FantasyCon... the poem!

One thing I totally forgot to mention in my blog post about That There FantasyCon...

During Jon's panel on "Blurring Genres" (pictured right), a member of the audience wrote an actual poem about the panel! Right then and there! He quietly slipped to the front, passed the poem to Jon to read and returned to his seat, and read out it duly was. The poem ran as follows:

"Blurring Genres"

The monkey tennis failed to ignite,
And Octopus TV did not feel right,
Vampire Romance is a bloated mess,
Though I read Harry Potter I must confess,
The stone age 'tec could work quite well,
But on stone punk stories we won't dwell,
Romantic Zombies and ghostly M.P.s
Frankenstein's Monster doing strip tease,
You can blend your genres, mix your themes,
It's only agents who will crush your dreams.

I would love to give you the FantasyCon laureate's name, but sadly his signature is tricky to make out. If anyone has any idea who this earnest chap was, we'll gladly credit him, because frankly, this was awesome.

Cheers,

David

That There FantasyCon

Hey,

So, we did go to that there FantasyCon everyone's talking about, and we had a blast.

I think. Truth be told, we had quite a bit to drink on Friday and sort of lost track. We... we may have a problem.

So we got to the beautiful, slightly-run-down-but-all-the-more-interesting-for-it Royal Albion about fifteen minutes before Jon's first panel, on the blurring of genre:

L-R: Paul Finch, Benedict Jacks, Jon (clearly), Lynda Rucker, Jon Green

Same panel, artier new angle-shot! Jon Green's early pint more prominently displayed.

There were genres, they blurred them. Aw, yeah.

It was an interesting panel, tackling the idea of genres as marketing constructs or as demanded by the readership, blurring as innovation (and how a lot of our most hoary genre tropes started out with people breaking the tropes of their day), about whether current writers - including our panelists - see themselves as part of a given genre or constrained by them, or the genre stretches and fits to their writing, that sort of thing. Heavy fare, given we hadn't had lunch yet...

Then we unloaded the car, checked in and set about meeting up with friends old and new - I was deeply gratified how many of both there were, actually; met some wonderful people over the weekend - and getting our serious drink on. We headed down to the front for some utterly amazing tapas with the fabulous Glen Mehn, Amanda Hemingway and Rob Spalding (we tried to coordinate some sort of mutual dinner with a crowd from Quercus, but it turns out that "the tapas place down near the front" is a spectacularly unhelpful description in Brighton). On the way back, I tried for the obligatory nighttime arty photo:

Jon, Glen and Amanda. Really, this was going to be a lovely shot: huge full moon framed by clouds, beautiful regency hotel, the Wheel, just lovely. Alas, street lights kind of made it all look a bit crap. Also, I was drunk.

Saturday was a bit of a rush, as we went to the excellent morning "Ask the Editors" panel (we were slightly tempted to heckle, but we were good), then Jon's reading, then more networking, then sorting out the big Giveaway, then sorting out the Magic launch, then more readings, then more networking, then more dinner, then...

It was a brilliant day, actually. The Giveaway was a huge hit, with the queues heading out into the reception area and everyone really excited about picking up our books and meeting the authors. The Magic launch was one of the best attended of the weekend, near as I can tell, with more signings and lots of copies sold and lots of chatter, and the readings I went to were all amazing (sadly no photos of either the Giveaway or the launch, as I was busy doing things in both).

We were just about sober and recovered (for a given value) in time for the disco, where Jon and I both cut some serious rugs and got to enjoy the sight of Gary McMahon properly losing his shit to Footloose and the inimitable Gardner Goldsmith in danger of losing everybody else's shit to Firestarter and Kung Fu Fighting. Brilliant work on Rio Youers' and Sarah Pinborough's part, there (sadly no photos of the disco as I was busy dancing; also, I have some reservations as to whether said photos would be considered suitable for public consumption...).

Too little sleep and the second slightly disappointing fried breakfast in a row later, we were back in the bar for some more meeting and catch up and talking nonsense, and then it was time for the banquet and awards ceremonies. Every winner was worthy and wholly deserved, and we're immensely pleased and proud for our friends who won awards (we didn't win ours, sadly).

