A Festive Thank You and Something of a Review.

A dark, somewhat spooky Christmas Eve Eve morning in my little corner of the world – grey mist rolling in across the hills like a sfumato smudge – and I’m doing that Christmassy looking back and looking forward thing again again, listening to Brahms’ Ballades and wondering just where the hell the year has gone.

Like any year worth a damn, it’s been a busy and, blessedly, healthy twelve months that saw me finish the manuscript for The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost, set up my own micropublishing company (GWM Publications), prepare The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts for publication, start outlining what looks like being my next project, Recalling Calloway Vaughan – oh, and I also managed to sell a few books (as we speak, the Kindle edition of If I Never is breaking all of its previous records). This in itself is an achievement, I suppose, but more than that I managed to enjoy every part of the process. Yes, there were difficulties along the way, but I think it’s fair to say that it’s been a good year.

Work highlights included:

1. The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost. Every part of this project was a joy. Its characters led me to a world that entertained in the writing and, yes, probably taught me a thing or two along the way. Looking forward to sharing that with you around March 2013 – all being well.
2. Setting up GWM Publications in preparation for publishing The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts. I’d expected this process, quite different to the method I used when publishing Children of the Resolution, to be problematic. Yes, it demanded a little knowledge of the industry, but, with a little help from my Client Services Representative at Lightning Source, it was all plain sailing. I now have my initial batch of review copies and, I have to say, the final product looks pretty bloody stunning.
3. Working with the very talented Gudrun Jobst on the cover design for The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts. Gudrun designed the cover for my first Legend Press novel, If I Never, and I was very excited at the prospect of working directly with her on this particular project. Her initial designs based on my rather extensive brief were all incredible – the final cover, however, exceeded all my expectations.

So what does 2012 hold in store? Well, apart from the end of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar and the ensuing end of the world (!), the forthcoming year will see the publication on March 31 of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts (available for pre-order now, with free samples available here). In many regards, this particular novel is a return to the stylistic approach I used with If I Never (it was, in fact, written before If I Never) – using genre motifs (this time supernatural thriller/horror) to explore in a hopefully gripping and entertaining way themes we all grapple with almost every day.

I will also, no doubt, be spending much of the time working on Recalling Calloway Vaughan and preparing The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost for publication (I’m almost certain at this point that I will also be bringing out this particular novel through GWM Publications; whilst I could probably place it with a traditional publisher, the megalomaniac in me wants complete control over this one!)

Well, the mist has lifted and the day is brightening. And so it only remains for me to thank you for all the varying forms of support over the past year and to wish you a safe and happy holiday period and fantastic New Year!

© 2011 Gary William Murning

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A Wager: Won or Lost?

Image via Wikipedia

Today we woke to the news that British-born author, literary critic, “public intellectual”, journalist, atheist and “contrarian” Christopher Hitchens had died at the age of 62.

I was never fortunate enough to meet or even correspond with Christopher. Nonetheless, in recent years his work has had a huge impact on the way I look at my own work and my place in the world. Christopher at no point really changed my way of thinking. My views on subjects like religion were already well formed when I “discovered” him and his work. What Christopher did succeed in doing, however, was help instil in me the kind of self-belief that comes from intellectual rigour: if I haven’t thought and read about the subject thoroughly, I generally try not to comment until I have.

Like Richard Dawkins, he also helped me understand more completely that my atheism was not something that I should be afraid of speaking out about, with all the force required. Again, Christopher did not convert me. I had been an atheist for decades before encountering his work, and I was never shy about discussing it publicly. What Christopher amongst others taught me, however, was that atheism in the world we currently inhabit is about more than just personally choosing to not believe, it is in many regards a position that requires a protection of an individual’s right not to have the very things he does not believe in foisted upon him – and that holding one’s tongue was not an option.

Christopher said a number of times in recent interviews that “All Life Is a Wager”. Some would say he has now lost that wager. Those who unkindly (what am I saying? The evil sons of bitches who vilely) prayed that he might die and get what he “deserved” in Hell, will no doubt be claiming a considerable victory in this department. Those far kinder Christians, Jews and Muslims, however, who prayed for his recovery rather than condemning him or praying for his soul might also see this as a wager lost (though I suspect many won’t). But I don’t. As I look at my Twitter stream as I write this, every other tweet seems to contain the word “Hitch”. Even those (myself included) who did not always agree with Christopher admired him – or at least many did.

It seems trite to talk of legacies. But, in the end, all we have is what we leave behind. We take the hand dealt and make the best of it we can. It strikes me that this is what Christopher did, to the very end. And, yes, the legacy is a considerable one. A legacy that confirms beyond doubt that the wager was won.

My thoughts are with Carol Blue, Christopher’s wife, his children, his brother, Peter, his family and numerous friends.

The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts – Free Samples.

Free samples of my next novel, The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts, are now available by clicking here. Hungry Ghosts is also now available for pre-order at your preferred online or high street retailer—though I would recommend Amazon, who are currently offering it at a 25% reduction (you pay nothing now and will be guaranteed the lowest price, should you choose to pre-order now).

What’s being said about The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts:

“A book that refuses to be comfortably straight-jacketed into one genre, The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts takes the reader into a complex supernatural thriller that, at its heart, reveals a satisfying, thoughtful literary novel. Murning is a storyteller from the old school, where language and character are paramount, and the cast of characters take us from past to present, through love, suspicion and finally to resolution. Lyrical and thought-provoking, this is a novel to be savoured.”
Ruth Dugdall – author of The Woman Before Me and The Sacrificial Man.

© 2011 Gary William Murning