Here’s the press release for my novel, Silversands:

MAESTEG, 10/01/2010 – Pendragon Press proudly announces the forthcoming release of Silversands, the hotly anticipated debut novel from rising British SF star Gareth L Powell.

Set 200 years in the future, Silversands tells the story of Avril Bradley, a reluctant astronaut thrown headlong into a world of political intrigue, espionage and subterfuge; a world where retired cops, digital ghosts and corporate assassins battle for possession of a hidden computer file that may just hold the key to humanity’s future.

Author Gareth L Powell says: “This is my first novel. It took about eighteen months to write. I was working a nine-to-five office job and writing in my spare time, and wrote the whole thing in the order it appears in the book – straight through from start to finish. There’s a lot of action and adventure in Silversands, but the book also explores some deep and personal themes, such as the loss of a parent, and what it means to become a father.”

Born and raised in Bristol, Gareth L Powell has had fiction published in magazines all over the world, and translated into Polish, Greek, Hebrew, Portuguese, Korean, and Spanish. Since 2006, he has been a regular contributor to Interzone, Britain’s longest-running SF&F magazine. In 2007, the readers of Interzone voted his story ‘Ack-Ack Macaque’ as their favourite short story of the year, and in 2008, Elastic Press released The Last Reef and Other Stories, an acclaimed collection of his short fiction. Reviewers have compared Gareth’s work to that of writers like JG Ballard, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, and Richard Morgan, and critics have described his stories as “imaginative”, “gritty”, “profound” and “unforgettable”.

Christopher Teague, owner of Pendragon Press, says of the book: “Silversands is a damn thrilling tale, but Gareth never loses sight of the real, human characters at the heart of his story, which makes it all the more involving and believable. This is a book that will appeal both to serious readers, and to fans of old-fashioned, slam-bang adventure.”

Silversands will be officially launched by Pendragon Press as a hardback at the Eastercon event at Heathrow in April, priced £12. It features a striking cover by award-winning artist Vincent Chong, and the first 100 copies will be numbered and signed by the author.

Up until the book’s launch in April, Silversands will be available to pre-order direct from Pendragon Press (www.pendragonpress.net) at the special promotional price of £10, or via Amazon at full price.

Silversands will also be available at the Eastercon event at the special price of £10.

ENDS