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.

Hanging around the graveyard

I've been fortunate enough to meet a few of my heroes (Woody Allen, Dave Mckean) and thankfully never had to suffer the shock that they were not the sort of people I would care to share a long train journey sitting next to. Tuesday night I added another name to that list. Neil Gaiman is well known for really pulling out all the stops when it comes to his fans, his legendary long signing sessions, his diligent updates to his blog and the fact he dedicated one of his books to them makes him a much admired writer. You'll be glad to know he did not disappoint.


The Church Hill Theatre seats over 600 people and it was full to bursting (Ian Rankin was in the audience). After a read through of Ch. 5 -Dance Macabre, delivered in Gaiman's softly spoken butter-dripping drawl he started the signing. I had Big Gary along and somehow managed to land myself at the front of the queue. He signed a few things for me and then I got to ask him the big question. He said yes and that he would be "honoured" - so, a Gaiman character will appear (as a name on a list) in the DarkFather.

The Graveyard Book is one of Gaiman's works which can be read to children but work just as well for adults (like Coraline). I haven't read it yet but I've heard most of it as the Gaiman and his publishers have made every chapter available online. If you get the chance have a listen, you won't be disappointed.

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I'm in London this weekend I just found out Terry Pratchett will be doing a signing at Forbidden Planet at roughly the same time I'm there. I should have got my copy of Good Omens signed by Neil and then by Terry - Damn!

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Sad to hear that Dr Who has a planned regeneration coming up (at the end of 2009). Tennent has been excellent - gurning and grinning through the role but at the same time adding just the right hint of madness and darkness.

Going up the mountains

I’m working through ‘DarkFather’ in the two weeks respite I get from the editing of ‘The Missing’. I’m tidying up the story in places and increasing the presence of characters who I think need a little more room to breath. I also want to make the start a little bit punchier.

I’m off to Aviemore this weekend, cycling over mountains raising money for three charities. So far I’ve raised over £400 with all funding matched by the organisers. I imagine it will be hard going as it’s rained constantly throughout August and the weekend forecast does not look much better. I’ll put up some picture next week of me all exhausted and muddy.

Got my tickets through today for a writer event I’ve been waiting some time for. Mr Neil Gaiman is coming to Scotland, and what’s more he’s coming to the book shop just up the road from me. I’m looking forward to his new work as it’s YA and will be an interesting read in line with my own work.

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The Fourth Bear is Jasper Fford’s latest in the Nursery Crime Division works. As always with Fford (that is his real name by the way) the laughs come hard, fast and often with allusions to other works of literature, music or film. You could spend forever and a day trying to keep up with the wry nods but instead you should enjoy the books for their quirky humour. He is one of the best writers around today for laugh out loud prose.
I was fortunate enough to meet him this summer and you can tell there is a keen mind behind these works, one that enjoys puzzles and word play. I asked him if anyone had ever considered turning the works into comics as they are rich in nursery rhyme characters and he said that many had but nothing had ever happened. If there’s any budding comic book authors reading this, get on to it now.

Rex Mundi is a comic book that started life before Da Vinci Code which is interesting because they contain similar themes. Unlike the Dan Brown book Rex Mundi is set in a world where the American Civil War has ended in stalemate and the Catholic Church controls most of Europe, also sorcery is a real problem.
The story is a little sparse in places, but the artwork by EricJ is lush and precise, turning Paris into a dark mediaeval / 30s inspired city. There are also some good scenes under Paris, travelling along the vast sewers that mimic the street layout above so accurately that they share the same names (true), plus mention of catacombs being found containing the bodies of prior inhabitants (also true). Well worth a read and I’m sure I’ll get book 2.

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Read this week:
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fford
Rex Mundi: The Guardian of the Temple by Arvid Nelson et al.