All in all, it was a blast of a weekend, and there was an amazing energy and enthusiasm to the whole thing; if anything, the controversies surrounding last year's con were the best thing that could have happened, as so many people seemed so determined to rediscover the enthusiasm that informs the con and put on the best show possible. We saw and met more people than we deserve to know, and spent less time with anyone than we'd have liked, and are desperately looking forward to next year's World Fantasy Con.

Oh, and all the readers had to sign and wear this hat, which was cool.

Good times.

Fantasycon 2012 ahoy!

So, as some of you may know, this weekend sees Fantasycon return to Brighton for a full weekend of genre madness and myself (being Jonathan Oliver) and David Moore (esteemed editor) will be in attendance and our schedules will be as following:

FRIDAY

Blurring Genre Boundaries - Panel - 2pm-3pm, Fitzherbert

Jonathan Oliver (mod), Jonathan Green, Paul Finch and Benedict Jacka discuss genre mash-ups and how blurring the boundaries between genres widens the playground in which genre writers can explore their stories.

SATURDAY

Jonathan Oliver  - Reading - 11.30am - Room 134

I will be reading my new ghost story 'Tea and Sympathy' for anyone who fancies it.

The Big Solaris Book Give Away - 1pm-2pm - Regency Lounge

Get your hands of some of our books for absolutely nothing and meet some of our fabulous authors. A modicum of wine will also be on offer.

The Magic launch - 2pm-3pm - Bar Rouge

Get your hands on a copy of our new anthology, Magic, before it hits the shops and get it signed by the authors in attendance, as well as having a wee drink on us. The book will be sold for the special convention price of £7.

So, we shall see you there. Come say Hi and ply us with alcohol and praise!

Jonathan Green up for Steampunk Award!

We are thrilled to announce that both Anno Frankenstein and Red-Handed (Part one of Time's Arrow) have been nominated in the Best Novel category in the Victorian Steampunk Society Awards.

The winner will be announced at the Asylum convention. Details of which can be found here.

Mr Green himself will be in attendance. At 11am on the Sunday 9th September he will be doing a reading and at 1pm on the same day he will be on a panel called 'Write a Cog in it' along with Jema Hewitt and Raven Dane.

Jonathan will be in attendance at the convention from Friday evening and will also be there selling books on Saturday.

Launching School's Out Forever with Scott K. Andrews on 7th September

Cannibalistic gangs, teenagers with a taste for crucifixion, and religious fanatics - being a teenager can be hell sometimes.

Oh, and almost everyone you knew is dead.

School's Out Forever is the brand new omnibus of tales from The Afterblight Chronicles, Abaddon's post-apocalyptic series, and author Scott K. Andrews will be at launching this tasty tome at Forbidden Planet in London on Friday 7th September! Scott will be there to sign copies, and probably swap tales of survival, from 6pm to 7pm.

Be there or be the dinner lady no-one liked...

Coming in October: the thrilling climax to the No Man’s World trilogy!

No Man’s World:

The Alleyman

by Pat Kelleher

Battle resumes 9^th October (US & Canada) and 11^th October (UK)

£7.99 (UK)

ISBN 978-1-78108-024-5

$9.99/$12.99 (US & CAN)

ISBN 978-1-78108-025-2

Also available as an ebook

“Abaddon are onto a real winner with this series.”

– Total Sci-Fi Online

“Meticulous historical detail, with a pulse-pounding pulp plot.”

– Red Rook Review on Black Hand Gang

It’s been four months since the Pennine Fusiliers vanished from the Somme and found themselves stranded on an alien world.

The Tommies have been surviving on this bizarre planet populated by lethal foliage and hostile human-like insects while desperately trying to find a way back to Blighty.

In The Alleyman, while Lieutenant Everson tries to discover the true intentions of their alien prisoner, Lance Corporal Atkins and his Black Hand Gang are on the trail of Jeffries, the diabolist responsible for their predicament. And above it all, Lieutenant Tulliver of the Royal Flying Corps soars free of the confines of alien gravity, where the true scale of the planet’s mystery is revealed. To uncover the truth, however, he must join forces with an unexpected ally.

