Missing, No More

I’m suffering from a cold which might be partially the fault of strong Belgian beer and the lack of sleep I’ve had over the last few weekends. Anyway, as I spend my Sunday snotting and hawking up the odd lung, you’ll be glad to know that, “Juvie” is now with my agent and I’m waiting to hear back.

As is the way of many small publishers, Libros has gone into liquidation which means copies of ‘The Missing’ are now no longer available. If you have one you hold something quite rare. That said I think I know where I can get hold of six remaining copies. So if you don’t already have one, drop me a line and I’ll see what can be arranged.

I’ve spent most of this week sketching and writing my brother’s best man speech in time for the wedding next weekend. I might need to sacrifice some more virgins to ensure travel (I’m running low in Edinburgh).

Links galore:

Free novels on the internet

Behance Gallery's

Online magazines with Zinio and Yudu

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And Another Thing is the Eoin Colfer written part six of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s not bad, but (and this wasn’t a surprise) it’s no patch on the original. It’s like the concept was passed through an Adams-o-matic machine. It’s essence of Douglas, and I’m not sure whether anyone should have bothered. Colfer is a pretty good author in his own right, but Adams was something else, a once in human history writer.

The Road is one of those books that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time but never got around to it, which is a shame as it’s brilliant. Beautifully written, sparse, with an undercurrent of approaching sorrow. Sci-fi in the sense it’s set in an unnamed future after something terrible has happened that wipes out most of the human population, the world turned grey in a possible nuclear winter, it tells the continuous journey of a a father and his young son. A mesmerising work of art.

Pandemonium is the new Hellblazer, set in the difficult and challenging world of Iraq, sucide bombers and insurgents. Delano is one of the best Constantine authors around, with tight scripts that bring the old weathered magician to life. The art work by Jock is almost worth buying it for in the first place.

Read this week:

And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Hellblazer: Pandemonium by Jamir Delano & Jock

The Missing - Signing

Had a signing last night at The Illicit Still. Many thanks to those who came and thanks to all the staff at the venue. If you're ever in the need of a good little pub in Edinburgh get yourself to this small and cosy pub.

I've put a video below from the evening.

Hopefully I'll have some more signings soon. I'll keep you posted.

New Year and Restless

Christmas came and went with a woosh, speeding past in a blur of panicked visits to airports, sitting on planes, much German food (mainly sausage of one sort or another), a long trip down south across a country blanketed white, with frozen windscreen nozzles and long delays for accidents. Visits to hospital to check on my Father-in-law, see my Grandmother, and the rest of the family. Helping to clear a house out, cooking a ham and a long trip back north.

New year came and went with a woosh, speeding past but spending a pleasant evening out for dinner and finding two big boxes filled with copies of my first novel ‘The Missing’ delivered to a neighbour and no contact at all with my publisher.

‘Juvie’ has also been finished.

So all in all, I don’t feel very rested and I’m probably in need of a break, but I have far too much to do and still not enough hours in the day.

I also forgot to make any kind of New Year resolution.

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I did get to do a bit of reading so here’s a quick run down:

God of Clocks, third in the series in ‘The Deepgate Codex’ is complicated by time shifts. Hell is still a fully realised horrific place and Carnival is still the best character, but in other areas I wanted more.

Asterios Polyp is one of best comics I’ve read in a long time. Carefully crafted, whimsical but full of depth and interest. Clever and amazing.

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch, is slight and probably not worthy of being turned into a single comic book. It should have been left as a short story. Though interesting to see Jonathon Ross and his wife in comic book format.

Batman: War Games Act One, is classic Batman with a full cast of character and plenty of punch.

Pictures that Tick is a series of short works by Dave McKean. Here you can see his evolution as an artist and comic book creator as he tries different ways in which to present stories and experiments with the form. A thrilling book.

No Dominion and Half the Blood of Brooklyn, are books two and three in the Joe Pitt saga, vampyre and Chandler-esque bad boy in New York City. Fast paced with cool dialogue and thrilling to the end.

Read this Week:

God of Clocks by Alan Campbell

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Todd Klein.

Pictures that Tick by Dave McKean

No Dominion and Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston

The Missing - Available now.

