Last night I wrapped up Draft Zero of my next release, a sequel to my science fiction novella set in Michael Bunker’s world of Pennsylvania, The Girl in the City. It’s called The Girl in the Wilderness. What does Draft Zero mean? Well, it’s what I call the very first version of the novel that tells the story from start to finish. There’s usually chapters and paragraphs I know I need to rewrite, foreshadowing I need to add, and almost certainly plot holes you could drive a truck through. But the key points are there and (probably for the first time) I’ve got a good idea of the whole story. There’s still a lot of work to do before the book gets out to you, but it’s a great feeling nevertheless. I hadn’t originally planned on writing a sequel to The Girl in the City and it stands alone very well, but a lot of people have been asking if there will be more stories featuring Leah and I had some strong ideas so I decided to turn the book into a trilogy. The third part – The Girl in the Machine – will follow later this year. I was originally planning on making books two and three novellas that would be roughly 50% … Read More
Get The Girl in the City for FREE
For the next few days, my science fiction novella, The Girl in the City, is available free of charge on Amazon Kindle (US UK Canada). This is the first time I’ve made the book available free and the offer ends May 2nd. Next month, I’m going to be “going wide” with The Girl in the City and making it available on Kobo, iTunes and any other ebook platforms I can find. That means I won’t be able to offer the book for free very easily. I’m also considering increasing the price at the same time. That means it’s likely to be at least a year before the book is available as a freebie. So, if you fancy reading an action packed science fiction tale, now is the chance to pick one up for less than the price of most things. Here’s the description… With the oppressive Transport Authority controlling every aspect of their existence, Leah and her father do what they can to carve a good life for themselves. Leah spends her nights scavenging in the rural zone around the City, risking capture by the Wild Ones as she hunts for salvage her father can trade for food and other essentials. But when Leah takes a bag of salvage … Read More
Joining the Apocalypse
Last Monday was a day of highs and lows. It started off with one of the quickest rejections I’ve ever received – just under twelve hours. But it ended with news from Nick Cole that the Apocalypse Weird team had accepted my pitch for a novel set in London. Or to put it another way, I have a novel coming out! To say I was pleased is an understatement. Apocalypse Weird is an ambitious, exciting concept and the team at Wonderment Media are some of the nicest, smartest people you could hope to work with. But more than that, this is a huge milestone in my writing journey. This summer will mark the 20th anniversary of my first publication – Only Friends, a piece of what we would now call flash fiction that appeared in the award winning magazine, Peeping Tom. I’ve been writing, on and off, for even longer than that – probably 25 years. But over the last four years I’ve really been focusing on my craft and putting in the hours to be the best writer I can. I like to think I’m doing pretty well, I’ve had over 20 short stories published and the reaction to my self-published work, especially The Girl in the City, has been outstanding. Now I get … Read More
Six Things I Learned About the Apocalypse
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a series of interviews with the authors of the first five Apocalypse Weird books. As part of those interviews, I asked each author to tell me something about the Apocalypse Weird project that people might not know. Here’s what I learned. Texocalypse Now (originally Digger) was the original book project that developed into the whole Apocalypse Weird world, and it was originally conceived as a video game. [Courtesy of Michael Bunker] Amazon through their 47North imprint originally passed on what became the Apocalypse Weird project because it was too big of a concept. [Courtesy of Michael Bunker] Tim Grahl came up with name of the parent company, Wonderment, after reading a history of Marvel Comics. We wanted Wonderment to become the Marvel Comics digital publishing. [Courtesy of Nick Cole] The stable of Apocalypse Weird writers is not an exclusive club. We want anyone and everyone to come in and write in this world. Hence, the formation of the Apocalypse Weird: Survivors Facebook group. You can invent your own Apocalypse and Boss, or you can write in someone else’s (there’s a Rules document posted for the group). All fanfic will be published on a site … Read More
Apocalypse Weird Q&A: Jennifer Ellis
This week, I’ve been posting Q&As with the authors of the first five Apocalypse Weird books. So far, I’ve spoken to Michael Bunker, Nick Cole, Chris Pourteau and E. E. Giorgi. Today, we have Jennifer Ellis, author of Reversal. Hi Jennifer, welcome to the site. Tell us a little bit about your Apocalypse Weird book, Reversal. Reversal is set in an isolated research station on Ellesmere Island where Sasha Wood and Soren Anderson wake up one morning to find that not only are they blind, and several of their colleagues are missing, but the poles appear to have reversed and giant methane-venting craters have opened up all over the tundra. They are cut off from the outside world, and the other researchers keep turning up dead, or on snowmobiles with guns. What follows is an action-packed thriller filled with feral polar bears, trips to the Antarctic, the four horsemen of the environmental apocalypse, and many questions regarding Soren’s past and his research on volcanoes. The Arctic is an unusual setting for an Apocalyptic novel. What made you decide to set the book there? Well, I’m from Canada, and I live in a ski town, so I love snow and generally prefer to spend six … Read More
Apocalypse Weird Q&A: Michael Bunker
