Or, at least, the first part of it.
I always write (and rewrite, and edit, and all those other things…) to a playlist – and REBELLION is no exception.
The whole playlist will appear in the back of the book when it’s published on July 9th this year, and I’ll be putting it up on here too. But not quite yet.
In the meantime, you won’t be surprised to learn that this is the first track…
Posted by loummorgan on April 23, 2013
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/blood-feathers-rebellion-the-playlist/
My WordPress dashboard is snowing. That can only mean one thing: it must be nearly Christmas.
Look, I can’t help it – and if you think that’s a bad way of judging the start of the holiday season, you should meet Other Half. He declares it to be officially Christmas when one of his online forums puts up the twinkly fairy lights gif around the border of the page. So, you know…
Anyway. Christmas is rolling towards us like a tinsel-strewn juggernaut, and this means it’s prime festive shopping season. Ever helpful, I’ve come up with a couple of suggestions for gifts for those really difficult people to buy for. I warn you: these are, largely, Things What My Friends Have Made – but you shouldn’t let their questionable judgement in hanging around with me put you off. Everything on this list is awesome, and would make an amazing present – and frankly, if you can’t plug your mates’ stuff on your blog, then where can you do it?
So, without further ado, I present (see what I did there?)…
THE NICE LIST
(for the sake of simplicity, the majority of these links are Amazon physical ones. Feel free to sub in the physical / ebook retailer of your choice….)
- For action junkies:
SHIFT – Kim Curran
DEPARTMENT 19: THE RISING – Will Hill
Scott Tyler and Jamie Carpenter are, between them, as average as your average teenage boy gets. Except they aren’t… because as you soon discover if you pick up either of these two books, Scott has the power to change any decision he’s ever made and Jamie’s a vampire hunter with a secret government department. Gory, gripping and action-packed, these books are brilliantly paced and plotted. And if you can’t choose between them… why not pick both?
- For Doomsday Preppers:
THE TESTIMONY – James Smythe
Let me tell you a story about this book (in which a blast of static is heard by almost everyone on the planet, followed by a voice. Is it God? Is it aliens? Is it a mass hallucination..?). I took this on holiday with me earlier this year, and it was the last book I read before heading home. I was sitting in the airport at the Seychelles, which is a tiny little thing, at around midnight, waiting for my flight to be called and reading the last couple of chapters of THE TESTIMONY. There were one or two people already in the departure hall, but we were the last flight out for the night so it was pretty quiet.
And then someone, somewhere, leaned on a button and switched on the PA. There was a burst of deafening white noise… and nothing else.
Not that it mattered, because by that time I had dropped my book and hidden under the departure lounge seating.
That’s how good this book is.
It’s complicated, twisty… and utterly terrifying.
- For Western fans & short story addicts:
A TOWN CALLED PANDEMONIUM – Jurassic Press
I’ve been involved in the Pandemonium project (one of my stories appeared in the apocalypse-themed anthology, now out of print) but this one’s a different animal altogether. A shared-world, weird Western anthology with some of my favourite writers involved, it will transport you to a town with secrets, tragedies and horrors. So what are you waiting for? Saddle up…
For urban explorers:
THE CITY’S SON – Tom Pollock
Urban explorers know that cities have a life of their own – and London is no exception. But you’ve never imagined it quite like this. Tom Pollock gives you a version of London where street lights come to life, where the ghosts of trains ride the rails and where the building sites scarring the surface of the city lay the foundations for something sinister…
One part urban fantasy, one part New Weird, one part utterly itself, read this and you’ll never look at the city in the same way again.
- For art buffs:
Vincent Chong prints
Nominated for a World Fantasy Award last year, Vincent Chong has produced book covers for Stephen King, Joe Hill and China Mieville among others, as well as illustrating collector’s editions of some incredible novels (I have a copy of THE CLUB DUMAS, which is one of my favourite books and is probably the most expensive copy of a novel I’ve ever bought!). I have a bunch of his prints, including one (predictably, I guess) of a fallen angel, and they’re beautiful. Also, I have this as my desktop right now, because I love it.
###
So there you go. Yes, they’re all my friends – and I’m utterly unapologetic about recommending their work, because every single one of them is immensely talented. You won’t go wrong with any of them.
Posted by loummorgan on December 10, 2012
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/the-nice-list/
It finally got me. I’ve been tagged in the Next Big Thing meme (shout-out to Danie Ware, Paul Kane and Elspeth Cooper, all of whom cornered me and memed me into submission, as has the lovely Janet Edwards).
