Queen Vic's Giant Pants Fetch 600 Nicker - we are not amused!

A pair of Queen Victoria's bloomers have been sold at auction for the rather large size of £600.


Of course ladies didn't really wear pants as we would know them until Queen Victoria's time, so Vicky was quite the trend-setter.

To find out more, click here.

Free mince pie!

Drop by my Christmas Miscellany blog now and receive a mince pie, absolutely free!


And keep an eye on the Christmas Miscellany blog over the coming weeks as people the world over start to prepare for the big day.

Pax Britannia ether-penny dreadfuls (that's e-books to you)

I am very excited to be able to announce that Abaddon Books - publishers of the Pax Britannia series - are to produce e-book versions of their titles - starting with the Pax Britannia books!

Already available through Mobipocket are and Unnatural History, Leviathan Rising and Human Nature, along with Al Ewing's El Sombra.

And in related news, Al Ewing (recently voted one of SFX Magazine's Top 50 hottest sci-fi talents) is going to be returning to the world of Pax Britannia next year with the sequel to El Sombra entitled Blood and Thunder.

Watch this space for more details...

Steampunk Star Wars

Check out Darth Vader and his Phlogisticated Aether Torch, a.k.a. a phlogisabre.


For more steampunk Star Wars (including Lady Leia, Jabba the Hutt and desktop wallpapers) click here.

The Age of Steam

There is an interesting article in the August 2009 edition of SFX Magazine about the steampunk genre. There is some gorgeous art by Antonio Caparo and there are the expected references to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Jeter, but on the whole the rest of the references aren't very up to to date.

The article's author, James White, and genre chronicler Nick Ottens (who is extensively quoted throughout the piece), claim that steampunk is an enduring genre that is alive and well (although Ottens also claims that people are moving away from steampunk in favour of dieselpunk now), and yet there is almost no mention of modern steampunk movements or practitioners.

The most interesting (and up to date) thing mentioned in the article relates to the goth-rock steampunk band Abney Park. However, there is no mention of Philip Reeve's books, George Mann's Newbury and Hobbes adventures, or Abaddon Books' Pax Britannia series. There is nothing about the recent Solaris Books and Tachyon Publications steampunk anthologies, Toby Frost's Space Captain Smith books or Stephen Hunt's The Court of the Air series.

So Ottens claims that steampunk is alive and well, but how much does he really have his finger on the pulse of popular Neo-Victorian culture?

Human Nature reviewed in Unscene Magazine

Just to let all you aficionados of dark alternative music and culture out there know that my third Pax Britannia novel Human Nature is reviewed in the summer issue of Unscene Magazine.

Meanwhile its follow-up title Evolution Expects is now available from all better bookshops or right here.

The expectation is over

I arrived home today to discover a parcel waiting for me, sent by those kind people at Abaddon Books, containing none other than my author copies of Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects.

I never lose the thrill of opening a carton of books for the first time and holding the finished product in my hands, feeling the smoothness of the cover, marvelling at the design work and savouring the smell of fresh print.

And the excitement was only increased today because Evolution Expects, as well as being the last book in the first Ulysses Quicksilver story arc is also the first Pax Britannia book to appear in the larger B format (rather than the usual A format).

You can see what a difference it makes in the pictures below, with Human Nature and Evolution Expects shown side by side. It will certainly give the books a greater presence on the shelf, and make them easier to manhandle when it comes to enjoying them.

And on top of all that the designers have come up with a funky new series logo to go on the spine. And there's a little extra for you the reader too. As well as Evolution Expects the novel, there's Conqueror Worm the novella, which takes the world of Pax Britannia in a rather unexpected direction.

So all that remains for me to say is pick yourself up a copy today and enjoy.

Until next time...