But who is this peculiarly monikered author?

Why, me of course!

This is news I’ve been wanting to blab since I started working on the books at the end of last year.

Writing as the aforementioned Mr Beakman I have written the first in what hopefully will become a series of adventures for Spyro the Dragon and chums.

For those who don’t know, Skylanders burst on the video games scene last october, a revolutionary concept of combining toys and games consoles. When you buy the game you also receive a Portal of Power and three action figures. Pop your action figure on the Portal while playing the game and the character appears on-screen. Simple. The game was an instant success, topping every children’s gaming chart in existence and a sequel is due later this year.

The Skylanders themselves are heroes who protect the magical realm of Skylands from the forces of Darkness, primarily a nasty little twerp by the name of Kaos.

In The Machine of Doom Spyro, Gill Grunt, Eruptor and Boomer (an explosive-loving Troll and possibly one of my favourite characters in the Skylander universe) must stop Kaos getting his grubby paws on an ancient and deadly weapon. Along the way they face danger, perils and flying sheep.

The e-book edition is published by Sunbird and will be followed by a paperback edition in August and the Official 2013 Skylanders Annual, also written by yours truly.

Now if you excuse me, I have an ugly bunch of evil minions to beat on the next level of Skylanders.

Well, it is research after all…

 QUICK UPDATE:

The Machine of Doom is also now available on iTunes too!

While you’re at it, check out Big Finish’s spanking new website. Isn’t it pretty? As you might expect, the Iris Wildthyme page is very, very pink.

Incidentally, my next Iris script, The Iris Wildthyme Appreciation Society, is recorded tomorrow. I won’t be able to make the recording unfortunately but I’m sure much fun will be had in the booths by Katy Manning, David Benson and co.

Blake’s 7: The Forgotten by Mark Wright and yours truly is back from the printers and is all shiny and new. Luckily no-one was here to witness me stroking the cover. (Am I alone is stroking books? Is it weird? No, of course not).

I’m still very proud to have co-written the first Blake’s 7 novel for over 20 years and Big Finish have done a lovely job as always. Now the nerve-wracking bit begins. How will the fans react to what we’ve done with their beloved characters?

The book is available to pre-order from Big Finish, Amazon and all good bookshops. If you can’t wait to jump onboard the Liberator it’s available for the Kindle right this very minute!

Here’s the blurb is your appetite needs whetting:

At the very edge of the Federation lies an area of space that doesn’t appear on any star chart. No on has ventured there for decades. No one knows it even exists.

The Forgotten are waiting.

Under attack from a fleet of Federation ships commanded by Space Commander Travis, Roj Blake and his band of freedom fighters pilot the Liberator into a strange, nebulous cloud.

Immediately, their systems become erratic, super computer Zen goes offline and life-support begins to shut down. They are adrift, lost in space.

Their only hope is a seemingly abandoned space station at the heart of the cloud. But what secrets await them?

The Forgotten will be remembered.

Ahead, standard by 12!

I’ve been a bit nervy about this event as from this point in its illustrious history, the Journal is designed by little old me and has been given a bit of a facelift.

For those who don’t know, the BFS began life as the British Weird Fiction Society back in 1971 and promotes the best in fantasy, horror and to a certain element science fiction. Once every quarter, members get this 200+ page beast of a publication featuring articles, interviews, original fiction and poetry.