The idea is to answer a few questions on whatever it is you (the Tag-ee? The Be-tagged?) happen to be working on and then to pass on the tag to five other people. Think of it like Ringu, only with writers crawling through your computer screen.
Lovely mental image, isn’t it? Anyway. Let’s get on with things, shall we?
What is the working title of your next book?
At the moment, I’m working on BLOOD AND FEATHERS: REBELLION. Which is, fairly obviously, the follow-up to BLOOD AND FEATHERS, which came out in August this year.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
REBELLION being a direct sequel to B&F, it largely sprang from the fact that the characters’ stories weren’t finished. Alice wasn’t done, Mallory wasn’t done and Vin, well… Vin’s so scatty he’d probably forget if he was done. I wanted to open up the world – after all, we’ve only really seen hell so far – and to spend some more time with those characters, as well as to bring new ones into play. The angelic war’s been going on forever… and there’s a lot more to it than Alice knew.
What genre does your book fall under?
Like B&F, REBELLION likes to lurk on the borders. It’s closest to urban fantasy (certainly this time around, there’s an actual city…) but there’s elements of fantasy and horror in there too. What it isn’t is paranormal romance. By the way, I’m quite taken with “featherpunk” by way of sub-genre, if anyone feels like running with that…
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Ah. The best / worst question. I have fairly strong views on who’d be ideal for most of the characters… and several of them, I’m not sharing. This is largely because I like the idea that everyone has a slightly different mental image of Alice, or Vin, or Mallory – and that, technically, none of them are wrong. The Mallory you have in your head might look and sound completely different from the one in mine – but that’s the way it should be. It doesn’t make your Mallory any less “Mallory” than mine. So I’ll keep those three to myself, but I will tell you about a couple of others.
Michael, in an ideal and perfectly perfect world, would be Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. It’s funny, because I’d had a very clear mental image of Michael right from the get-go, which is a couple of years back… and the first time I saw a photo of him, he fitted exactly.
A new character who appears in REBELLION is the Earthbound angel, Castor – and him, I’d love to see played by Jamie Parker (who’ll be familiar to anyone who saw the Globe’s Henry V this year.) You should totally follow him on Twitter, by the way – @DickLeFenwick.
Finally, the one that everyone who’s familiar with my own Twitter feed (or, well, me) will have been waiting for. The Archangel Zadkiel – he’s mentioned in BLOOD & FEATHERS, but doesn’t appear in person until REBELLION.
Jeremy Renner.
Happy now?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
With the Fallen wreaking havoc in the world and on humanity, the Archangel Michael is determined to destroy Lucifer once and for all – whatever the cost – and Alice, Mallory and Vin will be called on to sacrifice more than they ever imagined possible…
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I’m represented by the gorgeous, talented and lovely Juliet Mushens, and REBELLION will be published by Solaris Books in the summer of 2013.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Ask me that when I’ve finished it… which should hopefully be sometime in the next couple of weeks. If all goes to plan, it’ll have taken a few months. But that’s only a first draft. Getting to a cleaner version will take another month or so of tinkering on my part, and that’s before my fantastic and long-suffering editor Jon gets his hands (and his red pen) on it!
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The easy answer is that it’s like BLOOD AND FEATHERS. I’ve been told that one’s comparable to SANDMAN SLIM, which I’ve not read yet but certainly will do. The easiest (and probably most useful) comparison to make is with the TV show SUPERNATURAL – we seem to overlap in a lot of ways, much to my initial despair. I’d written most of B&F before I started watching that one, so you can imagine how I felt when I got as far as season 4…
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The first book, in a way. There was that, and there was somewhere I went. I was on holiday with my family – while B&F was on submission to Solaris, funnily enough, and I had no idea whether they were going to want it or not – and we went somewhere that made me start thinking. You can’t take me anywhere…
There was also this, which has (in my head at least) become an informal theme tune for Michael. Because if this doesn’t make you think of angels, nothing will.
Not only is the video utterly extraordinary, if REBELLION had a sound, that would be it.
What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Someone described BLOOD AND FEATHERS as “post-Bourne angels”. REBELLION has more of them, interacting much more widely with the world, with the Fallen and with one another. Oh, and you might just get to find out what’s in all those notebooks that Mallory keeps knocking around his floor…
So that was relatively painless. (The photo of Renner helped, right?)
