Anthony Camber

The space year 2025 has arrived, and with it begins C21Q2. It’s been a while since I’ve released any new books, but that’s going to change. This year I plan to release two new novels: I’ll talk more about them in subsequent posts, but see below for exclusive details and extracts. Don’t forget to subscribe to be the first to know when I post:

Where have I been?

My last published book was A Room Full of Elephants back in 2016. After that I stopped writing fiction for a while. In truth: I needed to earn money. As much as I enjoy writing novels it’s tough to make a living from it. And ARFOE didn’t sell as well as I’d hoped — not a great incentive to keep writing. To consider writing as a full-time career, I’d need a bigger back catalogue (which takes time, which takes money) and a significantly bigger paying audience. I’d also need to devote more time to marketing and growing an audience, which requires skills that don’t come naturally to me.

In 2017 I returned to life in an office (at least until Covid). Back to having a desk, and working hours, and other fripperies. Crucially, also a non-fripperific, regular salary. For a long while my focus shifted away from writing fiction. Part of my role initially was technical writing — only accidentally fictional — and that tended to drain the daily reservoir of words available for other purposes.

The urge returned as I knew it would. Even as my workload grew I started to noodle away at ideas when out of the physical/virtual office: trying to write, without worrying about plot or finishing. To make it feel more like fun than work, I wrote longhand using an Apple Pencil on an iPad (I am weird). I have a couple of handwritten scenes set at St Paul’s College that might be useful some day. One of them is mildly blasphemous.

In 2021-22 I found myself persisting with one story — until it felt not right. I paused, thinking I’d return to it, figure it out, fix it. I didn’t. Not uncommon: every writer has a folder-like thing full of unfinished novel-like things that we keep just in case.

In the summer of 2023 a new idea struck, initially in the form of an opening exchange of dialogue: something not quite grammatically “standard”. I didn’t know what happened next in the story, but I had a vague idea where and when it happened — and I wanted to know more. Over the next few months, when I wasn’t working, I kept writing it. Expanding the world, slowly. Going back and rewriting. Adding characters. Playing more with language. Seeing where it went.

And then in the late spring of 2024, I lost my job. You know how it goes: you’re worked off your feet and pulled every which way in a position of great responsibility with deadlines around every corner until you’re apparently not needed at all, why ever would you think that?

Clippety-clop, riding in on horseback, comes the hoary old cliché: in the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.

By this time I’d written about 25,000 words — all in longhand, on my iPad. I wanted — needed — to decompress after the final eighteen hectic but extremely rewarding months of that job and could afford to live off my replenished savings for a while. I decided to push on with the quirky, not-quite-grammatical story and see if I could finish it and if I still liked it.

The good news is that in my years away I managed to forget that writing a book is impossible.

The first draft is now complete, and in the hands of trusted readers. No title announced yet: it’s “the new book” in public for now.

While waiting for feedback on that first manuscript, I revisited the earlier abandoned story. My time away from it meant I read the words with a completely fresh perspective: at several points I genuinely couldn’t remember what happened next. And I enjoyed it. As expected it tailed off at the end, and it came to an abrupt halt mid-scene, mid-sentence, my past self taunting me. But it was all fixable: so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve reworked the second half completely and given it an ending I like, and I’m currently revising the whole manuscript again to ensure it flows. I’m calling it “the new new book” for now.

So there you are.

Thank you for reading.

Oh, you want more details?

About the new book

The title isn’t yet public. Here’s the draft one-sentence pitch:

An excitingly original, high-stakes queer adventure set on a far-future colony wheel in space, where restless student Pod searches for love and purpose and unravels secrets that could change everything.

Currently about 124,000 words long, it’s a queer YA coming-of-age story, a sci-fi adventure (with a bit of romance). All originally written longhand like I’m some kind of freak (correct). And all in a hypothetical, constructed future dialect of English (see: freak).

Here’s an exclusive peek at a scene early in the book (subject to change). Bear in mind there are no typos in this extract.

What do you think? Let me know!

About the new new book

Again, no public title yet. Here’s the draft pitch:

A queer, geeky, heartfelt tale of love, friendship, and second chances. Nate navigates A-levels, his spiralling emotions, and the gravitational pull of new and old relationships.

Currently about 89,000 words long, this is another queer YA coming-of-age story, this time a contemporary comedy drama (with a bit of romance) in the mould of Simon James Green.

Here’s an exclusive glimpse (subject to change):

Let me know what you think about this one!

What happens next?

Assuming things go well, I’ll say more about the new books soon: subscribe to the blog to be notified when I post — there’s a big button below. You can also follow me on Threads or (preferably) Bluesky, where I try to post daily progress updates.

Interested in being a beta reader for either or both books? Send an email to “beta” at the same domain as this blog, explaining why you’d be a great beta reader — and if you’re interested in just one of the books, please indicate which one. (Reward: a mention in the acknowledgements for the book.)

In the coming weeks, I’ll attempt to drum up interest with title reveals and cover reveals and preorders and all the other things the kids do these days.

Should I join TikTok, despite all the everything happening? What else can I do to grow some buzz around these books? I’d love to hear your ideas.