Infectious Amnesia Wins Award

Yeay – and huge thanks and e-hugs to all my readers and strangers alike who voted for ARIA: Left Luggage to be the best science fiction novel 2012 in the P&E Award.

The fancypants emblem is above. I might have it tattoed on my … erm forehead? Backside? Hey not a bad idea, it would hide my scoliosis.

Now I need to send press releases and trust local and national press will print more than a square inch. The few newspapers for North Wales have already said they are not covering it because I live in Chester and at 40 minutes drive it is too far to count as local. They won’t listen to the fact that half of ARIA: Left Luggage is set in North Wales. Ho hum. Please someone… lean on them!

For your amusement here is my press release. If you like you can send it to … anywhere!

A British author, Geoff Nelder, won an American award in the world of science fiction this January. His book, ARIA, has won the coveted Readers’ Poll run annually by the Preditors & Editors organisation in the US. The first volume of the trilogy, ARIA: Left Luggage, published by LL-Publications, came first out of 85 novels in the category of science fiction and fantasy. ARIA has caught the imagination of readers worldwide as it is the only book to have used the idea of amnesia being infectious. In the story, no one is immune from the infectious amnesia and people lose memory backwards at an alarming rate forgetting where they live, their jobs and eventually how to write, read and speak. A few isolate themselves in a North Wales valley hoping to survive and fight back at the perpetrators of the virus.

There are some chapters based on the apocalyptic nature of the Alien Retrograde Infectious Amnesia (ARIA) and its effects on social, emotional and other aspects such as what happens when the gorilla’s keeper at Chester Zoo succumbs to the infectious amnesia.

Geoff was a teacher at Queen’s Park High School, Chester for over 20 years and still lives within the school catchment in Westminster Park. He became a writer and editor since leaving the school and now three of his novels have won awards. They, including ARIA, are for sale at the Bluecoat Bookshop 1, City Walls, Northgate as well as on Amazon. Links are:

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

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I’ve just spotted the final entry in my blog tour is up and running at http://lesism.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/my-friend-mentor-geoff-nelder.html  Thanks Les!!

Blogging the blog fantastic

How often should you blog to keep readers interested and the search engines buzzing? I’ve been reading advice on this from the LL-Publication blog here and I should be posting new pages twice or three times a week. Once a week is usually all I can manage because I am a writer, grandpappy, hiker, cyclist, and house-husband. I don’t want to scribble blogs for their one sake. This month is exciting blogwise, because I am traveling on a blog tour for my ARIA: Left Luggage book.

At the beginning of the month I was on the delectable Suzanne McLeod’s blog here, with a piece on coincidences. I note she has around 2 or 3 blog posts per week. This week should have been the turn of Les Floyd on his Lesism blog. Sadly, Les is ill in hospital after a spontaneous pneumothorax resulting in a collapsed lung. Hope you are getting better, Les. He said he’ll post my blog piece when he gets out and finds it in his three million or so emails!

Meanwhile the superb award-winning writer, Jonathan Pinnock hosts a blog piece of mine at http://www.jonathanpinnock.com/ later today. BTW Jonathan has been shortlisted AGAIN for the prestigious Bridport Prize for short stories. Congrats, Jon. I like that he says he doesn’t quite understand his stoy (if I understood it correctly). Haha, how many of my critiquers at the BSFA Orbiters complain that I haven’t explained everything? Well, not many but yahoo anyway. Ah, now I can tag the words Bridport Prize and attract thousands of hits to this blog, although it’s Jonathan’s blog that is more deserving. Haha.

My piece on Jonathan’s blog is The Lure of Bridges. I have a cartoon there of wind blowing me around on top of the Grosvenor Bridge in Chester. Last night that bridge was closed because an attempted suicide chap was being talked down. By chance I’d forgotten my blog piece was about bridges when I posted about Grosvenor Bridge this morning on facebook. Lo and behold there is my cartoon! To think my blog piece for Suzanne McLeod was on Coincidences! You can’t make it up.

