Minor update

November and December were busy months. In addition to finishing the new book, I was also happy to accept the kind offer to guest edit an issue of SciFi Now magazine. I selected some books for review, wrote a review myself, did an editorial and contributed to a couple of book and film related articles. I don't know when this issue will hit the stands but I thought I may as well mention it now - keep an eye out if you're interested, and (of course) happen to live where SciFi Now is readily available.

Now that the new book is off to the editor, I'm in the usual period of minor limbo where one hesitates to embark on another big project for fear that any momentum gained will be immediately stalled when the request for editorial rewrites comes in. What I normally do in this period is crack on with some short fiction. That's not really an option at the moment, though. Yes, I do have a few short fiction commitments, but more pressingly I need to get started on book 2 of the trilogy as soon as possible. That's not only because the schedule is tight, but because I'm chomping at the bit to move the story on and exploit the fact that the details of the invented future are still more or less fully loaded into my working memory.

However (there's always a "however") there's another project looming, slightly less formidable in scope but still fairly "big" and that needs to be off my desk before I can do any serious work on book 2. I'm reluctant to say too much about it until the details are nailed down but it's an interesting one, something you won't necessarily expect, and with luck and a fair wind there may be two novels out from me next year.

I'm away for a week; once I get back I may have some more information. Cheers and Happy New Year, one and all.

Al R