Well I was going to do a piece today in reply to an article I read in the Guardian about Waterstone's and the problem it has around the changing book landscape. Many moons ago, whilst trying to make ends meet at university and for a short period afterwards, I worked for Waterstone's as a book seller. I enjoyed it, and even though the pay was crap, just being around books all day and many like minded people was a joy. That said, the store went through many changes whilst I was there and you were always under the threat of closure as new stores moved into the area and year on year the book buying public dwindled.

Waterstone's needs to change, it needs to stay vibrant but it also needs to stay close to modern advances in technology. Things are going to change but the desire to buy good quality hard back editions of books won't go away completely, but people will want digital and audio versions of those same books.

Anyway I could go on about that but it seems I should really mention that 'The Missing' has now appeared on Amazon for pre-order at the not unreasonable price of £8.99 a copy.

Please feel free to order a copy and if you want to me to sign or inscribe it, contact me and I'll be happy to do so.

I will be having a opening night for the book somewhere in Edinburgh probably in December or early January. I'll let you know the dates as soon as possible.

Also if any one reading this posts reviews for magazines or websites again contact me and I'll sort out review copies.

I don't really know what else to say about it. I'm happy that it's here, but it's taken far too long and I'm already on to new things and ideas. Writing and publishing seems to be like keeping several balls in the air at the same time, you have the work you're currently writing in one hand and work that makes it to print (often several months or years after you've finished it) in the other. Strange and dislocating.

Below is the blurb from the back of the book.

A girl vanishes from a crowded shop.

A wife awaits a husband who will never arrive.

Parents mourn a daughter who never existed.

They are the missing, lost souls, the disappeared.

Nick Stuart wakes to find his girlfriend gone, not just from his bed but from the minds and memories of friends and family. Convinced he is to blame for her disappearance he seeks help but all evidence of her existence has been wiped away. Has she left him, or is something more sinister at work? What happened the night she vanished? And who is the man with eyes that burn like a desert?

The police have their own worries as the heat wave builds and turns the city into a melting pot of violence and frustration, all brought to a head by the mysterious 'Missing Man', who snatches woman from the streets leaving no clues.

As they investigate the two cases become linked, but who is behind the crime - a man, a monster or a myth?

Copulating woodland creatures

Been working my way through the new novel ‘Juvie’. I’ve about finished the second draft but still need to add in a couple of ideas I had whilst writing it and was too far on to go back. After that I’ll have a short break before printing it off and having a read through before the third rewrite.

I’ve heard that ‘The Missing’ is at the printers but still have no confirmed date for its release. I’m hoping before Christmas, but you never know with the publishers.

'the small print' has sold 900 copies and you can now buy it online. If you haven't already got a copy please get one as all the money goes to charity. You can order it from www.thesmallprint.com

Things to look at this week include:

Issuu is place where artists and authors publish all sorts of works from magazines to comics, to piece of art to short stories many completely free. This is something I’m interested in as I find the modern way of publishing might well be on its last legs. I don’t think we’ll stop buying printed material but the old fashioned publisher trying to sell his books to a few chain stores and then paying for advertising just can’t carry on. Publishing is coming back to the masses. Anyway have a look around and tell me if you see anything interesting.

An article about how a lot of literary authors write a novel. Some strange ideas out there but I guess you find what works best for you.

And another about how comic books are not just for geeks. As if you didn’t know already. this article refers to COMICA: The London International Comics Festival which sounds brilliant and I wish I was going to.

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The new Terry Pratchett is a Discworld novel that starts as if it’s been written by someone else. All the usual tropes are present, but it feels as if its been filtered through muslin or else it’s an echo of Pratchett. The reason for this is that he dictated large chunks of the novel and an assistant wrote them up. However once ‘Unseen Academicals’ gets going the whole thing settles down and the work becomes pure Pratchett.

Like all his later works this deals with big themes and its only tokenistically about football delving as it does into a discussion of sexism and racism. The novel introduces several new characters and sets its self up for a return to below stairs at Unseen University.

