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.