Zombies!!

I just had to interrupt your regular broadcast to say - how effing Abaddon Books are these shoes?

Honest to god, I must have these. Like, now. Zombie shoes! They're even in Abaddon colours!!

('Zombie Stomper' high heels by Iron Fist)

If you see a brunette tottering around the next Horror convention wearing these, it's probably me. Help me back to the Abaddon and Solaris Books table as I can't walk in high heels to save my life. And yet I still want these shoes. (Hey, who needs to actually walk? I'll just sit and look at them.) Which reminds me - I'm going to be at WHC in Brighton and Eastercon in London in a few weeks, comment if you're going!


Right, back to proofing Weston Ochse's Empire of Salt, his zombie novel for our Tomes of the Dead line. It's brilliant, by the way. One thing that completely jumps out at me is the setting, he really makes me want to visit the Salton Sea, (although not if it's full of zombies, obviously! I'd be rubbish with a shotgun). It just sounds like such a spooky, interesting place.

If you don't know already, (and I didn't) the Salton Sea is a large lake in California that was once hailed as a tourist resort, although due to environmental problems the water is getting saltier and saltier, the fish are dying out and tourism has decreased.* There're loads of abandoned holiday houses and motels, - in short, it's a really spooky setting for a zombie story!

I love ghost town photography of abandoned places, so here's two photos from the Salton Sea to get you in the right frame of mind... The book's out at the end of April!

Right, back to work...**

(photo of an abadoned motel by 'pretzelpaws' taken from wikipedia)

The Olivers have a chance to make a new home at Salton Sea. Looking forward to California fun, sun and adventure they are unprepared for the ecological devastation they find. The sea is rotting, the town of Bombay Beach is dying and the citizens are like bait, waiting to be plucked from their homes by what comes from the sea. Beware the coming of the green, they say. Beware the coming of the night...

('Ghost town photography' by Steve Bingham)


*There's lots of information over here at the Salton Sea Restoration website if you're interested in the hows and whys of this.
** This proofreading would totally be more fun if I was wearing zombie shoes. Now where's my credit card...

Aliens vs. Predator

Just a big shout out to our colleagues in Rebellion Video Games, who you may or may not know that we at Abaddon and Solaris Books share an office with. Their recently released game Aliens vs. Predator is currently number one on all platforms in the UK, beating games such as BioShock 2! It's also the fastest-selling game in the UK of 2010!

Props to be you, guys! Guess all those months of making us poor publishers listen to weird alien noises coming from the sound room actually came to something, huh?

-

Gemmell Award: Vote Now!

Hi all,

As I'm sure I mentioned, Mike Wild's Twilight of Kerberos: The Crucible of the Dragon God (cover by Mark Harrison) and Matthew Sprange's Twilight of Kerberos: Night's Haunting (cover by Greg Staples) have both been longlisted for the David Gemmell Award, in both the Legend (for best heroic fantasy) and Ravenheart (for best cover art) categories.

Current voting is for the short-list, to be published in April, and ends on March 31st; there will be another round of voting, the details for which will be given when the shortlist comes out.

The Gemmell Award is relatively new - this will be the second award - but already well supported and quite widely recognised, and winning either category will be a great coup for the author or cover artist (and for us). So be sure and jump on the website, sign up and get your votes in!

Cheers,

David

eBooks, redux

Hello all,

Right. For those of you eagerly awaiting the latest Ulysses S. Quicksilver (dandy and secret agent) adventure in electronic format, Jonathan Green's Evolution Expects is now available from Mobipocket and our other usual vendors.

"Why is this newsworthy, David?" I hear you cry, "loads of Abaddon books have gone up as eBooks over the last few months, and you don't normally make a great hue and cry about individual titles. What gives?"

Quite right, because &E7's output is so prodigious it would be futile keeping up. Futile!

But this is a bit special. Those of you who read the hardcopy books - and you really should - will know that the Pax Britannia titles normally have lovely borders, twiddly Victoriana stuff around the chapter heads, mock-newspaper adverts for hair tonic and the like. Stuff which is normally hard to convey through the slightly limited mark-up tools of eBook designers.

But &E7 has been hard at work, exploiting new developments, tweaking the paramaters of the software, and generally making the design tools his bitch. And now Evolution Expects is out with all those bits kept in. Yes, Virginia, you can enjoy both the convenience of electronic reading and the beauty of our fine gentlemen's adventure chapbooks...

David

eBooks!

