Friday, 31 May 2013

Immaterial Evidence by Milo James Fowler


Congratulations to my writing buddy Milo, whose novella, Immaterial Evidence is available today from Musa Publishing priced $2.99

Immaterial Evidence



A detective with a price on his head...An invisible criminal with nothing to lose.
The vault door never opened. The bank went into lockdown in less than a minute. Yet the security footage was unmistakable: a hundred silver bars had simply vanished.
Ever since the city’s most dangerous crime boss put a price on his head, private investigator Charlie Madison has lived as an exile in Little Tokyo. But now an old friend and police sergeant has lured Madison back into the city to hunt down an invisible criminal—if he can.
As Madison makes his clandestine return, high-profile people start disappearing. And when federal agents swoop onto the scene to take matters into their own hands, they offer Madison a deal he can't refuse—as long as he agrees to work with them. With Japanese freedom fighters and refurbished killing machines threatening to take the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust, the United World government needs all the help it can get.
Embroiled in an unimaginable mystery, one private eye must rely on his wits to solve a case where the evidence is immaterial, and the odds are stacked high against him at every turn.

Sunday, 26 May 2013

Cover Reveal: Engn by Simon Kewin



Today I'm delighted to be taking part in the cover reveal for my writing friend, Simon Kewin. December House have done a wonderful job with the cover.  













Finn's childhood in the valley is idyllic, but across the plains lies a threat.

Engn is an ever-growing steam-powered fortress, that needs a never ending supply of workers. Generation after generation have been taken away, escorted into its depths by the mysterious and terrifying Ironclads, never to return.

The Masters of Engn first take Finn's sister, then his best friend, Connor. He thinks he, at least, is safe - until the day the ironclads come to haul him away too.

Yet all is not lost, Finn has a plan. In the peace of the valley he and Connor made a pact. A promise to join the mythical Wreckers and end Engn's tyranny from within.

But now on his own, lost and thwarted in the vastness of Engn, Finn begins to have doubts. Is Connor really working to destroy Engn?

Or has he become part of the machine?



There's also a mailing list for news on the book. No spam, just updates about the book.

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Market Watch: Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion Anthology

Stop tempting me you anthology creators. I'm supposed to be thinking about writing a novel.

File:Brockhaus-Efron Aeronavtika.jpg


"We are seeking original stories with strong steampunk elements and a connection to the Bristol area.
Contributors will be paid £25 plus royalties, and one physical copy of the book.
Wordcount: Up to 7,500
Submission: Send your story to submissions@bristolcon.org
Submissions deadline: Sunday 16th June. Early queries and submissions welcome."

Saturday, 18 May 2013

The Editor as Stranger

Sometimes people tell me that I should go to cons. Specifically,  that meeting editors will help my writing career.

Now, I'm not ragging on cons. If you like them go to them, enjoy. I like small cons and meetings, the big ones not so much.

But I don't think that it's important to meet editors to sell short stories.

I've sold *runs off and checks* 159 short stories. (Yay!) And I've met in person, none of the editors. I do network a bit, through my blog and twitter. So I can tell you that before selling, I'd interacted with electronically with three of the editors.

So, it doesn't seem that networking is paying a big part in the sales. Of course, if I'd been going to cons it might be that I'd have sold even more. Maybe. Impossible to tell, really.

What do you think? Has networking, electronically or in person helped your career? Is it more important if you're trying to sell a novel? Am I in denial about the whole thing?

Thursday, 9 May 2013

My Story to Appear in Year's Best SF 18

My Nature story,'Glass Future' that I know some of you have read is going to appear in David G. Hartwell's Year's Best SF 18, a collection of 2012 science fiction stories. Considering that I've been reading this since Year's Best #3, (long, long before I ever thought about writing) you can see how pleased I might be.

I found out yesterday  completely out of the blue.

I can't wait to see the full table of contents, as you can see from the cover I'm going to be rubbing ink with some of the best names in science fiction.

Wow. Just wow.






Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Contact Information on Your Blog

Today I was contacted by an editor about a possible reprint sale. Good news. The editor found me Facebook and sent me a message via Facebook.

This made me realise that there was no contact information on my blog. How foolish of me. So I've stuck up my e-mail and twitter name now. But I'm worried about getting too much spam.

What's the best way of putting contact information, folks?

Edited to say: Using the AT seems to be working just fine.