A People’s War

And it’s out

Final checks passed! Launch buttons pressed. A People’s War is out.

Hope you enjoy and as always – regardless, if you do read a copy, please could you do me a massive favour and pop a review up for me?

Stu Keen — Stuart Keen showing a cool demeanour under immense pressure

Not to forget the competition – as per A Family War, the person who posts up the best photo of them with the novel will get the final instalment for free. The winners of the original competition are Bex Cardnell Hesketh and Stuart Keen, both of whom have now received their free copies of A People’s War.

Thanks and merry Christmas

December 18, 2016 0

A People’s War is out Dec 17!

I’m relieved to say that the team at AR have agreed to still get the second book in the Oligarchy out before Christmas. The aim is for tomorrow…although that now depends on submission processes to retailers such as Amazon. I’ll give an update to you all when it’s actually available.

However, get your fingers ready to order or download because it’s coming soon!

Stewart

December 16, 2016 0

Interview with Fiona Mcvie

I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently over at AuthorsInterviews by the lovely Fiona Mcvie. Go over and see the interview.

I’ve had the final proof read back on A People’s War – just need to agree the final changes and then it’s off to get printed and published…a little late but still in time for Christmas I hope!

December 15, 2016 0

Just who is David Chalmers

No spoilers here!

In A Family War, David’s a policeman. In A People’s War he shows a different side. Helena always thought it was strange that an Oligarch wound up as a policeman, even one with as broad a remit as Chalmers.

It’s worth explaining a little about the Oligarchs. They are those whose families were rich enough or powerful enough that when longevity technologies first arrived they could secure these advantages for themselves. They were and remain the 1%. There are, at the time of Helena’s story, about 6 million Oligarchs on the planet. That sounds like quite a lot of them, but it’s not when you consider the planet’s population is closer to 9 billion. These 6 million are tracked and watched for the large part, they have what the media call Adherents, or followers in today’s parlance. Adherents are those who have latched onto specific Oligarchs for whatever special properties they perceive in them.

One of my key drives in building their society was celebrity culture, not simply saturday night television or the movies but how that plays itself out in boardrooms, academia and politics. Even there it’s not really the Trump effect, it’s more about the cult of personality, the idea that the person at the top deserves to earn a thousand times what their lowest paid staff members earn. We all acquiesce in that structure and you see this in how these people at the top are venerated, deferred to and respected as if they alone are responsible for all the good that’s done and profound decisions made. I found the work on organisations by Charles Handy invaluable in trying to figure out how large corporations would engineer this kind of social structure. When I cross referenced that to Richard Sennett and Zygmunt Bauman whose work on modernity, capitalism and the workplace is superb, I realised I wanted my corporations to be miniature dynasties whose boundaries were electronic as much as they were product driven and physical.

If you’re one of just six million among 9 billion ordinary people, something strange must have happened for you to end up as a policeman. Just saying.

Image is from the film Hot Fuzz and is not my own!

November 15, 2016 0

I’m at something of a crossroads. I’m in super positive discussions with a publishing house I’ve admired for a while about taking a novel of mine, Dreams of Darkness, through to publication. I’m so excited I’m pacing the house thinking about it whenever I’m not actually working at the day job (and even then…).

The novel is standalone – the story and characters wrapped up in 110,000 words. However, the world they exist within is very carefully laid out for a much grander story that would spread over 9 books…yes 9. It would be an intertwined series of three trilogies whose characters would find one another over the course of the series and accomplish grand things.

Now. A reality check. This may not come to pass. I’ll not really believe it until the 9th book is out and I’m looking back on it all. However, in terms of timing it’s actually thrown me a little.

I’ve worked with Matt at Alternative Realities to bring out A Family War which did well enough (far beyond my initial expectations of a dozen copies to mates!) that it warrants the sequel. We’re currently aiming for the end of November. I’ve just had the final cover artwork through though and am sitting staring at it wondering how I’m going to split myself in two to focus on both at the same time. This would be pretty easy – except that I’ve got to find some time to finish the trilogy with the final book in the series, The AI War.

Then…oh then. I have just finished my first pass at editing a new novel which I’m tentatively calling Immortal Daughter. I’m trying to concentrate on creating a blurb for it but I’m too excited about Dreams of Darkness for which I’ve been staying up creating the history of a world and how the myriad of characters will twist together to tell what I’m hoping is an epic story.

I know. It’s not the worst dilemma in the world. Or even a dilemma really. The actual solution is to take each one in order of urgency (since they’re all important). But right now I’m a little like:

I’ll get there. Hopefully without dropping any of the balls I’m currently juggling. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’ve got a synopsis to write, then a cover to approve, then a final edit to read through, an anthology to put together (if the authors ever get their bios back to me) and a series to plan…

Stewart Hotston

Hope, Anger and Writing

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And it’s out

A People’s War is out Dec 17!

Interview with Fiona Mcvie

Just who is David Chalmers

What do I do next?

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