I’m enjoying rediscovering my fantasy roots. Haven’t gone as far (yet) as revisiting LOTR for the nth time, but I have been back to Midkemia and Tsuruananni in Raymon E Feist’s Magician. I had forgotten the almost SF feel to the Tsurani incursion into the land of Midkemia that underpins the plot of Magician. With hindsight, I now realise the…
How lucky you are that machines know best. A very short story.
How Lucky You Are, That Machines Know Best Charles Ellis tried hard to stare down the compound eye in front of his face. The wrist and ankle straps that constrained him were chaffing unbearably. He ignored the raw pain and thrashed again, though there was no hope of breaking free ‘But I don’t want to live forever!’ ‘Yes you do…
Indie or traditional publishing for me? Part 3 – well, what’s it to be?
I have been fortunate over the last six weeks to work with Lionel Shriver, work-shopping my writing and receiving 1:1 tutorials. In my final tutorial I quizzed her about self-publishing. She has some serious worries about piracy in a digital age and authors having their work stolen. However, she also acknowledged that it is now a viable route to becoming…
Indie or traditional publishing for me? Part 2 – the Author Earnings Report
On my second day at LBF I attended the Introduction to Publishing seminar, taken by Patrick Janson-Smith (publisher, Harper Collins); Hellie Ogden (literary agent, (Janklow and Nesbitt); Tim Whiting (editor, Little Brown) and Sheryl Shurville (owner Chorleywood Bookshop). I came away with a good understanding that agents/editors/publishers do a lot! I asked the bookshop owner about stocking indie-published books –…
Indie or traditional publishing for me? Part 1 – the question.
Back in February, for my MA Professional Writing industry analysis, I posed the question: Is self-publishing via the e-publishing route the best option for a writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres? In this three-part blog I will discuss my findings to date, with the intention of understanding the best way to get my Wearde World fantasy sequence to…
Hugh Howey, goals and dreams
I met Hugh at London Book Fair a couple of weeks back. I’m a big fan of the Wool trilogy, so it was great to meet someone who is a bit of a hero of mine. I’ve become increasingly interested in the possibilities of indie-publishing and made it the focus of my publishing industry research, in the lead up to…
Writing Fantasy
Until now my version of the fantastic has been science fiction – speculative fiction really -extrapolation of current tech and science trends. I have focused my attentions on the role of the mind and its place in the universe and, in particular what machine AI will mean for biological minds. Other strands of writing have speculated on ecological disaster and…
Entering the Wearlde
Charlie Quinn’s seesaw journey between the Wearlde and the Real. Will balance be restored?