All the chickens
Light-hearted thoughts on editing and a little teaser from Future's End (that's not light-hearted in any way, shape or form. Oops).
It is, I suppose,
an odd form of fun,
the second full run.
Ploughing through words
already written.
Typos.
Moderate or good,
occasionally very poor.
Lapse continuity,
hats doffed and donned
in the wrong order completely.
Most irksome of all,
in this speculative spasm
where death
meets technology.
Why are there so many chickens?
FUTURE’S END to-do list:
… rescue the typos, correct the number of chickens, commission a little sketched map of Funen for the opening pages, finalise the cover, agree on the blurb, attack the dreaded formatting…
… so far so good, I am - touch wood! - on schedule for a publication date of 15.05.25, and the book launch will be on 10.05.25 at Fold Coffee in Kendal. More details will be shared here (and also on the socials, all the relevant linky buttony bits are at the bottom of this newsletter) as and when I’ve managed to shape them into an actual thing. This is utter madness, publishing a world that lives inside your head. As a thank you for sticking by me, below is a little teaser from the new book - Future’s End. I hope you enjoy it!
“The emergency sirens managed just one second of wail before the first bomb went off. There was no other warning.
It had just ticked past noon. General Mallory - caught between the Air Corps mess and Room 0-54 - was, like scores of Institute officers and staff, hurled to the ground as rubble and brick dust rained down from the skies. He heard the initial blip from the sirens, he heard the explosion. Now he can’t hear anything, just a high-pitched squealing in his ears. He can taste metallic blood and the dirt on his tongue is clagging into clay. Still face down, his hands first test their fingers, then his feet test their toes. All OK… so far… he opens his eyes, he can see blooms of dust and feet running and the bloodied bodies of colleagues. Swirling gritty clouds eddy with weak sunlight, the scene that greets him is ghoulish, grotesque. Some men are squirming with care back into life, others lie still in death. Wasted lives that will only move again when they are lifted onto gurneys and trundled into the main morgue. Good men, all of them.”
The Incredible Machines of Thinkery: Future’s End
Publication date 15.05.25 - available to pre-order soon!
OUTPOST 9 update:
Popping up in people’s book stacks and on their holiday photos is, just, so bloody lovely I don’t know what words to use. Er. THANK YOU! Outpost 9 now has 16 ratings on Goodreads, with an average rating of 4.81. If this was you, I’m so grateful, if it wasn’t, my gratitude is still yours as you’re here, reading this. And while you are here, may I ask you a quick question?
Q: An audiobook of Outpost 9. Yes/No ?
The Incredible Machines of Thinkery: Outpost 9 is available on Amazon here or at
, Verey Books Pooley Bridge, Throne of Books Kirkby Stephen, Book Lounge Kirkby Lonsdale, Howling Wolf Whitehaven and more…You can keep in the loop of Thinkery by the following means, and of course, on here.
Thank you all so much for the likes and the shares and the kind comments. Quite literally, I would not be here without you. Much love, and always peace. ✌️
Linnhe