Currently it is edited by Lou Morgan (non-fiction), Guy Adams (fiction) and Ian Hunter (poetry). Together they have put together a wonderful array of contents for this current issue. The line up includes:

Fiction:

• Don’t You Like The Bird Man? – Jonathan Oliver
• The Call of Chavthulu – Neil Fulwood
• Jenny Khan – Rhys Hughes
• Mother’s Boy – Grant Quimper
• Listen – Marie O’Regan
• Faerie Mails – Allen Ashley
• The Fabulous Beast – Garry Kilworth

Non-fiction:

• Why YA? – Tom Pollock
• Worlds Which Never Were – Sarah Pinborough & Will Hill in conversation
• A Glow Born of a Different Process – a cover artist spotlight on Chris Roberts
• Laying the Foundations – Simon Bestwick
• A History of THE SERVANTS – Michael Marshall Smith
• BFS Masterclass #2: Writing for Children – F E Higgins
• Enterprising Minds – Andrew Reid
• Progressive + Inclusive = Popular? – Amanda Rutter
• Anne McCaffrey: A Tribute

Poetry:

• Morningmares – Zoe Elizabeth Barrett
• Shadow Whisper at Black Hole Hotel – Kelda Crich
• Doorways – David Glen Larson
• The Wheel of Whumpus – John DesPlaines

Plus regular columns from Ramsey Campbell, Mark Morris, Sophia McDougall, and a special feature from Jared Shurin, interviewing Jane Rogers.

To find out more about joining the BFS, head over the Society’s website.

We were having lunch when the then-producer of Big Finish’s Doctor Who range discussing why we were ever-so-slightly-late with the script for The Church and the Crown. He said that he wouldn’t talk about any further commissions until we’d delivered it. Then I outlined an idea I’d had for continuing the Forge storyline. Gary gave us a verbal commission before the deserts arrived. The only thing he wanted us to change was to combine the two stories into one. Episode’s one and two would feature the Sixth Doctor and episode’s three and four, the Sixth and Seventh together.

Little did we know that this story would set up so many storylines for future Big Finish releases – Evelyn’s health problems, Cassie’s death, her son’s ultimate destiny.

Today, you can pick up this tale of two Doctors, genetic experimentation and broken hearts for just a fiver in the Big Finish one-day sale. What a bargain.

To celebrate, I thought I’d share some pictures I found lurking on a external hard drive the other day. First up is a wonderfully atmospheric pic that Jim Sangster did for our website to help promote the story:

Gotta love old Sixie’s blue coat.

Next up is a pic from the signing at Tenth Planet. That’s designer extraordinaire Lee Binding, me and, of course, Mr Mark Wright. No idea why I wasn’t pulling a Charlie’s Angel gun pose and instead was opting for a little prayer.

And to finish off another from that day, two very proud writers with Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker.

Go get your bargain copy of Project: Lazarus now!

This is the second story Mark and I wrote for Big Finish’s main range and is still my favourite. There’s no aliens at all, except for the good Doctor himself, but plenty of swashbuckling and daring -do. Interestingly, it is also no where as violent as Project: Twilight. Yesterday, I stumbled upon this blog which talks of the graphic nature of some of Project: Twilight’s scenes. The author says:

Project Twilight is not a pleasant story, it delves very far into the realm of shock horror which I don’t think suits Doctor Who, yet the reactions of the Doctor and Evelyn save this one for me as they are genuinely disturbed by what happens around them.

True enough, there’s no way that the BBC would approve some of the more horrific scenes in Project: Twilight. Ten years ago Doctor Who was a very different beast and we could push things a lot further. Of course, I am a bit of a horror fan as well which probably had a lot to do with it.

All that said, The Church and the Crown is far funnier and light-hearted than any of the Forge tales (including Lazarus which will on sale for a fiver tomorrow bargain fans). I think this is why I like it so much. It was so different to what we had just written and, in a lot of cases, than the material we would write for Big Finish in the future.

Talking of which, this story also features Marcus Hutton as the villainous Duke of Buckinghamshire. We’ve just worked with Marcus again – he plays Thomas Carnacki, the Ghost Finder in Guy Adam’s Iris Rides Out, available from Big Finish in August.

And while you wait for that, why not pick up The Church and the Crown for just a fiver!

