TimeSplash is now available!
How to buy TimeSplash
Direct from the publisher
Recommended You get 7 formats, no DRM, good price.
From Amazon.com
You get 1 format, Kindle only, good price in USA only.
From BooksOnBoard
You get four formats, good price.
From Fictionwise
You get multiple formats, good price.
From Library.com
You get 1 format, PDF with DRM, good price.
From Mobipocket.com
You get 1 format, Mobipocket only, good price.
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Here’s something I didn’t expect to see. It is a certificate from the US Copyright Office for TimeSplash.
Of course, I already owned the copyright in TimeSplash as soon as I’d finished writing it under Australian and International law, but America is special. There, to protect your rights, you have to bung the Government a few dollars, donate a copy of the book to the US Library of Congress, and fill in a form, whatever the Hague Convention says.
But it was all worthwhile because, look, they gave me a certificate.
 It's a bit crumpled but it travelled a long way. Speaking of the Library of Congress, TimeSplash is also registered at the Australian National Library and is in their digital collection. To protect my publisher’s rights, I asked them not to make it publicly available until 2013, when my contract expires. Until then, if you want to look it up in the collection, you need to visit Canberra, where, I’m told, they have a room with a single PC on which it can be viewed but not copied or printed.
TimeSplash has been out for about six months now (I know, I can hardly believe it either) and it is a good moment to take a small step back from my (continuing) promotional activities and just say a big thank you to all the people who have bought it and read it. And another big thank you to those of you who went the extra mile and wrote a review – on your blog, on Amazon, or wherever. You have all been extremely kind and I appreciate it very much. The average review rating for TimeSplash on Amazon is five stars!
If you want to see what people have written about TimeSplash, there is a list of the reviews I know about here on the blog, with extracts and links to the full review. I know it’s a cliche and terribly soppy, but it really does make it all worthwhile when I see how much my work is appreciated.
So, thanks again. You guys are great!
And, hot on the heels of the review by Booktaste, this wonderful review of TimeSplash by A. M. Harte at Quillsandzebras.
The amazing thing about Ms Harte’s review is her summary of the book. It is far better than any that I have written and better than the one my publisher is using. If only she could bottle that skill, there are a million writers out there struggling with synopses who would pay large sums to acquire it.
Well, actually, even more amazing – or, at least, gratifying – is how well she speaks of the book  Just listen to this:
Set in the near-future, the novel is action-packed, full of political intrigue and a sprinkling of romance. Look out — science fiction is far from dead!
I think I’m going to grin broadly all day.
And, don’t forget, while you’re over at Quillsandzebras, to have a look around the blog – lots of book reviews, author interviews, events, links, and more – and the quality is excellent.
Just a quick mention that the guys at Booktaste have done a review of TimeSplash.
This page-turner gets into action from the start: a girl in fear, the baddy supreme. Author Graham Storrs expertly paints a future world with problems even worse than at present, such as nuclear armed warlords. Beijing crumbles, London quakes (in 1902). Sniper is not particular in which era he applies his psychotic malice. The very fabric of the universe is threatened.
Thanks, guys!
Congratulations to A.M. Harte, the winner of a free copy of TimeSplash for her outrageous suggestion that my fictional villain Sniper got his name from the Sonic the Hedgehog character Fang the Sniper. I don’t quite know why, but this really tickled me. (I think A.M. also deserves the prize for being the only entrant bold enough to put her entry in the comments section rather than use the secret form.) A.M. your prize is in the mail.
The most popular suggestion by far was that Sniper took his name in some way from the assassination of President Kennedy. It’s sort of compelling but not correct and nowhere near as cute as the Fang idea. Sorry guys. The most bizarre suggestion was that my villain is named after a piece of software that helps you place bids on eBay – I still can’t be sure if that one was a joke… or an ad. I also learned that there have been many books with Sniper in the title and at least one film.
Anyway, thank you to all those who entered. I wish I could send a free copy to each of you.
