I’m delighted to report that my author copies of Stardust were delivered this morning, and that the book is now officially out in the world! I have to say I’m seriously happy about that. There’s always something a bit weird about finally seeing work in print – the sense, perhaps, that the stories no longer belong to you – but in the case of Stardust this is very much good weird. I finished working on the collection right at the end of 2010, and there are some big stories in there – at 27,000 words ‘Wreck of the Julia’ is actually my longest published piece of fiction to date, and ‘The Gateway’ is pretty much the same length as my TTA novella, Spin – stuff I’ve been longing to share with readers, and now I can do that. Ben Baldwin’s cover art looks amazing – just as importantly for me, it also looks exactly right for the book. It speaks truly of what’s inside, somehow, and this makes me not just excited about and proud of the book, but comfortable in its presence, too. Thank you, Ben.
My thanks once again also to Pete and Nicky Crowther for making this happen.
There’s going to be a London launch event for several books including Stardust at the beginning of July. It’s shaping up to be an interesting evening, and I look forward to announcing more details in the near future. Watch this space!
And as if that wasn’t excitement enough, I received my author copies of Spin this week, also! At the risk of gushing all over everthing, I do have to say that it too looks amazing, and once again I’m thrilled with Ben’s cover, not to mention Andy Cox’s brilliant efforts in bringing this novella to publication. I’m happy to say that as well as the print edition, Spin is also now available as a Kindle eBook for just £3.69 – you can get a sneak peek here.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I’ve been thinking about new projects (big new projects) and working on a brand new story, which I’m hoping to have finished by the middle of next week. This has been one of those bastard stories where the first draft was a total mess – just a bunch of words tipped out on the page, basically – and so it’s taken me three complete redraftings to get it into a state where I can think about feeling happy with it. And sometimes – when you’ve just redrafted 5,000 words at one sitting, for instance – the only way to recharge the batteries is to stare at the cinema screen entranced while a burning spaceship ploughs its way through the atmosphere and collides with the planet’s surface in a smoking great impact.
That was Star Trek: Into Darkness. And yes, I know how silly it is, I know the bromance is in danger of transgressing the boundaries of self-parody, and that they had Uhura fighting Khan in an effing satin mini-dress, but for yesterday evening at least it rocked my world…
Fearing a credibility malfunction, Chris stayed at home.