Renegade A to Z – D is for…

… Dystopia Press, the wonderful publisher who took a chance on my debut novel and made 20 Years Later their inaugural book.

It's a small press, and I have enjoyed all of their attention as my debut book is also theirs, a bit like being an only child I suppose. I'm in regular contact with Mark, the owner, and I like this close collaboration. I've never experienced being published by one of the 'big 6′ so I have nothing to compare it to, but I feel very looked after.

Being a small independent press (i.e. not owned as a subsidiary imprint of one of the big 6) we are entirely dependent on people talking about 20 Years Later and spreading the word. That's where you guys come in. If you buy it, read it, love it and recommend it to others, you're not only helping my dream to come true, but also Mark's.

The e-book version goes on sale tomorrow, and will be available from all of the places you normally buy your e-books. If you can't wait for the hardback (released July 5th) or prefer e-readers now anyway, then that's the one for you.

Let's imagine that you buy 20 Years Later and love it. I mean, really love it, and want to read more. Here's some of the lovely things you could do to support our dream:

Become a fan on Facebook (so your friends on there might see it too)

Add it to your Goodreads Shelf

Add it to your LibraryThing Shelf

Write a review and post it on your blog, and also on Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing etc.

Buy it as a present for others

Choose it for your bookclub (and let me know so we can arrange a Q and A session by phone or skype with your group)

Tell your friends, be they on Twitter, Facebook or the local pub

I don't usually ask for help as explicitly as this. I'm being extra brave, because I have worked so hard, for so long to reach this point, and 20 Years Later means such a lot to me.

But I think that's enough for now. Time for another D which is for:

Dark Fiction Magazine

This is a monthly podcast magazine, specialising in short stories in the horror, fantasy and general speculative fiction genres.

And it rocks.

I may be slightly biased, as they recently asked me to read for them again and that story went live today. It's called Paying For Rain by Jaine Fenn and I really enjoyed it – you can listen to it here, and the rest of this month's stories can be found here.

You can also find The Devil in Chains on the Dark Fiction Magazine site too – that's a steampunk novella by the lovely Adam Christopher in five episodes (that was narrated by me too).

So, two lovely Ds for your reading and listening pleasure. It's the Shepton Mallet book launch party tomorrow too, so I am going to go and try to relax before my sleepless night.