A blazing mixture of genre-shattering SF, meticulously researched history, and powerful storytelling, The Alleyman is the third in this enthralling and exhilarating series.

Other books in the series:

Black Hand Gang 

9781906735845 (UK) 978-1906735357 (US & Canada)

The Ironclad Prophecy

9781907992155 (UK) 978-1907992162 (US & Canada)

Join Abaddon Books and Scott K. Andrews this September, as class is dismissed ……... permanently!

School’s Out Forever

by Scott K. Andrews

Class is dismissed September 13th (UK) and September 18th (US & Canada)

£10.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-78108-026-9

$12.99/$14.99 (US & CAN) ISBN978-1-78108-027-6

Also available as an ebook

 It’s not easy being a kid. But when almost everyone and everything you knew is dead, school may be the only thing keeping you alive.

With most of the world’s population now wiped out, the surviving pupils of St Mark’s School for Boys and Girls must defend themselves against cannibalistic gangs, religious fanatics, a bullying prefect with a taste for crucifixion, and even the remnants of the US Army.

Mixing Lord of the Flies with The Hunger Games, School’s Out Forever is the latest omnibus from The Afterblight Chronicles. Scott K. Andrews’ St Mark’s Trilogy books are a visceral, terrifying trio of stories that brings a new twist to the post-apocalyptic dystopia – all viewed through the eyes of children.

With the first in the series already optioned for a movie with Multistory Films, this new omnibus collects the complete trilogy and is packed with strong characters, action, and a truly killer concept.

“Youthful idealism conflicts with jaded experience, and the characters are frequently forced to balance ruthless efficiency with utopian optimism… A lot of provocative discussion sneaks in under the cover of machine gun fire.”

– Pornokitsch on Kitchsie Award Finalist Children’s Crusade

Write for Abaddon!

Write an Abaddon Novella!

Abaddon Books is celebrating its sixth birthday this summer, and we’ve come a looong way in that time: nearly eighty original novels in ten shared-world series, not to mention fistfuls of short stories and novellas and some quite beautiful omnibus editions. We’ve learned a lot and done a great deal of which we’re very proud, and are looking forward to a pretty exciting future.

And we’ve kept a strong identity throughout. Abaddon’s books are pacy and action-filled, but smart and sharp, with characters that pull you in and challenge you. And our stories are all at least a little dark, whatever the genre.

And, perhaps more than anything, Abaddon provides a channel for launching new, upcoming writers, keen to strut their stuff and show the world what they’ve got. We gave the talented and irascible Chuck Wendig his fiction debut, not to mention the wildly imaginative Al Ewing; uncovered Kitschie-nominee Scott K. Andrews, and gave the brilliant Gary McMahon, Pat Kelleher and Toby Venables their mainstream fiction debuts. And we’re still looking for new talent to give a leg-up to.

Moving On

So what’s next? The likes of Pax Britannia, Tomes of the Dead and The Afterblight Chronicles got us noticed, and we’ve loved working on them. We were, if you’ll forgive the smugness, doing zombies, post-apocalypse and steampunk before it was cool. But everyone else is on the bandwagon now, and with around a dozen books in each series under our belts, the last thing we would want to do is get tied down. Obviously we’re not saying goodbye to these great lines just yet, but we’ve got to keep breaking ground!

So with that in mind, we’ve been launching new series. Over the past few years, we’ve kicked off the gothic espionage series The Infernal Game, the dark-Arthurian “found manuscript” series Malory’s Knights of Albion, and the WWI classic-pulp-style scientific romance No Man’s World, and our authors have blown us away every time. This year saw the launch of Eric Brown’s eerie space-opera world Weird Space, and we’ve got even more exciting projects planned for the coming year, with two new novels kicking off two more shiny new worlds.

