Elite conversion interview in Retro Gamer, Aug 2022, page 32
In the 1980s, in the Neolithic of the computer game industry, myself and three friends, Mark Wighton, Dominic Prior and Phil Mochan—working under the name Torus—converted the highly successful game Elite into Z80 versions for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. So, when Rory Milne phoned me up to ask me about it, I dredged into the murky depths of my memory and told him as much as I could remember. This is the consequence, an interview with me and an in depth description of Elite in its many incarnations that appeared in the August edition of Retro Gamer.
When Blaise Ancona approached me to appear on his podcast, I was only too happy to do so. He had been reading his way through the Second Edition of my Stone Dance books, so that was mostly what we discussed
When I was told that Storm Constantine had died, I was devastated—I had had no idea that she was even ill. She hardly told anyone that she had terminal cancer. In the two weeks before her death—knowing nothing about her illness—I had several times almost phoned her to chat, to ask her advice about some publishing issue but had put it off for one reason or another. I had made the mistake of assuming that she would always be there.
More than a year before, we had planned a get together, but at the last moment, Covid cheated us of that last meeting.
Storm was a dear friend. We hit it off the moment we met. Given her considerable achievements, she was modesty itself. She was friendly and approachable. She was warm and funny and charming.
So there it is, I had made the mistake of assuming she would always be there.
back cover of Pashterina’s Peacocks
When her family and friends decided to publish a book in tribute to her, my contribution was a choice between a short story about a giant spider and a strange little piece that I had, half-finished, relating to my Stone Dance books. Since we had first met because of the Stone Dance, I went with the latter.
The piece, Renunciation, is a rather dark and grim telling of the experiences of a Candidate becoming one of the Wise. It is not for the squeamish. I’m not entirely sure it was appropriate, but it was what I had to give, and I fancy that Storm would have liked its pitch black, deeper than Gothic darkness.
The tribute book to Storm, from Immanion Press, is entitled Pashterina’s Peacocks
As this website was being upgraded, I took the opportunity to use the new technologies available to me to rebuild the SDC Bible into the completely new, much more interactive and reader-focused, SDC Companion: if the Bible was like a textbook, the Companion is more like a direct extension of the books.
The SDC Companion has entry points for each of the seven volumes of the Second Edition of the Stone Dance, and each of these provides access, through the sidebar, to a page for each chapter of that volume.
a Book Page
A Chapter Page provides access to all information relevant to the chapter in the book that it corresponds to. This should make it easier for you, the Reader, to avoid spoilers and to have at your fingertips easy access to anything that you might want some clarification or a reminder of.
The information on a Chapter Page will either be in a drop down ‘accordion’ or in one of the buttons underneath.
a Chapter Page
At the bottom of every page of the Companion is the Tag Cloud, giving you direct access to all the information available in the Companion. When you select a topic, it will produce a list of all the entries in the Companion that are relevant to that topic. If an entry in this list is of a chapter you have not yet read, looking at it may expose you to spoilers.
the SDC Companion Tag Cloud
The most general information of all is available in the drop down The Stone Dance of the Chameleon menu, such as a list of all the characters appearing in the books.
I am delighted to announce that The Third God, the seventh and final book of the Second Edition of The Stone Dance of the Chameleon, is now available on any Amazon store as an ebook, and as a paperback from a more limited number of stores. I published it on the 21st of December, the winter solstice—well, it sort of happened over two days because I had all kinds of technical problems with the ebook. (Basically, I upgraded to a new MacOS, and the software I use wouldn’t produce an ebook, so that I had to fire up an old laptop yada yada…)
I hope that you like the cover—it’s the first ‘proper’ picture I have attempted for decades. It’s not as ‘finished’ as some of the images on the earlier covers, but it seems to me to convey more ‘feeling’. Given the context of the story, I see it—by contrast with, for example, the cover of The Mirror Breaks—as a tearing away of the mask to reveal the reality beneath.
