As you read in my review of Black Blade Blues, I describe Pitts as the Abercrombie of YA, a sub-genre to which I have apparently payed too little attention. Encouraged by sources who wish to remain anonymous, I picked up Black Blade Blues and found its sharp edge and wit much to my liking. It is DandD meets epic fantasy with some dragons thrown in. Entertaining and crisp, Pitts weaves a modern day adventure that shows you how shitty life can be and then proceeds to make it worse. Grab a shovel, and go to town, and do it with gusto.
Giveaway Rules
Answer this simple question and the book is yours:
WHO IS AUTHOR DAVID GUNN, the military sci/fi creator of the Death's Head series?
First person to bust open this tightly held secret wins Black Blade Blues. Simply post your answer in the comments section to win. If no one can answer after the first week, I'll up the ante to a signed Knife of Dreams by RJ.
Let loose the hounds of google, you will be unveiled Mr. Gunn!
14 comments:
Anyone have any leads?
I was able to find:
Domain Name: GUNNSMITH.COM
Registrar: TUCOWS INC.
Whois Server: whois.tucows.com
Referral URL: http://domainhelp.opensrs.net
Name Server: NS1.TURBODNS.CO.UK
Name Server: NS2.TURBODNS.CO.UK
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 01-jun-2010
Creation Date: 07-jun-2006
Expiration Date: 07-jun-2011
The WHOIS function on tucows.com leads you to:
Registrant:
Redbear Media Limited
Albany House
19 Andover Road North
Winchester, Hants SO22 6NW
UK
Domain name: GUNNSMITH.COM
Administrative Contact:
Baker, Anders suppliers@rm-3.com
Albany House
19 Andover Road North
Winchester, Hants SO22 6NW
UK
+44.1962885549
Technical Contact:
Ltd, Webfusion services@123-reg.co.uk
5 Roundwood Avenue
Stockley Park
Uxbridge, Middlesex UB11 1FF
GB
+44.8712309525 Fax: +44.8701650437
Red Bear doesn't look like a huge shop, so my assumption is that Mr. Gunn knows the owners. Check them out on GMaps. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=19+Andover+Road+North+Winchester,+Hants+SO22+6NW+UK&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=19+Andover+Rd+N,+Winchester,+Hampshire+SO22+6NW,+United+Kingdom&gl=us&ei=bbwHTPOSAYW0lQeF79SMDg&ved=0CBQQ8gEwAA&ll=51.085733,-1.330934&spn=0.006888,0.015278&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.085637,-1.330854&panoid=TsW-x2Q6HdSbcGq9yHHArw&cbp=12,268.42,,0,5.84
Thats about as far as my knowledge of the internet will take me. And my lack of international calling.
Anyone with any other leads?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gunn_(author)
Wiki claims that Mr. Gunn is from England. Maybe we are on to something here.
David Gunn / Lieutenant Sven Tveskoeg
This is from his MySpace site, He is the author of the Death's head series, of course, and states at the site that he's 31 and he has served in the military. I'm not sure if this is enough info to answer your contest question or not--great & violent action-packed series, though!
All the good stuff about Sven is David Gunn!
Thanks, Cindi
jchoppes[at]hotmail[dot]com
This is really curious. Everywhere that has something listed about David Gunn says the same thing:
Smartly dressed, resourceful, and discreet, David Gunn has undertaken assignments in Central America, the Middle East, and Russia (among numerous other places). Coming from a service family, he is happiest when on the move and tends not to stay in one town or city for very long. The author of Death’s Head and Death’s Head: Maximum Offense, Gunn lives in the United Kingdom.
I'm going to have to look a little more too. :)
Found on Graeme's Fantasy Book Review - "David Gunn is actually a pseudonym for Richard Morgan for when he wants to write something uber-violent but not as cerebral as his regular stuff."
@melissa
Yea, has me very curious too!
@sir_b
I hadn't seen that before. It does sort of make sense. Is there anyway we can get this confirmed? Here is the whole quote for anyone thats interested:
"I can’t remember where I read this, may have been on Amazon, but someone said that David Gunn is actually a pseudonym for Richard Morgan for when he wants to write something uber-violent but not as cerebral as his regular stuff. While I don’t think for a minute that this is the case, you can certainly see why people might think so. No expense is spared in bringing the reader the most visceral hand to hand combat, that I’ve seen, along with lots of heavy machinery exploding in a variety of ways."
David Gunn says he is a private security/military contractor.
If he's not using his real name there's a good reason for it.
We're both in the same business.
Finding out his real name and what company he works for could result in endangering David as he has told me he works security contracts overseas.
FFS respect a persons privacy.
Sitting behind your desk tapping away on a keyboard seeking to reveal the identity of someone who may well be in a combat zone somewhere in the world isn't doing them any favours.
I am not going to guess. The only question I would like to ask if he's alive and if I can expect the next book. Me want. (I sound selfish, I know, so what?)
D.
Ok i have done some digging and the best I can discover is the director and secretary of Gunnsmith Ltd (now inactive) is one Samantha Jayne Baker who also holds positions in a number of companies one being JonCG Ltd which also has a director called Jonathan David Giles Courtenay Grimwood.
The Company JonCG is listed as an Artistic and Literary Creation company with the same company address as Gunnsmith Ltd, also Jonathan is listed as an author.
Jonathan again is a director in a number of companies including the British Science Fiction Association ltd. (previous directors have been Iain Banks and Arthur Clarke!)
Searching for Jonathan leads me to Jon Courtenay Grimwood also an author who happens to be married to one Sam Baker writer journalist and editor in chief of Red magazine and they divide their time between London and Winchester.
Jon's website alludes to travelling and growing up in various countries but doesn't mention a military career.
I would conclude that Jon Courteney Grimswood is David Gunn, given that he is married to a lady with the same name as listed on company records and Gunnsmith ltd owns the copyright to David Gunn's books. It appears that he is alive and well and he has been concentrating on a number of other works.
All the above information is freely available through company records and didn't need registration with any web page.
David, that is some solid research. That looks like the best answer by far. Sounds like you are right on the money.
Took you guys long enough.
Yeah...JCG is David Gunn.
Check the info and the way JCG writes on his blog and it's obvious.
Give the prize to David.
He deserves it for his excellent detective work.
Don't expect any more Death's Head novels in the immediate future.
Series contract was dropped by the publisher.
Doesn't stop you guys from buying and reading JCG's other books.
Also notice the time gap in his books that coincides with the release dates of the Deaths Head series.
I'm retired military. Combat decorated and combat wounded. Also, I have special operations combat experience. So, I agree with you. I'm not looking for his name. I'm looking for info on his fourth book in the Death's Head series. Could you help me out please?
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