You would think that 50 bikes lined up outside would have worried these people, wouldn't you?
My forthcoming fantasy novel FALLEN receives a Starred Review in this week's issue of Publishers Weekly. I'm thrilled, as this is my first starred PW review. Here's an extract:
"Lebbon creates vivid and convincing major and minor characters, places and creatures, blending wonder and nightmare in this dark and memorable novel."
You can see the full review here (scroll down to the SF/Fantasy/Horror reviews).
FALLEN is released at the end of April, but it's up for pre-order at Amazon and other online booksellers. Pre-orders are good. I like pre-orders. There are extracts and other stuff at the dedicated Noreela website - check it out. A brand new FALLEN extract will go live soon!
Well, this may surprise a few of you: I've just entered the Cardiff Half Marathon, to be held Octobr 19th this year. 13.1 miles. Bloody hell.
If you know me, you'll know that I enjoy the occasional pint or two at conventions, an Indian meal, and have been known to puff on a cigarette, said cigarettes usually nicked from Guy Adams or Michael Marshall Smith. But after Christmas this year I hit 14 stones (196 lbs for my America friends), and decided enough was enough. So I started eating well, stayed off the booze for January (as much a personal challenge as anything else), and started running and cycling regularly. The result of which is that I dropped 16 lbs and now feel better than I have for years!
Yes, still enjoy a bottle of wine whilst watching a movie (last night it was THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND). But yesterday I also bought some decent running shoes (there goes my next book advance) and entered online for the half marathon ... again, a personal challenge as much as anyting else.
Or maybe it's just a mid-life crisis.
So anyway, when the time comes, I'll be inviting sponsors for the World Wildlife Fund (nature's been good to us and we've fucked it up, so now it's paypback time ... hey, that could be the tagline for the next straight-to-dvd Steven Segal movie!). And in the meantime, I'll get my running shoes on.
Oh, and I've already received one 'Run Fatboy Run' email. Any more, and I know people who can make it happen the sender is never heard from again.
Tim
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The Blair With Project with a budget, that was my first thought about Cloverfield when the buzz first started about a year ago. And in some ways, after watching the movie, I was right. It had the internet buzzing, producing its own publicity (a Power-rangers movie???). It was filmed entirely from the POV of a small group of people. And it was groundbreaking.
What a movie. I loved it. I won't go into any spoilers here, but I think it's probably one of the first 'blockbusters' where the makers didn't feel the need to really explain anything of what was going on. That's refreshing, because movies like this usually concentrate on the scientists, the military and the concerned B-actor playing the American President. Instead, we get a bunch of young people, fighting for their lives and the lives of those they love. Surprising, shocking, and tense as hell, this is truly a movie you need to see on the big screen.
Work wise, I've been working hard all week on the rewrites and edits for my fourth Noreela novel, THE ISLAND, and it's coming along really well.
My Noreela website has undergone a big update prior to the release of FALLEN at the end of April - check it out here. First major review of FALLEN is incoming next week, and I've had advance notice that it's a corker - I'll post a link here as soon as it's up.
And for my British readers, some very exciting news is on the way. Exciting for me, too! As ever, watch this space.
Tim
It was like hiring the Sex Pistols to provide entertainment at your sister's wedding. From the outside, Brangwyn Hall looks like a hundred other large town halls, complete with clock tower, and it was the last place in the world where I'd have expected to see the Dropkick Murphys. Hell, the main hall even had huge chandeliers!
Once inside, though, it was all down to the music.
My mate Gareth and I turned up early and sank a couple of pints at a nice pub down the road. Good job too - the bar at the hall was ten deep, and by the time I'd got there I'd already had several power naps and been carried forward by the crowd. Bought as much Guinness as I could hold, then reversed back into the hall.
I love the Dropkick Murphys. They're one of the most exciting bands to watch live, and I've seen hundreds. I was like a kid on Christmas morning as their intro tape played in ... and then they burst on stage and launched into the first song. Took me ... maybe twenty seconds until I could identify the track, the sound was that bad.
