The Forthcoming Publication of Night Time in Shanghai and Writing The Product of My Dreams.

Night Time in Shanghai

As I'm sure everyone will be aware by now, Night Time in Shanghai will be released on 30 November - it's getting close now and various stockists are gearing up for it's release.  Images will be finalised this week, but you can now find it in the following places:
Direct from my publisher, Austin Macauley - http://www.austinmacauley.com/book/night-time-shanghai

Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Time-Shanghai-Andy-Ellis/dp/1786290537

Waterstones - http://www.waterstones.com/book/night-time-in-shanghai/andy-ellis/9781786290540

It will also be available from Barnes & Noble, Blackwells and WH Smiths.

Alternatively, I will have a few copies which I will be making available through my Author page on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/AndyEllisWriter/ which I will sign with a short message.

The cost has gone up since I last mentioned it - apparently production costs have risen and they've decided to print it on higher quality paper.  The paperback will now be £8.99 and the hardback, £14.99.

At some point I will hopefully be doing a launch event and possibly a few signings - more on that as things are arranged.

Once Night Time in Shanghai is in print and available, I'll be revisiting the contract for it's follow-up 'The Gaps Between The Stars' and with luck, that will be available some time next year.  When I've finished writing The Product of My Dreams, I'll be moving along to write the third book in the trilogy 'Machine War' - I may sneak another Proctor novella in there first, depending on how the publishing time table looks and whether or not I can get The Product of My Dreams published alongside the Night Time trilogy.  I may put it out to other publishers.

The Product of My Dreams

I knew this would be a challenge when I first came up with the concept and plot for the book.  I intend it to be around thirty chapters which could easily bring it in at upwards of 150,000 words or 550+ pages.

One section of the plot is told from the perspective of a six year old girl and despite what a few of my friends would say, I find it very challenging to relate to this point of view.  Also, the six year old girl, Claudia, lives through some very tragic events and, perhaps as a father, I find this very difficult to write, so it's going quite slowly.

Here's the first paragraph of Chapter Three - Claudia.

"Claudia rammed her little hands tight over her ears and scrunched her eyes tight shut. Still, though it was all she could hear. Bang! Boom! Screech! The rat-a-tat tats and the deep throbbing sounds that just seemed to go on forever and made her tummy feel sick. Her mummy pulled her hands away from her ears and Claudia's eyes snapped open again. Her mummy's face was covered in a mixture of black soot and grey dust, like it had been that time when she'd cleared out the old shed in the tiny back yard of their hab-mod and part of the back wall had fallen in. Mummy had been hurt then and that was all Claudia could think about now, her mummy being hurt. Her mummy slipped her hands from Claudia's wrists until she held her small hands enveloped in her own. She looked at Claudia's face and a couple of tears ran from her eyes. She sniffed and let go of Claudia's left hand with her right and wiped her wrist across under her nose in the way that she'd told Claudia never to do. Black blended with grey on her mummy's face but a couple of clean streaks were added now and Claudia could see the medium brown of her mummy's skin underneath."

So far, I'm around 12,000 words into the book and will push to write some more in the next few days - other commitments are making it hard to stick closely to a writing schedule, but I have given myself a target of six months to write it and there's no reason why I shouldn't hit this target.

A quick note on me

As I write this, I'm being buffeted by strong winds and heavy rain on my boat in Braunston Marina in Northamptonshire.  In around a week's time, I'll be heading north.  I plan to stop in Newbold (Rugby), Hawkesbury (Coventry), Hartshill (Nuneaton), Poleswoth, Hopwas (Tamworth), Fradley and then up the Trent and Mersey canal to Mercia Marina - I may not book in there for more than a few days to start with - I may head up to Shardlow for a week or two before coming back to Mercia, we'll have to see what the weather does.  At the moment, my plan is to spend a month or three in Mercia through the coldest nastiest months of winter.  Mercia Marina is south of Derby and has good rail links.