Steampunk Thursday: Pax Britannia goes to Germany

Okay, so I know Ulysses Quicksilver has been to Germany before (in Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein) but he's never been to Germany quite like this before...

The exciting news (that I've been sitting on for the best part of a year) is that German publisher LUZIFER-Verlag has acquired translation rights for Pax Britannia: Unnatural History, the first of Ulysses Quicksilver's gonzo Steampunk adventures. And here's the, quite frankly awesome, cover of the German edition.

Thanks to Ben Smith of Abaddon Books and Steffen Janssen of LUZIFER-Verlag for making this happen, and let's hope that German readers enjoy Ulysses' adventures as much as readers in the UK and the US have done so far.

Who knows, if sales are strong enough, there may well be more German editions of  Pax Britannia books in the future.

Pax Britannia Lego: The Phantom

You've got four days remaining in which to get your hands on an exclusive Pax Britannia Lego kit that is only available to buy here.

First up is the Mark IV Rolls Royce Silver Phantom from Unnatural History.

With a screech of tyres the Silver Phantom hared away along Prince Albert Road leaving a cloud of burnt rubber smoke in its wake, as Ulysses sprinted across the road – men, women and children running screaming in disarray all around him – towards the Overground pillar, and after Jago Kane.

Click here to buy your Lego Silver Phantom now!

Pax Britannia Lego - available again for a limited time

Yes, the Pax Britannia Lego kits are back and available to buy via eBay.

First up there's Oddfellow's Sphere from the climactic scene of Pax Britannia: Dark Side (which, I have to say, has been going down a storm). This kit includes an incredible 8 minifigures (4 goodies and 4 baddies), including the Lego incarnation of PB competition winner Jared Shurin.

Next up there's the lunar rover Copernicus, again from Pax Britannia: Dark Side. This set contains 6 minifigures - Ulysses Quicksilver and Nimrod, in both their normal attire and environment suits, and two alien Selenites.

And then there's the Rolls Royce Mark 4 Silver Phantom, that made its first appearance in the very first PB novel Pax Britannia: Unnatural History. This set has two minifigures - the dashing dandy detective, and Hero of the Empire, Ulysses Quicksilver, and his indefatigable manservant Nimrod.

As with all good Lego kits, you can make a plethora of different models from each of the kits - or why not combine them all in one incredible Pax Britannia-gasm of steampunk-y goodness?

So don't delay and visit eBay today!

Pax Britannia Lego - available now!

Nothing says 'I love you' like an original and exclusive Pax Britannia Lego kit. So, just in time for Valentine's Day, I'm pleased to be able to announce that three such kits are now available to buy via eBay.

First up there's Oddfellow's Sphere from the climactic scene of Pax Britannia: Dark Side (which, I have to say, has been going down a storm). This kit includes an incredible 8 minifigures (4 goodies and 4 baddies), including the Lego incarnation of PB competition winner Jared Shurin.

Next up there's the lunar rover Copernicus, again from Pax Britannia: Dark Side. This set contains 6 minifigures - Ulysses Quicksilver and Nimrod, in both their normal attire and environment suits, and two alien Selenites.

And then there's the Rolls Royce Mark 4 Silver Phantom, that made its first appearance in the very first PB novel Pax Britannia: Unnatural History. This set has two minifigures - the dashing dandy detective, and Hero of the Empire, Ulysses Quicksilver, and his indefatigable manservant Nimrod.

As with all good Lego kits, you can make a plethora of different models from each of the kits - or why not combine them all in one incredible Pax Britannia-gasm of steampunk-y goodness?

So don't delay and visit eBay today!

Mark Harrison

It's been a while since I posted a piece focused on a particular artist, so I'm making up for that fact now with this post about Mark Harrison.

I first came across Mark's work through legendary British comic 2000AD. He's illustrated everything from Durham Red to Pulp Sci-Fi but I particularly remember his visceral art for Gordon Rennie's Glimmer Rats.

However, roughly eight years after Glimmer Rats I found myself working with Mark myself. He realised the cover for Unnatural History - featuring a duel atop a steam train and a T-Rex with St Paul's Cathedral in the background - and since then has produced every Pax Britannia novel cover (including Al Ewing's El Sombra and the forthcoming Gods of Manhattan).

You can visit Mark's own website here, and see his other novel covers, alongside his comic artwork and concept paintings for computer games.

