The colour out of space . . . www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/tomi...

The skies are full . . . www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/davi...

Little end of the worlds . . . www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/simo...

Thanks to @athenascalzi.com & @scalzi.com for the chance to talk about a Big Idea involving my novel Exo over at Whatever. It's all about writing adaptability and exploring different paths through the story woods. Because there's more than one way to tell a story. whatever.scalzi.com/2025/11/20/t...

Thanks to @andrewliptak.com for putting my novel Exo on his list of new titles to consider checking out this month. Lots of great titles on that list that you should definitely *LOOK INTO MY EYES* FORGET THEY EVER EXISTED, BUY ONLY EXO . . . transfer-orbit.ghost.io/sci-fi-fanta...

But if you're in the UK/Europe and want a physical copy, you'll need to wait until January . . .

"Colin Brush is a name to watch in the realm of speculative fiction" 💥 EXO by @colinthecopywriter.bsky.social publishes tomorrow!

It's been a long journey, but thanks to @jberlyne.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social @tonimargarita.bsky.social & Shannon Donnelly and all at @diversionbooks.bsky.social (not to mention @bookforward.bsky.social & @michelvrana.com ) for bringing Exo out into the world in style.

'What was it Dad said not to do?' wondered Icarus. www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/andr...

Thanks @bookstr.bsky.social for the featured review and commentary on my novel, Exo, out tomorrow . . . bookstr.com/article/cons... @diversionbooks.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social @zenoagency.bsky.social

Mario, eat your heart out . . . www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/06/rain...

Thanks to @booktrib.bsky.social for the chance to talk about five books dealing with change in the world & how we live with that change, each of which changed how I wrote my own novel, Exo. booktrib.com/2025/11/12/f... @tadethompson.bsky.social @sannewman.bsky.social @catamaroon.bsky.social

Thanks to @writersdigest.bsky.social for letting me explore the differences between my publishing copywriter day job & writing my first novel, #Exo. Spoiler: it's not just word count. www.writersdigest.com/shifting-fro... @diversionbooks.bsky.social @zenoagency.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social

Blurbs in the wild (1/2): Follow where the title leads. For @cornerstone_press & Ernest Cline's Ready Player One the super-short blurb is all tell and no show, leaning heavily on gaming tropes. WORLD AT STAKE. GOOD AND EVIL. QUEST. FATE OF HUMANITY. And, lastly . . .

I've read it from top to bottom twice and, while I accept I've got a vested interest, I do think you might have missed one . . . reactormag.com/new-science-... @reactorsff.bsky.social @diversionbooks.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social @zenoagency.bsky.social #ColinBrush #Exo #sciencefiction

Blurbs in the wild (1/3): Classic book, classic copy shape. @gollancz.bsky.social edition of Frank Herbert's Dune features copy with an inverted triangle shape. We start big and wide with awards & movie affirmation, followed by landmark works of SF that followed Dune. Says: this book matters . . .

Perspective is everything. Plus, this reminds me strongly of the ladders I am wobblingly and swayingly at the top of in my dreams/nightmares. The base of the ladder is usually in a moving vehicle to add to the fun . . . www.thisiscolossal.com/2021/11/stri...

Thanks to @elenataylorauthor.bsky.social for the spotlight on me (with hair) and my novel Exo (without hair). Seven days to go! Exo: a Sci-Fi Mystery - The Mystery of Writing www.themysteryofwriting.com/2025/11/08/e... @diversionbooks.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social @zenoagency.bsky.social

Lovers of Dungeness: click below to discover how this curious corner of Kent coastline was the seed for Exo, my SF murder mystery set at the end of the world. Thanks to Michael Golding for asking me to write about his home & not minding my hubris at playing nemesis. dungeness.org.uk/info/exo-a-n...

Thanks to reading twins Alexis and Anna for the solid review of Exo. The end of the world really isn't long now . . . @diversionbooks.bsky.social takestwotobookreview.com/2025/11/08/r...

Blurbs in the wild (1/2): This old warhorse! After all these years @gollancz.bsky.social & @lordgrimdark.bsky.social The Blade Itself is still sporting its original cover and blurb. But this blurb knows something legions of Grim Dark fantasy imitators often forget: it's all about the characters ...

EXO by Colin Brush is out in two weeks! zenoagency.com/news/exo-by-... Due to be published by @diversionbooks.bsky.social (print and eBook) and @dreamscape-media.bsky.social (audio) on November 18th.

Blurbs in the wild (1/2): The secret here is in the middle. Most blurb writers (myself included?) would pitch @harpercollins.bsky.social and @robinhobb.bsky.social Assassin's Apprentice with just paragraphs 1 and 3 of this blurb. Pitch the set up, the character's situation and the story direction...

Blurbs in the wild (1/2): Avoiding spoilers. Sometimes pitching the book’s plot would spoil the read. But how do you find an intriguing way of pitching the little you can say? In Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, we’re given a problem – the coming death of humankind – and . . .

Audiobook edition of EXO by Colin Brush is available for request on @netgalley.bsky.social! www.netgalley.com/catalog/book... @colinthecopywriter.bsky.social Due to be pub’d by @dreamscape-media.bsky.social on Nov. 18th; read by Gildart Jackson.

