So the New Year is here and the old is in my rear-view mirror; but how was it? In a word: unexpected.
There’s a conceit that once you reach a certain strata as a jobbing writer, you’re chugging along at a steady pace, the work rolls in, and the sailing is generally smooth. But that’s a pleasant fiction: no matter where you are on the ladder, there’s always that proverbial slippery rung lurking out of sight.
I found it in 2023 when Welbeck, the current publisher of my thriller novels Airside (from 2022) and Dark Horizon (my big new release for 2023) was unexpectedly put up for sale and purchased by Hachette, one of the bigger fish in the literary pond. And while this might have good consequences for me in the long run, in the immediate term it meant everything came to a screeching halt in the middle of the year while I was in the midst of launching Dark Horizon out into the world, as everyone struggled to figure out what comes next…
But nevertheless, Dark Horizon took to the air with some amazing reviews and terrific reader feedback – and the paperback is on sale right now!
And as I’m not one to sit around waiting for things to happen, so I used the time to work on some other interesting projects in the interim! The first of those turned out to be comics – specifically, a four-part miniseries called Here Be Dragons for Titan Comics, based on the popular Rivers of London urban fantasy series written by Ben Aaronovitch. Ben’s been a friend of mine for many years and his Rivers novels are a bona fide hit, with the comics running alongside them – and as someone who has loved comicbooks since I was kid, when he asked me write something for the line, I jumped at the opportunity and I had a great time.
And Here Be Dragons wasn’t the only comic project I did in 2023; I also returned for Duel in the Dark, my 6th story for the classic war comic Commando; you can read more about this space age tale here. As well as Duel, I’ve written a couple more Commandos for publication later in 2024, so watch for more about those stories in the coming months.
My second interesting project saw me returning to a recording studio for the first time in a good while, as scriptwriter for A Cage of Sky, an original audio drama based on the SF TV police procedural Star Cops; I’ve been a fan of this cult show since it first aired in 1987, and unquestionably it was a tick off my writer bucket list to get to do a story with the original cast.
Star Cops: Blood Moon – A Cage of Sky will be out in April and I’ll be talking more about it then, and I have to say I had a great time writing audio once again, and I’m eager to do more.
There was one other thing going on throughout 2023 as well, something I am quietly but very excitedly remaining silent about, because I’ve signed a lot of non-disclosure agreements that mean I’ve gotta keep my mouth shut. I’ll reveal more when I can…
But I did do non-work stuff too in 2023; early in the year I visited the city of York to soak up some Viking history, and later I took an extended trip to Maryland and Ohio to tick off another bucket list item – a visit to a few famous aviation sites, including the US Air Force Museum and the home of the Wright Brothers. I’m a huge aviation enthusiast, so spending days and days gawping at all kinds of planes put a big smile on my face.
My US trip also took in the brilliant Shore Leave convention, where I got to spend a great weekend with many of my Star Trek writer colleagues; and in similar fashion, throughout 2023 I also attended events like the London Action Festival, the Commando Swap Meet, the ReConnect virtual convention and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Awards.
But what about the coming year? Along with the “secret thing”, I’m developing a handful of new projects – some of them original works, some of them tie-ins based on intellectual properties I’ve never written for – so stay tuned!
