As the dust begins to settle...

Hi All,

Apologies for the absence last week but due to my moving house things have been a tad hectic. But now I have the key in my hands and things have gone smoothly enough so far despite locking myself out of the house on Saturday (who invented Yale locks? Honestly. They completely stop you getting into the house...). One locksmith and one £20 note later and that drama was resolved anyway. Thus with my attention slightly elsewhere I don't have quite as much news as I may have liked.

However I did go for a very constructvie meeting with Solaris publishers, based at Games Workshop (or to be more specific Black Library) in Nottingham. To slightly go off topic what a great setup there! The shop and gaming area is absolutely massive and Bugman's Bar is mightily impressive. If it were in Derby town centre I' d be in there all the time...

Back to the point, I met George Mann, Mike Ball and Christian Dunn, all of whom came across as being great guys and reallty dedicated to what they do. The first set of books comes out in April next year, which ties it in beautifully to Alt.Fiction and as a local venture which seems to really be going places it'll be great to get some work going with them. All three seemed keen on some kind of collaboration in the future which I think will be really beneficial to both parties.

There's no writer news beyond that but in other news I will be starting an Alt.Fiction reading group in Derby in November. It'll be a chance to discuss books with genre fans and to find out about books you may never have heard of, or books that you've always wanted to read but just needed that extra push. I will be getting flyers and such-like out there nearer the time but consider this an advance warning. Now I've got to decide on the first books...

Also, if people are looking to come to Alt.Fiction next year we now have the discounted rates in for the European Inn. It's located right by the train station and is ideal for those of you travelling in that way- I'll also be getting some rates from the Midland (which is just across the road) in due course. The European have quoted me £28.00 per person per night bed & breakfast based on two people sharing a twin / double room. The rates for single rooms will be £43.00 per person per night. It's really good of the venue to offer us such a competitive rate and if you're travelling in, or even thinking of travelling in, hopefully that will make the whole journey a little lighter on the pocket. Or just give you more money for books. Or drinks. Or whatever else you may wish to spend the money on.

The European Inn website is at http://www.euro-derby.co.uk/ and you can contact them on 01332 292000.

In terms of what else I've been up to I'm looking at starting a new performance poetry night in September/October as well as working with our local independent cinema, Metro, to discuss having some readings or literature and film tie-ins there (which may include Alt.Fiction...). I'm also looking to have a series of events in October just after National Poetry Week which includes some Russian writers, a performance poetry group, a couple of workshops and a poetry and music performance. There are a few other smaller scale things going on also and I feel that Derby is a city moving in the right direction for literature at the moment. Which hopefully means I'm doing something right....hopefully.

Thanks a lot, and I'll pop another post on later this week...

Alex