One pleasant thing about visiting Scotland was the sunny weather.  You might imagine that, living in India, the last thing I’d enjoy would be more sun.  While there’s an element of that, the sun in India during summer is too hot to indulge, and in practice you spend your life moving quickly from one air-conditioned building to another rather than hanging about outside.  In Scotland, it was hot enough for proper walking about, but not too hot, if you see what I mean.

Just picked up my mail today, and among many splendid books, I discovered my contributor copy of Dark Faith.  I knew it was a packed anthology, but had no idea it was quite as weighty looking as this – very impressive.  I’m already reading the book on my iPhone, thanks to the fantastic app of the book (which is cheap too), but there’s nothing like paper.  If this one slipped your mind, check this review and have a think about whether you can really be without it on your shelf.  Once read, you can also use it as a handy burglar-clubbing tool in case of emergencies.

I was also pleased to see that while I was away, more advance reviews appeared for Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow.  Anton Cancre reckons it’s effortlessly entertaining, calling it “snappy, punchy and unafraid to be a bit rough in the sack” over on his Pustule Oozings site, which is not a bad thing to hear.  Kurt Criscione also enjoyed it, declaring it to be the Bruce Willis movie of the series due to the physical pounding Hiram staggers through from the very opening of the book, and demanding that the story doesn’t finish here (we’re working on it, though people have to buy these ones first).  Anthony Monge at the Horror Drive-In also had a good time with the book, and the way it sets up future Hiram tales.

As you’d imagine, it’s a relief to see that early readers are enjoying the book.  I hope it’s enough to make you take a breath, and pre-order it from the publisher.  Pre-orders are a good thing.  The more the publisher gets, the more confident he feels that investing his time and money in my writing was a good thing to have done, and that does only good things for my professional reputation.  This is the case for anthologies too, but on this occasion I’m not one of several authors, many better known than me, that the publisher can use to sell the book.  It’s my name on the cover, nobody else’s, so the book stands or falls on that.  As such, I hope you’ll forgive the barrage of Hiram information and inducements to buy that you’ll get here and elsewhere.  If you’re going to buy the book at all, particularly if you’re in America, please do consider plonking your $7.99 down now, rather than waiting for the post-publication Amazon listing.

To close for the day, although squeezing it in as an ‘and finally’ end-of-news sort of way doesn’t quite do it justice, there’s Iris Wildthyme.  Originally created by Paul Magrs, this drunken transtemportal adventuress moved into several Doctor Who adventures before getting bored and wandering off for more of her own tales.  In her full length audio adventures, she’s voiced by the lovely Katy Manning.  In her print incarnations she’s scribed by numerous fine folk, many of them luminaries from the good Doctor’s tales. She travels through time, space, and the icky bits in between in a double decker bus that’s slightly smaller on the inside than the out.  Her best friend and constant companion is a pompous talking stuffed panda bear, called Panda.

Iris Wildthyme and her universe are, basically, as mad as a box of frogs.  I mention her here because her publisher Obverse Books have announced the line-up of their third Iris short story collection, Iris: Abroad, and it includes my short story ‘The Story Eater’.  It’s due in November as a beautiful little hardback, so watch this space.

Trust me, unless you’ve met Iris and Panda before, this is going to be like nothing you’ve ever read…

I’m back, from what turned out to be not much of a pleasure trip at all.  There were good bits, like walking around Edinburgh and the grounds of Fyvie Castle.  There were many more gruelling bits, and in the end I was glad to get back on the plane and leave it all behind.

Lots of catching up to do, and plenty of writing stuff to tell you about, but I woke up at one o’clock today, and still feel shattered, so I’ll have to knock it back a day or so.  More on Hiram Grange, coming soon, but also a spot of Iris Wildthyme.

For now, unpacking awaits.  See you on the other side…

That was a lie.  I am unlikely to do any fishing, but I have gone to Scotland.  I am iPhone-equipped, so may or may not be in touch in the interim.  If I am, it’s more likely to be on Twitter than here (or Facebook, if we’re electronic pals).