Look! The smallest room in the house in our house turns out to be a library. Here I talk about one shelf in particular, some books on it and their blurbs, and how it all relates to writing and copywriting. Thanks, Jared and @lavietidhar.bsky.social shelfies.beehiiv.com/p/shelfies-5...

Some blurbs hint (1/2) Originally published by @angryrobotbooks.bsky.social the @michaeljbooks.bsky.social edition of Lauren Beukes' @clarkeaward.bsky.social winning Zoo City features the original cover & blurb. The book's big weird involves criminals being magically attached to animal familiars ...

Prick up your ears! Astounding news! My debut novel Exo will also be available as an audiobook from Dreamscape, narrated by the inestimable Gildart Jackson. @zenoagency.bsky.social @diversionbooks.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social @rbmediaco.bsky.social rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...

Not everyone can make a living doing the thing they love. But there are many ways of cleaving close to what it is you love and still making a living from it. naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-best-a...

Lonely buildings in an uncaring countryside. www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/lee-...

Blurbs in the wild: Start small, end big. Kate Summerscale's The Peepshow blurb starts with a grisly find, details bringing it to life. Then it expands, the horrors within beguiling a nation. Finally, the last para offers a grand promise: closure. Show with little details. Tell with the big themes.

Blurbs in the wild: Classic 3-line pitch blurb for Annie Jacobsen & @transworldbooks.bsky.social NW: Nuclear war begins with a blip on a radar screen. This is a minute-by-minute account of what comes next. It has to be read to be believed. Or: What is it? How does it work? Why should you read it?

'A twisty mystery, unusual science . . . Will find fans among both sf and mystery readers.' Thank you, @ala-booklist.bsky.social & John Faria for the Exo review. Thanks as ever to: @diversionbooks.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social @zenoagency.bsky.social www.booklistonline.com/products/981...

Blurbs in the office (1/3): Penguin @michaeljbooks.bsky.social Mermaid Collection brings unjustly neglected 20th-century works back into print. Pitching Margaret Kennedy's Lucy Carmichael – the story of a jilted but sensible, happy-go-lucky woman’s attempts to remake her life – it felt right to . .

Reminds me of the necessity to pre-order @mjohnharrison.bsky.social new novel. ambientehotel.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/w...

3D in 2D. www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/10/part...

(1/2) Back in the day they didn't butter you up. Both the line on the front and the blurb on the back of this old @penguinukbooks.bsky.social film tie-in of Isabel Colegate's The Shooting Party are straightforward to the point of bluntness.

Blurbs in the wild (1/2): The didn't-know-you-were-interested-in-this blurb. Sometimes you have start from scratch. Before you can pitch the book to your reader you've got to pitch the subject. For @wildfirebooks.bsky.social and @jonnelledge.bsky.social A History of the World in 47 Borders . . .

Life in dead greenhouses. www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/roma...

Blurbs in the wild: When you've got it, flaunt it. @oneworldbooks.bsky.social & Sam Leith's The Haunted Wood pitches its accolades: 1st: its 12 Book of the Year mentions. 2nd: 12 short quotes saying why it is good. 3rd: a long quote makes the reader a promise: if you like stories, you'll like this.

Thank you, Book Boys (and Thomas Mann) for the yeah yeah yeahs for my novel Exo in your review in September's podcast. Apologies for the mathematics, hope that murder made up for it. The review starts at 1 hr 19 min 30 sec. Exo as tonic after Dr Faustus? open.spotify.com/episode/2a1Z...

Fascinating essay on money=energy in science fiction. Lovely idea until you run into the problem of dealing with the economics of scarcity. vector-bsfa.com/2025/10/03/e...

Blurbs in the wild (1/5): It is a publishing cliche that 'this book is for everyone.' When an editor makes such a claim the comms team groans: they hear 'a book for no one.' But @4thestatebooks.bsky.social & Craig Brown's A Voyage Round the Queen is determined to fly the 'for everyone' flag . . .

We need more colour. www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/10/crai...

Blurbs in the wild (1/2): 'Which they were. But now they are not.' These two short, plain sentences early in the blurb for @headofzeus.bsky.social and @kellylink.bsky.social The Book of Love provide the hinge for this pitch. Three dead teenagers are no longer dead – why? A subtle, surprising . . .

Lovely piece by Nina Allan on what the Booker judges this year don't know. Also, a great argument for persistence as a reader. You might fall out of love with a writer's work but perhaps you, they or both of you will find your way back to one another. www.ninaallan.co.uk?p=7171

Blurbs in the wild 1/2: A goatherd sets out to become a magician, but true magic is on the wane. That's the pitch for @ursulakleguin.com Earthsea quartet. Four books. Four stories. One @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social omnibus. The trick here, because you don't want to spoil any of the stories . . .

Whoop! Whoop! as they say. Exo is @libraryjournal.bsky.social SFF Debut of the Month. 'Recalls KSR!' I am not worthy. Thank you @diversionbooks.bsky.social @zenoagency.bsky.social @awfulagent.bsky.social www.libraryjournal.com/story/exo-by...