Well, checking my journal I see that I began writing Penny Royal II on the 19th
of July and finished it to first draft on 27th November so, four
months, one week and one day. Of course I haven’t completely finished it just
as I haven’t completely finished Penny
Royal I. Right now I have to go back to that first book to write in some
stuff about a world due to be swallowed by a black hole to make some other
stuff in Penny Royal III work. I
also have alter a particular character all the way through – in this case an
assassin drone fashioned in the shape of a prador parasite (I’ve mentioned Riss
before – this drone looks like a translucent cobra with a third eye on top of its
head, small limbs underneath that head and an ovipositor in its tail). Similar
alterations will ensue as I write Penny
Royal III (I’m a thousand words in at the moment) and thereafter will come
loads of editing before I send these books to Macmillan, then a couple of more
rounds of editing after I get it back.
This picture is here because this is what Penny Royal
sometimes looks like. I was going to tray a mish-mash of this and the Curiosity Rover confronting each other, but don't have the time. Hey, if anyone fancies mucking about with an art program I’d
love to see a picture of Penny Royal in some alien landscape. Just to help in
that respect (and to tease you all):
The buy was going down, badly,
because the shits involved had decided that their large amounts of weaponry
gave them a bargaining advantage. It was all about to turn into a nasty fire fight
when the other side’s repairman turned up, and then it turned into a nightmare.
The meet had been in a valley on a heavy gravity world where plants grew iron
hard and close to the ground and where most humans wore motorized suits. Blite,
as he prepared himself to give the order blow the sled the thrall tech sat on,
and open fire, had looked up. On the ridge above, a flower had bloomed: a giant
black thistle head atop a stalk of braided silver snakes. He stared at it in
shock as, like a slow black explosion it came apart, its individual spikes
turning as they sped away to point down into the valley, all settling to hang
still in the air – a wall of daggers woven through with silver lace.
‘Penny Royal!’ one of the
opposition called, gazing at Blite with a superior smile.
But before all of that there’s other work to be done, like
going through the copy edits of the Night Shade Books version of The Departure. And, of course, here’s a
reminder
Night Shade Books are publishing The Owner Trilogy in the US
and have scheduled The Departure for publication Feb 5, 2013
with Zero Point following May 7, 2013 and Jupiter War September
3, 2013 (catching up with publication of that last book in Britain). Nicely
keying into that my short story The Other Gun will be
appearing in Asimov’s April/May issue that year with, of course, mention of these
books in attached biog. It should be an interesting year with those three books
slamming into the American market in rapid succession. In essence this should
work as quite a profile-raising exercise.
So, where was I going with this? Oh yeah: it may have taken
me just over four months to get Penny
Royal II to first draft, but please don’t start expecting me to produce 3
books a year. In fact, if I do start finding myself at a bit of a loose end I’ll
be producing more stories like the one in Asimov’s above, or maybe taking a
look at my old fantasy trilogy. Or I may even take a holiday!
10 comments:
all great news & a blurb to boot! will start wearing a diaper til 2018/25 release date.
my Ucap personal release has occurred already pantwise.
Heh, you'll have to stock up on tenapants, Vaude.
I also forgot to mention that PR1 stands at 142,000 words and PR2 at 147,000 words - about the length of Zero Point.
A holiday!!.......this is from the man that sits on his behind in Crete for six months a year.
Get back to that keyboard :)
I'll make sure I get that Asimov next year.
Hey, I was writing while there, Phil. Anyway, I only wrote that to see who'd bite. The likelihood of me being able to stop writing for any length of time is small, unless they have some form of writing methadone.
I am amazed that you can write such enthralling books in such a short period of time. It's great being able to follow the creative process on your blog as well.
If only I could read Penny Royal now :)
LOL, my pleasure.
So you are more or less sorted until 2016. Any thoughts on some more for the Kindle, possibly Masons Rats, or even a collection of short stories as
you seem to have had many published and it's difficult to keep track of them all.
Sarbæk, when I'm writing fast is usually when it's most enthralling (IMHO) and when I'm labouring over something that it gets a bit sticky.
Phil, that is something I've considered - just releasing my short stories on kindle just for pence each. Maybe.
A Neal Asher fantasy trilogy?
I am intrigued...
Penny Royal bff http://youtu.be/OE2pB1pyZN0
Written many many years ago, plus the first book of a second trilogy, Conan. All in need of substantial rewriting and editing. You can find samples and synopses here: http://freespace.virgin.net/n.asher/page58.html
Nice, Vaude, but I preferred the magnetic putty that was shown on the same page.
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