I am delighted to announce that the lovely Solaris Books have commissioned Sparrow Falling, a sequel to my steampunk novel Shanghai Sparrow – (read an extract here). Sparrow Falling is due out in summer 2015.
Shanghai Sparrow has been getting some nice reviews, too:
“I’ve hardly read any steampunk, but if they’re all like this, I think I need to change that, fast.” DRUNKEN DRAGON REVIEWS
“Jumping between Victorian England and a fantastical China with Fae thrown in for good measure. Result: an entertaining plot, a feisty, determined heroine and a good blending of fantasy and social history; all in all a great read and one I’ll be very likely to re-read too.” TERRYTALK
“…a rip-roarin’ rollickin’ adventure that had me flying through the pages. In fact, two chapters from the end, I actually put the book down, and started reading something else. Because I didn’t want it to end. I so did not want to come back to the book to find out what happened, because I couldn’t bear the thought of finishing it.” TANGLED BOOKMARKS
So, generally, a pretty good few weeks…apart from hearing about the deaths of Clive Wolfe of the NSDF, a man of immense passion and commitment, whose work had huge positive effects for so many people, gave me some of the maddest and most enjoyable weeks of my life and brought me some of my longest-standing friendships, and of Rik Mayall, who I never met but who was cool and talented and funny. Those, yeah, not so good.
Rik Mayall, my two friends, Andy Robertson and Ken Brown, and my partner’s father have all died in the course of approximately one month. It’s amazing how death can trigger grief.
Enjoyed reading your blog. Take care.
Hi Ashley: I’m so sorry to hear about your losses. Sometimes life really throws a lot of stuff at us at the same time – it hardly seems fair. And yes, even the death of a stranger can bring up some old sorrows. We’re odd beings like that.