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.

Also Empires came out. There are some early reviews and articles for the truly committed over on the Empires page:

Well I thought so…

This week it’s back to various alter-egos. Nathan Hawke is writing a short story. Then SJ gets to work on the second William Falkland novel, which will mean nothing to any of you since the first one isn’t out yet. Cover reveal coming soon though.

This week, by special request, the giveaway is a little different. This week I’m giving away a Dragon Queen T-shirt, to be ordered and printed after the competition closes. I’ll be in touch with the winner about what size it should be.

Usual deal – comment on this post before the end of July 5th and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim. If you want to enter the competition for the shirt, tell me a T-shirt slogan, real or imagined, that amuses you.

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, 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. I am currently up to date with posting things.

Well I thought so…

There’s some World Cup silliness over here (but I’m grumpy about that now), and I’ve also finished reading Barricade and might possibly write up a review of it if I have the time.

This week’s giveaway is The Splintered Gods (finally). I have nothing much to say about it except that it;s the sequel to Dragon Queen, is a bit shorter, and started off trying to be a murder mystery but largely failed.

Usual deal – comment on this post before the end of June 28th and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim. This week I can’t think of any clever things to ask for in the comments, so just wave and say hi and you’ll get entered as long as you’re not spam offering NFL jerseys.

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, 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. I am currently up to date with posting things.

The structural rewrites for Fragile Hope are done, so that’s the news. Back to the last rewrite (I hope) of The Silver Kings this week. Ah Zafir, I shall miss your unholy combination of pathos and ruthless brutality. Anyway. This week’s giveaway. I was going to go with Jon Wallace’s Barricade, but I’m currently reading it and it’s rather good and I don’t know that I want to part with it. So no Barricade for . . .  oh go on then. Here’s the blurb. I’m about a third of the way through it, it’s a fast sharp and darkly witty English version of Mad Max, so far. Imagine a pissed-off Roy Batty instead of Mel Gibson.

“Kenstibec was genetically engineered to build a new world, but the apocalypse forced a career change. These days he drives a taxi instead.

A fast-paced, droll and disturbing novel, BARRICADE is a savage road trip across the dystopian landscape of post-apocalypse Britain; narrated by the cold-blooded yet magnetic antihero, Kenstibec.

Kenstibec is a member of the ‘Ficial’ race, a breed of merciless super-humans. Their war on humanity has left Britain a wasteland, where Ficials hide in barricaded cities, besieged by tribes of human survivors. Originally optimised for construction, Kenstibec earns his keep as a taxi driver, running any Ficial who will pay from one surrounded city to another.

The trips are always eventful, but this will be his toughest yet. His fare is a narcissistic journalist who’s touchy about her luggage. His human guide is constantly plotting to kill him. And that’s just the start of his troubles.”

There’s a couple of sample chapters up on the Gollancz blog, and some reviews and shit by people whose opinions matter more than mine. If you like it, go for Echo Rising by Danie Ware too, or Veteran by Gavin Smith. If the Gods of Random fail you, it’s available as an e-book for the knock-down price of £1.99 for the next few weeks.

Usual deal – comment on this post before the end of June 14th and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim. This week, who would YOU like to see go on a road-trip through a post-apocalyptic landscape.

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, 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. I am currently up to date with posting things, although whoever won the Incorruptibles competition, I haven’t had an address to send it to, so check your spam or I’ll send it to someone else.

Not much news this week. I’m on break from The Silver Kings and working on the second William Falkland mystery, which won’t mean anything much to any of you on account of the first one not being out yet. There is a cover I hope to reveal shortly.

Moving on: this week’s giveaway is Stephen Hunt’s In Dark Service, Stephen’s first novel for Gollancz.I haven’t read this one, though I’ve read some of his previous series. Here’s the condensed blurb.

Usual deal – comment on this post before the end of June and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim. This week, with the World Cup coming up, I encourage any soccer enthusiasts to offer up a well-known SFF character and what position they’d play (Gollum: substitute striker. Never features in the starting eleven but has a record of coming on for the last 10-15 minutes and scoring the winning goal). For those already rolling their eyes, you may blow elegant raspberries instead

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, 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. I am currently somewhat behind.

This week’s giveaway is The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs. It’s not out yet, so you might have to wait a but, but I’ve read an unproofed ARC and it’s a marvelous. Somewhere across between Deadwood and Rome with demon-powered six-shooters. Here’s the blurb:

“In the contested and unexplored territories at the edge of the Empire, a boat is making its laborious way up stream. Riding along the banks are the mercenaries hired to protect it – from raiders, bandits and, most of all, the stretchers, elf-like natives who kill any intruders into their territory. The mercenaries know this is dangerous, deadly work. But it is what they do.

In the boat the drunk governor of the territories and his sons and daughters make merry. They believe that their status makes them untouchable. They are wrong. And with them is a mysterious, beautiful young woman, who is the key to peace between warring nations and survival for the Empire. When a callow mercenary saves the life of the Governor on an ill-fated hunting party, the two groups are thrown together.

For Fisk and Shoe – two tough, honourable mercenaries surrounded by corruption, who know they can always and only rely on each other – their young companion appears to be playing with fire. The nobles have the power, and crossing them is always risky. And although love is a wonderful thing, sometimes the best decision is to walk away. Because no matter how untouchable or deadly you may be, the stretchers have other plans.”

It’s short and sharp and I liked it. It’s officially out in August, but if you’re lucky you might get an early copy – depends whether our mutual editor is feeling in a good mood or not. Also, if the Gods of Random don’t happen to favour you this time, it’s ridiculously cheap (£1.99) as a pre-order e-book for a limited period.

