New on Adventures in SciFi Publishing

A double whammy (as we say in the UK): a review I did of Mike Resnick’s book, The Doctor and the Dinosaurs, and a podcast interview with me, both on Adventures in SciFi Publishing.

The podcast mentions that the audiobook download version of Bone Machines is $1.99 – sorry, but that offer has now been closed. However, the new price, still discounted, is $14.96.

In the interview, show host, Timothy C. Ward, and I talk about the craft of writing. We cover a range of topics, including:

• How to ensure your dialect is accurate when writing in a non-native culture
• What idioms can we use when making up worlds and civilizations?
• “The rhythm of the language is more important than the words that you use.”
• How religion affected early censorship as well as in modern books, but also the surprising openness to sex that non-religious people react to.

A big thanks to Tim for the interview. Though, to be fair,  I thought I was online to interview Kay Kenyon, but Tim snagged some of our informal chat beforehand to put into the podcast.  You’re so sneaky, Tim!

 

Two book deal – it’s official!

I’ve been holding back on my exciting announcement until I had the go-ahead from the marketing people. But now I can make it official. I recently sold my first two novels, Bone Machines and Kali’s Kiss to the major US audiobook company, Blackstone Audio.

This is a huge moment for me. Especially when I tell you that in 2011 Blackstone was nonimated for two Grammy awards in the audio section: one for a dramatisation of The Mark of Zorro starring Val Kilmer, and the other for a production of Hamlet.

I don’t yet know who the acting talent will be, but I do know the audiobooks will come out in various formats (CDs, and downloads) around August and September 2012.

At this point I’m holding back on the full marketing pitch, because I want to wait until release date is announced.

While both books are standalone, they feature Detective Inspector Tom Kendrick, who is a secondary character in the first book and moves more into centre frame in the second. Some people, who read the ebook version of Bone Machines, asked if Kali’s Kiss is a sequel. It’s not. The second novel covers completely different subject matter.

I’ll post full details once I know them.

Which Scottish actors would you like to hear performing the books?