Greetings from the Rainforest Writers Village, in drizzly, misty, Quinault, Washington. It’s day one of this five-day retreat, in which I am supposed to sit in a cabin and write things. And oh, I’ve got a lot of things to work on — a comic script, a copy edit of the new novella that will come out this summer (more on that later), a few PR activities for the launch of Afterparty —  but mostly I’m here to start the new novel. I’ve just started stirring the primordial soup on the thing, which means that I will spend much of the next five days staring at the water and thinking about naps.

But, just before I was smuggled into the rainforest in the trunk of Jack Skillingstead and Nancy Kress’s car, I received word of the two first reviews of Afterparty. Here they are:

Publishers Weekly: “Gregory (Unpossible and Other Stories) dashes off his near-future story like a ‘chemjet’ printing out sheets of smart drugs…The tragi-comical satire dispenses with sermons and easy morals, preferring to be entertaining and thought-provoking instead.” Full Review.

RT Book Reviews: “Gregory’s world-building is top-notch… Afterparty is a story with hefty implications but Gregory wisely keeps the focus tightly on Lyda and her friends and ex-friends, giving the story as much emotional as conceptual impact.” (I’ll post a link when the April issue goes online.)