Blood Royal - reviewers needed

Now I know that although Blood Royal isn't on official release yet some of you lucky people have got a copy already, and have possibly even read it as well. Well, if that's the case, I would be eternally grateful if you would pop a review up on Amazon (or your preferred web store). As they say, every little helps...

It's business time

Having put it off for far too long, I've finally had myself some business cards made.


The company I used is called MOO and I also should thank the guys at Abaddon Books here for letting me use the cover art from my Pax Britannia books.

Attack of the Automaton Spiders!

If you've read Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects, you'll remember the scene where Ulysses Quicksilver and Eliza run into a pack of robo-spiders. When I wrote this I obviously had something more clockwork in mind, but then I came across these the other day...


Perhaps if Pax Britannia was more cyberpunk than steampunk...

If you like these then you'll love this.

Rebecca Levene's Infernal Game

So, last night I found myself in the heart of London's theatre-land at the grand-sounding Phoenix Artists Club for the launch of Rebecca Levene's Cold Warriors (Book 1 of The Infernal Game series). And what an excellent night it was too!

Not only did I get to catch up with Bex herself, but we were all treated to an extract from the book read by the very talented Magnus. As well as receiving a glass of wine on entry, I also got given my very own Hermetic Division badge!

The back room at the Phoenix was rammed with guests and fans of Bex's and Abaddon Books and I was very pleased to see copies of Pax Britannia: Blood Royal for sale - and even had to sign a few too, one of which (I believe) will be auctioned online. (I'll let you have more details about t his when I know more myself.)

Rebecca Levene, proudly showing off her latest publication Cold Warriors, with David Moore of Abaddon Books

Amongst those there for the evening were the consumptive Scott Andrews (his new book Children's Crusade was on sale last night), Jenni Hill of Abaddon Books and her very tall beau Mike, and David Moore of Abaddon too (sporting a fantastic Optimus Prime top). I also spent a long time catching up with James Swallow, talking about all things 40K, 30K, audio dramas and how space marines are really stroppy teenage boys. (James's new Horus Heresy novel Nemesis is out later this summer.) And I shared a pint with (well, actually we had a pint each) Pye Parr, ace Pax Britannia designer and (as I discovered last night) Games Workshop geek.

I also got to meet (for the first time) Tom Brown (who I once had dealings with via the Black Library), Jason Arnopp (screenwriter, novelist and journalist), and (almost) met Ben Aaronovitch (who wrote Doctor Who off of the telly in the 80s!).

But a big shout needs to go to Jared Shurin and his delightful wife Anne Perry who organised the evening, had the badges made and generally made sure that everyone had a brilliant time. I was also delighted to be informed by Anne that my reference to Richard Owen in Unnatural History is one of the few positive references she's found to the great man (he gave us the word 'dinosaur, in case you didn't know) in literature. Jared happens to be the guy who won the competition I ran recently and it was very hard not to tell him what I had in store for him on the Moon.

Anne looking at her husband Jared with suitable awe (now that he's sporting a fine Pax Britannia badge). And there's that man David Moore again...

But enough of this bloggery (and shameless name-dropping). It's time to do some work.

Until next time...

Launch Party Giveaway!

If you live in London (or can get down here tomorrow night) you could score yourself a ticket for the launch party for Rebecca Levene's new book, The Infernal Game: Cold Warriors.

To find out how, follow this link.

Pax Britannia update

Just a quick update regarding the Pax Britannia steampunk series published by Abaddon Books.

Next month (June) sees the long-anticipated release of Blood Royal, the fifth Ulysses Quicksilver adventure and the first title in a new four book story arc.

Then, in July, we have Al Ewing's sort of sequel to El Sombra - Gods of Manhattan.

Come Christmas, and you've got the sixth Quicksilver adventure, Dark Side, to look forward to along with The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus, which collects Unnatural History, Leviathan Rising and Human Nature under one cover, along with some Pax Britannia short stories, under one cover.

And then some time next year there's this...

Where Pax Britannia leads...

Now, I don't claim to have invented the steampunk genre and I fully appreciate that other writers will be inspired by the same things as me but it's interesting, nonetheless...

I was told the other night that squid are going to be the next big thing, what with China Mieville's Kraken just out. I was then asked whether giant squid had appeared in the Pax Britannia books yet, and the answer was of course 'Yes!' in Leviathan Rising, published more than two years ago in March 2008.

It's just another example of where Pax Britannia leads, others follow.

In February 2007, the very first Pax Britannia novel Unnatural History was published. Last year it was voted 16th most popular book of the year over at SFcrowsnest. Then, eighteen months later, George Mann's Affinity Bridge was published, featuring a very similar setting and plot to that of Unnatural History. And then in January of this year we got Lavie Tidhar's The Bookman, the first in a steampunk series from Angry Robot Books.

Like I say, where Pax Britannia leads...