The Messenger came yesterday (or was it Monday?), bringing me 10 copies of De Getekende, the Dutch translation of The Painted/Warded Man:
I was interested to see that my buddy Brent Weeks gave me a quote on the back. I didn’t know he spoke Dutch. I can’t read a word of it, but I will assume it is complimentary until I hear otherwise.
Just before I left for London a couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Samantha in Iowa. Samantha is awesome.
Don’t believe me? I will now enter into evidence incontrovertible proof of this fact, in the form of her message. Take it away, Samantha:
Dear Mr. Brett,
I know the [DSAC] contest is over, and I didn’t send these in sooner because I ended up getting an ARC through Goodreads. But I saw you posted a picture of a late entry up on your website and I thought you might at least enjoy looking at these. Hopefully there’s not too many. I got a little carried away one boring winter day.
The new book, by the way, is fantastic. I can’t wait for my hardcover copy to arrive so I can read it again and fawn over the beautiful cover art.
I’ll offer a little narration for my pictures too. They’re all from on/around my dad’s farm in north central Iowa: (Don’t mind the plastic ziplock over the book. I had to keep it protected and I don’t know any wards against snow.=) )
I took this one because we don’t have deserts in Iowa, but in the winter, we get deserts of snow.
We don’t get sand dunes but we get lots of snow drifts!
This is my Arabian, Mariah. She’s no Twilight Dancer but she is a desert horse in a snowy world!
Next to the book are the tops of some of the snow fence. Pretty soon it’s not going to be holding much snow back!
These are so you could see the scale of our horse pasture fence and how high the snow got in places this winter.
Pictures at an abandoned farmstead. Perhaps corelings got to them!
My dad’s Newfoundland, Zeus, wanted his picture taken with the book too.
My favorite picture. I climbed to the top of the silo to take a picture out over the farm. The sunset almost matches the cover of the book. My copy of the book then proceeded to commit suicide and fall 75 feet down to the ground. Luckily it survived the fall with just a banged up corner. But it was worth it for this awesome picture.
Sincerely,
Samantha
I take it we are all now in agreement regarding Samantha’s awesomeness?
Yeah, I thought so.
My mom used to say that to me, sometimes. It wasn’t meant as a compliment, but I took it as one anyway.
I love debating, and will happily flip a coin to take point or counterpoint on just about any subject. I’ve always excelled at essay tests and I never say no to doing an interview (though sometimes I take a while to get to it). Two were just published:
After my Red Sonja announcement, I received an immediate list of interview questions about the book from Shawn Speakman at Suvudu. You can read the Suvudu Red Sonja Interview here.
Also up is the Media Whore Network, whose name I never tire of saying. Ryan at the network sent me a list of questions about The Warded Man and The Desert Spear. You can read the MediaWhore Interview here.
Right now I have about half a dozen web interviews in the queue, which I will try to knock out in the next few days.
On the first edition US hardback of The Warded Man.
As those of you who have purchased the book in paperback have seen, the plainer design (above) has been abandoned, and the covers for the Warded Man paperback and Desert Spear hardcover now use the amazing paintings done by Larry Rostant for the UK Voyager editions. The change has been really positive, as sales of The Warded Man in paperback have soared. Del Rey is going into their FOURTH printing this week, and the book has barely been out a month. Incredible.
And now the original Warded Man hardback is going out of print, and its like will not be seen again. Already, most bookstores have sold out and stopped reordering, and Amazon and some other online bookstores have exhausted their inventory. Even the Random House cupboard is bare, and they will not be making any more. If you’re a book collector or fan and you see one, you might want to grab it. Could be worth something one day.
Thanks to Samantha in Iowa for the amazing photo. She sent a bunch to me a couple of weeks ago, DSAC style. I will post the rest soon.
Well, the cat’s out of the bag. Another of my secret projects has come to light.
That’s right, starting with issue #51, I will be taking a turn writing Red Sonja, the flagship title from Dynamite Comics. This is a really big deal for me, and I’ve been dying to talk about it forever, but as usual in the business world, you need to keep mum sometimes, lest you jinx yourself.
Now some of you may be asking yourselves, WTF? He’s writing a bestselling series of novels, and he’s taking a break to write comic books?!
A legitimate question. Allow me to explain.
First and foremost, I make this pledge: I am not taking a break from novels. Writing Red Sonja will not in any way affect my progress on The Daylight War or the other books in the Demon Cycle. Beyond my obligations to the demon series and my family and friends, I am occasionally blessed with a few scant moments of time that are my own to do with as I please. I could spend them on the playstation or in an MMORPG, or squander them in front of the TV, but writing comics is important to me, and you make time for things that are important.
Why is writing comics important to me? Because I’ve always wanted to write comics. Before I wanted to write novels, I wanted to write comics. My friends and I used to love making amateur comics together, and my comic collection puts many a hardcore fanboy’s to shame:
(This pic is just the tip of the iceberg)
I’m a big believer in chasing your dreams, and doing comics has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. Red Sonja is a dream come true in many respects. I’ve always loved Red Sonja, the spin-off character from Conan comics who the great Roy Thomas breathed life into back in the 1970’s. Up until 2008, she was may favorite redhead. These days, Sonja’s got some stiff competition, but she makes an easy second.
I started reading Red Sonja during the 80’s Mary Wilshire run. Back then, Sonja had been taken out of her iconic chainmail bikini (I assume for PC reasons) and put in this blue fur bathing suit, which I guess was supposed to be reminiscent of Conan’s fur loincloth, though I’m not really sure where you get blue fur in the Hyborian world. The outfit was, ironically, every bit as revealing and impractical as the chainmail.
While reading that run, I hunted in the back-issue bins and at collections for more of the classic chainmail Sonja books, getting my first taste of the incredible work of Frank Thorne, whose art I would follow for many years to come.
The 80’s series was canceled after 13 issues, possibly due to the poor box office performance of the Brigitte Neilson Sonja movie. Sonja stayed in rights limbo for many years after that before being picked up by Dynamic Forces to be a pillar of their new comics line. I started reading immediately with issue #1. The book was written by Michael Avon Oeming, artist from the amazing series Powers, and anchored by the artwork of the incredible Mel Rubi. The first thing Dynamite did was put Sonja back in her iconic chainmail, which I think was a very wise decision, but I must admit to having a warm place in my heart for that little fur number, too. Everyone likes a little variety in their kink. I’ve kept up with the Dynamite book ever since.
I told all this to Nick Barrucci, the head of Dynamic Forces, at Book Expo America last year, gushing in all my fannish glee, and a couple of weeks later he floated the idea of collaboration. Deep in edits to The Desert Spear, I didn’t answer right away, but I found my mind filling with Sonja story ideas. I started scribbling things down, and ended up with pages and pages of material.
So let’s sum up:
I’ve always wanted to write comics.
I’ve always loved Red Sonja.
I write fantasy. Red Sonja is a fantasy book.
I am known in some circles for writing strong female characters. You don’t get much stronger than the She-Devil with a Sword.
I love redheads, swordfighting, and scantily clad women. Check, check, and check.
I think this is a match made in heaven.
Plus, check out the sweet Joseph Michael Linsner alternate cover!
