RED FLAG

The Horus Heresy Weekender

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:39:01 GMT

This coming weekend, it's another two days of Black Library badsassery at the newest event in the BL calendar, The Horus Heresy Weekender.

Running across Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th May, the Black Library and Forge World teams will be at the Nottingham Belfry Hotel talking, gaming and signing stuff. As usual, there will be some exclusive stuff on sale, including The Imperial Truth, a limited edition Horus Heresy anthology featuring "All That Remains", a short story by me.

I'll be joined by Graham McNeill, Dan Abnett, John French, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Gav Thorpe, Neil Roberts, Rob Sanders, Nick Kyme, Alan Bligh, Phil Stutcinskas, Mark Bedford, Simon Egan, Blake Spence, Keith Robertson, Will Hayes, Rhys Pugh, Daren Parrwood, Stuart Williamson, Tony Cottrell, Alan Merrett, Laurie Goulding and Rob Sanders.

Visit the official site here:

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Incoming! [May 2013] (& Happy Star Wars Day!)

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:49:57 GMT

Here's May's 'Coming Soon' update on future projects and events:

Engima - a Tannhäuser novel. May 2nd.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut - an enhanced & expanded edition of the 2011 videogame for the WiiU platform. May 7th
The Horus Heresy Weekender - Horus Heresy book event in Nottingham. 18th-19th May.
The Imperial Truth - A Horus Heresy anthology exclusive to the Weekender event featuring my story "All That Remains". 18th May
The Best of Hammer And Bolter Volume Two - A Warhammer 40,000 collection including reprints of my short story "Redeemed" and the chapbook "Bloodline". June 20th
Doctor Who: Shockwave - An original audio drama featuring the 7th Doctor, part of the Destiny of the Doctor anniversary series from Big Finish Productions. 4th July.
Nine Worlds - Multi-genre GeekFest event in London. 9th-11th August.
Space Marines: The Omnibus - A Warhammer 40,000 collection featuring reprints of my stories "The Returned" and "Heart of Rage". September 10th
Star Trek The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice - a Star Trek novel for Pocket Books, volume #4 in The Fall miniseries. November 26th.
Blake's 7 The Liberator Chronicles: The Hard Road - Part of Big Finish's upcoming Blake's 7 audio box-set series. TBC 2014.

And of course, in honour of today's date and the Galaxy Far, Far Away, it is officially....

Enigmatic

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 09:41:14 GMT

Back in January I mentioned that I have a new original novel called Enigma coming out in May, as part of the world of the Tannhäuser board game; Tannhäuser takes place a dieselpunk alternate history set in a 1950's world where the First World War never ended, and the global powers fight an endless conflict using super-science, dark magic and recovered alien technology...

The free nations have joined together to form the Union under the keen leadership of President Thomas Edison, while the lands of the European Reich lie under a cloud of demonic darkness.

Meanwhile, the mighty Matriarchy, thanks to the mystical technology of Nikolai Tesla, has ushered in a new age of gods; and in the Far East, Emperor Meiji has united Japan once more. Its armies now march toward the mainland to join the struggle for power.

Balance will never be found while the war still rages, for there can be only one victor. That victory will determine the fate of man.

When the occult-obsessed Reich unveils a weapon with the power to imbue grant its army demonic powers, RAF pilot Nick Cross and special agent Caitlin “Hoax” Lambsbury must join forces with unlikely allies to capture the device at any cost.

In the face of overwhelming odds, can these two agents survive long enough to complete their mission? Prepare for a gripping battle to determine the fate of the world!

Engima will be on sale soon, but you can download a PDF of chapter one right Here, right now...

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Jimdependence Day

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:03:51 GMT

Today is a day that I always stop and take a moment to reflect; April 18th is my Independence Day.

Back in 1997, I made a decision that would change the course of my entire life. I quit my job - my nice, normal Earth job - to become a writer full time. I've blogged about this before, but I think it bears repeating, and not just because I'm taking the opportunity to give myself a pat on the back. My independence proves that it can be done. To every wannabe writer out there who fears that they could never make the leap to supporting themselves through their work, I can tell you this: I did it. I'm still doing it.

