As you loyal readers know, I’ve been all about the Messenger these days, as he (sometimes she) has been bringing me an endless stream of awesome books. It’s one of the great ironies of life that in HS and college when I had nothing but free time to read, I was broke and had to scrimp and save just to buy cheap paperbacks. Now that I finally have money to buy nice hardcover books, they come free and I have no time to read. Alas…

But I digress.

While waiting for the Messenger is fine and good and gives a touch of excitement to the morning drudgery, sometimes, when you just can’t wait for something, it is best to go to the Source. In this case, the Random House building on Broadway and 57th street. Specifically, the office of Del Rey Books. Where the magic happens.

Unable to wait another SECOND to hold The Desert Spear in my greedy little hands, I made my way uptown to that mecca of books, and was united with my true love at last:

Here are a couple of pix of the book with an American quarter held against it for scale.

Note the thick-assedness of this 583 page monster. 240,000 words is no joke. Many readers claimed to have read The Warded/Painted Man in one night. I’d like to see you try it here, people!

Do you need more proof that Desert Spear is awesome? This month’s Romantic Times gives it 4.5 stars, and there is a nice little review in the Library Journal. I also saw an advance copy of the Booklist review, and it almost made me cream my shorts.

While I was in the office of RH publicist David Moench, I noticed an ARC of Naomi Novik’s Tongues of Serpents sitting on his desk. I have been a Novik fan ever since I saw her verbally bitch-slap Peter S. Beagle on a panel at San Diego ComicCon a few years ago after he off-handedly belittled her sub-genre. I have nothing against Beagle of course, but it was great to see such chutzpah in a young new author to stand up to a giant of the industry like that…and win. I started reading His Majesty’s Dragon that very night, and loved the hell out of it. Best talking dragon book ever! Suck it, Eragon.

Ironically, I had just done a search on last night Amazon for Naomi’s next book, and saw that it wasn’t out until July. Imagine my surprise to see it on David’s desk.

“Who do I have to fight for one of those ARC’s?” I asked. Something in my cold, even tone told David I wasn’t joking, and he handed over his own copy immediately.

“I can get another,” he said.

Score.

When I got home, I saw the Messenger had come after all, this time with a super-delicious and oddly appropriate treat. It was a copy of the Warriors anthology by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois, sent to me by the incredibly awesome Dot Lin at Tor books. I was most excited for the new GRRM Dunk & Egg novella the anthology contains, but I was thrilled to see that amongst the other fantastic authors involved in the project was another story by Naomi Novik, and one by Peter S. Beagle!

Score.

Posted on March 15, 2010 at 11:32 pm by PeatB
Filed under Desert Spear, Messenger, Reading, Reviews, Writing
9 Comments »

Hey Tri-Staters! I will be appearing this weekend at Lunacon in Rye Brook NY (March 19 – 21). If you’re in the neighborhood and want to stop by, I’d love to sign your books, chat, or whatever. I try to make it out to Lunacon every year. It’s a fun time with a lot of great guests. I’ll be on a number of panels, and doing a reading and a signing.

Here’s a schedule of my Lunacon events:

How NOT to get published
Friday 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Tips on submissions, contacting agents, and all the other myriad challenges that face an aspiring author. What works, what doesn’t, and what will work against you completely.

Peter V. Brett, Chris Evans [M], Violet Haberdasher, Josepha Sherman

Reading: Peter V. Brett
Friday 7:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Blogging, Writing, and Fandom
Saturday 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
The world continues to grow smaller as the internet brings instantaneous access to writers and other professionals. With so many writers maintaining web presence, has there been a detrimental effect on con-going? Why leave your house when fandom is just a click away?