UPDATE

M’colleague Mark Wright has just posted about the commissioning of The Church and the Crown over at his blog. Go see…

As a part of its Doctor Who Special Offer, Project: Twilight is available for a fiver on both CD or download. Colin Baker stars as the Doctor in this tale of vampires, blood money and gangsters alongside the wonderful Maggie Stables as Evelyn Smith, a companion with a difference.

I still find it hard to believe that it’s over ten years that Mark and I wrote this, creating the Forge and Nimrod for the very first time. How wonderful that the we are still writing for these characters a decade later.

If you want to take advantage of this offer you’d better act quickly – the special offer is only available today.

You can also pick up a number of other adventures from the early days of Big Finish at the reduced rate for this day only. They include:

• Dust Breeding by Mike Tucker- featuring a surprise return of an old favourite.
• Bloodtide by Jonathan Morris – featuring Charles Darwin and the Silurians.
• The Eye of the Scorpion by Iain McLaughlin - featuring the debut of Fifth Doctor companion Erimem (and Mark Wright’s finest Big Finish death scene)
• Colditz by Steve Lyons - featuring Nazis, time travel and David Tennant.
• Primeval by Lance Parkin - featuring the return to Traken.
• The One Doctor by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman - featuring Christopher Biggins (’nuff said!)
• Invaders from Mars by Mark Gatiss - featuring Orson Wells and a certain Halloween trick.
• The Chimes of Midnight by Robert Sherman - featuring ghosts, Christmas Puddings and ‘orrible murder.
• Seasons of Fear by Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox - featuring… well, that would be telling.

I really love this run of audios – and feel honoured to made our debut among them. It was a time when Big Finish really felt like it was growing in confidence and coming into its own. It was also a time when must of the Big Finish arcs began; Klien, the Doctor’s Nazi companion, Erimem, Zagreus and, of course, the good old Forge.

Find out more at the Big Finish Website 

OK, it’s been available for a while, but I’ve been a busy chap and haven’t got around to blogging about it.

The good news (for my ego at least) is that, unlike the UK edition, it features my name on the cover and spine. God Bless America.

You can pick it up from Amazon and all good US bookstores.

In the meanwhile, it’s been a good week all things told. Highlights of the last five days have included:

• A productive day at the London Book Fair where lots of conversations about exciting things were had.
• The delivery of my latest kids’ book to Penguin, a week ahead of deadline (a week ahead I tell you).
• The pinch-myself-because-I-can’t-quite-believe-we’re-writing-it storyline for a future Scott-Wright script was approved.
• A commission to write something for LEGO (my not so inner child is hopping up and down in glee).
• News of a brilliant bit of casting on an upcoming Iris Wildthyme audio drama.
• 4,000 words written of my new kids’  monster storybook.

Oh, and it was my 39th birthday on Wednesday. The year of hanging onto my 30s by my fingernails begins. I am already composing the list of things I want to do before I’m 40 has begun. Number one, inspired by Lou Morgan, is to have a go at archery. I’ve always wanted to, so why not now?

Lou, by the way has a new book coming out in July from Solaris and, as you can see below, the cover of Blood and Feathers is pretty darned special.

An Evening with George R. R. Martin poster by Maya Wilson

Last night, George R. R. Martin, the author of The Song of Ice and Fire series gave a fascinating talk at St Micheal’s Church in Bath as a guest of Topping’s Books and SFX Magazine. It was a great evening, with George regaling us with stories about his first fantasy fiction (a series of adventures about his childhood dime store turtles) and the difficulties he has with killing characters (which is a problem he seems to get over… a lot). A highlight of the evening was an exclusive reading of his next book, The Winds of Winter. And all beneath Maya Wilson‘s marvellously old-school dragon art (see right).

During the interview, I found one of his answers particularly interesting. The author was asked: ”Why do you think readers have such an intense reaction to your books?”

With a chuckle, he replied: “If I knew why, I would have had them have an intense reaction to the books I was writing in the 70s!”

