Daynote - Mon 26th Aug 2024 - Goldsboro Special Edition!

We've just announced that A RELUCTANT SPY has been selected as the launch title (ahhh) for Goldsboro Book's new crime and thriller subscription box, 'Crime Collective'. I have been sitting on this news for a few weeks, so it's really awesome to be able to talk about it.

Subscribers to the Crime Collective will get a signed, limited edition hardback of my debut novel, with a red placekeeper ribbon and custom Crime Collective endpapers. And not only that, but they'll be signing up to get a new crime or thriller novel every month from Goldsboro, for just £20 a month. And (though I'm obviously biased, having just been picked), Goldsboro are experts in picking out some of the best new books around and producing these incredible special editions.

This announcement is also coming on top of the news yesterday that my launch event at Blackwell's in Edinburgh is apparently sold out, which is completely wild. I'm double-checking if this is actually a real thing or just some kind of Eventbrite glitch, but I'm pretty stoked as you can imagine. I think one of the recurring nightmares of any debut author are events where nobody comes, but it seems (thank goodness) that absolutely won't be the case for my launch. Which is, quite honestly, a huge relief.

ON DECK: I've been taking a break from writing for the past week, mostly to prepare myself for the avalanche of stuff that's coming in the next few months. It's been lovely. I'm technically still on holiday because in my dayjob I work for a company headquartered in England and today is a bank holiday down there, but I wanted to get a full week of writing sessions this week, so I got a pleasantly chunky 1,474 words on Ridealong, my new novelette. I've decided to get it finished before cracking on with the sample for PROJECT SCARLET, just to mentally clear the decks. More on that below.

LISTENING: I've listened to this 'split brain' version of the song 'Dopamine' by madelline a bunch of times and every time I do it breaks my ears a little bit more - it's French in one ear and English in the other. It's very fun.

WATCHING: We started GRISELDA on Netflix last night and watched a couple of episodes. It's interesting to me how it doesn't rely at all on the kind of time-lapse voiceover narration that shows like NARCOS and films like GOODFELLAS use to show the passage of time and progression of a life of crime. Instead it's all in the moment and in the scenes. And wow, a lot happens in the first couple of episodes. Recommended.

READING: I started reading NINTH LIFE by Stark Holborn, the third in the Factus series and boy howdy it is very, very good. I've met Stark a few times at various SFF events in the UK and now own a complete signed series, and I credit this series with getting me out of the worst reading slump of my life AND kicking off the writing and editing routine that got me an agent, a book deal and now, apparently, special editions. TEN LOW, the first in the series, was like an electrical jolt to my brain. And NINTH LIFE is even better.

UP NEXT: It's going to be a busy few weeks. After a great discussion with my agent Harry, I now have a plan for PROJECT SHARD. I'm aiming to get that edited hopefully to go on submission towards the end of the year. But first I'm going to finish this novelette and get a sample written for PROJECT SCARLET, which should take me up to my launch date or thereabouts. Then SHARD editing and, hopefully by Christmas, a clear idea of what the first few months of 2025 will look like.