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So I leave on Saturday for an exciting two-week adventure that will take me halfway around the world and back, as I pay my first visit down under to Australia, or as it is affectionately known as, Oz. My first readers were in Australia, as by some twist of fate, the Painted Man ARCs came out there before anywhere else. In some ways, my professional writing career started down under, and the readers there have been the bedrock of my support as I struggled with The Desert Spear. They have kicked ass in all my online contests, and I feel like I’ve made some real friends that I can’t wait to meet in person.

I’m also interested to experience what it’s like to be upside down. Cassie loves it when I hold her upside down, so it must be a hoot. I wonder if all the blood will rush to my head.

But before I get to OZ, there’s a pit stop in Tinsel Town. My agent and I will be staying a couple of days in LA for some meetings and a guerrilla tour of the local bookstores, as well as one formal signing. So if you’re a fan in SoCal, come by and give me a hug:

Dark Delicacies Bookstore signing, Burbank, California:
Sunday August 29, 2pm
Dark Delicacies
3512 W. Magnolia
Burbank, CA 91505 U.S.A.
http://www.darkdel.com/

The next day, Monday, we fly to Melbourne. Due to some geographical oddity involving curvature of the Earth and transwarp speeds, Tuesday vanishes into the ether as we cross the international date line, and I arrive in OZ on Wednesday, hopefully crashing down atop some evil witch. I will then have a day to come out of hypersleep or whatever before my first AU signing at the Dymocks Southland store on Thursday, Sept. 2.

Chuck, the store manager, wrote what was one of my first blog reviews ever on Horrorscope. It really meant a lot to me that someone on the other side of the world who didn’t know me from Adam enjoyed the book so much that he took the time to write that review, so what better place to do my first Aussie signing? If you live in the Melbourne area and aren’t planning on attending Worldcon but would still like to meet me, (or if you are in for Worldcon and just want to hang a bit before the con starts), please come out and say g’day at:

Dymocks Southland Bookstore Signing, Cheltenham, Australia:
Thursday, September 2, Noon
3067/8 Westfield Southland Shopping Centre
1239 Nepean Highway
Cheltenham 3192
http://www.dymocks.com.au/StoreLocator/BranchLocatorDisplay.aspx

The signing officially ends at 1, but I will hang out as long as I can before running off to Worldcon, where my first signing starts at 5pm, and is followed by a busy weekend where I will be appearing on several panels and doing a reading. I just got the program, and here’s how to find me:

Worldcon/Aussiecon 4 in Melbourne, Australia:
September 2-6
http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/

Thursday, Sept 2, 1700 Rm 201

Signing

Friday, September 3, 1200 Room 211

Keeping pace: Maintaining momentum in fiction
What keeps the pages turning on a good speculative fiction novel? A panel of authors reveal the tricks and tools they have used – and others they have seen as readers – to keep the momentum of a good story going, and to ensure the reader’s attention. What makes the difference between a tedious bore and an un-put-downable narrative rollercoaster?
Peter V. Brett, Carrie Vaughn, Howard Tayler, Jay Lake

Saturday, September 4, 1100 Room 211

Capes and skirts: The plight of female superheroes
Superman has starred in six feature films. Batman has starred in seven. Wonder Woman has starred in none. The female superhero has been a constant presence through the history of American comic books, but yet has never managed to reach the traction of their male counterparts. Who are the super heroines who succeed? Which ones fail? Why can’t they
find as big an audience, and what needs to be done to change that? Why haven’t we seen a Wonder Woman movie?
Tansy Rayner Roberts, Karen Healey, Peter V. Brett, Seanan McGuire

Saturday, September 4, 1200 Room 213

The follow-up: Writing the second novel
Everybody focuses on the first novel, that once-in-a-lifetime achievement that takes the aspiring author from idea to execution to publication – but what then? How does the life of the author change once his or her first novel has been published? What are the challenges and difficulties in following it up with a second book?
Peter V. Brett, Fiona McIntosh, Will Elliott

Saturday, September 4, 1500 Room 204

The writer and the audience: Online interaction and public personae
The Internet has brought with it a vast array of tools and opportunities for authors to promote their own work, and to interact directly with their readers. The question is: should they? Should ever author have a website, Twitter feed, Facebook account or Myspace? Should authors create and employ a brand? How should an author interact with his or her fans online? A look at the benefits, as well as where things can go horribly wrong.
Cory Doctorow, John Berlyne, Peter V. Brett, Mur Lafferty

Sunday, September 5, 1000 Rm 219

Reading

…probably from The Great Bazaar, but I haven’t decided for sure. Whatever it is, I will read it from my iPad. I am forgoing a laptop on this trip and trying to fly free with just the iPad. This may mean less blogging (iPad hates WordPress), but I fully intend to write, do interviews, etc. It seems somehow fitting to do my readings from it, too. And maybe Cory Doctorow will put it up on Boing Boing.

