Daniel Godfrey's Blog

...is published today!

Very happy with the early reviews on this one, listed below. Hopefully it will find its niche.

“A superb read. What began as a story about how a lot of men cope in close confinement rapidly turned into a more wide-ranging and thought-provoking study about the after-effects of a thermonuclear strike. Days after I finished reading (the characters are) still fresh in my mind.” - The Book Bag

“It’s dark and in places brutal. Highly Recommended” - SFF World

Full details on my website: http://www.daniel-godfrey.com/rationa...

Time flies, doesn’t it?

It only seems like two minutes ago that I was taking a quick break following completion of The Synapse Sequence, and now a few years have passed.

Creativity, unfortunately, isn’t a straight line process and just because you’ve been traditionally published once doesn’t mean you’ll get that chance again. I don’t mind admitting being creatively exhausted after finishing The Synapse Sequence (much of which was written whilst also editing Empire of Time, and promoting New Pompeii..as well as doing a full-time job, which took priority!). So I took a long break, and then I had a few decent ideas that burned out after 5 – 10k of words (with a finished novel being more like 90k).

The book I did finish, a cold war thriller set in the 1960s, was unfortunately rejected by my previous publisher (not unexpectedly, given it wasn’t science fiction or fantasy) and didn’t attract any attention from other publishers. It was on submission a long time…and so, after much dithering, I’ve decided to self-publish it. I’m expecting to get it out in August.

It’s called The Calculations of Rational Men. I’ve set-up a Goodreads page with the blurb here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

And I’m also on with something new! Whether it burns out at 10k, makes it all the way to 90k – or is finished but fails to attract any interest - remains to be seen!

Cheers!

I've read a few posts now looking back at the great books published in 2018... but I thought I'd look forwards to the ones I'm most excited about coming in 2019!

1. Sunfall, Jim Al-Khalili

Jim Al-Khalili is the presenter of some of the best science documentaries in recent years. I was fortunate enough to (briefly) meet Jim at New Scientist Live, and I am thoroughly looking forward to his debut science fiction novel. He is brilliant at explaining complex scientific principles in a simple way, and this is being billed by his publisher as cutting-edge science and set in a near-future full of dazzling technologies.

Some more of the blurb: “2041 and the world as we know it grinds to a halt. Our planet seems to be turning against itself - it would appear that the magnetic field, that protects life on Earth from deadly radiation from space, is failing . . .

Desperate to quell the mass hysteria that would surely follow, world governments have concealed this rapidly emerging Armageddon. But a young Iranian hacktivist stumbles across the truth, and it becomes a race against time to reactivate the earth's core using beams of dark matter.“

Science (Fiction)? Boom!


2. Pepperharrow, Natasha Pulley
Sequel to the 2015 breakout smash, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, the Goodreads page is saying that: "Thaniel and Mori go to Japan, apparently for Thaniel’s health, but he soon realizes that Mori has plenty of other, stranger reasons."

Not much else to go on yet, but Watchmaker and Natasha's second novel, The Bedlam Stacks, makes this a must read for me.


3. Jack Reacher, Lee Child
Reacher said nothing.

To be honest, I have no clue about title, plot or blurb. But I know I will be buying it as soon as it is available.

4. Zero Bomb, M.T. Hill
I’ve heard a little bit about Zero Bomb at this year’s EasterCon and FantasyCon and I am both intrigued and excited to find out more about this book. I know the editorial team at Titan are excited about it, which is frankly more than enough for me!

Here’s the blurb: "Following the death of his daughter Martha, Remi flees the north of England for London. Here he tries to rebuild his life as a cycle courier, delivering subversive documents under the nose of an all-seeing state.

But when a driverless car attempts to run him over, Remi soon discovers that his old life will not let him move on so easily. Someone is leaving coded messages for Remi across the city, and they seem to suggest that Martha is not dead at all.

Unsure what to believe, and increasingly unable to trust his memory, Remi is slowly drawn into the web of a dangerous radical whose ’70s sci-fi novel is now a manifesto for direct action against automation, technology, and England itself."

