Has it really been that long since I posted here?

Most of my stuff gets logged at my blog www.jackofravens.com, but I really shouldn't neglect this corner.

What could I use LJ for that differentiates it, I wonder?

The long Christmas silence ends (here at least - not so silent night round Stately Chadbourn Mansion over the last couple of weeks) and I emerge into my least favourite time of the year in sullen January mood. This year, however, I'm not going to skulk around the gloomy corners until the sun comes round again. No, definitely no skulking. Instead, I'm going to continue the festive party spirit with a few of my fellow authors...and anyone else who wishes to join us.

Along with Joe Abercrombie, Alex Bell, John Courtenay Grimwood, David Devereux, Tom Lloyd, Suzanne MacLeod and Steve Savile, I'll be signing books and anything else you want to bring along at Forbidden Planet's swish megastore at 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, between 5pm and 7pm on Thursday January 22nd.

If you've been to any Forbidden Planet signings before, this will be a slightly different state of affairs. We won't be stuck behind a table. We'll be roaming, as nature intended, in our natural habitat, so you can come up to chat, seek advice (good on directions and publishing, not so good on complex legal matters), swap anecdotes, moan, seek out insider information on top secret new projects and generally mingle, as well as getting us to ruin perfectly good books with our scrawl.

This is an experiment for Forbidden Planet, so let's make it a good one. Otherwise, all authors will be back in their Plexiglass cases for future signings.

The nearest tubes are Holborn, Covent Garden, Tottenham Court Road and, oh, why not, Leicester Square. We might even go to the pub afterwards, though authors...alcohol...it's not really likely is it?

I can now be found on https://twitter.com/Chadbourn

Hot on the heels of yesterday's announcement, I can reveal that I've just agreed a six-book deal with US publisher Pyr.

The highly-acclaimed SF and fantasy imprint will publish the first of my epic Elizabethan fantasy sequence, The Swords of Albion, in Fall 2009, with books two and three in subsequent years.

Pyr has also acquired the rights to my British Fantasy Award-nominated Age of Misrule sequence. The three books – World’s End, Darkest Hour and Always Forever – will be published in Spring/Summer 2009.

Here's the rest of the press release:

Chadbourn says: “I’m very excited to be working with Pyr on the launch of The Swords of Albion and the US debut of Age of Misrule. Pyr has a dynamic, cool and smart approach to the genre, which, of course, is an excellent fit for my writing!”

Pyr Editorial Director Lou Anders says: “Mark is a brilliant writer - who not only has a tremendous imagination but manages to marry his vision to a very readable, accessible and fast-paced style. It's amazing to me it's taken this long to get him to America, but between these six books and the epic fantasy trilogy that Solaris recently acquired, that egregious oversight is about to be resoundingly corrected.”

The Swords of Albion, which will be published in the UK and Commonwealth by Transworld, follows Elizabethan England’s greatest spy, Will Swyfte – adventurer, swordsman, rake, swashbuckler, wit and scholar.

Lou says of The Swords of Albion: “I first encountered Elizabethan Superspy Will Swyfte in the short story "Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast," originally published in The Solaris Book of New Fantasy (and subsequently selected for Hartwell and Cramer's Year's Best Fantasy), and fell in love at first read. I was weaned on Ian Fleming and Fritz Leiber, and this wonderfully fun character seemed to marry both these loves into one. I wrote Mark to ask if there were any more planned outings for Swyfte, and was thrilled to hear back within minutes that a proposal for a trilogy was going out the very next day. Naturally, I couldn't wait for the next day. Now, I can't wait for him to finish writing the first novel. And the second. And the third…”

The Age of Misrule deals with the return of the Celtic gods to modern day Britain and is steeped in the mysticism and mythology of the Isles with an edgy modern take – from Fabulous Beasts firebombing the rush hour-packed motorway outside London to the ancient secrets of Avebury stone circle.

Lou says of The Age of Misrule: “Every once in a while you read a work that treats its subject so well you realize it's the last and final word on the topic. Like the way a certain Boy Wizard pretty much owns the school for magic space, and the idea of all of reality being a virtual illusion ends (for the foreseeable future) with the film The Matrix. That's the sense I got reading the books of the Age of Misrule. Mark's rigorously-researched exploration of Britain's sacred sites reads with such authenticity that I can't imagine there being any other explanation. That it underpins a fantastic adventure story chocked full of great characters - a sort of modern day Lord of the Rings transposed onto contemporary Britain - makes for a simply irresistible combination. I can't wait to spring it on unsuspecting Americans - they have no idea what's in store for them!”

With the Solaris book, and another unannounced tome, I've got six books out in the US next year, which, I think, justifies a trip...

Today I signed a major three-book deal with UK publisher Transworld for an epic Elizabethan fantasy. ‘The Swords of Albion’ will be published annually from 2010, in the UK and Commonwealth. The sequence has also been acquired by a US publisher, and I'll be talking more about that later.

It's an epic story filled with intrigue, mystery, adventure and romance, set against the rich backdrop of the Elizabethan era. I hope it'll appeal to readers of both fantasy and historical fiction. I’m very excited to be working with Transworld for the first time on the launch of this new series.

You want to know what it's about? Here's the pitch:

‘Spies are men of doubtful credit, who make a show of one thing and speak another.’ ~ Mary, Queen of Scots

A devilish plot to assassinate the Queen, a Cold War enemy hell-bent on destroying the nation, incredible gadgets, a race against time around the world to stop the ultimate doomsday device…and Elizabethan England’s greatest spy!

Meet Will Swyfte – adventurer, swordsman, rake, swashbuckler, wit, scholar and the greatest of Walsingham’s new band of spies. His exploits against the forces of Philip of Spain have made him a national hero, lauded from Carlisle to Kent. Yet his associates can barely disguise their incredulity – what is the point of a spy whose face and name is known across Europe?