I'm not going to kid you, it was a big thing. Back in '97, when Comet Halle-Bopp was in the skies, TSR was bought out by Wizards of the Coast and we all had high hopes for The Phantom Menace, there was no certainty I could make a career out of this writing thing. But I was never fearful, not really...because I knew it was the right thing for me to do.

And I can say, hand on heart, that I have never once regretted it, not even in the darkest days of my freelance life. I'm a a writer; I think have been all my life, it was just on that day that I finally owned that realization. So here I am, sixteen years on, my writing career is now old enough to ride a moped or buy a lottery ticket, and I can say that yeah, I did all this...and I'm not done yet.

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Scribe Award nominees announced!

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 09:24:04 GMT

Originally posted by iamtwblog at Scribe Award nominees announced!

http://iamtw.blogspot.com/2013/04/scribe-award-nominees-announced.html

Here are the nominees for the Scribe Awards for excellence in tie-in fiction for the calendar year 2012. The winners will be announced at Comic-Con International in San Diego in July.

Original Novel

Star Trek: Rings of Time by Greg Cox

Tannhäuser: Rising Sun, Falling Shadows by Robert T. Jeschonek

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations Book 1: The Persistence of Memory by David Mack

Darksiders: The Abomination Vault by Ari Marmell

Pathfinder: City of the Fallen Sky by Tim Pratt

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Skein of Shadows by Marsheila Rockwell

Mike Hammer: Lady, Go Die! by Mickey Spillane & Max Collins

Adapted Novel

Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises by Greg Cox

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises (YA novelization) by Stacia Deutsch

Poptropica: Astroknights Island by Tracey West

Audio

Dark Shadows: The Eternal Actress by Nev Fountain

Dark Shadows: Dress Me in Dark Dreams by Marty Ross

Doctor Who: Companion Chronicles: Project Nirvana by Cavan Scott & Mark WrightCongratulations to all the nominees!

You Are Hearing Me Talk...To Literary Treks (Again!)

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:11:00 GMT

Once more, the folks at the excellent Trek.FM podcast site have asked me to come back and chat to them some more about my Star Trek writing, and this time I'm talking about my new Star Trek: The Next Generation novella The Stuff of Dreams, available now in eBook format.

Mattew Rushing and his co-host Christopher Jones presents the Literary Treks podcast discussing Star Trek novels and comics, and if you're a fan of the "expanded universe" of Trek fiction, their regular show features an in-depth an thoughtful dissection of the stories beyond the screen.

It all started years ago with an idea revolving around that unusual spatial anomoly in Generations. It ended with the commissioning of a Next Generation novella called The Stuff of Dreams.

In this episode of Literary Treks we’re joined by James Swallow to talk about his new story that centers on Captain Jean-Luc Picard and goes a long way—in just 94 pages—toward fleshing out the inner workings of one of Starfleet’s greatest captains.

Spoilers abound in this interview, so make sure you read the novella first...

Once again, thanks for Matt and Chris for having me on the show! Check out the interview Here (starting at the 43:42 mark; I had a cold, so I apologise for sounding a little stuffed-up) or subscribe to Literary Treks via iTunes Here.

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Incoming! [April 2013]

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:30:36 GMT

Here's another 'Coming Soon' update on my forthcoming projects and events and stuff:

Burden of Duty - CD release of a Horus Heresy audio drama for Black Library. 9th April.
Enigma - A novel in the Tannhauser universe for Fantasy Flight Games. April.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut - enhanced & expanded edition of the 2011 videogame for the WiiU platform. May 7th
Horus Heresy Weekender - Horus Heresy book event in Nottingham. 18th-19th May.
The Best of Hammer And Bolter Volume Two - A Warhammer 40,000 collection including reprints of my short story "Redeemed" and the chapbook "Bloodline". June 20th
Doctor Who: Shockwave - An original audio drama featuring the 7th Doctor, part of the Destiny of the Doctor anniversary series from Big Finish Productions. July.
Nine Worlds - Multi-genre GeekFest event in London. 9th-11th August.
Space Marines: The Omnibus - A Warhammer 40,000 collection featuring reprints of my stories "The Returned" and "Heart of Rage". September 10th
Star Trek The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice - a Star Trek novel for Pocket Books, volume #4 in The Fall miniseries. Late 2013.
Blake's 7 The Liberator Chronicles: The Hard Road - Part of Big Finish's upcoming Blake's 7 audio box-set series. TBC 2014.