I’m going to pass on the meme by tagging five people to write their own post in a week’s time – but as this is me, I’m going slightly off-piste and tagging someone who’s not an author, but an editor. In this case, that’s Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch, and one of the people behind the Pandemonium anthologies.
Also tagged are Jonathan Oliver, Anne Lyle, Niel Bushnell and – because eventually he’ll have no choice but to cave under the sheer weight of tags and play along – Will Hill.
Posted by loummorgan on November 14, 2012
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/the-next-big-thing/
… and, of course, “Prestige.”
(Thank god for that. Leaving it out makes me feel like I want to sneeze.)
And the prestige is, of course, MAGIC: AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE ESOTERIC & ARCANE
Watch closely…
Pretty, isn’t she? And it’s not just the cover that’s pretty: the interior design is also gorgeous, making this one of the nicest-looking anthologies I’ve seen. And I’m not just saying that because I’m biased. Promise.
MAGIC is released this week, with a special launch event at Foyles in Charing Cross Road, London, featuring Audrey Niffenegger, Sophia McDougall and Dan Abnett in conversation with editor Jon Oliver. It’s a free event, but it’s not a bad idea to reserve a space via the Foyles Events site.
If you were at FantasyCon in Brighton this year and swung by the reading room on the Friday evening, you may well have heard either me or Will Hill reading our stories from the book. The theme was, unsurprisingly, “magic” but the brief was specifically for something new; something that looked away from traditional witches and wizards… and judging by the finished anthology, every single contributor took that to heart.
My story, “Bottom Line” is about a man who works in a magic shop; a man who would do well to avoid magic altogether… not that it stops him.
I can still remember the look on his face when I asked for a job. He was sitting at the counter, stringing cards onto wire for the window display. He put the wire down, and he looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Donnie. Of all the places in the world, with your history, why in God’s name would you want to work in a magic shop?”
He had a point. You don’t send an alcoholic to work in a distillery, do you? But that’s just it. There’s magic and there’s magic. There’s tricks and illusions and sleight of hand… and there’s what I do. What I did.
“Bottom Line” is a story about addiction and regret and – maybe – redemption. I’m very proud of it, and it was one of those stories I was sad to leave. I liked Donnie, and I hope you do too.
It’s a pleasure and an honour to be included in this anthology: the line-up is beyond intimidating (if you’re me, anyway) and includes Audrey Niffenegger, Will Hill, Rob Shearman, Alison Littlewood, Sophia McDougall and Sarah Lotz as well as many other people. And muggins here.
You can order online (Amazon UK & US) or pick up a copy at Foyles on Wednesday evening. As well as the official participants of the event, several other contributors will be there to sign copies if you’d like your book scribbled on! There will be ebooks, too, the links for which I’ll add once I’ve dragged them out of the lower recesses of the internet.
If you’re in London this week, come along and help us launch this fantastic book; come and say hi. And if you can’t make it, not to worry: with a line-up like that, there’s bound to be something in this anthology which will enchant you…
Posted by loummorgan on October 22, 2012
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/pledge-turn/
This weekend sees the annual convention of the British Fantasy Society, FantasyCon, which is heading back to Brighton for the second year in a row. It’s a hugely friendly event with authors, editors, agents, readers and publishers all getting together to spend time together. And there’s a disco. And bars which never seem to close…
I’ve been involved in the background of this one for the first time, helping to organise the reading slots which will be running from the Friday afternoon through to the Sunday lunchtime. We were incredibly fortunate that – thanks largely to the overwhelming success of last year’s event – we had a fantastic pool of potential readers to pick from, and we’ve put together a reading programme which should have something for everyone, including Kate Griffin, Will Hill, Joe Abercrombie, Adam Christopher, Gary McMahon, Mike Carey, Stacia Kane… and more, mixing familiar names with debut authors and up-and-comers.
And that’s just the readings. There are all sorts of book launches, parties, panels, signings and events spread throughout the weekend.
I may have been running around working on this one, but they aren’t letting me off yet. I’ll be popping up a few times across the weekend – so if you want me, I’ll definitely be at these events (and will probably be running around or lurking in the background at a few others. I’ll be the one with a vaguely panicked expression…)
FRIDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER:
4 – 5pm, PANEL: YOUR FIRST CONVENTION. (Fitzherbert Room)
I’ll be discussing conventions with Guy Adams, Tim Lebbon, Joanne Hall and super-con-organiser Mandy Slater: how they work, what to do (or not to do!) and how to get the most out of them. Whether you’re an FCon newbie, a convention virgin or an old hand at both, come along.
