Desert Spear Update, II
The current draft of The Desert Spear is still with my editors, and I needed a break before diving into The Daylight War, so in addition to updating my website and hand-modeling my cell phone, I’m currently working on another “Arlen: The Lost Years” short story just to keep my mental knife sharp. The story, tentatively titled The Duke’s Mines, will likely be the back-up story for Deluxe version of The Desert Spear, just as The Great Bazaar will back up the Deluxe of The Painted Man.
So, speaking of The Desert Spear,the print schedule was at last finalized during the London Book Fair last week. The Desert Spear will be available on a worldwide release date of April 2010 for its English editions.
For my Del Rey/Warded Man readers, this will probably come as little or no shock, as that is more or less a year after the US release of book I, The Warded Man.
For my Voyager/Painted Man readers, it means the book is coming out 8 months later than Voyager’s advertising has promised. That’s more my fault more than theirs, and I’m sorry about that.
How did this happen?
Well, the short answer is, ” I didn’t end up writing it as fast as I thought I would.” The long answer I already gave in a previous post, and won’t go into again here.
Predicting how long I will take me to write something is like a freelancer paying estimated taxes on the year to come. Getting it right is, at best, an exercise in fortune telling, and you never hit the number right on. I spent seven years tinkering with The Painted Man before I sold it, and then another half year of editing after that. By way of comparison, I wrote The Desert Spear relative short order at 26 months. But despite that apparent increase in speed, it is way more than I originally guessed it would take. I was off by… you guessed it, 8 months.
Voyager bent over backward to make time for TDS to keep the August date, but by the time it became impossible, it was too late to change the ads in the paperbacks.
So that’s the bad news.
The good news? Desert Spear is going to be chock full of awesome.
Seriously. For starters, check out the Voyager cover by Larry Rostant (above). How friggin’ sweet is that portrait of Jardir?
In addition, The Desert Spear has fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles… and I promise it’s not a “kissing book”. It will call into question a lot of assumptions readers might have made about the events of book one.
Like The Painted Man, The Desert Spear is part epic adventure, and part coming of age tale as Ahmann Jardir and Renna Tanner take center stage after being only glimpsed in the chorus during book I. You’ll see firsthand the struggle and events that lead them to become people who will help shape the destiny of mankind, and I am literally bursting with excitement to introduce them to everyone.
Plus, plenty more action with Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer.
Oh, and all the main characters get laid.
And, uh, some copies will be hollowed out and filled with candy. Delicious, delicious candy.
Thanks for the update. Real shame about the release date.
Oh, good. I finished The Painted Man this night at 4 AM and I was looking for informations about the sequel. 8 months is not much in comparison to other books’ delays (I’m thinking of the new Rothfuss or the new Lynch, which are still without a publication date years after when they were supposed to get out).
Do you know when the UK paperback will be out too? I’ll buy that for consistency. Anyway, nice book, I’m eager to read The Desert Spear.
You’re the second coming of William Goldman! (If Goldman were dead.) You even have a man in black!
Thanks for update. Even I’m eager to read The Desert Spear it is also an opportunity to read some other books in the meantime. The good thing is we have a release date which is an advantage compared to other books.
On the upside, the book is supposed to be really big isn’t?
Yes, it’s a monster. Even if the current draft is cut down considerably, The Desert Spear will still be considerably longer than The Painted Man. Right now it’s +75,000 words, give or take a thousand.
Do you mean 75k words more than PM, or is that a typo and you meant 175k words?
Yay for getting laid! WHOO!
No typo. The current draft of TDS is 231,000 words. By way of comparison, the first draft of TPM/TWM was 181,000 words, and the final draft was 158,000.
Speaking of which, I’ll be posting another deleted scene later today.
