Improbable Press Blog

Along with writing for a living, in the last nine years I've written nearly a million words of fanfic and two books. I love writing, I love it, I love it with shouty fire. However. Sometimes I just want to drop-kick my laptop out the window, shouting obsenities after it. The feeling is not unfamiliar, so I know that when it comes, so shall it go. I've also learned what to do in the meantime. Turning Turtle: Recharging My Creativity * Saturday's Become Sacrosanct I turn turtle to recharge, booking nothing on Saturday that I can book some other day....

We're thrilled to announce that Improbable Press recently acquired the rights to Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: The Day They Met from MX Publishing.This means that Atlin Merrick's complimentary books, each about how Holmes might have met his Watson, now have the same home!Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: The Day They Met offers 50 new ways the world's most legendary friendship might have begun, while Sherlock Holmes and John Watson: The Night They Met contains 19 romantic reimaginings of how these men might have met…and fallen in love. With fifty tales of BFFs and nineteen of romance, this pair of...

By Verity Burns There are hundreds of books on my bookshelves. And on the floor. In the bathroom. Piled up by my bed… It’s a collection built up over forty years and most have been read more than once – some many, many times. They are old friends. But if I had to pick one author… Just a single set of books to take with me on some mythical trip… That author would be Peter O’Donnell. Those tales would be of Modesty Blaise. It’s hard to say exactly why. The stories are action adventures. They’re exciting, often exotic, with colourful...

MAN: Women are more emotional than men. WOMAN: *begins speaking*MAN: No really, they are.WOMAN: *begins—*MAN: It’s so obvious.WOMAN: *be—*MAN: They’re completely at the mercy of their emotions.WOMAN: *nuclear explosion of teeth-baring hatred*MAN: See, I told you.This little expositionary tale (paraphrased from an actual Twitter exchange) is to make a point and that point is this: to get attention, some people will metaphorically poke and poke and poke a bear with a stick, so they can prove bears are dangerous.Next time someone wanders into your comments with their stick, telling you that your favourite character “would never” be a top, a...

Before I discuss my strangest search engine searches, let me say I love fandom because it’s led me to learn peculiar, new things. I learned about the birth of the telegraph and so wrote a story about Sherlock Holmes and John Watson as little boys, I wrote a story about Holmes and Watson as computers when I learned there’s software named Holmes, and a machine called Watson. Research has also led me along paths I did not see myself skipping down, but skip I have and you can pry the knowledge I’ve gained from my cold, dead browser history and...