Peter V. Brett, James Chambers, Violet Haberdasher [M], Saul Jaffe, Nathan Lilly

Autographing: Peter V. Brett, Scott Grimando
Saturday 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Emma Frost: Disney Princess?
Sunday 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
It was the announcement heard ’round the comic shop: Disney was buying Marvel and the rights to every Marvel character. Immediately, the internet explodes as panicked fans debated if Mickey was going to be the newest member of the Avengers or if Marvel was going to have to make sure all its titles were appropriate material for children under ten. The merger was completed at the end of December, with no obvious effects, but only time will tell. Were these rumors nothing more than fans’ vaunted fear of change, or will the Phoenix come back only after getting love’s first kiss.

Joshua Bilmes [M], Peter V. Brett, Lynn E. Cohen Koehler, Jonathan Maberry

Whither Wander You?
Sunday 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
The physical journey can mirror and drive the spiritual journey of the characters, while providing an interesting and amusing source of external conflict. When done poorly, it can devolve into tedium, and wreak havoc on the pacing of the novel. How do you keep one from sliding into the other? What are some of the best travel scenes we’ve written and read? Which have been done poorly? How do you write a compelling travel scene without losing the reader to what seems like a hundred pages of endless trudging through snowy wastelands?

Alma Alexander [M], Peter V. Brett, Sam Butler, Keith DeCandido, Josepha Sherman

Don’t be shy if you want to say “Hi!” between events. I love meeting and talking with readers.

Posted on March 14, 2010 at 3:56 pm by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Events, Fans, World Traveler
3 Comments »

First off, a few bits of good Messenger news:

1) My US publisher, Del Rey Books, sent me an e-mail on Friday that they had received copies of The Desert Spear from the printer, and they look awesome. I am bouncing in my seat to see my samples on Monday.After three years of writing/editing and another eight months of production, I can’t wait to hold one in my greedy, greedy hands and hug it like a baby.

2) All pre-orders of The Great Bazaar have shipped, and most everyone I know who ordered one has received theirs. If you are still waiting, it should be any day now. My mom found hers in a soaking wet box on her doorstep just this afternoon. Apparently the Messenger couldn’t be bothered to ring the bell, even in the pouring rain. Thankfully, the fine folks at Subterranean Press wrapped the books in plastic, so there was no damage.

3) I’ve shipped all early requests for bookplates this past week, so if you put in for one, expect it soon. I’ll do a full post about the plates–with information on how to get one for yourself–shortly. I first wanted to do a trial run and see what it would cost to ship them to some of the more exotic corners of the world where my readers lurk and hide.

In other news my first Desert Spear Interview is live online as of last night, this one with Annie, the Superfast Reader. You may recall that Annie was one of my earliest US supporters, posting both a wonderful review of The Warded Man and an interview with me early last year. She has since moved to first place, likely because she reads so damn fast. The interview is spoiler-free, but nevertheless contains some insight into the characters and cultures in the new book, as well as a lengthy discussion of my writing process. You can read the interview here. More will be popping up in the near future.

If you’re interested in winning a signed copy of The Warded Man in paperback (on sale March 23!), head on over to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist and follow his entry guidelines. All you need to do is send him an e-mail and you will be put into a lottery to win.

I found a funny little entry about The Warded Man on the website TV Tropes. It has a couple of spoilers, but they are invisible unless you highlight them with your mouse, so fear not if you haven’t read the book.

Lastly, if you have read The Great Bazaar and are looking to chat about it, there’s an interesting little thread on the A Song of Ice and Fire forum that google pointed me to last night. SPOILER ALERT!!! The poster pretty much gives away the ending, so if you haven’t read the story yet and intend to at some point, I STRONGLY encourage you to not look at this until you have. But if you are one of the lucky few who got the book in the mail this week and have read the 60-page title novelette, by all means, click here. I’m considering responding myself, but holding back for the nonce.

That’s all for now. I’m off to dinner/baby time, and then have an article for a German SF magazine to edit and 1,000 words of The Daylight War to write before bed.

Posted on March 13, 2010 at 7:30 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Desert Spear, Fans, Great Bazaar, Interviews, Messenger, Reviews, Writing
15 Comments »

It’s getting to be about that time!

