Set in a crumbling future England where human life has been bioengineered and subsequently outlawed, \u2018The Actuality\u2019 follows Evie, an example of near-perfect AI, as her hiding place is exposed and she is forced to take to the streets and make critical judgements about who she can and can\u2019t trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We loved that alongside explicit sci-fi themes, \u2018The Actuality\u2019 has notes of philosophy and human psychology which invite the reader to question what sets humans apart from machines. Its pace and journey-led structure would make it ideal for television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We sat down with Paul to discuss his debut, his experience working with his publisher Sandstone Press<\/a>, and what it was like to have his work optioned by BBC Studios. JW: Hi Paul! When we last spoke, you had recently been signed by your agent. What role has she played since she took on \u2018The Actuality\u2019?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first thing Joanna (Joanna Swainson<\/a> \u2013 Hardman & Swainson Literary Agency) helped with was making the manuscript as attention grabbing as possible. One of the challenges was ensuring that none of the tension dissipated during the opening chapters. To achieve this, I made sure that a reference to accumulating events appeared on every page. We also added a prologue to provide a foreshadowing of events and a chilling strapline (\u2018Fear makes her human \/ Humans make her fear\u2019), which is now on the front cover of the hardback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the manuscript was ready, Joanna drew up a list of editors to approach and sent it out. We had favourable feedback from quite a few but Sandstone Press was first to the table with an offer. Joanna called to let me know in April 2019 \u2013 it was my birthday and the best birthday present I could have had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were very happy to go with Sandstone. They\u2019re a great indie publisher and having recently won the \u2018Not the Booker\u2019 with the dystopian \u2018Sweet Fruit, Sour Land\u2019 by Rebecca Ley, were keen to build a thread around speculative fiction. They had great ideas on how \u2018The Actuality\u2019 could be given a final polish and their enthusiasm was infectious. It took a few weeks to finalise the contract, with negotiations handled by Joanna, and then it came through to me to sign. JW: What has been the subsequent process of working with your publisher?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the UK and Commonwealth rights had been acquired by Sandstone, the editorial work began. My editor, the talented Kay Farrell, gave me as the main challenge the reordering of section 4 (the novel is in five sections). She was absolutely right \u2013 the flow here was not working as well as it could. After spending a few weeks on a revised draft, I returned it and to my huge relief, had nailed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The manuscript was then passed back and forth a half dozen times. It was all small things, like she\u2019d challenge why a character was behaving in the way they were and I\u2019d go back into a scene and try to understand her concerns. It was down to me to find solutions and make the changes. Kay\u2019s role was to challenge but I\u2019d usually find that she was right, and an improvement could be made. By October 2019 we had an agreed draft ready for proofreading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proofreader \u2013 Georgie Coles \u2013 did an excellent job tidying the punctuation and ensuring consistency. Her changes were largely invisible \u2013 just as they should be \u2013 but afterwards the novel felt slicker and smoother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cover then went out to the designer. I was asked to contribute ideas but had no expectation of what the creative mind of Heike Sch\u00fcssler would come up with. The trade loves \u2018different\u2019 and her eye-popping, all-the-best-colours-from-the-children\u2019s-paint-box design has garnered praise from all quarters and has been successful in heralding the novel\u2019s literary ambitions. Christina Dalcher \u2013 author of the bestselling \u2018VOX\u2019 \u2013 submitted a lovely review and from it, the word \u2018Exquisite\u2019 was taken and added to the front cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next came typesetting and I was sent a pdf to check. Whenever I read the text through, I saw little things I wanted to change and although at this stage I wasn\u2019t meant to be doing anything other than checking for typesetting errors, I persuaded Kay to allow me a few more tiny edits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arrangements for the audiobook were also now completed. Sandstone don\u2019t publish audiobooks themselves but sold the rights to W.F Howes \u2013 the audiobook specialist. The audiobook for \u2018The Actuality\u2019 is now complete and is read with great sensitivity by the actress Eva Feiler. Having been used to only hearing myself read my words, it\u2019s such a pleasure to hear them spoken so movingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In January 2020, I met with Ceris Jones, the Sandstone marketing exec, to discuss promotional plans, including the venue for the launch event \u2013 we were assuming a central London bookshop \u2013 and in the background I was compiling a list of attendees\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026which is when the virus struck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Initially Sandstone tried to stick with July but when it became clear that bookshops would be closed, deferred publication to February 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The delay was a disappointment but also a silver lining, as it allowed time for an option for the TV\/Film rights to be sold to BBC Studios, helping create a buzz ahead of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the leadup to publication, social media activity has mounted. ARCs (Advanced Review Copies) have been sent out to reviewers to drum up excitement. One highlight is a piece on the BBC Culture website<\/a> which positions \u2018The Actuality\u2019 in the footsteps of Mary Shelley\u2019s \u2018Frankenstein\u2019. I think this is lovely and works on so many levels, not least in that there is indeed something of the gothic heroine in my \u2018electric\u2019 character Evie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The revised date for publication \u2013 Thursday 18th of February 2021 \u2013 is now upon us. As before, bookshops remain closed, but Sandstone have gained experience with online events and we have a Q&A on Twitter planned for lunchtime \u2013 plus hopefully an evening event to follow soon. I will also definitely have a proper launch party when circumstances allow and the wine can be safely shared around! \u2018The Actuality\u2019, Paul Braddon. Sandstone Press, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: How would you place \u2018The Actuality\u2019 within the sci-fi\/speculative fiction market? