Stephen Deas » Uncategorized

Giveaway: The Protector (3/8/2015)

Stephen — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 09:12:37 +0000

It’s been a while, but this week I have a copy of The Protector to give away. It’s already picked up a couple of nice reviews here and here

ALl you have to do to enter is comment on this post before the end of 8th August. The Gods of Random will randomly select a random winner through means of randomness onm the following day.

No one has complained (so far) about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, but it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far. Am currently up to date with posting things.

Giveaway: Dragons (26/4/2015)

Stephen — Sun, 26 Apr 2015 18:00:25 +0000

Less than two weeks now before I have to tick a box choosing to which one of the various people whose views entirely fail to represent my own I shall nevertheless assign the futile weight of my support. Futile as in the incumbent Tory had a majority larger than the total number of votes for his closest rivel.

So here today are the official policies of the five main national parties in the event of a zombie apocalypse:

The Conservative Party has no official policy, but pretty much plans to carry on as normal, as it already operates on the underlying principle that anyone on benefits is already one of the shambling walking dead. Zombies will be required to prove their undead status in order to claim any state support and to enrol on state-controlled “emplyment” schemes such as workfare.

The Labour Party refused to comment, leaving individual spokesmen to hint at a policy that would be the same as the Conservatives while vehemently demanding that it was entirely different.

The Liberal Democrats stated policy of inclusion and acceptance will be extended to include the undead, according them basic inhuman rights according to European law. However, leaked policy documents have subsequently indicated a plan to incite the zombie apocalypse shortly before the election on the grounds that it can’t possibly be as bad as the pasting they’re going to take otherwise.

UKIP “Bloody Zombies, Coming here from the Afterlife, Taking our Jobs and Eating Our Brains” stated an emphatic policy of rapid deployment of the army and the formation of armed citizen militias to quell the zombie apocalypse while quelling was still possible, mobilisation of the entire medical research establishment to explain how zombification is linked to homosexulaity, and the drawing up of a short-list of various “Johnny Foreigners” to smacked about. Phrases like “spirit of the Blitz” and frequent mentions of Chruchill accompanied the newly-formed UKIP Zombie Apocalypse Policy (ZAP) Team as they disappeared in to the pub.

The Green Party take the view that a zombie apolcalypse causing the extinction of the human race is part of the natural order of things and probably no bad thing, and state that it would be “irresponsible” to try and do anything about it, although if such a thing WAS to happen it would certainly come about because of Climate Change and GM crops, and prevention is better than cure, right, soyou’d vote green if you had any sense but you won’t because in the end it’s just about what’s best for YOU, right. Followed by some sulking.

No, I still don’t have the first fucking clue who to vote for either, nor is there much point in this constituency. But I do have some books to give away, and this week it’s a bit of an Election Special, since in part it’s a story of a bunch of over-privileged knob-heads too busy stabbing each other in the back to notice the incoming catastrophe that’s about to burn every last one of them [1]

This is a rare collector’s special giveaway, in that all three books will be signed and lined first edition hardbacks. That makes it a bit unique and special and also worth something for once, because this time there’s a catch: I want you to vote. All you have to do to enter yourself into the draw is leave a comment here, and the giveaway will run until the end of Saturday 9th, and if you’re from outside the UK then that’s it, that’s all… But if you’re IN the UK and eligible to vote then I require you to use that right on the 7th in order to win my prize. No vote, no win books. If you don’t want to vote then I respect your right to make that choice, and you can respect mine not to give you free stuff.

Usual deal otherwise – comment on this post before 10th May and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy.

[1] Not everyone burns

Giveaway: Cold Redemption/The Last Bastion (13/4/2015)

Stephen — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 14:55:00 +0000

Not much news this week. I’m going to be at Edge-Lit on Saturday 11th July doing a workshop on narrative structure and a panel on something or other that has currently slipped my . . . Ok, the title is “How Much History Does Fantasy Fiction Need,” and I can give you the very short answer if you’re not going which is that fantasy doesn’t strictly need very much at all, but you should still come along anyway because Joanne Harris is going to be on the panel too and she will be much more interesting than I am.

BUY MY BOOKS: Gallow: The Anvil. Gallow: Solace. Why haven’t you got them already? They’re cheap and short!

Ren, I’ve got another Critical Failures post on the way about relationships but it’s turning out to be long and complicated and not as much about fiction as I originally thought, so you’ll have to wait a few weeks. Also Zafir has something more to say about villains yet. In the mean time I’m still in a Gallow frame of mind, so this week I’m giving away more Gallow.

Usual deal – comment on this post in some way before Sunday 19th April and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. This week I’m looking for video game recommendations, please, since I appear to have quite a bit of time on my hands.

