Why do they call it jumping the gun? I’ve no intention of jumping a gun. Evading sounds a better bet to me. Oh, wait. The whole ‘gun to start a race’ thing. Yeah. I remember now.

Anyways… I am absolutely THRILLED to get ‘It Lies Beneath’ published in this awesome antho by Pugalicious Press. They’re a small indie press, and SO classy. They ooze class. And magic. And joy. And really, really good things that have no business oozing.

The reason I’m jumping the gun is that the anthology will be published as an eBook next month: As soon as it is I’ll pop the link up.

Odd fact of the day: After writing this story I took a writing holiday in a seaside cottage with no internet and wrote it into a book. It took a week. Somewhat surprisingly, the book has ended up… rather wonderful. So long as you like dark, strong dystopian YA with social punch and a strong female heroine. And shovels. So… many… shovels.

After several chats in an utterly non-business capacity with several agents they’ve almost managed to convince me that LISTEN TO ME IT’S GOT LOADS OF SHOVELS IN IT is not, apparently, a valid example of a Unique Selling Point. Nor is enthusiastically pointing out that it’s got an amputation in chapter three.

The short story (and the novel) both had the working title of ‘love shovel’. Which isn’t as filthy as it sounds.

The novel is called JABBERWACK, and that is the best title of all.