It's been such a long time since I sent out an update I wouldn't blame you if you're asking yourself, "Robert who?" right now. Fair enough, I've been negligent in my posting to both this blog and sending out newsletters, but I haven't stopped writing (I promise).

I'm here to thank you for your patience and provide a brief update before diving back in to finish this book. So, firstly (and most importantly), those of you who backed my novel on Inkshares are no doubt wanting to know how the book is going and when you'll get your copy? The great news is I haven't been slacking off and am still diligently working away on the manuscript. I've commented on this before, but it turns out writing a book is hard (who knew, right?) and I had a lot to learn if I was to produce a book worthy of your amazing support. Since Inkshares picked up the book, I've been incrementally transforming both my first draft and myself into something I can be proud of. I won't lie, it's been a long, drawn-out process thanks to day jobs and family responsibilities, but we're in the home stretch: the world of Blood Capital is more real than it's ever been, we have a cast of characters who are interesting to explore, and we've honed in on a plot that can take us on a more rewarding journey.

Looking ahead, I still need to finish this final draft. To help speed that up, I'm looking at all the ways I might claw back extra time. I took all of December off from my day job, which made a huge difference. Now, I need to power through the last chapters. After that, we'll polish, copy-edit (fix typos and poor grammar), pull in some beta readers, and then prepare for release. The exact date of release will depend on a bunch of things, many of which are outside of my control, but I'll endeavour to keep everyone informed.

Beyond Blood Capital, there's a bigger world to explore, so you can be sure I'll start work on a sequel. With the experience I've had writing Blood Capital and the lessons I've learned, I expect (hope?) that will be a faster project 🙂

Thank you again for your support—I'm sorry to have gone for so long without providing an update (I'll do better moving forward).

Thanks!

Robert.

We have our first look at the BBC's Dark Materials! Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials is an amazing series of Urban Fantasy. In 2007 we received our first screen adaptation in the American movie The Golden Compass. Like many, I rushed to the cinemas only to come away disappointed.

Now, it's the BBC's turn.

Hold me; I'm giddy.

This week, the BBC gave us our first sneak peak of what we're in store for, and while it doesn't show us much, it's promising.

Find out more over on the Nerdist here.

While you're here, check out these other news posts on my site.

This is not a drill; if you were excited about David Tenant and Michael Sheen starring together in Amazon Prime's Good Omens, you may need to sit down. Amazon just dropped a doozy on us — Benedict Cumberbatch will play Satan. We also have a release date of 31 May, so mark that down in your calendars.

If you haven't already seen it, Amazon recently released the opening credit sequence for the show as well...

Netflix and Marvel have confirmed the relationship is coming to an end with the cancellation of their remaining marvel shows. After five years the two giants of entertainment are going separate ways, with the last of Netflix's Marvel shows now axed, bringing an end to Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and The Punisher.

Given Disney has its own streaming service that is picking up steam (Disney Plus), it's a fair guess we'll see new content pop up there at some point in the future.

See what other sci-fi and fantasy news we're talking about here.

That's right — a new Avatar: The Last Airbender movie! It will be a reboot, not a sequel to the last live-action attempt, and the reports tell us this one won't be whitewashed. Queue interest.

The announcement also confirmed the animated series' original creators will be helming the production, which gives me hope this will be better than the last film adaptation. Could we finally be getting the live-action adaptation we deserve?

Note: the feature image from this post is concept art by John Staub sourced from the linked tweet.

Article source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbwvpy/a-non-whitewashed-reboot-of-the-last-airbender-is-coming-to-netflix-vgtrn

As if every day didn't seem to bring fresh news about CRISPR that suggests Blood Capital will become reality before I can get the book on shelves, you can now buy "young" blood using PayPal and have it stuffed in your aging shell of a body.

The New York Post has the story here, but the TL;DR is this — a tech startup called Ambrosia (no relation to the company in Blood Capital) is harvesting the blood of healthy 20-somethings and jamming it into the bodies of anyone who can afford it. Now, there have been some studies — in animals — that suggest transfusing young mouse blood into old mice can reverse some of the effects of aging. However, (my understanding is) these studies are not yet conclusive (though studies on humans are underway).

The lack of conclusive evidence doesn't seem to bother Ambrosia's clients, however, as the company appears to be expanding. To badly misquote Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park,

"Capitalism, uh, finds a way."

Oh well... one step closer to the blight and my book becoming non-fiction.