Chris Ward's Blog, page 7
August 31, 2013
An update on Tube Riders: Revenge
I've been writing like a pack mule these last two months, 70,000 words in July and now 73,000 in August, the two biggest months of my entire life by some distance. I've had barely any time to promote the books already out and my sales have dropped off a cliff. However, Tube Riders: Revenge, the book I wasn't even planning to start until September (oh, the pointlessness of making plans, haha) is in the closing stages. I'm sitting at around 120,000 words, and I'm hoping to finish it in the next week. That's right, the next week. I can't guarantee it, but it's looking like it'll wrap in about 15,000 words, which is only 2k a day. Easy ...
After that, I'm going on a short vacation, and when I get back I will be jumping on the editing treadmill to get both Exile and Revenge out as soon as possible. I'm not just doing this for the readers, I'm doing this for me, because I really want to see these two books out of the door. They're long, and they've taken up the vast majority of my free time for the last year. I've become a bit of a hermit, I've put on far too much weight (I'm not joking, like 4kg, haha) and I really want to see the Tube Riders story, at least this part of it, over. I'm right up there in the dying embers, and its great. Cool stuff is happening, and the end is in sight.
That's all for now.
Be on the lookout!
Chris Ward
September 1st 2013
After that, I'm going on a short vacation, and when I get back I will be jumping on the editing treadmill to get both Exile and Revenge out as soon as possible. I'm not just doing this for the readers, I'm doing this for me, because I really want to see these two books out of the door. They're long, and they've taken up the vast majority of my free time for the last year. I've become a bit of a hermit, I've put on far too much weight (I'm not joking, like 4kg, haha) and I really want to see the Tube Riders story, at least this part of it, over. I'm right up there in the dying embers, and its great. Cool stuff is happening, and the end is in sight.
That's all for now.
Be on the lookout!
Chris Ward
September 1st 2013
August 10, 2013
An update on the Tube Riders series
Yesterday I finished Chapter Thirty of Tube Riders: Revenge, the final part in the Tube Riders Trilogy. It's currently totalling just under 80,000 words, so based on the lengths of the previous two books its about halfway done.
My original plan was to start writing Revenge in September, write it over the winter and then publish it next summer. My current plan - one that is pretty likely at my current rate of progress - is to finish it IN September.
I've had a couple of angry emails asking when Tube Riders: Exile (Tube Riders Trilogy #2) will be out, because as readers of this blog will know, I finished writing the draft way back in February. I've done a fair bit of editing work on it, but Revenge was crying out to be written and I had to answer the call.
It does make me feel a bit stupid to be talking about the progress on Book 3 when Book 2 is still sitting on my hard-drive, but finishing Revenge before I release Exile actually makes a lot of sense for me.
The Tube Riders was written in 2009 and was originally a standalone book. I had no plans to make it into a series. The Tube Riders had to escape Mega Britain, that was about it. However, the wider world required a longer, more complete story.
As a writer I offer just enough "world" for the reader to expand it themselves. However, when I started writing Exile and now Revenge (a lot of which takes place in London again) I needed to expand the world a bit myself. I needed to show a bit more about life inside Mega Britain, and there were times when I'd write something in Revenge and realise I needed to clarify it in Exile for continuity's sake. In hindsight, writing the whole trilogy before releasing any of them would have been the best option (but probably one that would have driven me mad). As I wrote Exile and then Revenge, I found myself needing to tweak the odd line in the original book in order to keep the continuity the same. The most major amendment was that I made a very minor character (so minor that most readers will have forgotten this person, it was a blink-and-you-miss-it thing) two or three years older, because I wanted them to become a major character in Revenge. It didn't fit before, but now it does. Forgive me.
A lot of writers rush things. They bang out new books once a month and write series after series. I don't know if I'll ever write a series again after this. Before Tube Riders I was all about the standalone, and while no one buys my standalone books I've always preferred writing a story that was contained in a single volume. That's the artist in me talking, not the bookseller. The two engage in fisticuffs regularly.
I want the Tube Riders series to make my name and I want people to be reading it and recommending it in ten, fifteen years time. I want it to be good.
