Zen Cho's Blog, page 4

Happy New Year! It’s been quiet on this blog lately as I’ve been absorbed in working on the follow-up to Sorcerer to the Crown and then took a complete break from writing over Christmas and New Year. It felt a bit alarming to be taking a rest with a deadline looming, but I think it was a good idea — there’s still a ton of work to be done, but I feel rejuvenated and much more capable of tackling it. I’ll probably stay pretty quiet till the book has been turned in, but here are some recent bits...

I realised I’d forgotten to mention that after Eschacon I’ll be popping back to London for a panel on (what else?) world SF at Book and Kitchen this Saturday:

Global Futures: On Science Fiction at Book and Kitchen

Date and time: Saturday, 7 November 2015, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Venue: Book and Kitchen, 31 All Saints Road, Notting Hill, London W11 1HE
Description:
Science fiction authors, editors and publishers will discuss the ways in which Western ideals and narratives dominated the genre for dec...

Unterminator

by Zen Cho

This is a flash piece that was published in Eschatology: The Journal of Lovecraftian and Apocalyptic Fiction in August 2011. As the journal is now defunct and Unterminator is not available elsewhere, I have been prodded by a reader to ensure it is available online!

You were sent to avert the nuclear apocalypse, but they sent you too early. It’s the 1950s and everyone seems fine.

Your makers made numerous mistakes. You look too young to command instinctive resp...

This is a flash piece that was published in Eschatology: The Journal of Lovecraftian and Apocalyptic Fiction in August 2011. As the journal is now defunct and Unterminator is not available elsewhere, I have been prodded by a reader to ensure it is available online!

by Zen Cho

You were sent to avert the nuclear apocalypse, but they sent you too early. It’s the 1950s and everyone seems fine.

Your makers made numerous mistakes. You look too young to command instinctive respect fro...

I feel like maybe it wasn’t the greatest feat of marketing genius to write a load of publishing journey blog posts, announce the UK publication of my book and then promptly drop off the radar for a month, but phew! It has been very busy! And it’s not looking like it’s going to let up any time soon. I’m looking forward to being able to take a proper break some time in 2016 …

Before then, though, I’ll be in Amsterdam a week on Thursday for a minicon focused on World SF, Eschacon. The full progr...

Sorcerer to the Crown was released in the UK last Thursday! The book’s properly out in the world now. :O

Thanks to everyone who came to the Forbidden Planet signing. If you missed it, you can still buy the signed hardcover from them: Sorcerer to the Crown at Forbidden Planet. And the signed and numbered limited edition is still available from Goldsboro Books for slightly more money: Sorcerer to the Crown limited first edition. I got #1!

The limited edition is really beautiful. *_* Apparently...

Just a short post to say that I’ll be signing Sorcerer to the Crown at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore in a week’s time, from 6-7 pm on the UK publication date of 10 September 2015. Details at their website:

Zen Cho Signing Sorcerer to the Crown

It’s open to the public so do drop by if you’re in London! (This is different from the launch of the UK limited edition, which is invitation-only.) I set up a Facebook event page also if you find that sort of thing useful. Hope to see you there!...

I know I said I was winding up my Publishing Journey posts for now, but I had another thought: about love and resource, and the debts we owe. It’s quite a big thought, so bear with me.

A few years ago I got a daruma and was told how you draw in one eye when there’s something you want, and you draw in the other eye when you have got it. I drew in one eye and then I waited. The thing I wanted was the same wish I always made, when visiting temples and blowing out birthday candles.

Like many writ...

I thought it might be useful to have a summary post with links to all my Publishing Journey posts, as I wound them up last Friday. Here they are!

Mission statement: Ten things I believe about writing
Breaking through writer’s block, or, how I started writing and publishing short stories
How I published a short story collection
Writing with a day job, part 1: Why I don’t write full-time
Writing with a day job, part 2: Work/work balance
Networking, part 1: Social media and connection
Networking...

I ended my last Publishing Journey post about going on submission to publishers on an annoying cliffhanger, in part because the post was getting a bit long, but also because I wanted this post, about selling the book, to be the last one before the book comes out in the US. Never let it be said that I have not been straight-up with you!

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, at the end of the six-week period my agent had set, I got an email from her mentioning almost quite casually that an...