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∞ I'm currently working on several new projects. First, is the next Combat K novel, provisionally entitled SICK WORLD in which Combat K begin to take on the junks... Next up is KELL'S LEGEND, a violent bloody heroic fantasy piece - probably the most fast paced bloody fantasy you'll ever read. And definitely no goblins! Finally, there's a supernatural thriller called GOLDFISH. I'm a busy busy boy at the moment :-)
∞ A recent case of ebola/ manflu/ common cold laid Remic low, the big pussy, and he was unable to attend alt.fiction. Instead, he lay in bed, whimpering like a big girl. Anyway, many apologies for the legion of fans who must have been sorely disappointed.
∞ Andy Remic's new short story VACHINE is to be published by Visionary Tongue around Easter, 2008, possibly in time for Orbital 2008. "VACHINE is about my new breed of machine vampires," Remic said, with a twinkle in his eye, but would say no more. Donna Scott acts as editor on this project. Visionary Tongue can be reached at: www.visionarytongue.co.uk
LINKS
REM'S APPEARANCES
SAT 22 MARCH 2008 - ORBITAL 2008 EASTERCON if anybody fancies a beer :-) http://www.orbital2008.org/ for more information.
SAT 26 APRIL 2008 - Alt.fiction, Derby. http://altfictionday.blogspot.com
WED 6/10 AUGUST 2008 - DENVENTION3 The 66th World Science Fiction Convention, Colorado http://www.denvention3.org/
SAT 11 OCT 2008 - NEWCON4, Northampton http://www.newcon4.com/newcon/main/default.aspx
NOV/DEC 2008 - Lots of book signings and promotion to link with the release of BIOHELL in the UK and US.
AUTHORS
THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE MONKEY... AT A GLANCE
Name: Andy Remic.
Age: 30something (hah!).
Likes: Writing, reading, mountain biking, motorbiking, Thai boxing, mountain climbing, cooking, deathmatch gaming, good music, movies, quality beer, ZX Spectrums, and of course, last but not least, my 2 incredible and wonderful little boys.
Dislikes: Dictators, IKEA flat-packs, coffee with no sugar, rain, the cowardice of terrorists.
Currently reading: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett, Blue War by Jeffrey Thomas, Born to be Riled by Jeremy Clarkson, Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis.
Fave Mountain: Crib Goch, Kilimanjaro.
Fave Games: Quake I, Half Life 2, Syndicate, Starquake [on Spectrum].
Fave Motorbike: Aprilia RSV-R, Ducati 1098. Sob. Can't afford either. But soon, I tell ye, soon!!
BIOHELL... an extract [subject to alteration]
Franco watched, mouth agape, as a fist the size of a plate smashed a hole through anti–intruder panelling and flexed long claws that belonged nowhere near a human hand. The second coffee cup smashed on the tiles, sending another stream of dark brown soaking into Franco’s comedy rabbit slippers. His head lifted. Oh my God, he thought. There’s a monster in there! In there, with Mel!
He sprinted for the living room, rolled across the coffee table like a true action hero, grabbed his D5 shotgun and pumped it viciously. He stampeded back into the corridor, and was just in time to see two of the long, armoured hands wrench the door from its quivering frame and launch it down the corridor. With a yelp Franco ducked, and the door hummed over his head and became half–buried in the wall above the front door. It quivered, like a large rectangular arrow.
The creature stepped into the corridor, stooping crookedly. It was eight feet tall.
Franco gawped, shotgun forgotten. The creature was slim and wiry, skin a dark mottled brown, spotted, corrugated, and slick with grease. The torso was a mockery of a human female body, with long, quivering, dangling breasts reaching almost to the monster’s waist, and with nipples like plums oozing grey pus. The neck was long, curved, the head small and round and hairless, the lower jaw staggered out from a horrific face in a staccato jump, the nose two pin–pricks, the ears flaps of puckering anal flesh against more pus–oozing orifices. The neck crackled with plates of armour as the monster moved its head, rapping its skull against the ceiling. Fingers flexed like a newborn babe’s. Franco’s eyes dropped... to the long legs, and the pink quivering vagina, slick with gore and grey slime. It was distended, wobbling, and nearly made Franco throw up. It was probably the worst thing he’d ever seen in his entire life. A nightmare, for a man so fond of the female sexual organ.
