The Scion Is Dead! Long Live The Scion!

Have no fear - The Scion’s story is not yet over.  However, unfortunately my publisher has decided to close down.  As of the end of May, The Scion will no longer be available on Amazon.  (So if anyone out there hasn’t yet got a copy, now is the time!)

‘So what’s the future for The Scion?  Is this the end?  Wasn’t there a sequel planned?’ I hear you shout.

I’ll answer this with a quote from Frank Herbert: ‘There is no real ending.  It’s just the place where you stop the story.’

‘But the Dune saga went on a bit, didn’t it?’ you reply.

‘Well… Dune was excellent…  And I quite liked the first few sequels…’

‘Are you saying you did lose interest then?’

‘Maybe I’d partaken of too much spice.  I’d overdosed.  My irises were altering to match those of Paul Atreides.  I had to stop.’

Anyway, I have no intention of ending The Scion’s story just yet.  The sequel is almost finished and there is another planned (A trilogy!  Woot!  Woot!).  So my protagonist, Septimus Esterhazy, is out there trying to find another publisher on my behalf.  Will he succeed?  Only time will tell.  But he is a persistent bugger and keeps telling me more stuff about him that I dutifully transcribe.

I’d like to take this moment to say a huge thanks to Safkhet for publishing my debut and throwing me out there into the world.  We’ve come a long way together in a short time, and it has been a lot of fun.  Thanks again to everyone who bought the book, read it, reviewed it and supported my fledgling efforts.  There will be more.

GTM

Sep sets out on another mission for the Sassrit...

LES NOUVELLES

A view from the 'ivory tower', yesterday morning.

I am sticking my head out of the ivory tower to write this.  Actually, it isn't ivory.  No elephants died to support my writing.  It was formed by a unique and somewhat alien process of ossification.  But it looks a lot like ivory and sways slightly when the wind is up.

Anyway, I'll come down soon.  But I've been busy with this writing thing.  The sequel to The Scion is coming along slowly but surely.  I keep slipping past self-imposed Scrivener deadlines, but the words are getting down.

The guys over at Safkhet have the synopsis and they seem happy so far.  The title will be revealed soon.  I'll weave a flag and fly it from the roof.  You'll see it for miles.

In addition, somewhere out there on the level plain, machines are gearing into action, and dead tree versions of The Scion are churning out.  Or will be.  Stuff is happening.

And finally, I managed to send a finished version of Machine Songs to Carol Kean of Perihelion reviewing fame.  It is still a rough diamond.  Or as I mentioned to her, probably cubic zirconium.  She managed to see through the typos and has already been tweeting about it, and even squeezed it into one of her reviews!

@tea_in_carolina: 'Machine Songs is more than YA coming of age.  It's as epic as Harry Potter / Ender's Game.'  Really?  Wow!  Thanks, Carol!  #listenforthemachinesong, folks.

Well, now I've tasted the rarefied air, it's time to return to The Scion 2.  See you all on the other side.

Lotus Eater published in Nebula Rift!

Clone Music published by Perihelion SF

My story Clone Music has been published by Perihelion SF!  It landed on the 12th February.

This story features a character from my novel The Scion, an artist called Sirius Andervich.  Well, he is only obliquely referenced in The Scion, but he was an interesting chap, so I wrote a bit more about him and it became this story.

The idea came to me when I was thinking about Paul Simon incorporating other cultures into his music when writing Graceland.  Not that I am in any way denouncing this album - it is quite brilliant.  In due course the idea became darker and more perverted, especially when a former friend of Andervich reared his arrogant head and some clones got involved.

Clicking on the speaker above will take you to the Clone Music...

Blowing The Scion's Trumpet

A few lovely Scion-related things have happened since I last blogged.  Things which have cast the shadow of self-doubt away from my feelings about The Scion and, perhaps rightly, elevated its status in the world.  I find self-doubt always creeps in somewhere, with the insidious nature of the Wraith - a healthy part of the process, until it becomes all-consuming...

Anyway, here we go: the trumpet is blasting, hopefully not deafening the rest of the orchestra, or swallowing the viola's delicate melody. Unfortunately, I think maybe the entire brass section were in the pub in the interval.

