For those of you who’ve already finished NIGHT ANGEL NEMESIS, we’re getting together on the Orbit LIVE! Crowdcast channel to talk about the book (that ending!), the characters (who is your favorite and why is it [REDACTED]?), and asking Brent to address your hottest takes on [REDACTED] and [REDACTED].
5pm PDT
8pm EDT
1am (5/17) LDN
5:30am (5/17) INDIA
10am (5/17) SYDNEY
Join us by following THIS LINK (embedded video will be added after the event)
The novella prequel to the Night Angel trilogy, PERFECT SHADOW is now available for pre-order in a beautiful new hardcover edition! This novella–it’s not a full-length novel!–has previously been available as an ebook and audiobook, so this edition is meant for those of you who prefer to read a book on paper, and enjoy another gorgeous cover gracing your shelves and completing your collection. (If you prefer digital or want to check out a sample before the November 7th publication date of the hardcover, the digital versions remain available, and still for the same low prices.)
Also included will be a bonus short story (“I, Night Angel”) that’s never before been published in physical format. If you’d like to hear more about why I chose to publish this now (or, heck, at all!), fill in your email in the banner above to get my newest newsletter and hear all the gory details. (I send only about 4 notes each year.)
Here’s the blurb:
Discover the origins of Durzo Blint in this original novella set in the world of Brent Weeks’ New York Times bestselling Night Angel trilogy.
“I got a bit of prophecy,” the old assassin said. “Not enough to be useful, you know. Just glimpses. My wife dead, things like that to keep me up late at night. I had this vision that I was going to be killed by forty men, all at once. But now that you’re here, I see they’re all you. Durzo Blint.”
Durzo Blint? Gaelan had never even heard the name.
***
Gaelan Starfire is a farmer, happy to be a husband and a father; a careful, quiet, simple man. He’s also an immortal, peerless in the arts of war. Over the centuries, he’s worn many faces to hide his gift, but he is a man ill-fit for obscurity, and all too often he’s become a hero, his very names passing into legend: Acaelus Thorne, Yric the Black, Hrothan Steelbender, Tal Drakkan, Rebus Nimble.
But when Gaelan must take a job hunting down the world’s finest assassins for the beautiful courtesan-and-crimelord Gwinvere Kirena, what he finds may destroy everything he’s ever believed in.
(Because I’m weird, PERFECT SHADOW is set before the events of The Night Angel trilogy, but is best read afterward.)
SIGNED COPIES!
For those of you who love books defaced by the actual physical pen of the author, in the US, Barnes & Noble is doing a special print run of signed copies, and I’m delighted that Barnes & Noble is going to be offering these for no additional cost! (To you. My hand is really tired.) These will be available exclusively through BN.com–so please don’t haunt your friendly local B&N asking for copies if you miss out! Pre-orders start today, but stock is limited. (Those will ship on publication date, November 7th.)
(Collectors outside the US: because BN only ships domestically, this offer is exclusively for the United States, but keep your eyes here for more news soon.)
To pre-order this hardcover at your other favorite vendors, click below:
Check out this artist’s impressive conception of Mount Thrall:
See more of his work HERE.
I’ve just talked with Bill over at Subterranean Press, and he’s told me that the two limited editions of Perfect Shadow that Subterranean Press is putting together will be shipping in December. We had initially hoped (and told you) that Subterranean would be able to ship these in late summer or early fall, but we’ve run into some snags on the production side.
Obviously, I’ve already written the novella! It’s done! And I want you to get your hands on it as soon as possible. So what happened is that basically, I really swung for the fences on my preferred artists. And after waiting a long, long time to hear back from one artist in particular, it just didn’t work out with scheduling. I’m still really excited about the product that Subterranean Press is putting together, and believe that you will all think that it was worth the wait. If you have further concerns, you can email Subterranean directly from their webpage.
And my monthly Writing Advice post will be available on Thursday because I have another big post that I’ve been working on for a long time that I will be posting on Tuesday.