To that end I'll take as long as necessary, but I do think that its quite possible I can have both books out by Christmas. Providing I don't run into any major plot walls in Revenge, I should be able to finish it in September. Then I'll take October to edit Exile again, and November to edit Revenge. In December I'll drink beer and go snowboarding. Something like that.
So bear with me. Both books will be with you soon. But in the meantime, keep the angry mail coming. It's really quite addictive to know people care so much about your books. I can see why George RR Martin releases his six years apart. Unfortunately I don't have his patience.
Back to the writing desk ...
Chris Ward
11th August 2013
My original plan was to start writing Revenge in September, write it over the winter and then publish it next summer. My current plan - one that is pretty likely at my current rate of progress - is to finish it IN September.
I've had a couple of angry emails asking when Tube Riders: Exile (Tube Riders Trilogy #2) will be out, because as readers of this blog will know, I finished writing the draft way back in February. I've done a fair bit of editing work on it, but Revenge was crying out to be written and I had to answer the call.
It does make me feel a bit stupid to be talking about the progress on Book 3 when Book 2 is still sitting on my hard-drive, but finishing Revenge before I release Exile actually makes a lot of sense for me.
The Tube Riders was written in 2009 and was originally a standalone book. I had no plans to make it into a series. The Tube Riders had to escape Mega Britain, that was about it. However, the wider world required a longer, more complete story.
As a writer I offer just enough "world" for the reader to expand it themselves. However, when I started writing Exile and now Revenge (a lot of which takes place in London again) I needed to expand the world a bit myself. I needed to show a bit more about life inside Mega Britain, and there were times when I'd write something in Revenge and realise I needed to clarify it in Exile for continuity's sake. In hindsight, writing the whole trilogy before releasing any of them would have been the best option (but probably one that would have driven me mad). As I wrote Exile and then Revenge, I found myself needing to tweak the odd line in the original book in order to keep the continuity the same. The most major amendment was that I made a very minor character (so minor that most readers will have forgotten this person, it was a blink-and-you-miss-it thing) two or three years older, because I wanted them to become a major character in Revenge. It didn't fit before, but now it does. Forgive me.
A lot of writers rush things. They bang out new books once a month and write series after series. I don't know if I'll ever write a series again after this. Before Tube Riders I was all about the standalone, and while no one buys my standalone books I've always preferred writing a story that was contained in a single volume. That's the artist in me talking, not the bookseller. The two engage in fisticuffs regularly.
I want the Tube Riders series to make my name and I want people to be reading it and recommending it in ten, fifteen years time. I want it to be good.
To that end I'll take as long as necessary, but I do think that its quite possible I can have both books out by Christmas. Providing I don't run into any major plot walls in Revenge, I should be able to finish it in September. Then I'll take October to edit Exile again, and November to edit Revenge. In December I'll drink beer and go snowboarding. Something like that.
So bear with me. Both books will be with you soon. But in the meantime, keep the angry mail coming. It's really quite addictive to know people care so much about your books. I can see why George RR Martin releases his six years apart. Unfortunately I don't have his patience.
Back to the writing desk ...
Chris Ward
11th August 2013
August 9, 2013
Head of Words paperback now available
It's taken a while for me to get everything finalised but I'm pleased to announce that the paperback version of Head of Words is now available.
The formatting was done by Suzie O'Connell at Indie Proud, and the cover by Su Halfwerk at Novel Prevue.
The book can be purchased in the US here and in the UK here. I am immensely proud of this book. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Chris Ward
August 9th 2013
Head of Words Bliss … or is it?
Life is peachy for twenty-something Daniel Barker, who lives with his offbeat group of friends in a small flat in Bristol. From the eccentric Franz to the dominatrix Polly and the psychotic Shane, they all bring colour and excitement to his life. Together they are family, inseparable.
But as space reaches a premium and tensions begin to rise, Dan's whole world threatens to implode around him.
The real nightmare is about to begin …
Veering from brutal to comic via tragedy, disaster and love, Head of Words is the story of one man’s path to understanding upon a rollercoaster of life that threatens to both destroy him and set him free.
What the reviewers say:
The writing is funny, touching, moving and absolutely compelling. Head of Words is one of those books you cannot put down. - Scott Bury
The formatting was done by Suzie O'Connell at Indie Proud, and the cover by Su Halfwerk at Novel Prevue.