‘Tales from Outer Suburbia’ is a lovely book by Shaun Tan. Like his other works these fall into books for both adults and children alike with the most wonderful strange art work. This is a book of short stories with tales about strange stick creatures, a visit to the end of the world and a visiting marine mammal things are always strange yet never sinister in this great book.

A new work by Bryan Talbot is always worth a read and ‘Grandville’ is no exception. I mean it’s steampunk with badgers - you can’t ask for better than that. Part Sherlock Holmes, part Rupert the Bear and a dash of Tarantino, Talbot introduces us to Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard. Brilliant art work, great dialogues and copulating woodland creatures. Brilliant.

Harvey Pekar can be a bit depressing. He obsesses about everything and worries too much. He’s kind of a working man’s Woody Allen however rather than films his anxiety Harvey turns them into comic art and has produced ‘American Splendor’ for about as long as I’ve been alive. The art work is by several different artist including Crumb, but the voice is always Pekar’s as complain and kvetches about life.

Finally, we have the new children’s book by John Connolly of Charlie Parker fame. ‘The Gates’ is about science and myth and religion all running into one. CERN have accidently allowed a demon to open up a portal in a small English town so that she can bring about the end of the world. Unfortunately she has aroused the suspicion of young Samuel Johnson and his dog, Boswell. Explaining the science as he goes along this is a comedy in the vain of Pratchet with many asides and explanations of scientific principles. When it’s good it’s hilarious, the best character being the put upon demon Nurd, but not all the jokes work.

Read this week:

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Grandville by Bryan Talbot

Best of American Splendor by Harvey Pekar

The Gates by John Connolly

Coming soon to an interweb near you...

I’ve been working away at the second draft of my new novel which I can announce here. The book is called ‘Juvie’ and is set fifteen seconds into the future, that is just slightly ahead of time now. Set in Greenville, a town in the middle of the grass desert that could be the US or else a town in Europe, the novel follows Ben, a teenager who has decided to stop taking his inhibitors. The world around Ben is antagonistic too children and juveniles alike, treating them with outright hostility and ensuring that they are constantly watched and monitored after ‘the incident.’

The book is about paranoia, surveillance culture, Big Brother and the Mothering State, how we’re fearful of those who differ from us, are younger than us, think in different ways to us.

I hope to have the second draft done by Christmas with another rewrite early next year.

‘The Missing’ has had it’s cover approved and I’m now awaiting the proof copy for one last read through. The publisher’s claim it will be out for Christmas - so fingers crossed. I’ve got a website going live very shortly adamjshardlow.co.uk will be the place to find out about my work and also the new home for this blog. I’ll let you known when it’s live.

'the small print' also has a blog.

Right back to work, but before that here are a few things to keep you busy:

A great little story in pictures by the very talented Shaun Tan is available at The Guardian.

The Mannahatta Project is cool interact map showing what parts of Manhattan looked like in 1609.

A new blog by a friend of mine. He’s managed the sum total of one update so far but I’m sure he’ll add another. He is a little angry with life. Stay away if you don’t like swearing.

The website for artist Vincent Chong

And an interview with John Jarrold which is very perceptive and informative.

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Warren Ellis is well known for his comic books, but his single novel should be hunted out as well. Crooked Little Vein is a pastiche crime novel, part Raymond Chandler, all Warren Ellis. It’s laugh out loud funny and shocking and perverted (in only the best sense) and clever.

A burned out PI Michael McGill lands a case for the American Presidents heroin addicted Chief of staff to search out a lost part of the Constitution. This leads to a nightmare road trip across the US in the company of a nymphomaniac into the darkest underbelly of alternative sexual deviance.

Did I mention it was funny?

Warren Ellis (not to be confused with the musician) is a definite favourite of mine. You can read his daily updated website here. He’s a little misanthropic, but below the gruff exterior I have first hand knowledge that he’s a very nice man deep down (I won’t say what it is to protect his cover).

Read this week:

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

Cover Design

The draft version of the cover for 'The Missing' has arrived. No one has said I can't so I'm sure it's okay to share it with you:

I like what they have done. The colours, deep red and yellow, represent the fact that the story is set in the middle of a heat wave. The urban setting is obvious and even though the warehouse does look a little American, it also looks like the big old warehouses in Nottingham's Lace Market area (the location of the book). The font for the title I think really works and the black band helps my name stand out. I also like the fact it's a wrap around cover.