Ok, I have to admit the title of this post is misleading. The truth is you do need an e-reader — just not a physical one. If you own a PC, a Mac, an iPad, an iPhone, a BlackBerry, or an Android phone… you can get an e-reader app for free. And once you’ve got that done, you can download Perfect Shadow instantly — and for cheap. Perfect Shadow will be available in all these formats, and internationally, in June. I hope the following tutorials make life a little easier for those of you who are ready to cautiously dip your toes into the new world of e-publishing.
* To download Nook for PC go HERE.
* To download Nook for Mac go HERE.
* To download Nook for other platforms go HERE.
*To download Kindle for PC go HERE.
* To download Kindle for Mac go HERE.
* To download Kindle for other platforms go HERE.
Today Orbit has unveiled the cover art and announced the release date for Perfect Shadow. (Hint: June!) You can check out their full post here. We’ve been working hard to make this available to all my fans simultaneously (see, Australia, I’m not forgettin’ you guys) and found out that if we pull it off, this will be the first *ever* simultaneous international e-book release. So my kudos to Orbit for being on the forefront of electronic publishing. (We’re not betting the farm yet that every international vendor will have it up on their servers on June 1, but we’re trying!)
I’m also delighted to announce that Orbit is doing an unabridged audiobook version available for digital download voiced by the incredible James Langton. (You can hear more samples of his work here.) I’ve spoken with James about the work, and he brings a deep experience and keen understanding to this project. The audio book will be available on the same launch date.
*Update* We’ll post the pre-order page for the audio editions–and for all international editions–as soon as those come online. This is publishing happening in overdrive here, and when dealing with multiple online sellers in multiple countries (each with their own laws, taxes, etcetera) and in very different time zones, there are a lot of moving parts.
It is with great pleasure I announce my new novella, Perfect Shadow, featuring Durzo Blint. Here’s the blurb:
The Foul, Unnatural Murder of Gaelan Starfire & the Birth of Durzo Blint
“I got a bit of prophecy,” the old assassin said. “Not enough to be useful, you know. Just glimpses. My wife dead, things like that to keep me up late at night. I had this vision that I was going to be killed by forty men, all at once. But now that you’re here, I see they’re just you. Durzo Blint.”
Durzo Blint? Gaelan had never even heard the name.
***
Gaelan Starfire is a farmer now, happy to be a husband and a father; a careful, quiet, simple man. He’s also an immortal, peerless in the arts of war. Over the centuries, he’s worn many faces to hide his gift, but he is a man ill-fit for obscurity, and all too often he’s become a hero, his very names passing into legend: Acaelus Thorne, Yric the Black, Hrothan Steelbender, Tal Drakkan, Rebus Nimble.
But when Gaelan must take a job hunting down the world’s finest assassins for the beautiful courtesan-and-crimelord Gwinvere Kirena, what he finds may destroy everything he’s ever believed in.
—
I’ve had a lot of fans ask for more about Durzo Blint, and much as I love Durzo and as intimately as I know his story, I’ve always resisted. The story’s dark and gritty–and I’m in the middle of a completely different trilogy right now! My brain is full!
But finally I could hold out no longer. Perfect Shadow is the story of how an idealistic hero became Durzo Blint. I had intended to dash off a short story quickly and move on, but I became deeply enrapt with the story, revisiting Durzo and Momma K and the ka’kari and even more minor characters like Scarred Wrable. Not surprisingly, my quick “short story” swelled to a long short story, then a novelette, and finally it bumped right against that novella demarcation–with enough plot and subplot that I seriously considered making the whole thing a novel.
Instead, I’ve kept it a novella, because I want every word to tell. I want to reward re-reading, and I think this story does that. Perfect Shadow does, I think, all I hoped for it to do: 1) gives fans another dose of a great character, 2) allowed me to experiment and stretch myself as a storyteller, 3) gives a ton of Easter eggs for the attentive fans who’ve read and re-read the Night Angel books, and 4) advances the main stories that I didn’t wrap up at the end of the Night Angel trilogy and to which I shall return after the Lightbringer Trilogy. If you can’t tell, I’m really proud of how it turned out.
I’m also excited about how we’re releasing this book. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be able to give more details, but here’s what I can tell you now: Orbit will be releasing Perfect Shadow for all major ebook platforms in June for a mere $2.99.
