Time’s Running Out!
Only four days left to submit your entry for my Haiku Review Contest and have a chance to win some cool prizes.
Enter now!
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More Yakkin’ and Jawin’
Been a while since I posted any interviews or reviews. There have been a few piling up, but I’ve had a lot of other things on my plate. I just finished a rough draft of The Duke’s Mines, another Arlen Messenger short, and knocked out 1200 words of The Daylight War today. I also have edits on The Desert Spear from Del Rey that I need to get on. This is on top of negotiating to buy some office space so I can work, and frequent daddy duty.
I know, bitch, bitch, bitch.
So here are some fun links:
There’s a nice mini-interview I did for John Joseph Adams on Tor.com. The article is called The Warded Man… in 60 Seconds, and as promised, it’s a quick read.
There’s a really great Warded Man review on Black Gate. I almost crapped my pants reading it, because the review starts out with a tone that makes you think the reviewer is going to really rip into it, and then it suddenly turns into a glowing and powerful endorsement that really understood what I was trying to do in the story. I didn’t see that coming.
Fantasy Magazine posted a great Warded Man review a couple of weeks ago, as well, and there’s one on Christina Rickard’s blog, another on A Mingled Yarn, and a few more on Rate it All, including one where someone writes this nice review saying they liked the book, and then gave it 2 out of 5 stars. WTF?
James on Speculative Horizons was threatening to review The Painted Man for a while, and finally posted that today. He generally gives it a thumbs up, but gave a few criticisms. What was amazing was the fact that several people quickly commented in my defense, and an interesting debate came out of it. Check it out here: Speculative Horizons Painted Man Review.
Couple more Painted Man reviews on The Deckled Edge and Unbound, as well.
I’ll be doing an post soon dedicated to my German readers, with interviews, reviews and the like for Das Lied der Dunkelheit, AKA The Song of Darkness, which is the German title. Be on the lookout for that wenn Sie Deutsch sprechen.
l’Homme Rune
Awesome news out of Paris this week. The Warded Man, AKA The Painted Man, AKA Malowany Czloweik, AKA Das Lied der Dunkelheit, AKA El Hombre Marcado, has a new brother: l’Homme Rune, book 1 of le Cycle des Demons!
L’Homme Rune, the French translation, will be released in France and Belgium (and I think part of Switzerland) on October 2, 2009 from Milady, the newest imprint from Bragelonne publishing. Some of you may recall my visit to the Bragelonne offices during my all-too-brief trip to Paris last year. If you read French, you can check out Bragelonne’s recap of my visit. I assume it’s kind, but my French has really degraded to “Je m’appelle Peat” and “Je ne parle pas Francais”. Still, I’m going to make a real effort to read l’Homme Rune, in hopes that my familiarity with the source material will help revive something from the the 5 years of French classes I took almost 20 years ago. There’s also the interview I did for Bragelonne, available in both English and French.
I had an amazing time seeing Paris with publisher Stephane Marsan, and meeting his incredible staff. It was heartwarming to see a group of people who love their work so, and who act more like family than coworkers. I felt like I was in very good hands. Once, many years ago, I worked in an office like that, and I know what a rare and precious thing it is. I’ve spent years trying to find it again, but I think it really was a once in a lifetime experience.
But I digress. Interesting fact about the French edition: It will include the original Prologue to the novel, which was excised from the English language edition, and does not appear in any of the other translations. Stephane loved that prologue, and did not agree with the decision to remove it. I for one, am delighted to have an edition where it is added back in.
But wait! There’s more!
Yes, we have a cover. And not just any cover, a FRIGGIN’ AWESOME cover by stellar French artist Miguel Coimbra! Like the first Japanese volume, it depicts a scene from the book (my favorite cover style, no matter what the Western publishers say), showing young Arlen facing down the immense rock demon One Arm.
Of course, the artist took some license, as the world didn’t explode during One Arm’s assault, but hey. You can’t argue with awesome results.
Click for a bigger view:
Suvudu Chat
As I mentioned last week, I will be doing a live chat on the Del Rey mega-blog Suvudu.com tomorrow, Thursday June 4, at 2PM EST with (Red Wolf Conspiracy) author Robert Redick, moderated by Robert’s editor, Kaitlin Heller (details here). You can send in questions for Robert or myself in advance by e-mailing info@suvudu.com (and be entered in a sweepstakes to win a free signed copy of either The Warded Man or The Red Wolf Conspiracy), or you can stop by tomorrow at 2PM EST and ask them live. NO LOGIN NECESSARY!
We’ll be on for an hour, and I’m counting on you, noble reader, not to leave me hanging with nothing but my junk in my hands.
You can set a reminder and (theoretically) view the chat right here in this embedded window:
Also, don’t forget to enter my Haiku Review Contest for some cool prizes. Come on. It’s only 17 syllables. You know you want to. Contest ends June 17!
Haiku Review Contest
As mentioned the other day, Carrie Harris reviewed The Warded Man (AKA The Painted Man) as a Haiku, which I thought was pretty awesome, and gave me the idea for a fun contest.
The rules are simple. Review the book in Haiku form (three lines, 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively) and post it in the comments section of this blog. Bonus points if you can do it in Japanese (if my comments section can’t accomodate the characters, you can scan and e-mail your haiku to peat@www.petervbrett.com and I will insert it as an image file – please include a translation!).
Enter as many times as you like, and I will pick a winner in 17 days (5+ 7 + 5). Contest starts tomorrow, Monday, June 1, and will end on June 17.
First place gets a signed set of the three manga-sized editions that comprise the book’s Japanese translation:
Second place gets a signed first edition US hardcover copy of The Warded Man:
Have fun! I am totally psyched to see what people come up with.