Robert Holdstock – untimely death of a true gentleman

I’m both shocked and genuinely saddened by the news that writer Robert Holdstock has died this weekend following a short illness. He was 61.

I first met Rob at a convention in Hinkley. It must’ve been around 2002 or 2003. That same weekend I also met Ian MacLeod for the first time. Rob and Ian were then being published by Earthlight with John Jarrold at the helm, and John was in the process of bringing my own novels to publication.

The three of us crammed into the back of a taxi, and were taken to a restaurant and treated to a Chinese meal by our publisher. I remember the evening vividly: I suddenly found myself among people I’d read and aspired to be like. I felt as if I’d “made it”.

I’ve met Rob several times since then, most recently at the Arthur C Clarke Award ceremony in London earlier in 2009. As usual, Rob was full of beans, enthusiastic about writing, and always happy to spare some time to talk to a newcomer such as myself.

Robert Holdstock was a true gentleman, and a top bloke. He will be sadly missed.

Robert Holdstock website

Conflict anthology launch date announced

The Conflict anthology, edited by Ian Whates, will be launched by Newcon Press on Friday 2 April at the 2010 Eastercon at Heathrow. As well as my own contribution – Songbirds – Conflicts includes the following stories:

Psi.Copath – Andy Remic
The Maker’s Mark – Michael Cobley
Sussed – Keith Brooke
The Cuisinart Effect – Neal Asher
Harmony in My Head – Rosanne Rabinowitz
Our Land – Chris Beckett
Fallout – Gareth L. Powell
Proper Little Soldier – Martin McGrath
War Without End – Una McCormack
Dissimulation Procedure – Eric Brown
In the Long Run – David L. Clements
Last Orders – Jim Mortimore

Newcon Press’s recent Celebration anthology includes my story Deciduous Trees.

As well as the publication of Conflict, editor Ian Whates is also celebrating news that his novel The Noise Within will be published by Solaris in the UK and US, also in May 2010.

Newcon Press website
The Newcon Press Celebration page
Solaris website

The Death of Bunny Munro – new Nick Cave novel

I’ve just taken delivery of The Death of Bunny Munro – the new novel from Nick Cave. I met the publisher last August, at the filming of Do You Love me Like I Love You? for the remastered Cave albums currently in the process of being re-issued.

I’m looking forward to reading this book, which is a beautifully presented hardback featuring a pink ribbon bookmark. Cave’s last novel – And the Ass saw the Angel – was often breathtaking, but also sometimes suffered from Cave’s heroin addiction at the time of writing (I understand he actually lost the manuscript half-way through its writing in Paris). I’m intrigued to see what the clean Cave’s produced.

Arthur C Clarke Award 2009

Last night I attended the Arthur C Clarke Award at the Apollo Cinema in London. I was delighted that good friend Ian R MacLeod won the award this year for his novel Song of Time. I took the opportunity to hold the award itself for a few moments, given that it’s unlikely I’ll ever win one of my own!

It was great to catch up with a few old friends and meet a few new people as well. As ever, the event itself was very slick and ran smoothly – no doubt with chaos behind the scenes.

Survivors 2

I just watched the previous episode of Survivors on BBC iPlayer, albeit with subtitles. (Why don’t they make all the episodes available until the end of the series? I would particularly like to see the first.)

It was interesting, and I’ll look forward to the next one. I’m not sure there would be a greater sense of anarchy, and wariness of contact because of the virus – does this no longer exist? I also presume availability of fuel has been explained.

I see it is based on a novel by Terry Nation – he of Blakes 7 and Dr Who fame, among other things. He died 11 years ago – good to see his work lives on.

Survivors

I caught the second half of Survivors on BBC1 last night and rather enjoyed it. I wish I’d seen the previous episodes now. I wonder if they’re on replay or iPlayer…

Post-apocalyptic stuff really appeals to me. Survivors has a similar feel to John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids, The Chysalids, and to some extent The Midwich Cuckoos, and also Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz, along with something of Quatermass. I have a copy of The Midwich Cuckoos with a very well-creased spine, and recently read The Chrysalids (the first time since being at school, when I didn’t really get it) and also read A Canticle for Leibowitz for the first time. If you haven’t read any of these books I heartily recommend you do so.

The thing with post-apocalyptic SF is that people are denied their technology, and are stripped back to basics. Emotions, motivations and relationships become enhanced and distorted as the characters find themselves no longer carrying the huge amounts of baggage that comes along with modern life. It also highlights so many of the things we take for granted which would be denied us given such catastrophic events. The playing field would be levelled. Survival of the fittest. I also like the generally slower pace and gentleness of this sort of thing.

Writing this I realise just how much of a Wyndham fan I am. I must look up more of his work.

Neil Gaiman to write Dr Who episode?

This just in from Big Dumb Object.

Dr Who – Forest of the Dead

Forest of the Dead

Well, it was all there in last week’s episode, which we watched again this evening before the second in this two-parter. It was complicated for the kids, but an excellent concept very well executed. I particularly liked the time-jump sequences with Donna, her “husband”, Dr Moon and so on. These were exactly how television works, with the viewers forming the connections, although the characters don’t normally refer to the leaps in the dialogue. Great stuff.

Captain Britain

Paul Cornell’s Captain Britain got a brief mention on this evening’s Have I Got a Bit More News for You.

Paul Cornell fends off the journalists

That thoroughly nice and exceptionally talented friend of mine Paul Cornell – Dr Who and Primeval, Robin Hood TV scriptwriter, comic writer and novelist  (talk about having strings on your bow! (no Hood pun intended)) has had a particularly busy week for various reasons.

First was the recording of his radio adaptation of Iain Banks’ The State of the Art, then there was a right how’d y’do following the appearance of Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the first issue of Paul’s Marvel comic, Captain Britain and MI-13.

Visit Paul’s blog page for his take on the whole affair.

Lessing is more

I was interested to see Alan Yentob’s interview with Doris Lessing on BBC1 last night (yesterday’s post was purely coincidental). While in many ways inspirational, I also couldn’t help feeling somewhat despondent while watching it. I’d love to write a novel that’s considered somehow “important”. But I know I never will.