Like most of us, I was glad to see the end of 2021, hoping that the COVID-19 wave is behind us – only to see Omicron take over. This may be the end of the pandemic, given that it is dominating and seems to be mild, so fingers crossed. I contracted Omicron 3 weeks ago and can attest to the fact that if you are fully vaccinated, and reasonably healthy, COVID-19 is generally a mild, transient illness.
Anyway, my week of isolation allowed me to reflect on all things ‘writy’ over the last year. The highlight was of course seeing TRINITY EVOLUTION win the bronze medal for science fiction in the GLOBAL BOOK AWARDS.
The week of locking myself away also allowed me to finish HARBINGER, a new standalone novel of which I am very proud. Themes include: The nature of self and identity and consciousness, the fragility of human civilisation, the directions existing technology could take, a perceived hierarchy of existence, grief and love, and our adaptability as a species.
To get a free sample [basically the prologue and the first two chapters, click on the links on the pages]. This time I am going to try and get representation, and a publisher. Self publishing is very hard, and marketing / promotion is time-consuming, expensive to get right, and, to be honest, I haven’t had the time. I still have a full time job as a cancer specialist and of course my patients have always come first.
Now that HARBINGER is finished, it is on with the next project. I am currently sketching out the arc for a new book set >200 years in the future and which may be kind of space opera ‘whodunit’. With robots … oh and big themes, ‘natch!