Looking Back

But we’re not giving up on our beloved old worlds! Chuck’s done us a novella-length follow-up of Tomes of the Dead: Double Dead called Bad Blood, and Scott K. Andrews has written a novella following up on Sniper Elite: Spear of Destiny called Target: Hitler, both out now in ebook format. This is working out pretty well for us, and we think we’d like to do more of the same. So our fans will still be able to dip their toes in Magna Britannia, or the grim future of the Cull, or any of our other worlds from time to time.

Where You Come In

We’re looking for novellas! Whether you’ve an agent or are going solo, whether you’re an established writer or trying to get your first project, we’re interested. Ever wanted to tell the story of Ulysses Quicksilver’s counterparts in the Austrian Secret Service? Ever wanted to show us the hell that the Cull left behind in Mumbai? How about the story of Sir Alymere’s father, and how exactly he died?

Or, if you want the challenge, sell us on a new story and world, but be sure and read the next section first, so you have the whole picture. If you know Abaddon’s work, you’ll also know what we like. Choose a genre, make it fast, make it tense, make it dark. And make us care about your characters. Make it original! Make us want to come back and see what happens next.

The Small Print

This is a paying gig! We pay professional rates for all our work, and this is no exception. Abaddon Books operate on a Work For Hire basis: we create shared worlds that many authors contribute to, and all the rights to those worlds and characters are retained by Abaddon. We hire talented writers to write a story that becomes the intellectual property of Abaddon Books. Take note that this will apply even if you submit a story set in a new world; that world, if we commission it, will become one which we may let other writers loose in, and they also will be doing so on a Work For Hire basis. If you have any questions as to what all this means to you, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and we’ll take you through it.

Don’t send us anything yet! Submissions will be open for the month of September 2012, from midnight British Summer Time on the 31^st August to midnight on the 30^th September. At that point, send us:

1.     An email to submissions@rebellion.co.uk, basically saying “hi” and telling us a very little about yourself, and attaching

2.     A 150-word synopsis to grab our attention, followed by a 1000-word chapter-by-chapter (or section-by-section, however you structure it) breakdown of your novella, and

3.     A 2000-word sample of the novella. It doesn’t have to be the first 2000 words, although if it isn’t, we’d be interested in knowing why you picked the passage you did.

If we’re fired up by your pitch, we’ll ask for more and go from there. What we’ll eventually want is a 30,000-40,000-word novella, in any of our worlds or in a new world of your choosing.

If you decide to use one of our worlds, we only ask that you be careful not to step on our existing authors’ toes, some of whom have plans to return to their worlds in future (we’re more likely to publish your Pax Britannia story about a new character from the Italian People’s Republic Secret Service than a story about the further adventures of Ulysses Quicksilver, for instance).

Looking forward to hearing from you in September...

David Moore

Rebellion Publishing, Oxford

We are six! Abaddon Books is taking open submissions for its new series of e-novellas!

Shared-world imprint celebrates sixth birthday with open call for e-novella submissions

For the past six years, Abaddon Books has been publishing genre-busting novels from break-out authors and in brand new formats.

So to celebrate its birthday this summer, we are is calling for open submissions for our new e-novella series.

Starting later this year, Abaddon will publish a series of brand new e-novellas – and authors can either play in one of our ten shared worlds or create their own!

Whether you’ve an agent or are going solo, whether you’re an established writer or trying to get your first project, we’re interested. Our books are pacy and action-filled, but smart and sharp, with characters that pull you in and challenge you. And our stories are dark, whatever the genre.

Since 2006, we have published almost eighty original novels in ten shared-world series, and have given the world the talented and irascible Chuck Wendig his fiction debut, not to mention the wildly imaginative Al Ewing. It has uncovered Kitschie-nominee Scott K. Andrews, and gave the brilliant Gary McMahon, Pat Kelleher and Toby Venables their mainstream fiction debuts.

If you know Abaddon’s work, you’ll also know what we like. Choose a genre, make it fast, make it tense, make it dark. And make us care about your characters. Make it original! Make us want to come back and see what happens next.

Submissions will be open for the month of September 2012, from midnight BST on 31st August to midnight on 30th September.

For full details on the submissions process, go to www.abaddonbooks.com

Happy birthday, Abaddon Books - let's make it one to remember!