[…] been chosen – April, 2010! Even though that’s still about a year to go, I cannot wait! Read Peat’s post to see why – this is going to be one of the best books of 2010, bet your ass on that! Also, Peat […]
So there I was scouring Amazon.com for The Desert Spear and it said “release date August 2009”. Well, I thought, that really sucks. Then I saw this blog and dang, 2010 doubly sucks. Especially when my mum and wife have been pestering me to get TDS as soon as it comes out! (i.e. they luuuuurved TPM).
wow that is a lot of words man but the more the merrier i suppose man peat cant wait for TDS it gonna great man im so excited i think ill explode ive read TPM like 5 times take your time peat were all behind you waitin eagerly its gonna be great aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh cant wait. oh nd any word on an irish book signing i emailed you bout it before???? it would be real great laters man dont work too hard
james
If I do an Irish signing, it will be on or after the time The Desert Spear comes out. I haven’t been back to Ireland and seen my family there since 1989, so I think it’s in the cards that I’ll get there eventually.
April 2010?! No!! It’s cruel…the english fans have it easier because they can actually read it then but the polish fans will have to wait until october for the polish translation. I’ll have to read the original first….
This is not necessarily so. The final edited text will be submitted to Fabryka Slow well in advance of the English pub date. There will be added time for translation and design, of course, but it’s not out of the question that they could publish on or about the same time if they wish.
Hi, Peter Brett, I am Your German translator, working for Heyne publishing house in Munich. Really, I loved Your book, it is one of the best I ever translated, and I have been working in my job for about 30 (thirty!) years now. A trhilling masterpiece, and what I liked best are the really strong women, who can stand their own. Actually I’m quite devastated that I have to wait such a long time for The Desert Spear. Greetings, Ingrid
Aww that’s too bad that it’s release is delayed.Still I am 1000000% sure it’s gonna be awesome and it will be worth the wait.
so dis means dat da TDM wont be coming out in august it will come out in april 2010 i just started reading it so far so good im taking a break from a series called the wheel of time its huge it has 11 books
i mean TDS
Oh, I know all about Wheel of Time, my friend. I was a big fan of the series, and was devastated when Robert Jordan died.
The next book is coming out this fall, written by my JABberwocky nemesis, Brandon Sanderson. My desire to know who killed Asmodean is at war with my desire for unfounded childish rivalry with the other new guy at my Literary Agency.
After finishing Painted man I have to congratulate you on a great read, very enjoyable.
With the demise of David Gemmell, it’s nice to see a bright new shining star on the horzion .
Thanks so much!
I have read a few books since the Painted Man and still find myself thinking about it, kudos. Don’t worry about the delay, I’m sure your next book will be as thrilling as the first!
Wow what a book like what someone else said
The new David gemmell right up there with the eragon books can’t wait for the next one
Ok… i ordered desert spear from amazon and recieved it on the 29th of march. Im not complaining as i am very very sure this is before the release date. I have read it and it is phenominal. Thank you peter but was wondering why i got a copy early?
Amazon jumped the gun and released it early. Rejoice!
Well blow me down im glad they did! Im going on holiday to egypt and wont be back for three weeks. Was expecting to have to wait til after i got back to read it and have read it once already and am going to take both book to read again in sequence. Would like to congratulate you on a wonderful piece of literature, it is on of the first peices of truly original fantasy in a long time. I love the flow of the writing and you manage to make 8 antagonists knit beautifully.
Peter,
I just randomly happened to purchase “The Warded Man” because I wanted to dive back into Fantasy-but I had put it off for so long because of the risk of wasting my time on a horrible book.
I must admit, you really made my year 🙂 I couldn’t put the book down. It took me back to the time of my life I would live in role-playing realms for hours on end every day of the week. I could never get enough it seemed-and now, I’m addicted to your story-telling.
Thank you for writing this wonderful book! You deserve all the good things that are coming your way and I’ve already purchased TDS.
Best,
-Tyler
So, that means that the English editions will be realesed in April and the rest of the editions in other languages will be released in December? Aww…
It varies depending on the language, Erica. Which edition are you looking for? The Polish edition is out in May, the German in August, and the French in Sept.-Oct. Not sure about the others…
Where is the desert spear now…… its 2011.
It’s been on sale for over a year.
I loved The Warded man, however there were a few things that bothered me. and it seems that they will contenue. The book seems just a little to on the pessimistic side of human nature, showing us all as sex craized addicts….. But the rest of the book was magnificent!