The book can be purchased in the US here and in the UK here. I am immensely proud of this book. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Chris Ward
August 9th 2013
Head of Words Bliss … or is it?
Life is peachy for twenty-something Daniel Barker, who lives with his offbeat group of friends in a small flat in Bristol. From the eccentric Franz to the dominatrix Polly and the psychotic Shane, they all bring colour and excitement to his life. Together they are family, inseparable.
But as space reaches a premium and tensions begin to rise, Dan's whole world threatens to implode around him.
The real nightmare is about to begin …
Veering from brutal to comic via tragedy, disaster and love, Head of Words is the story of one man’s path to understanding upon a rollercoaster of life that threatens to both destroy him and set him free.
What the reviewers say:
The writing is funny, touching, moving and absolutely compelling. Head of Words is one of those books you cannot put down. - Scott Bury
July 23, 2013
Words are my Playground ...
... which means you'll have to wait a little bit longer for Tube Riders: Exile.
Sorry about that. Let me explain why.
It's done, it's drafted, it's had a couple of good edit passes. It needs perhaps two more and then it'll be ready. No major problems.
And then a friend suggested a little wordcount challenge - 70,000 words in July.
I finished Exile's first draft in March. After that I got to work editing an older book called Head of Words, and once that was published I got into editing Exile. Pretty much March, April, May and June was all editing.
Writing is fun, but editing is work, and it tires me out. I needed new words, so I signed up for the challenge.
I'd been itching to write Tube Riders: Revenge for a while. As always, I made a plan to start in September, after Exile was released and after I'd done some other stuff. As always, I decided to change my plans.
Now the good news.
I started writing Revenge, and now I can't stop. I'm right in there, and I'm doing it everyday, slowly letting it unfold in front of me. I wrote The Tube Riders in 2009, failed to get an agent for it, then left it on a shelf for three years until I came to self-publish it in March, 2012. And after it started to get a little success, I knew I had to go back to it and finish the trilogy.
Exile was a hard book to write. I was just getting back into the world and getting to know the characters. I like it and I think it's a good book, but Revenge was always going to be the absolute apocalypse of the series, a big, fat steamroller of a book that would blow everything else in the genre out of the water and leave people with chin-burn from their jaws scraping along the ground.
I really, really, wanted to write that book.
After I finished Exile, I was right where I wanted to be. I had the characters where I wanted them, and I felt ready to get stuck in. Exile is a complete book with a complete story arc, but it's still only part of a wider story, and I felt like I wanted to get on with that story. Revenge starts a little while after Exile finishes - I'm not telling you how much, but its enough to allow a few side stories, possibly featuring different characters, if I want - but for me I couldn't waste any more time. I thought I'd just write a few chapters, and see how it went.
And it's going swimmingly. I've got 40,000 words down so far, roughly 14 chapters. Ideas are flashing into my mind on a daily basis. I wrote Exile over seven months, and there were whole weeks when I didn't work on it because I was finding it difficult to see the road ahead. With Revenge I've been writing several pages a day, and even though I've hardly done any plotting at all, the stories of all the various characters are revealing themselves quite willingly.
So the bad news is that you'll have to wait a little longer for Exile, but the good news is that Revenge will be along shortly after. Bear with me. It'll be worth it, I promise.
Chris Ward
24th July 2013
Sorry about that. Let me explain why.
It's done, it's drafted, it's had a couple of good edit passes. It needs perhaps two more and then it'll be ready. No major problems.
And then a friend suggested a little wordcount challenge - 70,000 words in July.
I finished Exile's first draft in March. After that I got to work editing an older book called Head of Words, and once that was published I got into editing Exile. Pretty much March, April, May and June was all editing.
Writing is fun, but editing is work, and it tires me out. I needed new words, so I signed up for the challenge.
I'd been itching to write Tube Riders: Revenge for a while. As always, I made a plan to start in September, after Exile was released and after I'd done some other stuff. As always, I decided to change my plans.
Now the good news.
I started writing Revenge, and now I can't stop. I'm right in there, and I'm doing it everyday, slowly letting it unfold in front of me. I wrote The Tube Riders in 2009, failed to get an agent for it, then left it on a shelf for three years until I came to self-publish it in March, 2012. And after it started to get a little success, I knew I had to go back to it and finish the trilogy.
