News and Events
Coming Out
With the permission of Del Rey, Chaz'z US publisher, we are now able to reveal what Chaz has been doing for the past three years - in addition, that is, to writing some wonderful short stories. He has been winning rave reviews for his fantasy sequence, Moshui: the Books of Stone and Water published under the name of Daniel Fox.
Dragon in Chains was published in January 2009; fantasy author Kate Elliott described it as "a compelling blend of high-stakes action, well drawn characters who I really cared about, and a gorgeously painted landscape," and said "This is the kind of fantasy I love to read." Order Dragon in Chains from Amazon.UK or from Amazon.com.
Volume two, Jade Man's Skin was published on February 16th; order your copy now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk.
Or visit Daniel Fox's web site to learn more.
ChazCon California
Chaz will be in California from the end of February till 22nd March. During this time he - which is to say, Daniel Fox - will be attending a series of events. Already confirmed are:
- Saturday 6th March, 12.30pm
- reading/signing at Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego
- Saturday 13th March, 3.00pm
- reading/signing at Borderlands, San Francisco
- Saturday 13th March, 7.00pm
- reading/signing with Malinda Lo at SF in SF, San Francisco
- Monday 15th March, 8.00pm
- Attending the regular meeting of the Bay Area Science Fiction Association in Sunnyvale - not reading or signing or anything in particular, just hangin' out.
- Saturday 20th March, 3.00pm
- signing at Dark Carnival bookstore, 3086 Claremont Ave, Berkeley
Other dates may be added to this schedule - and anyone who has ideas for events or contacts at other bookshops in the Bay Area, !
A Fantastic Birthday
It seems like no time at all since I was announcing here that Chaz was involved with a new initiative called The Write Fantastic, an alliance of fantasy writers to promote their profession and their books. But it was five years ago, and the Write Fantastic have continued to grow and to thrive, taking on new members and new ideas. And now they are celebrating their fifth birthday with two exciting firsts:
- The Write Fantastic's First Day Event
- at the Jacqueline Du Pré Building, St Hilda's College, Oxford on May 8th 2010.
Chaz will be there, and so will a star-studded cast of TWF members old and new, plus guests: see The Write Fantastic's web site for up to date list. - The Write Fantastic's First Anthology
- of original stories will be launched at the event.
Thereafter, watch out for other Write Fantastic events through the year: they will, for example, be turning out en masse for Alt.Fiction in Derby on 12th June.
New stories in print
Not only is Chaz currently nearing the end of a very long story (he is now working on the final draft of the third and last volume of Moshui: the Books of Stone and Water), he has also been writing a number of short - and short-short - stories. Not counting The Ferry, the Chain and the Black Black Water, since this has been published only in the sense that Chaz read it at Phantoms at the Phil on Twelfth Night, January 6th 2010, the newest of these are:
- Hothouse Flowers: or, The Discreet Boys of Dr Barnabas will appear in The Bitten Word, an anthology of vampire stories from NewCon Press, which will be launched at the World Horror Convention in March 2010.
- Quinquereme of Nineveh, a short-short SF story was published in Nature on 28th January 2010
- The December 2009 issue of Icarus magazine publishes Walking at the Speed of Light, More Slowly, praised by one reviewer as "Thoughtful and engaging" (available from Lethe Press)
- White Skies is Chaz'z contribution to When It Changed, a new Science Fiction anthology from Comma Press, edited by Geoff Ryman, which brings together writers with professional scientists. Other stories in the anthology are by Justina Robson, Paul Cornell, Sara Maitland, Ken MacLeod, Gwyneth Jones, Liz Williams and others. When It Changed was reviewed in The Guardian, December 2009, and Chaz'z story was picked out as one of the outstanding stories in an enjoyable collection (another contribution, Sara Maitland's Moss Witch, was runner up for the BBC Short Story Award). It is available from Comma Press, or from Amazon.
- Chaz has also contributed a story to a recent Horror anthology, Hellbound Hearts, published by Simon and Schuster, in tribute to another master of the horror genre: Clive Barker's iconic masterpiece The Hellbound Heart, the novella adapted into the film Hellraiser, unleashed a new mythology of horror, brilliantly conceived and born of the darkest imagination. In addition to Chaz'z story 'Tis Pity He's Ashore, the book has a Foreword (and a cover) by Clive Barker, and a great list of contributors - not least a new collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. Order Hellbound Hearts from Amazon UK now.
And in 2011, PS Publishing will publish his SF novella, Rotten Row, accompanied by the short story Terminal, set in the same universe, which was short-listed for the 2008 BSFA Award for best short story.