While I’m gone, consider pre-ordering my new novella Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow direct from Shroud Publishing.  It’s the first book with my name on the cover in eight years, which is quite a big deal for me.  Also, reviewers and pre-readers like Brian Keene and Steven Savile have had a great time with it.  You will too, I hope.  $7.99. That’s all.

I’ll harangue you about this when I get back, and you’ll find it so much easier to ignore me if you’ve actually bought the book.

See you soon.

Hiram Grange is already broken when his world is turned upside down by the horrifying revelations of a beautiful and dangerous woman. Faced with the possibility that he’s been a pawn in a diabolical game, he seeks the truth in the snows of Krakow. But the truth is guarded by ancient, winged things, and the truth has teeth …

The fifth and final novella in Volume One of the Scandalous Misadventures of Hiram Grange, a loosely linked series of standalone novellas from Shroud Publishing (2010).

“Twisted, shocking and full of pitch-black humor and darkly original twists. One of the best books I’ve read this year.” - Brian Keene, Bram Stoker award winning author of Darkness on the Edge of Town and Dead Sea.

“Richard Wright is one of the best kept secrets in horror, which is a crying shame because a guy this good shouldn’t be a secret at all. And best of all, he just keeps getting better. Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow is a good old fashioned rollicking tale of mysticism and mayhem. The pages turn themselves, it’s that good.” – Steven Savile , the International Bestselling author of Silver, Primeval: Shadow of the Jaguar and Stargate SG-1: The Power Behind the Throne

Coming July 2010.  Pre-order direct from the publisher today.

Here you go, the finished cover.  My name’s on it, and everything.  You may have seen this already elsewhere, but I thought I’d wait a while before posting it myself.  Malcolm McClinton’s work, of course, with design by Danny Evarts.  Talented men.

If you imagine a writing life, you may well be under the impression that the last few weeks before your new book is released might be a joyous, celebratory occasion.  A little more thought, and you’ll appreciate it’s the most nerve-wracking moments of the job.  Gone are the sparks of creativity that put words on the page in dimly lit rooms.  The work is more or less done.  All that’s left is the countdown to D-Day.  Perhaps you are so confident in your own ability that you really can sit back and think “Aha!  I can’t wait!  This will show them!”.  If this is the case, you are possibly also on medication.

The experience for me is one of pacing, and wondering.  All the people who have read it prior to release (publisher, editor, perhaps some friends or family, me) all have a vested interest in finding things about the book to like.  What if those not vested with the same interest, such as you, don’t enjoy it at all?  What if nobody even reads it?  What if I’ve been kidding myself about this writing lark, and should crawl back in my box and spend my time learning how to knit socks or cultivate bonsai trees instead?

So when when two successful, acclaimed, and incredibly busy authors take time out of insane writing schedules to not only read the book and tell me they liked it, but let me tell other people they give it the thumbs up too, it’s not only flattering, it’s the cause of shuddering relief.

“Twisted, shocking and full of pitch-black humor and darkly original twists. One of the best books I’ve read this year.” - Brian Keene, the Bram Stoker winning author of Darkness on the Edge of Town and Dead Sea.

“Richard Wright is one of the best kept secrets in horror, which is a crying shame because a guy this good shouldn’t be a secret at all. And best of all, he just keeps getting better. Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow is a good old fashioned rollicking tale of mysticism and mayhem. The pages turn themselves, it’s that good.” - Steven Savile, International Bestselling author of Silver, Primeval: Shadow of the Jaguar and Stargate SG-1: The Power Behind the Throne.

Enormous thanks to Brian and Steve for finding the time.  Gentlemen and scholars, both.

Not content with that, this week also brought me the first advance review of the book, from Rebecca Baumann at Dirty Sexy Books.  It says many wonderful, quotable things, such as: “Gritty and sexy balls-to-the-walls adventure.  If you’re a fan of dark urban fantasy like me, then you’ll rejoice upon finding this treasure trove.” Go read the whole thing, why don’t you?

All of which goes some way to turning that exhausting anxiety into a better kind of giddiness, though it be early days yet.  In the end, the only person whose opinion really matters is yours, and I look forward to hearing it.

