I have a new author discussion thread over at the BFS forum:

Click here for link.

In April, there will be a book launch for my first novel, and you are all invited.

The event takes place from 2.00pm on Saturday 24th April, in the back bar of The Shakespeare Tavern, Princes Street, Bristol.

I will be giving a short reading from Silversands and signing copies, so please come along and join the fun.

The Shakespeare Tavern is a traditional English pub in the Harbourside area of central Bristol. It serves a selection of beers, wines and spirits along with traditional pub meals and snacks. It is a 10 minute walk from Bristol Temple Meads railway station.

Link to Google Maps.

If you are on Facebook, you can join the event here: Link to Facebook Event

Two paperback copies of the Shine anthology have just been delivered to my door, direct from the publisher. And they look great.

Shine is an anthology of “optimistic” near-future  science fiction edited by the formidable Jetse de Vries, and featuring a cover by the award-winning artist, Vincent Chong (who also designed the cover for my novel, Silversands).

Shine is a book of short stories with an upbeat outlook on the future, a book that says no matter how bad things get, there’s always the possibility of hope. It contains 16 stories, including a 10,000 word story that I co-wrote with Aliette de Bodard, called The Church Of Accelerated Redemption.

It also contains stories by Alastair Reynolds, Kay Kenyon, Jason Stoddard, Holly Phillips, and others.

Shine is published by Solaris Books.

Moxyland is set in South Africa, only a stone’s throw into the future, in a society where the difference between employment and unemployment can also be the difference between life and death; where the greatest punishment is to have your mobile phone disconnected.

Starting slowly, the novel introduces us to its four narrators: Kendra the retro photographer; Toby the vlogcaster; Tendeka the would-be revolutionary; and Lerato the corporate programmer. Telling their intertwined stories over the course of alternating chapters, they show us their world, and we get to watch with horrified fascination as they become slowly embroiled in a deadly conspiracy that none of them fully understands.

With her stripped prose and lack of superfluous description, Lauren Beukes gives us what we need to see the world through the characters’ eyes. They never feel the need to over-explain themselves, and each has a distinctive and recognizable voice. The pages whip by quickly, as the tension grows, and as readers, we’re only half a step ahead of the characters in piecing together the seriousness of what’s going on.

Lean, sharp, and tightly written, Moxyland keeps raising the stakes, from the opening chapter to the uncompromising finale. And with its electronic panopticon, it gives us a dystopia to rival 1984 or Stand On Zanzibar – a future horrifying for its very plausibility.

Moxyland is published by Angry Robot.

Twenty years ago, Paul Kincaid carried out a survey of British science fiction and fantasy writers, in an attempt to get a handle on the state of British SF at the time.

In June 2009, I received an email from Niall Harrison, the editor of Vector, asking me to take part in a repeat of that survey, on behalf of the Bristish Science Fiction Association. These were ten questions from the original survey, plus an additional question on changes over the past two decades.

Now, an analysis of the results of both surveys is being released. BSFA members will shortly receive a copy of the results in book form. I have seen an advance PDF of the book, and I think I can safely say that it will be of interest to anyone with a stake in the state of modern British science fiction.

Find out more here.

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”

- Ray Bradbury

“We are all post-Ballard now: it’s not that we’ve gotten beyond him but rather that we remain ineluctably defined by him..”

- China Miéville

For the full article, click here.

Thanks to Chris Teague at Pendragon Press, I now have an A3 poster and a stack of limited-edition promotional postcards for Silversands, featuring Vincent Chong’s excellent cover design. They arrived in the post this morning, and they’re very pretty.

The postcards will used to promote the novel at Eastercon.

Eastercon is the official convention of the British Science Fiction Association. It is a four day event held over the Easter bank holiday weekend, and has been held annually for over sixty years. This year’s event is called Odyssey, and it’s being held at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow. It will be the fourth consecutive Eastercon I’ve attended.

As well as listing its special guests, the Odyssey website also has a list of authors attending Odyssey 2010, on which you’ll find my picture and a brief bio. If you’re at the event, come up and say hello. I’ll be signing copies of my new novel from 12.00pm on the Saturday, as well as taking part in the Shine and Conflicts anthology launches.

Click here for my schedule.

• Tokyo
• New York
• South Pole
• Valles Marineris