Afterblight Chronology

To celebrate last week's UK release of The Journal of the Plague Year we sat down with Abaddon Editor David Moore to work through the chronology of The Afterblight series so far.*

In the Beginning

1. Orbital Decay by Malcolm Cross. This one’s easy, as it starts as the virus is just getting started.

=2. School’s Out by Scott K. Andrews. Exactly where to place Scott’s opening novel is tricky, as Lee flashes back to the early days of the Cull and the story runs out over the course of a year, but I’m going to pin this one down as at least starting within a few months of the virus breaking out.

=2. Dead Kelly by C. B. Harvey. Colin’s contribution is explicitly placed six months after the Cull hits, which makes it more or less contemporary with the start of School’s out.

One Year on

3. The Bloody Deluge by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Adrian doesn’t pin Katy’s and Emil’s flight across Germany down, but it seems to begin between one and two years after the Cull.

Year Two

Editor-in-Chief Jon Oliver's
favourite Rebellion cover.

4. Death Got No Mercy by Al Ewing. Al’s actually quite specific; Cade’s rampage begins two years after the dyin’ started.

5. ‘The Man Who Would Not Be King’ by Scott Andrews. This short story, included with Paul Kane’s Broken Arrow (and the collected School’s Out Forever), bridges School’s Out and Operation Motherland and is set around two years after the Cull.

Year Three

6. Operation Motherland by Scott K. Andrews. Set a while after the end of School’s Out, as the new school has had a chance to settle in, Motherland takes place around three years after the Cull.

Year Four

7. Arrowhead by Paul Kane. Paul and Scott, I gather, sorted out between themselves that de Falaise’s invasion occurs after the destruction of the base in Salisbury plain, explaining why there was no organised resistance. Around Year Four.

Year Five

=8. The Culled by Simon Spurrier. The nameless soldier of Simon’s book explicitly gives the date as five years after the Cull.

=8. Kill or Cure by Rebecca Levene. Jasmine leaves the secret facility at Lake Erie at the same time as her lover – The Culled’s nameless hero – sets out to find her.

=8. Children’s Crusade by Scott K. Andrews. Lee and Matron clash with the Neo-Clergy’s child-snatchers, suggesting that this book is contemporary with The Culled.

9. ‘The Servitor’ by Paul Kane. This short story – published in Death Ray #21, Oct/Nov 2009 (and collected in the ebook edition of Hooded Man) – introduces the sinister new cult that kicks off the action in Broken Arrow. Between Years Five and Six.

Year Six

10. Broken Arrow by Paul Kane. It has been some while since Arrowhead’s Rob Stokes settled Nottingham and established his Rangers, putting this book around Year Six

11. ‘Perfect Presents’ by Paul Kane. A charming snapshot of life in Afterblight Nottingham, this short story – featured in Abaddon Books’ A Very Abaddon Christmas blog event, 2009 (and collected in the ebook edition of Hooded Man) – is set the Christmas after Broken Arrow.

Year Seven

12. ‘Signs and Portents’ by Paul Kane. This short story – included in Children’s Crusade (and collected in ebook edition of Hooded Man) – sets the scene for Arrowland, and takes place in about Year Seven.

Year Eight to Year Nine

13. Arrowland by Paul Kane. A little while has passed since the rise and fall of the Tsar, putting this book at about eight or nine years after the Cull.

One Decade on

14. Dawn Over Doomsday by Jasper Bark. Some years have passed since the Apostolic Church of the Rediscovered Dawn was crippled by the nameless soldier of The Culled in Year Five, placing it about one decade in.

Twenty Years on

15. Blood Ocean by Weston Ochse. This one’s made fairly easy by dint of sheer scale. It’s not clear when exactly the events occur, but it’s clear that people have been born and grown to adulthood never knowing a world before the Cull. Blood Ocean’s set at least twenty years after the virus.

With each new title and each new author bring a whole new perspective and history to the world of The Afterblight we're already really excited to see what the next wave of books brings. Let us know where or when you'd love to see the next title set, either in the comments below or @abaddonbooks on twitter. Plus, why not take advantage of our current Afterblight sale to explore the series more - titles start from just £3 until July 17th 2014.

