As is the way of publishing, I've been dancing around some big news for the last few weeks, until stars were sufficiently in alignment and ducks were appropriately in rows; but now the official announcement has been made, and I'm in the clear to say that Tor.com have picked up my debut novella, Patchwerk. Which is all sorts of brilliant news, because - well, because Tor.com, for crying out loud. Another one of my dream publishers ticked off the list, is what I'm saying.
It also means I get to work with my Angry Robot editor Lee Harris again, and to be part of a line-up that includes - as you would expect from Tor.com - some of the best authors writing today. I'm particularly geeking out to have my name in a list that also includes Mr Paul Cornell, one of my absolutely favourite creators, not to mention writer of brilliant graphic novel introductions. And on a personal level, it means a lot to me for a whole host of other reasons too. It's my first sale of a longer work since the Damasco novels, and since I went full time; in that sense, it's huge reassurance for the future. By the same measure, Patchwerk was the fruit of a tough year, and as such absorbed that bit more blood, sweat and tears than it's slender thirty thousand words might suggest. Writing Patchwerk also pushed me well outside my comfort zone, and I had to up my game accordingly; so that it's been picked up by my first choice of publisher feels like a vindication. Once I invent time travel I now know that I can go back to my self of two years ago and let me know that it will all be worth it - whilst at the same time, of course, passing on a few choice lottery numbers and the secret of time travel, so that I can share it will all of my earlier selves too...
Oh, and speaking of irresponsibly mad science, Patchwerk has a whole lot of that going on. My protagonist Dran Florrian is exactly the kind of guy who would invent a time machine to tip himself off about his own future, with all the inevitable awfulness that would involve. Only what he's actually done is to create a reality-emulating machine called Palimpsest, which as it turns out is probably that bit worse. Creating a device that copies aspects of other multiversal realities onto your own is, in fact, about as bad as an idea can be, however many safety checks you might build into it. At least it is if said device has a mind of its own, and especially so if you let it fall into the wrong hands...
Which, I should mention, is only the beginning of Patchwerk, and from there things get much, much stranger. And that's all I'm going to say for the moment, because spoilers of course, but also because it's tentatively due out some time early in 2016 and I'll no doubt be talking about it a whole lot more between now and then.
It also means I get to work with my Angry Robot editor Lee Harris again, and to be part of a line-up that includes - as you would expect from Tor.com - some of the best authors writing today. I'm particularly geeking out to have my name in a list that also includes Mr Paul Cornell, one of my absolutely favourite creators, not to mention writer of brilliant graphic novel introductions. And on a personal level, it means a lot to me for a whole host of other reasons too. It's my first sale of a longer work since the Damasco novels, and since I went full time; in that sense, it's huge reassurance for the future. By the same measure, Patchwerk was the fruit of a tough year, and as such absorbed that bit more blood, sweat and tears than it's slender thirty thousand words might suggest. Writing Patchwerk also pushed me well outside my comfort zone, and I had to up my game accordingly; so that it's been picked up by my first choice of publisher feels like a vindication. Once I invent time travel I now know that I can go back to my self of two years ago and let me know that it will all be worth it - whilst at the same time, of course, passing on a few choice lottery numbers and the secret of time travel, so that I can share it will all of my earlier selves too...
Oh, and speaking of irresponsibly mad science, Patchwerk has a whole lot of that going on. My protagonist Dran Florrian is exactly the kind of guy who would invent a time machine to tip himself off about his own future, with all the inevitable awfulness that would involve. Only what he's actually done is to create a reality-emulating machine called Palimpsest, which as it turns out is probably that bit worse. Creating a device that copies aspects of other multiversal realities onto your own is, in fact, about as bad as an idea can be, however many safety checks you might build into it. At least it is if said device has a mind of its own, and especially so if you let it fall into the wrong hands...
Which, I should mention, is only the beginning of Patchwerk, and from there things get much, much stranger. And that's all I'm going to say for the moment, because spoilers of course, but also because it's tentatively due out some time early in 2016 and I'll no doubt be talking about it a whole lot more between now and then.
Bwahahah. That is all.
ReplyDeleteOkay, not really. So geeked for your sale AND that I get to c/e it. <3
ASZ
I, too, am geeked about these things.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can only apologise is advance for the big barrel of word-craziness that I'm dumping in your lap.