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Hey all. I just got back from another day of Lunacon and it’s late and I’m tired, but I just wanted to do a quick post telling you to head on over to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist and enter to win a signed copy of The Desert Spear. This is not an ARC, but a full hardcover, available almost three weeks before the pub date! Be the first on your block to have a copy of what is sure to be one of the most exciting releases of 2010.

There are no strings attached; just send Pat a quick e-mail with the subject and body as directed and be entered into a drawing.

Good luck!

Posted on March 20, 2010 at 11:57 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Desert Spear, Fans
1 Comment »

For more than ten years now, whenever I visit the UK, I go for a romp in the country with my college-buddy Dave, who majored in cartography. At a time when most college boys adorned their dorm walls with posters of scantily-clad women and Absolut ads, Dave’s walls were covered with maps, and he used to listen to the shipping lane reports on a short wave radio in his spare time. A skilled navigator, he makes a point of mocking the GPS system in my car whenever he visits. Dave and I have spent many an hour wandering through the woods and over the hills of some of the most beautiful parts of England and Upstate NY. Some of you may remember me talking about our hike from Stonehenge to Salisbury Cathedral via Old Sarum the last time I visited the UK in late 2008.

Dave used these trips (and hundreds of others he’s taken) to map out a series of easy hiking routes to out-of-the-way places of scenic and historic beauty, easily made as day-trips from London. A couple of years ago, he started English Country Walks, a tour company recently featured in the London Times.

I set aside a day of my upcoming trip for a walk with Dave, and thought it might be fun to invite some readers along, if anyone is interested. This year’s walk will be on Saturday, April 17, and will be considerably shorter than the Stonehenge/Salisbury walk. We will be starting in London in the morning and taking the train out to Sussex, from which point we will walk to Bodiam Castle and back, stopping for a nice pub lunch on the way. The walk should be about 8 miles. You can see a full itinerary along with some beautiful photos here.

It will be a nice day to get some exercise, fresh air, and (hopefully) sunshine as we take in natural beauty and a piece of history (along with a few pints of Guinness). If formal book signings aren’t you bag and you’d rather just have a chance to hang out (or interrogate me on ward theory and Arlen’s relationship with Leesha), think about coming along. You can book one of the (quite limited) spots on Dave’s site. Tell him I sent you. Bookings will be at the group rate of £55/per person, which will cover everything including the train, entrance to Bodiam Castle, and the pub lunch.

So, anyone up for a walk? If not, I’ll have to go it alone…

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:19 pm by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Events, Fans, Life, World Traveler
12 Comments »

@_TheVoyager_,  my UK publisher, seems to be taunting me on twitter, sending out this desk shot of a Desert Spear hot off the presses next to a First Edition Painted Man:

Me wants it. It is my precious…

Posted on March 19, 2010 at 1:40 am by PeatB
Filed under Desert Spear, World Traveler, Writing
4 Comments »

As I’ve mentioned before, I will be visiting the UK next month (April 15 – 21) to promote  the British release of The Desert Spear (April 1, 2010; Voyager Books). It’s a short trip mostly centered around the London Book Fair, but I will be doing some other fun stuff while I am in town, starting with two London signings on April 16.

The first signing will be at Goldsboro Books in the famous Cecil Court in West London. The good folks at Goldsboro were early supporters of me in 2008 when The Painted Man first released in the UK, stamping 150 books with my six hand-drawn character avatars, selling them in signed & numbered sets of 25, in addition to another 100 regular signed copies.

That’s right, I signed 250 books that day:

Apparently, people enjoyed those stamped and numbered books, because Goldsboro has asked me to return and sign another batch for them, this time of The Desert Spear. I’ll do this during the day on April 16, so if you’re interested in one of these limited edition books, you can pre-order one from Goldsboro now.

Of course, if you’re interested in a signing with a more personal touch, meet me at the Forbidden Planet bookstore that evening (April 16, 6-7pm). Here’s a pic from my 2008 signing:

Above from right to left we see Chantal (who is awesome) in the red and her friend Sophie (who is doubtless awesome as well, since she hangs out with Chantal) in the powder blue. In the pink is Liz from My Favourite Books, as lovely a lady as you will ever meet. I’m the doofy guy in black.

Forbidden Planet is a great store, selling comics, statues, toys, books, and gaming materials. There’s also a whole Dr. Who section, if that’s your bag. I’m a big fan of FP. We have one in NYC as well, though I hear there is something of a rivalry with the London shop. In addition to any sales my signing generated, I generated a few myself, walking out that night with a nice stack of comics. Check out their author signing table, in itself a collector’s dream:

So if you’re in London on the 16th, stop in and say hi! After the signing ends at 7, my friends and I will be heading out to one of the local pubs to enjoy a few pints of Guinness, and everyone is welcome to come along and chat at bit.

Of course, I can’t stay out too late, as I have to get up early the next day for a walk. But I’ll talk about that next post…

Posted on March 18, 2010 at 6:24 pm by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Desert Spear, Events, Fans, Sales, World Traveler, Writing
16 Comments »

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 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
15 Comments »