I went for a cycle ride this morning and didn’t like it – shock! The sun was out – hooray, but too low and in my eyes – boo. My prescription sunshades from Optilabs (come on send me a free pair for the plug) are great, filtering out the harsh glare but I worried about drivers coming up behind me. Are they wearing shades? Can they see me? It reminded me why I like booking a week in the Mediterranean for a cycling hol as I did last autumn. I was wondering whether to celebrate my upcoming birthday on Guy Fawkes, cycling the TT race circuit on the Isle of Man, but it would either be raining or the sun would be low. Grrr. Also I can’t find an IOM cycle dealer who can rent me a carbon fibre road bike. I could take my own Dawes Super Galaxy but it takes away some of the pleasure of riding a superlight bike for a few days. An alternative celebration is do something related to my other interest of hiking AND ARIA: Left Luggage. Much of the book is set in the Anafon valley in North Wales. I have a yearning to catch a train to Llanfairfechan (love saying that to the ticket office) and walk, via Anafon and a Roman road, back home to Chester. 60+ miles over hilly terrain. About four days at my pace, especially if I took tent, sleeping bag and food. I might cheat and use guest houses – there’s only one youth hostel en route. Here’s a pic of that Anafon valley. Read ARIA: Left Luggage if you want to see how I use that valley! You’ve not seen this photo of this ‘hidden’ valley before. It’s taken by me from near the summit of Drum. To the right – East- is the Roman road, Anglesey is in the distance. Anafon lake is visible only visited by me and a few fishermen … until they had amnesia and forgot it…

Coming back home

Spent a splendid week in the Northern Lake District. Some family members warned of ongoing winter weather and we did see snow on the first full day but all it did was to enhance the look of the mountains. We walked up by Carling Knott to hike around and above Holme Wood and back along the lesser known Loweswater Lake. Cool weather but the exertion warmed us as did the views. Of course Keswick was as delightful as ever and wife enjoyed her fish and chip dinners. Sadly, we found the tea and fancy cakes at Brysons’ to be not up to their usual high standards. More hikes in Borrowdale and finding little cafes such as in Grange, more than made up for Brysons’ shortcomings.

The photo is taken on the eastern shore of Derwent Water and shows an unusual sculpture. A large rock split in half and a maze-like carving on the polished faces. It’s known as the Centenary Stone – details here

I visited a pal, Les Floyd, at his home in Carlisle where we caught up with each other’s writing news, and publishing. Good to meet again his mum and brother.

I popped into Waterstones books in Carlisle where the manager invited me back to do a book signing once ARIA is published. Also he’ll stock Exit, Pursued by a Bee – yeay!

Speaking of Exit, I found while I was away that it was the highlighted book at Beyond Worlds here  Brilliant!

Part of the holiday was for Gaynor to get on writing her Masters and me with ARIA volume 3. Both of us succeeded in both hiking, writing, and resting.

Acknowledgements for ARIA

ARIA is the new name for my science fiction trilogy of which the first is called Left Luggage. ARIA is an acronym of a amnesia-creating virus released from a case left on the struts of the International Space Station. The book is being published in 2012 by LL-Publications and I thought carefully over the last few days to write a page of acknowledgements. That page is in its first draft but I will post it here because it astonished me how many writers, some famous, have been involved. There have been other folk who I have not named, and who have encouraged me over the years though they have not actually read the manuscript. In particular Gladys Hobson and Brian Withecombe. Like me they had a literary agent, Christopher Hill, who was a sham. He reported to me with detailed progress reports of how Left Luggage attracted interest at HarperCollins and Crown publishers. I was offered a five-figure advance, as were many of his other clients. Sadly, it was all in Hill’s demented mind. He’d not sent our books anywhere and he’d sat in his Edinburgh home in a kind of Walter Mitty stew. I’d even met him over dinner at an Edinburgh hotel and he was smartly dressed, spoke eloquently, and seemed well-educated – all the attributes of what I imagined a literary agent should be. Except he wasn’t as over 60 of his “clients” found out. Many of us belong to a Beyond Hill yahoo group and have had our successes in spite of or maybe because of that weird experience.

So here is the first draft of my acknowledgements page. Feel free to shout if I have missed you or erred.

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This novel would not have been possible without Daisy. Her twenty-four gears allowed my legs to rotate up the Welsh slope of Horseshoe Pass near Llangollen making my heart thump so fast my brain – freshly oxygenated – buzzed with an original idea. It was such a novel concept I dismounted at the summit, rushed into the Ponderosa Café and demanded a scrap of paper and a pencil. Thus ARIA was born.

I have trawled files to trigger my memory of all those editors, friends and critiquers who sculpted then polished ARIA to the diamond it now is. Any flaws are not their fault but mine.

The first real editor to lacerate my script and teach me about Point of View and strong characters is Doug Watts from the Jacqui Bennet Writing Bureau. My Hollywood-based pal, Jessie Lilley-Campbell helped me with Americanisms and pushed Left Luggage under the nose of Brad Linaweaver ¹, (Battlestar Gallactica co-writer) who endorsed it. Each chapter cranked their way through the tough critique group of the British Science Fiction Association’s Orbiters including Terry Jackman, Mark Iles, James Bloomer and Ian Clark. Encouragement came from award-winning SF writer Jon Courtenay Grimwood², and Stargate novel writer, Sonny Whitelaw. Urging me on were publisher Neil Marr of BeWrite Books, friend and guru Les Floyd, American writing tutor and award-winning writer, M. Kenyon Charboneaux³, and my American literary agent and friend, Rebecca Pratt. A wonderful writer in her own right, Bec Zugor, advised me on the Italian language uttered by mad Doctor Antonio Menzies. Louise Bolotin of the editing services, Plain Text, helped me with early chapters and query letters.

