James Lovegrove – author

Just heard the word from Solaris that The Age Of Ra is due out in ebook format this Friday.  According to assistant editor babe Jennifer-Anne Hill, “It looks really good, we’ve kept the internal artwork and everything, even on the iPhone version.  Andy Severn is a bit of a genius that way.”  (Incidentally, “assistant editor babe” is not technically her job description and should not be taken to imply that she performs her duties in anything other than a superbly competent and professional manner.)  So if you haven’t yet purchased a dead wood copy — and why not? — then now’s your chance to snaffle up the sleek super-cool electronic version.

I would myself, if I wasn’t (a) a cheapskate, too mean to splash out on an e-reader, and (b) a confirmed, paper-loving bibliophile.

Here’s the cover image to be used on The Age Of Zeus.  I think you’ll agree that Mr Marek Okon has knocked it out of the park again.

What isn’t clear on the mock-up as is, is that there’s a Greek temple atop the mountain peak.  At the moment it’s hidden beneath the Bookseller quote, but I’ve been assured that the typesetting will be sorted out so that the temple is there, clear for all to see, on the finished article.

Also, the title will be embossed, which is cool.

Great series style been developed for these Pantheon books.  Can’t wait to see what Marek comes up with for The Age Of Odin.

Right, deep breath, here we go.  My first effort at posting, unaided, unsupported by webguy, stepping out onto the tightrope on my own, arms outstretched, wobbling a little, oh God it’s a long way down…

Busy year ahead, with no fewer than eight new books due out.  First up is the first volume of The 5 Lords Of Pain, which will appear in February.  Barrington Stoke are producing a microsite for the series, and I will be posting a link there as soon as it comes online.

To promote the books I am going to be doing several appearances at schools and libraries, most notably in mid-February at the  Bounce Into Books  festival in Yorkshire/Humberside. 

Then in April it’s The Age Of Zeus, and already I know I’m going to be recording a podcast for that with the fine folks at Rebellion/Solaris.  This book is a whopper, by the way.  700 pages of epic, myth-tinged mayhem.  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: The Dirty Dozen, with gods and power armour.  What more could you want?

Around about the same time, PS Publishing will be putting out my second short story collection, Diversifications.  I’ve been in discussions with Pete Crowther about the jacket, and it’s going to look good.  I’ll post up an image soon as I have one.

There’s more to say, but this’ll have to do for now.  Vertigo’s setting in, and I don’t see any safety net below.

Hello, and welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the new-look website.  Hope you like it!

I’m thrilled with the design and layout, and I’m hoping that from now on there’ll be a lot more bloggery and interactive back-and-forth commentary-type doings than in previous times.  Please feel free to explore, browse, and share any thoughts you might have.  2010 is going to be a big and busy year for me, and here’s the forum where I’ll be taking you through it and you’ll be helping me along.

Everybody, I proudly present the cover images for the fourth and fifth volumes of The 5 Lords Of Pain, The Lord Of the Typhoon and The Lord Of Fire. These two are, in my humble opinion, the very best of the lot. The adjective Lisa Murray at Barrington Stoke and I have been bandying about is “kickass”, and kicking ass is what the series is intended to, and what Daniel Atanasov’s artwork certainly does. Mr Atanasov is also supplying illustrations of the main characters and of the martial arts weapons featured in the books for a microsite dedicated to the series. The microsite will launch this December, and I will, of course, supply a link nearer the time.

The sale of Solaris Books has finally gone through, hurrah, and the new owners are Rebellion Publishing; go check out the formal announcement. I’ve briefly been in charge with Rebel Leader Jon Oliver, discussing cover design for The Age Of Zeus, so it seems, encouragingly, that the baton has already been picked up and is being run with. As for Zeus itself, it’s turning into a bit of a behemoth, but in a good way, with gore and gunplay aplenty. I hope to have the MS done and delivered by November.

Review quotes for Ra are now available in the Books section. The cheerleaders are all going ra ra ra!

It’s a Newtonian principle, I’m sure. For every instance of good luck there’s an equal and opposite instance of bad.

