Older news stories can be found in the News Archive.

:: March 21st 2008 -- Magnifique!

Just back from the Paris Book Fair, which is a truly stunning affair. Unlike, say, the London Book Fair, which is about publishers and deals, Paris’s annual Salon du Livre celebrates books themselves and their authors. Held at the Porte de Versailles expo centre, it’s essentially a enormous bookshop, open for one week. Anyone can come. People bring their children. It’s a day out.

I was there to promote Untied Kingdom, a.k.a. Royaume Désuni, for the lovely people from Bragelonne at their castle-like stand. This involved several media interviews and two lengthy signing sessions. At the latter I sat beside Professor Adam Roberts, who was promoting the French edition of his lots-of-awards-shortlisted-for Gradisil and who shamed me by addressing the fans in fluent French while I fumbled along in Franglais. I achieved one of my life ambitions, though, in that I was asked by a young lady to autograph the cast on her arm. I also learned that the mass-market paperback edition of Days was last year’s top-selling SF title in France. News to me, but then no one tells me anything, hélas!

Lou and the boys came along too, and we spent a couple of days either side of the Book fair weekend introducing Monty and Theo to Paris. Monty was not impressed by the cuisine (not enough Marmite involved) although he did develop a penchant for pain au chocolat. He also enjoyed the play park at the Jardin du Luxembourg and the bateau-mouche ride along the Seine. Theo, for his part, was just happy to be sharing a bedroom with his brother, although as in so many other aspects of their fraternal relationship the feeling was not mutual. Both of them had fun on the Eurostar, although Monty was disappointed not to see fish outside the window as we passed under the Channel. I, on the other hand, was relieved.

A big thanks to everyone who helped make our visit a success, not least Stéphane, Alain and David, the grands fromages at Bragelonne, and the press secretary they could not function without, Leslie (Monty fell in love with her). Thanks also to our babysitter Lauryanne (whom Monty also fell in love with). For a holiday, it was all pretty exhausting, but for a work trip, it was a blast.

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:: February 8th 2008 -- A Few Bits Of Good News And One Piece of Very Bad News

Solaris have just put out a press release announcing my next book, The Age of Ra. Rather than me reiterating what it says, here's the link [www.solarisbooks.com] so you can go and see for yourself. I don't know about you, but it sounds like a novel I'd really like to read. Now all I have to do is write the thing...!

I'm really, really, genuinely, hugely excited to be working with Solaris. They're a relatively new concern but they have buckets of enthusiasm, shedloads of experience as part of the Black Library, and an already impressive track record. Eric Brown's Helix, for one, has been a considerable hit for them, and they did a gorgeous packaging job on Adam Roberts's Splinter. I'd say I've joined a company who know exactly what to do with my sort of fiction.

A couple of new translations of my Barrington Stoke title Ant God have just appeared. It's now available in Swedish (as Myrguden) and Welsh (as Sbectol Y Gwirionedd). The latter's an interesting-looking language. When I see a page of it, I'm reminded of what happens when Monty sits at my computer when Word is up and bashes the keys at random.

Speaking of translations, this Easter I'm off to France for the Paris Book Fair, where I shall be promoting Untied Kingdom in its Frenchified form, Royaume-Desuni. I'm looking forward to spending time in the French capital with the lovely people from the mighty Bragelonne, who drink champagne at the close of work every evening (of course they do). I'm dragging the family along with me too, and we're making a holiday of it. Monty is already excited at the prospect of croissants for breakfast, and I'm wondering if he'll pull at the Jardin du Luxembourg again, as he did last time with a sweet little French girl. Mind you, this time he'll be facing some competition from Theo, who's a bit of babe magnet.

Finally... My father died at the end of January, a shock from which I'm still reeling. He was 88, which is a fair old age in anyone's book, and he died at home, from a massive heart attack, so it was reasonably quick. One can't really ask for more than that. But it was awful nonetheless. His funeral was well attended, a none-too-solemn affair with rousing hymns, a heartfelt eulogy and well-chosen poetry readings, and the reception afterwards was lively, as he'd have wanted.

I'll tell you, though. Six feet is a horribly long way down.

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:: December 21st 2007 -- Useful Lessons

End of 2007, and what have we learned this year?

