As David Bowie might have said if he`d had one too many encounters with the chemical universe, `Time takes a toffee, sticks it in your mouth`. Tangential to the point of centripetality, I know, but here in the aftermath of Orbital, History`s Most Expensive Eastercon, I am....in limbo (cue big echoey sound, there). Having scoured to a gleam the MS for the new book to my editor`s satisfaction, I`m indulging in a small indulgence parallel to working on the opening of the new book - I`m writing a short story. Gasp.

Also, you should know that posting on this blog will eventually come to an end as I have already begun a new blog, one aligned with the space opera novels to come - its called Interstellar Tactics and you can find it at http://rockitboy.wordpress.com/. Eventually, the Shadowkings website will undergo monstrous upheaval, perhaps even a transfer to the mighty domain of michaelcobleydotcom. But all thats in the future.

As is the next Eastercon which, I`m overjoyed to observe, will be in Bradford next year, a much more congenial and indeed central location (and undoubtedly less taxing on the old finances). Alas, it seems that certain elements of the con-organising stratum have not had enough of the Heathrow Edwardian Radisson and its charming bar prices (not to mention labyrinthine quality) as Eastercon returns there in 2010. Bring on Albacon, thats what I say!

Just learned, a day or 2 ago, that Ken Slater, the bookseller known as Fantast-Medway, has died aged 90. Really sad - for as long as I`ve been going to conventions, 1st as a fan then as a writer, Ken has been a feature of the British con-landscape, reliable and familiar, one of the mainstays of dealer rooms up and down the land. Won`t be the same without him.

Time just keeps on rolling, rolling, rolling, rawhide! Hope you all had a sufficent xmas and new year, and that the detox has been working just fine. 2007 (AKA 2000andBlair) has finally gurgled its last as it sank into the Great Tarpit of Time, while 2008 starts to emerge, its outlines barely visible, suggesting great potential for good or Eeeevilll.

Personally, I`ve an intense week ahead, working on final revisions for Seeds Of Earth before I fling myself fullbore into the second book (provisional title, The Forlorn Worlds). Also, I`ve just learned that the wonderous elves at Immanion Press will be republishing my short story collection, Iron Mosaic, as a paperback with new and groovy cover art round about March, just in time for Eastercon, which I`m hopeing to attend for a couple of days anyway.

Heard a good one today, from Tony Blair (a wholly owned subsidiary of Bushglobegrab Inc) who is standing for President of the European Union; Tone insists that "the notion of left- and right-wing politics (are) redundant", which set me off on a gutlaughing jag, of course. Yeah, right, Tone. There are more millionaires and billionaires in the world than every before....but left and rightwing politics are irrelevant; the gap between the powerless poor and the powerful rich is wider than at any time since the beginning of the last century....but left and rightwing politics are a chimera. Uh huh. Well, I`m sorry but - almost all the major problems we face, as individuals, as communities, and as individual nations, are the direct result of policies carried out by..... ta daah! - Rightwing political parties!

So to put it in context for ya, as long as there are poor people and rich people, powerless people and aggressive, powerful people, there will ALWAYS be left and right wing politics. QED, case closed.

(The above I meant to publish on the 14th but a wee prob with the blog necessitated a delay till now. Not much earthshattering news to report in the interim, except that the polishing-to-a-dazzle of the new book, Seeds Of Earth, proceeds apace. But immediately, ie this weekend, I have to address the pressing matter of my tax return. I truly hate with a deep and abiding passion the tax form and all its works, but it has to be done; on the up side, its likely that I`ll actually post an overall loss which will be a help in these penurious days. Otherwise, I have just discovered the spacey ambient sounds of Robert Schroeder, specifically the CD Sphereware, just dandy for background writing music. Right, over and out)

Uh huh, yes, gentle readeroids, finally, FINALLY...I`ve finished the 1st draft of 'Seeds Of Earth'! Weighing in at an unexpected 144 thou words, I felt relieved. I mentioned to Bill King that I always think that I should experience a thunderous feeling of hundred-league boots-stylee triumph when I finish a book. Yet it never seems to materialise - perhaps its the knowledge that there`s still work to be done that gnaws away at the foundation of that mighty temple of self-aggrandisement. For yea, verily, revisions there were, are and will be...at least until I can feel justified in abandoning it to the ages and the public.

