Colin Harvey – author

News of new reviews, interviews and A Sekrit Project.

This morning seems a good time to round up some on-going stuff, some of which I’ve mentioned in passing recently.

First up, I’ve guest-blogged over at Alathea Kontis’ Genre Chick Interview, which was fun; there are some clues within as to when the interview took place, for the mildly curious.

Secondly, Ian Whates’ anthology Further Conflicts has received its first review, and Warpcore SF had some kind things to say about ‘Occupation,’ my contribution.

Finally, still on the subject of reviews and interviews, I’ve received my first commission from a ‘general’ (as opposed to genre) magazine to interview a fellow writer. Unfortunately, I can’t yet identify them, partly because I’m not sure of the etiquette of announcing thecommission, but also for fear of jinxing it. Let’s just say that I’m absolutely ecstatic at actually getting my first journalism commission! (I’ll reveal all nearer the time – honest)

Until next time.

C

The week gone by has seen me begin to switch from my winter schedule as a student, to my default one as a writer.

I handed in my last assignment of the term last Tuesday, but spent the next couple of days unable to settle, as I tried to make sense of what had become midly urgent,  urgent and downright critical while I focused on academy.

The new schedule has meant catching up on a lot of non-overdue jobs, such as switching over printers and replacing cables on the desktop (ah, the glamourous life of a writer!) and doing the accounts, which have slipped out of shape the last few weeks (or even months — I’m still finding that I have files  that disappeared back in January, when I had two hard drives get corrupted in the space of a month and which need to be updated).

And of course, I only have a few days in which to do it as Eastercon looms; for those thinking of catching me to sign a copy of Damage Time (or indeed, any other titles) signing needs to catch me at either the Further Conflicts launch on Friday –it’s now at 5pm on Friday in the Wellington Suite, or at the Angry Robot Signing at 4pm on the Saturday in the Churchill. Or you can trust to pot luck, and look for me in the bar on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning…

In the meantime, I have a Monday night meeting of the Bristol SF and Fantasy Society in the Shakespeare (we’re no longer meeting in the King Billy) to attend tomorrow night, and then I’ll be attending an open mic night at the Grant Bradley Gallery over on Bedminster Parade at 6pm on Tuesday.

So it’s a busy week, and I have yet to do more three last assignments for Uni for next term, before I give myself over to the writerly side. So I’d better get on!

The last couple of days I seem to have hit a hot streak.

Yesterday morning I started nudging some ideas around my cranium about the Brian True-May story, and before I realized it I had an article about the demographics of Keynsham vs Midsomer which I sent in –without too much hope– to the local newspaper, The Week in Keynsham & East Bristol. To my surprise, they wrote back within a few hours and said they’d take it.

And having placed my first article, this morning I got more good news when Andy Remic accepted my story ‘Torturer’s Moon’ for his forthcoming anthology VIVISEPULTURE, to be published by new imprint Anarchy Books. Subtitled “Weird tales of twisted imagination,” I suspect there won’t be many kittens in it…at least, not live ones.

Joking apart, I share a ToC with Rem and fellow Roboteers Gary McMahon and Lauren Beukes, as well as a who’s who of British horror, fantasy and SF; Conrad Williams, Neil Asher, James Lovegrove, Ian Whates and Ian Watson, among others, all within a cover designed by Vinnie Chong. I can’t wait!

As things are supposed to happen in threes, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Newcon Press has announced its forthcoming anthology Future Conflicts edited by Ian Whates.

The book will be published in April and launched at Eastercon.

The table of contents is as follows:

Introduction – Ian Whates

1. The Wake – Dan Abnett
2. Unaccounted – Lauren Beukes
3. The New Ships – Gareth L Powell
4. The Harvest – Kim Lakin-Smith
5. Brwydr Am Ryddid – Stephen Palmer
6. The War Artist – Tony Ballantyne
7. Occupation – Colin Harvey
8. The Soul of the Machine – Eric Brown
9. Extraordinary Rendition – Steve Longworth
10. Yakker Snak – Andy Remic
11. The Legend of Sharrock – Philip Palmer
12.  The Ice Submarine – Adam Roberts
13. Welcome Home, Jannisary – Tim C Taylor

Counting Ian. Whates –the editor- there are no less than five Angry Robot authors present in the contents list, as well as my stunt double, Tony Ballantyne, and near-neighbour Gareth L Powell.

Yes, that is me you see at number seven. I’ll be putting pen to paper for anyone who wants copies signed at the launch party at eastercon.

See you there, maybe?

I’m delighted to announce that Aeon Press have agreed to publish the next anthology I’m editing, to be titled Transtories. I’ve known Rob Nielson, John Kenny and the other members of the Aeon Press team for nearly four years now, and they’re great guys who take their work seriously, and their partying equally so. They’ve been stalwart promoters of Irish SF, but at the same time have championed fiction from both the UK, US and non-anglophone countries.

They kindly took my novelette ‘On the Rock’ for publication in Albedo One in 2008, and we have several other projects bubbling away, but for now Transtories is the one I want to focus on. The submission period will open on March 1st (anyone who submits early will have their submission deleted unread, and will probably break out in boils as well!) and run until March 31st. Submissions guidelines are over at the Aeon Press website.

And while you’re there, take a look at John Kenny’s page for Box of Delights, a horror anthology that will also be coming out later on this year.

Did you know — and as Diggory Venn would say, not a lot of people know this – that today is the 83rd anniversary of Thomas Hardy’s death? And to mark the occasion, Ove Jansson’s excellent Cybermage site has posted the anthology’s first review.

Until now, the book has been available to order as a paperback, either from the site or at conventions, and for those readers who don’t embrace dead tree format, as a mobi or e-pub download.

But now the good people at Wizard’s Tower Press –who actually reside deep within Hardy Country– have also been able to make the book available as a Kindle. To mark the occasion,  they’ve posted an extract from Roz Clarke’s wonderful ‘Last Flight to West Bay’ to read for free on the website.

This is terrific news because amazon is a whole new ball game, and makes the book available to a whole new set of readers, which for a small press is absolutely crucial.  It also means a slight price reduction to American readers, since until now WTP have only been able to price in sterling, and PayPal adds a conversion fee. And for about twenty-four hours only, they’ll be knocking a pound (about US$1.60) off all formats.

On another front, I’ll be posting about an anthology I’m going to edit soon, but today is Dark Spires’ day, so head on over to Wizard’s Tower’s site, and read the first installment of Roz Clarke’s story for free, and save yourself some pennies if you like it!

I promised a blog post on Thursday about that evening’s murder mystery event, and despite struggling to sum the evening up –that’s the difference from real life, which is nowhere near as neat and tidy as fiction– I’ve duly posted a few thoughts over at suite101.