‘Don’t worry!’ bellowed Franco, suddenly. ‘I’m coming for you, Mel! I’m coming to save you!’ Bravely, he charged at the monster, shotgun booming. Shells screamed down the short corridor and the monster moved with inhuman speed, twisting, charging at Franco as it swatted the shells like flies. Franco skidded, thumped against the creature, felt his shotgun taken from him as he tottered backwards a few steps, like an old man on acid. He gulped. He stared up at the oiled face inches from his own, witnessed nose–slits sprouting thick black spider hairs, felt rancid breath coil across him like a disease–ridden oil–mist. The monster tossed the weapon to the ground in disgust, reached forward, and slapped Franco a stinging blow with the back of its hand.
Franco flew, hit the wall, and rolled into a heap with all wind knocked from him. The creature, in huge loping strides, was upon him and he screamed, screamed as that distended jaw hammered towards him and fetid breath invaded him abused him raped him and those long claws curled around his body, lifted him into the air and the room whirled around him, his familiar settee and TV and Playstation 1000 turning into a blur as he was spun and whirled and thrown heavily to the floor. ‘Get the shotgun!’ screamed Franco, to Mel in the bathroom. ‘Get the gun! Save yourself! I’ll try and stall it!’
The abomination lowered its ugly pus–riddled face towards Franco. He heard the creak of its limbs, watched as those eyes moved towards his face and saliva and gunk dripped on him. He shivered, quivered in pure terror as he wondered how he would die... hey, he’d seen the movies, right?... jaws in the brain? Fist through the heart? Tear out his spleen and beat him with it?
The monster’s jaws worked spasmodically. Franco closed his eyes and covered his head with his arms. ‘Aiiiiiiiie!’ he screamed. And… Nothing. Nothing happened. Franco opened one beady eye. Yep. The monster was still there. Staring at him. Breathing on him. Why didn’t it just kill him monster him massacre him chew him break him crunch him hell, shit, just get it done and over with and let him die in a moment of pure–fire agony then enjoy an eternity of peaceful rest in a Heaven of buxom half–naked vixen wenches. ‘Do it, you sick bastard!’ he screamed. The creature, the beast, the monster… its jaws worked even harder. Saliva pooled in long strings that tickled Franco’s face. And, well– it seemed to be trying to–
‘Speak? Are you trying to speak?’ snapped Franco in astonishment. Where the hell was Mel with that D5? If he could just stall this savage grotesque beast for a few moments, give Mel time to get to the gun, well, she was a plucky lass and she’d know what to do… Maybe she’d save them yet!
‘Ranco,’ said the beast.
‘Eh?’
‘I ove ou Ranco.’ The creature formerly known as Mel let out a massive roar which blasted curtains from the rail, overturned the TV and blew–dry droplets of sweat from Franco’s distended ginger beard. There came a hiatus in time. Franco scratched his whiskery chin. ‘So, then, I’m thinking, maybe something went wrong with that there biomod, then, eh love?’
FRANCO, BIOHELL, on the importance of true love.
WAR MACHINE... an overview
Combat K were elite and murderous combat squads trained by the Quad-Gal Military specialising in interrogation, infiltration, assassination and detonation. Their gameplan was simple: to end The Helix War, which had raged for a thousand years.
Meet Keenan, a stocky battered war veteran, addicted to Jataxa spirit yet still horribly efficient at his job. An expert with hacked technology and heavy weapons, Keenan is at core a very bad man- made sane by his wife, Freya, and two little girls, Rachel and Ally. However, after an affair with Pippa, Keenan is incarcerated– his wife discovers the infidelity - and during imprisonment Freya and his girls are murdered by an unknown assailant. Keenan is riddled with guilt and self-loathing, and carries a need for revenge which consumes him.
Franco is wiry, small and tough, a little bit crazy but hey! that makes him efficient with bombs. He is the terminally optimistic core of this Combat K squad. The group’s “mechanic”, he is the sort of man who finds good in everything. And then there's... Pippa. But don’t be fooled by the slim, svelte looks, the demure stance, the bobbed black hair giving her just that hint of Cleopatra. Look beyond the pretty face- to cold grey eyes and scarred, lethal hands. Deadly in combat, she is a serious and lethal lady who you do not cross. Mentally, she is unstable, the ultimate conundrum... a creature who hates the scourge of man.
