target tracking is one of those features, I suspect, I’ll wonder how I lived without.

I’m still in Scrivener’s very generous trial period, but I think this is one piece of software that will be making the cut on my PC in the next twenty days.

On the subject of PCs, I read today that Microsoft is cutting its losses on its touch display Windows 8 system and bringing in Windows 9 as quickly as possible. I know of no one who uses W8 on a desktop or a laptop that has a nice word to say about it – it’s essentially a tablet O/S squeezed into a serious desktop environment as a panicked reaction to the average Joe(ss) switching from desk/laptops to tablets and phones when consuming media. Notice I say ‘consuming’ – I don’t know of any developers who code on their iPad, or even many authors who write novels on their phone/tablet, although I guess it is technically possible. Peter V. Brett even proved it during his commute by writing the Painted Man on his phone, although the media broke the story in the same manner as a goldfish riding a cycle – the act of the fish caught doing it proving of far more interest than the journey being undertaken.

I’ve actually been holding back from purchasing any new computers (Raspberry Pi aside), because I didn’t want to be lumbered with Windows 8, and couldn’t face the time-suck and built-in obsolesce of manually reinstalling with Vista. Let’s trust Windows 9 is better. And let’s hope the ghost of my old boss, Steve Jobs, doesn’t read this and come back and haunt me for even mentioning Windows. Yes, I know, Steve. IBM. I should have Bought Macintosh. I’ve still got the T-shirt, even if my last Mac is slowly rusting in the loft. Bet it’d start first time if I plugged it in, too.

Now, if only I could convince George RR Martin to ditch DOS and Wordstar and his steam-driven difference engine and embrace the 21st century . . . what do you say, George? If I can finally leave Word behind, you can welcome those chill winds of change into your life, too.

Coping with steampunk in Brazil.

Ever wondered how they cope with steampunk in Brazil? Well, Bruna Camargo can fill you in, but you will need to understand Portuguese Rio-style. Thanks, Bruna.

Coping with steampunk in Brazil.

In Dark Service – first look at cover art.

The bound proofs will be going out for In Dark Service very early next year (2014) to reviewers in the media, prior to the book’s official May 2014 publication date. There’s a cover shot below – subject to change (these things are always tweaked). This is a new fantasy series set in a distinctly non-Jackelian world. Are you excited? I am!

The jacket copy currently reads . . .

Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He’s living a comfortable, quiet life, obeying the law and minding his own business while raising his son Carter … on those occasions when he isn’t having to bail him out of one scrape or another. His days of adventure are – thankfully – long behind him.

Carter Carnehan is going out of his mind with boredom. He’s bored by his humdrum life, frustrated that his father won’t live a little, and longs for the bright lights and excitement of anywhere-but-here. He’s longing for an opportunity to escape, and test himself against whatever the world has to offer.

Carter is going to get his opportunity. He’s caught up in a village fight, kidnapped by slavers and, before he knows it, is swept to another land. A lowly slave, surrounded by technology he doesn’t understand, his wish has come true: it’s him vs. the world. He can try to escape, he can try to lead his fellow slaves, or he can accept the inevitable and try to make the most of the short, brutal existence remaining to him.

… unless Jacob gets to him first and, no matter the odds, he intends to. No one kidnaps his son and gets away with it – and if it come to it, he’ll force Kings to help him on his way, he’ll fight, steal, blackmail and betray his friends in the name of bringing Carter home.

Wars will be started. Empires will fall. And the Carnehan family will be reunited, one way or another…

In Dark Service bound proof copy (click to see full size).

If you want to put in a pre-order for it, you can find it on Amazon UK at http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Dark-Service-Stephen-Hunt/dp/0575092076/ and Amazon USA at http://www.amazon.com/In-Dark-Service-Stephen-Hunt/dp/0575092076/ and Amazon Canada at http://www.amazon.ca/In-Dark-Service-Stephen-Hunt/dp/0575092076/

Jack Cloudie… airship hunting.

My US Publisher – Tor – is bringing out a hardback version of Jack Cloudie, the 5th fantasy novel in the Jackelian series (I call it a series, but they’re stand-alone novels set in the same world with a few shared characters, a la Terry’s Discworld novels or Iain M Bank’s culture books… as opposed to something like Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings).

It’s got great new cover art, and with the hardback format more or less dead in the water in the UK now, if you’re a completest collector like me, you’ll want to have this one in your collection. I get my copy free, though. You probably won’t. Sorry.

Jack Cloudie… airship hunting.

Is Stephen Hunt really JK Rowling?

I’m not JK Rowling. Honest. Or am I? And if I was, would there be anyway for you to know? This is one of those philosophical questions along the lines of if a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound?