It was a reminder that Martin’s current, phenomenal success hasn’t exactly come over night. He broke into  science fiction short stories in 1971 and his first novel, Dying of The Light, was published in 1977. Even A Games Of Thrones was first published 16 years ago years ago in 1996. As he remembered last night: “The present success of the books didn’t happen on day one. The first book did OK, the second book did better and the third better than that. It built slowly.”

It’s a sobering reminder that success in this business can take years, if it happens at all. All this isn’t to say that Martin wasn’t a successful writer before. He had plenty of books under his belt by the time A Games of Thrones was published, not to mention his television credits on The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. However, as a writer it’s all to easy to become frustrated that things are happening quickly enough, that you’re not the one on the stage being interviewed or that your books aren’t lining the bookshelves, let alone the best-seller lists.

Impatient for success

Perhaps its something about being a member of Generation X-Factor. People yearn for instant fame or recognition and its never been easier to get yourself out there. Write a story, whack it over to Amazon and it can be on the Kindle Store almost as soon as you’ve typed the last word. But the truth of the matter is that things take time. Yes, there are stories of overnight successes, but they are rare. It’s something I constantly try to remind myself. I’ve been a professional writer since the early 90s and my first piece of professional fiction – written with Mark Wright – was published just 12 years ago.  I’m still slogging away, trying to make the dream happen – and it is. As soon as I post this, I’ll be starting on the first of a series of children’s books that is being published next year and then this afternoon I’ll be having a planning session with Mark for a new commission. This time next year, if everything goes well, my first solo adult novel will be on the shelves with more on the way. And yet, every now and then, I find myself wishing that it all was happening quicker. I even experience a flicker of envy about friends who are further along the road than me – a dreadful admission but an honest one too.

To banish those green-eyed moments, I remind myself how far I’ve come over the last decade and tell myself not to rush. It’s highly unlikely I will enjoy the success of Mr Martin, but I’m very lucky to be doing what I love for a living, getting paid for making stuff up! No-one said it was going to be easy, but day by day I’m (hopefully) heading in the right direction.

Of course, the secret of success might just be growing a beard like George R. R. Martin. Even from the back of the church, it was highly impressive. I’ll throw my razor away today…

Raquel Cassidy as Miranda Cleaves

The first is The Nu-Humans, an 11th Doctor story that is published by AudioGo in July. It’s being read by Raquel Cassidy who played Miranda Cleaves in the 2011 Doctor Who two parter The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People.

Of course, if, like me, you’re a bit of a Teachers fan you’ll remember Raquel as the wonderful Susan Gately.

I can’t wait to hear her reading of our all-new story for the current TARDIS crew. It’s also great to add the 11th Doc to the list of Doctors I’ve written for. At the moment I just need to get something out there for the First, Second, Fourth and Ninth to complete the set.

Project: Nirvana, coming this September from Big Finish Productions

Our second Doctor Who release of the year – Project: Nirvana – sees us returning once again to the Forge, that shadowy organisation that we created for Project: Twilight over ten years ago.

Every time we think we’ve closed the door on the Forge, Dept C4 raises its head again. How could we refuse series producer David Richardson’s request to bring back Aristedes from Project: Destiny?

Lysandra Aristedes made her debut in the first (and, at the time of writing, only) Forge novel, Project: Valhalla. Back then, Corporal Artistedes was young, optimistic and full of daring-do. The experienced soldier we saw in Project: Destiny was older, harder and more cynical and in Project: Nirvana we explore more of the reasons why. Once again, Maggie O’Neill of Shameless and Eastenders fame reprises the role she has made her own and is reunited with Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor.

Project: Nirvana is available to pre-order from Big Finish and The Nu-Humans has popped up on Amazon.

Now, if you excuse me, I need to get back to reading my copy of DWM. I must admit that I’m intrigued by Ian Potter’s upcoming Companion Chronicle. A First Doctor adventure set before An Unearthly Child and set in 1930s Berlin? Interesting…