Exile was a hard book to write. I was just getting back into the world and getting to know the characters. I like it and I think it's a good book, but Revenge was always going to be the absolute apocalypse of the series, a big, fat steamroller of a book that would blow everything else in the genre out of the water and leave people with chin-burn from their jaws scraping along the ground.
I really, really, wanted to write that book.
After I finished Exile, I was right where I wanted to be. I had the characters where I wanted them, and I felt ready to get stuck in. Exile is a complete book with a complete story arc, but it's still only part of a wider story, and I felt like I wanted to get on with that story. Revenge starts a little while after Exile finishes - I'm not telling you how much, but its enough to allow a few side stories, possibly featuring different characters, if I want - but for me I couldn't waste any more time. I thought I'd just write a few chapters, and see how it went.
And it's going swimmingly. I've got 40,000 words down so far, roughly 14 chapters. Ideas are flashing into my mind on a daily basis. I wrote Exile over seven months, and there were whole weeks when I didn't work on it because I was finding it difficult to see the road ahead. With Revenge I've been writing several pages a day, and even though I've hardly done any plotting at all, the stories of all the various characters are revealing themselves quite willingly.
So the bad news is that you'll have to wait a little longer for Exile, but the good news is that Revenge will be along shortly after. Bear with me. It'll be worth it, I promise.
Chris Ward
24th July 2013
July 1, 2013
Exile is officially delayed ...
Okay, I know I said July, but you're going to have to hang on a little bit longer for Tube Riders: Exile. As always, I jumped the gun a bit when I said July and overestimated just how long it would take me to finish off the editing. Rest assured that I'm working on the book every day, and when it's ready it'll be a stormer.
Basically, the book is finished, but I'm currently working through it for the third time. What I'm doing this time is tightening the text, making the characterisation stronger, working out a few issues of character motivation and improving both the tension and pacing. I don't want this to just be a good book, I want this to be an excellent book, one that will have you dying to read part three (which I've also started writing - yeah, I tend to multitask, I'm not good at focusing on any one thing all the time ...).
So, you have my apologies, but I won't be going into any George RR Martin territory. This will be a month or two, we're not talking years. Back when I finished the first draft I was planning on August, but I hoped to get it out a bit earlier. August is far more likely but I'll say September just to be safe ... I hope!
Thanks always for your support,
Chris Ward
July 1st 2013
Basically, the book is finished, but I'm currently working through it for the third time. What I'm doing this time is tightening the text, making the characterisation stronger, working out a few issues of character motivation and improving both the tension and pacing. I don't want this to just be a good book, I want this to be an excellent book, one that will have you dying to read part three (which I've also started writing - yeah, I tend to multitask, I'm not good at focusing on any one thing all the time ...).
So, you have my apologies, but I won't be going into any George RR Martin territory. This will be a month or two, we're not talking years. Back when I finished the first draft I was planning on August, but I hoped to get it out a bit earlier. August is far more likely but I'll say September just to be safe ... I hope!
Thanks always for your support,
Chris Ward
July 1st 2013
June 24, 2013
Wool by Hugh Howey - My Review
Setting the world alight right now is this dystopian masterwork by indie turned international literary star Hugh Howey. Just like grunge and Brit pop, I got interested at the tail end of things, getting around to reading it long after everyone else had finished it and moved on. Next up, Harry Potter.
Mucking about aside, this was a fine read. I don't really know the history of its publication beyond that it was originally an indie novella that went interstellar and spawned four more novellas to continue the story, putting Hugh Howey on the map and no doubt making him a fortune in the process. Apparently it's on Ridley Scott's desk. I'd probably fork out for a ticket to see it.
While it was separated into five sections, it felt like three stories to me. Part one, Holston, tells the story of a disillusioned sheriff a few hundred years into the future who lives in this vast subterranean silo with five thousand other people. His wife has been put to "cleaning", meaning she committed a crime and was sent outside into the toxic air in a kind of space suit to slowly die. Like everyone else sent to cleaning before her, his wife wiped clean the little video cameras that show a view of the outside world. She said she wasn't going to, but she did. Holston wants to know why.