It’s a fine philosophical game that JK Rowling recently played on the world with the revelation that she has been writing crime fiction under the pseudonym of  Robert Galbraith. Her first novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling, came out three months ago with some very nice cover quotes from Val McDermid and Mark Billingham (who didn’t know it was Rowling at the time they reviewed the book).

JK Rowling plays the shell game.

Hats off to JK. With the amount of grudges the .lit establishment has to settle with her for the double crime of writing fantasy fiction and writing popular fantasy fiction, not to mention the envy at her “My other home is a castle” financial success, this was the only way she was going to get a neutral reception and a fair trial at a new genre (as evidenced by the attack dogs who pounced on her other non-Potter work recently, The Casual Vacancy).

I suspect it was the very unfair mauling she got for The Casual Vacancy that made her take a pseudonym for her new crime work. And a fair trial is what her new work got. She received glowing reviews from a number of newspapers for the book, with the Daily Mail in the UK making it their recommended ‘beach read’ for the summer; Val McDermid, the current mistress of the genre, went to town with the honeyed praise.

But, and, as the actress said to the bishop, ‘This is a big butt…’

…  the most interesting thing about the whole affair are the facts uncovered when you dig a little deeper.

JK’s agent tried to place The Cuckoo’s Calling with all the usual suspects among the big six (five?), but was rejected by all of them, and only accepted by her current publisher (Little Brown via their Sphere crime imprint), when they were let in on the secret of the author’s identity. Kate Mills at Orion is the first to gallantly fess up, tweeting “So, I can now say that I turned down JK Rowling. Anyone else going to confess.” Probably not. Rejected JK Rowling isn’t one for your CV, to be honest.

The Cuckoo’s Calling‘s sales before JK’s secret popped out? 1,500 books sold.

If ever there was evidence of the death of the mid-list, this is it. A well-written crime novel with great mass media reviews, created by the UK’s best-known author, glowing author blurbs attached, and on its natural trajectory, it would have been (a) rejected by every one of the big legacy players, and then (b) vanished without a trace with a meager 1,500 sales – numbers no debut author would ever get a second contract on.

Of course, that isn’t the novel’s destiny now. JK Rowling’s name behind it? Straight to number one in every book chart on the frigging planet.  Ker-ching.

I’m incredibly happy for JK Rowling. What a great wheeze. Even the Cuckoo in the title was a clue for the clueless. But for Robert Galbraith and all the other Robert Galbraiths out there, struggling on their first novels, published or unpublished, I’m not exactly filled with confidence and convinced that my fate-assigned role as the Victor Meldrew of genre fiction is redundant quite yet.

JK Rowling, here’s your second assignment from the Impossible Mission Force should you choose to accept it. For your next non-Potter work, have an agent shop it around all the big publishers under another alias. If it’s rejected, have it published on Amazon as an e-book under a new pseudonym. See if it makes a dent on the charts or just sinks to number 1,500,000,000 on the charts. The answer to that would tell us a little bit more about the brave new world of 21st century publishing.

Readers, I am JK Rowling… how about you?

Brazil goes all steampunk for Jackelian novels.

Just had word in that my Portuguese publisher, Emergency Exit (or Saída de Emergência if you are a local) are setting up an office in Brazil to tap into their rapidly growing demand for fantasy and science fiction novels – and The Court of the Air is going to be one of their major Brazilian launch titles. I’ll be in good company, as Saída de Emergência also publish George RR Martin, Clive Cussler, Bernard Cornwell and David Eddings among many others Western writers, as well as plenty of the local talent.

The news of the big Saída de Emergência push has just been reported in more detail on SFcrowsnest.

Will the con invites flood in for Rio now? Here’s hoping…

Jack Vance RIP – the Dying Earth loses its last citizen.

More sad news floats in on the heels of the relatively recent death of my friend Harry Harrison – the fabulous fantasy and SF author Jack Vance has now passed away too. It seems the season for it. He was one of my favourite writers, and you can find many a nod to The Dying Earth novels in my own Jackelian books. As well as SF, Jack was a dab hand at fantasy, and his Lyonesse works had an ethereal fairy quality about them that I’m damned if I could ever imitate.

His family made this announcement…

Jack Vance passed away at home on the evening of Sunday May 26, 2013, ending a long, rich and productive life. Recognized most widely as an author, family and friends also knew a generous, large-hearted, rugged, congenial, hard-working, optimistic and unpretentious individual whose curiosity, sense of wonder and sheer love of life were an inspiration in themselves. Author, friend, father and grandfather – there will never be another like Jack Vance.

I’m going to run a few book covers here rather than a photo of Jack, as when we’re gone, the stories are really all that remain – that and the bones of the Earth & the dust of men.

“An inch of foreknowledge is worth ten miles of after-thought.”

- Cugel’s Saga, Jack Vance