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Star Trek The Next Generation - The Stuff of Dreams is out!

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:45:22 GMT

This week, my new Star Trek The Next Generation eBook novella The Stuff of Dreams went live, and it's available now for Kindle users from Amazon, for iPad via iBooks, on Nook, Kobo and pretty much every kind of padd-like device you might wish to have it on.

When Captain Picard is summoned back to the mysterious space-time phenomenon known as the nexus, he and his crew become embroiled in a desperate plot to rewrite history, no matter what the cost.

As I noted downblog, The Stuff of Dreams centres on Picard and acts as a return of sorts to Star Trek Generations. The novella's picks up after the events of the Cold Equations trilogy by David Mack (and contains spoilers for those books).

I'm pleased to say reader response has been pretty strong so far, and in the weeks ahead I'm going to be discussing this story on a couple of Star Trek podcasts, so more on that to come...

You Are Hearing...Some More Epic Stuff

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 10:50:02 GMT

A few posts downblog I mentioned musician Alexander Norman (aka ADN Compositions) who had been inspired by my Horus Heresy book Fear To Tread to create an epic track based on the events of the novel; and now he's done it again, this time with a piece called "To The Brink", with inspiration taken from my first Horus Heresy tale The Flight of the Eisenstein. It's pretty damn cool.

Check it out here!

Incoming! [March 2013]

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:03:08 GMT

Here's March's 'Coming Soon' update on future projects and events:

Star Trek The Next Generation: The Stuff of Dreams - eBook novella for Pocket Books. 26th March.
Burden of Duty - CD release of a Horus Heresy audio drama for Black Library. 9th April.
Enigma - A novel in the Tannhauser universe for Fantasy Flight Games. April.
Horus Heresy Weekender - Horus Heresy book event in Nottingham. 18th-19th May.
The Best of Hammer And Bolter Volume Two - A Warhammer 40,000 collection including reprints of my short story "Redeemed" and the chapbook "Bloodline". June 20th
Doctor Who: Shockwave - An original audio drama featuring the 7th Doctor, part of the Destiny of the Doctor anniversary series from Big Finish Productions. July.
Nine Worlds - Multi-genre GeekFest event in London. 9th-11th August.
Space Marines: The Omnibus - A Warhammer 40,000 collection featuring reprints of my stories "The Returned" and "Heart of Rage". September 10th
Star Trek The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice - a Star Trek novel for Gallery Books, volume #4 in The Fall miniseries. Late 2013.
Blake's 7 The Liberator Chronicles: The Hard Road - Part of Big Finish's upcoming Blake's 7 audio box-set series. TBC 2014.

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Black Library Live! 2013

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:01:23 GMT

Black Library Live!, the event for fans of the Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and Horus Heresy fiction series, returns for its fifth installment this weekend, and I'll be along. Saturday 2nd March sees a full day of stuff, including signings, seminars, previews and exclusives, all held under the roof of Warhammer World up in Nottingham.

I'll be there, both talking about and signing stuff, including the advance CD release of my most recent Horus Heresy audio drama Burden of Duty. Joining me will be fellow BL writers Dan Abnett, Nik Vincent, Chris Wraight, Guy Haley, John French, Andy Smillie, Peter Fehervari and David Guymer.

More information about the event is available Here, and you can check out the full schedule for Saturday Here or just go ahead and download a PDF of the event program from This linky.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Stuff of Dreams ebook cover revealed

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:06:37 GMT

Next month my latest piece of Star Trek fiction goes live; The Stuff of Dreams is a Next Generation eBook novella that will be available from all good online sources. Kindle owners can pre-order it from Amazon Here.

The cover art has just been released, and you can see it to the right here, depicting the Enterprise-E and the Nexus from Star Trek Generations; my novella follows on from m'colleague Dave Mack's recent Cold Equations ST:TNG trilogy and revisits plot threads from the Generations movie...

