A Red Sun Also Rises by Mark Hodder - 5 Stars

Weird and Wonderful. 

I imagine one of the hardest things for an author of a series of phenomenal books to accomplish is to satisfy his readers with a brand new offering. Mark Hodder has managed to do just that. A Red Sun Also Rises captivates and mesmerises in equal parts. There are just enough steampunk elements to satisfy the rabid steampunk mixed with sci-fi and planetary romance.
The characters are likeable, the aliens are complex and comical and the plot is sufficiently strange to engage the imagination in new ways.
Sure, I can't wait for the next instalment of Burton & Swinburne, but if Mr Hodder keeps throwing quality stories at me like this one, I give him free reign to create to his heart's content.

Last day of preparation for Camp NaNoWriMo

Well, it is nearly upon us, Campers, the first day of Camp NaNoWriMo. The anticipation is starting to build in my chest as I still have only about 50% of my story mapped out. I guess that makes me someone who Plans to write by the seat of my Pants, if you get what I mean.

Normally, I have a casual sense of where the story is going to go and even have a synopsis written, but I do not know all the characters nor do I have all the scenes mapped out. I like to keep it a bit organic, allowing the story to go in directions I would never have imagined as I brainstormed early on in the process. Sometimes I think you have to get to a certain point before the next bit opens up to you. Oh, I have a beginning, a middle and an end, but how I get to those points is still a relative mystery to me.

How many of you write this way as well? Leave a comment and get discussing.

April's CampNaNoWriMo

Once again this year I will be attending CampNaNoWriMo in April.

It is a great way to get motivated to write that novel you know you have inside of you. Join a cabin and get to know other amateur writers. Keep track of your daily stats and get a glorious sense of accomplishment when you reach your word count goal.

This year you can adjust your word count goal to suit your individual needs(from between 10 and 50 thousand).

What are you waiting for, sign up today and GET WRITING.



If you want to donate to the Office of Letters and Light, the Not for Profit organization who puts on CampNaNoWriMo twice a year and NaNoWriMo, or you want to find out more about the Office of Letters and Light, click the links below

Nicholas Harvey's fundraising
SteamPunks Anonymous fundraising

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'eath

A Grim Gothic Tale without a Happy Ending, written by steampunk author Jonathan Green and illustrated by gothic artist Tom Brown.

Please Pledge on Kickstarter and make this project happen


Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath is a fully illustrated book collaboration between legendary gamebook creator and steampunk author Jonathan Green (Pax Britannia) and renowned gothic artist Tom Brown (Hopeless Maine), born of a chance meeting at Weekend at the Asylum in September 2012.

It tells the tale of Miss Clemency Slaughter, her ill-fated family, and the legacy of Lord Daedalus Drummond D'Eath that awaits whoever is lucky (or unlucky) enough to inherit in the end.

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D’Eath is a book that will appeal to children and adults of all ages, with its blend of macabre humour and beautiful illustration.

We are offering all sorts of wonderful rewards for our benevolent backers, including your chance to be at the London launch (complete with champagne reception) and to own an original piece of Tom Brown's stunning artwork.

So pledge your support today and tell all your friends!

Submission Sunday

Tiki Terror Tales by KnightWatch Press and Fringeworks

Well, I emailed off my short story submission for Tiki Terror Tales by Knightwatch Press - info of which can be found here. It ended up being 2,300 words and it's called "12 Tiki Idols".

Deadline for submissions is 2nd April, 2013. Still plenty of time for you to submit your own story for consideration.

Nazi Zombie Army: Götterdämmerung by Jonathan Green

My first review on the Blog is for a short story entitled

Nazi Zombie Army: Götterdämmerung 

by Jonathan Green

My review on Amazon was 4 stars

So atmospheric I could smell it

Jonathan Green points his pen at the Zombie genre and delivers a satisfying romp through the foetid hordes of undead. It is a short story but it is laced with imagery and action aplenty. Two mouldering thumbs up!

I should also say, for those of you who don't know, it is the prequel to the new Sniper Elite game Nazi Zombie Army. It sets the scene very nicely for what is to follow. 

Obviously, it being a short story, only 37 pages in length, you aren't going to get a lot of characterization, but you do get a sense of heroism from the sniper, Joe Randall. Faced with difficulties and then with unnatural fear, he is a trooper through and through and doesn't give up the fight easily. It is non stop action from page one and it will leave you hungry for more. Could we perhaps see a longer, novel length treatment of this story? I hope so. 

Check it out and you decide.

Here is the blurb:

The Nazis, desperate for victory at all costs, explored every avenue open to science, including some long forgotten... and some best left dead. But what if they had succeeded?

In the obscure village of Totenstadt, a team of the Reich's best minds, under the terrible Colonel von Teufel, are blending technology and the occult to create a new and terrible weapon, to test the boundary between life and death itself.

Elite British snipers Joe Randall, George "Ginger" Gibbs and Harry Atkins are sent deep into enemy lines to locate and destroy the facility. The mission will test their courage - and their sanity - to the limits...

Blogs I Follow

Two great Blogs to follow if you are into steampunk and sci-fi like I am.

The first one is a personal favourite of mine. Jonathan Green is the King of Steampunk and he updates his blog daily with news and info on everything from steampunk and sci-fi to gaming etc. you can follow him at http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.com . His twitter is also a good way to follow his blog because it automatically tweets his blog entries and you can follow him at @jonathangreen

The other is one I just discovered tonight and it is full of sci-fi goodness. It's Lightspeed Magazine Online presented by Orbit books. And on twitter it's @lightspeedmag .

Happy Following.

New Book from Mark Hodder

I have the new Mark Hodder book, A RED SUN ALSO RISES, on my bookshelf, where it has been sitting since  January. I have been so busy with my own writing  and work and trying to finish reading my way through THE WHEEL OF TIME from beginning to end that I haven't yet got around to reading it.

I have the UK hardback version, which is visually stunning.
I prefer it to the US cover, which is a little more cartoony.

If it is written only half as well as his Burton and Swinburne  series then I will be a happy boy indeed.

If you haven't read The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack, what are you waiting for? Go do it before you come back.

Works In Progress

I have a few things in the pipeline, so I decided to get a jump on the old Blog in preparación for the day when they are finished. 

I will be self publishing for the most part but I also have been writing short stories for submission to Fringeworks(@fringeworks on twitter and their blog). They are a small independent publisher with some really great upcoming titles. Their "Moriarty Paradigm" series takes Sherlock Holmes into a parallel steampunk universe created by Moriarity and my steampunk hero, Jonathan Green, is contributing a book to the series called "The Curse of the Baskervilles".

I have already submitted a short story ("Immaculate Revolution") for their collection entitled "Andromeda's Offspring" which will offer Sci-fi with a strong female protagonist. My piece was just under 6,000 words and I will probably offer a sneaky little excerpt of it in the near future. 

I am finishing up a shorter story(1,500 words) for their collection entitled "Tiki". My story is about a Hawaiian girl with a cursed name and how her mother prays to Tiki idols for protection. Its working title is "12 Tiki Idols".

I'll let you know if either of them are accepted for inclusion in their anthologies.

And then, a novel I have been developing, which will give me a universe to play with for future titles is a steampunk sequel to "War of the Worlds" by HG Wells. I know I know, it's been done like a million times but I think I have some unique stories to MASH up in the ensuing altverse.   

So, watch this space for announcements, excerpts etc etc.