5. Exit Wounds (Edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan)
I’ve enjoyed a number of short story anthologies in recent years and this one has already grabbed my interest. Contributors including Lee Child (see above!), Val McDermid, and Dean Koontz; and Marie did a great job putting together the Phantoms collection in 2018.

6. After the Eclipse, Fran Dorricott
I've been reading quite a bit more crime recently, and have met Fran at a number of genre events in Derby. Early word of mouth is very positive, so I'm looking forward to seeing what she's done with the concept.

"Two solar eclipses. Two missing girls.

Sixteen years ago a little girl was abducted during the darkness of a solar eclipse while her older sister Cassie was supposed to be watching her. She was never seen again. When a local girl goes missing just before the next big eclipse, Cassie - who has returned to her home town to care for her ailing grandmother - suspects the disappearance is connected to her sister: that whoever took Olive is still out there. But she needs to find a way to prove it, and time is running out."

* * *
And, of course, there will be probably be many more I don't even know about yet - all lurking in the shadow of 2018 and waiting to get into the spotlight!

Oh, and the best books I read from 2018? Shattermoon, Embers of War, and The Cabin at the End of the World.

As we enter Summer, the first reviews for The Synapse Sequence (out June 19th) have started to appear online and in print....

“Provocative worldbuilding and suspense will keep the reader hooked.” - Publisher’s Weekly

“Very few books demand I suspend my day-to-day reality to finish it in a ‘I mean now’ way as The Synapse Sequence did.” - SFFWorld

“The bitter sharpness with which Godfrey unveils our near future makes its mark.” SciFi Now

I always find it a strange time, waiting to see what people think.....!

Ok, so with the Clarke Award submission list now published, the SFF Award Season is well and truly upon us. As a bit of fun, I’ve had a go at guessing the outcomes of the BSFA Awards, Clarke Award and BFS Awards. (I don’t know enough about American publishing to guess the Hugos).

Now, to be clear, each award contains many more eligible great books than there are available shortlist slots, let alone winners. And I haven’t read them all. I haven’t even read all of the books I’ve listed below. This entry on my blog is based entirely on what I’ve heard and seen discussed at SFF conventions, media reviews, and Twitter during 2017.

BSFA Award
This is already at the shortlist stage. The shortlisted books for Best Novel are:
Nina Allan – The Rift (Titan Books)
Anne Charnock – Dreams Before the Start of Time (47North)
Mohsin Hamid – Exit West (Hamish Hamilton)
Ann Leckie – Provenance (Orbit)

The shortlist was picked by members of the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA), and now goes to a vote of BSFA members, and attendees at Eastercon. The award is open to both SF and Fantasy books, and Eastercon seems to draw attendees that lean towards each.

My guess? I think this go to Nina Allan (The Rift). I also think Tade Thompson will win the Shorter Fiction category for, The Murders of Molly Southbourne. I have no idea about Non Fiction or Artwork.

Clarke Award
The submission list was published on Friday and contains well over 100 books. This will get whittled down by a jury to six books, from which a winner will then get selected by the same jury. There is no vote.

My guess at the shortlist is as follows:
The Rift (Nina Allan)
Sea of Rust, C. Robert Cargill
Dreams Before the Start of Time, Anne Charnock
Gnomon, Nick Harkaway
All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai
A Man of Shadows, Jeff Noon

And, from the above, I think the winner will be C. Robert Cargill for Sea of Rust.

British Fantasy Awards
The BFAs are now open for first-round voting, but nowhere near shortlist stage (from which the winner will be picked by a jury of three or so members of the British Fantasy Society, BFS). But, at this early stage, I would guess that:
Best Fantasy Novel: Jen Williams (The Ninth Rain)
Best Horror Novel: James Brogden (Hekkla’s Children)
Best Newcomer: Jeanette Ng (Under the Pendulum Sun)
Other categories…no idea…

So there we have it. If anyone else is mad enough to try and predict the future, then let me know where you think I’ve got it wrong!