Meanwhile, here are his six Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia novels to date in their full gruesome glory.

Enjoy...

Unnatural History

Leviathan Rising

Human Nature

Evolution Expects

Blood Royal

Dark Side

Creating a buzz

It would appear that with five books in the series in print already and another three due over the next 12 months or so, Pax Britannia is starting to create something of a buzz.

The books have received consistently good reviews from the SF press and was even voted Unnatural History SFcrowsnest's 16th most popular book of the year!

And now one senor Pablo Cheesecake has even list the forthcoming Blood Royal and Dark Side as two of the publications he is most looking forward to this year.

If you're inspired, intrigued or simply incredulous about Ulysses Quicksilver's adventures and the world of Pax Britannia why not drop me a line. You never know, you could end up with a cameo in a forthcoming adventure, rather like Michelle Powell.

Anyway, here's to 2010 (or 1998, as it is in the World of Pax Britannia)!

Unnatural History - SFcrowsnest's 16th most popular book of the year!

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself right now, to be honest. The reason is I found out today that Unnatural History (the very first Pax Britannia adventure, starring dandy action hero Ulysses Quicksilver) is at number 16 in SFcrowsnest's top 100 Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction Books of 2009, as voted for by SFcrowsnest.com's readers.

(In case you don't know, SFcrowsnest is author Stephen Hunt's popular online SF, Fantasy and Horror magazine, which polls its readers every year to assemble a "top 100" books list.)

And in at number 34 was Al Ewing's El Sombra, so well done that man too! And if you enjoyed El Sombra, you'll be pleased to here that the sequel - Blood and Thunder - will be out next year!

Bizarrely Unnatural History and the Pax Britannia series were launched at Alf.Fiction in Derby a couple of years ago. And Stephen Hunt was also there promoting The Court of the Air. It really is, as they say, a small world...

Oh and I'm also feeling chuffed because Emerson (a.k.a. Zeo-X) Tung's rendition of the Steam Golem from Stormslayer has made it into Design Your Way's Best collection of robots illustrations. So champagne all round, I feel! Don't you?

The perfect Christmas gifts!

Struggling to think of a suitable gift for the armchair genius in your home? Then why not have them testing the little grey cells on Christmas Day with a copy of the ever-popular Match Wits with the Kids?

And then, for the festively-minded there's What is Myrrh Anyway? which answers all the questions you've ever wanted to ask about the Christmas season, and some you haven't.

For the science fiction and fantasy fan in your family, why not try the Pax Britannia steampunk-action-adventure novels Unnatural History and Leviathan Rising?

And if you're looking for stocking fillers for the kids, you could do a lot worse than get them a few gamebooks - The Horror of Howling Hill, Howl of the Werewolf, Bloodbones, Curse of the Mummy, Spellbreaker - which will keep them occupied while you're getting Christmas dinner on the go. Or even Go, Go Crazy For Those Bones, for the younger GoGo's fan.

The Big Science Read

The Oscars seemed to pass by this year with less of a bang than a whimper and now Britain is celebrated unprecedented medal success at the Olympics but, you'll be pleased to hear that once the dust from Beijing 2008 settles, there is still another awards ceremony to look forward to.

Launched at Jodrell Bank’s literary weekend, 13th - 14th June 2008, the Big Science Read is a campaign that invites you to explore, re-discover and get excited about science-themed books. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite science-themed read - any book that you have found life-changing, inspirational or revelatory in some way. The book can be either factual or fictional in genre, as long as it explores science or technology as a core theme.

Now, none of my science fiction novels appear on the recommended list (as yet) but it could be argued that the Pax Britannia series deals with some modern scientific and technological issues and certainly the first story arc is driven by a certain scientific discovery. So, in theory at least, you could vote for Unnatural History or Leviathan Rising to be on the final shortlist. ;-)

To find out more about the Big Science Read, follow this link.

4,000 and rising

Yesterday the Unnatural History blog reached (and passed) something of a milestone.

Yesterday the 4,000th visit to the site was recorded.

Thank you to all those who log on so loyally to keep up with what's new in my world.

Here's to the next 4,000!

Watch and learn

As some of you may know, a couple of weeks ago I recorded a video to accompany the release of Match Wits with the Kids. Well, if you follow this link you can now see it for yourself.

PS - This also happens to be my one-hundredth post to this blog. Unnatural History is a century old and still going strong!