…you wait ages, and then two come along at once!

As you may or may not know, Songs of the Earth is shortlisted for the David Gemmell Morningstar award for best fantasy debut. Final round voting is now open, if you feel so inclined. Not that I’m hinting, or anything.

Then at the weekend, I got an email to tell me that Songs is also shortlisted for the Compton Crook Award, awarded by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and presented at Balticon on Memorial Day weekend.

Maybe I should have got my passport updated into my married name after all – just in case, like.

Funny things happen over the course of a novel’s gestation, especially if you’re a writer like me who has a very free-range, organic approach to the whole business. Sometimes it’s only obvious quite far down the line that the book you thought you were writing isn’t actually what’s coming out of your pen. Keyboard. Whatever.

I had a moment of clarity during the final edit before I submitted Songs of the Earth for publication. I realised that a significant character arc didn’t belong there, it actually belonged in the next book. I removed it, and the rest of the script pinged into shape, tighter and better balanced than it had been before.

Something similar occurred during the protracted revisions of Book 2 of The Wild Hunt, and I realised that the reason I was struggling to make part of it fit was because it, too, belonged in the next book.

Now I’m a pretty good multi-tasker, but let me tell you, it’s not easy writing two books in a big fat fantasy series at once – especially if you don’t realise that’s what you’re doing. Kudos to anyone who can manage it, but it nearly turned me into a wreck. It also didn’t help matters that I’d been a bit poorly for quite a lot of the time.

Anyway, the upshot of the matter is that I’ve had to make a change or two, starting with the title. Trinity Moon is no more. All hail Trinity Rising, coming to a bookshop near you in the middle of July. Click the picture to embiggen.

This has had a knock-on effect on Book 3, because all that material that I didn’t know was missing now needs to be accommodated. I’m dealing with that now, and by crikey it’s shaping up well, even if I do say so myself.

It’s only taken me forever but I am finally dipping my toe in the con-going waters with an appearance at this year’s Eastercon.

I’m appearing on two panels, as follows:

Friday 5pm – There’s a hole in my plot! with James Barclay, Joe Abercrombie, Gavin G Smith and Jenni Hill (mod)

Sunday 10am – Promoting yourself online with Paul Cornell, Tom Hunter, Simon Spanton and Danie Ware (mod)

If that prospect hasn’t whetted your appetite enough, you can find the full programme of events here. It looks like it’s going to be a cracker, even with me in attendance.

An independent bookshop, Type Books in Toronto, created this, a sneak peek at what books get up to when there’s nobody around. It tickled me no end, so I thought I’d share it here, too. You will never look at your bookshelves in the same light ever again.

Do that with a Kindle, I dare ya!

Or, something gorgeous this way comes, in the shape of my author’s copies of Les Chants de la Terre, from my French publisher Bragelonne.

I don’t know if you can make it out in the picture, but the title is embossed, with a touch of electric-blue foil on the twiddly bits. That electric-blue foil continues inside, onto the binding of the book itself, echoing the eagle motif and the curlicues from the UK trade paperback. It’s one of the loveliest hardbacks I think I’ve ever seen.

Messieurs de Bragelonne, merci beaucoup. Je pense que je pourrais être dans l’amour.