Hi John. I might have some good news on a second edition of
Worming the Harpy later this year. Unfortunately I can't say anything until then. Portugal might be connected with this news, or it might not...
Harpy was supposed to be reissued by Prime Books five years ago, but after twiddling my thumbs for ages they finally dropped it last year. It's high time this volume was reprinted, in my view!
What have I been up to recently? The year started strongly. I wrote a novel in five weeks.
The Abnormalities of Stringent Strange is a humorous homage to the forgotten science-fiction pulp writers of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
Then I wrote a piece for a forthcoming anthology themed around 'creativity in the wilderness'. Then I wrote a story intended for an anthology with a theme I can’t yet reveal!
I've just finished writing a story that's a tribute to the Italian writer Dino Buzzati. I wrote this for an anthology that won't even be soliciting submissions until next year, but I couldn't wait! I'll sit on it until the publisher opens his doors to submissions for that volume. I'm very pleased with it, and in fact I regard it as one of my best stories.
Next I'm going to finish a pirate story that's actually more like a mock interview with the eight pirates who feature in my book
The Postmodern Mariner. It's a sequel to that book, or rather a bonus that I'll post on one of my blogs. There's a link to that blog in the book itself, so the whole thing is a sort of a joke (but in a good way, I hope!) And in fact the blog in question can be found here:
http://postmodernmariner.blogspot.com/Then I'm going to write a short tale for a forthcoming 'Futurist' anthology. After that I'm going to try writing a story aimed at 'young adults' for a Robinsons Books anthology. Mike Ashley is editing this and asked me to contribute and I agreed even though I've never written for that age group.
Then I'm going to write a Philip Jose Farmer tribute for an anthology featuring stories based in one of the worlds or futures he created. The PJF estate is involved with this project.
Then I need to write further instalments of various story cycles that are ongoing -- an 'Albarracin' tale, a 'Chaud Melle' story and a 'Happenstance' story.
Then, fingers crossed, I can finally get back to writing the novel I abandoned two years ago,
The Pilgrim's Regress. I can't wait!
