Cameron Johnston

If you haven't already seen the news posted on Angry Robot's website  then let me enlighten you by repeating it below: We’ve got some great news for our buddies over in Europe! Excellent grimdark novel The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston is going to be translated into both Hungarian and Czech! In Hungary the translation rights have been acquired by Főnix Könyvműhely, with the book being published sometime within the next year. Czech folks will see the translation published by Euromedia Group sometime within the next two. We told Cameron, and once he’d woken up from his dead faint asked him to give us a couple of words on the deals. Here he is: “When my book was published several people said they were going to borrow it through their local library – whoa, my book being in a library gives me all the feels. As a kid I spent so much in mine time picking out and reading armloads of books. It is a wonderful feeling that mine has now joined the others on those hallowed shelves...

The Traitor God has been unleashed upon the world! A city threatened by unimaginable horrors must trust their most hated outcast, or lose everything, in this crushing epic fantasy debut. After ten years on the run, dodging daemons and debt, reviled magus Edrin Walker returns home to avenge the brutal murder of his friend. Lynas had uncovered a terrible secret, something that threatened to devour the entire city. He tried to warn the Arcanum, the mageocracy who rule the city. He failed. Lynas was skinned alive and Walker felt every cut. Now nothing will stop him from finding the murderer. Magi, mortals, daemons, and even the gods – Walker will burn them all if he has to. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s killed a god... Available now from: Angry Robot Amazon.com Amazon UK Waterstones Barnes and Noble Book Depository

The Traitor God is now available on NetGalley for reviewers - if you fancy reviewing something part noirish magical investigation and part grimdark lovecraftian apocalypse - you are in luck!  Off to Angry Robot on NetGalley with you! *slides a plate of bribery-biscuits across the table* I will just leave these delicious treats here shall I? *knowing wink*

I answered cunning questions from Hippogriff's Aerie for my first ever interview as an author. Featuring: stop-motion skeletons, video nasties of the 80s, mysterious statues and the beauty of swords. Oh, and The Traitor God, better mention that too! You can read it HERE.

And it's out - The Fantasy Hive have posted  The Traitor God Cover Reveal  with a fantastic write up and a host of detail, including a larger cover image. Thanks to Angry Robot and the artist Jan Weßbecher  for an amazing cover!

So The Traitor God has been noticed by a few people - it's appeared on no less that three 'most anticipated in 2018' lists. New York Public Library Fantasy Hive Barnes and Noble I am blown away!

Those fantastic people over at The Fantasy Hive have released their  Most Anticipated Fantasy Books of 2018  and... I'm on it with The Traitor God! As a debut novelist this is both totally unexpected and gives me ALL the good feels.  I think all novelists have the same worries: that your book will be released and sink without a trace, that nobody will read it, like it, review it or even notice it. It comes with putting your work out into the public sphere, but I reckon it has to be worse with your first word-baby. Mostly, I just hope people will enjoy it. Interesting times are ahead, and the game is afoot!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *ahem* I've just seen rough cover sketches for The Traitor God and I'm awestruck. That's my book, with an amazing cover (to be revealed early next year), that is going to be in bookshops and libraries across the world. Much excitement!

I guess the cat is out of the bag now! My good friends over at Fantasy Faction have posted the news that Angry Robot will be publishing my debut novel, The Traitor God in June 2018.  You can find the announcement and a fancy guest post from me here . Would you like to know more? The Traitor God A city threatened by unimaginable horrors must trust their most hated outcast, or lose everything, in this crushing epic fantasy debut. After ten years on the run, dodging daemons and debt, reviled magus Edrin Walker returns home to avenge the brutal murder of his friend. Lynas had uncovered a terrible secret, something that threatened to devour the entire city. He tried to warn the Arcanum, the mageocracy who rule the city. He failed. Lynas was skinned alive and Walker felt every cut. Now nothing will stop him from finding the murderer. Magi, mortals, daemons, and even the gods – Walker will burn them all if he has to. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s killed a...

The editing and rewrites have all come to an end annnnnnddddd my agent has sent the manuscript out on submission. Phew! So, what now I hear you ask? Waiting...mostly waiting...and hoping...and trying not to check my email every now and again...knowing that realistically very, very few books ever get picked up and published, but also that hoping bit is back again... I'm finding this wait a little different to my short story submissions. Partly because there is a much larger chunk of time, effort and imagination invested, and partly because if this novel does get picked up then I'll have books in shops and libraries - something younger me had dreamed about ever since I first set foot in my local library. I frequently left that hallowed hall with shaking arms holding ten books at a time, and I would be delighted to find my own writing fuelling other people's imaginations in the same way. I suppose we will just have to wait and see, and hope.

I've been busy the last few weeks. Really busy. Neck deep in edits on my novel actually. My fine agent Amanda Rutter at Red Sofa Literary sent me back my edits and as I readied myself to open the files I knew damn well what was coming. Still, it hit me like a well-aimed half brick to the face to behold a sea of comments, corrections, suggestions and advice. Where do you even start? For me, it was a little paralysing at first, but then I got to work on the quick and easy changes: typos and word choices, clunky bits of prose, clarifications and eliminating confusions. Gradually that mass of edits was whittled down to manageable chunks I could wrap my head around. Who ever said that writing a novel was the hard part? Re-writing and editing are far trickier, and yet also as - if not more - satisfying. It feels good to trim away the fat and build up the muscle, making my novel a leaner, fiercer, and more emotional beast. The end is in sight! And when it gets picked up by a publ...

As my novel is currently undergoing edits with my agent *waits with both trepidation and eagerness* it’s got me thinking about the process of critique and editing of my work by other people. It’s always a slightly daunting prospect to submit a new piece of writing for the first time, especially if you are asking people to pull it to bits and hold each morsel up to the light to be thoroughly examined. Still, that’s one of the best ways to improve your writing, and when all the dust has settled you will be left with a much-improved piece of writing. But you do need to develop a thicker skin. It may be your darling mind-baby but it’s not personal critique, it’s professional.  The harshest critic is likely be your finest friend when it comes to writing. There’s an important word – Professional. More on that later. When I joined the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers’ Circle back in 2010 (Has it really been so long??) I poked my poor little prose head right into the word-lion’s den ...

In other writing news, I received an email last week from a literary agent. Expecting the old ‘I liked it, but…’ rejection that every writer who has ever submitted anything gets, I found myself stopping and reading again. Why? This was no rejection email - this was an agent saying she loved my novel and was offering a Skype call to discuss representation!!! We arranged a day and time and a few days passed in a daze. I logged into Skype 45 minutes early…or I tried to, on two machines… panicked searching revealed logins to Skype were down worldwide. Argh!! Nightmare! Except, it was only for apps, and Skype for Web worked fine, phew, last minute save. The discussion went incredibly well and I’m ecstatic to say that I’m signing with Amanda Rutter of Red Sofa Literary . This novel of mine will be heading out into the world after a few nips and tucks.

It's a special kind of honour when a friend gives you a cameo in their novel, especially when they kill you off in horrible ways. Hat's off to Edward Cox for including me in  The Watcher of Dead Time  - an excellent end to a fascinating series. May I return this favour sooner rather than later ;)