There are to be a few changes, a tag line is to be added to the top of the front cover which I think will read "They are the missing, lost souls, the disappeared," and the blurb on the back is to be tidied up. My name will also be up-cased as this seems to the be main format on most novels today.

I'll post the finished cover when it arrive but in the meantime let me know what you think.

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Midnight Days is a series of Neil Gaiman's early works for Vertigo collected together. It shows how he matured as an author and comic book writer. The Hellblazer short 'Hold Me', is brilliant, a slow burning, grimy story set in an acid lit London tower block. It's stark and simple and wonderfully drawn by Dave McKean.

Other stories are less easy to enjoy mainly because they are read out of context. The first two are both based on the 'Swamp Thing' mythos and require you to have some understanding of what has happened to the character previously, whilst the Sandman story is a little long winded but has a great pay off.

An enjoyable collection if only to show how Neil Gaiman has gained in competence and style.

Read this week:

Midnight Days by Neil Gaiman.

A Giant Cabinet of Curiosities

According to the publishers ‘The Missing’ should be released July / August this year which would be perfect as it would tie in very nicely with the Edinburgh book festival and lots of book buying members of the public in town. The cover is going through a design process at the moment. I’ve sent in my own ideas, but as to in which direction they are going to go, I have no idea. As soon as I see some work I’ll get it posted up here.

I’m working on a short story. This is for the charity book which should be out at the same time. It’s typical, you wait for ages and then two published works come along at the same time.

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Had a trip to Glasgow and Kelvingrove museum yesterday. We went primarily for the Dr Who exhibition, but this was a bit of a let down. It’s less than half the size of the one we saw at the Olympia last year and though it advertised itself as having props from the last series and the Christmas special, these were a bit few and far between. I’m sure Scotland could have found somewhere bigger to put on the show and allowed everyone to see the full show.

I’ve put some pictures up here from both Dr Who and Kelvingrove which has interesting exhibits all mixed together. It’s like walking into a giant cabinet of curiosities.

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Finished ‘Cages,’ and all I can say is 'wow!' It’s dense and clever and witty and surreal and touches on many different aspect of being an artist and the creation of work. Principally the story concerns an artist who moves into an apartment block to work on a fresh canvas. Here he meets a selection of strange neighbours, including the woman who runs the block, a man with learning difficulties, a jazz musician and a writer escaping from his public. At the same time he draws a woman who he sees across the street. Everything is interconnected, with the woman becoming his lover, the musician discussing his art and the writer running scared from his own work which has angered the reading public and put him in the hands of a totalitarian government. At the same time the apartment block becomes a Tower of Babel and it might (or might not) have been destroyed.

All of this is helped by the simple scratchy art work of Mckean, interspersed with several large colour plates. It’s a work that deserves to be read many times over and I’m surprised it hasn’t made it’s way into the lists that denote the exemplars of the medium.

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Read this week:

Cages by Dave McKean

My Empire Strikes Back

I'm about a quarter of the way through the new book. It's coming on and I think I know where its going, but it still throws up the odd surprise. It's not as simple and straight forward as the first book, but then second books never are. It's my Empire Strike Back rather than Star Wars.

Not much else to report. I'm still trying to find an agent for the first book. The Missing is still coming out this summer, I want a holiday (thinking Marrakech and the desert) and I was so nearly a juror on a High Court case.

You'll see twitter updates to the right. If you haven't already joined, do. It's a great way to keep in touch and I promise to be your friend.

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Around the World in 80 Days from my memory contained a balloon sequence. The book doesn't, so I must be remembering the film version. It's a witty fast read but somewhat strange when compared to most modern material as it uses a third person omniscient narrator, which ages it considerably.

The Compleat Moonshadow (that's how it's spelt) is something I've been wanting to read for a long time. It's a surreal adventure through the mind of a young man, struggling with growing up, love and death. It might all be a dream, in which case it's a haunting but beautifully watercoloured dream in which anything could happen. Fantasy via Brunelle, a modern Don Quixote.