Here’s the state of play with regard to The Age Of Ra. Publication is but a fortnight away, and two glowing write-ups have already appeared. There’s one in Publisher’s Weekly; you have to scroll down a bit, but it’s there, and it’s starred, no less. Then there’s this one at Fantasy Book Critic, a real humdinger from a chap called Liviu Suciu.

The bummer about all this, the negative to the positive, the yang to the yin, the Torchwood to the New Who, is the fact that Solaris itself is in a state of limbo. The imprint, as I’m sure you’re aware, is in the process of being sold, and a buyer is lined up and raring to go (I know who it is but I’m not at liberty to say). Everything was meant to be done and dusted at least two months ago, and would be sorted by now had various agents and lawyers not got involved and caused endless delays with their finagling and nitpicking and general agenty lawyerness. As a result, the fine fellows at Solaris — George, Christian and Mark — have all headed off for employment elsewhere and the imprint is, while still nominally under their control, more or less rudderless. Meaning Ra isn’t getting the promotional push it would otherwise have got. Curse those agents and lawyers. F***ing w***ers. And that’s swearing.

But the book is getting out there, and more reviews will be forthcoming, I’m sure of it.

I very much enjoyed the signing at Forbidden Planet last week. Lots of people came to see Mark Chadbourn, and why wouldn’t they? He’s very handsome and a fine author to boot. But a few came to see me as well, and Mark and I signed plenty of copies for mail order and stock, and then we found ourselves at a pub on Charing Cross Road in the cheery company of Chris Wooding and Gillian Redfearn from Gollancz, not to mention a random European actor whom Gillian adopted (because he looked “lonely”, apparently) and also FP’s lovely Danie Ware, who’d organised the whole signing shebang, for which, Danie, many thanks. I got home late and weary, but it was worth it.

And then there’s this, the cover for the third volume in the 5 Lords Of Pain series. Another beauty. You’ll notice that the numbering, there on the first two, has been dropped. The numbers will now appear on the spines of the finished books.

Last but not least… I’ve had an offer from a proper, honest-to-gosh Hollywood production company, Shoreline Entertainment, to take out an option on the film rights for the Clouded World series. No contract has been signed yet, so I’m probably pre-empting things and tempting fate horribly by mentioning it here, but things are looking good and fingers are firmly crossed.

These cover images are for the first two volumes in my forthcoming Barrington Stoke series, The 5 Lords Of Pain. They’re the work of Daniel Atanasov, and I think they’re spectacular. Everyone at BS also seems very happy with them. I honestly can’t wait for this series to see print, but I’m going to have to be patient. The books will be appearing next year at bimonthly intervals, starting in February.

In the nearer future, I’m going to be at Forbidden Planet on Thursday 9th July from 6 to 7pm, doing a signing to promote The Age of Ra. That excellent author and thoroughly nice chap Mark Chadbourn will also be there, promoting his newie, Lord Of Silence. I trust that you out there will do your best to come along and swell the ranks of the signees, and that’s an invitation to all of Mark’s many fans as well. Come and see him, and discover that I’m nearly as personable in the flesh myself.

I’ve just received author copies of Gig, the French edition, and I can’t tell you how impressed I am with the design and execution. It’s easily the equal of the PS Publishing edition, but has added illustrations and everything. All the good French folks at Griffe d’Encre deserve a huge pat on the back (une tapote sur le dos?) for the work they’ve put in on the book, and so far the response from the Gallic reading public has been encouragingly favourable. Hourra!

Finally, I am now officially on board with SFFE, a website/blog/forum set up by Andy Remic to promote, in accordance with the title acronym, Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics. Basically, it’s a place where genre authors and readers can get together and discuss our favourite fiction and sources of entertainment positively, with little or none of the snarking and trashing that goes on elsewhere on the web. The list of personnel involved is a who’s who (in my case, a who’s that?) of modern practitioners of the arcane literary arts, and it promises to be an exciting and rewarding project. Log on soon and join in the shenanigans. Andy, by the way, is someone I’ve met only once in person, but he’s a great chap, full of enthusiasm and vim and just the right amount of vitriol. Plus, his name is an anagram fan’s dream. Randy Mice, Mr Cyanide, Dry Ice Man… The list is seemingly endless.