[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-launch-of-the-lowest-heaven":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"The skies obliged for last night's launch of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pandemonium-fiction.com/lowest-heaven.html\">\u003Ci>The Lowest Heaven\u003C/i>\u003C/a> short story anthology. Look at that low sky over the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/events/universe-late\">National Maritime Museum\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_Greenwich_zps8904fe39-08632f30b2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd gaze upon this lovely line-up of writers! Head of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pandemonium-fiction.com/index.html\">Jurassic London\u003C/a>, \u003Cb>Jared Shurin\u003C/b>, gave a welcome speech and we had three readings right there under the collection of figureheads (which were formerly housed in the Cutty Sark). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_author_team_zps07542cd4-3e2154724d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nLook at this lovely cover artwork by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pocko.com/en/illustration/joey-hi-fi/\">Joey Hi-Fi\u003C/a>! The limited-edition luxury edition of the book also has colour plates from the National Maritime Museum's image collection. (They'll be in black and white in the paperback version.) You can read an interview with Joey about the artwork \u003Ca href=\"http://blogs.rmg.co.uk/collections/2013/05/08/tlh/\">here on the NMM's blog\u003C/a>. The inside's beautiful, too, with a lovely embossed inside cover design and gorgeous printing. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_artwork_zpsd9a72656-e037607c46.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click for more under the cut!-->\\r\nSo how \u003Ci>properly geeky\u003C/i> are you, and how many of these writers can you name? (Clues on the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pandemonium-fiction.com/lowest-heaven.html\">Jurassic London website\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_author_lineup_zpsb2a0d0d6-055fb52b00.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWell, even if you don't know this couple In Real Life, you will have probably have seem them larking about outrageously on Twitter: \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/pornokitsch\">Jared Shurin\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/thefingersofgod\">Anne C. Perry\u003C/a> of \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TheKitschies\">The Kitschies Awards\u003C/a>. Anne recently got an editorial job at Hodder, so Jared says you'll be able to blame all future Jurassic London typos on him. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_Jared_Anne_zpsa700bb01-a2db0fe81f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's \u003Ca href=\"http://sophiamcdougall.com/\">Sophia McDougall\u003C/a> signing my book. Each author was given a Solar System theme, and Sophia got the Sun for her story, \u003Ci>Golden Apple\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_Sophia_McDougall_zps3ebe959f-47de1b63cb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nCheck it out, writer and illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.sueeves.net/\">Sue Eves\u003C/a> managed to snag edition 1 of the hundred! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_sueeves_ed1_zps96de5ae8-192dd2caae.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://ejswift.co.uk/\">E.J. Swift\u003C/a> was one of the writers who read aloud, from her story \u003Ci>Saga's Children\u003C/i>. (She had the dwarf planet Ceres.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_EJSwift_zps4b607b5c-90e388c13b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI was a bit cheeky and got almost everyone to draw something in my copy. Matt Jones left us on such a compelling cliffhanger with his reading of \u003Ci>The Comet's Tale\u003C/i> that I had to finish his story as soon as I got home. Really gripping story about a cult and the lengths people will go when they don't fit in. I met the guys from the \u003Ca href=\"http://jforjetpack.com/\">J is for Jetpack\u003C/a> blog and they've \u003Ca href=\"http://jforjetpack.com/high-five-with-alastair-reynolds-a-lowest-heaven-exclusive/\">interviewed one of writers, Alastair Reynolds here\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_signed_book_zps777c30c1-f4129a4d85.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks for a great evening, Jurassic London and NMM! There were quite a few activities going on in the museum, which were all part of the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/events/\">Visions of the Universe Late\u003C/a>, in partnership with Camp Bestival. I didn't manage to get a photo, but there were \u003Cb>some awesome family comics stuff\u003C/b> happening right at the beginning of the evening, with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk\">Gary Northfield\u003C/a> and the team from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/\">The Phoenix Comic\u003C/a>. Gary and the team will be doing loads more comics workshops at \u003Ca href=\"http://www.campbestival.net/line-up/2013-line-up/art-town/\">Camp Bestival\u003C/a>, so keep an eye on Gary's Twitter account - \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gnorthfield\">@gnorthfield\u003C/a> - to find out more. \\r\n\\r\nAnother event going on that night was an introduction to what astronauts drink in space. Here is a very boozy jelly concoction.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_spacebooze_zpse52ef841-01d3d01d1c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMy studio mate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.whodunnknit.com/\">Lauren O'Farrell\u003C/a> (aka \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/deadlyknitshade\">Deadly Knitshade\u003C/a>) and I, of course, had to join in the sampling of it. As did \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/blightea\">@blightea\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/celesteosharp\">@celesteosharp\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LowestHeaven_spacebooze2_zps85ab35db-003beba50d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>The Lowest Heaven\u003C/i> is a book for grown-ups. But, funnily enough, I had been hanging out in space just the day before, at the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.discover.org.uk/\">Discover Children's Story Centre\u003C/a> in Stratford. Check out this great lunar landscape designed by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/_JimField\">Jim Field\u003C/a>. You can find out \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jimfield.co.uk/Journey-to-Space\">loads more about how he designed the place over on his blog\u003C/a>. Awesome stuff! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/Discover_space_landscape_zps0d12d652-bad3731dfe.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nUnfortunately the space suits there run a bit small. Jim and I need to talk.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/disocver_sarah_spacesuit_zpsfda1b8f5-0f316d49b4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHa ha, love this rocket control panel. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/Discover_space_controls_zpsbe8aa5d7-d5dd6889a7.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's the Discover team's \u003Cb>Rachel Brasier\u003C/b> exploring martian caverns. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/Discover_Rachel_martianplanet_zps35945733-121405cfba.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe Discover story centre is such a fab place. You can click the \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/tag/discover\">Discover tag\u003C/a> on my blog to see some other things they've done.","2013-06-14T10:06:00.000Z","launch-of-the-lowest-heaven",[],"launch of the lowest heaven",1776628725256]