Usual deal – comment on this post before the end of June and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim.This week you have to help me out, and if you don’t then I’ll know you didn’t read to the bottom of the post and your comment won’t count :-p

I have proposals to submit for something new. Tell me which one most grabs your attention. My editor and agent will probably choose something entirely different and we’ll all fail to agree, but you never know. Am curious to see if a strong favourite emerges:

1: Fantasy. City-based. A misfit gang of thieves accidentally get themselves caught up in an empire-spanning conspiracy and really wish they hadn’t. With occasional zombies and silly hats.

2: A handful of secret and not-so-secret magicians find themselves pulled into the first world war. With arcane tanks, sentient bears, djinn and Rasputin.

3. San Francisco. 1972. Surfers. Hippies. Dope. Aliens. A surreal cold-war conspiracy thriller with an extra-terrestrial prize.

4. A misfit bunch of space-cops in a backwater future world find themselves investigating odd crimes which aren’t as unrelated as they first appear.

5. Baroque Space Opera I struggle to describe better than “Dune meets Game of Thrones”

Comment to tell me which one you like best and you’re in. Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, 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. I am currently a couple of weeks behind.

Anyway, this week there is some good news for any Gallow and Nathan Hawke fans out there. To keep things smouldering along a bit while we all work out whether enough people want to see more Gallow for anyone to want to publish any more novels, I’ve agreed with Gollancz to write three shortish stories. No firm dates for publication as yet since they haven’t been written, but I imagine it’ll be as soon as reasonably possible. There’s also an e-book omnibus of the original novels available here.

That being the case I think I’ll give away another couple of Nathan Hawke books this week, Cold Redemption and The Last Bastion. The Last Bastion picks up from where Cold Redemption leaves off, so they’re pretty much a couple.

Usual deal – comment on this post before May 25th  and I’ll randomly select lucky victims. This week I want to know WHY HAVEN’T YOU READ DRAGON QUEEN YET… No, this week I want you to vote, if you’re eligible. Just vote. I mean in the elections, not for which book you like best (yes, Mike, I’m looking at YOU).

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, 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.

The second Fer-de-Lance twisted away. He always did that. ‘Turn and take him head on you weasel,’ she muttered.

A lucky shot from the Cobra punched a hole through the crystal titanium skin over the Fer-de-Lance’s port engine. Several cubic centimetres of ablative armour vaporised and took most of the laser’s sting, but not quite enough. Even at this range, the beam of the Cobra’s military laser was still needle thin. The last vestiges stabbed into the engine’s heart and wrecked a power relay no bigger than a thumbnail. A magnetic containment field, already strained to breaking point by Ziva’s frantic manoeuvring, collapsed and raw plasma at eight million Kelvin erupted through the port engine, scouring everything. Damage control cut in at once, raising a magnetic shield and deflecting the plasma outward. The starboard engine started adjusting to compensate but it wasn’t fast enough. The rogue plasma burst out of the ship, kicking it sideways, rupturing the port engine cowling as it went. The kick was hard, hard enough that it almost knocked Ziva out. The ship started to tumble, frantically dumping heat from the engines and ruining Ziva’s perfect countermeasure tesseract.

Before she could do a thing about it, the two chasing missiles arrived milliseconds apart. Their proximity fuses triggered and both warheads burst around her into a scatter of pinhead-sized anti-hydrogen mines. Invisible and lethal. Two seconds later, the first mine hit and the Fer-de-Lance bloomed in a blaze of energy. Overwhelmed shields collapsed and the ship, missiles and mines exploded together with the gamma-flash of a dying star. That was the thing about the Fer-de-Lance: it was a true thoroughbred of a ship but with so much performance crammed into such a tight envelope that it didn’t have the backups and built-in redundancy of the more robust Cobra. Too many single points of failure.

The other Fer-de-Lance frantically ejected countermeasures of its own and darted behind the radiation burst that had once been Ziva’s ship. Its fusion plume flared as the pilot floored the throttle to get away. He turned and ran. The follow-up salvo of missiles from the pursuing Cobra fuzed on the decoys.

Ziva crashed out of the simulation and slammed the flight panel of the Dragon Queen in disgust. ‘Fuck! Again!’

- o O o -

More beating The Silver Kings into shape this week. On Thursday Elite:Wanted comes out in e-book, but only in e-book so I can’t give a copy of it away until it comes out in paper form later in the year. So since I can’t, this week’s giveaway is a choice between a paper copy of the Elite book if you don’t mind waiting or else a copy of Dragon Queen, whihc came out in paperback a few weeks ago and after which Ziva’s ship is named. You choose!

Usual deal – comment on this post before May 18th and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy of whichever book you choose. Give me a comment with either a cool name for a dragon or a cool name for a spaceship (just for fun – I won’t be using them) and we’ll have a popularity contest: dragons vs. spaceships.

Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, 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. I am currently very behind so if you’re waiting for a book from a previous giveaway they’re all in the post.

Nothing Can Hurt Me

Dragon Queen came out in paperback last weeks and I have a few copies, a tiny precious few. For anyone who hasn’t already listened to be go on about it, Dragon Queen is my attempt to keep all the good stuff from the first series but with vastly more world building and character depth (hopefully sort of like The Black Mausoleum).  So it’s not going to be quite the relentlessly fast roller-coaster of The Adamantine Palace but on the other hand you do get an entire last act that should read like Call of Duty: Dragon Warfare if I’ve done it right. There are some tasters here and here and here. There are a few reviews about the place on Goodreads and Amazon and so forth of you care about such things. I wouldn’t say no to a few more. HINT HINT.

You wanted to know more about the Taiytakei: here they are. And possibly they just made a very big mistake. Efforts continue to write the last volume in this sequence.

I have two copies to give away. One here and one on Twitter. Usual deal – comment on this post before April 21st  and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy.