Tales from the Garret

I’ve now worked out enough of the run-up to the denouement of Guardians of Paradise to know who’s doing what to whom, and when and where they’re doing it. I still have only the vaguest idea what will happen when all this set-up pays off and we get to the big confrontation and subsequent fall-out, […]

This may seem odd, but my writing currently bears an odd resemblance to travelling on public transport. I’d better explain: A couple of weeks back, when I had to abandon Guardians of Paradise in favour of deadline-driven stuff like editing and proofreading, I was having problems with two out of my four viewpoint characters being […]

I’ve now returned the edited ms of Consorts of Heaven to my editor. I found a number of further typos, most of them minor, but one letter can make all the difference: for example, butter is made in a dairy, not a diary. In case these references are giving the impression I’m writing fantasy, I […]

Most of the way through the final re-read of Consorts of Heaven after the final changes, and I’m mildly concerned. As with the proofreading of Principles, I’m finding more wrong than I should, and I know there’s no safety-net: this version of Consorts has been copy-edited, and though it should be professionally proofread before going […]

I’ve now completed and returned the page proofs for the mass-market paperback of Principles of Angels. There weren’t many changes: really, given that the text had already been proofread by myself for the trade paperback (and presumably also by a professional proofreader), there shouldn’t have been any, but I suspect stuff will always get through. […]

I’ve come down from the garret because I’ve got to a tricky bit with Guardians of Paradise and I need to do something else for a while to let my head cool down. We’ve just reached the first meeting between two of the four viewpoint characters. I say meeting, but it’s actually a remote conversation […]

November been a crazy month, writing-wise. It’s left me somewhat out of sorts, and I could use a small favour. So there I was, all set to pump up my wordcount on the first draft of Guardians of Paradise by dint of NaNoWriMo (always a great motivator) when, one third of the way into the […]

The cover for Consorts of Heaven has been finalised, and M the Uber-Geek has done his stuff. The results can be viewed on the ‘Novels’ page of this very website. I also have a release date, which is 21 May 2009. While I was getting him to have a firtle I asked M to put […]

I’ve just found out that Aeon, the US short story e-zine, is folding. It was a quality publication, and it’ll be a shame to see it go. I must confess that I was guiltily relieved to find that that their last issue (due out in early 2009) will feature the short story they bought from […]

I’ve done another interview, this time with attached bio and excerpt from Principles of Angels. It’s for Concept SciFi, who were a pleasure to work with, and you can read it here. I’ve also decided I need to get out more. A quick check of my diary shows that my social life for the last […]