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!

Draft 3 completed

Very happy to have completed the third draft of Project Artichoke. Diane read the second draft and gave me her thoughts on that, which helped inform the revisions in the new draft. Having left it alone for about a month I came back to it with fresh eyes, which is always useful. I’ve been using the time in between drafts to work up some illustrations – I’m hoping that a publisher will want me to do this for the entire book, but we’ll have to wait and see. You can see some of my work-in-progress pictures on my Instagram account. The third draft and the illustration samples went off to my agent last night, so all I can do now is sit and wait for feedback. Publishing is all about the waiting.

Project Artichoke sample 01

Draft 2 completed

Just a quick update – more for my own satisfaction than for any other reason – to say I’ve completed draft 2 of Project Artichoke. More soon.

Tobin Artichoke draft 2

2016 and all that

Last week I looked back on 2015 and what it meant to me. This week I’m looking forward into the giddy future of 2016. This year I’m writing more (or at least trying to) than in previous years. I’m slowly moving away from producing animation and focusing more and more on putting words into some sort of cohesive order. So here’s my plan for the year (in order to keep some sort of mystery and make this feel far more important than it actually is I’ve given my work code names):

 

Project Goldilocks

I’ve blogged lots about this one already. It’s a completed novel and is now in the hands of my capable agent Juliet Mushens. With luck I’m hoping we’ll get this placed with the right publisher, then the process of editing will begin in earnest. Publishing is a slow-moving hamster, so even if I do get lucky and this is picked up in the next couple of months I wouldn’t expect it to see the light of a bookshop until some time in 2017.

 

Project Artichoke

I’m currently working on the second draft of this one. It’s a fun children’s fantasy story that could potentially lead to a series of books (but let’s not get ahead of ourselves!)

I’m also working on some illustrations to go with this. I’m hopeful I can get the second draft finished by February, then it’ll go to my beta readers and my agent for feedback, with the hope of submitting to publishers in the spring.

 

Project Grimnire

Readers of Sorrowline and Timesmith will recognise the name of this particular project. This is the third and final book in the Timesmith Chronicles series. This is in the first stages of development but I’m keen to get it completed by the summer. I’m really excited to finish the story, and I’m hoping to do something quite special with how it’s published.

 

Project Nova

This is my next planned YA novel. Right now it’s nothing more than a bunch of scribbled notes and ideas rattling round my head. Once I’ve planned out the full story I’m hoping to start work on this in the Autumn. Of course that could easily change depending on what happens with my other work, so don’t hold me to this, all right?

 

As well as novel writing I want to get back into doing some screen-writing. I’ve an idea for a feature film which I’m keen to get down on paper when I can. So, quite ambitious plans, which will almost certainly have to change and evolve as the year unfolds, but it’s good to have goals to shoot for.

My 2015 – just keep writing

Niel Bushnell Story Steps

Long time followers/sufferers of this blog (that’s me then!) will know that I’ve been doing an annual summary for the last two years. It’s a chance for me to look back at the passing months and make stuff up (in part) about what I’ve been up to. For completist with too much time on their hands you can read 2014’s post here and 2013’s here.

For the most part 2015 has been good to me. The only dark cloud is that I’ve not had a book out this year. In an ideal world the final book in the Timesmith Chronicles would have hit the shops by now, but this is not an ideal world and the last part of the story is still a way off. So 2015 has been dominated by the graft of being a writer without the glory of publication. I’ve filled my time with writing and editing, and I’m ending the year with two new books completed, albeit one of them just a first draft (currently it’s known as Project Artichoke). So I’m sat on the cliff of 2015 looking out with optimism over the green fields of 2016, keen to get down there and run through those enticing meadows and spoil it with my muddy boots. Sorry, I’ve been drinking a lot of Metaphor Mead over the holidays.

So without further embellishment here’s how 2015 worked out for me:

2015 JanJanuary

A new year, all fresh and full of promise! I greet it with a mouth full of chocolate and a heart full of dreams. Oh, and I dig out some old sketches. I don’t draw as much as I used to but I try to keep my hand in. I’m also planning on doing a picturebook when I’ve got the time.

