About the only factoid about my life that I consider to be even vaguely amusing is that I was born on Christmas Eve (for the record, the year was 1965). Oh yes, and I do all my first drafts in longhand on ruled A4 paper, using a medium-thick blue Parker Rollerball pen, while lounging somewhere comfortable in the house. I then transcribe the handwritten mess onto word processor, streamlining and rewriting and correcting as I go. I then go through countless redrafts, both onscreen and on hard copy. It's probably the most labour-intensive method of writing short of using a manual typewriter and Tipp-Ex, but it works for me, and if something works, you shouldn't complain.

With regard to the somewhat penetrable "pseudonym" I've employed for my Guardians novels, its purpose is to differentiate those novels from my other work. The Guardians books are a bit more tongue-in-cheek and less serious than anything I do under the name James Lovegrove. (I pitched them to my editor as The X-Files meets The Avengers.) That doesn't mean I don't put the same amount of effort into them -- in fact, with all the research I have to do for them, they're usually more effort -- but they're of a distinctly different flavour, and the minor change of nom de plume is designed to reflect that. As a matter of fact, there are some who think that "James Lovegrove" itself is a made-up name. Which it isn't.

I'd also like to state for the record that I am not an American. I don't know how this rumour got started. It probably has something to do with the year and a half I spent in Chicago between 1995 and 1996. And while I have nothing against Americans, even those who don't own passports, I don't want to be known as an American when I am, for better or worse, inarguably, ineluctably, irretrievably, irrevocably British.

I have also a special JR Hartley type of request to make. It appears that I have mislaid my copy of the issue of Fear magazine in which my story "Satisfaction Guaranteed" first appeared. It came out some time in early 1990, but more accurate than that I cannot be. If anyone reading this happens to have in their possession a good-quality copy of the issue concerned and is willing to part with it in return for, say, a crisp fiver (inclusive of postage and packing), I would be extremely grateful. I may be contacted by fax on 01273 478521, or infinity plus will forward your emails to me. Thank you, and goodnight.

Compleat Bibliography

(correct as of September 1998)

Novels

• The Hope (Macmillan, 1990; Sceptre, 1991; redrafted and expanded "director's cut" edition due from Orion in 2000);
• Escardy Gap, co-written with Peter Crowther (Tor, 1996; Earthlight, 1998);
• Days (Phoenix, 1997; mass-market paperback due January 1999 from Millennium);
• The Guardians: The Krilov Continuum, written as J.M.H. Lovegrove (Millennium, 1998); {reviewed by Justina Robson}
• The Guardians: Berserker, written as J.M.H. Lovegrove (due June 1999 from Millennium);
• The Web: Computopia, young adult novel (due December 1998 from Dolphin Books);
• The Foreigners (due early 2000 from Orion);
• The Guardians: Black Dogs, written as J.M.H. Lovegrove (due June 2000 from Millennium).

Short Fiction

• "Satisfaction Guaranteed" (Fear, Spring 1990);
• "The Landlady's Dog" (Narrow Houses, Little, Brown, 1992; Aspect, 1994);
• "Britworld™" (Interzone, December 1992);
• "The Trembler on the Axis", co-written with Peter Crowther (Tales of the White Wolf, White Wolf, 1994; Borealis, 1995);
• "Wings" (Heaven Sent, Creed, 1995; Daw, 1995);
• "A Taste of Heaven" (Dante's Disciples, Borealis, 1995);
• "Angel of War" (Pawn of Chaos, Borealis, 1996);
• "Rosemary for Remembrance" (Narrow Houses: Blue Motel, Little, Brown 1994 Borealis, 1996);
• "The Gift" a.k.a. "Giving and Taking" (Interzone, February 1996);
• "Dead Letters" (Scaremongers, Tanjen, 1997);
• "The House of Lazarus" (Destination Unknown, Borealis, 1997);
• "The Driftling" (Interzone, July 1997);
• "Even Beggars Would Ride", co-written with Peter Crowther (Cemetery Dance, Autumn 1997; The Third Alternative #13, 1997)
• "Thanatophile Seeks Similar" (The Third Alternative #16, 1998).

Collection of short fiction, provisionally entitled Tangents, due out some time in 2000 from Orion.

Elsewhere in infinity plus:

• fiction - The House of Lazarus; A Taste of Heaven; Wings.
• nonfiction - James Lovegrove interviewed by David Mathew; reviews of James Lovegrove's work.
• contact - e-mail James Lovegrove.

support this site - buy books through these links:
A+ Books: an insider's view of sf, fantasy and horror
amazon.com (US) | Internet Bookshop (UK)