Today is the big day for Apocalypse Weird with five new books hitting the shelves: Texocalypse Now by Michael Bunker and Nick Cole The Dark Knight by Nick Cole (the sequel to The Red King) Reversal by Jennifer Ellis The Serenity Strain by Chris Pourteau Immunity by E.E. Giorgi I posted my thoughts on the project on Saturday, but I thought I’d also try something new to commemorate the event. So, I’ve lined up a series of Q&As with the authors of the five launch titles, and I’ll be posting one each day this week. First up is Michael Bunker, co-author of Texocalypse Now. Hi Michael, welcome to the blog. What can you tell us about the premise of Texocalypse Now and the Digger series? The overall premise is that in a Central and West Texas gone Mad Max, the apocalypse has left a vast, mostly deserted swath of Texas a dangerous place to be. Some small towns survive… for awhile… boarded up and on the defense. Precious Metal Pirates, biker gangs, and hordes of feral humans made crazy for protein by a diet pill they relied on prior to the collapse, criss-cross the basin looking to murder, salvage, or just consume anything that is left. In … Read More
Apocalypse Weird Trailer
Today marks the big launch of Apocalypse Weird – the shared world project from Michael Bunker, Nick Cole, Rob McClellan, Tim Grahl and a whole host of great authors. To celebrate, they’ve launched a new trailer for the series. There’s also a Facebook launch event this afternoon (times are in PST) 2:00-3:00 PM: Chris Pourteau & Lesley Smith3:00-4:00 PM: Nick Cole & Forbes West4:00-5:00 PM: Hank Garner & Eric Tozzi5:00-6:00 PM: Kim Wells 6:00-7:00 PM: E. E. Giorgi & Kevin G. Summers7:00-8:00 PM: Michael Bunker & Stefan Bolz8:00-9:00 PM: Jennifer Ellis & Chris Pourteau You can read my thoughts on Apocalypse Weird and why I think it’s a game changer right here. And I’m doing something that I’ve never tried on this blog before – author Q&As. I’ve lined up a mini-interview with each of the Apocalypse Weird authors, starting with mighty Michael Bunker. Michael’s Q&A will go up later today, with the rest following over the course of this week. I hope you’ll drop by and take a look. Get a FREE copy of my short story, Only Friends by subscribing to my newsletter. [Apocalypse Weird Trailer by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 23rd February 2015]
The Apocalypse is Coming and it’s Weird
Something interesting is happening next week. Or to be more precise, five interesting things are happening and they combine, like some literary Transformer, to create something very interesting – Apocalypse Weird is coming. Apocalypse Weird is a shared world project featuring a series of novels, each with their own post-apocalyptic scenarios – everything from diet pill zombies to giant squid to gojira. But there’s an underlying mythos that ties all of the books together. Over time, more and more will be revealed about the various players in the world of Apocalypse Weird until, eventually, the whole thing comes together in what will presumably be a cataclysmic finale of epic proportions. The first Apocalypse Weird book, The Red King by Nick Cole, was released in November of last year as a taster but the big launch is on Monday, 23rd February, when five more books hit the streets: Texocalypse Now by Michael Bunker and Nick Cole The Dark Knight by Nick Cole (the sequel to The Red King) Reversal by Jennifer Ellis The Serenity Strain by Chris Pourteau Immunity by E.E. Giorgi Each book is part of an ongoing series, and there are more titles coming beyond these initial five including books by some of the best indie and traditional writers out there … Read More
The Art of The Girl in the City
The Girl in the City really took on a life of its own last year. When I started writing the story, I wasn’t even sure I was going to release it. But as I wrote the first draft, I grew to like Leah and her story more and more. By the time I’d finished I was convinced I had a story that was good enough to publish. I can’t say that about all the stories I write, I’ve got a folder called Abandoned for a reason, but I could see Leah (as it was known then) had a lot of potential. For the first time, I sent an early draft off to some beta readers and got some very positive feedback. That feedback reinforced the feeling that I should release the book. I always use editors for my indie books but I also sent Leah to Joe Nassise for a development edit. I revised the story based on his feedback and then used Red Adept Editing for copy editing and proofreading passes. The end result is a story I’m really proud of. But while all that editing was going on, I had another idea. Michael Bunker commissioned illustrations for Pennsylvania from Ben Adams, a very talented artist that had … Read More
Travel to Pennsylvania for 99c
My novella, The Girl in the City, is set in the world of Michael Bunker’s novel Pennsylvania. You don’t need to have read Pennsylvania to enjoy The Girl in the City but you should. Firstly, it’s Amish Science Fiction which is a genre everyone should experience and secondly, it’s a great book. To make things even easier, Michael has put the Omnibus edition on offer for just 99c/99p so now is the perfect time to pick it up ready for the release of The Girl in the City. You can get Pennsylvania on Amazon (US and UK), Nook (US and UK), Kobo and iBooks but the book will go back to normal price in a few days so now is the time to pick it up. Here’s the description: Young Amishman Jedidiah Troyer is now a traveler. He’s signed up for an emigration program that is colonizing the planet of New Pennsylvania. He just wants to start a farm and homestead on affordable land in a new Amish community. Space pioneering isn’t as easy as it sounds when you’re “plain.” Jedidiah and his new friend Dawn arrive on New Pennsylvania in the middle of a rebel uprising, and TRACE, the resistance group that is rising up against … Read More
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