One door closes

It is with regret that I’ve found out that KGHH is now defunct. The people at the publisher are creating a new publishing entity (restructuring etc.) but as this will take some time and my books will not be available during that time with them I have asked for my rights back. (I’ll be checking my actual rights when it comes to end of contract etc.)

A Tiding of Magpies will have a new home once I have the rights back (I have an offer on it already) but Sick City Syndrome will be out of print and unavailable for the foreseeable. I have some hard copies of both so if you have been waiting there are a limited number so best get one while you still can!

I’m still working on The Certainty of Dust which is very close to submission copy. As it was going to be published by KGHH I now have to find a new home for it – and also for The Museum For Forgetting (Which is not yet submission ready anyway.)

My next project was going to be on spec anyway so this brings that process – of approaching agents/editors – a little sooner than planned.

This happens in publishing – I know a few people who struggled to get their rights back from imprints that folded so I know it won’t be overnight.

All the anthologies are still for sale and Seven Deadly Swords too. I shall be back with additional books soon!

It’s come at a strange time (obviously the Covid thing makes life very weird) while I’m close to completing a novel and also taking the opportunity of spending many weeks trapped indoors to have a period of reflection. I’ve taken a social media break (No Facebook or Twitter), which has lasted a week now and I’ve missed it a loss less than I thought I would. So I’m re-evaluating my relationship with those platforms and what I want to use them for. The reason I wanted a break was to concentrate on delivering a piece of writing, but also, as a secondary bonus, a method of becoming less distracted.

Like many writers I also have a day job, and I’m working from home. But the fact I no longer have a commute and am no longer going out means I have more time to write. But as many writers have already pointed out – living through a crisis makes it harder to write. Also at the beginning – before this became a new normal – I seemed to be busier with socialising (via video calls instead of in person) than I was before the lockdown. That has tailed off a little now. As my location has become static I’ve taken the opportunity to take life slower. I’ve been trying to build new habits and procrastinate less too.

So, this is bad news (some of my books no longer being available) but as the old adage has it – one door closes, and another opens. I’ll just have to find out where that other door is and steal a key or kick it down and now I think I’ve taken that image as far as it will go…

Before the lockdown I was lucky enough to attend (with my Festival of Literature hat on) a Penguin social event and picked up several ARCs (and being in lockdown has allowed me to read them) – I also got a couple of ARCs from those wonderful people at Titan.

I can thoroughly recommend The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams:

And Eden by Tim Lebbon

These are both great reads (and wildly different from each other obviously!)

Here’s hoping you stay safe – happy reading & happy writing!