Fundraising for Cancer Research Wales via the Cardiff Half Marathon

 Hi folks, yes it's me back again with another plea for your generosity as we move into the final couple of months before the Cardiff Half.

Last year I ran on behalf of Alzheimer's UK and thanks to the kindness and deep pockets of my supporters, including many who read this blog, we managed to raise just shy of two thousand pounds. Earlier this year we also did well with my RED January challenge for the Mind over Mountains mental health charity, in which I did a hundred days of consecutive running, totalling 500km.

This year I'm trying to raise some funds for Cancer Research Wales (CRW), another cause which is very dear to my heart. I lost my mum and dad to cancer, and our wider family and circle of friends has not gone untouched by the disease. I'm sure we all have similar experiences, and of course many of us will either be going through cancer treatment, or providing love and support to those who are. Cancer survival rates are better than they used to be (I heard only today of a friend who's received the all-clear after treatment, which is great) but there is much, much more to be done. We can all try to make lifestyle adjustments to minimise our chances of getting cancer, but (as with Alzheimer's) there are still environmental and genetic factors we can't do much about, at least not right now. More research is needed, more data, more trials, more innovative therapies - not just for the common cancers but the rare ones as well, which are all too often the ones where the treatment options are the most limited.

Obviously earning a bit of sponsorship by running a half-marathon won't change the world, but I hope you'll agree that every little bit is a step in the right direction. If you can chip in, no matter how big or small the contribution, here's the link to do so. I assure you that every pound will help motivate me, both in my training and also on the big day.

https://cardiffhalf25.enthuse.com/pf/alastair-reynolds

I'll be begging your tolerance over the next few weeks as I push my fund-drive, but as I did last year, I'll try to spice it up a bit with a bit of vaguely interesting content.

In terms of preparation, I've been building some longer runs into my schedule, such as this 14K one this afternoon (two thirds of a half!):

Unfortunately I had a bit of a dip in my running through June/July. Back in May something odd happened on a fairly strenuous 5K. I didn't feel any ill-effects, but my Garmin heart-rate data was concerning. I had some follow-up tests with my GP, including bloods and ECGs, and everything eventually came back normal (suggesting that the Garmin thing was a measurement glitch) but while the tests were pending I was advised not to push too hard. On that basis, I reduced my running output to little more than a couple of low-intensity maintenance runs per week, just to hold onto some baseline fitness. Apparently you lose fitness twice as fast as you gain it, which is a bit of a swine! With that behind me I now feel confident to push as hard as I like, and while today was far too humid for me to want to run at anything more than a comfortable plod, I'm looking forward to extending my training over the next couple of weeks with a trial half or two.

Today's motivational music was Elastica's fantastic debut album, which still sounds totally fab and groovy.

Some new books

 I'll shortly be rattling the can for my Cardiff Half Marathon cancer research sponsorship, but in the meantime here are a few new things worthy of mention.

The two Revelation Space short story collections I mentioned last time are now out in the world, and it's very nice to see them. As indicated, these gather all the stories previously compiled in the two collections Galactic North and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days, as well as the material I've written since those two books: Monkey Suit, Open and Shut, The Last Log of the Lachrimosa, Night Passage and Plague Music. I've no immediate plans for anything else in the RS universe so, for now at least, these two collections are complete. Obviously if you're a completist, and you've already got the two earlier collections, you'll be in the annoying position of having to shell out for one or both of these, but it would have been a bit unsatisfactory to orphan these newer stories in a separate collection, I feel, as they would have needed to be padded out with non-RS material. I know how it feels as I've been there myself with other authors and musicians.

As always, I feel the need to add that, although I'm done with the RS stuff for now, that's not because I got fed up with it or exhausted, just that I'd like to explore fresher creative pastures while I can. At least there's a good chunk of material already written, for those who enjoy rummaging around in future histories. And speaking of which, this summer has also seen the publication of Subterranean Press's gorgeous special edition of ABSOLUTION GAP, following on from their equally lovely renditions of REVELATION SPACE and REDEMPTION ARK. I'm really thrilled and flattered by the attention to detail in Sub Press's books and consider myself very fortunate indeed for their enthusiasm and care.

ABSOLUTION GAP is a divisive book (I know!) but the one thing we can all agree on is that it's a big beast; by my recollection it's around 275,000 words and I've not written anything anywhere near as long since. The Sub Press edition is accordingly quite a bruiser of a book:

It features some stunning and evocative artwork (I'll just offer a teaser here):

By the brilliant Marc Simonetti. Once again Subterranean Press has produced a phenomenal item, and I'm eternally grateful to Bill and everyone at Sub Press for their continued support. Thank you so much.

Also from Subterranean, but not arriving until October, is my standalone novella THE DAGGER IN VICHY, which I'm also very pleased with, and Sub Press has come up with a beautiful quasi-medieval look for the thing, fully in keeping with the narrative.

The cover is by Andrew Davis, and the editor on this title was the formidable Jonathan Strahan, another much appreciated and long-time supporter of my work.

Ordering details for these books, and many others, may be found here:

https://subterraneanpress.com/

There's another North American limited edition in the pipeline, too - something a bit different - which I'll talk about nearer publication.

Many thanks,

Al R