And for those interested in these things, publication date for book 1 - SOE - is now...February 2009, for various reasons. Heck, I`ll be skating on the edge of 50 years of presence on Planet Earth when that rolls round, but with any luck there will have been NO invasion/bombing of Iran by then; maybe Bush and Blair will be in shackles and ready to face the music at a special war crimes tribunal at the Hague....yeah, and maybe the Pope will be ready to join the Wee Frees (insert bears-in-woods equiv joshing here)

Movies I have enjoyed recently include NEXT with Nick Cage, a bit glib but it was still gigamiles ahead of Ghostrider which stank on ice; 300, which I have got to see in special, tasty, DVD-loveliness; Ratatouillem -yup, funny and smart; and - Wild Hogs! You heard me, a film about some (cough) guys in their late 40s who go on a bigbike road trip....I know, it sounds like a short trip to Clicheville but really, it was a funny movie, much funnier than it had any right to be but it managed it well. Out loud guffaws were heard to be uttered at Cobley Towers.

Series perused on and off - 6 Feet Under, which I never caught which it was on TV, and I admit that it is terrific; MASH, right from the 1st series onwards - we're up to the end of season 2, and man it is chock full of dynamite one-liners; Star Trek (original series) - got this coming by post and it has been a fascinating revisit of a seminal series, noticing with my superior writerly perceptions which episodes were well written and which were obviously slapped together at the last minute. Standout episodes include City on the Edge of Forever (oh yea) and I, Mudd which is a glorious, sharp, snappy, hilarious one....what else? Ah, Father Ted, which is just magnificent, to be sure.

Music is ever present, of course - listening to a lot of doom metal and stoner rock, with some prog and synth/industrial thrown in as well - the new Down cd is like Sabbath crossed with Zeppelin, amazing; `Crossroads` by scandinavian duo, Mind In A Box is an atmospheric, synthy, cyberoid skate through future sounds that will get inside your head and start to form little von neumann nanobots....well, it wont really, but there`s always a chance...there is the groovey stoner goodness of Black Rainbows and their newie, Twilight In The Desert, just great. And tomorrow night I`m off to see Rush - yup, a technoprogtastic night is guaranteed. The only fly in da ointment is the fact that the brilliant Mark Thomas will also be in Glasgow tomorrow, doing a stint at The Stand comedy club. Saw him last time at Cottiers and he was beyond brilliant. You also might like to check out 'End Of Level Boss' and 'Mos Generator' whose new cd is called 'Songs For Future Gods' ;-)

Big wave `n` thanks to Jim Campbell for pointing out the utter, utter, UTTER lack of posts on this here blog. What can I say - except to present munificent apple-hoagies! Truth is that I`ve been deep in the writing motherlode, a-working and a-scribbling away at me newest opus magnificus, `Seeds Of Earth`, vol 1 of the Humanitys Fire trilogy. It`s going well and it`s proving to be a noticeably different writing experience to the Shadowkings books.

So I`ll close this wee note by saying that once it`s done I shall be back here to post again, more updates and mebbe even an extract or two. Also upcoming, a website revamp, including a new site for the Humanitys Fire books as well.

adios, muchachos!

Egad, and there I went and forgot to mention Fantasycon, to which I hied myself a coupla weeks ago in the princely and redoubtable company of Neil Williamson and Al Duncan - yes, indeedy, it was....an experience, and a half. Well, the hotel gave me this room, see, which must have been sited right above a sauna or somesuch since the temperature was definitely in the high 20's, add to which the sound of some kind of machinery running continuously outside my window. I`m a light sleeper, for my sins, and when it got to 5.45 I realised that sleep was impossible so I lay back and listened to some music on the mp3 player (new Massive Attack, and Red Giant `Devil Child Blues`). Thankfully the hotel gave me another room for the Saturday night, but Saturday itself was a struggle, nay, a personal experiment in sleep deprivation!

Some good stuff during the con, tho - Raymond Feists interview was a good one, and gave me a pointer with regard to dialogue (that effective dialogue should do 3 things, something intentional, something gratuitous, and something habitual); later on was Clive Barker's interview which was utterly fascinating - I once met the man ages ago when he was doing a signing tour for Weaveworld (it was on the 7th September at the Ubiquitous Chip in Glasgow - I had a friend who was assistant manageress at a book store on Byres Rd and she got me the intro)(I mean he signed my copy and did a Clivedoodle as well - whaddaguy!) - so his talk/interview was excellent and provoked thoughts in me about what fantasy and SF does and what it means....and I think I`ve figured out a semi-definition, which also happens to be a riposte to those who try to denigrate our field. And it goes like this -

Yes, sure, reading sf and fantasy and horror IS escapism, but it's an escape into meaning not away from it.

Well, what do ya think?.....huh, well same to you, buster!

On the Saturday night we held a gathering in remembrance of David Gemmell who died just a few weeks ago - I never got to meet the man but his writing affected me profoundly; his concise prose and sharply delineated characters will always stand as a salutary lesson for fantasy writers everywhere.

And on Saturday night myself, Neil and Al went on the obligatory nosh-hunt, ending up at a terrific Thai place in Nottingham town centre - the food was outstanding, as was the company!

The journey back included a stopoff at a Burgerking - hey, we were hungry - at which I was treated to an astonishing wee tub of luscious icecream. Beat the hell out of the rest of the stuff we ate.

So, next convention is probably going to be Eastercon in Liverpool next year (altho I`d like to get to Novacon, but that depends on the ol` cashflow - I`ve a couple of pressing matters that need attending to) but we`ll see.

And do I need to point out that we are governed by self-seeking, self-deluded fools whose spines turn to jelly whenever the Americans blow their nose? Of course I don`t.

Funny thing, writing. It's like a well that refills itself, usually when you're not looking. Which is a good thing when other sources in life run dry. As you'll know, my Shadowkings trilogy has reached its culmination with book 3, Shadowmasque, published in mass-market edition early August. I had hoped that Simon & Schuster would support it by reprinting additional copies of book one, Shadowkings, but sadly this is not to be. Such that now if you go to the likes of Amazon UK you`ll see that the massmarket edition of Shadowkings is no longer available, nor are there any 2nd hand copies for sale, but look at the trade paperback edition and you`ll see that, as of today, there are 3 copies for resale priced 18.07, 23.03, and 30.53 respectively.

I`m not quite sure what to make of this. In fact, when you take a look at Amazon US there are 3 sellers selling at 8.95, 20, and 21.40, and thats in dollars. On AbeBooks prices begin at £9 and go up to £18.75, while on Ebay UK there is a copy going for £2.50 (+2.50 p&p). I provide this data purely as a public information service. Hmm - mebbe I should put one of my remaining copies on Ebay and make some of the money that might otherwise go to the publisher (heh heh!)

Anyway, enough whingeing - onwards and upwards! My contract with Orbit/Little Brown is confirmed and my next story will be a galaxy-spanning epic going under the rubric of Humanity's Fire; book one is entitled `Seeds of Earth` and is scheduled for publication in - wait for it - late spring 2008. But worry not, for tasters and excerpts in various forms shall emerge into the public's eye before then, enough to tempt and generate a soupcon of anticipation!

Stay tuned for more updates.

Good day to you, gentle reader, and rejoice! For on this day the 3rd part of my Shadowkings trilogy, Shadowmasque, is published in paperback for the not-at-all burdensome price of £6.99. I urge you to go forth and buy it in the thousands, just to help me defy the trend of decreasing sales that all trilogies seem to bear.

On a lighter, yet somehow aggravating note - Michael Gove, tory MP for Surrey Heath, has been looking down his impressive conk at we in the SF and fantasy community (as reported in this months Ansible). While speaking to John Humphries on Radio 4 he opined:

"I think in the same way there are things that men can read which can send out signals which are deeply, I think, unattractive to women.' John Humphries: `Such as?' Gove: `Well, sci-fi and fantasy. I think if you're the sort of man who's reading one of those lurid books with, sort of, triple-breasted Amazonian women on the front cover, and inside it's all about swords and sorcery, and so on, then I think what you're communicating to any woman is that you're still an adolescent."

Such wit! Truly, it is clear that it is with this staggering grasp of modern culture (as well as his talent with the razor-sharp put-down)(not to mention his fearless approach to alienating sections of his constituency) that has got him where he is today. I urge all my readers to go immediately to his website - www.michaelgove.com/index.php - where may be found his email address. Of course, anyone thinking to contact the redoubtable Gove should not, I repeat, not begin their missives with the likes of `Dear tertiary syphillis victim` or `Hey, Brain-donor!`. I positively insist that this would be contrary to the art and and spirit of cultured, courteous dialogue.

TTFN!

ps - must speak to Simon&Schuster art department about triple-breasted amazonians for next edition....

Urgent News!

This coming Saturday, 22nd, the Stop The War coalition is holding a number of emergency demos around the country in Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham and other cities. See the Blairwatch page here -
http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/
Needless to say, I urge everyone to show up and join your voice to the protest against the carnage in Lebanon (and the deaths in Israel), and against our government's supine unwillingness to act.

Hiya hiya hiya - yes, the regulation 3 months has passed by and I am now honourbound to make an entry on my blog, just to keep you in the Shadowframe.

Well - Eastercon was quite a blast, got to meet up with a whole buncha writer buddies, to wag the chin with assorted high heid yins o' the biz, and just generally hang out and bandy bon mots about willynilly! My panels turned out interesting and/or damn fine, and I actually got to sign a book or two as well. Next years Eastercon is at the Adelphi hotel in Liverpool, which I harbour doubts about since last time I was there I didn`t have a particularly wonderful time - but then I was still a callow short story writer without a book deal. Next year the entire convention might fall to its knees in amazement at my senses-croggling mastery of prose!!!!!....yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my earhole!

Other news - there was this thing called the World Cup, during which we had the privilege of watching squads of millionaires kick a ball about a park (heh heh, just joshing!), and England didn`t win it, which I was a bit sad about but only a bit. There are many other matters in the world about which I get animated, angry and upset. And Big Brother aint one of them (just don`t get me started on THAT piece of contrived trivia).

And...found myself with a coupla nominations for this year`s British Fantasy Awards, namely Shadowmasque in `Novel` category, and The Intrigue of the Battered Box in the `Short Story` category. The BFS held an awards showcase in London near Temple, a week or two ago and I betook myself yonder to bring enlightenment, joy and freebies to the attending throng. I was there with an old friend, Dave Wingrove, author of the very wonderful Chung Kuo books, and a good time was had by all. Then we tried to get back to Islington, only to find out that the Victoria line was shut by the time we got to our connection - ah me, wot a laff! After a decent yomp we hopped a bus, got to Islington and had another miniyomp to get back to Dave`s gaff. Oh yeah, always a pleasure never a chore!

And Shadowmasque is due for publication in its mass market paperback incarnation on 7th August, and will doubtless be appearing on shelves at various book emporia up and down our mighty nation. In the week leading up, I will be engaged in a personal publicity exercise dedicated to ensuring that news of this impending event reaches certain segments of my core audience (see, I`ve been boning up on the old bookselling lingo, ye ken. I never met an EPOS that I didn`t like...)

And after that....there will be no more (at least in the UK market, as I`m pursuing options overseas). Mind you, I do have some embryonic ideas that could carry the Shadowkings saga forward, but I reckon I need a break. I am working on another project, which is at an advanced state of potential and news will be forthcoming as and when.

Finally, I feel it is only my duty to draw your attention to the plight of the Lebanese people in the current conflict with Israel. The Lebanese have suffered terribly for decades from war and strife, and now just when it seemed that they were moving forward Israel has decided to kick all they`ve built to pieces. Yes, Israel has the right to defend itself and its citizens, but when someone without a navy or an air force has a go at you, and you respond with full artillery barrages, naval blockades and 2000+ air sorties, that is not proportionate to the actual threat. Unless of course you believe that only your people matter and only your worldview is valid, then anyone who opposes you (or is just unfortunate enough to get in the way) doesn`t matter. When you reach that stage of thinking, no one is safe, sadly.