Update: WorldCon, a New Book Deal, and some Great Reviews

WorldCon LA. What a trip.

I hardly know where to begin, or end, and certainly can’t cover the conversations, panels, the laughter had, the old friends reunited with, and new friends made. It was a whirlwind, and on the last night, the Monday, when much of the con had gone home and the convention rooms lay empty, I wandered through them with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.

If you don’t know what WorldCon is (and on reflection that would have been a better place to start this article), it is the world science fiction convention. It’s a five-day affair where all the biggest publishers in the English-speaking world, and most of the biggest authors, gather together to connect, drink, and celebrate the genre. The Hugo Awards are held on the Sunday evening of the con, publishers throw parties where the booze is free (and every author worth their salt tries to gate crash), and everyone is hoarse from talking by Sunday evening.

Everything was great, save the locale. Anaheim? Well, I understand now why my American friends were so sceptical. Suffice to say a 25 dollar pint pains my Australian heart, and we shall never speak on it again.

The pictures in this post barely scratch the surface of my experiences. There’s not one of me on a panel, for example – I’d never been on one at a WorldCon before, and yet here sat on five.

I met Walter Job Williams (who signed my copy of Hardwired), Fonda Lee (whose Greenbone Saga is brilliant), and Ronald D Moore (who wrote Deep Space 9 and Battlestar Galactica). Had good conversations with two of them, and I confess did some undignified fanboying over Moore (he wrote DS9 after all, the pinnacle of Trek).

I can’t possibly name check all the others: the editors and authors and agents, the readers and reviewers, too many to list. In between business and panels I hung out with my crew, at the pool and the bar, and those times were some of the best.

The convention bookstore had a decent pile of my books on day one, and I was pleased to see that pile vanquished by day five. The title of my latest work – This Machine Kills Billionaires – does a lot of heavy lifting in terms of capturing the attention of potential readers.

(Oh and one more thing. Everyone poured scorn on Denny’s, but I had to try it and I must say, as a hangover breakfast, it absolutely hits the spot.)

So. My second WorldCon in the books. It is a long way to travel from Australia – wherever they are usually involves 20-30 hours in transit (bring on Brisbane in 28). Horrendous for my sleep, my bank balance, and my liver, but a highlight for the soul.

When I got back I walked the dog, said hello to the mob of kangaroos that live up behind my house, and thought to myself: Montreal in 27? Maybe.

That shall depend on the success of the writing year to come. But until then, we’ll always have Anaheim.

Speaking of the year to come (and the year three quarters gone), I’ve a few things brewing.

In brief: This Machine Kills Billionaires has had a fantastic response from readers and reviewers. Early days, but currently it is my highest-rated book on Goodreads. Unlike my other works, this one is independently published, so is almost completely dependent on word of mouth. If you’re read and enjoyed, please leave a review, and if you haven’t got your copy yet, you can click here.

I have two books out on submission – a science fiction novel and a fantasy novel. I confess I’m starting to fear the SF novel might not find a home. I further confess (I’m an ex-Catholic, confession is in my nature), that I’ve enormous hopes placed on the fantasy novel. It’s a tome (over 200k words), might be the best thing I’ve ever written, and something I began in 2020. I haven’t only been writing it since then (in fact between 2020 and now I’ve had four books come out), but I did put a solid 2-3 years into, and left nothing behind – intellectual, emotional, and creative – in the writing.

Writers are gamblers, as George R R Martin has said, and I’m hoping the massive bet I placed on the fantasy novel pays off.

But there’s positive news as well. I’ve been commissioned to write no less than five short stories for various publications over the past year. Three are done, two are on the way.

I’ve a novella placed with my favourite Independent Press, and I should be able to give you more news on that very soon. Now, I haven’t actually signed anything yet, and nothing in this business is locked in until you do (and even then you can get screwed), but I’d rate the chances of it happening as reasonably high.

I’ll end with an interview and a review. The interview was with the lads from Hosts in the Shell. The subject was Philip K Dick, an author I’ve been periodically obsessed with over the years, and who has influenced many of my short stories. This is the second time I’ve been on the show, and both times it’s felt like talking geek with a couple of English blokes at the pub, and I’m here for it. Click here to listen.

Finally, BookTuber Jonathan Cooke, of Words in Time, recently posted a video about ‘5 Polarising SF novels’ in which my work, Ghost of the Neon God, features. Which end of the polar spectrum was I? Well, I guess I’d hardly be linking to it if he thought it sucked. But let me add: Jonathan is an entertaining reviewer, and if you’re into SF, then I thoroughly recommend his channel.

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