I thought Part One was really good. Holston was an interesting character and the slow mystery of his surroundings was very intriguing.
Part Two, Proper Gauge, focused on his superior, Mayor Jahns, as she travelled into the "down deep", the area at the very bottom of the silo, to look for (highlight to see spoiler) a new sheriff. I didn't find this part nearly as interesting. It was basically a visual exploration of the silo through Jahns' eyes. Not a lot happened until the last couple of chapters.
Parts Three, Four and Five felt like the main story. They concerned Juliette, the new sheriff, who was quickly put to cleaning for a vague crime to stop her getting too deep into the secrets of the silo and the world outside. Juliette, however, manages to break the chain of all the cleaners before her and (spoiler) survives.
The rest of the book centres around what happens to Juliette outside while inside the silo two rival factions clash.
Essentially Wool is a mystery story, as a group of characters try to discover the truth about their world and the secrets that have been hidden from them. It gets really good once Juliette gets outside, and we begin to discover what's going on. There were lots of little reveals to keep you interested and it was expertly done.
There were a few things that bothered me a little. I found the naivety of some of the characters trapped inside the silo to be a little far-fetched during the uprising. They just kind of walked into battle without any real plan. Also, of a silo full of thousands of people, only a few seemed to be involved.
There were one or two other plot holes, not least when Lukas received a strange radio transmission which appeared to have nothing to do with what was actually going on with Juliette, and the ending was way too upbeat. It fitted with the story but it felt a little off compared to the dark tone of the rest of the story.
Juliette was an excellent character and her story would make a good movie. Holston and Jahns were pretty much forgotten about by the end, and I think in any kind of adapation you could keep Holston in one of those little prologue segments while dropping Jahns altogether and getting to the meat of the story.
Overall I enjoyed this book a lot and would probably read the sequel. It was well written throughout and Howey had some really nice turns of phrase, particularly early on in the book. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes dystopian fiction.
Chris Ward
24th June 2013
Mucking about aside, this was a fine read. I don't really know the history of its publication beyond that it was originally an indie novella that went interstellar and spawned four more novellas to continue the story, putting Hugh Howey on the map and no doubt making him a fortune in the process. Apparently it's on Ridley Scott's desk. I'd probably fork out for a ticket to see it.
While it was separated into five sections, it felt like three stories to me. Part one, Holston, tells the story of a disillusioned sheriff a few hundred years into the future who lives in this vast subterranean silo with five thousand other people. His wife has been put to "cleaning", meaning she committed a crime and was sent outside into the toxic air in a kind of space suit to slowly die. Like everyone else sent to cleaning before her, his wife wiped clean the little video cameras that show a view of the outside world. She said she wasn't going to, but she did. Holston wants to know why.
I thought Part One was really good. Holston was an interesting character and the slow mystery of his surroundings was very intriguing.
Part Two, Proper Gauge, focused on his superior, Mayor Jahns, as she travelled into the "down deep", the area at the very bottom of the silo, to look for (highlight to see spoiler) a new sheriff. I didn't find this part nearly as interesting. It was basically a visual exploration of the silo through Jahns' eyes. Not a lot happened until the last couple of chapters.
Parts Three, Four and Five felt like the main story. They concerned Juliette, the new sheriff, who was quickly put to cleaning for a vague crime to stop her getting too deep into the secrets of the silo and the world outside. Juliette, however, manages to break the chain of all the cleaners before her and (spoiler) survives.
The rest of the book centres around what happens to Juliette outside while inside the silo two rival factions clash.
Essentially Wool is a mystery story, as a group of characters try to discover the truth about their world and the secrets that have been hidden from them. It gets really good once Juliette gets outside, and we begin to discover what's going on. There were lots of little reveals to keep you interested and it was expertly done.
There were a few things that bothered me a little. I found the naivety of some of the characters trapped inside the silo to be a little far-fetched during the uprising. They just kind of walked into battle without any real plan. Also, of a silo full of thousands of people, only a few seemed to be involved.
There were one or two other plot holes, not least when Lukas received a strange radio transmission which appeared to have nothing to do with what was actually going on with Juliette, and the ending was way too upbeat. It fitted with the story but it felt a little off compared to the dark tone of the rest of the story.