ROBO-&E7, the eBooks 'bot, has just rolled over to our booth, one wheel broken and trailing a USB lead, and asked us for requests for eBooks. So head on over to Mobipocket, check out our titles, and let us know any Abaddon book we don't currently have available that you'd like to see. There's only five or six yet to come - some of our latest titles - but put up a request here or email us to tell us your preference, and we'll let the little guy know.

Greetings from your Evil Over Lord

Hello

It has been many moons since I last posted here and I must apologise for my luddite, non-net savvy ways, but haven't Jenni and David been ace in keeping all ticking along? But, you know, I thought that I should show my face now and again and remind you that I am watching over you all... especially you. Yes you! Put it away! Honestly.

Anyway, as always things have been uber busy with busy on top here at the Abaddon manse, and that's because we have so many ace things in the pipeline. Obviously our most recent release is my own tome Twilight of Kerberos: Call of Kerberos and many thanks to those of you who have said such nice things about the book. There will indeed be a sequel at some point next year.

But even more exciting than this are the goodies we have coming up for you this year. There will be Weston Ochse's chilling zombie horror Tomes of The Dead: Empire of Salt in April and two new series this spring. Yes two! These are The Infernal Game: Ghost Dance by Rebecca Levene and No Man's World: Black Hand Gang by Pat Kelleher. My design minions have created these two lovely covers:

And these are just a handful of the lovelies coming up. For behold, there will be more in the Twilight of Kerberos series. Feast ye, on the covers of Greg of Staples:

And now, because we are down with the kids and love technology (but not quite as much a Kip in Napoleon Dynamite) you can get virtually all our Abaddon titles in e-book format.

Now to talk about 2011 because even though - to you - that seems a long way away, in publishing terms it's next Monday and we're all running around trying to figure out what to put your way. Two new commissions have already happened. The first being a Tomes of The Dead novel called The Viking Dead by debut novelist Toby Venables. More on this very soon, but let me just say that the pitch was the business. Zombies, Vikings, weird goings on = Win! I'm also very pleased to say that we will be doing further Pax Britannia novels, the first of which next year will be Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein. It's a pleasure to continue to work with Jonathan Green on this series and I can promise you that this steampunk pulp adventure will go from strength to strength.

And, what is more (yes more my pulp hungry friends), there is going to be a NEW series launching in 2011. David Moore - my erstwhile Desk Editor - is helming this up and we're going through the pitches at the moment. Not to give too much away, but this will be a new take on a very well known fantasy legend. We're already getting in some great ideas and it looks like this one is going to be a real winner.

Anyway, that is all for now. I shall retreat to my lair to pour over forbidden tomes and strange brews, or whatever it is us evil editor overlords are supposed to do.

Until next we meet, happy reading!

Jon Oliver

(Editor-evil-emeritus)

Dinosaur Zombies!

Ooh! Ooh! Check it out. Dinosaur Zombies.

Zombies: quite scary. Dinosaurs: also quite scary. Zombie dinosaurs: Chuck Norris.

"Wait!" I hear you cry. "Wait! Surely zombie dinosaurs aren't much scarier than regular variety dinosaurs!"

But no, gentle reader. Do you know why?

Tiny, hard to hit brains.

Two tiny, hard to hit brains.

You're running away from Zombisaurus Rex, right; you're doing well, lots of ammo, got one of them Jurassic Park-themed jeeps. Okay. Ol' Z-Rex corners you, and blam! You let him have it in the head.

Nothing.

Dude's totally still coming.

He's got a massive layer of bone and a tiny, tiny brain.

His mate Zombegasaurus comes along, and okay, not so much of a thick skull, maybe you'll hit his peanut-size grey matter, but bam! Fecker's got a spare down in his tail!

Doomed! All of you!

For real.

David

PS: Jenni wants it on record that she came up with the idea.

SFX Weekender: Eleventh Post

(Following on fron the tenth post, just here.)

So, a quick wrap post for our adoring fans. Here is Mr. Al Ewing serenading us with Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell's "Fever" on the Karaoke stage at the SFX Weekender on Saturday. Yes, his voice is really that deep. No, he's not putting it on.

He also gave us a memorable rendition of Larry Weiss's "Rhinestone Cowboy," and I offered Satchmo's "What a Wonderful World" (okay, I did put it on, but rather well if I say so myself) and the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" (I also gloriously cocked up the Gorillaz' "Clint Eastwood," but the less said about that the better; let's just say that Del tha Funkee Homosapien's job is in no danger just yet), but they were sadly not captured.

