For those of you still interested, I'm pleased to announce that CloudWorld At War will be available very soon, though not quite in the way I originally intended. Allow me to explain…

Towards the end of 2003, CloudWorld was accepted by Faber & Faber, the first publisher to see it. In January 2004 I sat in my editor’s office at 3 Queen Square to go through the manuscript. Her first comment surprised me. CloudWorld was a single volume book, but she felt that its plot was rushed in places. So she suggested focusing on the first two-thirds and cutting the final third, with the intention of expanding the cut material into a full-length sequel. I was a bit startled by this. I didn’t really like the idea of “book one” (as it was suddenly known) having a cliff-hanger ending. But, thrilled to be published by Faber in the first place, I agreed. No mention was made of my one-book contract becoming a two-book contract.

I returned to Glasgow, where I was staying in a friend’s spare room in order to be able to concentrate on my writing. Over the following year, I completed rewrites on CloudWorld. Then, after spending some time finding a new job and a proper place to live, I dutifully embarked on the sequel. For the next couple of years I rose at six every morning to write before going to work. During this period, CloudWorld itself was published. It received some excellent reactions (REVIEWS) and was nominated for the Manchester Book Award. By September 2007, I’d completed CloudWorld At War. But in November Faber rejected it, arguing that too much time had passed since the publication of CloudWorld, which had, according to them, sold beneath expectations.

“So what?”you may think, and in a way you’d be right. When a publisher rejects a book it isn’t personal. But if you’ve written the book in question – and devoted five years of your life to it and its predecessor – it’s personal to you. And this particular book was based on material the publisher had previously accepted, so they have, to some extent, gone back on their word.

Interestingly enough, I don’t seem to be the only person in this situation. Another Faber author, Nick Green, also had the sequel to his debut children’s novel, The Cat Kin, turned down last year, in spite of the fact that The Cat Kin itself has been short-listed for the Bolton Children’s Book Award and the Sefton Super-Reads Book Award. And David Thorpe, whose debut novel, Hybrids, won the 2006 HarperCollins/Saga Magazine Novel Prize and the 2008 Lewisham Schools Book Award, has had its sequel rejected too. It’s all very strange.

How do you react in such circumstances? Well, after a brief mourning period, you fight back. Like Nick Green, I’ve decided to make my orphaned novel available online, through a website called www.lulu.com, which allows writers to offer their work as paid downloads or actual paperbacks (also available through Amazon.) CloudWorld At War been edited by an experienced literary agent. It has also been read and commented upon by several friends (one of them a highly respected academic and critic), so I feel pretty confident about selling it in this way.

In the meantime, I draw consolation from the people who’ve recently e-mailed me from Canada, France and Australia, wanting to know how the CloudWorld story ends. I also appreciate the kind words of esteemed fellow authors like Julie Bertagna (Exodus) and, in particular, William Nicholson (The Wind Singer, Gladiator), who, in a message of support, assured me that “…the phoenix will rise shining from the ashes!” Let’s hope so. According to my latest royalty statement, CloudWorld has sold 8,500 copies out of 10,359 originally printed. If only a few of those readers find it online, it’ll feel like a victory of sorts. After all, what have I got to lose?

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