Primal is a very short comic book rendering of a Clive barker story. I don't really think it works. It's too disjointed, trying to be too clever and the art work is too dark to appreciate what is going on.

Revelations on the other hand is much better. Another Barker story, this one is clever and in places funny. A murder playing out many years later, the ghosts witnesses to the real world. The art could have been better, as it's a little rushed in places, but the story more than makes up for it.

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Read this week:

Revelations by Clive Barker

Primal by Clive Barker

The Compleat Moonshadow by John Marc DeMatteis

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

Art Department

Just a quick note to mention that 'The Missing' has now been passed on to the art department for, well art obviously, and also to be blocked - which I think means to have the lay out done. Another step forward but still no idea of a release date yet.

Review and be damned.

I’ve finished the penultimate edit of ‘The Missing’ for Maureen today. It’s been sent to her and we’ll have a talk tomorrow to discuss. After that and any small minor changes it will be sent off to the publishers and the long wait for galleys and art begins.

I’m reading a novel at the moment that requires a review but it’s pretty bad and I’m having trouble finishing it. I normally read everything, refusing to give up on a book until the very end in the hope that something will grab my attention, but with this one I’m struggling. I feel I should finish it, particularly if I’m to write a review, but find myself resenting the time it is taking up, time that I could spend reading one of the huge pile sat next to my desk that require attention. I know I’ll slog on and finish it but I fear the more time I spend with it the more I’ll hate it and the worst the review will be.

A lovely piece this month by John Connolly on the amount of books he buys in proportion to the amount he reads. I know exactly what he means. I keep saying I’m not going to buy anything new until I finish the thirty odd books I have waiting but still find myself walking into book shops and adding to the collection, then there are the free ones I’m sent and the books for review.

Just been to the cinema and seen a lovely film call The Station Agent. A great little picture, with perfect written characters, understated and minimal, with just the right emphasise on humour and pathos. Check it out.

I've just noticed that the next post will be number 100.

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Pratchett’s new children’s book ‘Nation’, is a slow burn. He’s left the Disc World behind and created an alternative world dominated by the British Empire. It is seen through the eyes of two children, Daphne a girl shipwrecked on an island that has just suffered a tsunami and Mau, the remaining inhabitant of a once proud and ancient community.
The work takes a little while to get going but once it does Pratchett cleverly discusses ethnicity, religion, power, sex and death. It is powerful stuff, made light hearted in only the way that he can. It also has the best ending of a YA novel I’ve read in some time. It’s really moving and if you have a child I recommend reading it to them, if you don’t, read it yourself. Brilliant.

Read this week:

Nation by Terry Pratchett.

Watching the Authors

Down to the last chapter of 'The Missing'. I've had my sweep through and a made a few subtle changes. I'll have a call with Maureen later this week, make further changes before printing the entire novel off and reading it as a reader. I want to try and put myself in the position of someone picking the book up off the shelf for the first time and reading it for enjoyment. At the same time it will be read by the chief editor at Libros where further changes can be made.

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The book festival is now up and running and I was able to see Jasper Fforde read from his new work which is set in a world where colour is a key indicator to your position in life and society. Like all Fforde books the concept sounds alien and completely off kilter but no doubt he'll pull off something unique and funny and tight. If you have never read any of his books pick one up, he's as funny as Pratchett and as clever as Adams. Well worth reading.

Also got to see John Connolly, who was amusing and seemed more at ease speaking to large crowds than when I saw him two years ago. He speaks and reads so fast that he can fit into half an hour what most authors drivel on about for at least two. He read from a work in progress which is a new Charlie Parker novel out next year called 'The Lovers'. It's sound like the supernatural elements have been upped in the new book, which is good because it was something I missed in the last.

I'm off to see Alan Campbell tomorrow which I'm looking forward to.

Outside of the Book festival we saw Jimmy Carr, who was quick and clever and funny and immensely rude in all of the right places.