When Captain Picard is summoned back to the mysterious space-time phenomenon known as the nexus, he and his crew become embroiled in a desperate plot to rewrite history, no matter what the cost.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Stuff of Dreams is a 100 page eBook novella and will be available on or around March 25th

You Are Hearing...something EPIC

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:24:10 GMT

This is pretty damn cool; musician Alexander Norman (aka ADN Compositions) creates majestic choons of the like that get the blood pumping in an action movie, videogame or trailer. You can go listen to a selection of his works Here at his SoundCloud site, and be enthused.

I was very flattered to learn that Alexander enjoyed my Horus Heresy novel Fear To Tread so much that he was inspired to compose Angels Will Fall, an epic three-minute anthem that would (if I had my way) issue out every time a copy of the book was cracked open. Dude, you rock.

Check it out here: [Warning: Loudness!]

Incoming! [February 2013]

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:34:26 GMT

Here's February's 'Coming Soon' update on future projects and events:

Black Library Live! - Warhammer 40,000 & Horus Heresy book event in Nottingham. 2nd March.
Star Trek The Next Generation: The Stuff of Dreams - eBook novella for Pocket Books. 26th March.
Burden of Duty - CD release of a Horus Heresy audio drama for Black Library. 9th April.
Enigma - A novel in the Tannhauser universe for Fantasy Flight Games. April 2013.
Doctor Who: Shockwave - An original audio drama featuring the 7th Doctor, part of the Destiny of the Doctor anniversary series from Big Finish Productions. July 2013.
Star Trek The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice - a Star Trek novel for Pocket Books, volume #4 in The Fall miniseries. Late 2013.

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You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Warp Beacon

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:31:13 GMT

Shawn Gizatulin's is the astropath-in-chief over at Russia's foremost Warhammer 40,000 video podcast, Warp Beacon; I was pleased to appear on the show - sans video, sadly, as I have no webcam and a face for radio - to chat about my Blood Angels books and the ongoing Horus Heresy...

Check out the interview Here and the Warp Beacon video portal Here...

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Win a copy of the limited edition hardcover of The Flight of the Eisenstein!

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:15:09 GMT

After the success of the Fear To Tread competition I ran back in August, I'm giving another go of it; this time I'm offering two lucky people the chance to win signed copies of the new hardcover limited edition of my first Horus Heresy novel The Flight of the Eisenstein over on Twitter.

The limited edition reprints the novel with four new original pieces of artwork, an author's afterword and full colour dust jacket.

The book is available for purchase from Black Library Here, but if you’d like a chance to get a signed copy of your own, here's what you need to do.

1) Follow me - @jmswallow - on Twitter.

2) Tweet this message:

Win a signed copy of The Flight of the Eisenstein; follow @jmswallow & retweet this link http://tinyurl.com/amdxmtb #winfote #HorusHeresy

Everyone who follows me and retweets that message gets their name put in the hat, and two winners will be chosen by random draw. Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the world, one entry per follower.

I'll contact the winners via DM after the announcement, and they will both receive a signed & personalised copy of The Flight of the Eisenstein. Don't forget the hashtag!

The competition starts now and runs through to 10:00pm GMT on Thursday 31st January; the winners will be announced on Friday 1st February. Good luck!

[UPDATE!] The competition is now over; congratualtions to Rob Jones of Wigan and Ventura Sánchez from Spain, who were the winners!

Something Borrowed (2013 Edition)

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:25:39 GMT

Christmas may be long gone, but the gift of reading keeps on giving and now is the time for authors to celebrate with some (almost) free money: the Public Lending Right. If you are a resident of the UK or Ireland and you ever need a reason for donating your books to the library - on top of all the obvious ones like promoting reading and supporting this valuable and increasingly undermined public service - this is it.

What is the PLR?

The PLR is a system where authors who've written books that are in public libraries get a little revenue each time somebody borrows their works. It's a way to repay writers who won't be earning a royalty from a sale in a bookstore. The hardworking folks at the PLR office pay a nominal fee based on how borrowed you were - and in the interests of fairness, you can't earn more than around £6000, so the big names don't get to hog all the money.
In the current political climate, both the PLR and the libraries it springs from are under threat, so if you are a writer or a reader, please do your bit to help support both as best you can.