Journal of the Plague Year is out now in the UK in print and kindle edition, as well being available worldwide through the rebellion store. 

Out in the UK now

*For those new to Afterblight a quick explanation: the series is shared world writing experience. Each book or story contributed is a stand alone title in its own right and you can start the series anywhere you like. As more and more authors contribute to the series new points in the history of The Afterblight are uncovered around the world that may affect future stories. Malcolm Cross, author of Orbital Decay, discusses the experience of contributing to Afterblight in more detail here.

Scrolls Interviews

Scrolls is one of the finest literary podcasts around, so imagine how pleased we were when Dion Winton-Polak, creator of Scrolls, interviewed not one, but two of our Abaddon authors when we met him at the SFX Weekender.

The podcast has now gone up, with interviews from post-apocalyptic author Scott Andrews and steampunk author Jonathan Green from Abaddon, NYT-bestselling author James Lovegrove, sci-fi author Andy Remic from Solaris and also fantasy authors Joe Abercrombie and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Scrolls: Author Interviews

Dion says: "Authors by and large get very little direct feedback from their readers, so make their day and show them your love (and if you’ve enjoyed this episode of Scrolls, for goodness sake let them know that as well. It will increase the likelihood of them letting the bald-nutter-with-the-tiny-microphone interview them again in future.)"

You can contact Scrolls by tweeting @scrollscast, or e-mailing them on scrolls@hotmail.co.uk. Scrolls is now hosted by the dashing chaps of Geek Syndicate.

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Photoblog - The SFX Weekender

So, finally posting some of the great photos we got from the SFX Weekender! Okay, so you had to wait, but do you remember the days when you had to wait at least a week for your holiday snaps? Well, pretend this is like that, alright?

The SFX Weekender saw a great turn-out from the authors of Abaddon Books!

We had Al Ewing, Jonathan Green and Scott Andrews with us for the weekend, signing books, selling books, scaring away loyal fans, singing karaoke, (because as we all know, Abaddon has a fine history of karaoke) and generally helping us spread the Abaddon message to more and more people. What is the Abaddon message, you say? We think it's MORE ZOMBIES. But send us your alternative suggestions...

Scott Andrews wears his Serious Author Face while signing books.

Jonathan Green meets his biggest fan! This guy had all of Jon's science fiction and fantasy books, even ones Jon didn't have copies of himself!

Al Ewing scares away the children. Whe people talk about the New Weird, they're talking about this man.

Al Ewing and Jonathan Green were on a panel, 'Dual Britannia' with the illustrious Bryan Talbot, China Miéville and Kate Griffin, about creating alternate Englands. It was a great panel, and we had a ton of people rush up to the dealer's room afterwards to check out their books!

The Abaddon Pub Hour was a great hit - where fans and authors alike sat down, with drinks, to talk about how to create pulp fiction novels, and to have a laugh brainstorming silly ideas for new pulp novels. You could hear people inside giggling and shouting their ideas even from outside the bar!

The most popular idea turned out to be full of bad puns, enter Mortal Wombat, a world where the time-travelling Dr. Hoof fights evil wombats... or something. David's chart might explain it better than I can.

So, a great time was had by all, thanks to all the authors and to all the fans who made time to meet us to tell us how much they love Abaddon! We love you guys too.

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SFX Weekender Here We Come!

Wotcher all,

We're just about packed and ready to head off to the SFX Weekender, where we hope to see a bunch of you chaps and chapesses for chats, signings, buying our books, buying us beer, and good times.

Couple of highlights we need to let you know about:

- Al Ewing's on a panel at 4pm on Friday about horror in the 21st Century in the cinema room.

- Al's back with Jon Green at 11.45 on Saturday to talk about Alternative Londons (in particular, their experiences with the Pax Britannia series...)

- Al, Jon, Rebecca Levene, Scott Andrews and anyone else we can grab while we're there will be in the pub at 2pm on Saturday for the "Abaddon Pub Hour," when you'll get a chance to talk to your Abaddon authors, get books signed, and ask questions that have been on your minds the whole time you've been reading our stuff.

