By the Feet of Men - Mood Photos

Whenever I write, I storyboard the scenes in my mind so I can see exactly where the characters are and the landscapes they inhabit. I think this is why people have said my writing is a little like a movie in novel form. Below are a few photos that reflect some of the settings and themes in By the Feet of Men.

The Watched Road.

The great lagoons in the north.

The mountains of the Zuisudra.

A bridge in the Alps.

Tyre tracks on the mud flats.

The junkyards of Prestige.

Abandoned posts en route.

Nature reclaiming the Earth.

Piece on Mary Robinette Kowal's website

Some months ago I was clicking around the Internet wondering what else I could do to promote By the Feet of Men besides coming up with some kind of interpretive dance for it when, for whatever reason, I went on the website of Mary Robinette Kowal, President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and recipient of the Hugo, Locus and Nebula awards (jeez). Ms Kowal has a section on her website where she invites non-award-winning authors like myself to talk about their favourite bit in their recently published work. I fired off an email, never expecting to hear back, but I did actually hear back, and now my piece about using flashbacks in fiction is there for the world to see.

On the website of a Hugo, Locus and Nebula award-winner.

Here’s a link to the piece: CLICK ME.

i want a cover like this.

Chart / August

So it’s out, then. The book. My ruminations on what the future may hold. My raison d’être for the past three years. That’s the end of that. File it under funky.

Except it isn’t, of course. Sales are doing well, but I’ll still be trying to push out articles about the apocalypse and the anthropocene and Armageddon. This is uncharted territory for me once again. How long do I keep up the promotional efforts? How much do I try to have the book submitted for awards? How often will I be checking Goodreads in the hope of beautiful new reviews? All questions I guess I’ll be answering over the next few months.

Roundup: Ginger Nuts of Horror gave me a sparkling review (“This book is one of those rare examples where you enjoy it and at the same time feel excited about the notion of reading it again”) and did a five-minute interview with me, during which I use the term ‘economical staccato’ to describe my writing style. My God. Over at Lauren’s Bookshelf, I generously offer a few tips on channelling your inner Hemingway and rewriting the end of a novel. I also wrote a piece for The Bibliophagist titled Opportunity in Crisis that disappeared from view almost as soon as it arrived. The things I do for book.

Paperbacks and Pinot was especially effusive with the praise, stating that By the Feet of Men is “immersive, thoughtful, gritty and as realistic an interpretation as you’re likely to get of a dystopian future”. Over at Mad Hatter Reviews in the UK (scroll down), I received an in-depth critique of the novel, with the conclusion that I’ve created “an intelligent action thriller”. What else? Sincerely Karenjo called the book thrilling, gritty and haunting, Lizbie’s Nerdy World enjoyed the economical staccato writing style, and Between the Shelves appreciated it for scratching a dystopian itch. Finally, the good Bill Halpin, author of The Cult of Eden (out in October), was kind enough to say the novel was “phenomenally written”.

Not bad.

Music this month….was scarce. I was kind of busy. So we’ll go for a victory dance:

1. Alice in Chains - I Stay Away

2. Radio Birdman - T.V. Eye

3. Minutemen - Corona

4. Boards of Canada - 1969

5. Floating Points - King Bromeliad

6. Radiohead - Optimistic

7. Slowdive - Souvlaki Space Station

peel here to rejuvenate.

By the Feet of Men is out today

Three years, three months and eleven days: this is how long it has taken for By the Feet of Men to go from the initial planning stage (a 10,000-word document detailing every chapter in the book) to its official release today in bookstores around the world.

Here is the synopsis in all its 70s B-movie glory:

WANTED: Men and women willing to drive through the valley of the shadow of death.

The world’s population has been decimated by the Change, a chain reaction of events triggered by global warming. In Europe, governments have fallen, cities have crumbled and the wheels of production have ground to a halt. The Alps region, containing most of the continent’s remaining fresh water, has become a closed state with heavily fortified borders. Survivors cling on by trading through the Runners, truck drivers who deliver cargo and take a percentage.

Amid the ruins of central Germany, two Runners, Cassady and Ghazi, are called on to deliver medical supplies to a research base deep in the Italian desert, where scientists claim to be building a machine that could reverse the effects of the Change. Joining the pair is a ragtag collection of drivers, all of whom have something to prove. Standing in their way are starving nomads, crumbling cities, hostile weather and a rogue state hell-bent on the convoy's destruction. And there's another problem:

A whole lot of reviews for the novel are available here.

If you would like to buy the book (I do hope so), it is available from most bookstores, many of which can be found via this link. It is also available from Waterstones, WH Smith, Barnes & Noble, Target and elsewhere.

It has been a long process full of beatific moments and frustration, and I am glad to have experienced every minute of it. I know how lucky I am. I have counted on the support of so many people, and I would not have been able to reach this day without them. Thank you all.

Now on to the next novel.

FIRE.