I'm in a David Walliams sandwich....

Love... From Both Sides is doing so well at Amazon right now that I find myself in a David Walliams sandwich in the humour chart:

It's very nice and snug, but the bastard had better buy me breakfast in the morning, that's all I can say...

The Cornerstone 2: Cornerstone Harder.

Writing a sequel is both a joy and a right pain in the you-know-what.

It's a joy because you largely got all that tedious exposition and world building stuff out the way, but a pain because you have to make sure what you're writing isn't a rehash of the first book.

Due to this, I'm doing something I never did with The Cornerstone, and plotting the sequel.

Not too heavily, mind... There's nothing worse than painting yourself into a box you then struggle to get yourself out of 2oo pages down the line. If you structure everything too much at the outset, you can suffocate any creativity, and the most fun about writing for me is thinking things up on the spur of the moment and weaving them into the story.

...But I've conceded that I have to do a bit of forward planning this time - if only in terms of the overall story arc and vital elements to the story. After all, I have a successful book to live up to now, so the seat-of-the-pants approach probably isn't the way to go :)

The most important element in a fantasy story like this is of course your villain. I have to follow Morodai and the Dwellers with something as good (if not better), so I'm choosing someone with a more personal connection to Max. This should set up a very different dynamic than the first book, where Max was pretty much fighting amorphous, monstrous entities - and a villain with a very simple agenda. This time round he's going to be up against something that's going to get under his skin a lot more... The conflict between them should sizzle.

The sequel's also going to expand on the Chapter Lands, which I'm looking forward to doing as the pace of the first book necessitated a rather 'broad strokes' approach, so I couldn't get further into how the Chapter World operated. The sequel will be more concentrated on the Carvallen Chapter Lands and its denizens, which will give you a better idea of how the place runs as a society. Don't worry though, I'm not about to start printing maps and glossaries. I'm a fantasy writer, not a cartographer!

Pretty much every main character from the first book will be coming back... mainly because I'm quite attached to them, and I've thankfully thought of a way to bring them all into it again that doesn't seem forced and unrealistic (I hope!) ...and that includes Nugget the dog, who, if I'm being brutally honest, is probably my favourite character other than Max.

Timescale-wise, I'd like to get a first draft finished by the beginning of Summer and a release before autumn, but we'll have to see how it goes. I'm already feeling that the story of this book might be a bit more complicated than the first, so it may take more time to get it absolutely right and singing the right notes :)

For those of you that enjoyed the first book, I very much hope you'll like the second when it's finished. It's thanks to you that I'm writing it in the first place!

As I go along, I'll try to post more thoughts and updates here about its progress, as well as some developments with the first book The Cornerstone that are currently in the pipeline.

Best wishes,

Nick.

Bloggers, blogging, blog-rolls, blogosphere, bloggity, bloggity, bloggity.

So I've just spent a constructive hour or so contacting book bloggers in the US about reviewing The Cornerstone, figuring it might be a good way to promote the book and rustle up some interest state-side.

I only finished contacting the ones beginning with 'B'. There's an awful lot of people out there reviewing books, and good on 'em I say. Without word of mouth like that, us authors (unknown and famous) would be nowhere. I'll get round to the rest of the alphabet when my eyes uncross again.

Hopefully a few of them might want to review the book for me, and help push sales up in the US a bit.

If you know anyone with a book blog who might be interested in reviewing The Cornerstone, by all means let me know :)

Are you Australian? If so, can I sell you my books?

I'm noticing from the blog's stats that a lot of Aussies seem to be visiting the blog. This probably has something to do with the fact I'm currently in Queensland and Blogger is localising the blog to here instead of the UK.

If you are Australian, then I feel quite sorry for you. Okay, you may have a gorgeous country, friendly people, a strong economy and the best peanut butter I've ever tasted... but you haven't got your own Amazon, have you?

As a Kindle author I'm naturally interested in who shops at Amazon (whatever country I happen to be in) and I can't believe there isn't an Amazon Australia. You poor buggers have to import everything from the USA as far as I can see.

If any of you are Aussies and own a Kindle I'd be interested in hearing about how easy it is for you to buy books on your device from this country. I get the feeling that there's a lot of overlooked Aussie readers out there, and I'd like to be able to promote my books to them, but I'm not sure if the market is big enough as yet.

So by all means leave a comment or email me with your thoughts if you like...

Fair dinkum.

Nick

Spalding's Racket relaunched! New look, new content... same old bloody Spalding.

I thought the blog could do with a much needed overhaul and change of direction, so here's your all singing, all dancing, new look Spalding's Racket!

The site is now all about me. ...which feeds my fragile ego nicely.

I'll be providing regular updates here on the status of my writing, including new projects and what's happening with the books that are out now. I'll also post on whatever topics happen to spring to mind, so be prepared for the usual long-winded rants and opinionated rubbish from your favourite humour writer :)

Thanks very much for visiting. Please follow the blog and add me on Twitter and Facebook to keep updated with all things Spalding.

Nick.

Dogs Of War free until Sunday

At Amazon UK and Amazon USA:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dogs-Of-War-ebook/dp/B006IRH61A

http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Of-War-ebook/dp/B006IRH61A

In time for Xmas... my new short story!!

DOGS OF WAR

Giving interactive gameplay a whole new meaning…

Disaster.
Epic. Huge. Unmitigated. Disaster.

Zack Hampton’s beloved Gamestation console has just committed electronic suicide - right in the middle of a hectic Dogs Of War Team Deathmatch.
Where the hell is he supposed to find another one the week before Christmas? All the shops have sold out!
Imagine Zack’s delight when he stumbles on a quaint Christmas shop, run by the enigmatic Mister Fix… and discovers a unique ‘special edition’ Gamestation on sale for a bargain price.
Following a very strange conversation with the old shopkeeper, the teenager buys the console and rushes home to rejoin the online mayhem as quickly as possible.

This Gamestation really is very special though - and Zack is about to take part in a game of Dogs Of War he is never going to forget…

Available at:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Smashwords

You know you've made it when...

...you're next to the top man in light entertainment - Mr Alan Partridge :)

A-ha!!

The Cornerstone is awarded as one of Amazon's Best Books Of 2011!

I’m delighted to say The Cornerstone has been awarded as one of Amazon UK’s ‘Best Books Of 2011’ in the Kindle Customer Favourites category.

Here's the screen grab for proof!

The feature can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/dxaruhv

The Cornerstone featured at Daily Cheap Reads UK

The Cornerstone is featured at Daily Cheap Reads UK today :) Click the link to go to the site. It's full of great bargains!

http://dailycheapreads.co.uk/