Then on to the Masquerade Ball, DJ'ed by Pat Sharp. Do you know what? He's not all that. I danced a couple of songs, thought "blow this for a lark," and went and found some friends.

Crashed out at a fairly responsible 2am, did some last minute packing, and cleared out around 11.30 on Sunday. Our wonderful PR girl left her mobile at Clackett Lane services and I had to drive back and forth on the M25 for half an hour, but an otherwise uneventful drive and a splendid weekend had by all.

And that more or less wraps it up. Some final images I didn't get around to including:

There were more David Tennant cosplayers than you could shake a stick at. There were, in fact, no other Doctor Who cosplayers that I could see (not withstanding one bloke in a multicoloured scarf, who may have been trying for the world's worst Tom Baker impression, or may just really dig long multicoloured scarves; I will leave it up to history to decide that one), although I had it on good authority that there was a Troughton cosplayer.

I mean, good show that man. Troughton's a courageous decision and one of my favourite Whos. But, you know, I didn't see him.

Our very own Jonathan Green signing one of his Ulysses S. Quicksilver books for a fan. Jon wasn't in for the long haul - I believe he has a tiny one at home, so fair play - but he kicked around for about a day, and I had a chance to chat with him and capture an interview for the next podcast.

And finally, the resident 2000AD artists Leigh Gallagher and Clint Langley did some sketches live at the event: here's Leigh with Defoe and a zombie, and Clint with a massive Dredd.

I believe they were given away as prizes, which must have been a good coup for someone.

Right. Off to get some more caffeine.

David

SFX Weekender: Ninth Post

Eighth post is here.

So, yeah, some more costumes for you. Pretty cool, I thought.




Part ten here.

SFX Weekender: Seventh Post

Sixth and final post last night is here.

So we hit a bar in Rye last night to have a bit of a drink and get down. Here's us around the table.

Not me, obviously. I'm holding the camera.

The taxi driver recommended it to us. We walked in and Brian Glover shouted at us to keep off the moors and stick to the path.

Well, he didn't, really, because he's dead and that would have been creepy. Also awesome.

Seriously, it was quite a nice pub and they were quite friendly.

The DJ was extraordinary. He'd brought about fifty CDs with him and was all "yeah, come up and let me know any requests!"

Fifty.

So we went up and asked, but even trying to be as cheese-friendly as we could, we had about a 30% hit rate. His face fell every time we asked, but he was so happy every time he could help. It was kind of half-DJ, half-Spaniel.

So now it's Day Two of the con (Day Three onsite). Tired, bleary, slightly hungover.

Living the dream, baby. Living the dream.

Eighth post, for those reading the whole thing in order, is here.

SFX Weekender: Fifth Post

Fourth Post is here.

Check these out. They got girls on stilts wandering around freaking people out.

Mmm... giant, terrifying women in fishnets.

Next post is here.

SFX Weekender: Third Post

So the Second Post is up on the Solaris blog.

And the con is in full swing. We're selling books - Paul Kane's Arrowhead and Broken Arrow are quite successful today, as are Scott Andrews' Lee Keegan books - chatting folk up, and pottering about.

Our very own (and 2000 AD's) Al Ewing has been up for a comic-writing workshop along with 2000 AD's Leigh Gallagher, talking up the audience and getting them to call out plot ideas while Leigh drew.

The ideas posed a bit of a challenge, in the end; they ended up writing a story about Dredd investigating an MP who bought porn on expenses, only to discover that the porn was poisonous.

Hm.

At any rate, above is Al rocking the mic like a born MC, and below is Leigh getting his penmanship on.

Fourth post is here.

SFX Weekender: First Post

Hi all,

As promised, I am blogging live from the SFX Weekender, where I will be updating you intermittently throughout the day.

So we got on site yesterday after my first time ever driving a van - a harrowing, but in the end reassuringly straightforward experience - and went for a pint. Because that's how we roll.

Then we unloaded the van and had another pint.

Then we went to find our chalets and had another pint.

Then we wandered around Camber looking for a fictional restaurant, gave up, grabbed some supermarket pizza and came back for another pint.

Limped out of bed at around 8.30 (or so; some got up earlier than later), sorted the boxes a little and saw these guys.

Do you suppose convention stormtrooper guys turn up, see other convention stormtrooper guys, and think, "Oh my god! Somebody else came dressed as the same thing! I'm going to just die."

No?

Whatever.

Breakfast at some horrifying cafe where the woman made us fix her lights before we were allowed to sit down - this is actually true - and back to set the stall up.

More as the day progresses. I'm really just in it for Tom Baker.