Illegally reformed under Prohibition D, Combat K must scour the Quad-Gal for an artefact known as The Fractured Emerald. Only this treasure can decipher and decode those responsible for murdering Keenan's family. Through the tribal jungles of Ket, the mean chaotic streets of The City, the mission leads the squad to Teller's World, a Dead World, and home to the extinct God Leviathan... there Keenan will find answers to his deepest nightmares... and face a terror more ancient than anything ever before witnessed across The Four Galaxies.
"We’re facing certain death on regular
occasions, right? So the best preventative tonic is to banter, to
lighten the mood, to chill, baby, so when you are required to blow some
motherfucker’s head clean off," he cocked his Kekra and placed four barrels
against Betezh’s lips, "then it comes just that little bit easier, you can
sleep at night, and not be haunted by the horror of your actions. Comprendé?"
FRANCO,
WAR MACHINE, explaining why he
cracks so many bad jokes.
A SHORT INTERVIEW
Where do you get your ideas from? Anywhere and everywhere; dreams and sex, movies and literature, real life, people I meet, events that occur around me and to me. All life is a novel; you just to need to extract the interesting bits.
What is your favourite book and literary genre? Favourite book? Gotta be "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick. A complete masterpiece, and Blade Runner did it only 40% justice. Where are the empathy boxes? Where is Mercerism? Where is Deckard's wife? My favourite literary genre would have to be - well, two really, thrillers and sci-fi - or preferably a blend of the two. The stuff I try to write, in fact!
What books would you recommend fans of your books read? Anything by Iain Banks, David Gemmell, maybe a bit of Michael Crichton, Paul McCauley, Matthew Reilly, Jeffrey Thomas, Eric Brown, Tom Clancy, Michael Moorcock, Phil K. Dick. I like to think my stuff is unique - not really like anything out there, but an impure distillation. A really bad blend.
What about least favourite? Which books did you not enjoy? My good mother once told me if you haven't got anything positive to say, don't say it. And, having been at the arse-end of several hyprocritics, I now subscribe to this philosophy. Hoho.
Have you always been a writer? Yep. I remember writing my first "novel" in primary school. It was something I always wanted - lusted after, in fact. It burned me - nothing else has ever touched me like writing a book can.
What are your favourite movies? Gladiator, Blade Runner, Get Carter [original], The Man Who Would Be King, Of Mice and Men, Cleopatra, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, the new Lord of the Rings trilogy, Trainspotting, Snatch and Lock, Stock, the original Matrix, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now. I could go on. For a very long time.
Who are your favourite actors and actresses? Brad Pitt, Ewan McGregor, Sean Connery, Jonny Depp, Clint Eastwood, Jonathan Swatham, Russell Crowe, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carrie Ann Moss, Nik Cage, Michael Caine, Uma Thurman, Mila Jojovich and loads loads more. Movies are such a cool medium when done well - in contrast, say, to something crap like daytime TV.
Where does your motivation come from whenever you can't write? Holidays. Abroad. On a beach. A week of sun, sex and sangria work wonders for my creative pump.
What hobbies do you pursue? Writing, reading, mountain biking, motorbikes: admiring, riding, racing and crashing, dabbling with computer equipment, occasional computer gaming (especially network death-matching); I like doing building projects (just working on a massive conservatory at the moment). Reading is my first love, though.
Do you collect anything? Only the legacy of injuries. And probably computers. I have a mint condition 48k Spectrum.
Favourite Cartoon Character? Cartman from Southpark. I, too, am festively plump.
What single thing has impacted your life the most? The birth of my 2 sons.
What single thing has been said to you that you'll never forget? 'You'll never get published'. Eat those words motherfucker, ha ha.
On violence, what do you think about the concept of entertainment spawning violent offenders? I think you are what you are; a combination of genetics and social upbringing. Violent games, for example, will not turn a nice guy into a homicidal child murderer. That sort of scum already have the bad blood.
What has been your biggest hurdle during your writing career? Getting published. Writer's blocks don't really happen to me.