It barely improved for the rest of the gig. Maybe the place had terrible acoustics, I don't know, but it was one of the worst sounds I've heard at a gig in years.
But it only detracted slightly from my enjoyment. The band gave it all, pounding through some new songs as well as many old favourites: State of Massachusettes, The Dirty Glass, Fields of Athenry, Your Spirit's Alive, Kiss me I'm Shitfaced, and many more greats. The highlight for me was when they played Worker Song, then launched straight into the gut-poundingly brilliant Flannigan's Ball (surely one of their very best). As always happens as a band grows older, there were songs I'd have like to have heard which they didn't play (Blackout, Spicy, Fortunate Son), but I really can't complain. Alcohol as last song, anyone? Fucking classic.
Next ....... my mission for June is to get to see Flogging Molly.
And my dream gig, one of these days, is to see the two of them on the same bill, maybe with Stiff Little Fingers. Oh yeah.
Let's go Murphys!!!
Here's a great new review for A Whisper of Southern Lights. Nice to see it's going down so well. If you want to pre-order direct from the publisher, go here, but hurry ... not many copies left!
Saw the Dropkick Murphys last night ... full review will be posted tomorrow!
I'm a happy puppy right now ... on Thursday night I'm off to see Dropkick Murphys in concert! One of my favourite bands, and I'm moshing already, much to my kids' bemusement. Full report on Friday! Also, check out my Noreela Website, which has been hugely updated thanks to the very wonderful Deena Warner.
I've read a couple of stunning books lately:
EVERY DEAD THING by John Connolly - took me a long time to try this writer's work, but this book just blew me away. Brutal, heartfelt, thrilling, there were two or three places where I had to stop reading and just sit back and think about what I'd read. I can't wait to read more of his work.
THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy - I finished this book about 5 minutes ago. It's shattering, and horrific, and quite beautiful, too. It made me cry more than once, and this is a book I'm going to remember for a long, long time.
I'm delighted to announce that I've won the Editor's Choice in the Best Dark Scribble category of the Dark Scribe Awards. It was for my story Discovering Ghosts, which was published in Postscripts 10.
Dark Scribe Magazine is well worth a look - it contains some great interviews, reviews and features.
There's a 'tea break interview' with me up now on the British Fantasy Society website. It's concerned mainly with my fantasy novels and novellas set in Noreela, and was conducted quite soon after I won the British Fantasy Award for DUSK.
Paul Kane has just conducted two new interviews with me. One of them will be in the next issue of Shroud Magazine, along with his review of my forthcoming 'A Whisper of Southern Lights':
"The overall story arc is an epic one, and yet Lebbon doesn't forget the little details, the nuances. And his descriptions, as usual, are first rate."
The second interview appears on Paul's very own excellent Shadow Writer site. Hear about old stuff, and there are also hints about new stuff to come...
This is a great publisher, and I really can't recommend them enough. And of course, as the press release mentions, I'm doing something with them this year. Something that I'm very, very excited about.
So watch ... listen ... for Humdrumming is a name you will all know very, very soon.
Press Release:
"Independent UK publishers Humdrumming have been steadily gathering a name for themselves over the last three years publishing attractive books by such respected authors as Mark Morris, Garry Kilworth, Gary Fry, Gary McMahon and James Cooper. As 2008 promises to be their biggest year yet (with new titles from Rhys Hughes, Peter Crowther and Tim Lebbon lying ahead) they have relaunched their website and are offering a sale on a number of their books. There are a handful of titles at only five pounds – including their much lauded First Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories – with further books at discount prices including their expanded reprints of Mark Morris’ Toady and Stitch at ten pounds each (a third off retail). The sale will only last 14 days so head over to www.humdrumming.co.uk and pick up a bargain! The new site also features an option to join the Humdrumming mailing list. Members will receive early notification of forthcoming titles and occasional special offers so it's well worth signing up."
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