New Book Release & 2012 Update

Having just returned from a holiday in paradise (St. Lucia) to find several inches of snow waiting, I couldn't help wondering why the hell Great Britain, a country plagued by notoriously foul and fluky weather, was chosen to host this year's Olympics. One need only think of the showers of--and the shower that is--Wimbledon each and every year, in mid-summer no less. For the athletes' sake, surely there's somewhere more temperate to hold this thing, and economically, surely there's somewhere more deserving and in greater need of a financial/publicity boost in this world.

Anyway, the vacation was great--lots of snorkelling, beach reading, kayaking, and general exploring of the island. The highlights were probably a 2-hour kayaking expedition along the coast with my sister, who's even more of a daredevil than me--and a vertiginous cable car journey over the rainforest. Most of the St. Lucians were very friendly, though we did get pestered too often by beach hawkers and beggers, one or two of whom became needlessly aggressive. It didn't spoil the holiday, but I think the authorities need to get a handle on this excessive badgering of tourists. I'll definitely return to St. Lucia at some point.

While I was away, my new SF book, ALIEN VELOCITY, was lauched at Carina Press (March 26). It's actually a re-release of my EPIC Award finalist Charlie Runs Rings Around the Earth, but with several newly revised chapters and a professional polish by my ace editor Deb Nemeth, the story's in better shape than ever. Carina has also agreed to give my SF books a collective series name, as they're all set in the same universe and contain crossover characters and SF elements. COSMIC SPARKS is comprised of four Carina books so far, two of which are forthcoming releases.

In chronological (universe timeline) order, they are:

ALIEN VELOCITY (Out Now)
SPARKS IN COSMIC DUST (Out Now)
CYBER SPARKS (August 2012)
PYRO CANYON (June 2012)

Carina Press invited me to write PYRO CANYON for their second anniversary anthology titled CARINA PRESS PRESENTS: EDITOR'S CHOICE VOLUME II, to represent science fiction. It's a tale of redemption in the shadow of interstellar war, and features two legendary space fliers, Cardie and Brink, brough back from retirement to complete unfinished business. Gus Trillion is the wounded propaganda officer who makes it his mission to rouse mankind from its apathy, before it's too late.

Despite the tight writing deadlines, I'm very pleased with the finished story. Sparks in Cosmic Dust fans should enjoy the worldbuilding elements in this one, not to mention an important character who helps Gus on his mission. The other three authors chosen for the collection were Julie Moffett (action adventure/mystery), Shirley Wells (mystery), and Janni Nell (paranormal mystery)--all returning Carina authors, and all terrific storytellers. Can't wait for the collector's edition paperback, as well as the ebook and audiobook versions, which will be on sale as individual titles or in the anthology collection. Once again, Deb Nemeth deserves major kudos for putting the whole thing together.

Those who read and enjoyed PREHISTORIC CLOCK--and thank you for all the positive reviews and feedback--will be pleased to know I'm currently writing the next story in The Steam Clock Legacy. Tentatively titled Moon and Meridian, it will be a bridging story between book one and Subterranean Clock, the direct sequel, and will feature a new steampunk heroine, Meredith McEwan, whose coming-of-age tale really opens up the mystery of the Leviacrum in Victorian London. I did plan it as a novella, but Meredith and her sister are proving too much fun to write, so it'll probably be a novel by the time I'm done.

If all goes well, Moon and Meridian and Subterranean Clock will be wrapped up by the end of 2012, which will pave the way for the long-overdue release of THE RISE OF RED MULQUEEN, book 2.5 in the series, that I submitted for Carina's Christmas steampunk anthology last year and instead received a standalone contract for. Way down the line, then, most likely well into 2013--deep breath--I should have the entire Steam Clock Legacy written, including a final, epic novel that will tie everything together. That's the plan anyway!

Thanks for reading, and as ever feel free to contact me at sevenmercury7@aol.com I do my best to answer each and every email. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a selection of recently-read books (some in St. Lucia) that I can recommend:

THE CITY AND THE STARS by Arthur C. Clarke (Science Fiction)
RULEBREAKER by Cathy Pegau (Science Fiction Romance)
THE FORTUNE OF WAR by Patrick O'Brian (Historical)
DEFYING CONVENTION - Abby Niles (Contemporary Romance)
DUMA KEY - Stephen King (Drama/Horror)
STEAM AND SORCERY - Cindy Spencer Pape (Steampunk Fantasy Romance)
BEYOND THE REEFS - William Travis (Non-Fiction, Travel, Autobiograpical)

Best,
Robert

Prehistoric Clock - Exclusive Excerpt

Exactly two weeks to go until Prehistoric Clock, the first book in The Steam Clock Legacy series, is launched at Carina Press. The good folks there have put an exclusive excerpt up on Facebook--the first FIVE chapters for free download! Airships, diving bells, grand adventure, phenomenal steampunk science gone awry; check out all this and much more HERE.

