5 Authors Event - Phoenix Artists Club

Last night, I went to the Phoenix Artists Club to meet with some Gollancz authors, following a mass signing they had had at Forbidden Planet. It was a great night and I was very pleased to see Stephen and Michaela Deas again. They recently received their proof copies of THE KING OF CRAGS, Stephen's follow up to THE ADAMANTINE PALACE, though sadly they didn't bring a copy with them for me a gawk at.

Liz de Jager, of My Favourite Books blog, was also there; though, in my little drunken blur (too much Kroneburg), I never noticed her leave. Justina Robson, writer of the QUATUMN GRAVITY series, also popped in for a few drinks, but I never got a chance to speak to her. Maybe another time.

Two new people whom I met were absolutely wonderful: Alex Bell and Saxon Bullock.

Alex Bell is the author of two Gollancz novels: THE NINTH CIRCLE and JASMYN. She has also written a young adult novel, LEX TRENT VERSUS THE GODS, which is set for publication in February 2010. I'd spoken to Alex a few times on Twitter and Facebook, so it was nice to meet her in person. She was just as approachable, friendly and chatty as I had expected, and a lot of fun!

Saxon was brilliant, too. He was very energetic, excitable and talkative, and a thoroughly good chap. He currently lives in Manchester and does freelance writing and reviewing, amongst other things.

I will have to keep my eyes peeled for more events such as these, as I'm finding authors and writers are an incredible nice bunch of people indeed. I might also have to go back to the Phoenix Artists club, too, since the food looked great!

HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS Updates

The email faeries whispered into my ear this morning that the Stevenage branch of Waterstone's is now carrying copies of HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS. This is great that the novel's exposure is still growing. I hope that it will continue in the future.

Additionally, I have created an image of how the novels might look if stacked up. It's nothing special: just something I did in POV Ray. Still, they look real enough. It would be nice to make the cover a little rougher and more curly, like real books. The pages could also have a little more detail in them, too, so that it doesn't look as though they're completely white.

Here's the image. It's a 640x480 PNG; click on it to enlarge. Larger images will appear on the official website in the new year. I'm planning a massive update to the site around February.

Best Single 2009 - Update

Best Single: Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
It struck me last night that Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire was released this year, too! I can't believe that I forgot! I listen to the album, Only By The Night, all the time! So, yes, in actual fact Sex on Fire was my single of the year. I still very much like Just Jack's Day I Died, but Sex on Fire really is the song of the year for me.

My Best and Worst of 2009

Just for the hell of it, I thought I'd put together my Best and Worst of 2009.

Best Book: Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Worst Book: Angels and Demons

I actually can't remember all the books I read this year, I really should keep a better record. Dexter came as a surprise. The free flowing, uncomplicated style made it a very enjoyable read. Angels and Demons probably doesn't need much comment. Maybe it's a little unfair to add it here, since I knew it was going to be bad even before I started.

Best Film: Up
Worst Film: Terminator Salvation
Honourable Mentions: District 9, Star Trek, Drag Me to Hell

Terminator was just utterly trite. The last five minutes nearly made me scream at the screen because it was so bad. Though I watched it I didn't include Angels and Demons because, again, I knew it was going to be shit. Choosing a best film was tough, since there were many good films that I saw this year. District 9 was hugely entertaining, Star Trek was a pleasant surprise, and Drag Me To Hell was one of the best horror films I've seen in years. In the end, though, I went with Up. It's one of those films that manages to draw out a range of emotions: original, heart warming and very funny.

Best Album: Lungs - Florence and the Machine, Invaders Must Die - The Prodigy 
Worst Album: Tonight - Franz Ferdinand

After Always Outnumbered, I think a lot of people probably approached this album with caution. I, myself, held off from buying it for a few months. Then the singles began to show up and that's what convinced me that the album was a return to form. It's easily as good as Fat of the Land and definitely worth a look. Florence and the Machine was another nice surprise. Appropriately named Lungs, the voice on that girl is incredible. As for worst album: Tonight wasn't a bad album, but sadly wasn't a good one either. I'm always careful with what albums I buy, so this one just came out last.

Best Single: The Day I Died - Just Jack
Worst Single: Bad Boys - Alexandra Burke, Happy - Leona Lewis

Best single was going to be a little hard, since I just tend to buy something I've maybe heard on the radio and enjoyed. The Day I Died was one that stuck with me a little more than others, though, and I always looked forward to hearing it. Worst single wasn't too hard: with the manufactured crap that Burke and Lewis churn out, it's rather like shooting very big fish in a very small barrel.

Best TV Show: Chuck
Worst TV Show: Heroes / X-Factor
Honourable Mention: Merlin

Chuck was one of those TV shows that I just stumbled on and became a regular fixture in my TV watching. I'm very much looking forward to the 3rd series. Heroes is something of a shame. After an absolutely brilliant first series, the show completely lost the plot and my interest. It felt unnecessarily drawn out and seemed to lack any deal forward momentum. Merlin was another show that I stumbled across, this time via the BBC iPlayer. I was actually using it to test my broadband speed. About half an hour later I found myself somewhat hooked. The show has again become a regular in my viewing schedule. X-Factor? Some people will tell you it's no longer about music. They're wrong: it was never about music. Simon Cowell might think he's knowledgeable about music, but really he only knows how to exploit teenage girls with mobile phones.

Best Game: Fallout 3
Worst Game: Overlord 2
Honourable Mention: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Fallout 3 was always going to walk away with this one. Little else to say, really. Perhaps it would have been Modern Warfare 2 if I had played that this year. The first game was absolutely incredible, but I'm not planning on picking up MW2 until next year sometime, since it's that far down the list. Picking a bad game was always going to be hard, too, since I'm very careful about what I choose to play. For the same reason as my worst album, I plumped for Overlord 2 because it simply wasn't as good as the rest. And, to be fair, I did stop playing it 3/4 of the way through, since I got bored of it.

Chapter renaming

In my current read-through of Book 2 (it's just a scan read, looking for typos and that), I came to a rather lengthy chapter involving Chaz and Estelle.

The chapter was named, Trouble In Paradise. I have to admit I never liked the name. Whilst it is appropriate for the the book and the contents of the chapter, I couldn't help but feel that it was a little cliché. Any time I looked at it I thought, Hmmmmmmm, need to change that.

Today I did so and renamed it Last Rays of a Setting Sun. It's a little long, but it's still quite appropriate to both the chapter and the book as a whole.

Just thought you might want to know that.

Stocks and Signings and Stuff

Early last night, around 17:15pm or so, I got an email from my magical email system[1], to let me know that another copy of HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS had been sold on Amazon. What a nice way to round off the day.

Then, this morning I got another email to let me know that not only had the Holborn branch of Waterstone's had sold out of their allocation, but the Piccadilly Circus branch had also received copies. I, of course, went over there immediately and signed my name across the front page. There was an "oooooooooh! You really wrote this?" from the young lady that provided me with the pen, and who whopped the stickers onto the cover.

I then got home and discovered that my import copy of Demon's Souls (PS3 game) had finally arrived, too.

A good day, indeed. All that could make it better would be if I was having some nice and tasty for dinner. And, in fact, I am: Pasta Bake[2].

[1] - not magical at all
[2] - with tuna, Dolmio sauce and cheese

Rockbox Purple Haze AA Theme

I've re-uploaded my Purple Haze AA theme (for the Sansa e200 series of players) to http://themes.rockbox.org. But just in case it vanishes again (due to incompatibility with new versions), you can also get it here,

http://www.parallelrealities.co.uk/download/misc/PurpleHazeAA.zip

Enjoy.