The Wunderbar Wizard of Oz

Mantikore-Verlag, who have had great success with Alice im Düsterland in Germany, are releasing the German translation of The Wicked Wizard of Oz next year, and here's the cover...

Scarlet Traces on the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast

The latest 2000AD Thrill-Cast focuses on the new Scarlet Traces anthology. It consists of an hour-long discussion between Scarlet Traces co-creator and anthology editor Ian Edginton, writer Maura McHugh, Rebellion commissioning editor David Moore join, and 2000 AD publicity droid Molch-R, about the world of Scarlet Traces, the legacy of H G Wells' original novel, imperialism and speculative fiction, and moving from comics into prose.

It's an interesting listen, but when the spectre of steampunk rears its ugly, cog-adorned head, it's clear that people have a problem with steampunk, to the point where Pax Britannia, Rebellion's own steampunk novel series, doesn't even get a passing mention.

You can purchase Scarlet Traces: A War of the Worlds Anthology, which includes my story Wonderful Things, here.

Steampunk Thursday: Scarlet Traces - Out Now!

Scarlet Traces: An Anthology Based on H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, edited by Ian Edginton, is available now!

It is the dawn of the twentieth century.

Following the Martians' failed invasion of Earth, the British Empire has seized their technology and unlocked its secrets for themselves. It is a Golden Age of discovery, adventure, culture, invention—and of domination, and rebellion.

Scarlet Traces reveals a world of ant-headed nightmares; vacuum salesmen; war machines; deadly secrets; clockwork marvels; and Sherlock Holmes, T. S. Eliot and Thomas Edison as you've never seen them before...

Including stories by Stephen Baxter, I. N. J. Culbard, Adam Roberts, Emma Beeby, James Lovegrove, Nathan Duck, Mark Morris, Dan Whitehead, Chris Roberson, Maura McHugh, Jonathan Green, and Andrew Lane.

Ian Edginton is a New York Times bestselling author and multiple Eisner Award nominee.

His recent titles include the green apocalypse saga The Hinterkind for DC/Vertigo; Steed and Mrs Peel for BOOM, the steam- and clock-punk series Stickleback, Ampney Crucis Investigates and Brass Sun for the legendary UK science fiction weekly, 2000 AD; game properties Dead Space: Liberation and The Evil Within for Titan Books, and the audio adventure Torchwood: Army of One for the BBC.

He has adapted the complete canon of Sherlock Holmes novels into a series of graphic novels for Self Made Hero, as well writing several volumes of Holmes apocrypha entitled The Victorian Undead. He has also adapted H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds as well as writing several highly acclaimed sequels, Scarlet Traces and Scarlet Traces: The Great Game.

He lives and works in England. He keeps a bee.

Magnificent Desolation

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The Moon has inspired people in so many ways for countless millennia, including me. Ulysses Quicksilver braved the Moon's magnificent desolation in the sixth Pax Britannia novel, Dark Side, published nine years ago in 2010.

Ulysses Quicksilver visits the British lunar colonies, searching for his missing brother, Barty, believed to be on the run from gambling debts on Earth. The clues lead our detective and his faithful butler into the path of unsolved murders, battling robots, shady millionaires and stolen uncanny inventions. Used to working inside the law, Ulysses is stalled when his pursuit puts him on the wrong side of the Luna Prime Police Force.

But why is Ulysses' ex-fiancée Emilia also in the colonies? Who is the strange eye-patched man following Ulysses? And what is really happening in a secret base on the dark side of the moon? Used to meeting every adventure with a devil-may-care attitude and a snappy one-liner, Ulysses will be forever changed by the revelations he discovers on this most deadly of trips.

You can pick up a copy of Dark Side here.

Ulysses Quicksilver's Gun

It may be a year since Ulysses Quicksilver's most recent outing, in the story Reckless Engineering, but people are still enjoying my Pax Britannia stories and being inspired by them. One of those people is 3D artist Andrew Bjarnsen.

Only today, Andrew got in touch to let me know that he has modelled Ulysses Quicksilver's gun, as originally designed by Pye Parr. And here it is...

Happy Birthday, Big Ben!

On this day in 1859, 160 years ago, Big Ben's chimes were heard for the first time. However, it won't be chiming today, as the Elizabeth Tower is currently in the middle of a £61 million revamp project.

The Clock Tower (as it used to be called) at the bell Big Ben itself, are a vital part of Tempus Fugit, the Pax Britannia short story I wrote for Abaddon X, the slim volume published to mark Abaddon Books' tenth anniversary, back in 2017.