Pre-orders coming very soon indeed…

Apparently, I am still having one, behind all these blog posts about books and writing.  As is often the way, several books have come due at once, hence a plethora of posts in which I try to do my bit to tell people about them.  More of that at the end of the post.

In real life though, well, life goes on.  New Delhi has quietly become the city I’m living in, rather than somewhere I just happen to be.  I hesitate to use the word ‘home’, with all the associated implications, but it’s close.  Random cows in the street are no longer a surprise every time I wander past one.  When a herd of cows wandering through a shopping district doesn’t make you stop and stare, I feel you can reasonably say that you’ve adjusted a bit to living in India.

That said, towards the end of the month we’ll be jumping on a plane to spend a couple of weeks back in Scotland.  I haven’t been away long enough to say that I’ve missed it, especially now I’m familiar enough with Delhi to be able to do or get most of the things I could do or get back in Glasgow, but I’m looking forward to the break.  Specifically, I’m looking forward to the following, in no particular order:

• Eating cows, instead of navigating my around them.  I want beef.  Lots of beef.  Burgers, steaks, beefy beef.  I miss beef.  There will be a bovine massacre of epic proportions when I touch down.
• Having weather.  Delhi in June is just too hot.  Sometimes it’s hot with a hot, dusty breeze.  Other times it’s hot and skin-fryingly sunny.  Very occasionally it’s hot with tiny, teasing splatters of rain that evaporate again as soon as they touch the ground.  I want two weeks of not quite this hot, and possibly even a bit wet.
• Drinking dark beer in proper pubs.  Not much bar-hopping in Delhi, unless you like drinking in upmarket hotels.  I want a real pub, that stills smells faintly of the cigarettes smoked there five years ago, with a toilet where staff don’t follow you around to make sure your have hot towel needs are met before you realise you even have any.

I’m sure there are other things too, which I’ll only realise I miss on stumbling across them, but the above is a good start.  So, anybody reading this from Glasgow?  How’s the summer?  Are there any cows left, or have you eaten them all?

Another bit about books:

Are you, like me, an adopter of all things Apple, and the owner of an iPhone or iPad?  I’ve just discovered that the Dark Faith anthology is available as an app .  It’s the real thing, the complete book, downloadable for $4.99 or £2.99.  That’s a cheap as it’s going to get, and you get a real stack of fiction for your green, including my short story ‘Sandboys’.  You can be reading it in all of thirty seconds, just by clicking this link.  I loves the interweb.

Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow is very nearly here.  That means, for an author, it’s time to start finding ways to tell people it exists.  Among the tools of the trade is the review, and Shroud and I will be approaching places we know very soon indeed to try and garner some.  That leaves places we don’t know.  Are you a reviewer?  Would you like a (very pretty) pdf of the press release and the actual novella?  If so, drop me a line (or leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you asap).  Thanks!

And to finish the week off, a final peek at the events of Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow, courtesy of Malcolm McClinton.  It’s the finale of the book.  A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about how one of Malcolm’s sample images of Hiram, produced as a sort of audition piece to see whether the writer’s thought he was the right artist for the project, directly inspired the conclusion of my novella.  This is not that image.  It’s the second draft.  The first was slightly different, but now Malcolm has modified the image based on the climax of the book it inspired, making it more relevant.  Art inspiring art inspiring art, in a weird but rewarding feedback loop.

That’s it for your McClinton previews, but forgive me, there will be more Hiram witterings to come.

Another peek at art by Malcolm McClinton, from my forthcoming Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow.  It’s very likely going to be the cover, and I thought you might like a peek before the text goes on.

The scene is from later in the book, on the streets of Krakow (that’s St. Mary’s Basilica in the background, fact fans).  The lady’s name is Gabrysia Kedra, and whether she’s Hiram’s friend, foe, or something else entirely is in the balance.  Whichever it is, I loved writing her almost as much as I did Hiram himself.  Seeing Malcolm give her a face is exhilarating.

Art by the amazing Malcolm McClinton, from the forthcoming Hiram Grange and the Nymphs of Krakow.  A scene from the book’s opening, as those who read the preview in issue five of Shroud magazine will know…

Good, isn’t it?