Writing is a lonely business... isn't it?

When people envisage the life of a writer they probably picture somebody scratching away in their notebook in a draughty garret somewhere, but most importantly, by themselves!

Well, I work in a garret of sorts (our loft conversion - but there is a draught!) and I tap away at my laptop rather than wear out nib pens on a daily basis, and, yes, I'm there by myself. I spend hours at a time immersed in my own thoughts (an interesting place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there) and then, when I've got something that I feel is worth showing to others, I send it to an editor.

From there on in, writing is anything but a solitary business, as Juliet McKenna explains over at the Solaris Books blog.

Another (vague) acquaintance of mine, Gav Thorpe (ex-Games Workshop games developer and now full-time freelance writer) also has this to say about why we choose to pursue such a (seemingly) lonely profession in the first place.

Enjoy.

A story in six words? Really?

I spotted this on the Angry Robot blog* the other day:

The concept of Six Word Stories apparently started, or at least gathered a great apocryphal origin, when someone bet Ernest Hemingway he couldn’t tell a story in such a short space. The response of the great man - “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” - still carries a real punch today, where in these times of Twittering and Flash fiction the six worders have made a real comeback.

You can find the best recent Science Fiction entries here. My personal favourite has to be this one by Watchmen scribe Alan Moore:

Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time

* BTW - on the same blog was this exciting news!

Immortalised in print

Long time readers of this blog will already know that Michelle Powell won a competition last year to appear as a character within the pages of Ulysses Quicksilver's most recent adventure, Human Nature.

You can catch her cameo appearance in Chapter One, when Miss Michelle Powell - velocipede driver and budding amateur engineer - visits consulting detective Gabriel Wraith.

Michelle kindly sent me some photos of herself* holding her signed personalised copy of the book, as you can see here.













If you missed out yourself last time, you may be interested to know that I am currently considering running a similar competition this time tied to Ulysses Quicksilver's fifth exciting outing, entitled Blood Royal. So watch this space for more details!

* Apologies to Michelle for the lateness of me posting this. My excuse is that I've been caught up with writing the follow-up to Human Nature, Evolution Expects.

JG in Mass Movement Magazine

For those of you secretly harbouring punk rock or heavy metal tendencies, you might be interested to know that there is a feature about me in the 10th anniversary issue of Mass Movement magazine.

It's under the title of 'It Ruined My Life', which is slightly extreme, but when you read it, it should make a lot more sense. You can get hold of your own copy here.

Abaddon website revamp

Abaddon Books have revamped their website, and very cool it's looking too. (I like the post-it notes in particular.) And that means they've also updated the list of books they'll be publishing before the end of the year.


The sharp-eyed among you will notice that at the end of the list of forthcoming titles is a title called Pax Britannia: Blood Royal, which is the first sneaky peek of my fifth - yes, fifth! - Ulysses Quicksilver adventure.

Now, I must see about getting my author biog updated...

STORMSLAYER and the Fighting Fantasy re-launch

I am very excited to be able to reveal to you today that on 3 September 2009, my twenty-third book Stormslayer will be published - and it's another Fighting Fantasy gamebook!

That's right, Fighting Fantasy is back with a vengeance. The premier adventure gamebook series is being re-packaged and re-launched, with the first four titles being The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (of course), The Citadel of Chaos, Deathtrap Dungeon and Stormslayer, the first new title in two years.

Stormslayer - cover mock-up

Stormslayer is a classic FF adventure, featuring everything from dragons to giants, via wizards and a certain magical sword. I will be revealing more about it in the weeks to come, but one of the things I am most excited about is that it is being illustrated by the fantastically talented Stephen Player.

Stephen will be known to fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld and, having contributed paintings to various Discworld calendars and illustrated The Illustrated Wee Free Men.

One of the things I enjoy most about writing a Fighting Fantasy gamebook is, once I've finished the text, waiting to see what the artist makes of my illustration briefs, bringing the world I have created to life. So far I've only had a taste of what Stephen's doing for Stormslayer, but that taste has made me hungry for more.

And in case this post has whet your appetite, to keep you going 'til the next one, here's the blurb from the back of the book.

After years of peace, the kingdom of Femphrey is at war again – and this time it’s with the elements! Devastating storms sweep across the country, destroying all in their path. Blizzards and floods threaten some areas while others suffer the worst droughts seen in centuries. But is this climate chaos all it appears to be? Or is there some dark design to this meteorological meltdown?

YOU are a seasoned adventurer, known throughout the land. You have battled giants and slain dragons, but how can even a veteran warrior like yourself fight the weather? Are YOU ready to take up the challenge and face the perils that await you within the eye of the storm?

New Beast Quest page at my store

World Book Day saw the release of the latest Beast Quest adventure, Sephir the Storm Monster. Its publication also heralds the launch of the new Beast Quest website, which you can access here.

To celebrate, my online store now has a new Beast Quest page, which includes the very latest series of six books - the fourth to be exact - The Amulet of Avantia. Click here to visit my store or follow the link on the right at the top of the page.