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Finished 'The Secret History of Moscow', which is a subterranean fiction work set in Russia where creatures of fable, old Gods and characters from history exist below Moscow. Its from the point of view of Galina who's younger sister turns into a jackdaw and flies away whilst giving birth. Trying to track her sister down she meets with several strange individuals all who suffer from the dislocation of living in modern Russia in a big city that is crime and prejudice ridden.
The book has very much of a Russian feel to it, reading like Tolstoy (thankfully not as long) with plenty of wit. The subterranean world does not feel as fleshed at as the city above but Ekaterina Sedia has an inventive and playful mind and is able to pull on the history of her country and its myths.

'Nevada' is strange and funny and shocking and clever all at the same time. I only heard of Steve Gerber just after he died earlier this year when I discovered he was the creator of Howard the Duck, a character I remember from a film which involved aliens, comedy and inter species love (not something that seemed strange when I was about 10 years old).
This comic book was realised back in 1999 and I picked it up via the excellent book swapping site 'Read it, Swap it', based on Gerber's name. It revolves around an exotic dancer in Las Vegas, her pet ostrich Bolero, time and dimension travel, daemons and cosmic answers. It's a great read and worth picking up, I'll definitely be searching out more of Gerber's work on the back of it.

'Ocean' by Warren Ellis is a straight forward action comic set in space where coffins from an alien race have been discovered in the ice below Europa. It's about corporate greed and the inherent violence of the human species. Great art work by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story.

My final read this week is 'The Vinyl Underground - Watching the Detectives' which is a spin on Hellblazer but with a modern cool edge. It's good and I think it could grow into something very good but at the moment it doesn't have the skill or self awareness of Hellblazer.

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Read this week:
The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia
The Vinyl Underground - Watching the Detectives by Si Spencer
Ocean by Warren Ellis
Nevada by Steve Gerber

The Hordes Descend

Just a quick post as I've much to do in the arena of getting everything done and dusted before Big Bad Trev arrives tomorrow for a couple of days followed hotly on his heels by The Mater. Festival time seems to be visiting time for family and friends - I can't imagine why!

Saw Bill Bailey on Thursday and he was okay. Nothing amazing, sometimes funny but nothing that made me feel like I was about to regurgitate my ribs (unlike the woman behind me who sounded as if she had brought up all of her internal organs). I guess comics have good days and bad days like anyone else and it kind of felt as if Bailey wanted to be elsewhere.

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Finished Ch7. of the edit of 'The Missing', so only one more to go. After that I'll have one more read through before the whole lot gets sent off to the Chief Editor of the publishing house.

This is how we work...

Started on Ch 4 of ‘The Missing’. We seem to have come up with quite a good way of working through the book. Maureen sends me a chapter in which she has made a few changes, normally grammatical errors (of which, I am sure, there are many). I then spend about four days reading through the changes and making any corrections that I missed on the last draft. Once this is complete, Maureen and I discuss the chapter on the phone (I believe she lives in Spain, so meeting isn’t possible), with her pointing out any areas she had difficulty with or didn’t quite understand. This is a more in depth analysis of sentence structure or a particular phrase or word I’ve used. Sometimes a change is made, more often than not I go away and think about it before completing one more rewrite of that section.
I’m not sure if this is how other writers work with their editor’s, but for me it seems to be working.

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‘Heart of Empire’ is the follow up to the Luther Arkwright books. Where the first were drawn in meticulous black and white, this book is completed in bright and bold colours (though the work is still highly detailed).
I found this even more enjoyable than the first three books, I think mainly because it is more accessible than the first book. There is a lot to be said for having a clear and concise plot, though the ambiguity of the parallel dimensions had already been created through the first work, confusing as it may be.
There are some great reworking of real people in this book, allowing Talbot to put the boot in with those people he obviously feels garner too much press time for little or no artistic or social integrity, a fop by the name of Sir Joshua Hirst is a fine example. The book does not push the Arkwright mythos forward in any way, but it remains a great read.

Read this week:
Heart of Empire or The Legacy of Luther Arkwright by Bryan Talbot

Catching up

Couple of things came through in the email whilst I was away.

The short story 'Pastoral Effect' will be published in the June 09 issue of New Horizons magazine. This is one of the magazines produced by the British Fantasy Society, I'll check to see if you have to be a member to purchase a copy.