Giveaway: The Fateguard Trilogy (5/4/2015)

Stephen — Sun, 05 Apr 2015 06:55:41 +0000

News? I suppose so. The proofs for The Silver Kings have been marked up and posted back. That really is that then. Job done. Zafir’s last ride. Bellepheros’s last potion. Tuuran’s last swing of the axe. Red Lin Feyn’s last cup of jasmine tea.

Last week I made the mistake of talking about something else before I got on with what really matters here, so look, here’s a link to the self-publishing thing instead of me going on about it some more, and here’s the new article about villains in SFF. There done.

I realise you all have been getting ready for this with little preliminary events like Eastercon and the Hugo nominations, but Nathan Hawke’s novelette Solace comes out as an e-book on the 9th April. In order to get ready for what will doubtless be THE (next) fantasy event of the year (and so soon after the last one too), Nathan is launching a(nother) massive publicity campaign which consists of giving away another signed copy of The Fateguard Trilogy. 940 pages. 330,000 words. Everything Hawke has ever written. A man with an axe on the cover. What more could you want?

You can buy Solace and the first novelette The Anvil from e-book retailers. If you happen to read or th have read The Anvil already then Nathan would like to know what you think, since the current pair of Amazon reviews are worse than useless betwen them.

Usual deal – comment on this post before Sunday April 12th and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. Open worldwide and no one has complained (so far) about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, but it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far. Am currently up to date, in that all recent winners have been posted.

Glorious Angels (23/03/2015)

Stephen — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 07:52:52 +0000

A few days ago I read that an author acquiantance had “finished plotting out his feminist epic fantasy” or something like that. I find myself raising an eyebrow when men call themselves feminists – unfortunately I’ve come across a few who say that when what they actually mean is that they support the status quo and aren’t actively trying to push women back into the dark ages. Which, guys, isn’t quite the same thing.

But anyway, in this case I’m inclined to think the intent was pure enough, but it still left me with a frowny face of something being out of whack. Why is a man writing a feminist fantasy? It seems wrong to me. Isn’t that a contradiction? I don’t have strong opinion on this so by all means share an alternative point of view, but I felt it was somewhat patronising – as a man, if I did that, aren’t I effectively stepping in to do feminism for you when actually my place, if I want to support, is to stand in the background and cheer? Seems to me that as a male writer the thing to do is portray all characters, irrespective or gender, race, sexuality, anything else, with equal passion, care, respect and agency. And in SFF choose a setting that supports that ideal?

In the spirit of that thought, this week’s giveaway is Glorious Angels by Justina Robson, a “groundbreaking new novel from one of the genre’s most respected authors: a thrilling mix of science, magic and sexual politics.”

Usual deal – comment on this post in some way before Sunday 30^th March and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. No one has complained (so far) about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, but it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far. Am currently up to date with posting things.

There’s also an interesting article about cover art here, from Orbit’s art director.

Giveaway: The Royalist (10/3/2015)

Stephen — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 08:29:22 +0000

This week I have two titles coming out in paperback on the same day from different publishers. Last week I had them fight.You might imagine that dragons and lightning-throwing flying ships made of enchanted glass would have an edge on a grizzled civil war veteran, but as it turned out the dragons lost out in the popularity stakes. So this week I’m giving away Cromwell, pikes and muskets and the unwilling and ever-dour renaissance detective Willian Falkland: The Royalist

You get to choose. Usual deal – comment on this post before Sunday 15th March and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. Been kind of a busy week for non-writing reasons so I don’t have a game to play and am just giving books away. Say hi, say which one you want, and you’re entered. You can read the opening chapter here.

Giveaway: The Royalist/The Splintered Gods

Stephen — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 14:28:58 +0000

You’ve all gone and bought a copy of Gallow: The Anvil, right? Because that came out last week, and have I mentioned yet how the future of Nathan Hawke as a writer probably depends on it?

In a couple of weeks I get to have two of my own titles coming out in paperback on the same day from different publishers, so it seems to me that the only rational course of action is to have them fight. So for this week’s giveaway you get to choose which one you want if you win. Will it be the magical flying ships, enchantresses who mould glass to their whim, golems and, of course, dragons of The Splintered Gods…

… or will it be the historical grit of the the English Civil War, Cromwell, pikes and muskets and the unwilling and ever-dour renaissance detective Willian Falkland in The Royalist…?

You get to choose. Usual deal – comment on this post before Sunday 8th March and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. Given the lack of interest last week, manifesto plans to deal with a zombie apocalypse have been put on hold and I’m just giving books away. Say hi, say which one you want, and you’re entered.

