As I suggested in my last post, I made the decision to 'park' The Product of My Dreams and move on to writing another Proctor Novella. When I first wrote The Art of Living, I had it in my head that I would follow it with The Art of Killing and The Art of Dying, but I struggled for a plot that fitted with 'The Art of Dying' so I was just going to ditch that idea. Anyway, when I decided to write the third Novella, I wanted to put Proctor back in space and came up with a nice plot idea. It doesn't have the twist of The Art of Killing - it's a much more straight forwards idea, in some ways more similar to The Art of Living, but when I'd hammered out the plot, I realised that The Art of Dying fits, so it all works out nicely in the end. Once I have finished it, I may move away from 'The Art of...' titles and head in a new direction, though I do want to finish The Product of My Dreams and get to work on the third book in the Night Time Series, 'Machine War', and I have an idea for a book set in the near future (well, a couple of hundred years from now) so it may be a while before I set to work on another Proctor story, though I guess only time will tell.
So far, I've written most of the first chapter, though I'm not at a stage where I want to share any of that yet. Proctor Novellas have a very different flow to The Product of My Dreams, and I'm still getting my head back into Proctor mode, though once I'm happy with the way it's going, I'll share a paragraph or two to give you all a taste. I have a lot of other work on with my day job and doing various things to promote my books, so it may happen quite slowly.
Sales of the Proctor Novellas have picked up quite nicely since the release of Night Time in Shanghai and the launch of the paperback editions and I'm getting quite a lot of very positive feedback. As always, if you have read any of my books, please leave me a review on Amazon.co.uk and copy it to Amazon.com and (for Night Time in Shanghai) to my publisher's website http://www.austinmacauley.com/book/night-time-shanghai
Marketing of Night Time in Shanghai is moving forwards at a pace - the marketing team at Austin Macauley have produced posters, flyers and a trailer video which can be seen here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pmGFwPwb_E. In addition to this, they have approached several reviewers and bloggers and sci-fi interest organisations in places as far afield as New Zealand - it sounds like they are working very hard on my behalf. The second of February is National Science Fiction day and my publisher is looking at ways to promote my novel for this as well.
Lots of Lovely Books!
I have now received some more paperbacks of Night Time in Shanghai, now with a glossy cover which shows the cover image more clearly - if you have one of the original First Edition, First Print paperbacks - lucky you! These are going to be quite rare and you never know, one day they may be worth quite a bit more than the cover price. ...wish I hadn't given my last copy to my daughter now...
Signed copies of the hardback and paperback of Night Time in Shanghai and the paperbacks of the Proctor novellas are still available - if you'd like one, then please either comment on this post or message me through my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/AndyEllisWriter/ - the cost is the cover price plus postage.
...On a Personal Note
I'm currently over-wintering in Mercia Marina in Derbyshire, the biggest inland marina in Europe. It's a wonderful place with hundreds of boats and I've met some really lovely people. The facilities here are excellent - free showers, cheap laundry and an on-site bar and restaurant, but what really makes it are the friendly, helpful and welcoming staff. I love this place and I think it may well become a long term home-base for me. Lots of my family live locally as well, and it's been nice to spend some time with my dad and my sister Layla.
I went for a wonderful meal at the Dragon in Willington, with my sister Lucy and her partner JP who gave me the news that they will be getting married this year! I'm really pleased for them both - JP's a really nice and also very talented guy - I'm sure they'll both be very happy together - I may have to dust off my best jeans and give my trainers a wash.
Anyway - that's all for now - as always, watch this space!
Andy Ellis January 2017
RIP Gene Cernan - The Last Man on The Moon.
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