Singing Coburn's Praises

So, you like vampires and you like kick-ass zombie fiction too, right? Good. So you should certainly check out Chuck Wendig's blistering vampire/zombie romp Bad Blood:

In the very latest issue of Black Static (29), one very astute reviewer has said:

"Bad Blood is a romp of a story, serving up thrills and spills in a no nonsense prose that is rich with attitude, but with a little more thought in the mix." - Peter Tennant

So, you should totally point your Kindles here or here.

Diabolical fun to be had in the depths of space!

Of course, by now you've already read Eric Brown's brilliant novel set in the world of Weird Space, The Devil's Nebula. However, for those yet to make up your mind about why you should give this rip-roaring space-opera adventure a try, those fine folk at Mass Movement magazine state the case very clearly.

"Part Heinlein, part Harrison, part Lovercraft, part Lumley, but so much more than the sum of its parts, The Devil's Nebula is pulp science fiction for the twenty-first century."

New acquisition announcement: Chuck Wendig brings the gods down to Earth

New acquisition announcement:

Chuck Wendig brings the gods down to Earth

New series by Tomes of The Dead: Double Dead and Blackbirds writer to debut in 2013

Don't look up. Don't send your prayers skyward. Because the gods aren't in the sky. They're here. All of them.

After publishing Chuck Wendig’s debut novel Double Dead, in 2011 Abaddon Books is proud to announce that it is set to publish a brand new title from the inimitable author of Blackbirds.

Gods and Monsters: Unclean Spirits, the first title in a brand new shared world series, will debut in summer 2013 with Wendig’s characteristically sharp, take-no-prisoners style sure to win him even more fans.

Exiled to Earth, the gods now walk amongst us, bringing with them their children and their servants and their monsters. Their power is a mere fraction of what it once was, but even a mote of divine magic is awesome - in the truest sense of the word.

Cason Cole knows this firsthand. He's been serving the gods for the better part of a decade, their leash fastened tight around his neck. But when his most recent divine master gets killed - a thing Cason didn't even know could happen - he finds himself once more a free man. All he's got left is a burning need for vengeance against the very gods who forced him to kneel, but he'll soon discover that getting revenge against the gods is no easy feat. He'll have to put his life, love, sanity and soul on the line. Will he pay the cost? How priceless is his wrath?

Wendig’s is an utterly unique voice in contemporary urban fantasy – fresh, visceral, and witty. Gods and Monsters promises to unleash more invigorating hell upon his unsuspecting characters…

“I enjoyed working with Chuck on his debut novel, Double Dead, hugely,” said Abaddon editor-in-chief Jonathan Oliver, “so the intention was always to continuing working with him. To be able to launch a brand new Abaddon series with Chuck at the helm is very exciting. His writing is witty, punchy and entertaining as hell. A perfect fit for what promises to be a brilliant new series.”

"Wendig is ferociously inventive and effortlessly sharp"

– Richard Dansky, author of Beloved of the Dead and Firefly Rain.

"A bloodthirsty ride through zombie-infested Route 66. Chuck Wendig gives horror fans exactly what they need in this slick, cross-genre romp"

– Wayne Simmons, author of Flu, on Double Dead.

Cover story: World War One Tommies trapped on an alien world

No Man's World is, without doubt, this reporter's favourite thing we've published. The combo of British World War One soldiers trapped on an alien world is such a perfect blending of historical setting and sci-fi pulp madness that it's hard not to be entranced, and Pat Kelleher's eye for detail and character just bring the whole thing alive.

Black Hand Gang and Ironclad Prophecy each focus on a different part of the Tommies' fight to try and get back home to Blighty, with each new challenge this unfamiliar world throws at them greater and more heartbreaking than the last.

So it's with some sadness that we're fast approaching the third book in the trilogy, which will be a season finale to end them all...

The stunningly evocative covers by our lead designer, Simon 'Pye' Parr, have been the cream on the cake and Pye has put together a blog post about his work on the cover for the third book, The Alleyman, which will be out in October.

Pat Kelleher has also written quite a bit of background to the series on his No Man's World blog, which shows how much research has gone in to recreating the horror of the trenches ... and transplanting it to an even more horrific world.