Giveaway: Something Coming Through (22/2/2015)

Stephen — Sun, 22 Feb 2015 21:22:58 +0000

This week, at the same time as giving away a copy of some poor bugger’s book, I’m going to do something a bit different. We have an election coming in a few months (please do vote if you’re able), and with that in mind it seemed appropriate for this blog to adopt a more serious tone and start addressing more significant political issues than George Lucus’s radicalisation of the Care Bears. So here today are the official policies of the five main national parties in the event of an impending asteroid strike:

The Conservative Party has no official policy, but will issue bunker access passes to anyone based on how much tax they should have paid but managed not to. This is based on the post-apocalyptic social policy of natural selection: only fittest will survive, and only the biggest bastards will survive to rule.

The Labour Party refused to be railroaded in issuing a policy statement of any sort, but nodded lots at the suggestion that it would basically be exactly the same policy as the Conservatives backed up by vastly noisy denials and assertions that their policy will be something entirely different and much nicer, even while they’re quietly issuing the same passes.

The Liberal Democrats were too surprised to find someone interested in something they might have to say to actually say anything. Whihc probably doesn’t matter because no one would believe them anyway. Off the record one party member suggested they might try to form a coalition with the asteroid on the grounds that it would briefly be the one thing even more hated than them, but that strikes me mostly as wishful thinking.

UKIP didn’t have a policy at all, as usual, but after brainstorming with a few beers down the pub have settled on a plan to strap rockets to the backs of immigrants and launch them into the upper troposphere to create a human shield.

The Green Party take the view that an asteroid strike causing the extinction of the human race is part of the natural order of things and probably no bad thing, and state that it would be “irresponsible” to try and do anything about it.

No, I don’t the first fucking clue who to vote for either. But I do have a book to give away. This week it’s Something Coming Through by Paul McAuley, chosen because politics made me think of Empires: Extraction and that made me think of aliens. And having read a little, I think this might give The Death House a run for its money to climb to the top of the TBR pile. Here’s an extract from the author’s blog:

Something Coming Through isn’t about explaining away the alien: it’s about the difficulty of understanding it. The Jackaroo step in to give aid to humanity at a moment of global crisis. They are, they say, here to help. But they’re also wilfully enigmatic. They appear only as humanoid avatars. They deflect all questions about what they are, where they come from, why they are helping humanity, and what the endpoint of that help might be

Usual deal – comment on this post before Sunday 1^st March and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. If you have any other genre questions for our politicos, leave those in the comments too and I’ll see if I can get an answer – next week the five main party’s will address their plans for a zombie apocalypse.

Giveaway: The Death House (2/2/2015)

Stephen — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 07:52:31 +0000

This week’s giveaway is The Death House by Sarah Pinborough. I’ve not read it, but it’s a had a whole stack of excellent reviews and the inside scoop is that it’s much in the vein on The Language of Dying (which I *have* read and can vouch for its moving brilliance). It might possibly be the new Fault in Our Stars. The book doesn’t come out until the end of February, so if you win, cross your fingers I can twist an editor’s arm to get a first edition hardback hot off the presses. The Death House is availabe to pre-order as an e-book for £1.99. This has been a Gollancz PR production [1]

Death House

Usual deal – comment on this post before Monday February 9th and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy.No special game this week, just wave and say hi to enter the draw. No no one has complained (so far) about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, but it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far. Am currently a bit behind in posting things.

[1] Not really, but Sarah and her editor were at Super Relaxed Fantasy Club last week. I might have been bribed with wine.

Giveaway: The Fateguard Trilogy (again) (20/1/2015)

Stephen — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 07:49:59 +0000

Nathan Hawke’s short The Anvil comes out as an e-book on the 12th February. In order to get ready for what will doubtless be THE fantasy event of the year (and so soon, too), Nathan is launching a massive publicity campaign which will consist of signing every single physical copy of the e-book, a gruelling one-stop signing and reading event at the Super Relaxed Fantasy Club and a market-saturating giveaway of a whole one other copy of The Fateguard Trilogy. 940 pages. 330,000 words. Everything Hawke has ever written. A man with an axe on the cover. What more could you want?

Usual deal – comment on this post before Monday January 26th and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy. Super Relaxed Fantasy Club is meeting on the 27th January, 6:30 at the Grange Holborn Hotel. from past eperience I recommend getting there a little early in order to have a chance of finding where we’ve all gone. There might be a few copies available on the the night, but more importantly there are going to be a slew of fantasy authors, editors and, most of all, fans, hanging out. If you’re the lucky winner and you’re going to be there, I’ll bring the book; otherwise no one has complained (so far) about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, but it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far. Am currently up to date, in that all recent winners have been posted.