Please check out Patrick Rothfuss‘s 2009 fundraiser for Heifer International. It’s a great charity and Pat is doing his best to bankrupt himself by matching 50% of all donations. There’s signed Night Angel stuff up for grabs and an interview between Pat and me coming soon. I’m all about bankrupting Pat, so please give generously.
So here I am, writing a book, trying to stitch together a subplot, when I oh-so-innocently launch Twitter. (Always a mistake. Always.) Turns out I have just been scooped. Some blogger posted my new, not-yet-supposed-to-be-released cover. In short order, in the way of the internet, so had someone else, with mild snark added. I’m not one to begrudge a legit scoop or a free side of snark, so a tip of the hat to The Mad Hatter Review and A Dribble of Ink. My lawyers should be contacting you any minute. (Just kidding. I don’t have lawyers; I’ve only got a crazy house elf who likes to sign Esquire after his name.)
Did I ever say that the internet age has weirded publishing? (Apologies to Bill Watterson.) I’m suddenly posting things on the internet about a book I Haven’t Even Finished Writing. I had a publication date before I had a delivery date. Things get out before they’re finalized. Amazon posts the book blurb that I made up Before I Wrote the Book. So…uh, the blurb on Mad Hatter’s page and on Amazon is all wrong. And spoileriffic. Not anyone’s fault. Orbit asked me what the book was about–you know, before the bought the book–and I told them as well as I knew at the time, including spoilers.
Strangely, I like to finish writing the book before I write the back cover blurb–then I know silly little details like What The Characters’ Names Are.
But hey, I’m just The Man, tryin’ to keep you down, Internet. (See, this is why I can’t begrudge free snark.)
And no, I’m not sure why I’m capitalizing random words. Pending German release, perhaps?
Anyway, here it is, in higher definition than you can find it anywhere else! If you can’t do it first, do it better, right?
(click if you can handle the awesomeness)
Did I mention I’m taking cold medicine right now? I think posting on the internet while taking cold medicine probably isn’t covered in my contract–but it will be next time.
Some things about this cover MAY change. But that will have to wait for another post. What do you think?
Like Punxsutawney Phil, Brent will soon be poking his head out of his hole. Except he’ll do it in November instead of February. Brent would be delighted to meet you, sign your books, and chat with you at Borderlands Bookstore in San Francisco, California on Monday, November 2nd or at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton, Oregon on Sunday, November 29th (click here for details).
Channeling the predictive powers of the most famous groundhog in the world, will Brent see his shadow? (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.) Will he finish writing Black Prism on time, or will there be six more weeks of writing?! Nevertheless, the two multi-author book signings will be great (although Brent gets nervous about signing his name and talking at the same time).
Thanks to Jude Feldman and Peter Honigstock for organizing the events!
On a side note that has nothing to do with groundhogs, have you seen The Night Angel Trilogy boxed set? It’s in stores now and we’re pretty excited about it. That line at the top still warms our hearts!
Between my belabored French and Google Translate, it looks like Le Choix des Ombres is being released in France this month, August. Again, Prix Imaginales winner Frederic Perrin has done a marvelous job with the cover art. Thank you, Frederic and Bragelonne!
PLAZA, a Random House Mondadori imprint, has just acquired the world Spanish language rights, hoping to publish all in 2011. The way I understand how this is likely to work is that they will release in Spain, and depending on sales, will export to other Spanish language markets. They even can export to the US, which strikes me as very cool. I, of course, have no control over any of this, but I will post updates as I learn more and cover art when they send it to me and allow me to show it.
The “and finally” in the title here isn’t because I’m being snarky–no, really! It’s because I had quite a number of emails from people asking when I would publish in Spanish–which I appreciate, but I don’t really publish anything. A publisher has to come to an author first and say that they want to publish your book in language X. Like it seems happens a lot in publishing, we had no interest, followed by no interest, followed by a sudden flurry of interest from numerous corners all at once.
Newton and Compton has recently acquired Italian language rights for the Night Angel trilogy. Newton and Compton are planning to publish The Way of Shadows in the spring of 2010, with Shadow’s Edge six months later, and Beyond the Shadows in early 2011.
I love Italy.
What’s better than hearing your favorite writer geek out about writerly stuff? Hearing ME geek out about writerly stuff. What’s better than that? An epic MMA (mixed mental arts) cage match between Joe Abercrombie
in the lily white trunks, weighing in at ten stone, and Brent Weeks in the sunburnt red trunks, weighing in at oh-my-goodness. (Okay, so I don’t even know how much ten stone is. Quirky Brits, pounds and kilos not enough for you?)
Borders Books has recently launched its new blog on all things SFF over HERE. They’ve already had some real stars show up for two-week stints each, including Brandon Sanderson, China Mieville, Kim Harrison, and Robert Sawyer. Now they want me and Joe. Joe I can understand, I mean, LOOK at him. Step aside, Daniel Craig. I think I’ve been signed up to be a red shirt. Or maybe the Washington Generals. But I’ll be doing my best to be Apollo Creed instead. He won in that first movie, you know. Anyway, Joe and I will be duking it out from July 21st to August 1st, so please drop by with your snide comments, piercing questions, and adoration.
And if he humiliates me, well, Apollo Creed is supposed to make Rocky look good. (Just don’t go all Ivan Drago on me, Joe.)
Seriously, I love Eastern Europe. And apparently the feeling’s mutual. Konyvmolykepzo Publishers has purchased the rights to publish The Night Angel Trilogy in Hungarian. That brings the Night Angel trilogy to a total of nine languages now: Czech, Complex Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Polish, Russian. Whoa.
The wonderful folks at the famous Mysterious Galaxy bookstore have invited me to do an informal signing this Friday, July 3rd at 5-6 ish pm. Drop by and see my bright shining face, ask me some questions, and buy a signed book. This will be only like my second official book-signing, so if I haven’t yet mastered the art of chatting while signing, you’ll have to understand that as my mother liked to say, I’m a late-bloomer. Someday, I’ll be a regular James Garfield. (Though I’m not sure you’d want my books signed in Greek and Latin, even if I did do it simultaneously.)
So… I lost. In a hard-fought, publicly-voted contest which logged 11,000 votes, I lost. No battle axe, no body cavity search with Homeland Security, no barbaric yawps from the rooftops of the world–or even London. Congratulations to Andrzej Sapkowski and his Blood of Elves for making a grown man cry. (The grown man in question being Joe Abercrombie. I, for the record, am more like an over-grown child, and I barely sniffled.) For more details about my crushing defeat, read the Guardian article or check out the Legend Award site which has pictures and eventually will have an audio recording of the ceremony. Orbit has more info, and here’s one attendee’s take on the awards night.
I am getting a small pewter battle axe, which I will use if ever attacked by a pack of feral toy poodles and miniature schnauzers. (Do you have that dream, too?)
Many thanks to the David Gemmell Legend Award Committee and to all the folks who worked so hard to put this award together and make it such a topnotch event, and thank you to all the fans who voted. Especially if you voted for me!