Eric Brown returns to the Weird

Second title in thrilling space opera series announced

Abaddon Books is very proud to announce the second book in its exciting new shared world space opera series, Weird Space.

Satan’s Reach is due for release in the summer of 2013.

Written by the series’ creator, Eric Brown, Satan’s Reach returns to world of the human smugglers,  veterans and ne’erdowells who are part of the Expansion – and their uneasy neighbours, the Vetch Empire.

This second novel in the series is a rip-roaring space opera with the emphasis on starships, aliens, exotic worlds – and the perennial threat from the Weird.

“With Weird Space Eric has created a brilliant new space-opera for Abaddon Books,” said editor-in-chief Jonathan Oliver. “For years it had been my intention to do a solid SF series with the imprint and when Eric became available I knew that he was the man for the job. Up there with Iain M. Banks, Eric is one of the most exciting genre writers around.”

Den Harper is a telepath on the run from the Expansion authorities, and Sharl Janaker the bounty hunter chasing him across badlands of Satan’s Reach.

On a far-flung planet in the reach they must set aside their mutual enmity and face a foe that threatens not only the colonists of the Reach, but the entirety of the Expansion beyond.

With the launch of this new SF epic, Abaddon added to its series of shared worlds which already include the post-apocalyptic The Afterblight Chronicles, the new take on Arthurian legend Malory’s Knights of Albion, the World War One soldiers marooned on an alien world in No Man’s World, steampunk adventure in Pax Britannia, the zombie-infested Tomes of the Dead and the fantasy quests of the Twilight of Kerberos.

About the Series

Best-selling author Eric Brown has created a brand new shared world for Abaddon Books: Weird Space. This thrilling space-opera series begins in June 2012 with the release of The Devil's Nebula. In the first book in this epic new series, Brown will introduce readers to the human smugglers,  veterans and ne’erdowells who are part of the Expansion – and their uneasy neighbours, the Vetch Empire. When an evil race threatens not only the Expansion, but the Vetch too - an evil from another dimension which infests humans and Vetch alike and bends individuals to do their hideous bidding, only cooperation between them means the difference between a chance of survival and no chance at all. Brown has meticulously created a massive shared world of interstellar potential, which other writers will explore with each new book.

With the launch of this new SF epic, Abaddon is adding to its series of shared worlds which already include the post-apocalyptic The Afterblight Chronicles, the new take on Arthurian legend Malory’s Knights of Albion, the World War One soldiers marooned on an alien world in No Man’s World, steampunk adventure in Pax Britannia, the zombie-infested Tomes of the Dead and the fantasy quests of the Twilight of Kerberos.

About the author

Eric Brown sold his first book in 1990, the collection The Time-Lapsed Man and other Stories, and has since published over forty books – novels, collections, novellas and children's books. He has published more than a hundred short stories, and has won the BSFA story award twice, in 2000 and 2002. His latest book is The Devil's Nebula for Abaddon Books, and he writes a monthly SF review column for The Guardian. He lives in Dunbar, Scotland, with his wife and daughter.

His work for Solaris includes Helix, Kethani, Necropath, Cosmopath, Xenopath, Engineman, Guardians of the Phoenix, and The Kings of Eternity.

Weird Space: charting the unknown with Eric Brown

Best-selling author Eric Brown has created a brand new shared world for Abaddon Books, full of cosmic horror and intriguing characters. So we had a chat with him about Weird Space and the first book in the series, The Devil's Nebula.


* Tell us a bit about The Devil’s Nebula and why people should buy it.



The Devil’s Nebula features a small starship and its crew of ne’er-do-wells in a future fascistic human empire. They sail close to the judicial wind, keeping just to this side of the law – until they land on a world within the out-of-bounds territory of the alien Vetch, commissioned by a rich art collector to obtain a precious alien artefact from a derelict museum. As they leave they’re apprehended by the Terran authorities and are given a choice: face the death penalty, or take their ship beyond Vetch territory to the Devil’s Nebula in search of a rogue colony ship that left human-space a century earlier.


