And relax … well once again, best laid plans have gone, as the poet once delicately put it ‘agly’ and I find it’s been a few months since I last updated the site.
But my sword has not slept idly in the meanwhile and ‘events dear boy, events’ have kept me most occupied as we’ve slowly ticked off the days toward spring.
Principal amongst my many concerns has been completing the second draft of Before the Flood, the first full Seraph novel. This continuation of the Tales of the White Witchman saga sees Seraph transported to a terrifying near future, where the oceans have risen and a Deep One invasion is starting to gnaw away at the remnants of humanity
When a strange, malignant island structure surfaces off the Welsh coast, a quarrelsome group of British militia under the command of Sergeant Emma Stokes are dispatched to investigate this strange phenomena. What they encounter will not only have a profound effect on the ongoing conflict, but may decide the fate of flooded Britain itself.
Once again, the splendid Spanish artist and illustrator Borja Pindado has produced a magnificent cover image of which a small teaser sample you can see above.
It’s an exciting but exacting time as the second draft is really where a story really starts to take shape. Characters are developed, prose is tidied up, plot inconsistencies are eradicated and an initial layer of polish is applied. I’ve also added a few new scenes and it’s starting to hang together reasonably well, so I’d hope it will be out in autumn or thereabouts. At least one and possibly two more drafts to do.
Elsewhere, the Mon Dieu! Cthulhu universe is starting to take further direction, with a new version of the first adventure, The Crystal Void, has been lavishly illustrated by the Magnificent Mike Poole and is shortly to be published by Modiphius.
The precursor to a brand new game world sees the horrors of the Cthulhu mythos clash with the proponents of the age of reason during the height of Napoleonic imperialism. A whole RPG universe and source book is in prospect, depending on its reception, so watch out for a Kickstarter coming your way soon.
Finally, Dark Tales from the Secret War which was previewed so splendidly at Dragonmeet in December 2014 is coming to fruition. Thirteen short stories from the Achtung! Cthulhu universe from a mix of established and emerging mythos masters await the unwary in this horrifying collection and with momentum gathering pace, we should have word on pre-orders, e-books and a print version before too long.
Busy times, but I’ve got to confess, it keeps me off the streets and out of trouble, so the world can breathe a little easier.
I’ve also just signed up for a new sci-fi book project as editor, more of which I’ll be revealing shortly, but the provisional title contains the words ‘Survival and Horror’ so rest assured, it’ll be freakily fearsome fare for all involved,
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