I have an editor for 'The Missing'. The erudite Maureen will be undertaking the task and we hope to get things complete in three months. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

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Read several books whilst away:

Mariah Mundi - The Midas Box by G.P. Taylor takes a while to get going but is full of wonderful gothic inventions and is set in a world that might be Victorian England but then again might be somewhere completely different. It tells the story of the orphan Mariah in his new occupation as servant in the Prince Regent Hotel, a massive monstrosity built on supports over a cliff face with steam elevators and something nasty hidden in the basement. There he meets the feisty Sacha and soon finds himself embroiled in a mystery concerning vanishing children, magic tricks, the Kracken and tunnels underground. Once it beds in the story sets a rapid pace and those the language might be difficult for some children the invention should keep them reading. I will now go back and read the book that he first published - Shadowmancer.

In the Miso Soup is a translation of a work by Ryu Murakami from Japan. It's dark and funny and deadly and terrible violent. Sort of stuck half way between a Tarantino movie and an Ian Banks novel. Its well written and the translated with deft by Ralph McCarthy. Short and brutal but with a heart (cut out and pulsating in a clutched hand).

Tokyo by Mo Hayder is a simple thriller involving the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army in Nanking during their war against China, plotted against an outsiders involvement with the Yakuza in modern day Tokyo. The main character 'Grey' I found a little difficult to understand but the reason for this soon becomes evident and you understand why she has been used. The other great mystery of the story, a Chinese herbal medicine and its contents is the books downfall with its source being obvious early in the story.

Read this week:
Mariah Mundi - The Midas Box by G.P. Taylor
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
Tokyo by Mo Hayder

Back in Business

Well I'm pleased to say that we're back in business and that 'The Missing' is once more to be published by Libros International. No idea when the book will the hit the shelves (12 - 18 months is a good bet) but it will at some point make it out into the real world like all good children (Frankenstein monsters) must.

At least it will give me plenty of time to complete the new book, currently entitled 'Dark Father', which comprises book one of 'The Chronicles of the Gap'.

****

After the lacklustre book version of Constantine's adventures (see previous blog) I moved back to his comic book roots and read 'The Gift'. Here the Hellblazer actually ends up in hell fighting for the soul of his sister while at the same time being used by the demon Nergal for his own nefarious aims. It's probably one of the best I have read so far with Carey pulling out all the stops to display Constantine's wit and desperation.

Also read the first of my Subterranean Press books, Lye Street. It's a good novella that finished all to quickly. It takes place years before 'Scar Night' and feels as if it might have once formed part of the original manuscript, or a failed start at the novel that was ditched. The writing is good, but not as good as the novel. That said, its a book worthy of adding to the 'Scar Night' mythos.

****

Read this week:
Hellblazer: The Gift by Mike Carey and Leonardo Manco
Lye Street by Alan Campbell

Hitting it Back and Forwards

I am currently in negotiations with the publishers of 'The Missing', with them outlining what they plan to do with the book. This contact is allaying my fears but I still have a difficult decision to make as to what I do. Finding a publisher is hard slow work, but then a book deserves the best you can do for it. I'll keep you posted on how things are progressing when I have some more news.

****

In the mean time here are a few book reviews:

Subterranean By John Shirley: The character of Constantine, a mage living in London through the Thatcherite 80s and into the 90s is one of the modern days comic books survivalists. His exploits have been recorded in comics since Alan Moore created him back in Swamp Thing and even after the disaster of the movie version the character has continued to enthrall. Subterranean, a 300 page novel should then be full of the dark wit and adult horror that the comics have so carefully crafted over the last twenty years. Unfortunately not. All I can assume is that Shirley had no time to sit down and write a carefully crafted novel so instead wrote a stream of consciousness adventure leaving in all the dreadful parts to keep people amused.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde: A classic pure and simple. He might not have invented the horror genre on his own but this short novel goes someway to establishing the dynamics and structure for all future authors. Part of the One City: One Book programme in Edinburgh, I was astounded about how much this book forms part of a collected consciousness. The story I thought was well known, but it seems most people (myself included) have a strange hybrid version of the story lodged in our minds. The real version is much darker, much more psychological then any Hammer Horror movie ever pertained to.