The second post is here.

Seriously...

...what the f*ck is wrong with these people?

A couple of scientists in France have experimented with allowing robots to evolve skills like co-operation and hunting.

"The researchers described 'spider' hunting techniques among the bots in which hunters would lie in wait for prey (which in this case, fortunately, consisted of other robots)."

Yeah, for the time being, assholes.

The one thing we had over the relentless titanium-clawed harbingers of our destruction was evolution. We were better than them, and had a reasonable chance of remaining better than them over the generations as they crushed our children under their terrible feet, until one day a man would rise as a leader to overthrow the metallic overlords, to a sound-track by Guns 'N' Roses. Now, one of them will probably rise up to fight him, and it'll have lasers.

In the meantime, the US Army has equipped robots with actual guns. Some 3000 of the psychotic little bastards are actually in use now. I don't care if you've given them a cute name like "SWORDS." Don't get them used to being armed! Seriously, did South Africa teach us nothing?

I give up. Clearly, as a species, we want to eaten by blood-drinking, lamprey-eel-brain-controlled, intelligent, climbing, gun-toting machines. I'm stocking my bunker now. We'll see who's laughing/receiving a court injunction when Skynet goes live.



In other news, we're heading off to the SFX Weekender shortly. If you're coming, be sure to swing by our table. Otherwise, I'll be slinging up Tweets and blogposts over the course of the next few days.

See you soon!

David

SFXWeekender Tomorrow!

We're heading off to SFXWeekender tomorrow!

This time tomorrow I'll be driving a huge rental van somewhere along the M25, shouting at other drivers, The Bloodhound Gang blaring out of the stereo.

Then this time Friday, Jonathan Oliver, Paul Kane and I'll be nobbing with the stars of science-fiction and fantasy, getting on down and generally having a good time.

If you're coming, make sure and drop by the 2000AD/Abaddon/Solaris stand and say "hi." We'll be chuffed to chat.

I'll try and sling Twitter (@AbaddonBooks) and blog posts up periodically over the weekend.

Cheers,

David

Special Announcement

It's official. "Exemplary" is the new "awesome."

Seriously, "awesome" is getting a bit long in the tooth, isn't it?

"Exemplary." You know it makes sense.

The Podcast is Here!

Hi all,

Slightly delayed, but The Abaddon & Solaris Books Pocast is here! Point your iTunes to this link, or search "Abaddon" (or "Solaris") in the "Search Store" box at the top-right corner of iTunes, to download what is already being called* the most influential podcast of 2010.

Thrill as the editors and staff at Abaddon Books and Solaris Books - two of the fastest-rising stars of Fantasy, SF and Horror publishing - have a lovely cup of tea. Wonder as we chat about our books, other people's books, the state of the industry, and whatever random crap pops into our heads. Er... Glow as we ruthlessly grill special guest authors, listen to readings, and hear convention reports and special announcements.

The first podcast, The Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast #1: Evil Fish Demons!, featuring the roguishly-charming, ruggedly handsome and debonair David Moore and Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Oliver - author of our current release Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos - is available now. This is literally the most important thing that has ever happened; missing it will make the rest of your piteously wasted life a hollow, wretched sham.


Did I go over the top just now? I'm never sure where to pitch these things. Never mind.

Download it. Listen to it. Let us know what you think.

Awesome.

Cheers,

David


*by my mum.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Not on iTunes, and have sworn to end your life rather than download a single Apple application? Here to help! Just point your RSS client here to download the feed without putting a penny in Steve Jobs' pocket. Keep an eye on the blog for updates, in case we change the host or something crazy like that.
  
• Bewildered by the term "RSS" and unsure what all this means? No problem, ignorant Luddite! Just follow the exact same link, click on the link to the mp3 of the episode you wish to hear, and you can listen right on your browser! Everyone's a winner!

Err...

So... would you believe that the iTunes page tells you they review each new podcast before it goes live, but not how long it takes?

I mean, surely they have people for this, yeah? Steve Jobs, I'm looking at you...

We sent it in first thing this morning, hoping that we could proudly announce it had gone live sometime in the afternoon, but not a sniff so far. Hopefully it will go live before we go home, but if not, we're sorry we got your hopes up, and we hope you enjoy it tomorrow!

Watch this space...

An Announcement

MORE exciting than today's release of the new Apple tablet!!*

Tomorrow, we will release the very first Abaddon and Solaris Books Podcast! iPods at the ready, folks!

