The good people at This Is Northumberland (www.thisisnorthumberland.com) are running a competition in which the prize is no less than a free copy of my very own Northumbria: The Lost Kingdom. So, if you want to diddle your dedicated author out of his hard-earned and frankly rather low royalties, get along to the site, enter your details and cross your fingers, that this time it’s you!
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Magic Realism for the Masses
The wave of urban fantasy novels that began in the ’90s (‘Neverwhere’) and went into overdrive in the 2000s (twinkly vampires in suburban America) appears to be a move into the mainstream for magic realism. Rather than levitating nuns in exotic South American destinations, we now have policemen using magic and personified river goddesses in London (Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series).
It might seem strange, for a modern city can be the most prosaic of environments, but a slight change of perception reveals that wonder and mystery lies all around. A woman sitting on a wooden chair on the platform at King’s Cross tube station (District Line) was one of the strangest things I have ever seen. Walking home one evening, down a quiet suburban street where no one moved and life continued behind doors and windows, I realised that it would be no surprise to walk out of this world entirely.
The new urban fantasy novels show an inchoate sense that there is wonder all around, and that it might break in on our ordered, sensible lives at any time, with unpredictable, possibly disastrous but never dull consequences. It’s only a matter of time before someone reports seeing a unicorn in Kensal Rise, or dwarves in Dulwich.
Northumbria is Middle-earth
Now, as you may know (and if you don’t, I’ll need to make my self-advertisement even more blatant), my ebook on Tolkien, Professor Tolkien of Oxford, has just come out, and my old-fashioned paper book on the history and archaeology of Northumbria: The Lost Kingdom is out 1 October. What I had not known before is that other eyes than mine have seen the connection between the two. When places are touted as the inspiration for Middle-earth, the areas around Birmingham where Tolkien grew up (which were then bucolic expanses of greenery rather than suburbs) usually win out. But, it turns out, and this will not be a surprise to visitors, Northumberland fits better today. For the poster for The Hobbit features Gandalf striding across the Shire, but the backdrop is Northumberland. The ruined castle to the right of centre is Edlingham Castle. The hills are the Simonside Hills, according to folklore the home of dwarves, the duergar, who lead travellers astray.
So, Northumbria is Middle-earth. I knew it!
Acceptance Notes – no.7 in a series
Thank you for the opportunity to read and consider your story “The Last Actor”. We would like to publish your story in an upcoming issue of Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine.
Acceptance Notes – no.6 in a series
Dear Edoardo,
I am pleased to inform you that your story “Time Hoppers” has been accepted for the Exploration issue of Penumbra. Our financial director, will be sending you a contract in a few days.
In the meantime, I need you to email me your bio, please.
I look forward to seeing you in print. Thank you for submitting such a fun story.
Nearly There
I’ve just finished going through the final batch of corrections for Northumbria: The Lost Kingdom. Emailed off this morning, Lindsey, our editor at The History Press, will input them on Monday and then off the file goes to the printers. It looks like we’re on track for the official publication date of 1st October 2012.
Gosh.
The Cover of Northumbria: The Lost Kingdom
It’s been a memorable day. First, Professor Tolkien of Oxford comes out, and then I get to see the final version of the cover – front and back – of Northumbria: The Lost Kingdom. I like it.
Professor Tolkien of Oxford out now!
My new ebook, Professor Tolkien of Oxford, is now available on Kindle from Amazon. I’ll have to go out and buy myself a Kindle now!
Cover Quandaries
It’s an exciting time: the History Press has sent me a trial cover for Northumbria: The Lost Kingdom. I quite like it, but what do you think?
