This morning, I found a link to a website offering free downloads of the audio version of my book, The Last Reef and Other Stories. It claims the audio book has so far been downloaded 2590 times.

Since being published just under two years ago, the book has sold out in hardback and paperback. Electronic copies are available, but it’s a shame it’s no longer in print, as these download figures show there’s obviously a market for it.

Some time ago, Colin Harvey wrote a review of my short story collection The Last Reef for the Internet Review of Science Fiction. Now that the IROSF has ceased publication, Colin has posted the review on his own website.

This is my favourite part:

Powell shares with Clarke and Stapleton a sense of humanity’s insignificance in the universe … but Powell is as reminiscent of J.G. Ballard as of Clarke — from the moment when the narrator embraces his infected wife in ‘A Necklace of Ivy,’ to the rising waters and fleets of refugee container ships of ‘Flotsam,’ echoing Ballard’s The Drowned World and his visions of drained swimming pools and abandoned Cape Canaveral … But unlike Ballard, whose protagonists were cold, damaged men, Powell’s heroes turn and face their catastrophes prompted by love or a sense of what’s right — duty, to use an unfashionable word. At their best Powell’s stories fuse the traditional ideas driven British-fiction with detailed characterization, and action.

To read the full review, click here.

Happy New Year to you all.

2010 looks to be another busy year. First off, my debut novel Silversands will be launched by Pendragon in April, at the annual convention of the British Science Fiction Association. Hopefully the event will also see the launch of two anthologies, each containing a new short story of mine: The Shine anthology from Solaris, which features “The Church of Accelerated Redemption”, a story I co-wrote with Aliette de Bodard; and Conflicts, an anthology from NewCon press, featuring a short story I wrote called “Fallout”.

In addition to the above, I’m making good progress with my second novel, and writing further short stories, which I hope will one day comprise a second short story collection, following on from 2008′s The Last Reef and Other Stories.

Following my recent experiment in online short story selling, I am now in a position to offer you a PDF copy of my first short story collection, The Last Reef And Other Stories.

The Last Reef was originally published in hardback and paperback by Elastic Press in August 2008. It contains 15 short stories, and received glowing reviews from Interzone, Prism, Sci-fi Online, and The Fix.

In order to get a PDF copy of the book emailed directly to you from me, simply click on the big yellow button on the right (you may need to scroll up or down a bit).

This will take you to PayPal. All you have to do then is enter your payment details and decide how much you’d like to pay.

Yes, I’m putting the ball in your court. You decide what you think is a fair price for a 60,000 word book, pay me, and I’ll email you a copy.

It’s that simple.

I put a lot of work into this collection and I’m glad to now have the opportunity to make it available to a wider audience.

And as a special bonus, when you order a copy of The Last Reef, I’ll throw in a PDF copy of my short story “What Would Nicolas Cage Have Done?”, which isn’t normally included in the book.

So when placing your order, please remember to include your email address and state whether you’d like me to send you the PDF versions of the book, the short story, or both.

Many thanks!

Today, I was told by the manager of the Forbidden Planet store in Bristol that my short story collection reads like “JG Ballard on Prozac”. He meant this as a compliment, and it’s made me determined to read more of Ballard’s work, as this is the second time we’ve been compared.

Yesterday’s email brought with it the first royalty statement from Elastic Press for my short story collection, The Last Reef and Other Stories. Going through the figures, I’m pleased to see that over the past 12 months, the book’s sold out in hardback, and almost sold out in paperback, with only a few copies of the paperback left in the publisher’s warehouse.

My only regret is that Elastic Press have ceased trading, which means there won’t be a second printing.

It’s exactly twelve months since Elastic Press published my collection The Last Reef And Other Stories in hardback and paperback – and so I’m launching a little competition to mark its first birthday.

I have a copy of the book sitting on my desk next to the keyboard as I type, and I’m still incredibly proud of it. Seeing it in print for the first time was the realisation of a lifelong ambition, and the fifteen stories it contains represent the highlights of my journey from unknown writer to Interzone regular, and include some of the best writing I’ve ever done.

I’ll be autographing copies of The Last Reef And Other Stories at Bristolcon in September.  If you haven’t already got a copy, this could be one of your last chances to buy one, as it’s almost sold out.

There are a few copies of the paperback in the distributor’s warehouse, so it will be still be available on Amazon for a while – but once those last few copies are gone, that’s it. Elastic Press is closing down, so there won’t be a reprint.

The book will still be available as an eBook from Fictionwise and as an audio book from www.audible.co.uk – but if you want to buy a paper copy, you’d better be quick!

Andrew Hook, the man behind Elastic Press, is interviewed by Peter Tennant on the TTA Press website:

“People will always want to read books and there will always be writers writing material which the majors aren’t going to be interested in (for whatever reason). So on that basis, the independent press will always have material to publish. What I think is important is that all publishers need flexibility and should embrace new technology. For example, several of the Elastic Press books are also available as e-books and audio books, and it would have been foolish to ignore those possibilities.”

Read the full interview here: Link

THE LAST REEF
By Gareth L Powell, Elastic Press £5.99
Reviewed by Nicholas Thorburn

Neatly collected for the first time, Gareth L Powell’s short stories quickly invoke a different kind of science fiction, one that is far removed from the likes of Arthur C. Clarke or other “hard sci-fi” contemporaries.

Replacing the cold vacuum of space with dusty vistas, seedy bars, and realities closely resembling our own, Powell instead rallies around his skill at succinctly developing detailed and believable characters.

In this respect the anthology is equally a treatise on both characterization and its exploration of the bizarre. Certainly, The Last Reef is a triumph of identifiable, realistic protagonists. There is of course the typical tech-noir genre fare: weather-beaten archaeologists, cyber-upgraded hackers, homicidal ex-cops et al but each remains accessible and believable.

Structurally centred around several sign-posted stories (concerning the titular Last Reef) involving the odd reoccurring character, Powell’s stories run the gamut from far-flung space adventures (Six Lights off Green Scar) to near-future takes on internet viral-culture (Ack Ack Macaque). The writing is imbued with a faint longing melancholy yet varied in narrative style and arrangement, supporting each new world as it comes whilst keeping things fresh, tangible and fascinating.

Reasonably priced at just over a fiver, I can’t recommend it enough.

This review appears in the latest issue of the British Fantasy Society magazine Prism. Thanks to Andrew Hook for drawing my attention to it.

Elastic Press are currently running a limited time offer: order a paperback copy of my short story collection The Last Reef & Other Stories and you’ll also receive paperbacks of Another Santana Morning by Mike Dolan and Extended Play edited by Gary Couzens (UK orders only).

Contact Elastic Press for further details: www.elasticpress.com