So, what was the real answer? Well, it was so obscure I was completely confident no-one would guess it. Anyone who knows what a David Bowie fan I am might have realised and made the connection to the track “Time” from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. In the (somewhat silly) lyric you will find these lines:
The sniper in the brain, regurgitating drain
Incestuous and vain,
and many other last names
Hey! Don’t look at me. It was Sniper who chose the name. And, frankly, I can see why it appealed to his very warped mind (you’d need to read the book.) Meanwhile, as a sop to the gallant losers, I offer this link to the fabulous Mr. Bowie.
David Bowie – Time (Live Hammersmith 1973)
In the late 2040s, timesplashing has become a huge, global youth culture. The heroes of the scene are the ‘bricks’ who travel back in time to create paradoxes that flow through to the present as cool, trippy causality dysfunctions. Great if you’re out of your head on party drugs and dancing to deafening splashmusik.
Everyone in the scene has a tag – a nickname derived from late 20th Century pop culture. The two main characters in the book are Luke (after Luke Skywalker) and Patty (after Patty Hearst). Some of the bricks have names like T-800, Hal and Flash. The names come from all over – comic books, films, media and political personalities, novels, pop songs, you name it.
But where did my uber-baddie, Sniper, get his name?
You’ve got two weeks to work it out, take a guess, or make it up. Put your answer in the comments below, or, if you’re shy, send it to me through the contact form, also below (you need to enter your name and email address, then type into the comments box). If no-one gets the right answer, the prize goes to the funniest or most original. If no-one is the least bit funny or original, I suppose I’ll just pick someone at random – but I’ll be very disappointed in you all.
The deadline is 30th June 2010 at 5pm my time (and remember, I’m in Australia, on the Eastern seaboard.) I’ll announce the winner on 1st July.
The prize is a copy of my novel TimeSplash in a pack of 7, DRM-free ebook formats. including EPUB, MOBI (Kindle) and PDF. If you already have a copy, why not win one for a friend – what’s to lose? If no-one enters, I will just keep it for myself. So tell all your friends, relatives, enemies, and business associates. This is the first ever competition to offer a free copy of TimeSplash, so you might become the first person ever to win one. The winner also gets a signed personal message from the author – that’s me – to print frame and mount. It just doesn’t get better than that! (Alright, you don’t have to have the personal message if you don’t want it. I’m just throwing out ideas here.)
I’m looking forward to your suggestions – however far-fetched.
Good luck!
At first, it seemed far, far away in the future. Then it began and seemed to go on forever. Now it is over and it feels just like yesterday. The TimeSplash Virtual Book Tour has come to an end with a spectacular 6 part wrap-up interview with Andy Shackcloth. And, now it is done, I’d like to say the most huge thankyou possible to all those amazing and kind people who hosted me during March and April. It clearly was not possible at all without the generous support of them all. So let me list them, one more time, in blog tour order:
To see the actual posts, visit the Blog Tour page which has all the links to all the posts.
I had a lot of fun with this – far more than I expected – and I hope you guys got something out of it too. Thanks to everyone who followed the tour and visited all my great hosts. I would be fascinated to hear what you thought worked well and what didn’t, any thoughts you might have on how the tour was set up or executed, and especially if anything in the tour inspired anybody to buy a copy of the book.
Something wonderful happened to me today. I looked at the Web and there was a story by Steven Odhner, called ‘The Deep End’, set in the ‘world’ of TimeSplash. And not just any old story. A really good one, with a brilliant premise. Anyone who has read TimeSplash should pop over to Steven’s blog and have a read. It’s free. Even if you haven’t read TimeSplash (yet!) you should take a look – I believe it will stand up on its own.
And I love this line from the story: “Froboz had no respect for the bricks themselves – he liked to point out that the original was quite literally a brick and did the job just fine.”
There really can’t be a more flattering notion for a writer than to think your work inspired someone else to do something creative. So thank you, Steven, you really made my day.
And, while you’re all here, I’ve got to remind you that Andy Shack’s Comings and Goings is up to Part 3 of a post blog tour wrap up interview that the two of us conducted behind the scenes as the tour unfolded. If you haven’t been following it, here are the ones you’ve missed:
Part 1 of the Post TimeSplash Tour Interview.
Part 2 of the Post TimeSplash Tour Interview.
Part 3 of the Post TimeSplash Tour Interview.
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