Birds of Paradise to be Published!
Having announced (and celebrated) the publication of my first short story collection in my last blogpost, I’ll now follow up with the announcement that my debut sci-fi novel “Birds of Paradise” is to be published by Elsewhen Press (may their fortune and well-being be eternal) early 2023.
Elsewhen is a terrific publisher, putting out all kinds of excellent work and with a stellar reputation among their (and other) writers. To say that I’m happy to have signed with them is a bit of an understatement. As to the novel itself: it will always be special to me for numerous reasons:
While I’m graced with the good fortune of enjoying a fruitful career in a cultural, creative medium (video games), I’ve always wanted to be a science fiction writer. I tasted a bit of that joy through games writing, dabbling with screenwriting, and I’ve had a non-fiction book published before, but this is the real deal. So, the publication of Birds of Paradise is a dream come true for me, quite literally. When I was a youngling, I used to fantasise about holding my first book in my hand, marvel at is cover, read out loud from it ... I fantasised about meeting readers, seeing my book on shelves, and pictured myself at a desk behind a typewriter every day, creating new stories. Those kinds of aspirations don’t go away, although they might hide from the uglier realities of practical, adult life until they are allowed to show their hopeful little faces when it’s safe.
Well, I was never really good at playing adult (OK I suck at it), so I stubbornly beavered away at the manuscript whenever I could steal a productive moment to do so, until one day – somehow – there was an actual, complete, first draft in front of me. Draft one begat draft two, then the next, and then another, and proofreaders seemed to like it, and eventually a final draft found Elsewhen Press and the rest is future history.
I’m looking forward to the book (hopefully) finding an audience and receiving reader feedback, but even before the actual publication day I find myself already enriched in so many ways: You see, in the process of writing it, I learned endless extremely valuable writing lessons, made friends in the world of books and publishing (including some fantastic writers). I became more confident as a writer, and frankly a better human being. My characters became important people to me, from whom I’ve learned much, and that is something I definitely did not see coming. I realised that when writing about characters and making them real enough to articulate them properly on the page, you have to understand them, and that search for understanding creates empathy, knowledge, maybe even wisdom ... which are not things I realised I would be given. (Like many budding writers I was mostly concerned about the technical aspects of writing, which do matter, but can be distracting from the deeper goals and rewards.)
So these days I have a better understanding of why writing is one of the most rewarding pursuits one can embark on in life, and that my original dream to be a writer of stories – short and long – was the right dream to have.
I may have arrived at this place a bit late, but I’m staying here. Try and move me!
The second novel is mostly done, a third is on the way, countless story ideas are waiting for me in my ideas folder, and there’s a 2nd edition of my game design book to finish as well.
I’d better get to it.