Red Star Falling

Acknowledgements

What happens next? Well, something must happen, because I’m currently writing Assignment 2. I can’t say much about it yet other than it’ll be set on a Royal Navy submarine in 1982 somewhere around the Kola Penninsula. A Sony Walkman will feature. And Saskia? Not saying. However, this is science fiction…

I hope you liked this story. I know it’s not as long as my novels–this novella is about a fifth the size–but when a story is this length, I’m able to publish more quickly. The average turnaround for one of my novels is about five years. I turned this story around–from initial idea, to drafting, hiring an editor, making changes, knocking up a cover in Pixelmator, and hiring a proofreader–all in six months. And I’m happy with the result.

One of the difficulties with long time scales is that the writer changes. So you might have read Déjà Vu, Flashback and The Amber Rooms within two weeks, but you’ve covered rather more than ten years of my writing career. It’s difficult to keep the books consistent in tone and ambition. Given some of the feedback I’ve received for The Amber Rooms, it’s clear that some readers think the tone and genre are changing. They may be right. All I’ve tried to do, each time, is produce the best book I can. Part of the challenge is that I didn’t set out to write a series.

So: I’m writing The Agents Temporal Series with an eye to keep the tone and pace consistent. Each novella will be about 20,000 words (the length of this work). Each will follow the previous one chronologically. The focus will be action (with a sneaky dose of the usual philosophical stuff that preoccupies me). I’m writing each story as though it’s the third act (i.e. the bit where everything kicks off, like the attack on the Death Star). Ideally, then, if ‘Red Star Falling’ floats your boat, then it will be plain sailing for the rest of the series.

I won’t pretend that I can put out a book a month. Not with my day job. But they will appear regularly. If you’d like to be informed when the next one is released, feel free to sign up to my mailing list.

As ever, if you’ve enjoyed this book, the very best way to help me out is write a review on Amazon/Goodreads/wherever, or perhaps introduce it to a friend.

My thanks to the guys and girls over at UK Climbing, who helped me out with lots of questions about climbing, and to the Canterbury Christ Church TrySport Climbing initiative, where I learned to shout, ‘I’m going to fall!’ a great deal. Alex Roddie, writer of mountain fiction and the excellent The Only Genuine Jones, was a great help.

My editor for this story was Marcus Gipps. My proofreader (and fairy-dust sprinkler) was Olivia Woods. My muse: Britta.

See you for Assignment Two.