:-)

My new novel is called The Synapse Sequence. It’s out in June from Titan Books, and is a near-future crime thriller.

With the copy-edits done and only the proof-read to go, I thought I'd share some of the background details...

The Synapse Sequence revolves around the use of two competing technologies to solve crimes: firstly, a method through which the memories of witnesses can be combined into a virtual environment to be explored by an investigator (our hero!). Secondly – and the method preferred by the police – the use of mass data sweeps and Artificial Intelligence, to both reduce the likelihood of crime occurring and to find those responsible for any residual incidents.

The protagonist is a former air crash investigator, Anna Glover. This is a world where automation and AI are reducing the number of jobs available, including previously safe middle-class jobs. Accountants, solicitors, insurance brokers – basically all these sorts of desk-based jobs are disappearing. The removal of pilots from planes has also massively reduced the number of crashes: Anna is therefore out of a job, and eagerly joins the company promoting its memory technology (that also has applications in justice, health, entertainment etc).

This is the blurb:
Anna Glover joins a start-up company that hopes to revolutionise solving crimes by combining the memories of witnesses into a virtual reality simulator that can be explored by an investigator. Her first case is that of a fostered teenage boy put in a coma by a brutal assault, and she begins to explore his memories, the only witness to the crime. But when the boy’s sister disappears and Anna’s own actions are called into question, it becomes clear that there are other motives in play, and there are those who do not want her to succeed...

For me, 2017 has been a particularly odd year of reading – with books gulped down in between multiple writing deadlines.

In the early part of the year, I was spending most of my free time either working on my third novel, The Synapse Sequence (due June 2018), or working through the copy-edit stage of Empire of Time. Once Empire had gone to print, I was invited to take part in a panel at EasterCon. The title of the panel? A discussion of the novels nominated for this year’s Hugo. That meant reading five novels so I was ready for the discussion: Ninefox Gambit, Death’s End, All the Birds in the Sky, A Close and Common Orbit, and The Obelisk Gate. (Too Like the Lightning was not then out in the UK, so none of the panel had read that book). My favourite of the five was Ninefox Gambit, although I was struck by how many of the titles mixed science fiction with magic to varying degrees.

I was also asked to read two books pre-publication: I’d not read an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of another book before, but enjoyed both Off Rock and Netherspace (both from Titan Books) and there’s now a quote from me on the back of each.

After that, I was back to The Synapse Sequence given my deadline was to submit in the summer. (Mission accomplished btw and it is now started through the editing process – more news to follow). Still, the amount of books in the TBR had gradually swollen, and I seemed to have spent the year collecting autographs: Natasha Pulley, Emma Newman, Tim Lebbon, Lucy Hounsom, James Brogden, AK Benedict, Dave Hutchinson, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Claire North all added to the ‘signed’ shelf!

Highlights of the back end of the year included reading Defender by GX Todd, The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley and Stasiland by Anna Funder (non-fiction). There was also the obligatory Jack Reacher novel, this time Night School.

I was also asked to read two books due out in 2018: firstly, Embers of Way by Gareth L. Powell, and Shattermoon by Dominic Dulley. Both are great, and I recommend you seek them out. Embers of War is out from Titan Books in February and is a brilliant space opera, and Shattermoon comes out in June from Jo Fletcher Books (and is being billed as Hustle meets Firefly).

With only the final edits for the Synapse Sequence to finish, I should have more time to read in 2018. I’ve said I’d like to read more non-fiction, but what else should be on my radar?

I feel like I’ve been caught in a publishing time-vortex most of this year.

I thought all the excitement for New Pompeii would happen in 2016, but it continued into this year with the publication of two foreign editions (Nove Pompeje in Czech Republic and Uj Pompeji in Hungary). Reviews in the Czech Republic appear to have been good and I await the verdict from the Hungarians (where it’s out sometime soon, not sure of the exact date). I was also shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the British Fantasy Awards for New Pompeii, and longlisted for the British Science Fiction Awards. Added to this, New Pompeii was released as a mass market paperback in the US in October. So what I’d thought would all be contained in 2016 lasted throughout 2017 as well!

