The day has arrived.

That reminds me of a delighful quote:

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.

“Today,” squeaked Piglet.

“My favourite day,” said Pooh.

One of my favourite days happened like this. As I puffed, riding my bicycle up a steep Welsh hill 5 years ago I had an original idea. WHat if amnesia was infectious? Then what if no one was immune. I researched like crazy for 4 months to discover a) there was no known medical event of infectious amnesia, and b) that the concept – especially with retrograde amnesia (lose say a year’s worth per day backwards) – hadn’t been used in published stories, nor on TV or film. It took a year to create the first 100k draft. I showed and discussed it with SF luminaries such as Jon C Grimwood, Charles Stross and US writer, Brad Linaweaver, who all endorsed it. Also to pal, Allan Guthrie, who is an agent, editor and author of hard-nosed crime. He wanted me to rewrite and tighten like crazy. So I joined the BSFA Orbiters and it went through SF members that way – very useful. An agent took it on. The 10th one I approached after many rejections on the grounds they liked the premise but it was me who they’d have trouble marketing because I’m not famous. After my second SF novel sold to Double Dragon Publishing, they would take ARIA but there are a few issues and I had hoped for a UK publisher. LL-Publications snapped at it last autumn and ARIA has its release tomorrow – August 1st 2012 – yeay. Signings and official launch yet to happen – probably in September. When LL-Publications sent ARIA to their editors, it went through its 5th revision. A week ago while reading the proof reviewer’s copy, I found a handful more typos! Hopefully it is good to go now. The second volume has gone through BSFA Orbiters and volume three is going through as we speak.

Title: ARIA: Left Luggage 
Author: Geoff Nelder
ISBN: 978-1-905091-95-9
Genre: Science Fiction
Publication Date: August 2012
Price: paperback  $14.99 (£9.99) e-book $5.99
Publisher: LL-Publications

Blurb:

Today, Jack caught a bug at work. He catches a bus home. By the time he disembarks in the desert town of Rosamond, all the other passengers and the driver have fuzzy heads. Jack had caught an amnesia bug, and it’s infectious.

Imagine the ramifications:

The passengers arrive home infecting family; some shop en route infecting everyone they meet. The bus driver receives more passengers giving them change for last week’s prices and today’s amnesia.  Some passengers just started work at the power plant, the water treatment works, the hospital, fire station.  All to shut in weeks.

Ryder realizes what’s going on but can he persuade friends to barricade themselves in a secluded valley, hiding from the amnesia bug?

Jon Courtenay Grimwood  – “Geoff Nelder inhabits Science Fiction the way other people inhabit their clothes.”

Robert J Sawyer calls ARIA a “fascinating project”.

“Geoff Nelder’s ARIA has the right stuff. He makes us ask the most important question in science fiction–the one about the true limits of personal responsibility.” – Brad Linaweaver.

“ARIA has an intriguing premise, and is written in a very accessible style.” – Mike Resnick.

Kindle – Amazon.com  http://www.amazon.com/ARIA-Left-Luggage-ebook/dp/B008RADGYC/

Paperback Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/ARIA-Left-Luggage-Volume-1/dp/1905091958/

Kindle – UK – http://www.amazon.co.uk/ARIA-Left-Luggage-ebook/dp/B008RADGYC/

Paperback UK  http://www.amazon.co.uk/ARIA-Left-Luggage-Geoff-Nelder/dp/1905091958/

Publisher’s website with more details and formats. http://www.ll-publications.com/leftluggage.html

Buy it quick before you run out of memory!

There will be signings, yet to be finalised. Watch this space.

Also watch that cover art – brilliantly conceived and executed by award-winning artist, Andy Bigwood.

Celebratory tea tonight!

Here’s the video trailer to beat all trailers Please watch it and tell me what you think?
http://youtu.be/oh0AAXIe8VU

How to Win Short Story Competitions

How to Win Short Story Competitions

A couple of years or so ago I travelled down to Exmouth on the south coast of England. No, I wasn’t there on holiday although I enjoyed strolling the beach in warm sunshine, pretending not to ogle bathing beauties. My main intention was not to visit the home of my dad and Rosemary, who’d lived in the town for a few years although I went along to spot any of his outdoor potted plants and chatted to their new owner about how my dad was doing having moved to Berwick-upon-Tweed before he moved again to Ledbury, and again to Peebles. No, I was there to meet up with Dave Haslett, the originator (with his wife, Kate) of Ideas4Writers, a great site full of ideas, writing engines, and a forum. We had both been judges of short story competitions and had entered many ourselves, winning some.  I’d just completed judging the Helen Whittaker Prize – a tough job as there were 9 rounds amounting to judging and writing a critique on hundreds of stories of many genres. Dave and I thought it would help other writers to pool our experiences. He brought a microphone and tape recorder and we set them up in the dining room of the hotel I was staying at in Exmouth. After judicious editing, and the inclusion of a sample story by the gifted Jonathan Pinnock, the booklet is ready to distribute to would-be competition winners. Get your copy on Kindle here. You can freely download a program to run Kindle books on your PC or Apple.

