When I was 51...

... I hefted a golden eagle!

Every year, soon after my birthday, I like to take a look back at stuff I've done for the first time EVER, in order to ensure that I'm not too deep into my middle-aged rut.

Here goes with this year just past ... when I was 51:

For the very first time IN MY LIFE:

• I drove a BMW Z4 35is convertible sports car (bright red, of course)
• I got a photographic driver's license instead of the tatty old paper thing I'd had since a teenager
• I acquired a smartphone!
• And bought a blu-ray player (not yet plugged in, I admit)
• We moved into a house that's actually big enough to hold all our books. (This is it, Peak House ... next stop is a nursing home)

• I thus became the owner of some chandeliers. Still getting rid of them...
• I stained my deck. It took 4 days and lasted less than 4 months, so I'm pretty pissed off about that, believe me
• I used a supermarket scan-as-you-shop handheld device. It's like Star Trek, I tell you!

• I ate a fortune cookie
• I visited Uzebkistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. 
• I attended our local Parish Council meeting ( which was one of the most horrifically poisonous, bitter, unpleasant public exchanges I've ever seen. Jesus Christ on a bike...)
• I visited Intensive Care in a hospital ... in fact I spent a lot of time hospital visiting 😔
• I delivered a eulogy at a family funeral
• I used Discord to play new-to-me RPG Numenera 

• I reviewed a Thesaurus - and got my quote on the back cover!

• I was commissioned to write a professional RPG scenario
• I went to the Edgelit convention, which may be my favourite now
• I had three dark fantasy stories published! (That's more than my erotica count this year ... the house move and family obligations really slowed me down I'm afraid)

• I picked the stories for a Sexy Little Pages anthology:

Now the hard editing work begins...

• I joined FreeCycle and the National Trust
• I bought a hanging basket for the front door, and a rotary dryer for the garden
• I hand-sewed some curtains
• I lit a Yankee Candle ... 

Shit, what was that about a middle-aged rut?!
I'm DOOOOOOOMED 😱😱😱

The Scent of Tears - cover reveal!

It's official now! With a gorgeous wrap-around cover by Jon Sullivan -
 

For the first time in print, Adrian Tchaikovsky has opened up the realm of the Apt, as featured in his best-selling Shadow of the Apt decalogy, to a carefully selected cast of fellow writers, inviting them to do their best and their worst within the world he has created.  

They have done just that. Topped and tailed by two new stories form Adrian himself, some of the finest imaginations in fantasy, including winners of the David Gemmell Award, the Costa Book Award and British Fantasy Award, have combined to produce a stunning collection of tales that examine fresh aspects of the Apt world and its people. 

There I am (in my KM guise), honoured to be nestled next a whole bunch of prize-winners! Out in October!

Pre-order available

Sneaky cover preview!

Here's a VERY sneaky peek at an upcoming anthology I'm included in. This advert was on the back of one of the pamphlets at EdgeLit, so it's public domain, I guess. If you squint hard you can see an anthology called The Scent of Tears, which is a Tales of the Apt collection set in Adrian Tchaikovsky's fantasy universe. Included in that is my eponymous story The Scent of Tears.

I can't show you the cover in detail until it has had its official reveal, but rest assured that I am pretty damn excited!

Launching at Fantasycon in October!