First off, never move house. It's disruptive, traumatic, expensive, and it destroys your faith in human nature. Stay put. Be happy where you are. Add an extension if you have to. New curtains. New wallpaper. Anything. Just don't move.

Second off, if you must move house, move to somewhere you enjoy living. Which we've done. Eastbourne is fantastic. Why, I could almost see myself growing old and retiring here, ha ha ha. Ha ha. Ha.

Third, write lots of stuff and get it published. Oh wait, that's not a revelation. I've been doing it anyway. I've managed one and a half pseudonymous novels this year, plus the first quarter of a new James Lovegrove novel, so that's one and three quarter novels in total. Added to that are a Barrington Stoke book, four short stories, and thousands of words of reviewage. Been busy.

Fourth, be prepared to receive praise from unexpected but welcome sources: andyremic.blogspot.com. I don't know much about Mr Remic's work, but I shall be sure to check some out now. A man of taste, clearly.

Fifth, give thanks where thanks is due. And this year it's due to Ariel, for discharging website maintenance duties with diligence and aplomb; Eric Brown, for being Constant Correspondent and a reliable source of encouragement and advice; Gillian Redfearn at Gollancz, for editorial efforts above and beyond the call of duty; George Mann and everyone at Solaris, for being so wonderfully enthusiastic and excited; Alain and Stephane at Bragelonne, for being so unmistakably and thrillingly French; Silveracre Comics, a sublime source of Silver Age nostalgia (I've been buying black and white '70s Marvel magazines off them by the dozen); and Joe Gordon at Forbidden Planet, for help and recommendations. Not forgetting the missus, for love and patience, and Monty and Theo, for all those lovely early morning wake-ups and the heady bouts of ultraviolence.

Happy Christmas to all, and here's hoping for a great '08.

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:: September 29th 2007 -- Within Sniffing Distance Of An Award Or Two

Kill Swap has just been long-listed for the 2008 Manchester Book Award, which according to the web site is "a reader development initiative for young people. Run by Manchester Library and Information Service, it involves young people across the city, creatively encouraging them to read and talk about books to promote literacy and a passion for reading." The long list contains 24 titles, which will be whittled down to 6 sometime in January. It's lovely to be nominated, and fingers crossed the book might even make it to the short list, although the competition seems strong to me. I'm pleased too for Barrington Stoke, as it's great publicity for the imprint.

Meanwhile Cinema Macabre, the nonfiction anthology from PS Publishing of which I am one contributor, has just won a British Fantasy Award. Congratulations to Mark Morris, the editor, and to all the other contributors and, why the hell not, to myself as well. It's a great book (I have a copy in the downstairs loo, for dipping into -- the book, I mean, not the loo) and perhaps now those rumours of a possible mainstream edition are even more likely to become fact.

All that and we have spanking new carpet in most of the house, to replace the manky and rather suspiciously stained old carpet. Joy!

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:: July 12th 2007 -- The Online Store of Nonexistent Books

So we're about to move house, and things are pretty much in disarray, and there's a ton of jobs to be done (boxing up books, taking down pictures, Polyfilla-ing holes in the walls, oh, and getting that mortgage secured) but I thought I'd squeeze in one final news update before the chaos begins in earnest.

First off, Telos publishing have at last come up with the deluxe hardback edition of Shrouded By Darkness, the anthology edited by Alison Davies which has a story of mine, 'Cutting Criticism', in it and which is already out in an equally attractive paperback. This is not only a beautiful-looking book, with a host of quality stories, but the profits are going to a worthy cause, so that's all the more reason to rush out and buy a copy.

Across the Channel, there's now a mass-market paperback edition of the French version of Days doing the rounds. This is the spooky-but-rather-nice cover, appropriately dollar-greenish in colour:

I've yet to see a finished copy myself (hint, hint, Mr French Publisher) but this image really works for me, and also seems to be working for the Gallic public, as the book is selling like gâteaux chauds over there.

Now, I was Amazoning myself the other day, as one does when one is an author, and found several curious listings under my name, which I thought I'd share with you.

First off, it would appear that I've been writing for a very long time indeed, judging by the fact that The Guardians Volume 3, by James Lovegrove, has a publication date of April 1st 1920 and is categorised under the subheading "Antiquarian, Rare and Collectable". Rare is the word for it, given that it came out 45 years before I was born! Mind you, that actual day of the year mentioned has a kind of fishy ring...