2015 FebFebruary

I complete the third draft of my latest project, The Death of Goldilocks. I’ve been working on it for quite some time and it’s evolved a lot since the original idea. I email the third draft to my agent, Juliet Mushens, to see if she can find a home for it. I relax, thinking my work is done. I’m wrong.

2015 MarMarch

A partial eclipse over Britain leads to hysteria as all teenagers get up early and start washing dishes. The unnatural behaviour continues until every bedroom is hoovered and dusted. Parents throughout the land are paralysed with fear at the sight of this horde of polite cleaners. Fortunately I manage to find the reset switch hidden under a giant mountain shaped like a zit and normality returns in time for Pointless. Full story here.

2015 MarApril

I finally get to see the Amazing Story Steps on a return trip to the District CE Primary School in Newton-le-Willows where I’m Patron of Reading. I had a great time there, and tested out my picturebook project on them. I really must get round to finishing that one of these day.

2015 MayMay

I caught up with Cameron K McEwan, broadcaster, actor, and author of two books about Doctor Who, both of which are well worth buying. We talked at length about our favourite time-travelling TV show, which was just as well because I was there for the recording of his Doctor Who Podcast.

2015 JunJune

My short story, Scissors, is published on the National Literacy Trust’s website. Scissors is a creepy story about a boy who finds he’s not alone after a vivid dream. The story is told in ten chapters, each of which is meant to be read out loud to a class of children (9-12 years old) and leave them wanting more! Also this month, after feedback from my agent, I embark on an extensive edit of The Death of Goldilocks, and travel to London to research locations featured in the story.

2015 JulJuly

My second novel, Timesmith, is published in Brazil. It’s always great to see other editions of my books and I love how they’ve adapted the cover art for this edition. (As of December I’m still waiting for my copy to arrive. Ah, well.) My major edit of The Death of Goldilocks nears completion, and it prompts me to return to London again for one last reccy. I spend a lot a time looking suspicious in Hampstead Tube Station, leading to me being put under 24 hour surveillance. They’re watch me now…

2015 AugAugust

I come to the end of draft 4 of The Death of Goldilocks. But it’s not the end, it’s never the end! For starters the title’s going to change, and there’s more work to complete. Editing can be a chore but it always makes my work better, so I know it’ll be worth the effort.

2015 SepSeptember

I become a part-time spy. I’m kitted out with an invisible car, an exploding pen and a robotic eyebrow. Being shot at and hanging off planes while they take off is all well and good but the drinking cocktails and meeting exotic women is a bit of drag. After toppling a volatile extreme dictatorship and saving civilisation as we know it I decide to hang up my Licence to Kill and return to writing and drawing for a living. I also blog about the state of the VFX industry and how animation and visual effects are often maligned for all the wrong reasons.

2015 OctOctober

I start a regular(ish) video series called Writing and Stuff. It’s intended to be a forum for my exploits and adventures, covering my writing progress, any events I’ve been to and books I’m reading. By the end of the year I’ve only published two but I’m optimistic I’ll do more in the New Year because it’s been fun to do.

2015 NovNovember

Even thought it’s been published for almost two years it’s exciting to see Sorrowline feature in a Guardian Top 10 list this month. The article is Rhian Ivory’s top 10 books set in the past and the present, and features some excellent titles – go check them out!

2015 DecDecember

Being on the Guardian website is like waiting for a shark. You wait for ages and nothing bites, then suddenly two come along at once and rip your leg off… sort of. After last month’s Top 10 I’m agog to be featured on the Guardian’s website talking to Charlotte and Eva from the Millennium Riot reading group about being a writer, the power of reading, and casting Benedict Cumberbatch as a bad guy. Well, why not?

So, that was my year: me writing and editing. And I really enjoyed it! Where next? Come back next week and I’ll tell you my plans for 2016. Thanks for your support during 2015, and thanks for reading.

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