Juliette was an excellent character and her story would make a good movie. Holston and Jahns were pretty much forgotten about by the end, and I think in any kind of adapation you could keep Holston in one of those little prologue segments while dropping Jahns altogether and getting to the meat of the story.
Overall I enjoyed this book a lot and would probably read the sequel. It was well written throughout and Howey had some really nice turns of phrase, particularly early on in the book. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes dystopian fiction.
Chris Ward
24th June 2013
June 11, 2013
Writing update June
Gone a little quiet on the blog but that's only because I've been busy. So what's been going on and what are my upcoming plans?
Of course, everything is subject to change, but that's just because I absolutely suck at keeping to deadlines. Small problem of having a day job ...
So, what I'm doing right now ...
First of all, I'm waiting for Exile to come back from it's beta readers. Providing there are no major issues, I'll be sending it off for an edit and then hopefully publishing it in mid-July. At least that's the plan ...
In new projects, I've started working on Tube Riders: Revenge. I had planned to start in September so for once I'm way ahead of schedule. I'm taking my time about it though, letting it build up slowly. I'm on to chapter three, and so far so good. The nice thing about writing slow is that the story really builds in your mind before you write it. I already have lots of ideas for what's going to happen.
It's likely that the best part of the next year will be working on Tube Riders-based books. However, I don't one to be one of those writers whose whole career is defined by one series, nor do I still want to be writing Tube Riders Volume 35 in twenty years time. I started out as a writer of stand alone books and in the long term that's what I want to be known for. However, when you're a self-published writer the easiest way to build a fanbase is to do it around a brand, so that's what I'm doing at the moment. I'm not saying that Tube Riders won't end up as five, six, seven books, because it might - it's my story and it'll be written as long as it needs to be. I have other stories, though, and at some point those also need to be written, and I certainly won't be stretching Tube Riders out just to make an extra buck.
Outside of new words, I'm currently in the process of redoing the paperback for Man Who Built the World and finally getting around to doing the one for Head of Words. It's always difficult to motivate myself to do the paperbacks as I sell about one per month and it's a massive hassle to sort out all the formatting. Still, in the event that I actually start to get successful at this I want to have them all in place. I'm learning all the time, and what I thought was correct last year might not be correct this - for example, I recently found out that Times New Roman was designed for column-based texts and is a strain on the eyes over a long period of reading. Therefore I'm changing all the fonts into Garamond, which is commonly used in paperbacks. Of course, changing everything into Garamond means all the headers and footers are thrown off. Cue lots of wasted time ...
So the next thing you need to look forward to is the release of Tube Riders: Exile. I will post a definite release date once I have one.
Until then ...
Chris Ward
June 12th 2013
Of course, everything is subject to change, but that's just because I absolutely suck at keeping to deadlines. Small problem of having a day job ...
So, what I'm doing right now ...
First of all, I'm waiting for Exile to come back from it's beta readers. Providing there are no major issues, I'll be sending it off for an edit and then hopefully publishing it in mid-July. At least that's the plan ...
In new projects, I've started working on Tube Riders: Revenge. I had planned to start in September so for once I'm way ahead of schedule. I'm taking my time about it though, letting it build up slowly. I'm on to chapter three, and so far so good. The nice thing about writing slow is that the story really builds in your mind before you write it. I already have lots of ideas for what's going to happen.
It's likely that the best part of the next year will be working on Tube Riders-based books. However, I don't one to be one of those writers whose whole career is defined by one series, nor do I still want to be writing Tube Riders Volume 35 in twenty years time. I started out as a writer of stand alone books and in the long term that's what I want to be known for. However, when you're a self-published writer the easiest way to build a fanbase is to do it around a brand, so that's what I'm doing at the moment. I'm not saying that Tube Riders won't end up as five, six, seven books, because it might - it's my story and it'll be written as long as it needs to be. I have other stories, though, and at some point those also need to be written, and I certainly won't be stretching Tube Riders out just to make an extra buck.
