Too Much of a Good Thing

I haven't been quite the same since I got back from Hawaii. I can't settle back in to Tokyo at all, now that I've had a slice of life on Oahu island. It wasn't just the weather, the palm trees and the people (the good ones, anyway... not the a-holes, nut-jobs and gang-bangers). It was great to be in a country where I could read the fine print on everything and take care of business without crashing straight into the language barrier. And being in a bookshop where I was surrounded by stuff I can actually read was awesome - something I miss.

But that's only part of it. I sorta fell in love in Hawaii... with a frikkin' restaurant!

That might surprise those who know me personally. In diet terms, at least, I tend to live like a weird kind of 'straight edge' monk - I've got pretty strict rules about what I eat and don't eat, and I'm not just talking about the fact that I'm vegetarian. My usual daily grub mostly consists of protein bars and shakes, oatmeal, yoghurt and granola, wholewheat bread, brown rice, low sugar cereals and a bunch of other similar stuff. I only occasionally have 'cheat meals'.

If there's one food I do miss, though, it's pizza. Without my rules in place, I'd eat it every day. And pizza was never as good as it was at zpizza Honolulu. In 8 days, my partner and I went back 3 times. We should have made it 8! The 'Provence' was, flat out, the best food I've had... ever!


It wasn't just the food that's got me pining for z's, either. The staff were just about the friendliest, coolest people I met on the whole trip. And the fact that the company uses recycled paper, organic ingredients, has a really wide vegetarian selection, and runs a sort of community benefit program called zCares, all just fits together like a big delicious fresh-baked jigsaw puzzle with fresh tomatoes and capers on it.

It's probably just as well Zpizza is only in the US. If there was one in Tokyo, I'd be packing in the calories like every meal was my last.

I wonder if they do international delivery. :(

UK Games Day 2009

It's that time again, when Warhammer and 40k fans from around the UK (not to mention a few other countries), congregate in a big convention hall to battle each other, paint miniatures, check out the latest Black Library novels and generally have the best time since... sliced bread (to quote Alan Partridge).

I had a blast at Games Day a few years back, one of the highlights of which was obviously meeting Black Library super-fan Xhalax, and I always regret living so damned far away that I can't consistently make an appearance. Instead, you'll all have to 'make do' (hah!) with Nick Kyme, Graham McNeill, Jim Swallow, Dan Abnett (only for a little while this year - get well soon, Dan), Aaron Dembski-Bowden, and a whole bunch of others.

Though I can't make it myself, Rynn's World will still have a presence. In fact, attendees will be able to pick up one of these cool bookmarks at the event:


Pretty nice, right? It's the first time a bookmark has ever promoted one of my books - a strange kind of writerly milestone, but a milestone nevertheless.

If you're going to UK Games Day, I hope you'll have an absolute blast. In fact, I know you will. And who knows, maybe I'll get to attend next year. Fingers crossed.

The Real Gunheads!

It seems Sergeant Oskar Andreas Wulfe and the crew of Last Rites II, heroes of my novel Gunheads, might have some competition in the tough-guy stakes. The bullet-chewin' badasses in the photo above belong to C Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Regiment, Third Infantry Division (Mechanised), operating out of Fort Benning, Georgia, USA.

This photo was taken on a recent tour of Iraq. It was sent to me by Sgt. Wesley Rasnick (second row, first on the left). Apparently, he and his lads are big fans of the novel, and I can think of no higher compliment than that real tankers dig it. Rasnick and his crew operate a massive M1A2 Abrams SEP battle-tank with all the latest urban survival upgrades (TUSK). You can see her lethal main gun in the photo. Her name is 'Crown Royal' and you just know she's their pride and joy. Only a frakking madman would want to pick a fight with her!

Thanks for writing, sarge, and for the photo. Stay safe on your next tour.

On Blogging

No prizes, but I invite you all to guess what kind of critter that handsome little fellow is.

This blog is over a year old now. It was remiss of me, perhaps, but I let that first anniversary pass with nary a word. As you probably know already, I'm not a habitual blogger, but I try. My aim is to maintain it as a way of giving my readers a point of contact with me. Sure, I should definitely blog more than I do... but, unless you're interested in my bodybuilding/martial arts training, or my fierce opinions on animal rights and the like, there's not all that much to tell you. I love films and games and books, but I don't talk about them much. I rarely read reviews. You should always form your own opinions about stuff. You hardly need mine.