Empire of Time (the book I’d expected to be the focus of 2017) was finished in the early part of the year (by which I mean all the edits, I actually finished the book in mid-2016) and published in June - followed by a round of publicity. Overall, I’ve been pleased with how the book has been received.

Finally, I’ve been spending most of my free time in 2017 writing The Synapse Sequence. This is not part of the New Pompeii series, but is instead a stand-alone book concerned with near-future crime. Hopefully I’ll get to say more about this soon - the book has now entered the start of editing cycle (structural - line edit - copy edit - proofread).

So that’s my time vortex – one year, with my attention split between three books: one of which came out in 2016 and rumbled on, another finished in 2016 and published in 2017, and a third written in 2016/17 and due out next year! It was hard at certain points – particularly March when NP was published in Czech – to keep track of it all!

Cheers!

A quick blog post to bring together a few bits and pieces that have happened over the last few months! :-)

April: New Pompeii was published in the Czech Republic (as Nove Pompeje, with a fancy new cover). My website also includes a fun book trailer produced by the publisher. http://www.daniel-godfrey.com/novepom...

Also in April I appeared on a panel at EasterCon talking about the novels shortlisted for this year's Hugo Award.

June: Empire of Time (New Pompeii 2) was released in the UK and US!

July: I was delighted to be shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award (in the Best Newcomer category) for New Pompeii, with results to be announced at FantasyCon 2017 in Peterborough (September). http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/...

I had an article published in the Barnes and Noble Science Fiction blog, all about movie and TV tie in novels. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/s...

And in amongst all that, I have been busy working on my third novel, The Synapse Sequence, which will hopefully be sent to my publisher in the next month or two, and is due for publication in 2018!

Cheers!

Empire of Time (New Pompeii 2) is the sequel I didn’t expect to be able to write.

I wrote New Pompeii hoping, but not knowing, that it would be published. I didn’t have an agent, let alone a publishing contract. I often describe my writing as an 'out of control' hobby and, as such, once I’d started to submit New Pompeii to various agencies, I’d started to work on several other ideas.

Of course, when writing a novel, ideas for sequels invariably occur. I’ve written about half a dozen or so novels that didn’t get published, and had ideas for sequels for all of them. My self-published children’s e-book, Johnny Max and the Panther’s Skull, basically ends by giving the title of what would have been the second book. (I’m sometimes asked whether not I will write it but, sadly, self-published novels rarely achieve the sales required to make this worthwhile – certainly not my one!).

Anyway, I knew where I wanted to go with New Pompeii 2, and as usual had left the ending to the first story with enough threads onto which a sequel could hang without it feeling bolted on. (After all, events in history never end with a full stop, do they?) There were also many aspects of the premise I hadn’t explored, many bits that I couldn’t quite get to fit into something I’d intended as a lean, fast-paced story. Fortunately, New Pompeii found a home first with an agent (Ian Drury, Sheil Land Associates) and then with Titan Books. But still, the dilemma: the deal with Titan was a one-book contract. My options were next to write something completely different and then look to sell that, or start work on a sequel whilst all the facts and research was still fresh in my head. As it turned out, Titan were very keen when I outlined the potential plot for Empire of Time, and I signed a second contract just before New Pompeii was published.

Empire of Time is set fifteen years after New Pompeii. Nick is not quite Roman, and yet the world outside New Pompeii is now also becoming alien to him. We see Pompeii as past (the ancient city, following the story of a female gladiator), a near-present (within the ancient ruins as it continues to be explored), and future (New Pompeii itself).

It is a time travel story as much as a Roman story; this time with a dash of cold-war thriller rather than conspiracy tale. I hope it is different enough to find its own place, whilst keeping the pacing and overall feel of New Pompeii.

I hope you enjoy it!

Empire of Time is published by Titan Books on June 20th 2017.