Writers and writing

A couple of choice titbits from the Internet concerning writers and their (very different) approaches to writing.

First off, here's Ed Greenwood's guest post on the Solaris Books blog about why he writes fantasy.

And here's Geoff Willmetts over at SF Crowsnest, bemoaning the Establishment's blatant ignoring of the whole speculative fiction field.

And, although not specifically about writers, for those of you who spend all day sitting down (like me) here are some timely words of warning from Bill Phillips.

Lastly, here's something to get your heart racing, concerning women writers and their preferred clothing choices.

Unnatural History - SFcrowsnest's 16th most popular book of 2009!

You might be interested to know that Unnatural History (the very first Pax Britannia adventure, starring dandy action hero Ulysses Quicksilver) was ranked number 16 in SFcrowsnest's top 100 Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction Books of 2009, as voted for by SFcrowsnest.com's readers.

(In case you don't know, SFcrowsnest is author Stephen Hunt's popular online SF, Fantasy and Horror magazine, which polls its readers every year to assemble a "top 100" books list.)

And in at number 34 was Al Ewing's El Sombra, so well done that man too! And if you enjoyed El Sombra, you'll be pleased to here that the sequel - Gods of Manhattan - will be out this July!

Creating a buzz

It would appear that with five books in the series in print already and another three due over the next 12 months or so, Pax Britannia is starting to create something of a buzz.

The books have received consistently good reviews from the SF press and was even voted Unnatural History SFcrowsnest's 16th most popular book of the year!

And now one senor Pablo Cheesecake has even list the forthcoming Blood Royal and Dark Side as two of the publications he is most looking forward to this year.

If you're inspired, intrigued or simply incredulous about Ulysses Quicksilver's adventures and the world of Pax Britannia why not drop me a line. You never know, you could end up with a cameo in a forthcoming adventure, rather like Michelle Powell.

Anyway, here's to 2010 (or 1998, as it is in the World of Pax Britannia)!

Unnatural History - SFcrowsnest's 16th most popular book of the year!

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself right now, to be honest. The reason is I found out today that Unnatural History (the very first Pax Britannia adventure, starring dandy action hero Ulysses Quicksilver) is at number 16 in SFcrowsnest's top 100 Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction Books of 2009, as voted for by SFcrowsnest.com's readers.

(In case you don't know, SFcrowsnest is author Stephen Hunt's popular online SF, Fantasy and Horror magazine, which polls its readers every year to assemble a "top 100" books list.)

And in at number 34 was Al Ewing's El Sombra, so well done that man too! And if you enjoyed El Sombra, you'll be pleased to here that the sequel - Blood and Thunder - will be out next year!

Bizarrely Unnatural History and the Pax Britannia series were launched at Alf.Fiction in Derby a couple of years ago. And Stephen Hunt was also there promoting The Court of the Air. It really is, as they say, a small world...

Oh and I'm also feeling chuffed because Emerson (a.k.a. Zeo-X) Tung's rendition of the Steam Golem from Stormslayer has made it into Design Your Way's Best collection of robots illustrations. So champagne all round, I feel! Don't you?