"[A] solid sf mystery set on a a colony world. Though only short, the novel is well-paced, the characters rounded, and the setting sketched in with skill."

Talking of reviews: if indeed you are a reviewer or book-blogger and you would be interested in free PDF copies of any title then by all means drop me a line. :)

Best Novel

Silversands by Gareth L Powell

Sparrowhawk by Paul Finch

The Places Between by Terry Grimwood

Best Novella

Rattus by Simon Maginn

The Invisible Architect of Psychopathy by Gary Fry

The Red House by David J Thacker

Best Artist

Vincent Chong for Silversands

Steve Upham for Feral Companions and The Red House; James Higgins for Sparrowhawk

Ben Baldwin for The Places Between

With regard to the three novels, they could technically be considered novellas since they are long novellas.

Doesn't take a genius to know that the current financial status quo has taken hold, but thankfully I did manage to sell a few books – a heartfelt thanks to you, one and all! :)

In other news, apologies to all who have pre-ordered Angels of the Silences and The Legend of False Dreaming – alas, the printer I was going to use has fallen so I'm looking elsewhere and with luck copies should be available very soon. In actual fact, one idea I am contemplating is taking this process in-house so to speak…

Between last posting, a couple of reviews have surfaced – most notably, Des Lewis' "real-time review" of Terry Grimwood's The Places Between – unfortunately, I cannot easily take quotes from it so you'll need to read it in full!

In addition, M F W Curran has posted a review of Gareth L Powell's Silversands:

"… [A] thoroughly accomplished piece of writing… sits proudly on my bookshelf with other acclaimed genre authors (Dick, Bradbury, Baxter, Banks etc)… And you know, Gareth L. Powell doesn’t look out of place amongst them."

That's it for now… back to the process of publishing, with Kingston to Cable lined-up for publication very soon.

"[Gareth L] Powell is a master when it comes to using small details to give us a sense of the whole person … in many respects Silversands is an excellent debut.”

Copies will be on sale at FantasyCon next week.

"… a satisfying and enjoyable read… ll be keeping my eyes out for more work by Mr Powell."

Also, don't forget the official launch this Saturday at the Shakespeare Tavern in Bristol at 2pm. There will be free wine, a reading and copies to buy.

Mind you, personally I'll be foregoing the wine and drinking Speckled Hen!

EDIT: Well, well, well… didn't the launch go well? Within the compact, yet bijou room of the Shakespeare Tavern, a pleasant enough afternoon was spent (though the appearance of hen-nighters earlier did give visions of them gate-crashing the event…) Gareth read from the book, which Cheryl Morgan kindly video'd and uploaded, and thankfully a few copies were sold – no doubt helped by the free wine. :)

As an off-shoot of this, something new could well be making it's way…

Anyway, here are some photographs from the day:

"… a fine hi-tech romp…"

In other news, now that the publication date has lapsed the price returns to the RRP – and also the Feral/Silversands bundle has also increased slightly. Free postage still stands, though…

Don't forget: if you're in Bristol on 24th April then pop along to the official Launch at The Shakespeare Tavern on Prince Street.

… and still progressing through the postal orders…

Can't believe I'm going to Brighton tomorrow… if neither myself nor Steve Upham turn up at the hotel by midnight, then we're either lost or sucked into a time-portal on the M25.

Anyone wishing to give me odds on the latter?

That's cheaper than direct from PP towers… so can you really afford not to pick either or both up? A swanky signed hardback for nine quid?

Can you?

The blurb is as follows:

In an age where interstellar travel is dangerous and unpredictable, and no-one knows exactly where they’ll end up, Avril Bradley is a Communications Officer aboard a ship sent to re-contact as many lost souls as possible.

But a mysterious explosion strands her in a world of political intrigue, espionage and subterfuge; a world of retired cops, digital ghosts and corporate assassins – all fighting for possession of vital computer data that has lain hidden for almost a century. . .

Gareth is rapidly becoming a name to watch, and I forsee good things being said about this novel… which means when it eventually comes available to pre-order then you'd better be quick to snap it up (think of it as part of your retirement fund :) )