After all that help, and from too-many-to-mention-others, surely the manuscript would be perfect? Ha ha, but then I sent it to friend, hard-nosed crime writer, and agent, Allan Guthrie. Whoa! Advice from the world expert on pleonasms and tight narrative meant that I started over again.

During this time other novels and over fifty short stories had fled my fingers onto the world, so my style evolved, and is still developing. Perhaps it is in the bronze age now. In the last minutes Zetta Brown and Billye Johnson tweaked and poked ARIA further. Thanks to them and everyone.

None of this would have been possible if my wife had insisted I went out and found a proper job after I left teaching, so ultimate thanks to Gaynor and to my ever-tolerant grown-up kids, Eleanor and Rob. Above all they understand that when I am staring out of the window, I am really working.

NB the image is my sketch potential cover art.

¹ “In Left Luggage Geoff Nelder asks the most important questions of life.”

² “Geoff Nelder wears science fiction like other people wear clothes.”

³ “Memento meets the Twilight Zone.”

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

Prestwick and Bicycle clips

Prestwick – a three plane book, but only one can land – is the first thriller to be launched at BeWrite Books as I arrived. Written by David Hough, it’s a cliff-hanger great read and you can find details here.

Bicycle Clips: Warm pre-breakfast bike ride this morning. 20 Celsius so I didn’t really need my flourescent yellow shower proof jacket. I had to stop and tuck it on top of my panniers. At least it added  to visibility for motorists charging up behind me. Actually there weren’t many. I choose quiet rural lanes so that it is mainly tractors and other cyclists who overtake me. On busier roads I’ve slipped into the habit of switching on my rear LED even in daytime. I use the rolling light mode cos the straight on / off flash seems annoying to me. To my surprise having the rear light on does seem to make overtaking drivers keep back more until it is safer and to overtake farther from my elbow. Maybe they think I must be such an amateur and so keep their distance.

With mixed feelings I’ve finished the first and second draft of  magic realism fantasy, Xaghra’s Revenge. It’s based on the true mass-abduction of the Mediterranean island of Gozo in 1551 by pirates, and the fictional retribution. Immense satisfaction in doing the research on Gozo and Malta, and in the writing. It’s been lacerated by my fellow critquers in the BSFA Orbiters and is being given another close read  by Les Floyd. I’ve sent a synopsis and three chaps to my US agent, but now thinking it might be better published by a UK or European publisher.  I’ve a feeling the Americans know little about the Maltese islands whereas Brits and Germans use it as their sunshine location.

Exit, Pursued by a Bee is still selling online. Also at Borders in Cheshire Oaks and hey, I have a book signing in Waterstones, Trafford Centre, Manchester on Saturday August 15th 1-4pm. There will be sweets. Because Exit has metallic spheres emerging from the Earth, I need spherical silver confectionary. Sadly the nearest I can find are white chocolate Maltesers and Imperial Mints. I wonder if they gather time too? Come along to my signing, even if only for a natter, point and laugh.

Buy one get one free

I am experimenting with the over-used sales gimmick, buy one get one free. So I’ve posted the following ad at a couple of science fiction and fantasy forums.

The book and ebook, which messes with time and has been described as Stephen King meets Mr Bean now comes with a free e-book of Escape Velocity magazine.

 

It’s all happening at DDP so click on over there to the Exit, Pursued by a Bee page at

 

http://tinyurl.com/5u4st8

 

Most of my shopping travelling is done by bike so it is annoying to have to lug away two large bottles of single malt when one for half-price is fine. However, it is a bit different when we can offer a free copy of an excellent science fiction magazine, Escape Velocity issue #2 and a copy of Exit all for the price of a double-whisky.

 

Work is also going on to create a video trailer for Exit. Kim McDougall in Pennsylvania is putting it together as we speak. Ideally, I’d like to have a few seconds of the Kaiser Chiefs playing Oh My God during the video. The lyrics

‘Cos all I wanted to be
Is a million miles from here
Somewhere more familiar
Oh my god I can’t believe it
I’ve never been this far away from home’

Are perfect for Exit. Sadly, they are unlikely to give permission without costing the entire fortune of ebooks throughout Humanity. Nevertheless, my journalist friend, Les Floyd, in Carlisle is trying to contact them. Watch this space, listen to my space – erm, maybe.