Archive for Writers
The Genesis of Slights
Posted by: | Commentsby Kaaron Warren.
Kaaron Warren’s critically-acclaimed – and award-winning – debut novel Slights is arguably the best horror novel of the year. Here, Kaaron tells us about how it all started…
Slights is the story of a young woman who sees the afterlife as a place where anyone she’s ever slighted is waiting in a dark room to take a piece of her.
I wrote it as a short story first but was frustrated trying to cram all I wanted to say into 3000 words. The more I wrote, the stronger Stevie became as a character and the more she wanted to say. Once I started telling the stories of the people she slights, the novel grew and grew. I wanted to tell those stories, though. I knew that every body in the room had a voice. Read More→
So what’s the Big Idea?
Posted by: | CommentsSimple – The Big Idea is a regular, popular feature at John Scalzi’s blog, Whatever, featuring writers, their books, and the ideas behind the words.
This week’s Big Idea feature is on none other than Mike Shevdon’s Sixty-One Nails. UK readers have been able to read and enjoy this for almost a year, of course – next week the US and Canada can do the same.
Here, Mike tells us all about the history of the novel, and the amount of historical research that goes into creating something very modern.
When I started writing Sixty-One Nails, I wanted to write fantasy set in the real world – the world of shopping malls, CCTV cameras and mobile phones. I wanted to create a feeling that if you were quick and observant enough, you might see something quite extraordinary. I wanted magic in the now.
This is easy to say, but it immediately spawns a host of questions.
Head here to read the questions, and the answers that Mike came up with.
Angry Robot TV launches!
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Ok, it’s not so much a TV channel as a collection of our multimedia links – videos, first chapter recordings, interviews, podcasts, etc.
So, pull up a chair, crack open a tub of your favourite ice-cream, and enjoy…
Choose your channel from the drop-down list under the new AR TV link in the main menu bar, above.
Zoo City gets 5 Stars in SFX Magazine
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SFX Magazine has just reached issue 200 – subscribers will have their copies already, and it hits the shops next Wednesday. Always a good read, issue 200 promises to be something very special, indeed, which is why we were thrilled when Liz from My Favourite Books told us about the review of Lauren Beukes’s Zoo City in that issue. SFX tells us that it is:
An energetic and imaginative fusion of sci-fi, fantasy and noir thriller
the magazine goes on to state that
Beukes has created a convincing and frequently disturbing world, while also looking at the lost and the marginalised through the eyes of a compelling, believably flawed protagonist… Zoo City is an absolute must for anyone with a taste for the wilder edges of the genre
5 ***** – and an “SFX Recommends” badge.
You can also enter a competition to win a signed, limited edition of the Zoo City hardback (and eBook) at SFX – just click here.
If you don’t feel lucky, you can buy the hardback exclusively from Forbidden Planet – and we only printed 100 to sell – now that’s limited edition!
Or, you can wait for the paperback, which is out in the UK on September 2nd (December 28th in the US and Canada). Pre-order it from Amazon UK, or Waterstones, or pop into your local independent shop and ask them to order it for you.
- Limited Edition Hardback: £20
- Paperback: £7.99
- eBook: £3.50
Oh, and congratulations to SFX for reaching such a monumental milestone, and still going strong!
Lissun and lurn
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We do like our podcasts, and we know quite a few of you do, too.
So, just in case you’ve missed them, here’s a list of recent podcasts featuring the Angry Robot crew:
Angry Robot Podcast number 2 – featuring Kaaron Warren and Lauren Beukes
Lauren Beukes – Interview at the British Science Fiction Association
Angry Robot Podcast number 1 – featuring Marc Gascoigne and Lee Harris
Alt.Fiction podcasts:
(10) The World of Publishing – featuring Marc Gasgoigne (of Angry Robot), Steve Tribe, Jenni Hill and Jon Weir
(3) Blogging and the Internet – featuring Lee Harris (of Angry Robot), Vincent Holland-Keen and Alasdair Stuart
And fon’t forget – for the Angry Robot monthly podcast:
Meet Dan Abnett next week!
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If you’re in the London area (or can travel to it) next Wednesday (25th August), it’s well worth popping into Belgravia, where I will be interviewing multi-million-selling novelist, comic-writer and screenwriter, Dan Abnett for the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA).
Dan is a great speaker, and with over 20 years’ experience in the business, he’s always fascinating to listen to.
So, whether you’re a fan of his comic work, his Black Library novels, his TV tie-ins, or his new, original fiction, pop along. It’s free to come along, and you don’t have to be a member of the BSFA to attend. What larks!
I have plenty of interesting questions lined up for him, but if there’s something you’re dying to ask Dan, put it in the comments section, here – the interview will be recorded, and podcast, later.
Venue:
Upstairs Room
The Antelope Tavern
22, Eaton Terrace
Belgravia
London
SW1W 8EZ
Nearest Tube: Sloane Square (District/Circle)
All welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.)
Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00 (and fans in the downstairs bar from 5).
There will be a raffle (£1 for five tickets), with a selection of sf novels as prizes.
Beukes rocks the BSFA
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A fine time was had by all in London last night, when an unusually packed BSFA meet played host to the one and only Lauren Beukes.
Following a day spent shopping, sightseeing and discussing top secret projects with a Certain Big Movie Producer, I’d thought I’d perhaps worn Lauren out. But faced with an attentive crowd hanging on her every word, Lauren rose to the occasion. Following a reading from Zoo City, Lauren was interviewed by blogger Jonathan McAlmont, and then took questions from the floor on Moxyland, Zoo City, future projects, 
the future of South Africa, all the usual stuff. As well as BSFA regulars, Lauren had attracted a fair number of South African ex-pats, one of whom even arrived bearing a genuine cuddly Moxy! The heavily illustrated Del Lakin-Smith had kindly brought his podcast mic to capture the whole thing, so all being well you’ll be able to hear it all as an online download in a few days.
