Tim Major's Blog, page 17

Invaders From Beyond in SFX and Waterstones

I just saw The Last Jedi, on my own, because childcare, and it was really good, which you all know. And then I went to WH Smiths to get a copy of SFX after having been tipped off about the review of INVADERS FROM BEYOND, which includes my novella, BLIGHTERS, and it really is a very positive review, and then I went to Waterstones and there was the book itself on the shelf a few down from Mark Morris’s terrific NEW FEARS anthology and Adam Roberts’s amazing HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION. And then...

My writing year 2017

[image error]It’s been an intense year. My family and I moved house twice (from Oxford to a rental house in York in January, then to a house we bought in York in June), the first move being when my youngest son was only six months old. Sleep has been hard to come by and work has been sporadic – not that it’s been hard to come by, just difficult to schedule given that my wife and I now share childcare duties right down the middle.

On the plus side, my day job has been hewing closer and closer to my ‘hobby’...

Favourite albums of 2017

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RICHARD DAWSON – Peasant (Domino). A departure from his previous work, in that he’s accompanied by a band, but Dawson’s ramshackle weirdness and Beefheartian tendencies are intact. ‘Soldier’ is my favourite song of the year, and includes my favourite lyric too: ‘Let’s betroth without delay / Pack the horse and ride away / Find some better place / Where we might raise a family / My heart is full of hope / I am tired, I am afraid / My heart is full of hope’.

BILL ORCUTT – Bill Orcutt (Palillia...

The Ginger Nuts of Horror best novels of 2017

Well, this is a good start to the day…[image error]

Jim McLeod at The Ginger Nuts of Horror has picked YOU DON’T BELONG HERE as one of his favourite novels of 2017!

‘Time travel is a funny old game, so many novels and stories are written using time travel as theme, but so many of them fail to understand the complexities and consequences of it.  Luckily for us we have writers like Tim Major who are capable of writing an enthralling novel that uses time travel in a logical and well thought way.  “you don’t...

‘LES VAMPIRES’ film book to be published in 2018

Another publication announcement! My first non-fiction book will be published in summer 2018 by Electric Dreamhouse Press, the PS Publishing imprint run by editor Neil Snowdon, who was responsible for the terrific Nigel Kneale anthology, We Are The Martians.

While I started work on this project at the start of 2017, I haven’t talked about it at all online – mainly because my imposter syndrome kicked in badly with this project (the impressive list of contributors to the Midnight Movie Monograp...

My first YA novel will be published in 2018!

EXCITING! I’ve just now – less than half an hour ago! – signed a contract for publication of my first YA book.

It’ll be published by ChiZine, possibly in October 2018.

There’s no title yet, but it’s an SF adventure about a virtual-world prison for young offenders, modelled as a sleepy English village. It’s a bit Midwich Cuckoos and a bit Westworld (the 1973 film).

(Lots) more news soon!

Publication day: INVADERS FROM BEYOND

[image error]Publication day!

INVADERS FROM BEYOND is available *right now*. It’s a lovely, hefty omnibus that contains my novella, BLIGHTERS, alongside MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN CENTRE OF GOOD AND EVIL by Colin Sinclair and RAGS, BONES AND TEA LEAVES by Julian Benson.

Here’s the blurb for BLIGHTERS:

Them Blighters are everywhere.
They fell out of the sky last year, great horrible armour-plated slugs with razor-sharp fangs. But ugly as they are, they give the ultimate high to anyone nearby: a blissful, gleef...

The ‘elevator pitch’ as a writing tool

[image error]At the end of the month Abaddon publish the INVADERS FROM BEYOND print omnibus, which features my novella, BLIGHTERS, alongside others by Colin Sinclair and Julian Benson.

To celebrate its publication, I’ve written a guest blog post, which appeared today on the Sci-Fi Bulletin website. It’s titled ‘So, there are these giant alien slugs: The ‘elevator pitch’ as a writing tool’.

Alongside some writing advice, it includes a description of my pitch to Abaddon’s David Thomas Moore at my very first...

Say hello to the new co-editor of the British Fantasy Society’s fiction journal!

[image error] (Hello!)

I’m pleased to announce that, yes, I’ve just been named as co-editor of the British Fantasy Society fiction journal, Horizons, starting with issue 7. I’ll be working alongside fantasy author and editor with Unbound, Shona Kinsella.

I’m really excited about the new role, and looking forward to reading some excellent genre fiction. We’re already making headway through the submissions inbox, and there’ll be a new call for submissions very soon!

Childhood Fears: Jason and the Argonauts

The Ginger Nuts of Horror website has published my contribution to its ‘Childhood Fears’ series, in which I dwell on the terror of the giant iron statue Talos in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963).

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