It’s been quite a week, and that’s before we even get to the festivity surrounding the launch of you-know-what. Despite the best efforts of the Beast From the East, I’ve slogged through the snow to host a three-day meeting for colleagues visiting from all across Europe for the space robotics project in which the UK Space Agency is participating. It’s this project which informed a lot of the thinking around the robotic themes which form so much of the plot of Man O’War.
Talking of which, my debut novel finally hits bookshelves today. And on World Book Day, too! Why, it could almost have been planned that way. What’s more, my publishers at Snowbooks have even managed to deliver some on-message Siberian weather systems to coincide with the launch (Icy what they did there etc), and if all that doesn’t add up to a compelling argument for buying a science fiction novel about sex robots and industrial corruption, then I don’t know what does.
Still, it’s best not to sit on one’s laurels and rely on the beautiful weather alone to do one’s marketing, so I have been doing my best to be out and about this week. Last Saturday I was at Forbidden Planet’s Small Press Expo featuring Fox Spirit, Snowbooks, Grimbold and NewCon. Also there were my fellow SFF Chroniclers Bryan Wigmore and Steven Poore. A small consignment of signed copies of MOW remain, if anyone wants to mosey down and pick up a copy. We made new friends, flogged lots of books, and even made plans for world domination (or, at least, parts-of-west-London domination), which I might explore a little more in a separate blog post some time soon.
Earlier this week I was interviewed for SFF World by the wonderful author of Heart Blade, Juliana Spink Mills. Juliana really dug into the themes of MOW and gave it a five-star write up, for which I’m very humbled. I was also interviewed by DJ (no relation) at My Life, My Books, My Escape. I’m currently doing another round of interviews with Pete Long of, er, Pete Long’s Blog. Pete is another friend and fellow SFF Chronicler, and his blog is one of the most thoughtful and well-articulated meditations upon science fiction and fantasy books out there.
Next week I’ll be trying to draw breath, and will be avoiding the trains into London if at all possible. Stay warm!
This Literature Life 