The Rising Stars of Fantasy - David Gemmell Morningstar Award Nominees.

Imagine an arena...

No, not that one - not the Colosseum. That's a little out of the budget I had in mind.

Listen to the roar of the crowd...

No, not that one either - you really think I'm talking about the back room in the local ye-olde-tavern where the drunkards take potshots at each other?

Smell the sweat - hear the thud of flesh - taste the...

No, no, NO! I'm not talkinga bout Christian Grey's 'Red Room'! 

Ok, this is getting out of hand now. Before we smear the remaining six wonders of the world (wait, the tavern isn't in that list?!?) or infringe on any other intellectual properties (we could always take a swing at Hogwarts if you'd like?) let's get down to it.

Voting for the long list of the David Gemmell MORNINGSTAR AWARD closed last week. The shortlist will be announced at the Nine Worlds GeekFest event on Sunday 11th August...THAT'S THIS WEEK!

Ok, ok, ok - I'm excited, I'll admit it.

And, I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but the awards themselves will take place on Thursday 31st October, as part of the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.

The Morningstar Award is a very special category, because not only does it crown a well deserving author for her/his debut novel, but it also marks the rising stars in Fantasy for years to come.

This year the longlist nominees (and their respective titles) were: 

Saladin Ahmed - Throne of the Crescent Moon.

Miles Cameron - The Red Knight.

John R Fultz - Seven Princes.

Max Gladstone - Three Parts Dead.

John Gwynne - Malice. 

Aidan Harte - Irenicon.

Jay Kristoff - Stormdancer.

Gaie Sebold - Babylon Steel.

Jo Spurrier - Winter Be My Shield.

As a huge supporter of new talent within the fantasy genre, I've invited each of the long list nominees to post a guest blog on 'Written With a Sword'. These guys and gals are the ones to watch, and how better to get acquainted with them than this?

Stay tuned for their pieces' - and stay tuned for announcement of the short list next week! 

Writing Update 4: Busy Times

     Time flies. I obviously missed the boarding call as I’m stick stuck in customs, snowed under by duty free sunglasses and Toblerone, trying to recover my ticket from the Haribo-High pre-teen who stole it from the not-so-legal frequent flyer hiding in the flower pot. Time is not a luxury that any of us can afford. First class is a king’s ransom on the clock, business class would be welcomed for the trade of minutes and seconds…if only we could get on the ruddy plane to ‘More Hours in the Day’ in the first place!

     Busy isn’t the half of it.

     But excitement is.

     Before I start, let me just tease you with a tid-bit of titillating trivia. Mark Lawrence, yes THE MARK LAWRENCE, published author of both ‘Prince of Thorns’ and ‘King of Thorns’ was gracious enough to sit down and answer a few of my questions. The interview (via email) will take up the feature slot on my blog, tomorrow. Be sure to check back for it.

     In regards to my own writing, it’s not going too badly. Work on ‘From Man to Man’ is almost complete, and I am um’ing and ah’ing whether to release the complete short story as a ‘free forever’ download across the web e.g. Smashwords, Amazon, Lulu etc. ‘It Began With Ashes’ is now in its final stages, the front cover is all but complete, I’m due to order the ISBN numbers, format the galley to ‘ebook friendly’, somehow plot a map, and complete a final test read. Sounds a lot, but things are looking positive for an October release. Work on ‘It Began With Ashes’s sequel has been stalled in the events of current, but at 35,000/50,000 words (approx. total) it shouldn’t take long to complete the first draft once I sit down with it again.

     All of my future titles, though self published, are due to be released under the publishing house ‘Four Branches’ – a company run solely by myself at this time. Long term, one of my dreams is to establish a publishing house to publish other authors, and if this is the first step towards that goal, then I’m psyched!

     Next week’s book review will close the door on David Gemmell’s ‘trilogy’ featuring the legendary Waylander. ‘Hero In Shadows’ is the final instalment featuring the assassin, and it’s kept me turning pages since I opened the book less than a week ago.

     All in all, it’s busy times, but business is good. You’ll all hear from me tomorrow, and be sure not to miss it as Mark Lawrence’s feature and exclusive interview will be on the headlines!

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