A year ago, Titan Books asked me if I would like to write a TV tie-in novel. Now, my normal response would have been a flat no. But in this case it was a slavering, frantically eager YES!!! Because the licensed property in question was…

Firefly.

Best gorramn TV series ever.

I’ve been under embargo from telling anyone about this project since then. It’s been almost painful keeping it a secret.

Last Monday I delivered a first draft of my novel, The Magnificent Nine. It’s going to be published in March 2019.

I’m one of three authors producing the first of these new Firefly stories, which have Joss Whedon as their consulting editor and will be canonical. The others are Tim Lebbon and Nancy Holder. I feel I am in very good company there.

I can’t wait for people to have the chance to see my take on the ‘Verse. I’ve been as faithful as I can to the flavour of the show and the foibles of the characters, while indulging just about every Western-themed fancy I can think of. I’ve written a cowboy movie in space, and I hope it pleases everyone from diehard Browncoats to fans of pure escapist SF fun.

Age of Heroes emerged blinking into the light a couple of months back, and here’s what the worthy and venerable Starburst magazine had to say about it.

If that’s tl;dr for you, the pull quote is “cracking pulp fun. Well worth a read, especially if you love Greek gods or superheroes of any type.”  Can’t argue with that assessment.

Out next week is Cthulhu Casebooks #1, Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows, first instalment of my Conan Doyle/H.P. Lovecraft mashup trilogy. Depicted below is the first box-load of copies, fresh from the printer.

There’ve already been a couple of excellent write-ups.  One is by the esteemed Maxim Jakubowski over at lovereading (he says, “Atmospheric, wading through London’s proverbial fog, our hardy sleuths are soon confronted by abominable powers from the other side and their adventures are both momentous and joyous. Perfect entertainment in a handsome small hardcover format.”).

The other is from SFX magazine, as below:

Here are a quartet of book covers I created, just for a laugh, using the Pulp-o-Mizer Cover Generator.  Enjoy these glimpses of my novels as they might have appeared were I an American pulp scribbler some eighty years ago.  And if you feel like making a couple of your own, based on my books, why not?  Go ahead!

Following the political chaos in the UK over the past few days, I have had several people tell me that it’s like my 2003 novel Untied Kingdom playing out in reality.  There is, for instance, this Facebook comment about the French edition.

Now, I can’t lay claim to any great prophetic powers.  Untied Kingdom was, in fact, written as a reaction to the Balkan wars of the mid-1990s.  It was very much a case of, “Think it couldn’t happen here?  Well, it might, and what if it did?”

Still, it does seem as though the undefined event which precipitates disaster for this country in the novel and leads to its ostracisation by the rest of the world, the so-called Unlucky Gamble, could easily refer to David Cameron’s decision to call a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, and perhaps also to Boris Johnson’s decision to spearhead the Leave campaign.

At any rate, the ebook version of the novel is available right now at the knockdown price of 99p. So why not grab yourself a copy?

Hurry, though.  This offer, much like our politicians and their promises, won’t las.

Here’s a link to the lyric video for a cover of a song I wrote.  It’s recorded and performed by Noah Veil and the Dogs of Heaven, and my recommendation is you crank up the volume and play it LOUD.

The song was inspired by something I saw at a friend’s wedding a few years back.  Some of the guests were in the media, including one fairly well-known actor, and during the ceremony and reception these people and these people alone were constantly checking their phones.  It seemed they couldn’t participate in a private event — a significant day in their friend’s life — without fretting about receiving or missing a text or call.  Their own lives were more important than anything else.

I was, as you’ll be able to tell from the lyric, fairly cheesed off about this.

I have just signed a contract to supply the lovely people at Titan Books, specifically editor Miranda Jewess, with two further Sherlock Holmes adventures.

The first of these is The Labyrinth of Death and sees Holmes and Watson embroiled with a religious cult whose worshippers have an unfortunate habit of turning up dead.  At the climax our heroes will have to face a gauntlet of deadly challenges which even the great consulting detective may not be able to solve.  The book is due to be published in summer 2017.

The second is The Devil’s Dust and sees Holmes cross paths with H. Rider Haggard’s indomitable hero Allan Quatermain.

As far as I’m aware it’s the first time the two characters have formally met in print and shared an adventure together, and I’m somewhat excited about the prospect.  In the jungles of London, the great Victorian hunter is pursuring dangerous game, and the prey in his sights is none other than Sherlock Holmes.  That’s scheduled for summer 2018.

In his second published adventure Dev Harmer, reluctant agent of Interstellar Security Solutions, has travelled to ocean world Robinson D, nicknamed Triton.

Here, settlements belonging to the Terran Diaspora have been coming under attack by members of the planet’s sub-aquatic indigenous race. ISS suspects the involvement of an agent provocateur working for humankind’s galactic rivals, the artificial intelligence civilisation known as Polis+.

As the violence escalates, Dev finds himself battling to restore order – but he has only seventy-two hours before his genetically engineered host form breaks down irreversibly. And all as an ancient god-beast rises from the depths to usher in an apocalypse…

Here’s the cover image for The Sussex Sea-Devils, which completes the Cthulhu Casebooks trilogy.  Another bang-up job from Julia Lloyd.  These three books are going to look particularly sweet together, I think.

Cover images are like buses, right?  You wait ages, then three come along at once.

Well, that may not be a common experience, but it’s certainly been the case this month.  I have not one, not two, but three seethingly superlative book covers to share with you.

First up is Cthulhu Casebooks #1: The Shadwell Shadows, the first volume in my Sherlock Holmes/H.P. Lovecraft mashup trilogy.  It’s the handiwork of designer Julia Lloyd and a lovely artefact in its own right, but what if I told you that it’s going to be printed in shiny metallic ink on a leather-effect jacket?  That might make your mouth drool like that of some nameless elder god eyeing up a human sacrifice:

Publisher Titan Books have posted a nice cover reveal on their site.

Next up is the cover for the second volume, The Miskatonic Monstrosities.   No less eerily eldritch and furtively foggy, eh?

Last but not least, courtesy of artist Naj Osmani comes the cover for Age of Heroes, the new Pantheon novel.  I shall direct you to John de Nardo’s SF Signal blog post about the book, since that tells you pretty much all you need to know.

Behold the amazing, beauteous beautifulness of these bookmarks. (You might want to click on them to view them in their full, slightly-bigger-than-finished-size glory.  Or you might not.  It’s your decision.  I’m not the boss of you.)

I’m having them made to give away as sweeteners at various forthcoming signing/literary events.  One free with every copy bought and autographed.

The gentleman responsible is Greg McCalium, whose work may be found here and here.