Last year, I had the great pleasure of publishing a story in the wonderful Dragon Moon Anthology: When The Hero Comes Home. I am delighted to announce that fate hath smiled once more 'pon my rosy cheeks. When The Villain Comes Home will be published (officially) on August 1st 2012 and its TOC has some very big names on it. 

There are people there whose books I have enjoyed alongside writers I've come to know and respect through the internet or from Cons.

See for yourselves!

Just a note to say that a brief introduction I wrote to my trilogy is up right now on Suvudu. Many thanks to rflong for reminding me that today was the day!



Recent Reads

I have just completed Empire of the Summer Moon, a history of the Comanche Indians. Basically,  the Comanches dominated a huge area of the central US until eventually technology and sheer weight of numbers/resources finally crushed them. My main take-away from this was how rarely both sides ever learned from their many mistakes.  

It destroyed all hope I had in humanity.




I am currently reading The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers. A mysterious disease kills all pregnant women. More soon.

I have also bought a copy (finally!) of Sharon Penman's The Sunne in Splendour. I should get stronger just from lifting this door-stopper up and down.

Even more. Even sooner.

The title says it all. There's an interview with me up at podcasts.ie. Most of you are sick of me by now, but it's a wonderful website that specializes in Irish writers. Have a browse, why don't you? You might see something you like.

While you're at it, why not check out the site for the 2012 BookCrossing Convention? I'll be one of several guests there and I'm really looking forward to it. The Con runs from 13th to the 15th of April in the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin, Ireland.

Thanks very much to hatgirl who suggested I try for a spot on John Scalzi's brilliant The Big Idea. 

Yup, that's me up there this week to celebrate the US launch of The Deserter. John O'Neill, beloved founder of Black Gate was also kind enough to give me a tasty write up on the Black Gate web site. Hurray!

Calling all North Americans... My second novel, The Deserter has finally reached your continent and has been spotted as far west as Vancouver and as far East as New York*. It can be had as an ebook or as a hardback. Cats love it! Dogs will lick its shiny cover!



The art work is by the inestimable Richard Collingridge.

*Possibly untrue.

The Drowner As a Podcast

I mentioned some time back that my shockingly, nauseatingly brilliant story, The Drowner, would be podcast sooner or later by the kindly folks at Pseudopod.org...

Well, yet again, my powers of prediction have been borne out, for it is now available for a free download here. It's part of a trio of short, short stories and I'm pleased to say I enjoyed the other two pieces rather a lot, especially Brady Golden's "Annotations".

The reader for my tale was fellow Hibernatron, Cian Mac Mahon. He sounds a lot like me, but with a much better voice. Curse him!


PCon Was Great Fun

I don't have a whole lot to add. I was allowed to wreck a few panels with my presence. I met loads of old friends and made a few new ones. A very pleasant weekend, I have to say. The organizers did a fine job.

Next year's guests of honour will be the talented (and extremely witty) Sarah Pinborough and the needs-no-further-introduction Cory Doctorow. Should be excellent.


Interview With Bob Neilson

Writer and Editor, Bob Neilson, interviewed me by email over several weeks. I only ever received one question at a time and it made for a very interesting experience. You can read the results here.


Game of Thrones Series Two Trailer

I made the awful mistake of watching this brilliant trailer. I've been trying to avoid screen-shots etc. so I could have the full experience when the series finally returned to the screen. Damn it to hell, it looks wonderful.

More Soon

Well, there's quite a bit of Con News here in Ireland this week.

OCTOCON

First up, Octocon, Ireland's oldest, but far from its moldiest SFF convention, has released a brilliant free ebook of short stories. Everything in there comes from a guest, except for the contribution of Damian Kelly, who won last year's writing competition. Here's the blurb, straight from the hedgehog's mouth:

"This year Oisín McGann, C.E. Murphy, and Alan Nolan join  Derek Gunn, Ruth Frances Long, and Peadar Ó Guilín as they take you through our showcase anthology! Also in this year's anthology is the winner of last year's short story competition Damien Kelly."


PCON

And then there's PCon, which will take place this weekend in the Irish Writers' Centre in Parnell Square here in Dublin. There's a stellar guest list, but mostly, I'll be looking forward to catching up with some old pals.

Watching

Members of my family keep asking me to explain the financial crisis to them. I'm no guru, but I have a certain set of beliefs about how the whole thing played out and last night I watched a documentary that reflected these ideas in a simple, yet devastating manner.

Inside Job, a film by Charles Ferguson and Chad Beck, interviews bankers and politicians from all over the world to build up a clear picture of what happened, how it happened and where we all are now. If you're a bit hazy on the details, I would highly recommend it.



Reading

I have just read the fist few pages of Warren Ellis' Crooked Little Vein. I think I'm going to like this one a lot!

Review

Some kind person has written a review of Beneath Ceaseless Skies #84, which contains my story Heartless. Beware: spoilers abound, but the story is out there on the web for free, so, if you haven't managed to look at it yet, now's your chance!

Heartless

If you like secondary world fantasy, you won't find a better venue for it on the web than Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I am really proud that they are publishing my story Heartless. Yup, you can read it here!

It's not the sweetest of tales, but I managed to sneak a few crumbs of comedy in there amidst the gloom and I'll be interested to see if anybody spots them.

Hurray!


Yet More TV

The first two episodes of Enlightened really impressed me. Even on HBO, it's rare to see such nuanced characterisation, plotting and comedy. I hope they can keep it up.

My story The Drowner, which I read aloud in Reno at WorldCon and later, in Belfast at TitanCon, is to become a podcast. This will be my second appearance on the wonderful Pseudopod. All hail their slimy appendages!

I am especially grateful to the guys at Albedo One  for whom I wrote the story and who published it earlier this year.



*Probably!