So, the thoroughly revised, leaner and cleaner text of The Third God, with its completely new initial chapter, brings the Second Edition to a close. It has been a massive undertaking, but one that I felt compelled to pursue. I hope you will feel that it has been worthwhile.
I had intended to launch the seventh and final book of the Second Edition of the Stone Dance in November, alas I only received the copyedited text two days ago. There are a lot of corrections, and I need to put them in carefully, but I am reasonably confident that I will still be able to publish before the year is out.
Meanwhile, I have drawn a new map that I felt was needed to enhance the experience of reading the seventh book. I have also been working on a cover for The Third God—I thought you might appreciate a sneak preview.
It’s been a marathon getting this to you, and I won’t stop pushing for the finish line.
I am delighted to announce that The Mirror Breaks, the sixth book, of the seven that will constitute the Second Edition of The Stone Dance of the Chameleon, is now available on any Amazon store as an ebook, and as a paperback from a more limited number of stores. I published it on the 23rd October—but have waited until I was sure that both editions are available to announce them.
The final book is nearing completion, and I am confident that I will have it out by the beginning of December this year—perhaps in late November. There is a lot to do before it’s ready. It is currently being copyedited. Also, I have drawn a new map for it that I feel will deepen your enjoyment of the book, and I will soon start on a new cover—the first proper piece of artwork I have done in MANY years!
The thoroughly revised, leaner and cleaner text of The Mirror Breaks, with its completely new initial chapter, will see Carnelian initiate an apocalypse that will envelope all those he loves…
I am delighted to announce that Dragon Fire, the fifth book, of the seven that will constitute the Second Edition of The Stone Dance of the Chameleon, is now available on any Amazon store as an ebook, and as a paperback from a more limited number of stores. I published it on the 25th August. The final two books are nearing completion, and I am confident that I will have them both out by November this year.
This new volume begins the ramp up to the coming apocalypse…
I am delighted to announce that The Darkness Under The Trees, the fourth book, of the seven that will constitute the Second Edition of The Stone Dance of the Chameleon, is now available on any Amazon store as an ebook, and as a paperback from a more limited number of stores. I published it on the 20th June to mark the Summer solstice—the midpoint of the Second Edition, at the midpoint of the year of its release.
This fourth volume is the shortest of the seven for the same reason that the third is the longest—because the natural point to split the First Edition Standing Dead lies well beyond its midpoint.
Feeling that this volume requires a map of the Upper Reach, I have cobbled one together in the style of Neil Gower’s other maps.
This new volume is the dark heart of the Second Edition. I have sought to enhance it with a rather disturbing new opening chapter.
I am delighted to announce that The Standing Dead, the third book, of the seven that will constitute the Second Edition of The Stone Dance of the Chameleon, is now available on any Amazon as an ebook, and as a paperback from a more limited number of Amazon stores. It was published on the 10th May, in memory of my father, on his birthday. It was meant to be published on the 11th April at Eastercon in Birmingham, but Covid-19 obliterated that convention and with it all my plans. Ho hum.
So far, this virus has not affected me too badly—I’ve been self-isolating for years! It is an anxious time, though—and likely to get worse before it gets better. Wherever you are, I hope that you and yours are keeping safe from this virus.
You will find this third volume noticeably longer than the others—a consequence of where I felt the natural break to be in the First Edition Standing Dead.
Though the Stone Dance was originally written in three volumes—unconsciously, I followed the six ‘book’ structure of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, as I (and so many other fantasy authors) did his three volume structure. Things having been otherwise, my First Edition would have thus broken neatly into six ‘books’. However, under pressure from my publishers to finish the First Edition Standing Dead, I concluded that second volume earlier than I had planned. As a consequence, the third volume of the First Edition, The Third God, ended up being a monster. Containing matter originally intended to be in The Standing Dead, it quite naturally divides into three ‘books’—and so, Tolkien’s six book structure became the seven books of this Second Edition.
I commend to you the new edition of The Standing Dead. Happy reading!