8.30 – 9pm: READING. (Room 134)
Solaris are launching their new MAGIC anthology at FantasyCon, so I’ll be reading my short story from that, “Bottom Line” for the very first time. If there’s time, I’ll also try and squeeze in a very short excerpt from BLOOD AND FEATHERS. That’ll be a section I’ve not read before (basically, come to enough events I’m reading at, and you may well hear the whole book by the end of it….)
11:30pm – midnight: JUST A MINUTE (Regency Lounge)
This is the scary one. I’m playing the legendary game against James Barclay, Rob Shearman and FCon Guest of Honour Muriel Gray, all under the watchful eye of Gollancz’s Gillian Redfearn. Swing by the lounge to watch us all fail to talk for a minute without hesitation, repetition or deviation on any given subject. Heckle, cheer, laugh… whatever. But bring your moral support. And gin.
SATURDAY 29th SEPTEMBER
2 – 3pm: MAGIC LAUNCH (Bar Rogue)
Along with other contributors (including Rob Shearman, Alison Littlewood, Thana Niveau and Will Hill) I’ll be signing at the launch of the fantastic Solaris anthology. I’ve read a couple of the stories in this now, and I can promise you it’s worth it…
5 – 6pm: launch of A CARNIVALE OF HORROR: DARK TALES FROM THE FAIRGROUND (Regency Lounge)
Another anthology launch: this time, a collection of dark circus stories, edited by the Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan and featuring my story “Face of the Circus”. I’ll be signing, as will Rio Youers, James Lovegrove, Muriel Gray and the cover artist Ben Baldwin.
I’m incredibly excited about both these anthologies, as I’m very proud of those stories and I’m thrilled to be in such amazing line-ups.
###
Someone asked me whether I’ll be at the Big Solaris Give-Away & Signing on the Saturday afternoon: the answer to that is “sort of”. I’m not actually involved (I think the lovely Solaris crew will all need a bit of a break from me, to be honest…) but I may well be hovering somewhere in the background and I *will* be around most of Saturday afternoon – most likely either hanging out in the bar or running interference on launches and other events. So if you have a copy of BLOOD AND FEATHERS that you’d like me to sign, just keep an eye out for me and I’d be delighted to oblige!
As an aside, we’re also running a CHARITY CUPCAKE SALE on the FRIDAY AFTERNOON from 2 – 3pm (I think it’s in Bar Rogue, but please check the programme). All cakes are being made specifically by a group of crack volunteer bakers and have a fantasy theme. I’m told there *will* be some GF / vegan choices too, and all proceeds will go to the National Literacy Trust.
My contributions will have a Once Upon A Time theme, and (barring bakery disasters, which are entirely possible, given this is me…) be:
Rumpelstiltskin’s Revenge: chocolate & rum cupcakes with chocolate fudge icing… and plenty of gold.
Snow White: rose-flavoured cupcakes with vanilla icing
The Dark Curse: blackberry and lemon marbled cakes with chocolate icing
So there you go. FantasyCon’s shaping up to be a fantastic (gettit?) weekend all round. Weekend memberships are now sold out, but there may still be some day tickets available for the Saturday.
If you’re coming, I’ll see you in Brighton in a few days. The full programme is online here, with details of launches here. I’m looking forward to it….
Posted by loummorgan on September 25, 2012
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/fantasycon-2012/
The launch day for BLOOD AND FEATHERS is here.
It’s almost exactly a year since I got the mail from Solaris telling me they wanted to publish the book, and that time’s been taken up with the most incredible journey. (I know. I went down the “journey” route. Get me, right?)
The editing, the reading, the re-reading, the re-editing, the re-writing, the planning… the sheer amount of hard work. And not just mine, but everyone who’s had a hand in this somewhere, and particularly the lovely team at Solaris – Jon Oliver, Ben Smith, David Moore, Pye Parr and Michael Molcher.
Without them, I wouldn’t be able to say all this.
So thank you. And thank you to everyone who’s been so supportive. It’s been an incredible ride so far… and this is only the start.
***
Now I hand them over to you. Alice, Mallory, Vin… all the angels. They’re yours. Take good care of them, and I hope that maybe someone out there will love them as much as I’ve come to.
Posted by loummorgan on August 2, 2012
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/the-angels-are-here/
It’s been a really exciting (and busy) couple of days, and I can’t quite believe how fast they’ve gone. Or how fast the release date for BLOOD AND FEATHERS is hurtling towards me!