No, not Lent. Better. It’s time for Desert Spear reviews to start popping up!

The first comes from the blog SFF Chat. You may recall that blog editor Simcha won a copy in the Desert Spear ARC Contest by risking life and limb walking a metal beam over a deep ditch to visit a Bedouin encampment down the road from her home in the Judean Desert with a copy of TWM. She then had to explain that the pictures were “for a weird American thing”.

Anyway, Simcha promised to review the book for her blog, and was true to her word. Check out her review here.

It’s had me grinning since last night.

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 1:23 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Desert Spear, Reviews, Writing
15 Comments »

I’ve spent fifteen years in publishing—working as a retailer, editor, copyeditor/proofreader, managing editor, production supervisor, and writer. As a result of these experiences, I have formed some opinions, many of them centered around how subjective the rules of grammar and language style are.

One of those opinions is that semicolons are the devil. I fucking hate them. Always have. Why? Not because of the mark itself, which I’m rather fond of. It is kind of quaint, yet often handy.

No, it’s because no matter how semicolons are used, or not used, you are pretty much guaranteed that someone along the editorial process will try to change them on you, often along with some snide comment that implies they know more about sentence structure than you do.

In some ways you can understand it, because most people really don’t know (or give a shit) what a semicolon is for. People in publishing, however, have spent a lot of time studying language, and want to make sure everyone around us knows how smart we are.

As a result, just about every writer, editor, copyeditor, and proofreader has an opinion about semicolons they’re happy to share as if is Ancient Law, but there is little general consensus. Some think they are NEVER necessary, and that if you can’t get by with a comma, you’re better off just rewriting the sentence. Others will throw them in any old place, like sprinkling salt in a soup. Many will accept them only under certain circumstances, like when you are connecting two independent clauses.

But the definition of “independent clauses” is itself a point for debate, as modern writing styles often present dependent clauses as independent sentences or statements, using context to fill in the blanks. A writer might want to insert a semicolon for proper cadence, even if one of the clauses isn’t strictly independent. Some editors have a strict and narrow definition of “independent”, while others take a broader view in line with the writer’s general style. Some have their opinion shift with the phases of the moon.

In my experience, any use of semicolons will throw up a flag with everyone in the editorial process, and sooner or later, someone, if not multiple people, will give you grief over it. Handy and quaint as they are, they’re a pain in the ass. I get agita just by looking at the damn button on my keyboard.

But sometimes a comma won’t do, and you like the sentence just the way it is. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with em dashes to take the place of those semicolons, and in some other tricky places as well.

Somewhere out there, right now, someone in publishing is itching to tell me that is improper use of em dashes.

Go ahead—I dare you.

Posted on March 8, 2010 at 1:34 am by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Musings, Writing
11 Comments »

So my friend Jen was having a 1st birthday party for her daughter today (happy birthday, Zoe!). We had to drive out to Westchester, and spent the morning running around trying to get ready and get the baby ready, and plan for traffic and wrap gifts and whatnot. Typical family day. Dani and I usually plan a buffer of time–when we SHOULD go to ensure punctuality, as opposed to when we MUST go, giving us barely enough time if there is no traffic.

Of course, we never make it out the door when we SHOULD. If you have an infant, you understand.

But, as we’re running out the door with the baby and diaper bags and presents and whatnot, the postman come out of the elevator and hands me a box.

What was in that box, you ask? A picture is worth 1,000 words.

There’s writing a book, and there’s selling a book. Both are powerful feelings, but there’s no feeling in the world quite like holding a book in your hands for the first time. awesome.

P.S.

If you pre-ordered on Amazon and got an auto-generated e-mail the other day saying they didn’t know when the book would be out and asking you to confirm your order, please do. The snafu there should be resolved in the next couple of days. You won’t be waiting for months.