After the convention, I am taking a quick hop over to Sydney to visit my AU publishers and accept the graceful invitation to sign at:

Galaxy Bookstore Signing, Sydney, Australia
Wednesday, September 8, 5:30pm
143 York Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
T) 02 9267 7222
http://www.galaxybooks.com.au/

If you’re a reader in the Sydney area and want a signed book or a chance to chat, stop by. I have no further plans that day, and will hang and chitchat until someone suggests we take it to a local bar. And then hang out at the bar.

After that, I am taking a day to see Sydney, and then flying back to LA, during which time the day that vanished into the ether will be reincorporated into the world and I land the same day I left, or something like that.

And when all that is done, I am coming home, kissing my loved ones, and going to sleep for a goddamn week.

Posted on August 24, 2010 at 12:18 am by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Australia, Bookplate, Desert Spear, Events, Fans, Life, Reading, Tech, The Daylight War, Warded Man, World Traveler, Writing
11 Comments »

I am a big Terry Brooks fan. I’ve said it before. I’ve said it more than once. I’ve said it several times, in fact.

If Tolkien is the grandfather of modern fantasy, Terry Brooks is my awesomely cool uncle.

When I was a kid, Tolkien, specifically The Hobbit, aroused my interest in fantasy, but it was Brooks that held it through the years. If not for Brooks, I seriously doubt that I would  have my current career, and specifically, if not for The Elfstones of Shannara, I seriously doubt I would be writing about demons. This is not to say that there haven’t been other authors who have had a tremendous influence on me, but Brooks was on the ground floor. I am standing on Terry Brooks’ shoulders in the same way Brooks stood on Tolkien’s, and the view from up here is mighty fine.

I say all this so that you will have full appreciation for the news that Terry and I will be doing a Live Web Chat on Suvudu this Wednesday, August 25, 2010, at 7pm EST. Click the link and sign up/bookmark it now, so you can ask us questions, or just watch me go all fanboy on Wednesday.

Posted on August 22, 2010 at 4:33 pm by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Brayan's Gold, Craft, Desert Spear, Events, Fans, Great Bazaar, Interviews, Tech, Warded Man, Writing
Comments Off on Live Chat with Terry Brooks This Wednesday

Longtime readers know that I have been going on and on about a Arlen novella I wrote called Brayan’s Gold. It was translated into German and published there as part of the German Great Bazaar collection, but here in the US it is being made into a stand-alone small hardcover by Subterranean Press with cover art and interior illustrations by the amazing Lauren K. Cannon (who designed the ward symbols and the Renna painting on the home page of this site, as well as the cover to my first Arlen novella, The Great Bazaar). I have seen the preliminary art, and while it is not complete, I can guarantee it is the same incredible quality as Lauren’s other work.

A lot of readers have been writing to me lately, frustrated by their inability to find an affordable copy of The Great Bazaar, or often a copy at all. As you can see on Amazon, the cheapest copy they have is >$100, and the leatherbound, signed & numbered limited edition is going for >$300. EBay is no better. Even I myself have only a dozen copies, and they are all slated for contest prizes and charity giveaways.

There is a reason for this. There were only about 2300 copies of The Great Bazaar printed, with only 200 of the limited edition. It’s funny, I remember worrying at the time that they wouldn’t all sell, but sell they did. The entire run was almost completely sold in pre-orders, and the rest went just days after the official on-sale date. The price quickly skyrocketed as fans all around the world tried t0 get their hands on a copy.

We’ve had a lot of requests for a reprint, but Subterranean doesn’t tend to work that way, preferring to do a single run of a book and let it remain rare and collectible. Their editions are always durable, beautiful, and worthy of even the most discriminating bookshelf. While the stories contained within will eventually be available digitally and perhaps as part of some future printed collection, odds are the Subterranean edition will not see print again. So if you really want one and can find it, get it while you can.

