Thought I should slip this in before I dash off...

Cheerio!

So I got back from Manchester yesterday, and as those following on Twitter would have seen, had a brilliant time recording my radio play 'Something in the Water', which will be on BBC Radio 4 later this year. When it's coming up, I'll share the photos from the production on the blog. Working with Nadia Molinari and her talented cast and crew is one of the most satisfying things I do creatively, and I wish I had time to do more. The day before, I spent a very nice afternoon in the company of the patrons of Chaos City Comics in St. Albans. What a nice bunch, and with so many aspiring creatives. You really all should produce a comic together.

I can't believe how much I'm doing at once right now. But it all still seems to be working out. First up, I'd like to thank Mark Salter, who's generous £200 donation towards the Japan relief effort gets his name featured as a Metropolitan Police Sergeant in my new novel, out next year from Tor. Well done, Mark.

I look forward to seeing some of you at my signing at Chaos City Comics in St. Albans tomorrow, from 1pm. I've done an interview about it (and my writing in general), for the Herts Advertiser. And you can see three preview pages of what we're mainly talking about (I think that's as many as we dare show for fear of giving the game away), that is, Action Comics #899 here.

I hugely enjoyed C2E2 in Chicago. What a brilliant audience, many of whom hadn't been to a comic convention before. I signed and signed and signed, notably an enormous combat spoon, and did many interviews, of which this first video one is up, with Newsarama. The beard takes on a life of its own in that. It's like they've captured bigfoot. Also out of the blocks is the (thankfully on audio) Word Balloon Comics Podcast. The lovely Gene Ha has many pictures from the convention floor, and also from the dinner we shared with Bill Willingham and the invited guests of Fables. That was a brilliant night, as was the one where the Middleman crew met the Chicks Dig Time Lords crew. And there was much partying, and much random wandering of halls and bars and room parties. It was great to be on the DC panels as well, and to meet so many new friends. Thanks to one lady's generosity, I now have a Shaun of the Dead cricket bat, which I have promised to somehow use for the beard appeal. I await your suggestions.

I know, it's all me me me this week. I'm getting fed up with myself too. Actually, around dinnertime on a weekday I tend to get very tired of living inside my own head, and rather more want to hear about what everyone else has been doing. That's when the Twitter threads tend to form. Anyhow, the big news today, as demonstrated by the new widget on the right, is that I've been nominated for an SFX Blog Award! This is SFX Magazine's new contest for the best SF blogs/websites/podcasts. You can vote here. The category I'm in, Best Celebrity Blog, is on page seven, and you'll go past categories including many friends of this blog. My own category is... well, it's going to be tough for me to win that, considering the competition, and I'm flattered to be included! I've plonked a widget that'll get you straight to the awards if you click it, up on the right, there.

You know I've got this urban fantasy novel coming out from Tor next year? Well, more of a metropolitan fantasy, in that it's set in modern London, and involves the Metropolitan Police. Anyway, if you'd like to have a police officer in it named after you (real names only, no net names), and donate to Japanese disaster relief while you're at it, why not take part in the auction here? And do take a look at what other authors have offered interesting things for you to bid on here. You've only got until Sunday, so act quickly, as they say! Cheerio!

I'm honoured to have been nominated for an Eagle Award, in the category of Best New Writer. Well, I am rather new in the context of American comics. Probably. A bit. Anyway, such friends and luminaries as Tony Lee (for his Doctor Who comics) and Doctor Who Magazine are also in with a shot. The awards will be presented at the MCM Expo in London in May. Please cast your votes here.

And how's the beard going, you ask? Well, it's all gone a bit Captain Haddock...


Better than the last photo, anyway. All donations to Shelter still very welcome, via the widget on the top right. On Wednesday I'll be back to tell you about my C2E2 schedule, and supply more ridiculous beard news. Until then, Cheerio!

The total cash raised for Shelter by A Beard For Lent is, well, as shown on the widget top right (you can go see who's left comments by hitting the 'donate' button, it doesn't suck the cash out of your wallet), but as of the moment I'm writing this, it's £551.00. That's fantastically generous of you, thanks very much, that's great going for three days. Among the lovely people to have left comments are comic scribes Greg Pak and Leah Moore and John Reppion, authors John Scalzi and George R.R. Martin, and editors Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Nick Lowe. To answer some of the questions: no Nick, no way is this beard staying put after Lent; yes, I do think I look a bit like the actor Kevin Eldon now; Liz, it's all coming off at once, no, not like that; and George, thanks for your very generous donation, and when there's enough beard I'll provide photographic proof of dyeing it green. Some people have asked if the site takes dollars: as far as I can make out, you just enter the sum you want to donate in pounds, and if your account is in another currency, the site does the math(s). Let me know if that's not the case. Thanks should also go to Neil Gaiman, Tom Brevoort, and the many others who sent the link far and wide. If we go over £1000, we keep going, and all the more for Shelter. Cheers, everyone!

It has been said that all the best male comic creators, all the best male science fiction authors, have at one time or another boasted a luxurious, bearlike, beard. Or if it hasn't, I just said it. I was wondering what a good thing to do for Lent would be (giving up alcohol is sort of just for oneself), and I was already a bit fuzzy what with the writerly existence and all, and anyhow, the long and the short of it is... well, here's me last night, the evening before the start of Lent...


Yes, I know, I'm already half way to being Patrick Moore. Anyhow, I thought why not go the whole way, let it grow and grow, and then at the end of Lent (Easter Sunday), shave it off? And to make this something one does for others, indeed, for a cause close to my heart, why not get people to sponsor the beardiness?

DC Comics' news site The Source yesterday featured this lovely cover:


Which is Kenneth Rocafort providing the cover for #902 of the comic of which he is the new artist. I couldn't be happier (and don't worry, no harm has befallen Pete Woods). Those hands are Doomsday hands!

Next he'll be competing in the Olympic pentathlon or being cast as James Bond or something.

Well, the Cardiff Expo was a pretty cool try for a first event, with over 750 people paying their £5 to come along. With only a few guests and being a one day convention, though, the bar life in the evening was a bit sparse. Still, I got to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. I spent a panel trying to tell Jimmy Broxton that he's quite good, actually, him being the most self-effacing artist in the world, and I was also on the Secrets and Lies quiz show: