Last week, both
Steven Savile and
Sarah Pinborough tagged me on blog posts of theirs as part of an ongoing chain of
book/author recommendations called
The Next Big Thing. So today it's my
turn to answer the ten questions originated by Paul Magrs, then pass the
reins on to five other writers who will be doing the same on their own blogs in a
week's time. So, here goes...
1) What is the working title of your next book?
Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow, my eighth steampunk novel set within that particular universe.
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
A combination of things really, as is the case with any book. There's a bit of King Kong in there, but Donkey Kong too, and Van Helsing, as well as the Hunchback of Notre Dame... But the driving force behind the plot for this book was the need to get the hero Ulysses Quicksilver back to Blighty having been away for the best part of three books!
I originally intended to go further, tying up elements that first appeared as far back as book 6,
Dark Side, but then I realised I was trying too hard and decided to focus on telling a simpler story well, rather than a more complex one badly.
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Mostly definitely Steampunk. That said, anyone who's heard me speak on the subject before will know that I consider Steampunk a flavour as much as a genre, so you could also say that
Time's Arrow is a sci-fi-crime-thriller-action-adventure story, with added French people.
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Hmm... Tricky...
In my mind, Ulysses Quicksilver looks like Ulysses Quicksilver, and nobody else. That said, I could see someone like Julian Rhind-Tutt or Paul Bettany playing him on the big screen - or at least I could
hear one of them playing him.
Maybe a young Sophie Marceau for the part of Cadence Bettencourt, or perhaps Louise Bourgoin.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Arriving at a murder scene, having travelled forward in time from the past, Ulysses Quicksilver is forced to go on the run through Paris, so that he might track down the real killer, clear his name, and save the woman he's loves from a most ill-advised trip to the moon - all befoer a terrorist known only as 'Le Papillon' brings the city to its knees.
(That's quite a long sentence, isn't it?)
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It's published by
Abaddon Books, who have published all my other
Pax Britannia novels to date.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Now that's a hard one! The book was written in three distinct parts at three distinct times, over the course of about a year. But I suppose in total it took three months to write, which is pretty much how long any novel takes me to write.
8)
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
My other
Pax Britannia books. ;-)
But seriously, I don't read particularly widely within the Steampunk genre for fear of subconsciously copying someone else's ideas. I've read George Mann's
The Affinity Bridge, and Lavie Tidhar's
The Bookman, but it's nothing like either of those.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Ulysses Quicksilver and his ongoing adventures, and the fans of the
Pax Britannia series who had been so nice about my previous titles.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
As far as I am aware it is the first of its kind. Because it was written and published in three parts, after parts one and two became available, in each case fans were able to go online and vote for how they would like the story to continue. Their choices completely influenced the course of the adventure.
The challenge was making such a story seem like it had been written in one go when it was published in novel form. Of course, the only way to judge if I succeeded with this is to read the book yourself.
So that's me done. I'm now had to tag five other authors to take their turn at answering the questions for
The Next Big Thing. As a result, next week you can read about the books coming out from John Craven's ghostwriter
Cav Scott, literary mercenary
Josh Reynolds, master of monsters
C L Werner, World Fantasy Award winner
Lavie Tidhar, and rising Black Library star
Sarah Cawkwell.
Thirty days ago* I posted that I had signed up to NaNoWriMo again this year. The intention was to clear the backlog of work I've had on my schedule of late. And did it work?
Can you believe it's over three years since my sixth Fighting Fantasy gamebook was published? I can't. And yet inevitably, as with other books of mine, some people are only just discovering it for the first time.
This isn't the best of Jonathan Green's contributions to the Fighting Fantasy
series but, as usual for him, it is a fabulously detailed, well written and
constructed adventure which creates a viable world capable of immersing the
reader.
There's plenty positive in there, but there's plenty I would disagree with, naturally, especially about the steampunk elements seeming anachronistic (what about the Brass Golem from Blacksand?) and the final race to board the Eye of the Storm being too similar to Tower of Destruction. 
I shall be attending Dragonmeet this Saturday 1 December, and generally hanging out with the Tin Man and the Warlock at the Fighting Fantasy stand. Also in attendance will be Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone, Ralph Horsley, Sarah Newton, and the guys from Cubicle 7 (who are actually organising everything). If you see me on Saturday, do come and say "Hi!"
I shall also be a guest at next year's Sci-Fi Weekender - 1-3 March 2013 - where I shall hosting at least one panel, taking part in a signing session or two, and hopefully selling some of my books. Gav Thorpe is also going, and the two of us have been cooking up some ideas for the weekend - but more on that another time. The doyenne of crime-horror Sarah Pinborough herself shall also be in attendance.
Got a Kindle (or other eReader)? Like free stuff? Like stories about the end of the world? Like stuff written by me?
My Moshi Monsters book The Night Before Twistmas has been getting some love on Amazon* (and elsewhere) of late**. Here's what people have been saying about it:
... until Christmas Day!
The Soul-Eaters of Raveloe by Alison
Littlewood
That's right - Temple of the Spider God is available for download now from the Apple App store for only 99 cents. That's 62p in English money. A can of Coke will cost you more than that down your local newsagent.
Blood Royal
Anno Frankenstein
The Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection 
Click the following links to find out what they had to say:
Treacheries of the Space Marines - Liberator
Legends of the Space Marines - The Relic
Victories of the Space Marines - But Dust in the Wind
It's getting to be that time of year again. In only five weeks' time people all over the world will be making their final preparations for Christmas. For some, those preparations include producing items of media, whether they be radio shows, TV programmes, or newspaper articles.
It will also feature a reading by Arthur C. Clarke award-winner, Pat Cadigan, and the whole shebang will be curated by the voice of horror himself, m'colleague Jasper Bark.
Time's Arrow - released on November 13th 2012 - is the eleventh book in the Pax Britannia series under the Abaddon banner and the eighthUlysses Quicksilver adventure. For those not aware of who Ulysses is, the easiest way to describe him is as a mix of Bertie Wooster, the Scarlet Pimpernel, James Bond and the Saint. Only far cooler as he lives in a present-day Victorian Empire (if you want to know more, buy the books!). Not only that, this book was originally written in three parts and, this is what makes the book unique in my not so humble opinion, it was entirely driven by the wishes of the readers.
Now.
1) What is the working title of your next book?
Hmm... Tricky...