How do you deal with the people who don't like your books, and tell you as much? If a person doesn't like my books - no problem. Everybody has different personal tastes, and I suppose my work is as acquired as any Islay whisky. After all - there are plenty of books I don't like. However, the pieces of shit I really do hate are failed-writers turned book reviewers - they really make me boil, and then know who they are. I'd certainly like to meet a few face to face. Oh yeah, and weird Amazon reviewers can be - well, weird. My mate Ian [Graham- author of Monument] got a truly bizarre review on Amazon- from the Texas Commie Stabber. Stab stab. Freak or unique?.
Writing, for you, is obviously enjoyable. Which part do you look forward to the most? Creation - the planning stage, and the high as you write those last 10,000 words of climax. Better than sex, but then maybe I'm just doing it wrong.
Which authors have influenced your writing most? Hmm. Tough one. I don't think I write like anybody; but yet writers have influenced my thinking over the years. From Hemingway to Banks, from Tolkien to Gemmell, from Orwell to Burgess. Now, I just try to write like me.
What is the most common misconception about you? That I am a mean and nasty son of a bitch - I am really quite a placid nice guy, it takes a lot to wind me up and I respond well to beer. I seem to have a bad reputation, for some reason.
Can I contact you? Will you reply? You can contact me by email or via my publishers. I will try my utmost to respond but cannot guarantee anything due to workload and family commitments. I do like hearing from people who enjoyed my books!!
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY...
"A 21-gun salute to tech porn and by that we mean railgun howitzers"- Death Ray magazine, Jan2008 on WAR MACHINE
"Swift plotting, bloody action, and interesting characters... The slam-bang, cliff-hanging ending has me craving the sequel. Excellent!"- The Breathing Corpse, December 2007 on WAR MACHINE
"blood-spattered ultraviolence"- SFX magazine, November 2007 on WAR MACHINE
WarMachine Review in The Guardian: "The scene is set for a hard-hitting, galaxy-spanning, no-holds-barred, old-fashioned action adventure yarn, laced with almost self-parodic brutality"- The Guardian, November 2007 on War Machine
"It's the tale of Combat K, specialised military unit of borderline psychopaths who are recruited to carry out a potentially lethal heist... Naturally, the job turns out to have complications, leading to multiple plot-twists and more blood-spattered ultraviolence than anyone could possibly want. To give Remic his due, he keeps the pace high with regular doses of ballistic action, and has obviously put in a lot of work creating a lurid universe packed with pulp SF-style brutality."- SFX magazine, November 2007 on WAR MACHINE
"Of course, a book like this is designed to be a roller-coaster of fun, and it does succeed on that score, right up to the ending that clearly sets up the next book, which I am now eager to read. I recommend you carry a small support to bolster your suspension of disbelief when reading War Machine and read it in the spirit in which it is written: fun and fast-paced @$$-kicking action."- SFSignal.com, November 2007 on WAR MACHINE
"Every once in a while a novel comes along that surprises the hell out of you. That was the case with “War Machine” by Andy Remic. All I really knew about the book going in was that is was classified as military science fiction and that it was the fourth novel by an author I had never heard of. So imagine my surprise when “War Machine” became my favorite science fiction novel of the year. Yes, you heard correctly. Gary Gibson’s “Stealing Light”, Peter F. Hamilton’s “The Dreaming Void”, Neal Asher’s “Hilldiggers”, Josh Conviser’s “Empyre”, Richard K. Morgan’s “Black Man/Thirteen”, Matthew Jarpe’s “Radio Freefall”; “War Machine” topped them all and no one is more shocked than I am! ...I loved every testosterone-fuelled second that I was reading Andy Remic’s “War Machine” and the sequel is easily one of my most anticipated new releases..."- Fantasy Book Critic, November 2007 on WAR MACHINE
"Fast paced, action packed and above all a high enough body count to prove why the Combat K squad got its name, with enough plot to keep the whole tale moving at its extraordinary pace." -Gareth Wilson, Falcata Times on WAR MACHINE
"The freewheeling adventure is high on action and hardware... frenetic violence... SPIRAL is obviously heavily inspired by the ultra-violent action movies of the 1980s... for the first time ever, I have read a book.." -Patrick Hudson, The Zone, on SPIRAL
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All images used with permission from respective publishers/ artists, with thanks.
