Blog

If you missed out on the mayhem, I just participated in a Live Chat RPG on Suvudu with authors Ari Marmell, Diana Rowland, Jason Thompson, along with some fans. It was, as you might expect, utterly bizarre. You can click the link and scroll through the chat in its entirety, though it ran in real time from 2-4pm this afternoon.

Right in the middle of the business day.

I was unfamiliar with the rules of the game we were set to play (Skullduggery), or the other players/characters, and in true DM fashion, the King of RPGs waited till the last minute to give us the game info. We spent the first half hour of the chat just trying to work out the logistics of the chat software, and then everyone kind of went off in their own direction. We stumbled with frustrating slowness through the adventure, killing first and asking questions later (sorry about that), and in the end hadn’t accomplished much when we ran out of time. But we laughed. All the players were on a conference call, and we were laughing the whole time. I wish that audio feed had been connected to the chat. It was priceless.

In other words, it was just like every other RPG I ever played.

At one point,I said to Kaitlin Heller, the Del Rey editor hosting the festivities from the Random House offices, “This is your job, Kaitlin. You’re at work.” Everyone laughed uproariously. We all were, really, and took a moment to glory in it.

“Honestly,” Kaitlin pointed out, “work isn’t usually this fun.”

It’s true. It may seem like writing or editing fantasy is a blast, but for a good 10 hours or more a day, you’re really just staring at a screen or keyboard by yourself. Often it’s more like 14 hours a day, and trust me, no one’s in it for the money.

But sometimes there is a moment of real joy, when you realize your profession is something you love.

While we’re on the subject, check out this little gem: Seventh Circuit Rules D&D a Threat to Prison Security

Posted on January 26, 2010 at 6:27 pm by PeatB
Filed under Events, Fans, Musings, Writing
1 Comment »

I am very much aware of how incredibly fortunate I am, having my work published all over the world in many languages. This is an opportunity that was unheard of for all but the most blockbusting genre authors just a few short years ago, but the internet has made the world smaller. Thanks to advanced communications technology (and a very good agent), markets are available to me that were closed to far better authors than I less than a decade ago.

But even more than this, this internet has given me the ability to get to know a sampling of the amazing people from every continent on Earth who are sharing in my work. Through this blog, facebook, e-mail, twitter, Myspace, and various internet forums, and with the aid of google translate, I have a level of reader interaction undreamt of just a few years ago.

I always kind of expected my readers to be people like me. Slightly introverted male nerds. I didn’t expect to hear from men and women, grandparents and gradeschoolers, liberals and conservatives, religious and atheists, artists, musicians, writers, jewelers, doctors, models, lawyers, teachers, company presidents, movie producers, game designers, , computer technicians, soldiers, police, and folk from countless other walks of life.

At no time was this more apparent to me than the Desert Spear ARC Contest (DSAC). For those of you who are new to the blog, this was a contest I ran over the holidays (and into the New Year) where I invited readers to submit digital photos of themselves holding one of my books, and my favorites would win signed advance copies of The Desert Spear. The response was amazing, and really overwhelmed me with joy.

I am happy to say that Voyager has promised to send me more advance copies in a few weeks, so the DSAC contest will be resurrected when they arrive. Everyone is still in the running, but I will start accepting new entries as well. Keep that in mind if you’re going to be traveling anyplace special in the coming months. 🙂

One of those new ARCs is already won, though, as French Jess, believing the contest was over, just sent in a few more pictures for fun. Of course, they turned out to be some of the best entries to date. Check these out:

As promised, here are some pictures I took while visiting a medieval city at Les Baux de Provence (yes, Provence like the restaurant where you eat so good!).

And as I wanted to prove you that no one deserve more an ARC than me…

I faced the catapult ordeal

And the pillory!

But it’s always bereable with a good read in hands!

That’s it! Even if the contest is finished, I took a lot of fun doing this pictures, and I hope you enjoyed them 🙂

Posted on January 25, 2010 at 2:36 am by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Desert Spear, Fan Art, Fans, France, Musings, Sales, World Traveler, Writing
5 Comments »

I feel like I haven’t been updating the old Peephole as much as I’d like these days, but it’s been hard of late. I feel like Rojer trying to juggle with his crippled hand sometimes, moving wildly to try not to drop any of the balls.

2010 has been very busy, and it’s just starting up. In addition to playing with the most adorable baby girl in the world and kvelling over my new nephew Pearse, I am working late every night on The Daylight War, book 3 in the Demon Cycle. I am still in the stepsheet phase, but that file is already over 135 pages long and I add a few pages to it every day. I’m really pleased with how the story is developing, and I think it is going to kick some serious ass.

