Arlo Knott is finally out in the world, having been launched at a sell-out event at Storysmith Books, Bristol.
With fabulous hosting from Hugo award-winning sci-fi critic and publisher Cheryl Morgan, we talked about having an undo button for life, plus the power of hindsight, quantum physics and snakes and ladders.
The room was packed and the shop ran out of books. Huge thanks to everyone who came and made it such a wonderful launch.
This weekend past, I was with Alison Littlewood up at MCM Manchester, talking to a packed audience about how to set a novel with fantastical elements in the real world.
A highlight was Michael Rooker – of Guardians of the Galaxy – checking out Everything About You at the Author corner (he’s Mary Poppins, y’all!).
Finally The Undoing of Arlo Knott is hitting bookshops, and where better to launch it than the fabulous Storysmith books in Bristol? I’ll be talking to Cheryl Morgan of Wizard’s Tower press on the themes of the book, and on ‘Five things you won’t regret’ (according to Arlo Knott!)
Thursday 1st August, 6:30pm, £5 (includes a glass of wine and 10% off featured books)
Arlo Knott develops the mysterious ability to reverse his last action. It makes him able to experience anything, to charm any woman and impress any friend. His is a life free of mistakes, a life without regret.
Come along and enjoy some literary chit chat with a glass of wine… you won’t regret it!
Cheryl Morgan is a Hugo Award-winning publisher and science fiction & fantasy critic. She owns and runs Wizard’s Tower Press. Cheryl is also a co-host of the Women’s Outlook show on Ujima Radio. You can read more about her at Cheryl’s Mewsings and follow her on Twitter as @CherylMorgan.
STARBURST MAGAZINE
Gone Girl for the VR generation . . . when the book is released ask Alexa to order you a copy. But be careful she doesn’t read it before you do, she may just tell the delivery drone that we’re onto them.
This is a joint book launch with Gareth L. Powell, author of the acclaimed Embers of War, a thrilling space opera featuring living ships, sentient forests, compelling characters and big questions about the nature of war. He will be launching the sequel, Fleet of Knives, at this event.
I’ll be talking about Everything About You, the future that is just around the corner, and how much control we are happy to concede to AI and automation technologies. What’s the worst that could happen, should you hand over your decision-making to an intelligence smarter than your own?
In these times of huge uncertainty, and with Brexit just around the corner, questions of identity loom large, and science fiction is perhaps the only clear lens we have with which to examine them.
Don’t miss out! Join us on Thursday 21 February, 7.30pm – 9.00pm.
Foyles bookshop, Cabot Circus, Bristol.
https://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Events/Detail.aspx?eventId=3832
Discover it… before it discovers you
MORE ABOUT EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU
This weekend I was in Bath with Writers Unchained, meeting lots of other writers’ collectives, small presses and other creatives.
It was a good chance for all the publishers based in the Westcountry – like Tangent Books, Wizard’s Tower Press and Silver Crow Books – to come together, get to know one another and share their wares with the public.
James Smythe’s dystopian novel I Still Dream, is also about an artificial intelligence, and deals with many of the same themes as Everything About You. Thus it was no problem launching into a lively and in-depth AI debate when I joined him in London – along with Rachel Heng, author of Suicide Club – at the Dark Societies dystopian book club.
One topic that seemed to strike a particular chill in the audience was the idea of AI clones of people being able to continue their lives after death. We discussed the (now defunct) @LivesOn Twitter service, which would digest a person’s tweets and then continue to interact as they would, even after they are gone.
It was a great event, marred only by having to compete with the World Cup semi-final… which really separated out the true fans of sci-fi fiction!