December 2022

I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday period, and whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I really hope you've all had the chance to take a second and relax, taking a break from what has been a crazy year for everyone. I don't know if it's because the world is still reeling unknowingly from the upheaval of Covid, but almost everyone I speak to seems to have been busier than ever in 2022 for any number of reasons. I know I certainly have been.

What's New?

Not a huge amount in the writing world. December is the month where everyone in publishing goes into hibernation — from agents and editors to publicists and marketers -- and you normally don't hear a thing until the new year starts getting underway. There have been a few nice surprises this year though.

Goodreads

The first was seeing ASCENSION listed as one of Goodreads' "Readers' Most Anticipated Books of 2023"! There's quite some distinguished company on that list, from Salman Rushdie to Prince Harry, so it felt quite surreal seeing my book hanging out there, but I think a real testament to how much buzz is starting to be created.

The list is currently linked to with a big orange banner at the top of the Goodreads site, but in case that should disappear, you can find it here.

This of course prompted me to do some poking around on Goodreads itself, which I've used for years as a reader but I'm only recently discovering all its little gadgets and tools for authors. As it stands, we're still four months away from publication but over 10 thousand people have added ASCENSION as a 'to-read' on Goodreads. Yes, that's right. 10k! I was gobsmacked and really quite honoured. If only a fraction of those actually pick it up, that will make me very happy. 

If you are feeling massive FOMO right now, I understand. Do pop into Goodreads and add it to your 'to-read' pile yourself here. 

Blog Posts

Some other links include a little guest blog I wrote for the fantastic 'Track of Words' blog, which you can see here. It sums up some of my favourite SFF books of 2022 and some of the ones I'm most looking forward to in 2023. You can also see that Michael at 'Track of Words' has listed ASCENSION as one of his most anticipated reads of 2023 in his own blog post here.

Newspapers

As a little end of 2022 treat, it was lovely to see The Daily Mail include Ascension in their line up of books that their 'top critics' are looking forward to in 2022. As well as a brief description, they've also pegged it as "gripping and intriguing", which I think are good words to describe what you're in for when you read it.

You can read the article here. 

Film News

While I'm still not allowed to talk about who and what and really much at all, I figure I can talk about some exciting news in vague terms and get away with it. As some of you might know, the production company who bought the rights to Ascension attached a couple of people last year — a screenwriter and a director -- both of them some pretty big names (let's just say I didn't have to look them up to know who they were!). 

I had a meeting with them this month and they were pleased to report that a first draft of the adapted screenplay has been written and they're hoping to look at next steps early 2023 — at this point, that means sending it out to managers and actors and getting some big names attached before going to a studio. As always with Hollywood, it's all very mercurial and changeable, but what I'm hearing has been really positive!

2023 Plans

I've got several plans for 2023. I've got a book I wrote last year that needs editing and whipping into shape. I've got another book I'm partway through and that I need to finish. And I've got a few more ideas in the pipeline that I'd like to play around with starting the summer (though that feels like a long way away).

Best Thing I've Read Recently

I just finished The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean and I thought it was wonderful. If you haven't come across it, it's a creative take on the old vampire idea, setting the tale around a group of secret 'Families' that consume books rather than food to survive. Except, some of them don't consume books, they consume... brains. 

Yes, it sounds a little silly at first. But the book is less about the librovores as a concept, and more about the main character Devon and her life as a mother, her relationship with her children and her motherhood, and the complexities of the choices we have to make. A book with a lot of big ideas and a lot of heart. It's a pun that's been made many times before in reviews of this book, but I definitely devoured it. Strong recommend.

Best Thing I've Watched Recently

Glass Onion was just fantastic. I loved Knives Out so much, so I was very hopeful for this one and went in with high expectations. I must say that Benoit Blanc is the modern day detective that I've been wanting to see on the big screen ever since the first season of BBC's wonderful Sherlock (the less said about the later seasons of that, the better). He's admittedly more Poirot than Sherlock, and Rian Johnson's films are much more Christie than Doyle, but they've got their own very specific style. I really liked how the structure of the film kept me guessing and the dialogue kept me laughing. It neat, inventive, clever, and utterly entertaining from beginning to end. More please!

That's all, folks.

Have a great January and may all your endeavours succeed.