Honestly I thought I’d hit the peak weird of the Dune Saga with God Emperor of Dune and that the final two books would be dealing with the fallout while coming back down the mountain. But like a car salesman slapping the roof of an old jalopy, Heretics of Dune is where Frank Herbert confidently declares that there’s plenty of weird in this baby yet. Only, this time the series pivots...

A brief writing update, and a look at some new art. If you're following along on social media, you'll probably be aware that I have put a pause on writing Legacy of the Gods for the time being while I work some things out. To put it simply: I burned myself out doing NaNoWriMo in 2023, writing over 30,000 words in just 30 days (yes, I fell short of the 50k goal). Then I had to re-plot the book...

I have really enjoyed J.D. Sanderson’s work in the past. If you haven’t already, you can check out my review for his twilight-zone inspired short story collection Around the Dark Dial here. I like it when sci-fi books teach me something new about science or astronomy (it’s not a requirement for me, but it’s nice when it happens) but I’ve never had that happen right on the title page before...

A dark, corporate dystopian sci-fi novella full of action and intrigue from Rohan O’Duill. I’d like to take a moment to praise the cover art for Cold Rising. It’s really well composed, and I love the use of Mars to replace the O in ‘Cold’. The cover is initially what attracted me to this, and as with all the ebooks on my Kindle, it’s been there a while and I definitely wish I had gotten to it...

I very much enjoyed J. Dianne Dotson’s space opera quadrilogy, The Questrison Saga, and so I’m at the point now where anything from this author is bound to pique my interest. The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern is a whimsical young adult lunarpunk adventure—a genre I have never read before, but I really dig the vibes. Think a civilisation that lives in dark forests or at night with plenty of...

Announcing the first annual Indie Orbital Science Fiction Sale! You really thought Indie August would be the last of the big group sales for the year? Well not this time. Here we have a brand new group sale dedicated to independent and self published science fiction books kicking off Sci-Fi September! This sale is being hosted by sci-fi author and graphic designer, Conrad Altmann...

It’s been a long old journey, but I am please to announce that The Shadow of Arcadia: The Augment Saga Book Two is out now and available to purchase in ebook from Amazon, and in paperback from all retailers. Signed paperbacks and book swag are available to UK residents from my store. It is also available to read for FREE via a Kindle Unlimited subscription.

There’s not enough mechs taking centre-stage in sci-fi books, and that’s a real shame because they’re awesome. I’ve gained a new appreciation for them since playing Armored Core VI last year, and I even watched some Gundam for the first time since then. Reality Check is all about mechs. A hotshot young Cyber Cycle racer turned mech pilot defending Earth against a hostile alien invasion. Great premise.

Fresh from a live chat conversation with KDP support about the status of print pre-orders on Amazon for The Shadow of Arcadia, I thought I should update you on the situation. I know many of you were probably waiting for the print version to be available to pre-order through Amazon before ordering, but it is with great regret and profound disappointment that I announce this will no longer be possible.

Meet the characters of the upcoming second novel in the Augment Saga, The Shadow of Arcadia. Captain James Fowler: James has been a test pilot for the International Space Administration for the last two decades under the command of Captain Austin Queen, flying the IXS-17 Aurora: an experimental spaceplane containing the first faster-than-light engine known as the Austinium Drive...

On Thursday 18 July from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, I will be at Rainham Library celebrating the launch of my new book, The Shadow of Arcadia. During the event I’ll be giving a talk all about the book, my writing process, as well as reading an excerpt. There will be space for a Q&A session and signed paperbacks of all four of my books, and Augment Saga swag packs, will be available to purchase.

I received a free ARC of Out of Breath from the author in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed Carrion Crew. I thought the worldbuilding and setting was fantastic. You can read my thoughts on it here. I’ve been looking forward to reading more from that world, and so I was honoured when James reached out to offer an ARC for Out of Breath to review. So, let’s get to it.

This is one of those books that’s totally come out of left field. During the half term break, my family and I went on an outing to a National Trust property in Sevenoaks called Ightham Mote, a medieval moated manor house with sprawling gardens. As with many National Trust properties, Ightham Mote had a delightful little used bookshop, which I naturally perused. However, I found nothing I wanted in there. So where did I get RoboCop from?

It’s time to announce my next book launch! It’s been a long time coming. At least, it feels like it to me after so many delays. But I am pleased to announce that the fourth entry in The Augment Saga, and its second full-length novel, The Shadow of Arcadia, will be releasing into the world on Monday 15th July 2024. What’s more, you can pre-order it now!

I loved Children of Time. It became one of my favourite books, and it was the first time I’d read anything by Adrian Tchaikovsky. You can read what I had to say about it here. Children of Ruin, then, is the second book in Adrian’s trilogy, and it’s taken me far too long to get around to reading it!

I really enjoyed Gareth L. Powell’s Embers of War trilogy with its fantastic characters, sentient spaceships, and nightmarish aliens. Stars and Bones may be set in a completely different world, but it has all the hallmarks from Gareth’s previous trilogy. Plus a snarky talking cat! What’s not to love?

This coming weekend, 13—15 April, From the Grave of the Gods will once again be discounted for the mega sale hosted by Tessa Hastjarjanto of Narratess. Even though there will just be the one of my books on the sale page, rest assured that you’ll be able to get all three of my currently published works, including my SFINCS finalist novella, The Re-Emergence, for 0.99 in both the UK and US as part of a Kindle Countdown Deal.

Now that I’ve seen Part Two, I thought I’d share my thoughts on these movies. Denis Villeneuve has been behind some of my favourite relatively recent sci-fi movies. Arrival was incredible, Blade Runner 2049 was an absolute masterclass, and Dune Part One really set my hopes high that he could do great things with this notoriously difficult series. I managed to read Frank Herbert’s first Dune book shortly before Villeneuve’s Part One came out in 2021, and I have since gone on to read Dune: Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune…

I’m thrilled to announce I now have some extra goodies available in my online shop. It all started because I wanted to do something else with the art I had been making to go along with my books. I already had the bookmarks, and someone said that the mission patch would make a great sticker. Plus, I’d spent so much time painting the art for my book covers and then slapping typography over the top that I really wanted to have something where the art itself could shine through…

I knew the Dune saga started to get weird with Children of Dune, and I thought I was well prepared for the utter insanity of God Emperor of Dune, but I don’t think it’s possible to properly prepare yourself for it. You just have to dive right in. It’s so much weirder than you could possibly anticipate.