Here's my Top Ten Library Loans of my novels for 2012 (with 2011's position in brackets)
1 (1) Peacemaker
2 (3) The Flight of the Eisenstein
3 (2) Nemesis
4 (-) Hammer & Anvil
5 (6) Red Fury
6 (8) Icarus Effect
7 (-) Cast No Shadow
8 (4) The Blood Angels Omnibus
9 (5) Synthesis
10 (9) Day of the Vipers

My Doctor Who Western Peacemaker continues to remain top of the charts, although my first Horus Heresy novel The Flight of the Eisenstein came in a strong second. As always, my thanks to everyone who supported their local libraries and borrowed my books.

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Incoming! [January 2013]

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:54:51 GMT

Here's January's 'Coming Soon' update on future projects and events:

Black Library Live! - Warhammer 40,000 & Horus Heresy book event in Nottingham. 2nd March.
Star Trek The Next Generation: The Stuff of Dreams - eBook novella for Gallery Books. 26th March.
Burden of Duty - CD release of a Horus Heresy audio drama for Black Library. 9th April.
Enigma - A novel in the Tannhauser universe for Fantasy Flight Games. April 2013.
Doctor Who: Shockwave - An original audio drama featuring the 7th Doctor, part of the Destiny of the Doctor anniversary series from Big Finish Productions. July 2013.
Star Trek The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice - a Star Trek novel for Gallery Books, volume #4 in The Fall miniseries. Late 2013.

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Star Trek Week: The Fall is Coming

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:58:50 GMT

In a couple of months time - March, specifically - my next Star Trek book will be released; Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Stuff of Dreams is an eBook novella centred around the character of Jean-Luc Picard, drawing on story threads from the movie Star Trek Generations and the events of m'colleague David Mack's recent ST:TNG Cold Equations trilogy and focusing on the Enterprise crew's involvement in a plan to change the course of history. I'll be blogging more about this story as the release date closes in.

But beyond that, in the latter part of 2013 I'm pleased to announce that I will also be writing a novel as part of Star Trek: The Fall, a five-part miniseries spanning several Star Trek crews and characters.

The Fall connects to recent events in the Star Trek fiction line, with the rise of a new threat force called the Typhon Pact and political schisms at the heart of the United Federation of Planets.

The official blurb says "The Federation is rocked to its core as the Typhon Pact is suspected of being behind a barbarous act that shatters the fragile peace of the Alpha Quadrant."

I'll be writing book #4 of the series, returning to William Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan, whom I first wrote about back in my 2009 novel Synthesis.

Star Trek: The Fall shakes out like this:
Book #1 is Revelations and Dust by David R. George III, and features characters from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine saga
Book #2 is Una McCormack's The Crimson Shadow, featuring the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew and Garak on Cardassia.
Book #3 is A Ceremony of Losses by David Mack, featuring characters from DS9 and the U.S.S. Aventine.
Book #4 is The Poisoned Chalice by me, concentrating on characters from the Star Trek: Titan series.
Book #5 concludes the miniseries with Dayton Ward's Peaceable Kingdoms, which features the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew.

One thing we're looking to do with The Fall is showcase cross-series storylines, so you can also expect to see characters from different fiction streams teaming up and working together; in addition, some of the novels will be taking place simultaneously in different parts of the galaxy, and we've been working to make sure that the events in each story connect seamlessly to form one coherent narrative. It's an exciting project and I'm enthused about taking part. Revelations and Dust is due out in September and I believe the plan is to release one novel a month through to January next year, so look for The Poisoned Chalice just in time for Christmas...

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Star Trek Week: You Are Hearing Me Talk...to the G & T Show

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:19:07 GMT

My second bit of bloggage here at Red Flag about my current work on Star Trek projects is another podcast, this time the laid-back lazy Sunday afternoon hang-out that is the G & T Show.

Another fun community podcast, hosted by Nick Minecci, Terilynn Shull and Michael Medeiros, broadcast via livestream on Sundays, the G & T Show focuses on Star Trek fiction in and around the TV shows and movies, with an eye toward spin-off in books and games, especially the Star Trek Online MMO. Conversational and irreverent, the G & T Show always reminds me of hanging out in a convention bar chatting with my fellow nerds and generally just grokking Trek...

