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Audiobooks!

I’m pleased to announce that Tantor Media has purchased the rights to produce audiobooks of the complete Night Angel Trilogy. They have contracted actor Paul Boehmer to narrate. Work is already underway and the audiobook of The Way of Shadows will be available July 16th, followed by Shadow’s Edge on August 13th, and Beyond the Shadows on September 13th. Audio samples should be available on the linked pages soon. The books will be available both as audio CDs and mp3 CDs. They’re also available for pre-order HERE at Amazon.com and doubtless elsewhere as well.

Posted on June 1, 2009 in Uncategorized

I Can Has Battle Axe?

It’s not often you get a chance to try to take one of these past Homeland Security.

Allegedly, a half-sized one of these guys is the prize for the first inaugural David Gemmell Legend Award for fantasy, for which I have made the short list. Made by the Raven Armoury, this is a replica of Druss the Legend’s axe from a number of Gemmell novels.

So, if you can spare me 8 seconds, I might have quite an adventure. (TSA agent: “Sir, do you have anything to declare?” Brent: “GAAARRRR!!!”)

1) Start my adventure by CLICKING HERE.

2) Find the most deserving book. Find my book.

3) Click the button next to my book.

4) Click “Vote.”

5) Check your watch. If it took you more than 8 seconds, that kindergarten diploma you’re so proud of is a forgery. Err, I meant to say, thank you for thinking so deeply about who truly deserves this award. Ahem.

Regardless of whom you vote for, if you like deep, conflicted characters and fast-paced stories with a side of redemption, read my books. Err, I meant to say, check out David Gemmell. I think you’ll like his work. (Please vote only once and please vote before May 31.)

Oh, and if I win, I will pose a cat with my battle axe. Some of you doubtless understand. Though I don’t know how my friends might take it: “Can I borrow your cat?” Why? “Um, I have this big, sharp battle axe…” You sick, nasty piece of work! “No, it’s not like that!”

Posted on May 27, 2009 in Uncategorized

Author Peter V. Brett Takes Your Questions

Many of you probably already know Peter V. Brett and his debut novel The Warded Man (US)/ The Painted Man (UK). It’s a great book and I highly recommend it. This weekend, Peter has agreed to come to our forum and answer YOUR questions about his book and its coming sequel, The Desert Spear. If you have questions for Peter V. Brett, please join us HERE and post your questions by this Saturday, May 16th. (You’ll have to be registered to ask questions, but registration takes maybe fifteen seconds, and you won’t need to register to read anything.) If you’d like to jump straight to Peter’s homepage, it’s HERE. And of course, the obligatory Amazon link (for Amazon UK click HERE). And thank you to Peter for agreeing to come by!

Posted on May 14, 2009 in Uncategorized

Coming in Complex Chinese

I am happy to report that Fullon Books has made, and I have accepted, an offer to publish the Night Angel trilogy in Complex Chinese. So far as my limited understanding goes, for publishing, China is split into two language “territories”: Simple Chinese and Complex Chinese. Complex Chinese includes Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. Translating big epic fantasy books into Chinese is, I understand, a particular struggle because it simply takes so much more space–and thus more paper, and thus more printing expenses and fewer books per rack, and thus lower inventories, and thus lower profits unless you can sell a lot. So this is awesome, a great vote of confidence from Fullon Books and a cool opportunity. A big thank you to Gray Tan of the Grayhawk Agency and to Cameron McClure of DMLA.

Posted on May 8, 2009 in Uncategorized

Last Among Equals

So after being knocked off my perch on the New York Times Extended Best Seller List after a mere two weeks, it looks like I’m…

That’s right. I’m BACK. Yeah, keep scrolling. Further. Further. There I am! At number 35, out of–you guessed it!–35. Needless to say, this isn’t a bad place to be last place. The odd thing I learned is that my sales numbers have been pretty much rock solid over the last month, so my fluctuations up and down and off the list are either because other people on the list have had their sales fluctuate or because of that pencil-neck joke. But hey, I’m not complaining. Getting on the list for even one week is a whole lot more than most writers get. Ever.

So, cheers, New York Times, and if I make it high enough, I promise I’ll buy a print edition. (But $10 for the Sunday paper? Seriously?)

Posted on May 7, 2009 in Uncategorized

Everything’s Big in … France?

Recently got my copies of The Way of Shadows as translated into Dutch and French. I think now I can say, “I’m big in France.” (If only literally.)

Here are shots of the books next to their American counterpart.

(Click any to enlarge.)

How cool is that? It’s still amazing and very weird to think that someone with whom I couldn’t communicate if I met them in real life could read what I’ve poured so much of my life into. So thank you to my translators Peter Cuijpers and Olivier Debernard, and to editors Jürgen Snoeren and Stéphane Marsan of Mynx and Bragelonne respectively.

