Editing, editing

My editor at Proxima just sent me back his first pass over Aphrodite's Dawn, and I must admit I was a bit nervous when I opened the first file. As a relatively new writer, you hear a lot of horror stories about draconian editors ripping your literary child to shreds or demanding copious rewrites.

Well, I'm about 2/3rds of the way through reviewing his notes and I have to say its wonderful. There are one or two things I don't agree with, or understand (yet), but every edit adds to the the story in some way, and yet none of them take anything away from the story being definitively 'mine'.

Its a very satifying process so far, and I'm learning a great deal from it.

(And no I'm not trying to butter my editor up so he will be nice to me)

"Aphrodite's Dawn" announced by Proxima

I am delighted to say that Proxima have formally announced my first science fiction novel for younger adults. Here is an extract from the announcement:

"Joseph Mead joins Proxima Books with his contemporary fantasy horror,’Aleera: Tainted Blood’, set in New York, a half-succubus is hunted by a serial demon-killer, or is it the other way around?
R.B. Harkess releases Proxima’s first YA story, ‘Aphrodite’s Dawn’, a science-fiction adventure set inside an ancient decaying asteroid ark; the last hope for mankind.
Both stories will be released either as e-books, or in Proxima’s exciting new e-serial format, during Autumn /Winter 2011. Watch this space for future details."

So exciting to move a step closer to publication, and so grateful for all the help Proxima has been giving me making "Aphrodite's Dawn" such a great read.

Busy, busy, busy

Rude of me, I know, not to post more up here, but I plead other commitments; I've been cathing up on reviews for fellow writers in the 'writing circles' I belong to, and I've been putting together a short story. Should be finished in a couple of weeks and then all I have to do is find someone who wants to publish it. I have high hopes for it, though, and think it might evolve into my next novel if its recieved well.

Best wishes

Royal Wedding

I wanted to put up a quick post to wish The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge every happiness with their new life.
I've been quite shocked, and in some cases disturbed, by some of the horrible, hate- and anger-filled posts on Facebook denouncing the wedding and the politics around it. I think that's a shame. People and cultures from all over the UK have joined together to celebrate this eventand I hope they all have a wonderful time.

And to those of you who aren't?
Bah Humbug!

Top Ten Unsuitable Books for Teenagers

My editor posted this link to his facebook page. I'm not sure how he finds the time to read newspapers, even virtual ones. Maybe he has a netbot scanning for interesting articles.

Anyway, I went off and read this article in the Guardian, and ended up adding two of them to my own reading list. Won't tell you which two, though. You might be a teenager and I wouldn't want to lead you astray ;)

New Beginning

Hi
Welcome to the new blog
All a little messy at the moment as we only just got this set up, but it will settle down soon.

So have a look around if you like, but keep an eye out for wet paint and splinters