G & T Show 76 – James Swallow Live! This week, Nick, Terry, and Mike are joined by the amazing James Swallow for an in depth interview and for our regular rounds of discussion. James touched upon his books, novellas, audio dramas, game scripts, convention experiences, writing, and more. You don’t want to miss this. then, when we get around to this week’s show, we talked about Star Trek: Into Darkness News, an all new Ask Dayton, Listener Mail, a full recap of STLV 2013 Update with some new guests, and Nick and Mike share what they are reading.

Thanks to Nick, Teri and Mike for having me back once again!

Check out the podcast Here, visit the G & T Show site Here or tune in to their Livestream Here every Sunday from 2.00pm GMT.

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Star Trek Week: You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Literary Treks

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:40:45 GMT

This week on Red Flag I'm going to be revealing a little more about my upcoming Star Trek projects, and as I've got a bunch of stuff to blog about, I decided to make a thing out of it. I'm kicking it off today with a link to a interview I did a few weeks ago with Matthew Rushing over at the Trek.FM podcast site.

Along with his co-host Christopher Jones, Matt presents the Literary Treks podcast discussing Star Trek novels and comics and in previous shows they've talked to my fellow authors Dayton Ward, Una McCormack, Kirsten Beyer and Keith R.A. DeCandido - and this week's episode features me.

From Terok Nor to the Myriad Universe, from the bridge of the Titan to the aftermath of The Undiscovered Country, author James Swallow has played in many corners of the Star Trek universe. In this episode of Literary Treks we’re joined by James to discuss what it’s like to tell stories from the lost era of Deep Space Nine, why it’s difficult to write Picard, what it takes to redeem Valeris, and many more topics from across Star Trek literature.

I had a great time chatting about all things Final Frontier, and I want to thank Matt and Chris for having me on the show.

Check out the interview Here, or subscribe to Literary Treks via iTunes Here.

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A TARDIS and a sip of G & T

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:17:49 GMT

No new stuff to blog about for weeks and then a bunch of things come along at once...

As well as announcing the forthcoming release of my latest novel Enigma downblog, I can now also reveal that I've written a brand new original audio drama for the 50th anniversary of everyone's favourite timelord, Doctor Who.

The big 5-0 for the Doctor this year means there's a lot of cool stuff coming out to celebrate his half-century and as part of that, production companies AudioGo and Big Finish have come together to create an eleven-part episodic series of monthly releases called Doctor Who: Destiny of the Doctor.

Why eleven episodes, you may ask? That's one for every incarnation of the Doctor, one story told in the style of Big Finish's 'Companion Chronicle' tales featuring each version of the Doc from William Hartnell through to Matt Smith. I've written a tale of the Seventh Doctor called Shockwave, which will be out in July.

Here's the full list of episodes:
Hunters of Earth (by Nigel Robinson), Shadow of Death (by Simon Guerrier), Vengeance of the Stones (by Andrew Smith), Babblesphere (by Jonathan Morris), Smoke and Mirrors (by Steve Lyons), Trouble in Paradise (by Nev Fountain), Shockwave (by James Swallow), Enemy Lines (by Alan Barnes), Night of the Whisper (by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright), Death’s Deal (by Darren Jones) and The Time Machine (by Matt Fitton).

I'll talk more about Shockwave in the weeks to come; but in the meantime I'll be talking about other stuff this Sunday afternoon (the 13th, from 2.00pm GMT) on the G & T Show live podcast.

Specifically, Star Trek stuff like my upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation eBook The Stuff of Dreams and a new novel I'm working of called The Poisoned Chalice, featuring Will Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan as part of a five-book miniseries called The Fall.

Check out the G & T Show's website Here, complete with downloads of their previous episodes.

You can also post questions for me on the G & T forum Here or log on directly to the Livestream Here on Sunday afternoon.

Enigma Variations

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:50:11 GMT

I've been playing this one pretty close to my chest over the past few months, but the book I hinted about in my year-end blog is now all official, so I am proud to announce I have a new original novel called Enigma coming out in the spring this year, as part of the world of the Tannhäuser board game.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Tannhäuser universe, it's a dieselpunk alternate history set in a 1950's world where the First World War never ended, and the global powers fight an endless conflict using super-science, dark magic and recovered alien technology...

"The free nations have joined together to form the Union under the keen leadership of President Thomas Edison, while the lands of the European Reich lie under a cloud of demonic darkness.

