Hi all,

You may or may not know, but Paul Cornell - noted novellist, Doctor Who writer, comic book author and raconteur - wrote a short story for us, in The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Three.

Anyway, the story, "One of Our Bastards is Missing," has been getting some attention and scuttlebutt recently, so Paul asked us if we could post it up here for you kids to read.

So here it is. Give it a read, tell us what you think of it.

And Hell, you never know. Deadlines for Hugo nominations are up this Saturday...

David

Hey guys,

(Three posts in one day! Will the joy never cease?)

Conrad Williams, author of the excellent Decay Inevitable, has decided to write one of the confounded new "Work in Progress" blogs about his upcoming Solaris book, Loss of Separation.

He'll be keeping us up to date on progress, posting word counts, and generally talking about the book as he writes it.

The blog is here, and the first post is here.

So won't you go and follow him, and give him some love.

David

Hey kids,

Poe, Ellen Datlow's anthology of short horror stories inspired by the classic American author Edgar Allan Poe, has been critically acclaimed over and over and listed in "Best Of" lists all over webland, and now it's starting to show up in the awards lists. Two recent accomplishments are:

Dark Scribe Magazine's third annual Black Quill Awards were announced last month, and Poe won the "Readers' Choice" in the Best Dark Genre Anthology category. This is a fairly new award, but already becoming an influential achievement, so congratulations to Ellen and her authors for that one.

Most excitingly, the Horror Writers' Association has announced the nominees for the coveted Bram Stoker Award, and Poe's been nominated in the "Superior Achievement in an Anthology" category (I also note that Ellen's in there twice, with a Lovecraft anthology for Dark Horse Books, so well done, Ellen). This is pretty much the big one, and even just being nominated is a serious achievement. Fingers crossed for the announcement.

Awesome results all round.

David

Hey doods,

Some quick reviewspam for you:

• Nayu's Reading Corner, whose review of Cosmopath we've already mentioned, has published this very nice review of Ed Greenwood's Archwizard, second book in the Falconfar trilogy.
• Nayu's also written this review of Gail Z. Martin's Dark Lady's Chosen, fourth and final instalment in the Chronicles of the Necromancer. She told us in her email that she "absolutely adored it." Not bad praise, eh?
• Review site Cybermage (you'll note he's also featured our podcast in his most recent post) has added his voice to the many applauding Eric Brown's Cosmopath.
• Lastly, Tim at Mass Movement Magazine has reviewed Brian Lumley's Haggopian and Other Stories, Volume 2.

The ladies at The Book Smugglers have posted an introduction the the steampunk genre to kick off their 'Steampunk Week' event. They've also highlighted a few books which define the genre, including, we're pleased to hear, Tim Akers' Hearts of Veridon.

"'Hearts of Veridon' by Tim Akers is a new book to the Steampunk consortium, published late last year – but it is already referred to as a classic work by many afficionados. Thea will be reviewing this bad boy in our second Steampunk Week, next month."


Also, Niall at The Speculative Scotsman has previewed the Shine anthology over here.

"I love me a good short story collection, and Shine looks it could be just what the doctor ordered..."

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There aren't many authors who would dress up in a rubber nurse's outfit to promote their military SF novels.

I'm just sayin'.




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Okay, so apparently the Guardian has been running a 10 rules for writing thingy, and David and Jenni thought it would be interesting/amusing/shocking/inspiring for me to give my take on these, seeing as I'm an editor and I've written one book and that. Anyway, this is going to be messy so bear with me:

Hi all,

The second Abaddon & Solaris Books Pocast is now up! Point your iTunes to this link, or search "Abaddon" (or "Solaris") in the "Search Store" box at the top-right corner of iTunes, to check it out. Or if you're a good boy/girl and subscribed to our feed last time, just run iTunes and it should find and upload the new episode automatically.

The editors and staff at Abaddon Books and Solaris Books continue to deliver the "very best, most hard-hitting and innovative"* of podcasting entertainment in this second, thrilling instalment.

The Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast #2: Juliet McKenna and the SFX Weekender (okay, it's a functional title; it does what it says on the tin) is introduced by junior editor Jenni Hill, who's trying to overcome her fear of the microphone, so everybody be really nice about her. Jon Oliver interviews Juliet McKenna, author of Solaris's The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution books, sharing thoughts on coming up with fantasy names, writing and the future of fantasy fiction, and Juliet gives us a reading from the second Lescari book, Blood in the Water. Finally, Jon and David talk about the SFX Weekender, and we hear David's interviews with daleks, authors, and a couple of special guests.

Seriously, you can't get this stuff anywhere else. Barack Obama's considering starting a war with the UK, just so he can justify sending the CIA in to kidnap us. That's how cool we are.

Please listen to it, and once again, we'd love feedback. We got some great feedback last time, and have tried to make completely different mistakes this time.

Cheers,

David


*my mum again.

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Hi all,

As I may have mentioned, Mark Chadbourn's The Lord of Silence (cover by John Picacio), Emily Gee's The Laurentine Spy (cover by Larry Rostant), Ed Greenwood's Archwizard (cover by Jon Sullivan), Gail Z. Martin's Dark Haven (cover by Michael Kormarck), James Maxey's Dragonseed (cover by Michael Kormarck) and Juliet E. McKenna's Irons in the Fire (cover by David Palumbo) have all been longlisted for the David Gemmell Award, in both the Legend (for best heroic fantasy) and Ravenheart (for best cover art) categories.

Hi all,

The Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast second instalment, "Juliet McKenna and the SFX Weekender: From Lescar to Camber Sands," is underoing final editing now, and should be up tomorrow afternoon.

Featured is an interview with Juliet McKenna and a reading from her book, Blood in the Water, and a convention report from Editor-in-Chief Jon Oliver and the roguishly charming David Moore on their recent jaunt to the SFX Weekender at Pontins Camber Sands, including interviews with some of Abaddon Books' authors, with a dalek, and some pretty exciting surprises.

Keep an eye out on the blog. Should be a good one.

David