December 18, 2016
December 18, 2016

What it’s like to make books

Our book mobilization is almost complete. Here are the dates: The Sleeping Legion book1: The Legion Awakes will be launched tomorrow (Dec. 19th). Revenge Squad book1: After War goes live on Tuesday (Dec. 20th) The Sleeping Legion book2: Fortress Beta City is launched on Wednesday (Dec. 21st) If you’ve joined the Legion then you should have received the Legion Bulletin this week with download links for exclusive books in the Sleeping Legion (military SF) and Revenge Squad (urban fantasy – space opera crossover) series. If you haven’t seen the Bulletin, then it may have been intercepted by email spam filters. GMail sometimes puts the Bulletin in the ‘promotions’ section. In this brief moment of calm before the releases, I thought I’d […]
Do you like it?
3 Read more
December 13, 2016
December 13, 2016

Farewell to a real Swordfish pilot

I heard on the news today that Lt Cdr John “Jock” Moffat had died. You probably don’t recognize the name but it has significance for the Human Legion. Moffat was a Royal Navy pilot during the Second World War, and it was his torpedo launch from a Swordfish biplane that crippled the Bismark, a German battleship that was wreaking havoc with British shipping [Edit: Nov. 2017. Or maybe not. The BBC report claimed this, but Rodney Pattisson has kindly commented with a correction. See comments below]. This was in 1941, at at time when lumbering biplanes were long obsolete. But as Moffat himself said, the fabric-over-metal-frame construction used on these older and slower aircraft meant that the aircraft could take a lot of […]
Do you like it?
4 Read more
December 7, 2016
December 7, 2016

Revenge Squad: Advance to Contact

After War, the first book in the new Revenge Squad series is out on Kindle pre-order now, and I can tell you it feels very exciting, and not a little nervous, to have this finally out in the world. You can pre-order from Amazon now, and they will post the book onto your devices on December 20th, because Amazon is nice like that. I’ll be saying plenty more about this urban fantasy/ space opera crossover series between now and Christmas, but for now a big thank you to everyone who helped with the recon edition, workshopping, my editor, Donna Scott, and artist Vincent Sammy. Search for ‘After War’ in your local Kindle Store, or if you’re in the US you […]
Do you like it?
7 Read more
December 2, 2016
December 2, 2016

Nick Webb’s Constitution deal, and my new book is out next week

One of the stars of the recent boom in science fiction literature is Nick Webb. Now, if your’re reading this, Nick, I would describe you as a very annoying kind of author 🙂 Not only does he sell a gazillion copies of his books, which come out more regularly than mine, but he also has a real job as a space engineer, has a PhD in experimental physics, and finds time to play Lego with his kids. How cool is that? Can this awesome individual possibly be human? I feel suddenly inadequate. I mention Nick because his most famous book, Constitution, is on a 99c special offer for the next 5 days.   I haven’t read Constitution yet, but I […]
Do you like it?
2 Read more
November 6, 2016
November 6, 2016

Try out a selection of 0.99 Kindle SF & Fantasy books

Marine Cadet is on a 99c joint promotion this weekend. I expect if you’re reading this, you already have Marine Cadet, but some of the other books in the promotion look very interesting and some of them I recommend because I’ve read them and already know they’re great! Click on the image to go to Patty Jansen’s site to grab books from the full range of retailers.   You only have until the end of today to fill your boots. I’m still not well and didn’t get to my computer to announce it yesterday. Sorry. The promotion was set up by author Patty Jansen and it’s something she does every month in various forms and you can sign for more […]
Do you like it?
2 Read more
November 4, 2016
November 4, 2016

Get yer Crimson Worlds ‘ere. For free

Military SF fans have probably heard of Jay Allan, who has been busy working on his new series for Harper Voyager recently (Far Stars) and most recently his new series Duel in the Dark that came out last week (kicking off at 99c). Jay started off with self-publishing the Crimson Worlds series, which I remember reading as they came out. Good fun and  a more strategic view of the military campaign he describes than most authors use. Last thing I heard, the series had sold 800,000 copies. Not bad! I mention all this because there’s a compilation of the first three books that’s free. At least, it is today and it is in the US and UK. I can’t speak […]
Do you like it?
2 Read more
October 13, 2016
October 13, 2016

Starship Troopers and Modern Military SF

I’ve been tracking the science fiction bestseller charts on amazon.com since the start of 2011, with particular attention to space opera and military SF. Yes, it is partially professional intelligence gathering to see what is and is not selling, and to get ideas for my next reads, but it’s much more than that. Science fiction publishing is going through its greatest transformation since at least the widespread introduction of the paperback, and as a huge fan I am simply fascinated to watch these changes as they sweep through publishing at internet speeds. For example, I can take the numbers given by Locus Magazine each year for the number of new science fiction titles published each year, extrapolate backward to the […]
Do you like it?
11 Read more
September 27, 2016
September 27, 2016

Corey Truax: Welcome to the team!

I am delighted to welcome Corey Truax to the team. Corey will be taking over editing duties for The Sleeping Legion series by JR Handley. I’ll be withdrawing to take a series editor brief and allow Corey and JR Handley to work together to make these books pop. Before I introduce Corey a little more,  I’ll give you a quick status update because we’ve been a little quiet over the summer and I wouldn’t want you to think we’ve been slacking off! With kids off school and even a vacation, going quiet is inevitable, I guess, but we’re back in the saddle now. Many thanks to everyone who helped out with the Recon Team edition of The Legion Awakes, the first book in […]
Do you like it?
5 Read more
September 16, 2016
September 16, 2016

Why writers pull apart owl pellets to inspect the bones within

I recall at one of the first science fiction conventions I attended, author Ian Watson replied to the question “What work are you doing at the moment?” by saying he was reading a book about clouds. He explained that he would pick up ideas from every source imaginable and anything could be research. He was reading about clouds because they were interesting. Maybe something he read there would turn up in a novel. And maybe not. That’s a pretty cool concept if your job is an author because you can explain away anything you do as research. Just another glass of chili beer… it’s research! So it turned out to me last weekend. Once a month I take my son […]
Do you like it?
4 Read more
1...910111213...22