A parting, of sorts

 

"Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil."

- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

All good things come to an end, they say. Sadly, the time has come for me to finish my blogging at Speculative Horizons.

My reasons are simple: soon I will be joining the editorial team at Orbit, to take on the role of editorial assistant. I've wanted to work in publishing for a fantasy imprint ever since I was a teenager, so this really is the fulfillment of a long-held ambition. A dream, even. And I can't wait to take on the challenge.

Of course, this means I can't continue with my blogging here. I've always tried to blog with honesty and integrity, and there's just no way I could continue blogging while working for a major genre publisher - it would bring my personal and professional credibility into question.

So this post marks both the end of the blog, and the end of an amazing journey.

I started Speculative Horizons back in January 2008. The previous year had been a pretty horrendous one for me personally, and I felt I needed something to focus my creative energy on. With my love for fantasy books, and my enjoyment of the fledgling blogosphere, I figured a book review blog would be a great thing to do - a focus for my energies, and a challenge at the same time.

It's safe to say, on that cold January night in 2008, I didn't have the slightest sense of the journey I was about to embark on when I clicked 'create blog'.

The truth is, this blogging experience has been wonderful. No, more than that: it's been life-changing - quite literally.

As a direct result of my blogging endeavours, I have met dozens of wonderful people - authors, editors, agents, bloggers, fans - and have formed some friendships I have no doubt will last a lifetime. I've received hundreds of free books - a dream for any book lover - and that's something I am still grateful for. I've managed - with my reviews, articles and the occasional rant - to reach a global audience, and accrue more than a quarter of a million visits (although the true figure, I imagine, is even higher than that). I've had hundreds of emails from readers of the blog, like the one from the US soldier stationed in the Middle East, who told me that Speculative Horizons was one of his favourite websites to surf when on a break from patrols. Needless to say, that really made my day - and also brought home exactly what I'd achieved with this blog.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without you guys, and your undying enthusiasm. Whether you first stumbled across the blog yesterday, or have been here right from the start (and I know one or two of you have), I'm immensely grateful that you've taken the time to read my writings here and share your own thoughts - it's been a real pleasure interacting with you all, and I offer my heartfelt thanks. The genre community is wonderful, and I've been fortunate enough to experience it first hand.

And I hope to continue interacting with the community in my new role at Orbit. While I will be relinquishing my blogging status, you won't be getting rid of me that easily - I will still be attending conventions and will probably show my face here and there in the online scene from time to time, though in a purely professional capacity.

I've had an absolute blast with Speculative Horizons, and I hope you all did as well. I'm really proud of what I've achieved with this blog, but the time has come to pass the blogging flame on to a new generation - there's a lot of new blogs out there, and some of them are very good indeed.

So, that's about it. Cheers...and hopefully I'll see some of you in the bar.

James