A Little Knowledge and A Lot of Years
Good grief. It’s July. JULY?! I have neglected the blog, but for the very best reasons: work and LARP, mostly. There’s all sorts of things going on, so I’m going to whizz through them and then show you some amazing photos, okay? Actually, let’s get one of the photos up here right away, to whet your appetite.
Lord Poppy, picture by Tom Garnett
That’s a picture of Lord Poppy from the Masked Ball LARP that took place in May. Doesn’t he look amazing? But anyway, I’ll come back to that later.
A Little Knowledge
The 4th book in the Split Worlds series will be released in less than a month! HOORAY! It’s been such a long wait and I am so excited to be able to release the next part of the series into the world! The launch date is August 2nd and it’s being published by the wonderful Diversion Books, who have also re-launched the first three books with gorgeous covers (I have been so lucky with covers!) You can pre-order it on Amazon and the Book Depository, but if you are free on August 5th, there is a party and book launch happening at The Mitre in Oxford. You can see all the details on Facebook. The actual launch is at 8pm, but we’ll be there from 4pm for board gaming, yarning etc. Oh… and the other bit…
A Lot of Years
‘A Little Knowledge’ comes out on my birthday – my 40th, no less! So that party on the 5th is also to celebrate the fact I’ve somehow managed to stagger my way into my fourth decade with all limbs intact. It sounds far too grown up for my liking. Makes me sound like I should be a responsible adult or something.
Bits and pieces
Oh, before I forget, I’m delighted to announce that Planetfall is this month’s Reddit book club book! And After Atlas, my next sci-fi novel, is available to pre-order from all sorts of places.
Tea and Jeopardy has been ticking along too, I just keep forgetting to post about it here. If you go to www.teaandjeopardy.com, you can find all the episodes there. All 55 of them! And the two sets of advent calendars. Blimey.
I will be a guest of honour at Edge-Lit on July 16th in Derby, so if you are going, I will see you there!
Some nice news
Did I tell you that I’ve signed with Tor.com for two novellas? The first is called Brother’s Ruin and you can read the announcement here.
The Split Worlds Masked Ball LARP
I planned to write this part of the post about 6 weeks ago, but then I was in the recording studio a lot (recording 5 audio books no less!), had a novella to write and I also started playing another LARP, so time has been squeezed.
Before the ball, I ran a competition for forfeits and I am belatedly announcing the winner! The prize is a prop from the ball that is also featured in ‘A Little Knowledge’ so it is something I hope will really excite the winner, Matt Dillon, who sent in: “Attempt to seduce the Censor of Aquae Sulis using your vast knowledge (imagined or otherwise) of cheese.” The reason I picked this one was because it created an amazing conversation in the game which I still laugh about almost 2 months later whenever I remember it. The player who was unlucky enough to draw the forfeit made a valiant effort and it was so hard not to laugh at the time (I played the Censor of Aquae Sulis) as I knew exactly why it was happening out of character. Thanks Matt! I will be in touch privately to arrange where to send it.
I wanted to share some of the photos from the Split Worlds Masked Ball LARP and to publicly thank Katie Logan and the crew – and the players! – for making it such a fantastic success. Katie runs the amazing Tumblr Ladies Who LARP which I wholeheartedly recommend.
Apparently, the Masked Ball LARP has made history as the first ever LARP run in the universe of an ongoing book series (with the author in the GM team) in which the players can alter events in later books and carry out actions that become canon. And even more exciting; because of it being a first, an academic paper is being written on the event!
I could gush for DAYS about the ball. It was, quite simply, one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I think I’ll leave you with some of my favourite photos (so hard to choose as the photographers Beth Dooner and Tom Garnett did such an amazing job) in the hope that they’ll convey a taste of that event’s magic. (There are already some photos of the Censor of Aquae Sulis here.)
One of the highlights of the ball was a duel between Nathaniel Reticulata-Iris (in the white shirt) and [redacted to avoid spoilers for book 5!] You can click on these to see a larger version.
It was all very tense… Picture by Tom Garnett
Of course, the photos don’t convey the gasps of the crowd (there was even a swoon I think!), nor the vicious insults being exchanged by the duellists! Picture by Tom Garnett
Everyone knows that Nathaniel is the best swordsman in Albion, right? Picture by Beth Dooner
Princess Rani was there, in all her regal glory. Readers met her very, very briefly in Between Two Thorns, but you’ll be seeing more of her in A Little Knowledge… Picture by Beth Dooner
Here’s another picture of Lord Poppy. Did I mention how beautiful he was? Picture by Beth Dooner
And here is the last picture taken on the night. I think a few players aren’t in this shot, but it’s the vast majority of us all and the wonderful, wonderful crew who played all the NPCs. Picture by Tom Garnett
There are literally dozens of amazing shots, I wish I could share them all! Suffice it to say we made a sliver of the Split Worlds real that night. Ahhhh, LARP. How I love thee.