The Museum Vaults is a sumptuously drawn graphic novel from Marc-Antoine Mathieu. Part of a series of books co-produced with the Louvre museum this fantasy sets Monsieur Volumer on a journey deep under the museum as he attempts to catalogue the different basements and artifacts hidden below Paris. Created in monochrome, the drawings are simple yet the art work depicted is sumptuous. I can't praise this enough.

****

I've also picked up the new IDW comic Locke and Key written by Joe Hill which hopefully will be as exciting as his novel. They are certainly as good as, if not better produced than DC's comics.

Read this week:
Subterranean By John Shirley
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Museum Vaults: Excerpts from the Journal of an Expert by Marc-Antoine Mathieu

'The Missing', is to be Published!

Well some good news was had very recently when I received an email from Libros International. They have decided to publish 'The Missing', so hopefully it will be hitting a book shop near you soon. No publication date has been set as of yet and I'll update you when I find out more information.

It's early days yet, with contracts and marketing details to sort out but it has made me feel all beam-ey and twinkle eyed. I always knew it was a good story, I just had to put in enough work to make it seem real and and get the flow of the story correct. If nothing else it's given me the confidence to crack on with the new work.

I'm in New York next week, hitting the sales and making use of their dollars which are worth so little in real money. I'll post photos and a run down on what we did when I get back.

Slipped Through the Net

I'm reading a novel at the moment that I have been asked to review and I have to say it is probably one of the worse books that I've ever come across. This creates for me a dilemma in that I feel I should review the book honestly but at the same time I find myself as an unpublished writer of novels assuming that this is how people will react to my own work.

The book in question (which I won't name) is full of clichéd characters, a premise that is seriously flawed, the language is poor and the pace almost lethargic. It's just not a very good book and I'm sure any amount of clever editing would not have helped. But the book has made it into print. The publishers are classed as independent, which if you don't know the publishing world, means small print runs and selling (in the main) via the Internet. Now there are some excellent works that get published by the independents, work that is perhaps niche and would not see the light of day without them, but even by their standards this work is dire and that makes me worry that some publishers will give this part of the industry a bad name by putting out works of a substandard nature. My work, 'The Missing', if it gets published, will probably get taken up by the independents and it concerns me to be tarred with the same brush. All I can hope is that similar to the big publishing houses not every book that comes out can be deemed successful or even 'good'. Perhaps this is one of those that slipped through the net.

Perhaps he's been abducted by Aliens

Sorry about the lack of an update for the last few weeks but we have finally succumbed to the owner occupier class and bought ourselves a flat. It's in an area of Edinburgh called Tollcross which backs onto the old town. It's an interesting part of the city, I think in the misleading sales pitch of the estate agents it's classed as 'up and coming, with an eclectic mix of urban dwellers'. I think of it as shabby-chic.

That said it has everything I hoped for in out first house. The tenement dates from the 1890s and has plenty of original features such as large windows, original floorboards and smart cornicing. The flat has been fully refurbished by a building firm so the kitchen and bathroom are brand new saving us much time in the decorating and renovating business.

Tollcross is close enough to the city for my liking (a mere 10 mins walk) while at the same time boasting its own shops, delis, restaurants, cinema and bars. We've already tried a few of the hostelry's with Bennet's and the Cloister's being excellent pubs with real fires for lazy Sunday's and Henricks being the more modern bar for when I fancy a glass of wine and something to eat. The cinema is the lovely 'Cameo', which has both art house and mainstream fare. Lady H bought us membership for my birthday so I plan to spend quite a bit of time in front of the silver screen.

I am now writing this from the room we've christened 'the den' at my new desk with (at last) a proper chair. One of the best parts of moving here is the view and from the den I look out over the roof tops of the tenements opposite, an outlook that is dominated a church spire all gothic and dark. It's inspiring.

So now I'm installed its time to turn my attention to all those works that have been sitting in the back of my mind (including a story of brothers lost under London, a short about a mural, and adapting 'The Park' for a comic book) while touting the now complete 'The Missing' to agents. Time to get busy.

Read this week: Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill