Mega Robo Bros: NEMESIS is published today! It is the seventh and PENULTIMATE volume in the Mega Robo Bros saga, and it available in all good bookshops as of RIGHT NOW. I hope you will check it out!
Now listen, you might be thinking ‘book SEVEN?’ That does not sound like a good time for me to jump on board and start reading a story.’ Which would be understandable. But you would be WRONG. DEAD WRONG. SO WRONG I AM ACTUALLY EMBARRASSED FOR YOU.
I could bang on here about all the thought and work and painstaking editorial processes that went into putting this book together, but: that would be quite boring to read, probably? The point is, I’m really happy with where it ended up, and I think it’s actually turned out to be a weirdly perfect place to start, even if you’re completely new to the series. It’s kind of the whole of Mega Robo Bros in microcosm. You get a couple of fun and largely self-contained adventures with Alex and Freddy, in which they:
have fun times at the seaside with their family!
fight a bunch of robots!
like, seriously, a LOT of robots:
including, specifically:
a bunch of AWESOME robots designed by the readers of the Phoenix!
one of them is a sausage? Look, it makes sense in context.
And then…
things take a bit of a TURN.
Look away now if you don’t want any spoilers!
Seriously.
Last chance!
Okay! You’re still here?
Fine.
You have made your choices.
So then, THIS happens:
…that’s right, it’s EVIL FREDDY. The Dark Freddy Saga!
Part of me hates to spoil this development at all, but y’know. It is after all right there on the cover. Which, honestly, was very stressful for me and took a bit of convincing, but you have to admit it makes for a pretty exciting cover. As I get older and get more miles under my belt with all this I’m trying to accept that there is a balance between jealously hoarding the EXCITING SECRETS and SHOCKING REVEALS of your story in order to preserve the reader’s enjoyment (my natural inclination), and the necessity of giving a bit away to, y’know, actually sell the story. Give people a clue as to why they might want to read it.
I’m actually lucky in that, to a large extent, I get to have it both ways. When the episodes first come out weekly in the Phoenix that is kind of the pure, unspoiled version of the story, where I get to hit you with surprises completely cold (and, uh, on that note: brace yourself for the coming weeks). And then when the books come out it’s okay to relax the grip a little. Because, y’know, technically it’s all appeared already a year ago in a comic at this point.
I’m aware that this is the kind of thing that I obsess over a LOT, and that it is very likely of urgent interest to PRECISELY NO-ONE ELSE. But I thought I’d share a bit of the thought process with you here in the Personal Fiefdom Of Self-Indulgence*.
*’Newsletter’
Anyway! I' very much hope you’ll check it out. I think it’s my best book to date, and I’m incredibly proud of all the hard work that went into it. My thanks as ever to the whole team at DFB and the Phoenix, and particularly my brilliant book editor Anthony Hinton, who made the whole ‘how on Earth do we actually make this work as a book?’ journey so relatively painless, and brought it to what I think is such a fantastic end result.
Available in bookshops all over!
Meanwhile, on the road:
This SATURDAY I’ll be at Wonderland Bookshop, painting robots in their windows and signing books. If you’d like a signed and personalised copy, there’s still time to pre-order yours now!
This SUNDAY I’ll be at Stratford Lit Fest, doing a comics workshop and signing more books! Tickets available here! PLEASE NOTE there’s been a change of venue due to a fire at the original location (FREDDY!), so make sure to check the website for details!
Lots more festivals and events coming up this year, and indeed lots more to announce - check my tour page for all the details.
…did I forget anything? Buy my book. Okay thanks bye.