Meanwhile, the mighty Matriarchy, thanks to the mystical technology of Nikolai Tesla, has ushered in a new age of gods; and in the Far East, Emperor Meiji has united Japan once more. Its armies now march toward the mainland to join the struggle for power.

Balance will never be found while the war still rages, for there can be only one victor. That victory will determine the fate of man."

Enigma is the third Tannhäuser novel from Fantasy Flight Games, and I gotta say, I had a ball writing it. This is all the World War II action movies I loved - The Guns of Navarone, Operation Crossbow, Where Eagles Dare, 633 Squadron and more - packed into a high-octane jet and launched at the enemy lines!

"When the occult-obsessed Reich unveils a weapon with the power to grant its army demonic powers, RAF pilot Nick Cross and special agent Caitlin “Hoax” Lambsbury must join forces with unlikely allies to capture the device at any cost.

In the face of overwhelming odds, can these two agents survive long enough to complete their mission? Prepare for a gripping battle to determine the fate of the world!"

Check out the FFG news page Here for a short excerpt from the novel; the book also has it's own mini-site Here (and there'll be more stuff there in the months ahead) and a dedicated forum Here where I will doubtless parachute in from time to time.

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Y2K12 Games

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 12:44:16 GMT

And the final part of my year ending time-wasting review is games, games and more games. Again, the Xbox 360 dominated my gamescape (helped no doubt by my PS3’s seemingly constant need for lengthy system updates) and I did a lot of first person shootery, channelling my inner need to explode things at regular intervals; but that didn’t stop me from playing a browser MMO where everyone is a cat and finally getting into the Assassin’s Creed series.

Here’s my list:

Medal of Honor (Xbox 360 version), ChatChat, Syndicate, Goldeneye Reloaded, Mindjack, Rage, Binary Domain, Assassin's Creed II, I Am Alive, Sniper Elite V2, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Spec Ops: The Line, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride Online, Glow Hockey, Star Trader RP, World of Warplanes, Hitman: Sniper Challenge, Sleeping Dogs, Judge Dredd vs. Zombies, Borderlands 2, Dust 514, Crysis 3, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Jetpack Joyride, Thomas Was Alone, Dear Esther, Journey, Deadlight, XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Xbox 360 & PS3), Dishonored, Motorstorm RC, Joe Danger 2: The Movie, Hitman: Absolution, Assassin's Creed III, The Unfinished Swan, Pure Chess, When Vikings Attack!, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Also, this year was marked by playing a title that was so infuriating and hands-down poor that it has since become my benchmark for bad games; but rather than dwell on that, I’d sooner celebrate the titles I did enjoy – most notable among them the sublime Journey and the tone-perfect action fest Sleeping Dogs.

Y2K12 Movies

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 13:34:05 GMT

Part two of my annual "things I did last year instead of working" survey is all about movies; I saw over fifty films this year, an improvement on last year and, I'm pleased to say, a tick against the New Year's Resolution I set myself to watch more.

Here's the list:

Bolt, Megamind, The Green Hornet, The Social Network, John Carter, Season of the Witch, Sanctum, Limitless, True Grit [2010], The Adjustment Bureau, The Ghost, Priest, Battle Los Angeles, Ironclad, Tomorrow When The War Began, Super, Fast Five, Sucker Punch, Ghost Recon: Alpha, The Avengers, The Eagle, Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Munich, The Incredible Hulk, The Expendables, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Deja Vu, Super 8, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, The Raid, 13 Assassins, Up In The Air, Inception, Attack the Block, Real Steel, Chronicle, Haywire, Wrath of the Titans, The Bourne Leagcy, Toy Story 3, Puss In Boots, Lockout, Killer Elite, Dredd, Indie Game: The Movie, The Amazing Spider-Man, Prometheus, Battleship, Treasure Planet, Immortals, Apollo 18, In Time, Total Recall [2012], The Expendables 2, The Dark Knight Rises, The Losers, Skyfall.

Once again, my tastes for SF, action and stuff-blowing-uppery are fairly self-evident; my best of the year were all comic booky – The Avengers, Dredd and Crucible were great, and I also have to give it up for Indie Game: The Movie, which I found funny, touching and painfully true in equal measure. (And for the record, Hollywood? I kinda liked Battleship and John Carter...)