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Five Books & Speculative Horizons

Worth wasting a few mintues over at Five Books:

Become an instant expert. Every day an eminent writer, thinker, commentator, politician, academic chooses five books on their specialist subject. From Einstein to Keynes, Iraq to the Andes, Communism to Empire. Share in the knowledge and buy the books.

Also, congratulations to James at Speculative Horizons, who is now joining the editorial team at Orbit.

I’ve wanted to work in publishing for a fantasy imprint ever since I was a teenager, so this really is the fulfillment of a long-held ambition. A dream, even. And I can’t wait to take on the challenge.

Of course, this means I can’t continue with my blogging here. I’ve always tried to blog with honesty and integrity, and there’s just no way I could continue blogging while working for a major genre publisher – it would bring my personal and professional credibility into question.

James’s blog is one of a few I’ve followed for years. You could often find a good rant there; his opinion was always confident in itself, he never navel-gazed, and he would not shy away from controversy. It will indeed be sad to see him go, but wonderful to see him step into the publishing inner sanctum, where we have secret handshakes and late-night cocktails.

He was also a big supporter of my first book when few others really cared, and I’m still grateful for that.

By Mark Newton

Born in 1981, live in the UK. I write about strange things.