News bits and a happy birthday to David!

David’s sent along some updates, including some upcoming projects. Wishing him a happy birthday! Full text after the break.

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It’s been busy here in North London these past few days, but nothing to do with writing. Monday last was my sixtieth birthday – and yes, I was surprised, too! – and we all enjoyed celebrating it. I saw a lot of old friends and was given some wonderful presents – including (from, my darling Susan) a one week holiday on my favourite Greek island, Poros, which we’re off on in a week or so’s time.

I’m also going to spend this coming Monday with my mum on a tall ship, sailing up the Thames. We’ve done it once before, but I love it. It gives you a very different perspective of London. I’m also a great fan of the Master and Commander books of Patrick O’Brian, and whilst the Thames is pretty placid most of the time, I do like the experience of sailing.

Before either of those things happen, I need to sort out my paperwork. I’ve been putting stuff into storage without any real thought, so the next couple of days, if they’re to be productive at all, need to be given over to tidying up my files and organising my writing schedule for the last three months of the year. The ending to THE MASTER OF TIME, which is, of course, the end of ROADS TO MOSCOW itself, has grown slightly over-complex, so I need to attend to that… to get it finished and then go back and rework the whole of the final novel. In between times, my editor, Michael Rowley, has promised me the edit notes on Book Two, which will take a good week to do.

And other projects? Aside from the final CHUNG KUO books, I’ve three that I aim to get into print in 2015. The first is Version One of IMAGINE A MAN. It’s a big 850-page manuscript, and deals with memory and the past – it’s best described as slipstream science fiction and I’d guess it probably needs a bit of tidying up. There’s a second version, smaller and quite different, but I like the first version much better.

Another project is my 60,000-word novel THE WOUNDED, which I’m going to try to get out as an e-book, a print on demand book, and an audiobook. I spent a lot of time and craft getting THE WOUNDED right… I’ve just got to find my copies of it….

The last of the three, but perhaps the best, is THE BEAST WITH TWO BACKS, my telepathy novel, about a brother and sister who are twins, telepathic and… psychopaths. Imagine KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS meets DYING INSIDE. I’ve got a sequel plotted out too.

Those aside, I’ve various projects – as you know – in a state of partial completion. Nor am I sure just which I’ll tackle first. It might be the huge fantasy novel, BURYING THE SMITH. Or it may be the space opera, BIA-REH. What it most certainly won’t be is anything over three books long. Gone are my days of doing that.

Further news… My daughter is going to prepare my web site over the next few weeks, so look out for that. And while we’re at it, let me thank Matt for keeping this candle burning in the darkness.

Okay. I’ve got stuff to do. In particular sorting out my working materials for the finale of ROADS. So bye for now. More at the weekend.

David Wingrove        3^rd September 2014