Based on the success of TGB, Subterranean has increased the print run for Brayan’s Gold, but it is still modest compared to the number of readers out there, with approximately 5,000 of the trade hardcover, and 750 of the leatherbound limited edition. The book became available for pre-order over the weekend, and there have already been so many preorders that the limited edition is close to selling out. It may take a little longer for the trade to sell through, but odds are it will happen well before the pub date of January 2011, so if you are interested in either edition, I would recommend you order sooner rather than later.

You can pre-order Brayan’s Gold from Subterranean’s website here.

I will be posting again probably later today with more information on my upcoming appearances and Worldcon Panels…

Posted on August 19, 2010 at 2:39 pm by PeatB
Filed under Brayan's Gold, Great Bazaar, Sales, Writing
8 Comments »

Hi, this is Peat’s friend and webmaster David here. Over the past few weeks, Peat and I have been working on a prototype version of a forum for this site. We’ve decided that it’s finally ready for beta testers.

What we’re releasing today is an imperfect work, with the idea being for it to be improved upon over the coming days and weeks, in response to your feedback regarding its design and ease of use. You’ll notice, for example, that the private messaging functionality is yet to go live, and that the registration process could be somewhat less clunky. Once you’ve registered, you’ll need to check the email account which you provided during registration for a message which contains your auto-generated password.

So, without further ado, I would like to invite you to check out the forum. Please feel free to post whatever you wish. It would be especially helpful if you could leave us your feedback here, under Forum Feedback.

(Please note that during the development phase, we secretly opened up the site to registered users for the first time. This is why about a half a dozen of you who are WordPress-savvy were able to register. Now that the forum page is no longer password protected, those users should be able to view the forum and sign in with your original login details.)

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

David

Posted on August 12, 2010 at 2:56 am by admin
Filed under Appearances, Australia, Bookplate, Brayan's Gold, Cassie, Contests, Craft, Czech, Desert Spear, Events, Excisions, Fan Art, Fans, France, Germany, Great Bazaar, Hobbit-hole, Interviews, Life, Messenger, Movie, Musings, My Reviews, Netherlands, Pimpage, Poland, Portugal, Reading, Red Sonja, Reviews, Russia, Sales, Tech, The Daylight War, Uncategorized, Warded Art, Warded Man, World Traveler, Writing
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Germany and Poland are at war.

No, it’s not 1939. This current war is about who can be awesomer this week, and the fighting is fierce.

Germany has already racked up an impressive number of points. As I mentioned yesterday, Das Flüstern der Nacht, the German translation of The Desert Spear from publisher Heyne, just went on sale in Deutchland. The title translates as “The Whisper of Night”, and it is surprisingly apt, considering the title and cover were chosen long before anyone at Heyne had read the book, designed more to create a mood than to describe the content.

And yet it works. Throughout the book, the night is calling to Arlen in an insistent voice that only he can hear. I dig it. And the cover art is just gorgeous. I need to find out more about that artist. I can’t make heads or tales of the copyright page in the German edition. I’ll have to ask my editor.

Amazon.de released the book a little early, activating all their pre-orders the week before the official on-sale date, but on the strength of those orders alone, I made it to #40 on the prestigious Der Spiegel Bestseller list, as shown on the German buchreport this morning.

In addition to this, Heyne has created an amazing interactive map, using short video descriptions of the various locations that I recorded on my webcam. The map was put together by designers Andreas Hancock, Herbert Ahnen, and Stephan Kempers and is really awesome.

But Fabryka Slow in Poland is not to be outdone. They too released a book this week, part 2 of  Pustynna Wlócznia, which as I understand it is a pretty straightforward Polish translation of Desert Spear. As with part 1, the Polish edition is illustrated by the amazing Dominik Broniek. More than that, Fabryka Slow is willing to share some of those illustrations online.

I wish illustrations were still en vogue. They can add so much to the reading experience, and I don’t think they limit the reader’s imagination in the least. Take it from a comic book lover. Illustrations are just a springboard for the imagination.

And I really love Dominik’s work. He has a real knack for pulling powerful images from the text and bringing them to life, and his demons kick ass. Don’t believe me? Check this shit out:

Renna’s run through the rising demons:

Mind and Mimic 1:

That coreling ent gonna trouble anyone again:

Mind and Mimic 2:

Rojer in his Cloak of Unsight:

Wonda, Rojer, and Gared:

Staked at dusk:

Plus, Fabryka Slow has their own secret webcam agenda. Shhh!

Who will win out in the end? The week is young…

Posted on August 10, 2010 at 10:35 am by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Desert Spear, Germany, Poland, Sales, Warded Art
20 Comments »