A pdf version is available from Ideas4Writers here.

Okay, now for another unexpected angle. The cover art has a story too. The medal is knitted. It was photographed with a page from Jonathan Pinnock’s winning tale as the background.  Only at the point of publication did Dave notice the word tosser could be read. Not wishing to offend it has been sufficiently airbrushed – haha.

Have my cake and read it

What a shock I had when today I visited my writer friend, Gladys Hobson, in Ulverston. Gladys and husband, Ralph, were hosting a luncheon meeting for writer, Les Floyd, his friend, Louis Willis, and me. It is always a pleasure to natter over publishing and writing with Gladys and Les but it is the first time those two had met each other. You could feel the warmth and mutual admiration in the atmophere. The big surprise for me was when Louise brought in a box. It was my birthday on bonfire night and knowing I’d had a humorous thriller, Escaping Reality, published. Louise had made me a cake in the form of a book!. Look >>>  it tastes as yummy chocolately as it looks. Thanks Louise!

For those who have yet to read Escaping Reality then peep at this link. Of course part of our discussion was on the bubble-wrap sex in the book, also on how the setting for the action is authentic to the geography of the Scottish Borders.

 This must be the first time I’ve taken a bite out of one of my books.

 

Gladys Hobson’s website showcasing her romance books and Northern Lights anthology in which Les Floyd has his famous humorous tale, Barnsely Bear, and I have a short story sequel to Escaping Reality.

Buy Escaping Reality at Amazon.co.uk

Chapbook ready

The chapbook of our UK Authors Away week in Carmarthenshire is now ready. It contains 46 pages of stories, poems and photos of our week including a science fiction story of mine.

Free pdf download of the 2010 UK Authors’ Away week in Wales

Print copy with River Teifi cover art

£7.20 + p&p

 The above has my favoured cover art of the Teifi River scene along which we often walked. An alternative cover art has a pussy cat on the front. The moggy is Chaplin, the resident cat at Penybanc where we stayed. I am convinced the mog is responsible for the allergic rhinitis I endured during the week so it’s not my favourite cover! However here it is for cat lovers

There are cheaper black and white photo versions of the chapbook here

There is no profit in the sale of these chapbooks.

In Absentia

A man thought he had amnesia but it turns out he is a little girl’s imaginary
friend. His urge to stay an entity is the story. Called In Absentia, the story
is the Editor’s Pick story of January 2010 at

http://www.thehorrorzine.com/Fiction/January/Geoff%20Nelder.html

It was critiqued at both the excellent Cafe Doom and the BSFA Orbiters group.

There’s a good reason for this image in the story.

Dimensions improved

Adventure Books of Seattle have released the science fiction anthology with stories from me and Robert  Blevins. There are two new stories in there in addition to re-edited versions from the first edition.

Amazon UK link

Amazon com

New Beekeeper

I have a new job, and the press release about to buzz is as follows:

BeWrite Books is delighted to break the exiting news that a new keeper will be tending the buzzing beehive when BB publisher Cait Myers leaves the company after ten years at the end of July for new adventures in far-flung places.

Geoff Nelder – based in Chester, England – is already working along with
Cait as she helps smooth the transition to be sure that BeWrite Books doesn’t falter in its established commitment to stability and reliability. And she’ll remain informally on call for several months to help keep the house in order while Geoff gets into his stride.

But Geoff – an award-winning author in his own right – is already well versed in many of the considerable duties Cait so expertly covered over the years. Qualified to handle accountancy and admin and with a firm grasp of modern technology and publishing practice, Geoff is also dynamic and innovative in the promotion and marketing of books, and a top-notch networker at important publishing events.

He accepted early retirement from his lifetime job as a senior educator recently so is now free to dedicate to his new position the time and energy it requires.

Geoff said: “I’m thrilled to be taking over – It’s a challenge to become the new Cait Myers.  I’ve been involved with, and have closely watched BeWrite’s development over the past ten years. Cait’s input and expertise has been impressive … and so modestly behind-the-scenes.

“We’re all old friends now. In fact, Editor Neil Marr is my daily online Scrabble opponent (it’s our coffee break from work). And, no, he doesn’t always win … he generously allows me success now and then.

“My first job, of course, is – with Cait’s kind help – to make sure there’s solid continuity so that the internal change-over at BB doesn’t adversely affect anyone, especially authors and readers. Later, when my learning curve levels, I’m sure I’ll brainstorm with the others and we’ll talk over new ideas to enhance the house. Maybe trying short-run, maybe opening the door to new genres and imprints. We’ll see.

“For now, I’m just happy to be here. BeWrite has always seemed more like a nuclear family than a business, so I feel a bit like I’ve been adopted. Others in the extended family are the authors and readers. I’ll try hard to be as welcoming to them as Cait has always been. She laid out the red carpet to them; I just have to keep it swept.”