It’s ironic that all my work on The Daylight War is happening at night, but my days are spent working with my publishers on the books I’ve already written. I essentially have 3 books coming out in the next 10 weeks:

1) The Great Bazaar and other Stories: This small hardcover book is coming out from Subterranean Press on January 31. It is a limited edition run; I think they are only printing like 2,000 copies total.

If you enjoyed The Warded/Painted Man and are planning to read The Desert Spear when it comes out, I really recommend The Great Bazaar. The title story is a 60-page novelette about Arlen during his Messenger days. It takes place in Fort Krasia, the setting for much of The Desert Spear, and was specifically designed to bridge the two books.

In addition to the title story are some wonderful scenes from the first book that were cut for space before the final draft, a Krasian dictionary/glossary, and a ward grimoire which shows which symbols protect against which demons, and giving detailed descriptions of the demons themselves. It also has an incredible cover by Lauren K Cannon:

2) The Warded Man MMPB: On March 23, The Warded Man comes out in paperback with a familiar new cover! If you haven’t picked up the hardback because of the price, or if you weren’t drawn to the somewhat plain cover, you are in luck. Del Rey has licensed the awesome UK cover for the paperback, painted by the fantastic Larry Rostant:

3) The Desert Spear: April 13 in the US. Mark your calendars. I cannot tell you how excited I am for TDS to finally come out! I honestly believe that this is the best thing I’ve ever written, and I am so eager to be able to finally hear what people think. Plus, Larry Rostant has given it the Best. Cover. EVER!

I have a couple of updates to the website planned as well, and two secret art projects I am working on with Lauren K. Cannon that I am dying to show off once they are ready. I’m also planning my convention schedule for the year. I am looking at Lunacon in NY in a couple of months, and perhaps I-Con as well. I plan to head to Australia for Worldcon in September, and Ohio for World Fantasy in October. I’m considering a few others, like Balticon, and a couple in California. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!

If anyone is interested, remember to tune into my live-chat RPG on Tuesday!

Posted on January 23, 2010 at 4:45 pm by PeatB
Filed under Desert Spear, Life, Musings, Sales, The Daylight War, Writing
16 Comments »

Kaitlin Heller, one of the editors at Del Rey books, is a nerd.

I know, I know.  That’s hardly a surprise, and Creator knows I live in a glass house in that regard. I’m just saying.

Kaitlin has been trying to get a Del Rey D&D game between authors and editorial going for quite some time, but due to mass scheduling conflicts, her efforts have always come to naught. I gave up D&D several years ago, more out of necessity than choice.  I only had limited free time/creative energy, and needed to make a choice between gaming and writing.

I am at peace with my choice.

Still, I miss ropleplaying games, and last year at my Warded Man launch party, I drunkenly promised Kaitlin that if she ever got that Del Rey game going, to count me in. I meant it, even after I sobered up. Even though I have even less free time now, than I did a few years ago, there still a part of me that wants to put on some Led Zeppelin, get out my graph paper, and roll some dice.

So when Kaitlin invited me to join in a Live Chat RPG on Suvudu to help promote the new Del Rey book King of RPGs, I was intrigued.

Normally I am a D&D purist, and don’t tend to play other gaming systems. Nothing against other games, but I didn’t memorize the Dungeon Master’s Guide, Player’s Handbook, and Monster Manual for nothing. Still, the chat seemed like a nice way to get a quick gaming fix without commitment, and thankfully, Kaitlin never spoke to my old gaming buddies and learned their most cardinal rule:

Never let Peat play a thief.

So… we’ll see how that works out.

Also playing are:

* Ari Marmell, author of The Conqueror’s Shadow, Agents of Artifice, The Tomb of Horrors 4th edition and numerous other fantasy novels and D&D/RPG books!
* Diana Rowland, author of the urban fantasy police procedurals Mark of the Demon and Blood of the Demon!

* A few lucky fans.

You can watch the live chat on Tuesday, January 26, from 2-4pm EST by clicking here.

Posted on January 21, 2010 at 7:19 pm by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Events, Fans
6 Comments »

My nephew, Pearse Brett Foley, was born today at 2:22 pm, 19 inches long and weighing in at a hefty 8 pounds, further securing my genetic legacy to future generations, and giving me another excuse to go to the toy store all the time.

Congratulations to my sister Kelly and her husband Darragh, and welcome to the world, Pearse!

Posted on January 19, 2010 at 5:33 pm by PeatB
Filed under Life
4 Comments »