Then there's a novel I'm supposed to have co-written, Nevada Blue, which is in fact by John Tilsley alone. How my name has come to be attached to it, I've no idea. The only reason I can think of is because it was published at exactly the same time as the first edition of Days, under the same imprint, and somehow, by some process of literary osmosis, I've managed to take half-credit for it. I'm sure it's an excellent book. Just please don't think I had any input into it.

A rather smart-looking cover for the second in the Guardians series, Berserker, would appear to belong to an American edition published by TV Books. I like the acid-green hand leaping out at you. As far as I'm aware, though, this artefact doesn't exist. If it does, nobody ever sent me a copy.

Also listed are two editions of The Kuczynski Verifications, the sequel to Provender Gleed that never actually got written (or rather it did, the first hundred or so pages, but I abandoned it because I didn't, and don't, think it was any good). Mind you, the book's not due to be published till 2008, apparently, so there's still time for me to get cracking...

And with that, I shall leave you, to return to the world of packing cartons and dismantled furniture. With luck the next update should see me and the family ensconced in a better place. Or Eastbourne, at any rate.

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:: May 14th 2007 -- Huge Green Drooping Goobers Of Snot

Hello, all. It's now well into the month of May, and round here at Lovegrove Towers our main preoccupation is how soon it's going to be before Theo stops having a cold and producing huge, green drooping goobers of snot and coughing like a twenty-a-day crim and ever so often vomiting great wads of mucus. Ah, the joys of childhood. By which I mean, you can do all that and not have to worry about who's cleaning it up afterwards and whose shirt you've just made psychedelic.

Our other, perhaps more main (mainer?) preoccupation is an imminent return to the Home Counties. Yes, after three years in Devon we've finally admitted defeat and decided to move back closer to London. We thought that, when we relocated to the sticks, everyone else would up and follow us, therefore we wouldn't need to visit the Big Smoke and related places so often, but surprisingly it seems that London and its environs have remained pretty much where they were and so have the people who live there, several of whom keep inviting us to go and do things with them, dammit. All being well (and in house-selling and -buying there's no such thing as a sure thing) we should be tracking back over our footprints sometime in July, and our prospective new home is in ... the town of Eastbourne.

Yeah, yeah, I know, you can get the jokes about retirement and God's waiting room out of the way now, thank you very much. Eastbourne is a beautiful, thriving town, honest it is, and one of the three sunniest spots in all of the UK, I'll have you know. We're looking forward to getting there, and I'll update on the progress of the move and the status of the new pad as and when it all happens. To repeat, nothing is certain in the real-estate arena. So we're touching wood (and cloth) frantically, in the hope that everything pans out as planned.

Work-wise, I've got a semi-regular reviewing gig at the Financial Times now, following my SF article in February. I cover children's fiction and the occasional SF novel, graphic novel, and just plain modern fiction novel, and my pieces appear in the magazine section of the weekend edition. This sort of journalism is great fun to do and doesn't harm the bank balance in any way. Oh, and publishers take note. I am completely unbribable. I will not be coaxed into giving a glowing review by any inducements you may offer. None whatsoever. Sports cars, private jets, tropical beach holidays -- dangle these plump, juicy and above all costly carrots before me, and I will not be swayed. Oh no. Not in the least. No sir.

On the publishing front, August looms, and in that month I have two titles forthcoming. One is volume two of the teen series that cannot be named (but I will tell you, I have been casually "outed" as the true author of the series in a recent issue of Locus). The other book is Dead Brigade, one of the first titles in Barrington Stoke's new Most Wanted line. These are books for Reluctant Readers but written for an adult rather than teen audience. Dead Brigade is a zombie tale, and I've been dying (ho ho) to tell a zombie tale for ages. Here's the cover:

Cool, no? I think I recognise the flaky-skinned gentleman from an Italian 1980s zombie flick but I'm damned if I can remember which one.

Finally, I've penned a new short story for a new Pete Crowther anthology, We Think, Therefore We Are, due out next year from Tekno Books. The theme is artificial intelligence and my tale, 'The Kamikaze Code', is a follow-up to 'The Bowdler Strain', set in the same MoD research establishment, Chilton Mead. I hope to do a couple more stories set there, if and when suitable ideas occur to me.

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