Author: mytholder

All the cool kids are posting theirs, so here’s mine. In addition, I’ll be at the Games room for some of the con – and also probably wandering off doing kid-friendly stuff at the con or elsewhere, as the whole family’s coming along. Working as a writer in Ireland Format: Panel16 Aug 2019, Friday 14:00 – 14:50, Wicklow Hall 2B (CCD) There is a rich and prolific community of writers who are living and writing in Ireland. In a country that is so friendly to creators, what are some of the benefits available to writers and any obstacles to know about? What resources are available and where does the writing community gather, learn, create, and publish their work locally? Ian McDonald, Diane Duane (The Owl Springs Partnership), Gareth Hanrahan (M), Jo Zebedee Tabletop RPG as inspiration for creative writing Format: Panel17 Aug 2019, Saturday 16:00 – 16:50, Wicklow Room-3 (CCD) Tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) take us to fantastical new worlds

read more Worldcon Schedule

I’m off to Cymera this weekend. I’ll be on one panel, talking about fantasy cities with Darius Hinks and Cat Hellison. It’s my first time at a non-gaming convention in…a very, very long time, so it’ll be an experience. The Gutter Prayer has gone for a third print run in the UK, which is lovely. The Shadow Saint is in copy-editing. And after that… well, there may be news in a few weeks, if all goes well.

It’s been more than a month since I posted here, for obvious and squalling reasons. I’ve spent much of the last few weeks cleaning, feeding, cleaning, bouncing and wrangling; there hasn’t been a whole lot of sleeping or writing in that time. I have, however, finished the last (I hope) few edits to Book 2. Most of these last edits were just word clusters and minor continuity gaffes, and an oddly involved attempt to describe an office tangentially, as neither character in the scene had good reason to really notice their surroundings. There’ll be more to come on Book 2 – I’ve seen a draft of the lovely cover art, we’re talking about maps(!), and there’ll be the inevitable pile of copy-edits turning up at the wrong moment, but the cognitive load is out of my head. So, what’s next? My initial contract was for two books, so I’m back to writing on spec with the next project. Book 3

read more Formless Things

It’s been about a month since the release of The Gutter Prayer, so the shininess has worn off a little and I’m out of the craziness of being a new release. Reviews have slowed to a steady trickle rather than a flood, and I’m no longer being interviewed all the time. I had my book launch and my signing in Waterstones, both of which went well (and my thanks to Warpcon and Waterstones Cork, respectively). Things are returning to normal-ish. Normal will last about another 24 hours, tops. Tomorrow, it’s off to the hospital to welcome my daughter (first time I’ve typed those words like that) and everything changes again. So, what have I learned from this first crazy month? Sales have been good, from what I can gather – it went for a reprint in the UK quite quickly. US sales are a little slower, but still on track for a solid debut. I’ve also gotten one as-yet-unannounced translation deal, which

read more The End of the Beginning

Yesterday was a double-podcast-drop-day. I show up on the Fictitious podcast and Tim Clare’s Death of 1000 Cuts, talking about THE GUTTER PRAYER. In both cases, though, I also spent a lot of time talking about writing for games, improvised stories, and what insights can be applied from one form of creative writing to another. A friend semi-jokingly asked me when I was going to transition out of games to focus on fiction full-time. I don’t think I ever will. Gaming is a playground, writing a novel is more like engineering, but you can use lego bricks to prototype anything.