Wait, you cry. What about Black Library related news? Surely you want to yap about your books, Steve? Well, don't you?

Er, sort of, but I'm under a pesky thing called an Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). All Black Library writers sign one. It's the main reason I'm fairly quiet regarding my writing. I'm never really sure what I can get away with telling you. Added to that, it seems cruel to tease you all with snippets of info up to a year before a book actually comes out in the shops.

So, I'll just keep ambling along, I guess, trying to find things worthy of comment here and there. Seeing as the blog is mainly for my BL readers, I try not to politicise it. If there's something fairly non-volatile that you'd like my opinion on, of course, just say so, and I'll see about making it the subject of a future post.

In the meantime, here's a bit of BL news.

I had a Skype call with my editor, Nick Kyme, last night, during which we sent a few files back and forward. It struck us both just how great Skype is. Living as far as I do from the Black Library offices, Nick and I depend on Skype for most of our spoken comms. The fact that he can pop an image or document across to me while we're chatting is really useful, too. Last night, he sent across a mock-up of the cover to the novel I'll be writing after Rynn's World.

Khekking hell, it's great! Massive credit to Darius Hinks for knocking up something special. I can't wait for you guys to see it. It's a perfect fit for the kind of story I'm planning to tell. Blam! That's me getting shot in the face by a bolter! That's what it felt like.

Nick and I talked about a number of other things, too, one of which was my short story for next year's Fear the Alien anthology. I'm looking forward to writing it. I haven't tackled a short since Headhunted and I think it will be a great change of pace. Novels are bloody monstrous as times. I'm one of those writers that hates the actual process of writing. I cannot seem to keep by backside in my chair. I think there are a lot of us like that. Without a novel to write, you'd be hard pressed to find me doing housework. Give me a deadline, however, and the house will be bloody spotless while I try to avoid doing anything even remotely related to my job.

Human psychology is a strange and terrible thing. There's a great quote by the brilliant Peter Benchley (author of Jaws, etc.). I'm paraphrasing very loosely, but its something like: a man can do any amount of work with ease so long as it's not the work he's supposed to be doing.

Spot on, sir.

Watching: The Young Ones (season 2) when I get a second.
Listening to: Various tracks by Switchfoot
Reading: Rynn's World by me!
Today's link: Click to Give

Back to Reality

After nine days in the wonderful state of Hawaii, it's back to Japan and back to writing. Sorry the blog has been so quiet, folks, but it wasn't just because of Rynn's World and crunch time. My partner and I were on Oahu island for a painfully short vacation and just got back into Tokyo last night. We are now thoroughly depressed.

I'm not much of a beach person - in fact, I narrowly escaped a drowning incident on the fourth day of the trip by the skin of my teeth - but Hawaii was fantastic in so many ways. It must be just khekking awesome to live there.

Here are some pics:


I am waiting for a bus (not the one in the photo) while all those people smart enough to hire a car go whooshing past me with their music blasting. We did an inordinate amount of waiting for buses, actually. Hawaii's bus service has a long way to go, but a 4-day pass was good value and the drivers were pretty helpful.


This is what I lived on, mostly. I'm a strict vegetarian and, because I love bodybuilding and martial arts, I have to make sure I get plenty of protein from non-carrion sources. No lack of that in the USA. The local GNC store had a whole bunch of special offers. Here I am with my beloved one gallon fat-free milk, a can of diet pepsi (water is better, of course) and, best of all, a Supreme Protein Bar (30g of whey protein and only 4g of crappy sugars!). I practically lived on this stuff while I was in Hawaii. The tacos and cheese snacks in the background belong to my missus, honest. She's prone to junk food, the undisciplined fool!


And finally, here I am emerging from the deadly waters of the Pacific Ocean alive and well. Bow before me, Pacific. You could not defeat me this time! Not a particularly modest photo, I admit, but it's not often I find a photo of me that I like, so what the hell.

It was a trip filled with ups and downs, but mostly ups, and I returned to find a big package from Black Library waiting for me, containing Dan's new book, Blood Pact, Aaron Dembski-Bowden's bebut BL novel, Cadian Blood, plus a host of others equally snazzy. I'm particularly looking forward to reading Dan and Aaron's latest, but I've got Nick's Salamander to read before that.

So much to read, so little time.

Watching: Curb Your Enthusiasm (an episode here and there when I get time)
Listening to: nothing right now.
Reading: Escape from Oz by Nick Kyme (non-BL)
This week's special link: Care2.com's Click to Donate