Posted on March 7, 2010 at 1:19 am by PeatB
Filed under Great Bazaar, Messenger
8 Comments »

And brought me a box of presents:

That’s right, The Warded Man is finally going to hit mass-market paperback in the US, just in time to whet appetites for The Desert Spear. If you’ve been on the fence about shelling out for the hardback, or just want the awesome new cover, the MMPB goes on sale March 23. Del Rey just sent me 24 copies, which is obviously more than I need. I smell another giveaway contest coming up…

I also got an ARC of Jon Sprunk’s Shadow’s Son from Prometheus (Pyr) books the other day:

I’m already 100 pages into Abercrombie’s Before They Are Hanged and quite enjoying it, but I am going to put it aside for a week or two so I can read Jon’s book. Jon is in my Lit. Agency, and I promised to read Shadow’s Son and write a blurb if it didn’t suck. I’m on chapter 2 now, and not at all worried about suckage. Chapter 1 kicked ass.

Posted on March 5, 2010 at 5:18 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Messenger, Reading, Sales
13 Comments »

Don’t believe me? Here’s proof from French Jess:

Posted on March 4, 2010 at 1:53 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Fan Art, Fans, France
4 Comments »

I heard from the folks at Subterranean Press that The Great Bazaar and Other Stories is finally shipping! For those of you who were going by the January 31 pub date on Amazon and got e-mails saying there was a delay and whatnot… sorry about that. Amazon dates have never been reliable, because publishers are required to predict the exact release date months (or years) in advance. There was also some sort of shipping delay, but I’m not entirely clear on what it was.

But who cares? The book is finally available. You likely won’t find it in stores, but you can order it online from Subterranean or Amazon. Amazon lists it as out of stock at the moment (probably from fulfilling all the pre-orders), but they should have more copies shortly. The signed and numbered limited edition version is already sold out, but the regular hardcover is still available, and I’ll be happy to send folks bookplates if they want their copies signed (more on the plates next post).

The title story of The Great Bazaar is an ALL NEW 15,000 word (60 page) novelette featuring Arlen in the year 328 AR, telling of the adventure he has in the city of Fort Krasia (AKA the Desert Spear) that eventually puts him on the path to find the lost city of Anoch Sun. I’m really proud of the story, and think it acts as a good introduction to the demon world for the uninitiated, a great companion to The Warded Man for fans of that book (it is essentially chapter 16.5), and most of all, an appetizer for the upcoming sequel, The Desert Spear.

Not only does the book take place in the setting for much of The Desert Spear, but the bonus materials include both a Krasian dictionary to help keep some of those foreign words straight, and a Ward Grimoire that gives detailed descriptions of the demon breeds, including two new ones (guaranteed scare the crap out of you) that will be stalking your favorite characters come April.

Oh, and the cover by Lauren K. Cannon fucking rocks. I commissioned that painting of the Warded Man for this website soon after I sold the first book, and am thrilled that Subterranean decided to use it as a cover. Frankly, I wish Del Rey had done so a year ago.

Juicy gossip: To celebrate the release of the sequel, I have Lauren hard at work on a portrait of one of the protagonists of The Desert Spear. Based on preliminary sketches and Lauren’s general awesomeness, it is going to be fantastic.

So order your copy of The Great Bazaar before they all sell out! Even the regular hardcover is a limited run, and I don’t think they’ll be going back on press anytime soon (if ever).

Here’s what some advance readers have had to say:

Sacramento Book Review

Superfast Reader

Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist

Goodreads

I’ll stop shilling now.

Posted on February 28, 2010 at 11:41 pm by PeatB
Filed under Great Bazaar, Sales
16 Comments »

Aidan Moher asked me for an excerpt from The Desert Spear to post on his SF blog A Dribble of Ink sometime in March. I agreed and took my personal reference ARC to leaf through, looking for something cool to lift out that didn’t have any spoilers.

An hour later, I realize all I’ve done is sit and read the book, and haven’t looked for shit.

Damn thing sucked me in.

Posted on February 28, 2010 at 6:40 pm by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Excisions, My Reviews, Reviews, Sales, Writing
5 Comments »