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.

My short story collection, The Last Reef and Other Stories, is now available on the Amazon Kindle: click here to buy.

The following article appears in the new issue of Focus, the BSFA’s magazine for writers:

What I Learned From My First Book Launch
By Gareth L Powell

Elastic Press published my first short story collection, The Last Reef, in August 2008. Now, a year and a half later, I’m looking back at the process of releasing the book, and the lessons it taught me.
Continue reading “What I Learned From My First Book Launch”

My ebook experiment is featured on SF Signal:

www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/11/wanna-buy-gareth-powells-the-last-reef-name-your-price/

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!

This has been knocking around on YouTube for a while:

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!