Okay, yeah, it's kinda ridiculous that I haven't really done a "proper" update for about 7 months. But blogging is just so 2016, ain't it? Well, given the crapolastorm that has been 2019-2021, I figured perhaps we'd all like to feel like we were back in the good old days of illegal war and Pokemon Go.
So, here's an update on what I've been up to, (mainly) writery-wise, this year!
Beast Realms
I've been working hard on my Beast Realms LitRPG novel trilogy. Book 2 (Evolution) came out in April, closely followed by the audiobook. Book 3, Revelations, is coming along nicely and should be out in the Autumn, all being well. If you've no idea what I'm talking about (you're not alone), my Beast Realms novels are set inside video games. The protagonist takes on a lizard man body, joining forces with a replicating, size-shifting bug, and they fight monsters and evildoers. There's more to it, but that's the basics.
The Wilds
This is the big one for me: my first graphic novel. Just before the pandemic struck, I met with illustrator Aimee Lockwood to talk about a full-length poetry comic. We both liked the idea, so I wrote a 13-part poem series about a girl who's struggling over the death of her mom. She escapes into a mythical/Scottish wilderness where she processes her grief, and learns to survive, with the help of a talking bear.
It's a beautiful thing, 95% because of Aimee's awesome art. The poems aren't bad either, and we worked with young folk from Child Bereavement UK to get their thoughts. We were very please (and relieved) that they connected with the story and its character, and liked the mix of poetry with comics.
The book received Creative Scotland Funding (THANK YOU CS) to complete the manual work, then we blasted through a crowdfunding target (163% funded) to get it printed. It'll be published by Tapsalteerie in September, you can find out more about it here.
What's next...?
I promised my agent that I'd write another book for "general consumption" (rather than the niche genre of LitRPG) after Beast Realms. So, we worked on a detailed plan for a novel in which women could control men with their words, provisionally titled, Conviction. Sound good? Well, sorry, you'll have to write it yourself because the pandemic put me right off writing anything dystopian or full of horror and tragedy.
So instead, I'll soon be starting work on Bucket List (again, a provisional title): a story of intergenerational friendship between an old gal and a young lad in Edinburgh. I won't say much more, because you're a dirty little ideas thief aren't you? (Really, I won't say more because it's not fully planned out yet).
Other stuff?
I've been working on regular issues of Shoreline of Infinity (Scotland's sci-fi magazine, which is now monthly!) as well as putting on lots of sci-fi themed events with them (over 70 now...!)
I tried to break into the "comics about women in STEMM" market, but it didn't quite take off. It has legs, though, I think.
I published some short stories for places like Open Book, fulfilled a few other little writing commissions. Poetry's taken a back seat for about 18 months now -- maybe it feels a bit too raw for a pandemic, maybe I just have nothing much to poeticise about right now. It's okay, it'll come back when it's ready, like a hungry dog.
And speaking of hungry dogs... we also welcomed a new member to our family: Eddie, a Brittany from Benidorm. He's had a tough life prior to coming to us, but he's a cute little guy and settling in nicely with best-bro Pakkun.
And that's about it
I'm sure there are other things to report, but I can't think of them and they probably aren't very interesting. That's my blog done for another short while, in any case. I'll try to be better about updates, but I won't make a promise. I wouldn't want to break your heart.
