A Brief Update

Just a brief update today, and a bit of explanation.

I didn’t write last week, and I only have a few notes today. Sorry! I’ve been swamped.

What happened was, the proofs for my latest academic book arrived, and they come with a deadline that really can’t be argued about. What’s more, I have to index the thing, because indexing is expensive. The result is that I’ve gone head-down into that book and don’t have much brain for anything else.

A few little updates:

1. The Chapterhouse of Elith — I think I have figured out what’s wrong with it, with help from some friends. There’s this conversation about a quarter of the way in, and something gets badly unstuck right there. I’m not sure why it should be that the single conversation breaks the book, but it sort of does. Anyhow, having figured out the problem, the next project is to fix that chapter. Since the academic book is just about done proofing and indexing, I hope to have that done within a week. Then it goes out to the beta-readers and, with luck, Chapterhouse should be available for sale by the beginning of October! (And about time, too….)

2. Next week’s column I’m going to talk about China Miéville’s Un Lun Dun. I like the book a lot, but I was also thinking it would make an interesting column topic because it’s very much a critical attack on the very genre to which it contributes. Clever stuff. I thought I’d warn you because if you haven’t read it, and are interested at all in YA fantasy, you may find next week’s column incomprehensible. You might consider picking up Un Lun Dun and reading it in advance. Up to you, obviously.

Without further ado, I do have a StoryOrigin swap this week: Kran Sanon’s D DEMON Vol. 1: A Superhero Science Fiction Short Story, for which the Amazon brief description reads:

Connor has lived a normal life for as long as he can remember, but after the death of his father, he knows he has to return to his native country, not only for the funeral, but to become the new king. The country to which he returns, to the one he left years ago, are completely different. The use of alien tech has made the crime lords ever so powerful, making them rule anything they want. The question is where or how are they getting supplies of such weapons. Conor has to balance his royal duties and his investigations in order to stop this before it gets out of hand, if it hasn’t already. He will not allow anything or anyone to stand in his way, and will not hesitate to cross any limits to find the truth and preserve the safety of his people.

Will he be able to find the truth about the alien tech? Or will he become another victim of the game, just like his father?

Anyway, that’s all for this week. I just have to finish up these darn proofs and do a final check of the index, and I’m free!