But Swyfte’s public image is a carefully-crafted façade to give the people of England something to believe in, and to allow them to sleep peacefully at night. It deflects attention from his real work – and the true reason why Walsingham’s spy network was established.

A Cold War seethes, and England remains under a state of threat. The forces of Faerie have been preying on humanity for millennia. Responsible for our myths and legends, of gods and fairies, dragons, griffins, devils, imps and every other supernatural menace that has haunted our dreams, this power in the darkness has seen humans as playthings to be tormented, hunted or eradicated.

But now England is fighting back!

Magical defences have been put in place by the Queen’s sorcerer Dr John Dee, who is also a senior member of Walsingham’s secret service and provides many of the bizarre gadgets utilised by the spies. Finally there is a balance of power. But the Cold War is threatening to turn hot at any moment…

Will now plays a constant game of deceit and death, holding back the Enemy’s repeated incursions, dealing in a shadowy world of plots and counter-plots, deceptions, secrets, murder, where no one… and no thing…is quite what it seems.

The entire world is the battleground – from Russia, across Europe, to the Caribbean and the New World. And while great events play out in the public eye, the true struggle takes place behind the scenes: the Spanish Armada, the Throckmorton Plot, the colonisation of the Americas, the Court intrigues, the battles in Ireland and against Spain, the death of Marlowe, the plagues, the art, the music, the piracy, the great discoveries…all are simply window-dressing as the great sweep of recorded history is peeled back to show the truth behind.

Announcements on various fronts are forthcoming. The last few weeks…months…have been taken up with considerations of the future, negotiations, new contacts, new ideas. For me, it’s been an exciting time, and definitely feels like the start of a new phase - for good or bad remains to be seen, but at the moment I’m wallowing in the crackling energy of newness and possibility.

I’ve spent the last ten years telling essentially one story over a trilogy of trilogies, dense, complex, with a massive cast of characters, numerous mythologies, and two thousand years of human history - but one story. And now I’m just about at the end of it. When I first mooted this tale back in the golden, boomtime days of the nineties, my editor frankly thought it was too big a project to pull off - and I did nurture a few self-doubts myself. It’s been exhausting, infuriating, stimulating, and hugely fulfilling. But that’s still a long time to be exploring one small part of the jungle.

More next week.

Every month best-selling fantasy author Gail Z. Martin interviews genre writers from around the world for her Ghost in the Machine podcast. This month it's my turn. You can go straight to the audio file here or for other options head to Gail's homepage at chroniclesofthenecromancer.com.

Cross-posted from the usual places. I've got three or four time-consuming blogs on the go, and I'm still not sure if livejournal is a worthy edition. Does it get the word out there? Any views?

UK national newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, asked me to write an article on fantasy for those not familiar with the genre. The result is here.

Philip Pullman is one of the greats of modern fantasy, not just for his exuberant imagination, but because he is one of the few fantasists prepared to confront serious matters. It is impossible to dismiss his work simply as escapism. As a writer with something to say, he can compete in the wider arena of 'literature' and that makes him an important figure for all those interested in imaginative fiction.

This movie adaptation of his book Northern Lights crushes the best of Pullman beneath the weight of spineless, bone-headed, superficial and incompetent direction. The sheer scale of its ability to suck the magic out of a book so brimming with a powerful sense of wonder is almost breathtaking. American Pie director Chris Weitz lumbers from disconnected scene to disconnected scene with no sense of how to build character, develop drama or menace, or draw out any of the magic that is inherent in Pullman's inventions. Instead, every frame shouts out that it is a monument to the producer's vision that only thick people watch these kinds of films, people who would throw their popcorn at the screen if time was wasted on developing character or mood, or who would walk out in anger at the travesty of character interaction when they simply want to gorge on fast-food spectacle - which Weitz also manages to ham-fistedly destroy. The final battle on the northern ice field is so poorly framed it looks like a dust-up in a provincial shopping precinct on a Saturday night.

Weitz was involved in a little fantasy invention of his own when he said in the film's pre-publicity that for all the changes he made, he stayed true to Pullman's original vision. He didn't. Cut through all the Gyptians and warrior polar bears and dust and golden compasses, and this story is about one thing: the ability of organised religion to control people and their thoughts. The brooding, monolithic presence of Pullman's Magisterium is barely evident in the film. The book's great theme - the thing that raises it far above a simple children's story - is diluted to such a degree that it is barely evident, and in the end only contributes to the incoherence that corrupts the entire movie. (And as an aside, Christian journalist Peter Hitchens wants parents to know that, 'If you buy this book for your children, don't imagine for a moment that you are handing over a neutral story; this author has a purpose'. As if a neutral story is a good thing. You know what: parents should be warned The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is not a neutral story; the author has a purpose...)

The really depressing thing about The Golden Compass is that it is blessed with such an excellent cast, all of whom are operating at the top of their game. Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra does a good job portraying a charismatic heroine, even though she occasionally stumbles over Weitz's lead-footed dialogue. Sam Elliot as flying cowboy Lee Scorsby burns up the screen with the power of his presence, even though he too has dialogue which is cliche heaped on cliche. But the real revelation is Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter who does great work. In one scene she carries a huge weight of emotion, presence and back story in a simple glance that is quite electric (and the one point where Weitz shows he can actually direct).

The weight of the actors and Pullman's imagination takes The Golden Compass above the screen adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with its wooden leads and ineffectual set-pieces. But it remains a crushing disappointment, stolen from us by people aiming for the lowest common denominator.

Every writer - published or not - should read this.

Mark Chadbourn