The biggest thing for me, amongst a few big things, is that the first review for the book came in, and I’m absolutely thrilled. My Bookish Ways said:
… expertly weaves fantasy and horror elements into a creepy, exciting, roller coaster ride of a book. Lou Morgan’s angels aren’t warm, fluffy, and halo’d, either. They’re fiercely beautiful warriors, and distinctly “other.” The angel mythos is fascinating and rich, and the author has laid the groundwork for what promises to be an explosive sequel
(You can read the full review here.)
Basically, this brought a huge smile to my face – and not just because it’s a lovely review. It’s because it’s the first sense that other people have read the book: people I don’t know and who don’t know me, and that it’s now out there on its own. Being its own thing and standing by and for itself. It’s terrifying exciting. And it’s wonderful. The fact that the first review I’ve seen is also so positive just adds to the whole thing.
Kristin, who runs My Bookish Ways, was also kind enough to invite me to waffle on about all manner of things from medieval art to Prince Hal to angels via the City of London, and you can read that here.
If you’ve not yet had enough of me waffling (some of you have tremendous stamina, I know) then you can also join in the Friday Five fun on Pornokitsch. Every week, they ask a couple of people to choose 5 of something, and this week it’s… yep, you guessed it: angels.
I particularly love that Castiel has made 2 out of the 3 lists, proving that he really is All The Awesome. It also reminded me of something I found on Etsy yesterday which I reallyreallyreally want:
He may be just about the coolest thing ever. Seriously.
Well.
Until someone knits a Mallory, that is…
Posted by loummorgan on July 27, 2012
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/an-assembly-of-angels/
Because I simply don’t have enough things filling my time (insert mildly hysterical laugh *here*) I’ve now joined Pinterest, and you can find my boards here.
They’re still very much a work in progress – again with the whole “time” thing – but if you’re on there, do swing by and take a peek. I’m building up a nice collection of angels in the wild, and am always looking for more to add. If you see any, give me a shout so I can add them. What’s particularly interesting to me is how many turn up in street art at the moment, so those are always extra-welcome.
There’s also the slightly mysterious one labelled “Faces“. Because that couldn’t possibly be connected to anything.
Speaking of pretty pictures, by the way, this month sees BLOOD AND FEATHERS’s turn in the Cover Wars at the Qwillery site. There’s some very pretty books on there this time around, but I know where my heart lies. If you’re thus inclined and want to go and show Pye’s gorgeous artwork some love (and of course you do) then head over and vote.
And one more thing. There’s a few more character notes gone up on the Characters page on the B&F site, including one of my favourites, Brieus.
“We’re talking about the Fallen. Of course they’re stupid.” Brieus peered into the eye-socket of a skull. “This guy must’ve been a looker; just get a load of those cheekbones.”
“That’s a woman’s skull, Brieus.”
“Even better. Hellooo.”
That guy just can’t help himself…
Posted by loummorgan on July 16, 2012
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/pinned-down/
… and the Fallen, and everyone in between.
You might have noticed the site for BLOOD AND FEATHERS which is now up and running (well… maybe not running. Sort of… strolling. Possibly along a sunny pavement beside the Seine on an unseasonably warm Tuesday afternoon in April. But that’s beside the point) and has actual things on it.
There’s still more to go up, but there’s the beginnings of bios for the main characters, and over the next few weeks I’ll be posting a few others – mainly a snippet of dialogue here and there for some of the major players. Nothing spoilery, but as something of an Easter egg for everyone who tolerates my online gibberish.
There’ll also be an FAQ going up there – which admittedly won’t be terribly busy for a while yet… but if there’s anything you do want to know about the characters or the settings or anything like that, feel free to ask and that’s where the answers will go.
At some point over the next couple of weeks, there will also be a (very) short story about one of the main characters in the book hiding on there – again, as a thank you for listening to the rambling and wittering… and for your support, because it really does mean a lot.
The plan is for that to become a site for the book(s) – plural, now we’re counting Rebellion… and I’ll just let Dean cover my feelings for that one…
… so, um, yes. I’ll keep adding bits to it, so do check in once in a while.
Also, while I remember, I was very excited to guest-blog on the Qwillery site the other week, talking about playlists and writing to music (and the perils therein…). (The B&F playlist is, of course, on the B&F site…)
Posted by loummorgan on July 9, 2012
http://loummorgan.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/blood-feathers-meet-the-angels/
