On Top of the World

This is an ancient landscape and if you look you will see the traces of past civilisations – from the tumuli that form grassy mounds along the skyline, to the roman roads that run straight and true and, often, are still used to day.

 

 

For a long time the flat topped hill you can see in the picture, Pilsdon Pen, was throught to be the highest point in Dorset. But a few years ago it was re-measured and its neighbour, Lewesdon hill, was found to be a couple of metres higher. It is from this second hill that the picture was taken.

But both are part of the ancient landscape of which I speak, for both were Iron Age settlements. This was an area on the border between two of the tribes of that ancient world, the Durotriges to the East and the Dumnonii to the West. What ancient battles did these ramparts see? What lives were lives out on these hills?

The fortifications are better defined on Pilsdon Pen, rampart and ditch, and I stood, on one of the few sunny days this winter, staring out at a landscape that stretched below me.  I thought of the people who stood here over millennia past, and looked at this same view, as the landscape changed from forest the field. Did they stand here and watch as the Romans came? Are they watching now?

My Top Ten Martian Tales

Sticking with the Martian theme I thought I'd share my top ten Martian tales. So there they are - in reverse order:

(10) The Martian Way by Isaac Azimov  - No SF list would be complete without Azimov, so here he is.

(9) Voyage by Stephen Baxter - an excellent alternate history where mankind is already out exploring space.

(8) The Outward Urge by John Wyndham - Not a writer normally associated with hard SF but this is an exception to the rule.

(7) Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - okay, so this is really three books, but they deserve a slot of their own - Martian terraforming in all its glory!

(6) We can remember it for you Wholesale by Philip K Dick,  which you probably know as the film Total Recall - the first one that is - the latest one isn't set on Mars, which I think spoils it.

(5) Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons - I just had to include this - well, just - because :-)

(4) The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut - because he's one of my all time favourite writers!

(3) Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein - an all time classic in my opinion - that stayed with me long after I'd finished the last page!

(2) War of the Worlds by HG Wells - The original Martians and probably the best!! (And I have to mention here the Jeff Wade album by the same name which I love)

(1) The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury - Both the book and the TV series - I loved these stories! Really original Martians too.

So what would be on your list?

The Real Mars Mission

 

My novel, Red Rock, is set just after the return of the first manned mission to mars; a mission with a special connection for Danni, because her aunt was one of the astronauts.

Mankind may not yet have set foot on the red planet, but there have been regular missions to mars over the years.

It is a world full of surprises. The first images of ancient river channels sent back by Mariner 9 set the world ablaze, and since then the search for water and for evidence that there may once have been life on that barren world continues.

At the moment the Curiosity rover is up there, sending back data, revealing more secrets and raising even more questions with every day that passes.

I was lucky enough to see it in Florida, a few days before the launch.

Who knows – maybe one of my readers will become the first man, or woman, to set foot on Mars.

The First Foxes

Last week the first titles from Curious Fox were launched, and I’ve been following their progress with a great deal of interest.

 

The titles are:

 

Hyperspace High by Zac Harrison

 (The first two titles in this series are now available – Crash Landing and Frozen Enemies)

 

When John Riley gets on the wrong coach, he ends up at an elite academy on an enormous space ship, where his classmates are aliens, the food is disgusting, and the penalty for failing exams is harsh. Can he show that he deserves a place at Hyperspace High?

 

 

And

 

The Diamond Thief by Sharon Gosling

 

No-one performs on the circus trapeze like 16-year-old Remy Brunel. But Remy also leads another life, prowling through the backstreets of Victorian London as a jewel thief. When she is forced to steal one of the world s most valuable diamonds, she uncovers a world of treachery and fiendish plots, and makes friends with a policeman.

 

 

So far I’ve spotted the Hyperspace High books in my local branch of Smiths and I’ll be keeping an eye out for both these titles in various other outlets – such as my local Waterstone’s.

The Diamond Thief has been getting some very good reviews and appears to have generated quite a bit of online buzz – and with good reason – it’s a really good read.

Both books are available in print and e-book formats, so if you have kids who are looking for something new to read why not check them out.

A Change of Perspective

We all know that different people can watch the same event and yet perceive things differently. That is what makes us such unreliable witnesses.

And that got me wondering about my characters. They each have their own view of events - they each see the world in their own way.

So I wondered what would happen if I took an old story of mine - one that hadn't quite worked out but was still gnawing away at me not to ignore it - and told the story from a different perspective?

How different will that story become?

One chapter in and I can already see it is a very different beast. This is going to be an intriguing experiment.

A Floor of Bones

Near where I grew up in Devon is a wonderful old National Trust house called Killerton. And in the grounds of this house is the Bear Hut - an old summerhouse tucked away among the trees. It is wonderfully rustic, wood and thatch and a ceiling of fir cones.

 

It is called The Bear Hut because in the 1860's it was used to house a black bear brought back by one of the family from Canada.

 

But one of the strangest things about this hut is this section of the floor. It is made up entirely of the knuckle bones of deer. Weirdly macabre - and looks like a lot of deer to me!

 

The Curious Fox Launch

Last Thursday I headed up to London for the Curious Fox launch party which was held at Dr Johnson's house - a wonderful old building tucked away among offices of glass and steel.

It's a while since I've been to London and the city looked amazing. I headed from the station out over Waterloo Bridge, lights reflected in the Thames and from one angle Big Ben was framed by the London eye. But what struck me most was the number of bicycles, racks and racks of them by the station and fleets of them moving along the roads.

And then to the party, fizz and canapés, interesting people and great conversation. My fabulous agent came along, and it was lovely to see the Curious Fox team again and to meet the other authors. The MD gave a speech and introduced our books and they had a big banner made up with the covers of all our books on it! It was such a thrill to see my book there among the others!

There were games to spark our curiosity, and fascinating people from all over, but all with a shared passion for books. There were lots of photos taken and I'll post a link should any come online.

The evening flew and it felt all too soon that I was heading back over Waterloo Bridge to the station, and to my friend's where I was staying. And when I looked inside my goody bag on the train back I found a lovely copy of Sharon Gosling's The Diamond Thief which will be one of the first Curious Fox titles to launch!

I woke the next morning to a white world, driving home through snow and spray. But by the time I reached the New Forest the snow had stopped. I passed oak trees, jagged branches etched in white, and patches of heath and gorse where the snow covered the vegetation in lumps. Every so often it fell from the trees as I passed underneath in a flurry of ice shards.

I reached home, still buzzing. Back to those edits.....