Fancy a cuppa and a good SF novel?

BSFA Longlist

The Scion was longlisted for a British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) award.  BSFA members can vote for the book (alongside other fabulous works like Al Robertson's Crashing Heaven and Paul McAuley's Something Coming Through) up until the 31st January.  Fingers crossed it'll make the shortlist.

Preditors & Editors Poll

The Scion seems to have somehow snuck onto the Preditors & Editors Poll for Science Fiction & Fantasy novels published in 2015.  Currently storming up the charts to hover around number 3. If you fancy voting, you have until the 14th of January - which is soon!

Perihelion Science Fiction Review

Carol Kean has written a quite wonderful review of The Scion for Perihelion, giving the book 5/5 stars.  We had quite a lot of correspondence about the book - some of which is alluded to in the review.  Well worth reading, here is one of my favourite quotes: 'Bursting at the seams with planets, space ships, futuristic technology, wars, peoples, and monstrosities, “The Scion” is the hardest type of #HardScienceFiction, as we in the Twitterverse say. You could safely scrape the Mohs test-diamond over this story without leaving a visible scratch.'

Carol and Perihelion are also both up for awards in Preds & Eds, so go vote for them!

Thanks

A big thank you to Carol for your kind words and support, in Perihelion as well as on goodreads and amazon. Thanks also to everyone else who has nominated and voted so far - you are all lovely people.

Gestating Elegy published in Bards and Sages Quarterly!

 

Amazon links here: UK, US, CA, AU

And here if you want to review it/recommend it/etc. on GoodReads...

A Twitter short story

A few weeks ago, following the lead of David Mitchell (of Bone Clocks/Cloud Atlas/Slade House fame) and his 'Twitter' short story, which surfaced sometime last year, I decided to have a go at something similar.  This idea appeared during a lull between stories.  I reconstructed a story which appeared in Imaginalis - the first part of what came to be known as 'The Machine Sequence'.  'The Machine Sequence' stories are in turn prequel stories to another novel I've written called 'Machine Songs', which is currently languishing in a slush pile somewhere...

You can read it all from my Twitter account @GuyTMartland, but I've transcribed all twelve tweets here as well for your delectation.  Or something.

Tweet 1:
'You remember when the machines fell to Earth?'
<Dark times.>
'They got darker. I'm looking for answers.'
<Aren't we all?>

Tweet 2:
'If we reboot them, maybe we can reboot ourselves'
<How? They are tech from a bygone age!>
'If I can find whoever designed them...'

Tweet 3:
<Their inventor won't be able to help.>
'Why?'
<Fenix was a genius. Until he lost his mind.>
'I was told you knew him.'
<I did. Once.>

Tweet 4:
'You were friends?'
<Is that why you are here?'>
'I've told you why I'm here.'
<I've heard stories that he died.>
'I don't believe them.'

Tweet 5:
<Fenix thought he was the reason for all the problems.>
'He wasn't responsible for an alien invasion!'
<The machines he made caused a war.>

Tweet 6:
'A war that opened Earth to an invasion.'
<Could be he felt he hadn't done enough?>
'There must be a way.'
<To start another war?>

Tweet 7:
'If I got hold of an old machine. A Mecha.'
<You think you can use it to fix others?>
'I could try.'
<You'll need the machine sequence.>

Tweet 8:
'And where would I find that?'
<Fenix.>
'We're going round in circles.'
<There is another rumour he is alive, but was driven insane.>

Tweet 9:
'So where is he?'
<He is far away. Across miles of alien vegetation.>
'I'll find him. And make the machines work again.'
<Then what?>

Tweet 10:
'We have to rely on the past to enhance our future.'
<Our past is broken.>
'But machines will return the magic.'
<Pure Science Fiction!>

Tweet 11:
'Well, any sufficiently advanced technology...'
<You'll need help. An expert in alien biology.>
'I know a botanist.'
<Well that's a start.>

Tweet 12:
'I'll make the machines sing again. They will begin to heal Earth.'
<You'll probably die.>
'At least I'll die trying to save our planet...'

END

More to follow?