And for all collectors, I’m very pleased to announce that Perfect Shadow will also be coming in a limited print run special edition from Subterranean Press, signed and numbered by me. Subterranean Press is taking pre-orders now!
*UPDATE: a note of explanation*
I see that there’s been some confusion, some excitement, and even a bit of outrage, strangely enough, about the above. Publishing in ebook only is unusual, so I wanted to explain how I decided to do that. Some people seem to think I’m holding the story hostage or something, and my intent is exactly the opposite.
I knew the story I wanted to tell in Perfect Shadow, and I wrote it exactly as long as it needed to be to tell the story as well as I could, and that is 17,000 words–which is too long to publish in the magazines that do SFF short stories (usually, they top out at 7,500), and it’s too short to be published as a novel. If I had wanted to cash in and exploit you, I would have filled the story with fluff and published it as a novel. But I believe I should always publish only the best I am capable of, so my choices were to cut half the story and publish it as a short story or to wait a number of years, write some more novellas, and publish it in a collection.
I chose a third option: to publish the story electronically. I know from looking at the numbers that a large number of my fans do have e-readers, so this was by far the best way to get out my story to the largest number of fans inexpensively, without making artistic sacrifices that I wasn’t willing to make, or ripping you off.
If I can, I will make the story available other ways in the future, too. And I will announce those when and if they happen. I love the story, and I want to share it with you. So please don’t impute bad motives where none exist–we’re all doing our best in a rapidly changing market!
* UPDATE 2: ‘limited’ vs ‘lettered’ & what are the limits of ‘limited’, anyway?
I’ve had questions about what ‘limited’ means and what ‘lettered’ means. The limited edition novella will be leather-bound, signed by me, and numbered 1 to 1,500. It may have interior illustrations as well. No artist for those or cover artist has been signed yet. The lettered edition is A-Z, and is very expensive, for the super-enthusiasts out there. This will be bound in different leather, have different and more elaborate foil stamping, have a leather traycase, may have more interior illustrations, and will of course be signed. Subterranean has always had the rights to make the lettered edition, but they overlooked that when they put up their initial post announcing the acquisition. I’m sure they would have corrected it once they put up the full post with cover art, and pictures, and more details.
The next thing is something you have every right to be ticked off about. Subterranean is well on its way to selling out of the limited edition–before they even have cover art or anything. In other similar cases they’ve encountered, they find their books on eBay on the day after publication sometimes for four times the list price. So they asked me if they could increase the print run from 1,000 to 1,500. I said yes. If you’re buying this book purely to profit, I’ve just diluted your stock price–and I understand if you’re mad at me for that. If you want a refund, you can email subpress@gmail.com and get it. But against the interests of investors who want to sell the book on eBay, I was thinking of fans who just want to get the book. If they sell out ridiculously early, some fans aren’t going to be able to buy it at all. I mean, heck, the limited edition already IS expensive without someone’s eBay markup. I also understand that a person can be a fan and also an investor… so again, if you’re mad, I’m sorry, and please feel free to ask for a refund. I do my best to write great stories, but I don’t always get things exactly right, and I do my best to balance the interests of my fans and those I do business with, and if I don’t always get things exactly right here either, that doesn’t surprise me too much. An apology and a refund is the best I can do for you.
So I realized I never put up the French cover of the third book in The Night Angel Trilogy, Au-delà des Ombres. My bad, because Frederic Perrin’s artwork is amazing.
And if you love this artist’s stuff as much as I do, you can now purchase prints of his work (including the images featured on French The Night Angel Trilogy covers)! Go here to look at the prints, here to contact him for purchases, and here to see some of his other great work.
Without further ado, here’s that amazing cover:
That’s right, folks. It’s already February. Know what that means? The next segment of The Black Prism is now available from GraphicAudio!
If you’ve been dying to hear more of the drama about Gavin, Kip and co., we’ve got 7 additional hours now available. Check it out over here.
Or if you’re like me, and the only type of gratification is instant gratification, you can wait until March and get it all at once. (Wait, instant gratification means waiting until March?).
And, just so you know… I already have all three parts. Yep. GraphicAudio shipped them all to me already.
Because I’m awesome.