Posted on May 2, 2009 in Uncategorized

David Gemmell Legend Award Finals

A while ago, I told you that I had been nominated to the longlist for the David Gemmell Legend Award for fantasy. That list of 78 authors was nominated by publishers and put to a popular vote to decide on a shortlist of five authors.

Along with incredible, established talents like Juliet Marillier, Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson, and Polish best seller Andrzej Sapkowski, one debut author made the list. (Go on, guess.) Orbit publishing director Tim Holman issued THIS very nice press release. So, thank you very much, because it was people like you–who visited this web page and voted for me–who got me in. It’s an honor just to be listed with these great authors.

BUT! Although I fully expect to get creamed in the finals, I feel pretty optimistic, like THIS.

The winner of the David Gemmell Legend Award is chosen by the public. That means you don’t have to go to a convention, you don’t have to be part of a secret cabal, you don’t have to dress up as a Wookiee, it just takes 3 clicks. Start HERE. Seriously, it’s simple enough that I figured it out. (Though my wife explained the big words.) Voting is open now and ends May 31.

A note: because you aren’t required to login, in order to make sure you only vote once, they monitor votes per ip address. So even if both you and your brother or wife or whatever liked the book, be aware that double votes per household will get both tossed out. (And yes, I imagine some of you are techno-savvy enough to circumvent the system, but please don’t. Cheating to help me would devalue the award, and I don’t want that.)

Thank you again for voting for me, for telling your friends about my books, and just being awesome fans.

Posted on April 17, 2009 in Uncategorized

Up 2!

This week, I scrambled up two more spots on the New York Times Extended Best Seller List. I am now perched at #29. Whoo hoo! I also figured out that “best seller” is two words. I’m told it behooves a writer to know how to spell. Compound adjectives confound.

And I got this very cool picture (thanks, Heather H.!) this week, taken at a Borders. Nice folks to rub shoulders with, huh?

Posted on April 9, 2009 in Uncategorized

How to Verb Twitter

Confession: I tweet. (Twit? Twitter?) At first, it started as a whim, an experiment with the social experiment known as Twitter. At first thought, the whole thing reeks of narcissism. Why should anyone care about my latest trip to the dentist? Or what wine Joe Bob had with dinner? Then, a great college friend (whose own TWEETS are highly entertaining), sent me THIS thoughtful article. So I tried Twitter, quietly. I’m not an addict. I can stop any time I want to. And no, it isn’t taking away from my writing: tweeting is a good medium for brief wry observations on life or circumstances. There are no dentists in Midcyru. (A flaw in my worldbuilding? Perhaps. Or perhaps in fiction it’s nice to escape the mudanity of the Muggle world.)

So if you’re into this sort of web 2.0 wonkery, you can follow me HERE. Or if you want to weigh in on proper verb form, you can leave a comment below.

Posted on April 4, 2009 in Uncategorized

Not an April Fool’s Joke…

it just feels like one.

I have just made the New York Times extended Bestseller List at #31. (Apparently the Gray Lady didn’t resent that “pencil-necked rube” jibe a few posts back.) There are lists and then there are lists. It’s a little byzantine, so I’ll explain what I’ve learned: The New York Times has bestseller lists for each book format: hardcover, mass market paperback (like mine), and trade paperback (the bigger, more expensive format). They also cover non-fiction and children’s books. Why so many lists? Because there are 172,000 books published every year in the US. And the main list of 15 spots is owned by nice folks named Patterson, Grisham, King, Steele, Picoult, Cussler, Coben, Meyer, and whomever Oprah likes. So in order to add some spice, the NY Times has the extra lists.

This is A Big Deal. Orbit says that according to their official guidelines, I am now “New York Times Bestselling Author Brent Weeks.”

When I graduated from college, I made a bucket list. On it, I believe the first three items were, “Write a novel. Get published. Make the NY Times Bestseller List.” As I got a little older and more mature, I finished the first item and realized how ridiculously improbable the second was, much less the third. My dream became slightly more modest: to just make enough to support my family while doing what I love. So this is surreal. I thought this was the kind of thing you work for a whole career to earn, and I certainly didn’t think I’d hit it with my first book.

I want to thank all of you who forced your friends to read my book. Hitting the bestseller list six months after publication tells me that this isn’t the result of a huge publicity push–not that marketing didn’t have a integral part in this!–but a late peak tells you that people are telling their friends. So you’re responsible for me being able to survive to write more books and live my dream. Thank you. And I want to thank agent Don Maass for taking a chance on me and Devi and everyone at Orbit for working so hard on these books. I also want to thank Borders. They’ve been awesome, and just last week they put up one of those little cardboard stands for me and fellow Orbit author Karen Miller/K.E. Mills. I wouldn’ t have hit the list if they hadn’t. There are supposed to be those stands at every Borders in the country, so I’ll post pictures as soon as I can drive out to my nearest Borders.

Posted on April 1, 2009 in Uncategorized