Jeremy Szal's Blog, page 6

For your listening pleasure. . .

A few awesome space-themed tunes to brighten your Sunday evening. I usually spin these up while reading, cleaning, or setting down to relax at the end of the day.

They’re great mood pieces that help make those bad days a little easier. I’ve been listening to them more and more, especially as something happened in my life (quite recently, actually) that made me so upset and so outraged that I went blind. I couldn’t see clearly for over five hours, and could barely stand up. Listening to these...

STORMBLOOD Cover Reveal!

The day has arrived. The good good people at Gollancz have revealed the cover art for my debut novel I’ve been jabbering on about for almost a full length of the Earth’s rotation. And it is gorgeous. Feast them eyes:

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It’s very blue.

I had extensively input on crafting the cover. We agreed to go for the “Gotham in space” aesthetic. Dark and moody, but slick and adventurous. Containing a sense of noir mystery, underpinned by a sense of exuberance and widescreen exploration. And they knocked it...

I have a newsletter!

I’ve put this off for far too long, so naturally I do it a few hours before boarding my flight to Europe. I have a newsletter form now, which you can sign up to receive updates about my work, publication dates, writing advice, short stories, cover reveals, and juicy secrets about yours truly (the last may or may not be true). I promise not to sell your data to Russian bots.

I’m still wrestling with the HTML data, so this is the best I have for now until I get one embedded in my website.

Acces...

My WorldCon Programme

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Before you know it, the year’s gone by and another WorldCon is upon us!

I’ll be attending, making this my second WorldCon ever. If you (somehow) are keen to find me, these are the programmed events I’ll be participating it. I also have my first Kaffleklatch and autographing session ever, so that’ll be interesting. Bring anything along that’s not a contract, and I’ll sign it.

Of course, I’ll also be walking around, attending other panels, in the artist gallery, and the bar, so please free fee...

Why are you writing that? Motivation and passion

Over the past few weeks I’ve seen a lot of posts about writing inspiration and writing motivation. How to make yourself motivated to write. How to keep your motivation to write. How to hit a daily word count. How to become invested in your writing. How to not become distracted. You get the picture.

Like most issues about writing, the problem, to me, comes not from any minute problem, but the stem. The root of it. And some of you may not like this answer.

Maybe you’re writing the wrong story.

...

Deadlines and Cakes

There’s a certain kind of vindication from signing a three book deal. Especially when it comes from someone like Gollancz, who are in many ways of the leading publishers of science-fiction and fantasy. If they believe my book is good enough to sit on their shelf alongside titles by Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, Joe Abercrombie and Terry Pratchett, then, really, who I am to say otherwise?

The publishing climate being what it is, any book that gets picked up by a major publisher has been to b...

A Statement regarding STORMBLOOD

I’ve had a few people inquire about my upcoming debut novel, STORMBLOOD, in regards to its genre and the audience it’s appealing to. Mainly if STORMBLOOD is a horror novel, or belongs in the horror genre, and if not, what genre is does belong to.

I wanted to clarify this by stating that STORMBLOOD isn’t a horror novel, it is not a body horror novel, nor does it have elements of the horror genre. It’s a space opera that combines a widescreen, future setting with elements of mystery, noir, and...

2018 Wrap-Up: A Year of Opposites

We’re about to blast into 2019, but it doesn’t quite feel like it. 2018 was such a major year for me that it’s weird to think it’s going to be gone. I’m going to sum up the year the way I do best: as straight-forwardly as possible.

2018 was an unusual year for me. Some good, some bad. Mostly good. The highs were pretty high, and the lows were, well, pretty low.

The biggest and most significant thing is The Book Deal. I wanted 2018 to be the year I sold a novel. I ended up selling three of the...

Stormblood: Wheeling and Dealing Details

So. As you might have seen, I announced last month that we signed a three book deal with Gollancz for my space opera novel STORMBLOOD, as the first in a trilogy. Gollancz announced it over on their website, so it’s officially official. Here’s the blurb-in-progress for it:

Vakov Fukasawa used to be a Reaper, a bio-enhanced soldier fighting for the intergalactic governing body of Harmony against a brutal invading empire. Now, he fights against the stormtech: the DNA of an extinct alien race Har...

THREE BOOK DEAL: Stormblood

We can finally announce this: My far-future science-fiction novel STORMBLOOD, about alien DNA that makes people permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression is going to be published as a trilogy with Gollancz/Hachette.

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been writing to get a novel published since forever. It’s taken years of blood, sweat and tears and revising and re-editing, but here we are. There’s too many of you to thank for helping me along the way, you know who you are. I packed so man...