The first installment, EVIL FISH DEMONS!, features news on upcoming books, our thoughts on life and general nonsense, David Moore being a cheeky bugger, and an interview and reading from Jon Oliver, author of Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos and Editor-in-Chief of Abaddon and Solaris.

*Abaddon Books can neither confirm nor deny rumours that Steve Jobs, reduced to tears by the fear that our podcast release would eclipse the release of his Tablet, begged us to delay our podcast until tomorrow. Thanks for the flowers, chocolates and escort girls, Steve.


-

Off to Press!

Hey all,

Just to let you know Rebecca Levene's Cold Warriors has been sent off to press.

It should be coming out in the spring.

Ooh....

David

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!)



-

Well, duh...

Okay, obviously I shouldn't blog critically about authors, because, if nothing else, most of them read this.

Hi, guys. :)

But I love authors who tell me that people have two eyes. Or two legs.

"She looked at me, love in her two brown eyes..."

Not looking at anyone in particular, because most of you do it once in a while, so don't sweat it.

But, you know, we know how many eyes people have.

David

Podcast!

The first ever Abaddon and Solaris Books podcast is being recorded by David Moore and Jonathan Oliver right now!

-

Call of Kerberos!

Hey all,

I'm now holding a copy of Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos in my hot little hands. Not actually at this moment, of course; I'm typing. I'd have to type one-handed, and that would be awkward. Look, why am I even explaining myself to you? It's a figure of speech. Don't judge me.

Anyway, it's even now winging its way through the tortuous labyrinth that is the contemporary distribution system, and will be hitting the shelves in a week or so, so all you Kerberos fans dying to get your hands on the next book can take a measured breath. Not long yet.

Our busy little eBook elves are frantically adapting it to electronic format as well, so it should be available in our Mobipocket shop at the same time as it hits the shelves! Vive le Revolution Electronique!

Kick ass.

David

Join Abaddon at the SFX Weekender!

Hi all,

As you probably know, Jon Oliver, Paul Kane and I are heading to the SFX Weekender in February, along with some of our wonderful colleagues, artists and writers at 2000AD. It should be an absolute blast, and I hope to see some of you there.

And now's your chance! 2000AD has 150 four-person day-passes for the whole weekend to give away. All you need to do is sort out somewhere to stay yourself.

Full details are here.

If you can't get onto Facebook, the quick version is: call 08700 11 00 34 (national rates apply) in the next two days and quote "2ADWIN." You'll be entered into a random prize draw.

Go on, call them. Do it now. See you there.

David

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.

Hello Again!

Did you miss me? Don't be coy, I know you did.

No, you did.

No, really. You're upsetting me now.



Okay, now I'm blushing. No need to overdo it. Sheesh.

So, yes, we've been well busy in the Abaddon slave pits, being whipped and beaten by our terrible masters, trying to catch up on a variety of backlogs. Still lots to do, but I'm going to try and make sure I keep you guys up to date and don't neglect you for so long again. Many thanks for Jenni for posting an update while I was being rubbish.

Not masses of news on the Abaddon front at the moment (but keep an eye on Solaris, which is keeping us very busy as well), as we're too busy getting two whole new series up and running. In case you're blind or don't actually have a computer (and are reading this on a print-out that someone else made of the blog and then discarded in the alleyway where you curl up under a pathetic heap of trash each night for a few hours' restless, terrified slumber), they're The Infernal Game (starting with Cold Warriors) and No Man's World (starting with Black Hand Gang). We are, needless to say, very excited about them.

In the immediate term, remember that Jon Oliver, Paul Kane and I will be at the SFXWeekender in the beginning of February, which will be awesome. So if you're coming, be sure and hunt us out.

And that's it for nonce (it means "for the time being" as well as "paedophile"; look it up).

I'll write another rant soonish. It may be about zombies, but I make no promises.

David

Pornokitsch interviews Rebecca Levene

Happy New Year from all at Abaddon Books!

Hope you enjoyed our Very Abaddon Christmas (and, if you missed it, scroll back through the blog because it was stonkin' great), and that you all had a great holiday.

Here's a treat for the new year - the fantastic folks at Pornokitsch have posted an interview with our very own Rebecca Levene, click here to read Part One and Part Two. ere's an excerpt:-

What can you tell us about Cold Warriors (2010 release)? Occult spies chasing down apocalyptic artifacts... it sounds fantastic.

Cold Warriors is the first in a new series created and written by me for Abaddon, called The Infernal Game. It’s coming out in May next year, and it’s best described as a cross between The Bourne Identity and The Omen. Here’s the blurb:

‘You died 20 years ago. Welcome back.’