It’s out-and-out space adventure, of the type I love to read, set in a universe where an evil alien life-force, the Weird, is bent on invading our universe from another dimension. It’s a space opera with Lovecraftian overtones.


It should appeal to fans of Vance, Asher, and space opera in general.


* What was it like creating a whole new world for others to play in?


That’s the great delight of the Weird Space project. I never normally, with my own novels, create a ‘world’ or universe from the ground up. I usually have an initial idea, and then a cast of characters, and the characters often dictate the nature of the setting. With WS it was different: I started with the background and built that up. I had a meeting or two with Jon Oliver and he told me the type of thing, very roughly, Abaddon were looking for: fast action space opera, strange cults, maybe telepaths, and – importantly – Lovecraftian aliens from another dimension. I took these and imported them into a far-future human-based expansion, ruled by a dictatorial government which kept a strict, militaristic control on the many planets within their domain. Neighbouring human space is Vetch territory. The Vetch are bellicose aliens who, before the series opens, cleared – ethnically-cleansed – a stretch of human-occupied planets in their margin of space. But beyond Vetch space is the Devil’s Nebula, where the Weird – the aliens from another dimension – first manifest themselves.


* What are the elements that make a fictional world work well?


It’s all in the mix. With space opera you’re working with a set of… you could say well-worn… tropes. There have been hundreds of novels about starships and aliens and space battles and telepaths – but to make it work you need to get the mix right; the right degree of threat, from within and without; an engaging set of characters which rub up against both the authorities on one side and the threat of the Weird on the other. What I especially liked about writing Weird Space was describing this fascistic regime and having the central characters coming, over the course of the novel, to the realisation that to defeat the Weird they must work together – and the same will be true of the humans and the Vetch: in following novels they must put their hostilities to one side and co-operate. This necessity will prove the engine for further story-lines.




* Were there any influences on Weird Space, and what are your hopes for the world?


Influences were legion. Every space opera I’ve read, to start off. Vance: I liked his baroque, wide-open far-future scenarios, his lone-wolf characters. To a certain extent Neal Asher’s excellent depiction of aliens… Peter Hamilton’s complex, intricately detailed futures… And, of course, Lovecraft: his tentacled creatures from beyond… I think the mix will work well.


My hopes for the world? Well, one of the interesting aspects of doing Weird Space is seeing where other hands take the series, seeing in which direction it will go, and what ideas are shared, cross-pollinated, and developed. I’m looking forward to reading books further along in the series and seeing what they inspire me to do next.

* Tell us a bit about your writing routine.


Once I’ve begun a project, I have a very rigorous work routine. I work from nine till twelve, then from twelve thirty to three five days a week, and I’m very unhappy and curmudgeonly if I don’t produce four thousand words a day in this way. (That’s with novels; with stories, it’s probably two or three thousand a day). I finish a novel in a month or two, then lay it aside and come back to it in a month, if possible. (I work on shorts, or children’s books, in the interim.) Then I come back to the novel and go through it minutely, rewriting every line, cutting, cutting, and cutting again. Then I send it out to two or three trusted and brilliant readers, and when it comes back I go through it again with the red pen. I can’t stress the importance of cutting, making the finished novel as lean and readable as possible.


* What are your five favourite novels?


That’s a difficult one! Can I cheat, and list five SF novels, and five mainstream novels?


Okay, the SF would be: The Girl with a Symphony in Her Fingers by the great and sadly
neglected Michael G. Coney; Brontomek! by Coney again; (and his Hello Summer, Goodbye is excellent too); Silverbergs’s Thorns; Bob Shaw Orbitsville (or perhaps his Wreath of Stars); The Time-Machine by Wells (though technically that’s a novella… So I’m allowed another. Very well: Inner Eclipse by another excellent but neglected writer, Richard Paul Russo.


Mainstream: Wilkie and Seven Thunders by Rupert Croft-Cooke (my all-time favourite writer); Endless Love by Scott Spencer (a harrowing, brilliant depiction of obsessive love); Portrait of Jeanie by Robert Nathan; Hunters and Gatherers by Geoff Nicholson.
 But ask me again tomorrow and the above will probably have changed.


