On Monday night I went to the First Monday Crime group, which meets at City University, and is sponsored by the MA course they run in only writing thriller novels. I checked out the course website. It says something like- The only MA course which allows you to complete a full novel! That’s an odd boast. I don’t need someone to allow me to write a novel. I can write a novel whenever I want. I don’t need your permission! Anyway, there were some speakers. Fiona Cummins who wrote Rattle. I read the first few pages in advance and thought …
London Indie Authors group November Meetup
I haven’t yet mentioned on my blog about the group I co-organize on the Meetup.com website, called London Indie Authors. I joined the group some 2 years ago, back when it was just about still being run by Orna Ross, who founded ALLi, the Alliance of Independant Authors. A year later I was invited by then-organizer and my bud Jerome to co-organize alongside him. We meet monthly to discuss marketing of our books. The group has changed a little in the last year, largely in the way we plan the agenda. We used to get speakers in about half the …
Revamped ‘About’ about me
Thinking about my post from a few days back – about thinking more about mentoring – I’ve rethought my About and updated it on the site front page. Here it is: Michael John Grist is a bestselling British/American author, adventurer and teacher. His 9-book Last Mayor zombie apocalypse series has sold over 10,000 copies and was optioned for a movie, while his Ignifer Cycle epic fantasy series is being produced for audio by major publisher Podium. For 11 years Michael lived in Tokyo exploring and photographing Japan’s modern ruins, such as abandoned military bases, ghost towns and underground bunkers, gaining …
How to become an author mentor?
I’ve been thinking more recently about trying to use what I know about writing and publishing to help other authors write, publish and market their books. This is often called author mentoring, but for me also includes creative writing teaching. I’m doing research to figure out how to get into this field. As far as I can see, there are two parallel tracks – this is what they look like: TRADITIONAL ROUTE Get trade published (ie – not self-published). Get an MA in Creative Writing. Maybe get a PhD. Possibly some courses on editing? Leads to university lectureships, work at …
Writing Update 1 – Thriller book 2
It’s time for a writing update! As I’ve probably announced, I’m writing thrillers now, set in the real world. After 9 books in the Zombie Ocean/Last Mayor series, and two books reworked in the Ignifer Cycle, I was ready to try something different. Now I’m sitting on a thriller already written, currently on submission with 10 agents in the genre, and I’m working on book 2 in the series. It is going to some dark, grim places. I got feedback on book 1 from a trusted reader/writer who said it was much grimmer than the norm out there. Bloody and …
New blurb for my book The Last
Today I got in my head that my zombie series starter The Last could do with a refreshed blurb. Where did this idea come from? I really don’t know. The book’s been out for over 3 years now, and sales are slow but steady. What if it has still never really hit its stride? Well, that is an easy thing to think, and also an ‘easy’ thing to experiment with. I’m not going to alter the book itself, or the title, or the cover – all of which would require pretty major work. The blurb is its own thing – …
The Rot’s War – Ignifer Cycle 2
The Rot’s War is Book 2 in the Ignifer Cycle. No world can stand… Moments after Sen stepped through the revenant arch, an inky darkness flooded out across his world. Over the wreckage of a city broken by revolution it surged, engulfing the grand Grammaton tower, smothering the King’s Aigle palace and drowning every last caste in the dark. Sen alone escaped; a young man prophesied to raise the Saint and save his world for good. But he failed. Now his world is gone, and his friends are just memories swallowed by the endless dark… Now those memories haunt him, …
MJG Spring update – Newsletter April 2
Well well well. The Zombie Ocean/Last Mayor series is finished, and now it is Spring. The old things are dead and it’s time for some new growth to creep in – and what better way to keep the zombie theme alive than with a zombie book… But not about zombies. Though actually there are zombies in this book, just in an epic fantasy setting, but the point is the book itself is sort of a zombie. What am I blathering on about? The Rot’s War, book 2 of the Ignifer Cycle – more below. Also I have epic news about …
The Light – Last Mayor 9
The Light is Book 9 in the Last Mayor series, bringing the series to its end. From the darkness comes the light. Ever since the world broke apart, ‘Last Mayor of America’ Amo has known what kind of world he’d like to build. Until now. Now there is no light at the end of days. Only darkness. And darkness will rule over all. The end is here. The Light is the heartbreaking final book in the Last Mayor survival horror series. The Light, Book 9 of the Last Mayor series, is available as an e-book now. – Amazon …
The Saint’s Rise – Ignifer Cycle 1
The Saint’s Rise is Book 1 in the Ignifer Cycle. No heroes endure… Three thousand years ago the world fell into darkness, when the great black mouth of the Rot savaged the land. Only a single child survived the devastation; an infant with a prophecy carved into his skin, promising the rise of a hero powerful enough to slay the Rot for good: the Saint. Now that child is a young man, beginning to question the meaning of his many scars… Now those scars are hunted by a jealous King, ruler of a bizarre industrial city, where a thousand strange …