At the peak of the Cold War, the British secret service formed the Hermetic Division, an agency charged with using supernatural means to defend the nation. Its primary mission: to find the mysterious Ragnarok artefacts, said to have the power to end the world.

Tomas Len was the Hermetic Division’s most senior agent, until he volunteered to take part in a dangerous voodoo ceremony. Morgan Hewitt is a young assassin who has an unnatural affinity for death, which strikes everyone he cares about.

Together, they’re sent on the trail of a corrupt Russian oligarch rumoured to be selling one of the Ragnarok artefacts. The journey will take them across Europe and into the darkest reaches of the occult. And it will uncover the terrible secret that has shaped both their lives…

-

"A Very Abaddon Christmas" Part 5: Christmas Past

Hi all,

Okay, here it is. As promised, you will be baked and there will be Christmas cake.

Yep, it's the fifth and final "A Very Abaddon Christmas"! I was gonna save this until Christmas Eve, but it was suggested that people might have turned off their computers and focused on family and stuff by then - as if you would abandon me - so it's going up a few days early. To get the full experience, go away and come back on Thursday.

And we're giving you something a little bit special. Because the final piece, Jonathan Green's "Christmas Past," is a full-length short story, we're giving it to you in PDF form or as a free eBook! The eBook comes with a signed christmas card just for you good boys and girls.

The story itself, fair warning, appeared in the back of Jon Green's Pax Britannia: Human Nature. If you've already read it and are naturally aggrieved to be given the same thing again, email me and I'll, I dunno, send you a picture of a Christmas robot or something.

To introduce the eBook, here is the Abaddon eBooks 'bot, &e7:

The eBook ‘bot has been festooned with tinsel and tiny USB powered coloured lights for the festive season although a stray piece of tinsel must have caused a short because it’s started making an odd burning smell now.

If you go to www.abaddonbooks.com/download you’ll find a seasonal gift from the eBooks team in the form of a FREE Pax Britannia short story. This little edition’s got a couple of extras tucked away in it and some news of upcoming titles.

We’ve been having a fiddle about with some new formatting and graphics – let us know what you think of the new styling, especially on iPhone or iPod Touch.

&e7

To get your free gift, follow the following links:

For the eBook: http://www.abaddonbooks.com/download

For the PDF: http://www.abaddonbooks.com/downloads/sample/christmas_past.pdf

If you somehow don't have an eReader and want the Christmas Card, you can download Adobe Digital Editions and read the .epub version of the book right on your computer.

Enjoy and have a safe and happy Christmas, with an acceptable minimum of zombies.

Thanks,

David and the Abaddon Team

"A Very Abaddon Christmas" Part 4: 'Twas the Night Before Giftfest

Hey all,

Right, we're not quite onto brandy and mince pies yet, so let's call this... the cheese course. Yeah, that's right. The cheese course.

Actually, it's pretty appropriate.

For the fourth instalment in that noted, ground-breaking guest-blogging event, A Very Abaddon Christmas, Mike Wild has given us a little ditty from Twilight of Kerberos.

"What's that?" I hear you cry. "Surely there's no Christmas on Twilight! It's, like, a fantasy world! David, what can you be saying?"

Think again, my good man. Think again.

’Twas the Night Before Giftfest

A Twilight of Kerberos: The Crucible of the Dragon God Story

By Mike Wild

’Twas the night before Giftfest, when through Kali’s pub
Not a worgle was stirring, nor Horse for his grub
Hooper’s stockings were slung by the fireplace, oh yeah
Where Slowhand caressed them, his body all bare

Dolorosa, meanwhile, was high up on the roof
There confronting a man and strange creatures on hoof
What’s that you say, fat boy, about goodwill and peace?
You go near that chimney I stabba you like theees!

Kali, through all this, lay betwattled in bed
While visions of Old Races whirled in her head
She hated the holidays, she thought they were crap
And the dwarves and elves called her, from the old map

Suddenly down in her belly there rumbled a groan
She sprang from her blankets and uttered a moan
Away to the window she flew with a “gack!”
Tore open the shutters and threw up her Thwack

Below in the courtyard a man dressed in red
Wiped away vomit from the top of his head
He sighed, all he’d wanted was to empty his sack
But after this, fark ‘em, he’d take it all back

Come the next morning not a present was seen
Once more it seemed the Laughing Lord hadn’t been
From pirates and Slowhand, Kali, Moon and the dragons
A Very Happy Giftfest from the Here There Be Flagons.