Brief News from the Home Front

David has just sent this along. Lots of good things in store, including news of Chung Kuo side-stories – one of which will be exclusive to this site! Stay tuned, folks.

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Brief News From The Home Front

It’s been birthday season here in sunny Islington. Sue began it all with hers on August 18 th – for
which we had a little party with just a few friends round – and then it was Amy’s on the 27th.
We celebrated hers at a café called “Bill’s” at the Angel, with her boyfriend, Ben, Jessica and her
boyfriend, Mark, and Sue and I. That was great fun, and was followed very quickly by my birthday on
the 1st September – with a little birthday bash at our friends’ Icaro and Sarah’s, followed by seconds
at home the day after (with all the family along). We’d then have celebrated Georgia’s, on the 6 th,
but she was in California, which now leaves us anticipating Francesca’s birthday on the 16 th – it’s
her eighteenth, so we’ve agreed she can have a big party, which she’ll share with one of her oldest
friends, Ellie.

And I realise I’ve not followed up on my comments about the Olympics and Paralympics, which Sue
and I have been following with great delight. I commented before about how the atmosphere in
this country seems to have changed, and I still believe that’s so. We’ve shown real spirit these past
few months and coming third on the medal table both times is great. As a nation we can show great
pride at what we’ve achieved. It’s simply very nice to share in the general collective air of positivity
about ourselves.

But my main activity these past few weeks has been to start producing the Chung Kuo spin-off
stories, and I’m pleased to say that they’re going well and I’m enjoying the experience. First off the
line was “One Moment Of Bright Intensity” – an 8000-worder which I hope will be available as a
freebie on Amazon, along with a sample chapter from THE MIDDLE KINGDOM. I followed that story
up with CLOUDS AND RAIN, which weighed in at 12,000 words, and the next to appear was BLACK
STONE, WHITE, a 13,000-worder which kind of fell out of me. It was written from scratch in a day
and a half, with 8000 words of it written in a single mammoth sitting. Hey, and it didn’t feel like
work!

I’m now working (very slowly) on one of the larger spin-offs, a shortish novel called THE DRAGON IN
THE EARTH, which I hope to have done by the end of the month. Alongside that I hope to produce
three other much shorter stories – THE FINDING, FILIAL PIETY and PAPERHOUSE. The last of those
I’ve promised to Matt for the site.

Oh, and I hope to have news about ROADS TO MOSCOW in the next few weeks, so watch this space.
With the publication of Book Three, THE MIDDLE KINGDOM, only five weeks away, I’m feeling highly
energized right now. An American publisher? We’re working on it. Hollywood? We’ve got a guy
working on that, too. So stay tuned (as they say) for a busy last four months of 2012.

And a big “Tsai Chien!” to everyone out there!

David Wingrove

9th September 2012

11 thoughts on “Brief News from the Home Front”

  1. Fantastic news about the spin-offs. But, when i comes to books I really, really like, I just have to have the print version. I cannot bare to live on ebooks alone when it comes to things I know I will want to read in 20 years time. How can you hand a bunch of electrons to your children and say “You have to read this!!!”
    Maybe a compendium collection of short story spinoffs?

    1. I know what you mean about the print versions. It’s nice to have a physical version, especially when it’s a book (or music album, etc.) that you really like, because (at least in my opinion) it provides a tangible representation of that emotional attachment. With these short stories, though, it’s a way to provide the fans with little bonus extras and also serves as marketing and promotional material. Having a print run of a very short story doesn’t make sense economically. That said, I think a print version compendium of all the collected bonus material could definitely be a thing that we see down the road, maybe when all 20 main novels have been published.

      1. Hope so mate!

        I didn’t think of the economics behind it. You’re right. Ebooks for now and then maybe the compendium at the end of it.

        Cheers and keep up the good work!

  2. Capitol!
    Can’t wait for these short stories. Man, when Mr. Wingrove decides to set to, he can churn out the word count, all with more talent in a single hair follicle than I have in my whole body.
    Great news about the American publisher as well, but really; or any of us going to wait? I’m going to order mine from o’er the pond and damn the expense.

  3. Can’t wait. I too prefer to have a book in my hands, but I’m not complaining, these short stories should be a fantastic addition to the main sequence.

    I’ll be sure to embrace them whatever the format!

    1. Hey Jewell, feel free to drop by the forums and say hi if you haven’t done so already. Great to share new info and discuss the series with other fans.

      Matt can you update us on where to get all these short stories as and when they come out?

      1. Jesse, as soon as I have more info, it’ll be posted here immediately. As for the story that will appear on this site – trust me, there’ll be no missing it. 🙂

  4. Hey David

    Sounds great. Will there be an indication as to what order to read these short stories alongside the books, (Can’t wait for The Middle Kingdom) or doesn’t it matter?

    As for ebooks vs printed books; being a prolific reader living in a small home that a hobbit would consider small, ebooks save space and doesn’t spoil the reading experience.

    Thanks
    Gary

    1. David is really good about specifying years with his novels, chapters, and other stories, so you’ll know where everything fits in relation to the main sequence. For example, if you see that a year of one story takes place during the Middle Kingdom, it makes sense to read that book first. Also, I believe his intention is to release relevant stories concurrently with each novel, so I don’t think he’s going to release stories that are completely out of sequence.

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