Tonight it’s the turn of Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Avenue to host Ms B. It all starts at 6pm, but do get there early – the word is that those limited edition copies of Zoo City won’t hang around for long.
Meanwhile, the massive interest in Zoo City in Lauren’s native South Africa has produced another interview, this time in the form of a podcast with the (South African) Times. Well worth ten minutes of your time.
And may we just remind you all, cannibal penguin FTW!
Lauren Beukes and Angry Robot are in London later this month
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A brief reminder – Lauren Beukes (author of the fantastic, critically-acclaimed Moxyland) is making a rare visit to the UK this month from her native South Africa, and we’ve lined up three events where you can meet her, and get your books signed.
Not only that, to celebrate her visit we’ve teamed up with Forbidden Planet to bring you an Angry Robot first – a limited edition hardcover of her forthcoming novel, Zoo City. It’s already attracted a lot of attention, and for very good reason!
You can order a copy of Zoo City from Forbidden Planet, here. Better still, come along to her signing. There are just 100 copies being sold through Forbidden Planet, so you’re going to have to get one soon to avoid disappointment! This is a very limited limited edition.
Lauren will be signing Zoo City at the London Forbidden Planet Megastore from 6.00-7.00pm on Thursday July 29th. Come along and say “Hi” and pick up a copy of the book. I’ll also be there (Lee) despite my wife’s protestations (she doesn’t object to Lauren – the signing is halfway through our holiday, so I’ll be leaving our cottage in Wales to come along to the event). 
British Science Fiction Association
The night before Lauren’s signing at Forbidden Planet she will be the special guest at the July meeting of the British Science Fiction Association, where she will be reading from Zoo City, prior to an interview. There will be a Q&A session at the end, and you don’t have to be a member of the BSFA to attend. There may be one or two other Angry Robot authors there, too, as well as Marc Gascoigne – Angry Robot’s Publishing Director.
The reading / interview will be at the upstairs bar of:
The Antelope Tavern, 22 Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, London SW1W 8EZ (nearest tube station is Sloane Square on the District and Circle lines).
The reading will commence around 7.00pm, but people usually start gathering in the downstairs bar from 5.00pm onwards.
British Fantasy Society
Lauren will also be the guest at the first BFS Open Night of the year. Well, not Open Night so much as Open Afternoon. For those of you who might find it hard to get to central London on a weekday evening, Lauren’s BFS event is on Saturday 31st July from 1.00pm until 5.00pm at The George pub on The Strand, WC2R 1AP (nearest tube station: Temple). And again, you don’t have to be a member to attend, though you can join on the day if you wish.
So, those dates again:
Wednesday 28th July: BSFA meeting - 7.00pm onwards (but any time from 5.00 for general chit-chat and beerage)
Thursday 29th July: Forbidden Planet signing – 6.00pm until 7.00pm (see here for details)
Saturday 31st July: BFS meeting – 1.00pm until 5.00pm
Mike Shevdon – Tools for Writing
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There are many tools available to modern writers – tools that help with ideas, construction, filing. Angry Robot author Mike Shevdon has been trialling many of them, and posting his thoughts on his site.
There’re some really interesting insights here, and if you’re in the business of writing, it’s well worth a read.
Tools for Writing – part 1 – Microsoft Word
Is MS Word good enough for the writing of a full-length novel?
Tools for Writing – part 2 – Rough Draft 3.0
What about dedicated novel-writing software?
Before You Hit Save – a question of file formats
And how best should you save your work once written?
Tools for Writing – part 3 – Jer’s Novel Writer
Another piece of novel-writing software under the Mike-roscope (sorry).
Tools for Writing – part 4 – Scrivener
One of the best-known pieces of writing software for the Mac.
Tools for Writing – part 5 – FreeMind
And a piece of software to help organise your thoughts and ideas.
Mike’s site is worth a regular visit, and can be found at Shevdon.com.
It’s LB in O and UK (with some added ZC) – she’s a Toy-Loving Word Ninja!
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If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few weeks, you may not know that Moxyland author Lauren Beukes is coming to the UK next month, where she’ll be signing copies of her limited edition hardback of her new novel, Zoo City.
This month she’s the subject of an interview in O Magazine where she talks about books that made a difference to her.
When I was a child, my mother used to threaten to tie my eyelashes together to get me to stop reading. I read and walked and bumped into things, I read through dinner, I even read through family trips to amazing places across several continents. I read everything I could get my hands on and blew all my pocket money on books, when at least some of it was meant for clothes. And I checked the back of my cupboard every morning in the hopes that the doorway to Narnia had opened during the night.
There’s also a great feature about her in The Times Live:
Set around a terrifying supernatural version of contemporary Hillbrow and, truthfully, not all that different from much of the real-life suburb, barring the voodoo, Zoo City is a dark thriller that uses threads of raw magic and primitive spirits as its narrative… Lauren Beukes eats zombies for breakfast.
And Zoo City is already garnering some great reviews. Exclus1ves writes:
Beautifully written, Zoo City is by far a work of pure literary wonder. Beukes does not simply write a story, she crafts a world and brings it to life with words. As Zoo City sinks its animalistic teeth into readers, they will find themselves unable to put the book down. This novel shows a command of the English language that every author should strive for. It manages to be lyrical, witty, engaging and literary without alienating the audience.
So, come meet Lauren at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London on Thursday 29th July and pick up a truly collectible book.
