Author’s Notes: Defiler of Tombs
I started work on Defiler of Tombs almost seven years ago, back in 2006. I really wanted to write a novel about Kormak, the monster-hunting hero of The Guardian of the Dawn but I was trying to fit it into the template that would be acceptable to a conventional fantasy publisher. I’ve written about what a struggle that was elsewhere, but to recap, I was trying to fit a lean, taut sword and sorcery tale into an oversized vessel, to make it longer than it was meant to be. It could not to be done (by me at least) and Read more…
Jonathan Green On Indie Publishing
In a long standing Xmas tradition for this blog, which I have just made up, we have another guest post today. This time from Jonathan Green. Jon is the genre-spanning author of more than 40 books ranging from Warhammer novels to works set in the universes of Dr Who and Star Wars. He is the creator of the Pax Brittania steampunk series for Abaddon books. He’s also well known for his work on the Fighting Fantasy series of gamebooks. I’ve been meeting with Jon most enjoyably (for me at least) at Black Library functions for many years and we’ve talked about Read more…
The Hobbit: An Unexpectedly Unsatisfying Journey
Don’t get me wrong. I greatly enjoyed Peter Jackson’s latest epic. It looks wonderful, the actors are superb, and the action sequences are highly enjoyable. In places I found it very moving. Like a lot of people, I was expecting the worst when it was announced that the film was to become a trilogy. Here it comes, I thought, the studios are looking for a new cash cow– KA-CHING. Well, that may be the case, but watching the film I did not care. I really, really liked it. The bits I feared most, the inevitable padding, actually turned out to Read more…
Howard Andrew Jones on Sword And Sorcery
I first encountered Howard Andrew Jones over seven years ago when he was editing the old Flashing Swords website. Howard bought my first Kormak story, The Guardian of the Dawn, which naturally disposed me to think he was a man of considerable good taste. Over the years we’ve engaged in a good deal of correspondence on the subject of Sword and Sorcery, a type of fiction close to both our hearts. We shared many of the same influences, from Robert E Howard to Fritz Leiber to Michael Moorcock. It turned out Howard was, in particular, an expert on one of Read more…
Bones of The Old Ones Contest
Goodreads is hosting a giveaway of Howard Andrew Jones‘ new book, The Bones of the Old Ones, the sequel to his masterful Arabian Night’s sword and sorcery adventure, The Desert of Souls; a book I liked so much I blurbed it. The three winners will each receive a signed hardback copy of The Bones of the Old Ones as well as The Desert of Souls. Head over to Goodreads and sign up. Winners will be announced on December 19th.
Evernote Clearly
As long-term readers of this blog will know I use Evernote a lot. It is my go-to program for storing ideas and web clippings. I also keep travel documents such as e-tickets in it and maps of places I am visiting and all sorts of other stuff. It has many advantages – it is cloud-based and it synchronises all of your notes and clippings to any computer or phone that you have the Evernote app installed upon. This makes it an invaluable notebook-substitute for any writer. It is free an it runs on most PC and mobile phone operating systems. Read more…
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