Finally, Jenni and I (and Ben, for some of the time) will be at the Abaddon traders' stall both days, and will be more than happy to chat with people and generally get our groove on. You'll also probably find Al, Jon, Bex, Scott and others hanging around our stall at one time or another, and we'll have signed copies of our books on sale and stuff like that.

We'll also be blogging, tweeting and vlogging all weekend (I know, I know, I said I was going to do those three vlogs in January; it's been a busier month than I expected), and bothering people in the bar in the evenings.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

David

Reviewy Review

Hey all,

So we should totally have waited, and put these both up at the same time.

It seems Kerl at Un:Bound has been kind enough to review Children's Crusade as well.

The book has a lot of action, and a solid plot as it reveals what’s happened and the events behind it. I’ll definitely be getting the other books to get the full details!

What grabs you though is that at St Mark’s the main actors are children. So the book deals with children from 13 upwards with guns and knives, taught to fight for their lives and resources under Jane's leadership, as well as the other teachers of the school. Think Hit-Girl on a large scale and you start to get the idea.

So she definitely seemed to enjoy it.

Cheers,

David

Children's Crusade

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has posted a review of Scott Andrews' Children's Crusade, here.

And Don't forget to nominate ideas for the Abaddon Halloween pumpkin!!

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Zombies and other stuff...

Two things to blog about today, one, Weston Ochse reports queues out the shop doors on his booksigning tour in Arizona promoting his epic zombie novel Empire of Salt, and sent us some photos to share. (Too bad you didn't take photos of the queues Weston, we're not sure we believe you! Just kidding...)

And secondly, Scott Andrews has done a brief interview here at Pornokitsch about the conclusion to his apocalyptic St. Mark's School trilogy, Children's Crusade, which came out last month.

Also, because it's a bloody fantastic question, I'm going to steal one of Pornokitsch's interview questions and put it to you, dear readers... but you'll have to read the interview to hear Scott's answer!

Zombies attack. You can have one weapon, one sidekick and one song for your zombie-slaying soundtrack. Go...


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Cold Warriors Launch Party

Hi all,

The official Launch Party for Rebecca Levene's The Infernal Game: Cold Warriors took place amidst a modest fanfare last night at the rather snug Phoenix Artist Club on Charing Cross Road. A good time was had by all.

(One of the attendees obligingly pointed out to me that Googlemaps provides you with a street-level view of the venue. Check out the wonders of the twenty-first century, kids.)

Pornokitsch's fabulous Jared Shurin organised and presided over the event, and has put a brief thank you up for everyone here.

No, thank you, Jared. We had a blast.

We sold out of books, met with some very cool people - industry people and fans alike - and generally got our groove on. Bex seemed to enjoy herself, Bex's mum was very nice, and the atmosphere was very warm.

(And warm, actually. It was an underground venue and we were pretty tightly packed, so we got pretty hot.)

Anyway, I ran around with a camera and got some images to remember the occasion by. Here follows my pictorial tour of the evening:

The extraordinary Jared. He and his glamorous partner Anne Perry ran around the whole time, talking to everyone and generally making sure the whole thing went smoothly. He makes it to a lot of cons and things; if you ever get a chance to grab him for a drink and a chat, do so. He's very friendly.

Ms. Levene appeared to be camera-shy, or at least diligently remained on the far side of the room from the book stand, so capturing her on film was a challenge. This was shoot on high zoom through three conversations.

Rebecca is also afraid of public speaking. Her friend Magnus (I should probably know his full name, but regret that I don't) read a sample of the book. She then stood and gave a terrified forty second speech and fled the mic.

Our talented designer and artist Pye Parr, who did the beautiful cover you can see at the top of this post. Looking slightly bewildered that I would choose to photograph him.

At the beginning of the evening, with Ms. Levene's close friends mostly in evidence, they sat down for a meal before the guests arrived. Jenni stood in the way of my shot. Nuisance girl.

I'm explaining to this lady the themes and concepts underlying Transformers. It's not my fault; she asked about my shirt.