Feb 6 is the official release date. Prehistoric Clock will also be available as an audiobook.

Movie Review: The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn

What begins as a fun, nimble little mystery in the first act soon kicks into comedy-action-adventure high gear when junior reporter Tintin, with his brave dog Snowy, stumbles upon boozy Captain Haddock (an excellent Andy Serkis), whose family legacy may prove pivotal in a race to uncover the secret of the Unicorn.

From that point on, it’s more or less non-stop comedy—some fizzles, most of it works—with gags ranging from jaw-dropping blockbuster chase antics to throwaway background humour. Captain Haddock works brilliantly for the most part: he’s unpredictable, endearing, and colourful in all the ways Tintin himself isn’t. While the youngster is well played by Jamie Bell, he’s mostly just there to work out the clues for the audience. Tintin and Haddock make for a good double-act, though: brains and brawn, cunning and in-over-his-head rashness; together they’d make a good Indiana Jones.

The plot is a by the numbers mystery/adventure/treasure hunt, complete with bumbling detectives (so-so comic support from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost), exciting sea plane action and hidden clues, but it’s brought to life in gorgeous visual style. While the script only comes alive in fits and starts, the whole film is bursting with rich detail, and is given added depth by good, solid use of 3D. The virtual camerawork throughout is stupendous.

One extended chase sequence through the flooding streets of a North African city is so dazzling and dizzying it reminded me why no other filmmaker can match Spielberg when he lets his imagination out for a spin. Another action scene, told in flashback, depicts a breathless pirate showdown in a storm, and features some of the most playful transitions I’ve seen since Ang Lee’s Hulk. There’s a pretty good villain, too, played by a wily Daniel Craig.

Snowy, while definitely smarter than your average cute canine, is also given to chasing cats, digging up fossilised bones from the desert, and gobbling sandwiches at decidedly inopportune moments. In other words, he’s an instant audience favourite.

All in all, it’s a rollicking good adventure, one of Spielberg’s most fun movies in a long time, and I’ll be buying it on Blu-ray next year.

Rating: 4.5/5

Prizes galore! Uncial Press 5th Anniversary Celebration

Here's a quick reminder of the birthday celebration currently underway at one of my excellent publishers, Uncial Press. Prizes handed out every day throughout October, including a KOBO and a Kindle! And my own Basingstoke Chronicles is the giveaway book on the actually birthday, Oct 13th. Head on over there right away...

ANNOUNCEMENT:

We are Five Years Old! Five years ago this month--on 13 October 2006--we released our first titles. Since then we've released more than a hundred extraordinary ebooks, written by some of the most talented authors in the industry. So we are celebrating. And inviting you to celebrate with us. We'll be giving away an eBook A Day all through October. On 13 October, our anniversary, we'll give away a KOBO loaded with five of our ebooks. Come 26 October, we'll give away a Kindle, with eight more ebooks.

All the details are on our Birthday Party page: http://www.uncialpress.com/birthday-party.html , including what you have to do to enter either the eBook-A-Day scavenger hunt or the KOBO and Kindle drawings.

Jude & Star
Uncial Press
www.uncialpress.com

'Writing a SF Novel' Contest Winners!

Here are the five winners in my ‘Writing a SF Novel’ contests. A huge thank you to everyone who entered. I hope you enjoyed reading about Sparks in Cosmic Dust. It’s available to buy now in either ebook or audiobook format.  

Without further ado, congratulations go to:

Part One: Nels Wadycki 
Part Two: Ilona Fenton
Part Three: Cathy Pegau
Part Four: Jessa Slade

Part Five: Natalie Damschroder

I’ve already contacted the first three. Jessa and Natalie, please email me at  sevenmercury7@aol.com  and I’ll send you your prizes right away.

Best,

Robert

Writing a SF Novel: Part 3

My Sparks in Cosmic Dust celebration continues. I'm at bestselling SF author Shawn Kupfer's (47 Echo) blog today, with WRITING A SF NOVEL: PART 3. Join me for some insights on science fiction worldbuilding, and a chance to win a free ebook!

