So, with first draft of The Ghost Smuggler written and filed away for a few weeks before I start revising it, what’s next? Well, first up, I don’t want to stop writing. Partly because I’ve got a nice writing streak going (49 days so far) but more importantly because I’m enjoying the writing so much at the moment. The good news is, Ethel the Muse has been busy and I have a whole raft of ideas. First up, there’s three potential Ghost Smuggler related projects: The sequel novel A prequel novella called The Ghostwalker Edicts A parallel novella that tells the story of one of the secondary characters from the novel Then there’s a some other novels: A YA urban fantasy filled with freaks and the monsters who hunt them A YA urban fantasy about a girl who can create magical worlds A science fiction serial that started off as a throwaway idea but has grown into something a lot more substantial And some short stories: A psychological horror story called The Bone Boy A science fiction story about the skull of a military robot A horror-ish story about an ice creature and the girl she befriends Two novellas based in the world … Read More
On Caitlin R Kiernan
Caitlin R Kiernan is one of a handful of authors whose books I always buy but never give away (Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Clive Barker, China Mieville, Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto being some of the others). She’s one of an even smaller number of authors whose books immediately jump to the top of my reading pile whenever they’re published. She’s also an author who makes me want to give up writing – I know I’ll never get close to her imagination or the sheer beauty of her writing so why bother? I’ve been reading Caitlin’s books for a long time. I can’t remember when I discovered her first novel, Silk (published in 1998), but I think it was through her association with Poppy Z Brite – another author whose work I love – and I’ve been hooked ever since. She’s written some fantastic books, Murder of Angels (the sequel to Silk) and Daughter of Hounds are probably my favourites, and so far I’ve not been able to find many other weird fiction authors that are so consistently good. Her novels and stories tend to be dark, particularly her short fiction, so if you’re the type of person who likes nice, neat Hollywood endings tied up with a … Read More