Actually, slightly disappointed. Clearly someone else has highjacked my camera and sneakily taken my photo. This doesn't bother me - I absolutely love having my photo taken - but whoever it is (Jenni denies all knowledge) failed to let me know so that I could pose pretentiously. Damn them.

"Jon! Jon! Jonathan! Look over here!" I cried, but in vain.
I guess that dude he was talking to was rilly, rilly interesting.

Scott Andrews was on antibiotics and not drinking - a tragic state of affairs in a room of media lushes - and so decided to give me an "I'm not impressed that you're taking my photo" pose. Nice try, Andrews, but I'm hip to your jive. Putting on a pose to show that you don't want to pose doesn't make sense. It just doesn't work like that.

So, anyway, a splending evening and an auspicious kick-off for an awesome book. Very slightly hungover (I'm more suffering from getting to bed at 2am than anything else) but pleased by the outcome.

Do buy it and read it; your life will be improved by it by a typical 17.2%. This has been proven by scientists; and scientists can't lie. It's genetic or something.

Cheers,

David

Children's Crusade and Cold Warriors out in the UK tomorrow!

Children's Crusade at Amazon.co.uk

Cold Warriors at Amazon.co.uk

(Go here to request tickets to the Cold Warriors launch party in London tomorrow night!)

Pornokitsch interview Scott Andrews Part 2.

I nearly forgot! Here's the second part of that pornokitsch interview with Scott Andrews.

Part One and Part Two.

In the second part of the interview he talks about his new book, Children's Crusade, which is the third part of the School's Out saga. He also chats about crossovers between Afterblight characters, and writing for the Highlander series.

Children's Crusade will be out on May 19th, and is already available for pre-order from amazon books. Here's a shiny, shiny cover for you.

(I may have a slight crush on Tariq. Look at that big smile!)



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Pornokitsch interviews Scott Andrews

Pornokitsch have interviewed our very own Scott Andrews, who chats with them about a number of things including writing about violence, why kids are all vicious little buggers, and his father, the folk singer.

Part One of the interview is here.

If you like what you see, - Pornokitsch also interviewed Rebecca Levene a few days ago - I'm urged to ask you to vote for them as 'one of the bestest review sites ever' over here.

Reviews, and Christmas Special Announcement!

Hi all,

Right, so as promised, a couple of quick reviews:

- Martijn at Mass Movement has penned us this fine review of Al Ewing's The Afterblight Chronicles: Death Got No Mercy.

- And on the subject of Afterblight Chronicles, we've also got this review from 2000AD of Scott Andrews' The Afterblight Chronicles: Operation Motherland, and this one from Mass Movement.

Check 'em out.

Second:



I'm very proud to announce an exciting feature we'll be running over the next couple of weeks: A Very Abaddon Christmas!

As a special treat for you, we've asked our Abaddon authors to write guest blogs for us, telling us what their favourite characters are up to as they settle down to turkey and trimmings, brains, canned SPAM or what-have-you this Christmas. Of course, they're all very busy boys and girls, but a handful of them have been kind enough to oblige us with a little Christmas spirit.

We're launching tomorrow, and will be posting two or three a week up to Christmas Eve, when we will be giving you all a free PDF edition of Jonathan Green's short story "Christmas Past" (previously published in Pax Britannia: Human Nature) to curl up with that night, when (as I'm sure you all will) you head to bed early to listen for the sound of tinkling bells...

Or, uh, the groans of zombies, the rattle of automatic fire, the clash of rapiers, the flash of magic spells going off, or whatever it is gets you to sleep.

Keep an eye on the blog, and enjoy.

Cheers,

David

Bonus Short Story

Hi all,

We've got a bit of a freebie for you today!

Scott Andrews, of Afterblight Chronicles: School's Out and Afterblight Chronicles: Operation Motherland, has written a short story for us, "The Man Who Would Not Be King." It's set just before Operation Motherland, and it's pretty damn funny.

It's available as the sample chapter at the end of Paul Kane's Afterblight Chronicles: Broken Arrow, but I'm happy to present it as a free PDF for readers of the blog right now.

Download it here.

No, that's okay. Don't thank me.

Cheers,

David