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The Actuality\u2019 straddles sci-fi \/ dystopia and literary fiction. What is rare about it, is that the story is presented through the point of view of the AI and maybe because of this, reviewers have engaged. In the words of The Publishing Planet:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018As an exceptionally designed and advanced AI, Evie is outside the category of human but feels like the most human character in the book. Braddon\u2019s ability to write about this rough and brutal world through the eyes of such an elegant and honest character is beguiling.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I love that they love her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: The world in the novel is quite bleak \u2013 does this reflect your perception of what the future could be like or are you more optimistic?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The setting of \u2018The Actuality\u2019 is 2135 and the impact of climate change has taken its toll on the environment and society. The UK has fragmented, suffers bitter winters and baking summers and the population has drastically shrunk as a result of a decline in fertility caused by unchecked pollution. All of this is completely plausible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, our potential saviour is science \u2013 technological advance has created this mess, but it is quite within our wits to use further advances to find our way out. The rapid growth of electric vehicles is testament to this and the implementation of artificial intelligence will enable machines to aid us in the quest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: In very exciting news, \u2018The Actuality\u2019 has been optioned by BBC Studios! Can you explain what the process has been like so far? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was amazing getting the news that we had an offer for the TV and film rights from BBC Studios. Joanna spotted the screen potential of \u2018The Actuality\u2019 right from the start. Her agency works with a specialist dramatics rights agent called Marc Simonsson who has all the studio contacts here and abroad and had been championing it, albeit the crucial lead came from a pitch made by Sandstone, with Marc expertly negotiating with BBC Studios to close the deal. The great thing about being optioned at this stage is that it gives us valuable pre-publication publicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: What\u2019s next for you, and how are you approaching new projects?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The Actuality\u2019 was written as a standalone novel but the potential to develop the story is part of the appeal to BBC Studios and if a TV series is commissioned I might well revisit Evie\u2019s world. I love dystopian\/speculative themes and hope to work more in this genre. The novel I am currently working on however is a bit different \u2013 I\u2019d love to say more because I\u2019m very excited by it, but it\u2019s early days and I can\u2019t risk jinxing it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n JW: Hi Joanna! Thanks for chatting to us. What was it about Paul\u2019s manuscript that originally drew you to it?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JS: I was initially drawn to Paul\u2019s manuscript by the prospect of reading a novel set a hundred years in the future, in a \u2018broken down England where technology has lurched forward then all but seized up\u2019. This was how Paul described it in his pitch and although it sounds depressing, I immediately saw a vivid backdrop to a story with wonderful potential for exploring human nature. And then as soon as I started to read, I was hooked in by the atmosphere he creates and the protagonist, Evie, a beautifully drawn character who kept surprising me. JW: As an agent, what kind of thing are you looking for right now?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JS: As an agent, I\u2019m genuinely open to representing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction. Particular areas of interest in fiction are novels which explore the darker side of human nature, so crime and thrillers and horror (and folk horror). But I do also like funny and uplifting, too! And in fact, I think a book should put a smile on your face, whether it\u2019s through humour itself, or irony, or sheer ingenuity of character or writing or whatever it is. We\u2019re here to marvel and be entertained. I\u2019m also a big fan of history and folklore, whether in fiction or non-fiction. JW: Could you comment on what it\u2019s like pitching work in the sci-fi\/speculative fiction market right now?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n JS: There are possibly slightly fewer editors you can approach for sci-fi\/speculative fiction but pitching into this market is much the same as pitching in any other \u2013 it\u2019s tough out there, but if the work is amazing then it should get the deal. If it\u2019s speculative with cross over (i.e. book group or literary or other categories) appeal, then all to the better. But then sometimes you don\u2019t really know if it will cross over until it\u2019s published and embraced by the masses and it very much depends on how a publisher positions a book too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul Braddon lives in London with his wife Mary and son Thomas. He got the writing bug after coming runner-up in an essay competition as a teenager and went onto study English Literature at Reading University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can check out Paul\u2019s website here<\/a> and follow him on Twitter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Links to buy \u2018The Actuality\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Sandstone Press<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n From Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n From Bookshop.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hardman & Swainson Literary submissions information here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nFrom Paul\u2019s Agent, Joanna Swainson (Hardman &<\/em> swainson Literary Agency)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nAbout Paul Braddon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n