Outside of new words, I'm currently in the process of redoing the paperback for Man Who Built the World and finally getting around to doing the one for Head of Words. It's always difficult to motivate myself to do the paperbacks as I sell about one per month and it's a massive hassle to sort out all the formatting. Still, in the event that I actually start to get successful at this I want to have them all in place. I'm learning all the time, and what I thought was correct last year might not be correct this - for example, I recently found out that Times New Roman was designed for column-based texts and is a strain on the eyes over a long period of reading. Therefore I'm changing all the fonts into Garamond, which is commonly used in paperbacks. Of course, changing everything into Garamond means all the headers and footers are thrown off. Cue lots of wasted time ...
So the next thing you need to look forward to is the release of Tube Riders: Exile. I will post a definite release date once I have one.
Until then ...
Chris Ward
June 12th 2013
June 5, 2013
The Tube Riders: Revenge early teaser snippet
Yeah, so I know Exile isn't even out yet, but it's coming ... in the meantime I've already started working on Tube Riders: Revenge, way ahead of schedule. And I'm getting a little arty with it so far. Here' s a very short teaser snippet. I wrote this yesterday.
(no spoilers, don't worry - not even any names)
"The mirror had probably never been whole. It was simply a patchwork of other mirrors glued together to function as one. It was difficult to look into it without constantly shifting your head, searching for a fuller view, one that did not, could not exist.
Rather like my life, she thought. Comprised of fragments. Hundreds of fragments all glued together, pretending to be one."
(no spoilers, don't worry - not even any names)
"The mirror had probably never been whole. It was simply a patchwork of other mirrors glued together to function as one. It was difficult to look into it without constantly shifting your head, searching for a fuller view, one that did not, could not exist.
Rather like my life, she thought. Comprised of fragments. Hundreds of fragments all glued together, pretending to be one."
May 31, 2013
Tube Riders: Exile blurb
Live together, die together ...
Having narrowly escaped the Governor's savage Huntsmen, Marta Banks and the other surviving Tube Riders are on the run in northern France. Trapped inside a government-assigned quarantine zone, they search for a way out of a bleak countryside littered with abandoned worker robots and haunted by sinister monks, while at the same time a far deadlier threat than any they have faced before is searching for a way in ...
From the towering spires of Mont St Michel through the dark horrors of the Paris Catacombs to the treacherous peaks of the French Alps, The Tube Riders: Exile is an epic continuation of Chris Ward's Tube Riders series.
JULY 2013
Having narrowly escaped the Governor's savage Huntsmen, Marta Banks and the other surviving Tube Riders are on the run in northern France. Trapped inside a government-assigned quarantine zone, they search for a way out of a bleak countryside littered with abandoned worker robots and haunted by sinister monks, while at the same time a far deadlier threat than any they have faced before is searching for a way in ...
From the towering spires of Mont St Michel through the dark horrors of the Paris Catacombs to the treacherous peaks of the French Alps, The Tube Riders: Exile is an epic continuation of Chris Ward's Tube Riders series.
JULY 2013
May 27, 2013
Tube Riders: Exile covers
Okay, you've waited long enough and I've been getting itchy to show them, so here are the covers for the next installment in the Tube Riders series.
Firmly established as the heroine of The Tube Riders series from part one, I decided it would be nice to put Marta Banks on the cover of part two. My cover designer, Su Halfwerk, did a fantastic job of creating the Marta from my imagination. I would go as far to say that the girl on the front of Exile IS Marta, from her dreadlocked hair to the look in her eyes.
Here's the paperback.
When you put the two covers next to each other there's a definite bit of theme being carried through. I'm very pleased. I'm looking forward to adding a third book as soon as possible.
Of course, if you're a blogger, feel free to share these pictures anywhere you like!
Right, back to editing. Not long now ...
Chris Ward
May 26th 2013
Firmly established as the heroine of The Tube Riders series from part one, I decided it would be nice to put Marta Banks on the cover of part two. My cover designer, Su Halfwerk, did a fantastic job of creating the Marta from my imagination. I would go as far to say that the girl on the front of Exile IS Marta, from her dreadlocked hair to the look in her eyes.
Here's the paperback.
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When you put the two covers next to each other there's a definite bit of theme being carried through. I'm very pleased. I'm looking forward to adding a third book as soon as possible.
Of course, if you're a blogger, feel free to share these pictures anywhere you like!
Right, back to editing. Not long now ...
Chris Ward
May 26th 2013
