My week: slow progress

The fifth book in the Arkship Saga, Arkship Prophecy is coming soon. No, really! Hey, I mean it! I’ve just been sidetracked by other work, which means that Arkship Prophecy might not appear until after Christmas. I really wanted it out before now, but hopefully you won’t have too much longer to wait.

And the third audiobook, Arkship Alliance, is also on its way. Mike Robinson is working hard to get this finished, and I’m sure it’s going to be worth the wait.

But right now, it’s my wedding anniversary. We’re celebrating 24 years together, which I can’t quite believe! Look, I had hair back then! As Delmore Schwartz put it (and Star Trek Generations immortalised) time is the fire in which we burn. But just make sure you burn brightly, and for a long, long time.

Farmageddon

I’ve been thinking a lot about an old project lately, one that almost took off in a big way. Farmageddon began life way back in 1991 as The Funny Farm, a daily newspaper strip in my hometown newspaper. It was created by my school friend Gordon Fraser and me as a way for us to flex our creative muscles. Gordon drew the strip, I inked it and we both wrote it (sometimes together, sometimes separably). We had a lot of fun with it and let our imaginations run wild. Even though the strip was set on a farm, we quickly populated it with talking dinosaurs, time-travelling inventors and visiting aliens. It lasted for two years before a new editor of the local paper decided to axe it.

But the Funny Farm didn’t end there. We developed it as an animated TV show and we went to the Annecy Animation Festival where it was optioned by Nelvana, a Canadian animation production company. It felt like we’d hit the jackpot! We talked about moving to Canada to be story editors and exec producers on the show, but it never went into production. The excitement faded and we went on with our lives. But years later the chance came to revisit it and do some more work on it. I was running my own animation studio and thought it’d be great to develop the Funny Farm, now re-titled as Farmageddon. We created 3D models of the characters, locations and props, and started to do some animation tests. You can take a look at our development blog from that time here.

We managed to secure some development money and we took the project to Cannes.

We had plenty of interest but, for lots of reasons, we never quite managed to get it off the ground, and it remains an itch that I didn’t quite manage to scratch. I miss working on it, and I miss playing with the ideas with Gordon, his devious sense of humour was a deep well of creativity. So, Farmageddon is almost thirty years old now and its still there in the back of my mind, just waiting for its day in the sun.

Farmageddon from Qurios on Vimeo.

Creating a book cover

Want to see how I went about creating the cover for Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven? Take a look at this short video on YouTube for in insight into the process.

And if you want to read the book you can find it here!

Celebrating the Arkship Saga

Exactly one year ago I released Arkship Obsidian, the first book in the Arkship Saga. Now the saga is four books and growing, and I can’t quite believe that I’ve managed to write and release over a quarter of a million words on the subject of big spaceships!

The saga so far consists of:

There will be a sixth book which will wrap up some of the story threads, then I’ve plans for a prequel trilogy which will explore the events leading up to the destruction of Earth and the exodus of humanity. So, lots of story still to tell.

Thanks to all the readers of the saga for your feedback and support over the last year, it keeps me writing! And if you’re new to the Arkship Saga then go grab Arkship Countdown and see what it’s all about.

Out Today: Tobin Artichoke And The Queen Of Heaven

Today’s the day! Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven is out now, and you can read it here.

What’s it about?
When an ancient artefact – The Queen of Heaven -is found in the junk of a flea market, Tobin Artichoke and his decapitated brother Drake find themselves on a quest that takes them from London to a secret cave under a nuclear power station, to Hell, the Afterlife and beyond.

In a race against time, Tobin becomes the reluctant representative of a distracted deity, and the fate of all humanity rests in his hands. But Tobin couldn’t care less about other people, and saving every living soul might just be the death of him!

Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven is the first book in a new urban fantasy series. If you like Douglas Adams, Robert Rankin and Terry Pratchett then this might just be your cup of tea!

Grab a free Tobin Artichoke adventure!

With just one week until Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven is released I thought it’d be a good idea to give you a taste of what to expect. So here’s another of Tobin’s odd adventures, this time in the ruins of Atlantis.

What’s it about?
Mapping Atlantis should have been an easy task for a crypto-cartographer like Tobin Artichoke. But when a mysterious tower appears in the ruins of the sunken city, Tobin and his decapitated brother Drake find themselves drawn into a centuries-old mystery that might just unleash an ancient evil onto the face of the Earth.

Tobin is the only one who can stop a plague of insanity consuming every living thing, but he’s got his bumbling brother to find first, and an inaccurate map to complete. Join Tobin Artichoke as he uncovers the ancient secrets of the Asylum of Atlantis.

Tobin Artichoke and the Asylum of Atlantis is the perfect entry point into this new urban fantasy series, and you can read it for free here! Grab it now and discover the slightly bizarre adventures of Tobin Artichoke for yourself!

Meet Tobin Artichoke

Meet Tobin Artichoke, a crypto-cartographer. He maps secret, forgotten places, like the Back Door to Hell, which is actually quite nice, not as hot or as overdeveloped as the more touristy parts of Hell. Or the Faerie City of Finklestone, which only exists for an hour on mid-summer’s eve and smells of fish and plasticine. Or the Tower of Forgotten Things, where odd socks go to die, their passing lamented by dead pens and lost telephone numbers.

Tobin Herodotus Shirley Artichoke is a close personal friend of mine. Well, I say friend, but he never calls me. In fact, I don’t think he likes me. Actually, I know he doesn’t like me, but I won’t let his contempt spoil our relationship. I’ve known him for a long time, almost ten years now, and he’s been living rent-free in the darker parts of my mind all that time, so it’s a relief to finally have him out and earning his keep in the from of my new book, Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven.

What’s it about?
When an ancient artefact – The Queen of Heaven – is discovered in amongst the junk at a flea market, Tobin Artichoke and his decapitated brother Drake find themselves on a quest that takes them from London to a secret cave under a nuclear power station, to Hell, the Afterlife and beyond, as they try to find the artefact before it falls into the wrong hands. For the mythical Queen of Heaven is the key to possessing all of creation, including every soul on Earth.

In a race against time, Tobin becomes the reluctant representative of a distracted deity, and the fate of all humanity rests in his hands. But Tobin couldn’t care less about other people, and saving every living soul might just be the death of him!

Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven is the first book in a new urban fantasy series. If you like Douglas Adams, Robert Rankin and Terry Pratchett then this might be for you.

Pre-order Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven here!

The Prophecy must be fulfilled!

How was your summer? I should have been writing, but I took a break from the keyboard to recharge my system, but as autumn peeks its woolly head round the corner, I’m back into writing the next instalment in the Arkship Saga: Arkship Prophecy, the fifth novel in the series.

As the Church of the Infinite forces its doctrine on the survivors of humanity, the warring houses, led by the battle-weary Prince Halstead, must put aside their differences if they are to defeat the Church’s plans for total domination. Meanwhile, the followers of the prophet Gofal work towards a better future, one that may demand the ultimate sacrifice.

Arkship Propecy will be available soon, but if you’ve not read the other books in the series, then go take a look at book one, Arkship Obsidian.

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