The Spoons That Are My Ears!

My friend Joy thought I should ditch the dark colours and start walking around like this instead. I am happy to do what a woman tells me to do (when it comes to clothes and maybe one or two other things) but I wanted to know if there were any dissenting opinions among my friends. So I posted this photo on Facebook and asked for feedback.

I had a diversity of views in return. Some people liked it and some didn't. The shoes were almost universally popular, but not the jacket and shirt. However, the writer Samuel Delany gave a positive response to the full attire. "It looks dashing," he said. Delany is one of my favourite ever authors. I am currently reading his Stars in my Pockets like Grains of Sand and enjoying it immensely. If Delany approves, then that settles the matter as far as I'm concerned.

One curious thing: my friend Joy is African and all my African friends liked the colours. But my Western friends were less convinced. I lack enough data to make any kind of theory from this, but it's interesting anyway.

More promotion for my latest book. The first review has just come in, courtesy of the Risingshadow website.

I am also extremely pleased that Michael Bishop and John Clute have already received their copies and hope to review it in the near future.

This photo shows me reading a copy of MIRRORS IN THE DELUGE while standing in front of a MIRRORS IN THE DELUGE poster and drinking coffee from a MIRRORS IN THE DELUGE mug while wearing a MIRRORS IN THE DELUGE shirt... All courtesy of the excellent Elsewhen Press... The image has been mirrored.

With luck there will be a small event in Cosmo restauarant on Sunday evening to mark the publication of this book. If you happen to be in the Swansea area drop me a line and come along! The stories in this book are the kind I most enjoy writing. Therefore the existence of this book is especially thrilling to me.

My new book was published yesterday! I am extremely delighted with this one. 32 quirky tales of unusual fantasy, philosophical satire, ironic adventure and logical daftness... The official launch date is actually next month but my author's copies are already in my hands. I am working on preparing an official launch event soon. It will be a party of some kind.

Review copies have been sent out and have reached most of the reviewers. I have high hopes for this collection, but of course what I like isn't always what the reading public like. In fact it is frequently at odds. No matter. I write the kinds of books I most enjoy reading and ultimately that's all that really matters.

Ordering information will be provided very soon. I have just added this title to my Aardvark Caesar blog here.

Today is the day of the General Election. I just voted for the Green Party. If we are ever overrun with owls, go sue me!

My amazing publishers at Elsewhen Press just sent me a box of coffee mugs emblazoned with the cover of my next book. These guys have treated me very well indeed and I hope my book is successful because I want them to take another book of mine for next year. The paperback is due to be published early next month, but in the meantime the ebook edition is available from Amazon and other online booksellers. For example, in the UK it can be obtained here.

Mirrors in the Deluge is one of my personal favourites of all my collections. It contains 32 stories in which I tried to explore various lateral directions in developing ideas and concepts. In this sense it is akin to an earlier collection of mine, The Just Not So Stories, but I feel that the guys at Elsewhen Press are more serious and professional about promoting their authors and books. I have been impressed with everything they have done so far. A book launch is currently being arranged.

I have always wondered which path in life I was on. I always suspected it was this one and now I know for sure it is!

A brief hiking trip was cut short because it was simply too cold the first night to tolerate the idea of spending subsequent nights under canvas. Am I becoming soft in my old age? I don't think so.

I am seriously planning to walk the GR20 this year, from one side of Corsica to another over the mountains in the middle; something I have been thinking about doing for many years.

Brief writing news: I am extremely pleased to say that the story I wrote for the forthcoming anthology of 'Jack the Ripper' tales has just been accepted by the editor Maxim Jakubowski. This is a story I carried in my head as an idea for a long time but left until the last moment to actually put down on paper. In fact I spent the entire night before the deadline day writing it, finally submitting it at 11.55 am the following morning. The deadline was noon, so I made it with five minutes to spare! The anthology will be published by Little, Brown in the UK, who publish J.K. Rowling among many others (one of those many others, somewhat bizarrely, is the funkmaster Nile Rodgers).

There is lots of other writing news, but I have become wary about announcing things prematurely. I have acquired this wariness through the experience that comes with the passing years. After all, I am no spring chicken. I am a summer pterodactyl.