* What advice would you give to new writers hoping to break into the field?


Write a lot, obsessively, and write what you enjoy reading; read a lot. Copy other writers to begin with; work out what they’re doing right and wrong. Set aside at least a couple of hours a day, if possible, and write. Don’t let yourself believe that there’s such a thing as writer’s block: if you’re stuck, and you don’t have ideas, and the words aren’t forming, just plough on and write – gibberish, if need be, and trust in the subconscious and, eventually, the good words will come. Remember that fiction is modular. You can go back and lift out the sections that don’t work and slot into place things that do. Research your market. And, lastly and most importantly, don’t be downhearted by rejections. We all get them. I had hundreds before I made my first sale. Just keep at it, keep at it, and you’ll get there.


Weird Space: The Devil's Nebula is available in the UK as paperback and on ebook, and in North America in paperback and ebook.

Abaddon Books round-up: "makes The Hunger Games look like a middle-schooler’s writing assignment"

Those lovely chaps over at Pornokitsch have been bigging up the Abaddon Massive, citing two of our writers as Excellent Types Who Deserve Some Readin'.

In their piece, “For a small island, we’ve got some big books…”, Jared Shurin and Anne Perry pick out Scott Andrew's post-apocalyptic trio of books for our Afterblight Chronicles: the St. Mark’s Trilogy, including School’s Out, Operation: Motherland and Children’s Crusade.

The three books are being collected as School's Out Forever within a stunning new cover for release later this year and, according to Pornokitsch, are well worth the read: "This is a hard-hitting series that mixes the cinematic with the introspective, and makes The Hunger Games look like a middle-schooler’s writing assignment."

They also single out the insane genius that is Mr Al Ewing for particular praise. The man behind I, Zombie and the gleefully violent Death Got No Mercy (which according to Pornokitsch has the "Greatest Cover Art Ever") has written a trilogy of novels for our Pax Britannia series and it's one of these that garners the greatest praise thinkable: "Mr. Ewing’s greatest contribution to date ... is undoubtedly Gods of Manhattan (2011) which we’ll boldly declare the best deconstruction of superheroes since Alan Moore’s Watchmen."

Also by Mr Ewing is the latest book in our Steampunk series Pax Britannia, Pax Omega, of which Sci Fi Bulletin has just said: "Pax Omega is a major step away from the normal Steampunk Pax Britannia books, but once you realise what Ewing is attempting, it’s a case of going with the flow and seeing if he can pull off something this audacious."

 And speaking of Pax Britannia, there's still time to have your say in the novel where readers get to decide what happens!

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow is our unique experiment in reader interaction - you get the chance to vote on where the plot goes next. After each ebook episode, there's a vote and the option with the most votes is written by author Jonathan Green!) The completed book will be released as a paperback in November.

Geek Syndicate has reviewed the latest installment, Black Swan: "The story rattles on at a fair pace with little time to draw your breath between the action. Rampaging gorillas, mechanical parrots, steam-powered flying bicycles and damsels firmly in command all play their part with a sinister villain plotting worldwide destruction all in the heart of Paris. Gaston Leroux, Conan Doyle and Poe are all paid homage to, amongst others, as we are drawn excitedly towards the cliffhanger ending in readiness for part three."

To cast your vote, read about the options, e-mail your choice to Abaddon Books at abaddonsolaris@rebellion.co.uk now and you could win a copy of the finished paperback!

The first installment, Red-Handed, is available to buy now as an ebook and you can pre-order the finished book!

Happy UK publication day to Eric Brown's Weirdspace: The Devil's Nebula!

io9.com called it one of the 'Books you can't afford to miss in May' and now the first novel in Eric Brown's new series for Abaddon Books is hitting UK shelves.

Renowned SF author Brown has created Weirdspace for us - a brand new shared universe full of looming threat, intergalactic politics, intriguing characters, sinister worlds, and taut action. 

£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-78108-022-1
$7.99/$10.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-78108-023-8

And it's also available as a DRM-free ebook in the UK and North America.