BeWrite Books Editor, Neil Marr, said: “Sad as I am that Cait is moving on, I’m tickled pink to now be working with Geoff at the helm. We’ve been friends for years and – not only because he often beats me in online Scrabble – I have unbounded confidence in him as a wordsmith and administrator. Cait is leaving the house she helped create in capable hands.

“We’ll share an interesting future. And I know our warm stable of authors and editors will very quickly take Geoff to heart. Apart from being so darned efficient that it’s frightening, he’s one of the nicest chaps on this third rock from the sun.”

Cait, who is leaving her BB Munich desk for new, international adventures, said: “It’s sad to be leaving BeWrite Books after all this time, it has really felt like a family. I wish everyone the best of luck with their projects and look forward to reading lots more excellent books from BeWrite.”

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF GEOFF NELDER

Geoff Nelder lives in the ancient and quaint English city of Chester. Born in Germany to British parents, he has lived all but four years of his life in England.

A former high school teacher of geography and information technology, Geoff has had non-fiction books on microclimates in the UK published along with several articles in academic journals such as Weather, Geographical Magazine and the Times Educational Supplement. Geoff is a part-time journalist contributing humorous travel accounts to Cycling World.

His love of teaching and the environment is reflected in his Bachelor of Education degree and Master of Science for climatology, research for which he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Meteorological Society. More important to him is his family. His physicist wife is invaluable for her love but also helps in the technical aspects of Geoff’s science fiction writing. They have two grown children, whose intelligence and warmth go beyond Geoff’s expectations. Now they’ve started to collect grandchildren, too.

Geoff has had many short stories widely published and won a commendation for a story in the Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Competition. Besides his 2005 released humour novel, Escaping Reality, published by Brambling Books, he won a Prix d’Argent in 2007 and the Prix d’Or in 2009 for mystery thriller, Hot Air, to be published by a Dutch Arts Academy in 2009, and a Science Fiction novel, Left Luggage, is in the hands of an agent. Double Dragon Publishing published Geoff’s Exit, Pursued by a Bee science fiction mystery in 2008.

Geoff is a co-editor for Adventure Books of Seattle, working mainly on Escape Velocity, a print and ezine magazine of science fact and fiction. He has been a freelance editor of novels and short stories for several years. He is also the 2009 short-fiction judge for the Whittaker Prize.

Ends/nm

Kind Cait is holding my hand for a few weeks while she teaches me the administrative techniques. Incredibly looking forward to being with BeWrite after extolling their marvelous books for so many years – just pop along to http://www.bewrite.net to see what I mean. I’m also eager to represent BeWrite Books at Book Fairs in Frankfurt, London, the US, Wigan  & Leigh and at the SF conventions I attend for Adventure Books of Seattle.

Borders book signing

I don’t know why writers put ourselves through this humiliating process. I am to sit at a table near the open door of the Cheshire Oaks Borders book shop tomorrow to sign Exit, Pursued by a Bee. Wrap up well, is the advice from the events manager, wise words for the soul as well as skin. There are enough books for 20 or so people but more than that and I’ll be signing IOUs. In the unlikely event of running out the shop has copies of my humorous thriller, Escaping Reality, so there’ll be no excuse for anyone to go home without one of my books! Hah, who am I kidding? Anyway, I know some folk who said they’ll definitely come along to support me so I won’t be lonely all day. One of them is Brian Lux, retired dentist who now lives in Llandudno. He has to be there because he is signing his own book, Court of Foxes. It is a children’s / teen book and expects to sell shelf-fulls. Perhaps I ought to cut out the sex and add more violence so I can call my books childrens.

I’ve been interviewed (again) this time by Ambrose Musiyiwa, and it is at Oh My News today.

It is also scheduled to appear on Conversations with Writers and New Writing International. The latter is where my favourite excerpt from Exit, Pursued by a Bee waits for readers. excerpt here

I’ve nearly finished a new short story, Most Unwanted. Based on the FBI Most Wanted list of fugitives and inspired by a woman who turned in a man on the list, this is based on another planet in the future and with trust, betrayal, eroticism and all sorts built in. I wanted it to be ready for the Cafe Doom crit week starting this monday. I thought I’d finished it two days ago because I’d read the max word limit for a scifi competition was 800 words. I’d lacerated dead text, then sliced off barely alive settings and killed off characters to pare it to 800. Now I find it is actually 8000 words max! Arrgh. 800 is far too short for a comp asking for 8k as max, so back in go resurrected characters. It’s hard doing that without it feeling artificial so I’m glad I have the Cafe Doom crit group to be hard on it first.

North Gully, Tryfan

John took this one of me scrambling up Tryfan’s North Gully. I look red in the face but I’m proud of myself

Note: this page in my blog gets more hits than any other page – even more than the ones I shamelessly advertise to sell my books.