Best,
Robert

Writing a SF Novel: Part 2

To celebrate the upcoming release of my SF novel, Sparks in Cosmic Dust (September 26, 2011, Carina Press), I’ll be posting a five-part look at the book’s development, from initial concept to book launch. I'll also be giving away one SF title from my back catalogue with each segment, ending with a special Sparks giveaway. The winners will be all announced on release day on my own blog: http://robertbappleton.blogspot.com

Here’s where you can find the other installments:

Part 1: Concept (Aug 31)—Contact: Infinite Futures Blog
Part 3: Worldbuilding (Sep 23)—Shawn Kupfer’s Blog
Part 4: The Writing Process (Sep 26)—Cathy Pegau’s Blog
Part 5: Publication (Sep 28)—Carina Press Blog

PART 2: CHARACTER

Survivor: The Deep Space Heroine

Heroines in space opera science fiction have generally conformed to one of two types: decorative damsel or Amazonian warrior, the former in constant need of rescue, the latter all but indestructible yet waiting (though she might not realise it) to be conquered by the hero. Both are iconic male fantasies that cross most fiction genres, and neither really interest me. The plausible science fiction heroine, to me, exists somewhere in between.

I also think the trajectory of feminism into futuristic space opera is overstated, on the whole. In the vastness of deep space, without society’s laws to support or even encourage equality, I find it unlikely that any more than a few women would achieve a position of sustainable power over men. Sure, advanced weaponry would help level the playing field, and she might get to perform all the same jobs as her male colleagues—think Kaylee in Firefly—but unless she’s in some sort of existing hierarchy that demanded obedience (eg military), I think a woman would have to be exceptional to convince her male counterparts to serve under her. That’s why lady pirates have been rare throughout history. Outside the law, it’s survival of the fittest.

But that’s not to say women in deep space wouldn’t be strong characters. On the contrary, they’d have to be formidable survivors. Especially in spaceships or colonies without atmospheres, death would be a constant factor. Anyone living under such conditions would be cautious and pragmatic to a fault. A hardness of character, an instinct for the preciousness of human company, would govern the deep space dweller. And cunning, rather than obvious ambition, might best serve those who don’t immediately command obedience.

Varinia Wilcox—glamour girl with a haunted past

The celebrated strip poker queen of Kappa Max, an asteroid colony beyond the official outposts, might sound like a throwback to the worst sort of damsels in distress from old SF. But Varinia is probably the most cunning survivor on Kappa. She’s managed to remain undefeated—read celibate—throughout her contract, over a year, and it’s made her extremely rich. No one knows about her “coining” (astral projection) ability, but it enables her to cheat whenever she likes. It also ruined her previous career as a model in the inner colonies, through an incident that exiled her to deep space and forced her change her identity. Her new reputation as the unattainable goddess of the outer colonies draws punters from far and wide.

But she can never leave until she’s lost (had sex with a client) five times, as per her contract. So she’s trapped: either keep winning and getting rich OR let five complete strangers have their way with her. Time is running out. She can’t feasibly keep winning forever. She needs a way out.

Teaming with handsome-but-wounded roughneck Solomon Bodine, she hatches a plan to escape Kappa Max for good. But where can she go, and how can she get there? What she needs is to lie low for a while, to have a fresh start.

A chance meeting with cynical ex-doctor Grace Peters offers hope—a prospecting gig on a faraway alien moon, Zopyrus. But to pull it off, Varinia will have to adapt to an entirely new way of living. Hard manual graft, meagre rations, long hours swinging a pick axe: how can a model turned bordello glam girl possibly cope with that for ten months?

One of my favourite parts of writing Sparks in Cosmic Dust was the chance to reveal the characters’ pasts gradually, using their strengths and weaknesses in a given situation as windows to who they were before Zopyrus, and how they might be changing. They all have secrets, some more crucial than others, and the fate of the expedition is never certain.

Varinia’s desire to return to her happy, contented former life is symbolized by her decision to purchase a damaged mare to take along on the expedition. The animal has been ill-used as a beast of burden, but like her, it has survived against all odds. But can it ever be truly happy again, so far outside its milieu? Here’s another concept sketch I did:

Varinia Wilcox might be the most interesting of my SF heroines because she isn’t a natural leader. She doesn’t know engineering or how to pilot a ship or how to kill anyone. Everyone takes her for granted because of her looks. And no one would ever have imagined her digging for precious elements in a dark mine alongside a roughneck, a fugitive, a wily old doctor and a border criminal.

But she has the most important quality in an alien environment: the ability to adapt. And those who adapt...survive.

With this second installment, I’m giving away an ebook copy of my SF novelette Godiva in the Firing Line (Damnation Books, 2009). To enter, simply send an email to sevenmercury7@aol.com with SPARKS GIVEAWAY TWO in the subject line. Don’t forget to give your name.

Good Luck!

Sparks in Cosmic Dust is available to pre-order now at Carina Press and on Amazon Kindle.

Best,

Robert