Anthony Ryan's Blog, page 41

Tower Lord Milestone #6

I completed the first draft of Tower Lord approximately ten minutes ago. The word count runs at just over 237,000, which means it’ll probably shrink to the 230k mark after rewrites. On the whole I’m happy with it; no unsightly gaps that need filling or superfluous characters (I hope) but, inevitably, there are some things that need fixing before it’s ready for delivery – plot conflicts, prose-tyding, deciding if I’ve killed off enough characters, that kind of thing.

Currently feeling the anticlimactic fugue state that tends to set in after I finish something. Hopefully it’ll wear off tomorrow. I’ll be taking a break from Tower Lord for the rest of September, Dead Space 2 won’t play itself after all, and it’s usually a good idea to get some distance from a draft before starting rewrites. There won’t be any more updates until I’ve actually finished and delivered to my editor,  probably in December, so please accept the following answers to some likely questions:

- No, I don’t know when it’ll be released.

- No, I don’t know when Blood Song will be available in print either.

- Sorry, but I don’t need alpha, beta or proof readers but thanks for the offer.

Oh, must dash, someone’s calling. I think it might be my much-missed friend sleep.

PS. online sales of Blood Song passed the 30,000 mark last weekend. By the souls of the Departed I swear undying gratitude to you all.

Fantasy Book Critic Guest Post

Thanks to the fine folks as FBC for hosting my guest post on the influence of history on epic fantasy, which can be read here:

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/guest-post-influence-of-history-on-epic.html

Enjoy.

Tower Lord Milestone #5

The first draft passed the 200,000 word mark today which means I’m firmly in the final straight (insert horse racing metaphor here – not falling at the final hurdle, a last sprint to see me over the line etc).

At the current rate the first draft should be done by mid-September, whereupon I shall reacquaint myself with the phenomena known as sleep (blessed, blessed sleep, my old friend, how I’ve missed you). However, rewrites should keep me fully occupied until December. No-one ever said this would be easy.

SFF Mania Interview

Thanks to Chris W at SFF Mania for hosting my lastest interview, you can read it here:

http://sffmania.com/general/224-anthony-ryan-answers-8-hostile-questions

And, just for the record, I’m not an MI6 ninja.

Fantasy Book Critic Interview

My interview with Fantasy Book Critic is now up, check it out here:

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/interview-with-anthony-ryan-interviewed.html

 

Thanks to Mihir and Liviu at FBC for sorting this out, and their Blood Song reviews, all greatly appreciated.

 

Tower Lord Milestone #4

Completed 150,000 words plus change of Tower Lord today which means I’m now firmly on the downward slope and on target to finish the first draft by September (ish). There’ll be a few tidbits – no plot details – about Tower Lord in my Fantasy Book Critic interview due out on Monday 6th August, so watch out for that. And no, I don’t know when it’ll actually come out.

Also, sales of Blood Song passed the 20,000 mark yesterday. I was going to do a whole elaborate ‘The Number 20,000′ post thing again, but frankly (as you might be able to tell), I’m just too damn tired.

Fantasy Book Critic Review

Thanks to The Fantasy Book Critic blog for their extensive review of Blood Song.

They’ve also done an interview with yours truly which should appear on Monday 6th August.

My First Interview

The good people at the object were kind enough to interview me recently. The results can be viewed here:

http://theobjectserial.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/the-object-interviews-author-anthony-ryan/

 

Slab City Blues: A Hymn to Gods Long Dead, audio version now on iTunes

The audio version of Slab City Blues: A Hymn to Gods Long Dead is now available on iTunes.

Many thanks to the good people at Podiobooks.com for all their help with this. Check out their site and iTunes feeds for some great free audiobooks.

Slab City Blues: Audio Madness

For the audiophiles out there Slab City Blues: A Hymn to Gods Long Dead is now available as a free downloadable ten-part audio book at Podiobooks. It should also be available on iTunes in the next day or so.

For completists, and those who can’t get enough of my fake American accent, I’ve also uploaded audio versions of the first two stories: Slab City Blues and Slab City Blues: A Song for Madame Choi. Links also on the Books page.