Readings, Reviews and Other Such Riotous Revellery
Wow, what a hectic couple of weeks!
I’ve been delighted to receive some great reviews for Tourniquet from SFCrowsnest and from Conrad Williams in the forthcoming edition of Ink Magazine.
The SFCrowsnest review can be found here: http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/articles/books/2007/nz11486.php
Ink Magazine has an online presence at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=196164575 and will be launched at Fantasycon 2007.
And I didn’t even have to ply them with alcohol.
Furthermore, I had my first public reading/book launch at the Middle Bell, Barton, on Wednesday 1st of August. After a slosh of the hearty red stuff to calm the old nerves, I read from chapter three of Tourniquet to a decent sized crowd in a suitably red velveted, candlelit atmosphere. Afterwards, my good friend, Zena Burton, kindly took to the stage and gave me a damn good grilling, otherwise known as an interview. It was surprisingly good fun, as were the well thought out questions from the audience. The evening concluded with a competition to see who could get through the surplus free wine the quickest. I made a wonderful new friend in the form of Terry Stephenson, an ex-journo and Camden aficionado. It was also fantastic to have my lovely editor, Donna, at the event, and the inimitable Neil. All in all, it was a hell of an evening with friends and attendees in their gothic finery, and all caught on video. To be posted soon. You have been warned.
Other news. I am beyond excited about our annual holiday to Ireland, commencing later this week. The dark lord is of Irish decent and we like to make it to the homeland every year so that Scarlet has a grasp of her heritage – and we have an excuse to sample the Guinness and enjoy some toe-tapping fiddling. One shame is the timing. Unfortunately I will miss the launch of disLOCATIONS, the latest anthology from Newcon Press and the brain child of our dear friend, Ian Whates. It is an incredible anthology, featuring Ian himself and such names as Chaz Brenchley, Amanda Hemingway, Ken MacLeod and many more. But I’ll be willing Ian a belter of a launch from whichever fine drinking establishment I’m holed up in.
Talking of Ian, I was gutted to miss the latest British Science Fiction meet in London a couple of weeks ago. Del made it, alongside our friends, Sam and Paul, and was fortunate enough to see Ian interview the lovely Anne Sudworth. Anne is an artist and her paintings are breathtaking. If you haven’t come across Anne yet, this is her website: http://www.annesudworth.co.uk/
So, it’s a period of winding down for me. I have every intention of launching into Revelations, the next book in my Tales from the Renegade City series, directly after our holiday. For now though, I am enjoying reading Swaybuck, a novel by Scott F. Falkner, a very talented author and online friend (http://www.scottfalkner.com/) and am approaching the last 100 pages of Rob Mackellar’s fine debut, The Black Flame, (http://www.robmackellar.com/). It’s a strange feeling, having this chance to slow down. I’m finding myself wanting to sleep and sleep and sleep. But being the Arian I am, I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before I’m all fired up again and ready to roll, the industrial lushness of cyberpunk spilling up from my gut and splattering the page.
With that delightful image in mind, I’ll leave you to the sun, sin and sanity of summertime.
Bon voyage.
Love and dark light,
Kim Lakin-Smith
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