The Abaddon & Solaris Podcast #12

So, I've been dropping hints about my eighth Ulysses Quicksilver adventure Time's Arrow for a while, suggesting that there's something a little bit different about this one.

"But what is so different about it?" I hear you cry.

Well, download the twelfth Abaddon & Solaris podcast and all will be revealed. You can find it on iTunes now.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

One to watch, I feel...

Pitt Rivers and the Christmas Killer - a.k.a. just another day podcasting in Oxford

So yesterday I was up in Oxford, visiting Abaddon HQ to record a new podcast. David Moore (Abaddon/Solaris Desk Editor) took the role of interviewer and Colm Bannon (Marketing Intern) was there as well to contribute his thoughts on Nazis as villains, among other things.

Anyway, it all seemed to go very well (even though I did get a little tongue-tied on a couple of occasions) and I even got to give a reading from Time's Arrow Part 1.

A hard morning's podcasting was then followed by a very pleasant lunch with the guys from Abaddon/Solaris, some of the guys from 2000AD and the guy - Angus Abranson - from Cubicle 7 Entertainment.

Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers -
not Angus Abranson

With lunch and business done for the day, I wandered into Oxford itself and found myself at the (not so) newly re-furbished Pitt Rivers Museum. My Pax Britannia short story Christmas Past takes place in Oxford, and it's at the PRM that Ulysses Quicksilver discovers a vital clue to solving the mystery of the Christmas Killer. Being there reminded me of the story and that Abaddon are currently running a Pax Britannia-themed competition through the Steampunk Forum at BrassGoggles.co.uk.

So, if you'd like to win some signed PB books, get over there now, by following this link.

(When the podcast's up on iTunes, I'll let you know.)

Pax Britannia review round-up

Over the last couple of months there have been three Ulysses Quicksilver releases - The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus, Anno Frankenstein and The Ulysses Short Story Collection. And earlier titles such as Dark Side and Blood Royal have been getting a fair bit of interest too.

Anyway, I'm very pleased to say that Anno Frankenstein has been reviewed in the latest issue of SFX magazine (#211, the one with Captain America on the cover). The reviewer only gave the book three stars, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed (I was hoping for a four at least). But to my mind three stars does tell you something - that you can write; that you can craft a story.

The reviewer's not too keen on all the pop culture references in the book (which have become a bit of a feature of my Pax Britannia titles) but he does say that "It's a gleeful, agreeably paced mash-up" which also highlights another of the features of my books - and that's that they are, at the root of everything, primarily fun.

I actually met up with Dave Bradley, editor-in-chief of SFX Magazine, this week, along with editorial assistant Rob Power... as well as the guys and gals of Abaddon Books... and we discussed all sorts of potentially exciting things. Now that I've finished re-writes on another project I'll be able to get the ball rolling on these. But more on that another time.

Picture by Dave Bradley. Inane grin by Old Speckled Hen.

While we're on the subject of reviews, here are a few more for you.

The Ulysses Short Story Collection has earned a couple of five star reviews on Amazon and has also received one of the weirdest reviews I've ever read of my work. It manages to be incredibly positive whilst also being unnecessarily nasty at almost every opportunity. Anyway, you can read it here at Tor.com.

Meanwhile, The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus has earned a five star review on Amazon.co.uk and another on Amazon.com.

Remember, if you've recently read one of my Pax Britannia books (and more importantly you enjoyed it) you can also post a view via this blog. I look forward to hearing from you soon.