Forgive the bizarre title of this post – it will make sense!
I never really intended to use this website to tell you what I did on my summer holidays, but today I’m making an exception.
I’m sure any writers who are reading this will agree: we never really stop working. Even when you’re not sat at your desk staring at your computer screen, banging away at the keyboard or reading through reams of papers, signing and posting books, answering emails etc., you’re still working. You’re still thinking – thinking about the book you’re writing now or the book you’re planning to write next, or the one you were supposed to have finished last month… Being away on holiday is no exception, and often the new places you visit and the people you meet along the way provide huge amounts of unexpected inspiration.
Back in 2004 when I was writing Autumn: Purification, I started looking into the large number of underground structures which can be found along the length and breadth of the UK. Have a look at Subterranea Britannica if this isn’t something you’ve come across before – it’s fascinating. Bunkers are a mainstay of countless end-of-the-world stories and I’ve been researching them again recently for something I’m currently working on (not telling you what!). Just before the school holidays began in July and my daily writing routine went completely to pot, I posted Remain Indoors – a brief article about my intention to re-watch and write about as many post-apocalyptic movies as I could get my hands on. The response was phenomenal and even now, more than six weeks later, I’m still getting film suggestions emailed to me regularly. (Thanks to everyone who got in touch – please keep your ideas coming).
So as you can probably imagine, even though I was supposed to be on holiday, with my head swimming with post-apocalyptic movies and stories of Cold War bunkers, when the opportunity to visit such a site unexpectedly presented itself, I was in there like a shot.
AUTUMN will be released on 26th October in the US and on the 28th in the UK. The next three books in the series (which have been slightly reordered and are now AUTUMN: THE CITY, AUTUMN: PURIFICATION and – being released for the first time – AUTUMN: DISINTEGRATION) will be released in 2011 at three monthly intervals, starting in January/February. They’ll be hardcover releases from Gollancz in the UK (with paperbacks to follow later), and paperbacks from St Martin’s Griffin / Thomas Dunne Books in the US. Here’s the cover for the American edition of AUTUMN: THE CITY. Nice, eh? Just wait until you see what they’ve put together for PURIFICATION!
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They’ve been unavailable for far too long, but the re-release of the AUTUMN series is close at hand. The first book is out in late October (US and UK – click the covers for information, Spain and Germany – you already have it!), and books two, three and four will be following in quick succession throughout 2011.
First off, I want your memories of AUTUMN first time around for some articles I’m putting together. I’ve had emails from people who were freaked out reading the free download while working alone on the night shift, others who printed the pdf off and read it in class… please let me know how you found out about the series. Also, if you were involved in the book in any way and we haven’t spoken for a while (I’ve particularly been trying to get hold of Dave Joseph who created the face on the original cover if anyone can help), then 
sending...
The Living Dead 2 – read my story for free!
Editor John Joseph Adams has just launched the book’s official website which can be found by clicking here. Head on over to read about each of the individual stories and, starting today, interviews with each of the contributors.
As a bonus to whet your appetite even further, you can also read several full stories for free, direct from the website. And I’m really pleased to tell you that my story – Who We Used to Be – is one of them. Click here to read it and please spread the word on Twitter and Facebook etc.