Nine Worlds Geekfest 2013

So, last weekend saw me attending the first ever Nine Worlds Geekfest in Heathrow, London. One of the organisers of this epic event was Jenni Hill, formerly one of my editors at Abaddon Books and now Commissioning Editor at Orbit Books, so it was strangely appropriate that the first familiar face I saw should happen to be hers. Jenni was running the books strand of the con, which was just round the corner (literally) from the Windsor Suite where the Steampunks were based and which was where I remained for most of the weekend.

It was great to catch up with old friends Kit Cox (a.k.a Major Jack Union), Jema Hewitt (Miss Emilly Ladybird), Claire Peacey of Empire Edibles, Ian Crichton (a.k.a. Herr Doktor), Jenny, Arkwright, Rob/Dave, Robert Rankin, Lady Raygun, Tinker, Lady Elsie, Jim Swallow, Gav Thorpe, Paco Jaen et al, as well as to make new ones. It was also a pleasant surprise to have Simon Singh and Kiruna Stamell drop by my stand during the course of the weekend.

It was a very packed weekend but some of the highlights for me were the panels (and not just the ones I was on with fellow Steampunk authors Toby Frost and Raven Dane) such as 'Steampunk 101' and 'Steampunk in the Media'. On the Sunday I even had a signing slot at the Forbidden Planet table with Stephanie Saulter, which was nice, and thanks to David Tallerman, Jobeda Ali, Graeme Flory, Jon Oliver and Ian Whates for all dropping by to show their support.

One of the best comments of the whole weekend came from Ben Smith, Publishing Manager at Abaddon/Solaris/Rebellion, who, upon arriving, thought there was a group cosplaying as air hostesses until he remembered the hotel was behind Heathrow airport. He was more than a little suspicious when a coach load of people cosplaying as OAPs turned up next.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello, or who bought a book, or had a go on the tombola, and thanks to the organisers for putting together such a successful first con.

5 things I now know that I didn't know before attending Nine Worlds Geekfest 2013

1) Steampunk is sometimes referred to as Goths in Brown, or Downton Abbey with Meccano.
2) Steampunk in Germany is called Daft Punk.
3) You can buy an ebook on Amazon called Pax Britannia: The Secret War. This has nothing to do with me, Pax Britannia or Abaddon Books, and moves are being made to have it removed.
4) There is a net 10% drop in crime when Weekend at the Asylum occurs in the city of Lincoln.
5) Archimedes the Steampunk Parrot now has a rival.

You can see more photos from the event here, here and even here.

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow

Look what arrived in the post today!

 Woohoo!

 

It might not be officially released until this November, but I now have in my possession a print copy of Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow - and very pleased with it I am too.

From Pye Parr's stunning cover (that simply screams steampunk) to the fabulous quotes from SFX magazine, Graeme's Fantasy Book Review and Pornokitsch, I'm really pleased with what the team at Abaddon Books and myself have achieved. There's even some bonus content in the form of an Author's Note and my SFX interview reproduced in full.

"The reader feels like the cozy universe of Pax Britannia is truly, irreversibly changing."

If you've not read the story in digital form yet, and you're a fan of the series, I can't wait to hear what you make of the epilogue!

Roll on November!

Anno Frankenstein reviewed at Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

Graeme Flory of Graeme's Fantasy Book Review is a loyal follower, and reviewer, of the Pax Britannia series and has given some very generous marks out of ten to several of my books in the past. And now he's got round to reading my most recent endeavour, Anno Frankenstein.

Here are just a few of Graeme's eminently quotable lines from his review.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with these books ever since the blog began and I don’t see that fun stopping any time soon; I can’t get enough of this series and if you’re a fan of steampunk adventure then I reckon you’ll be the same...

As much as I love to take a chance on new reads, I also love the knowledge that I can pick up certain authors and be guaranteed a good time. That’s just what I got with ‘Anno Frankenstein’, a book that I should have got round to sooner but was polished off in record time anyway...

If you haven’t read any of the preceding ‘Pax Britannia’ novels then this really is the wrong place to get started. Not only is there a lot of back story that you’re missing out on but you’re also missing out on six books worth of devious villains, dashing heroes, well drawn steam punk weirdness and stuff getting blown up. You can’t fail to enjoy this stuff so go find yourself a copy of ‘Unnatural History’ and get going...

Green sets the stakes incredibly high and then has his hero go about his job in the best possible way, all wise cracks and flirting but with a propensity for violence when it’s needed. These are the moments where you look at what’s happening on the page and think to yourself that it wouldn’t be out of place on the big screen, I’d love to see it...

Set pieces flow into cliff hangers which result in more set pieces. It all happens so quickly that this approach doesn’t feel repetitive in the slightest, there’s no time for anything else but being swamped by everything that’s happening on the page...

And the final score? 9 out of 10!

You can read Graeme's review in its entirety here.

The only trouble with reading great reviews like this is that I then worry whether I'll be able to live up to readers' expectations with the next novel in the series which, in this case, is the forthcoming Time's Arrow.

But for now I'm just going to enjoy basking in the warm glow of another radiant review just a little longer...