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No, not that 69. Get your mind out of the gutter.

I did an interview last week for The Page 69 Test, a site that asks the question of whether page 69 of The Warded Man is representative of the book as a whole, and whether a browser reading the page would be tempted to continue. The page is quoted at the beginning, followed by my essay. It was a fun exercise, and I enjoyed doing it.

In other news, I got a shout-out for the second month running in the Del Rey Newsletter, DRIN. This one has some pix from my book launch party. Also received nice reviews on Mark Chitty’s SF blog, Walker of Worlds, and Todd Newton’s blog Initial Draft.

If you’re interested in discussing the book on internet forums, there are a few ongoing discussions of The Warded Man/The Painted Man that you can pop into. Beware of spoilers, though, if you haven’t read the book. The forums can be found here.

The official Random House Forum: http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/features/wardedman/

SFFWorld: http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20642

Bookspot Central: http://www.bookspotcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=7313

A Song of Ice and Fire: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=30895&st=0&start=0

Shocklines: http://shocklinesforum.yuku.com/topic/10174/master/1/?page=1

Posted on April 7, 2009 at 1:40 pm by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Interviews, Reviews, Writing
1 Comment »

The word still kind of sticks on my tongue in the way things do when you are afraid that giving voice to them will be a jinx and make them untrue, but after making the bookscan bestseller lists for hardback fantasy in both the UK & US, I suppose the term is apt. My agent certainly thinks so.

The Warded Man made it up to # 8 it’s first week on shelves, and held a respectable # 10 its second, and # 11 its third. Hopefully I’ll keep hanging on when I get last week’s numbers tomorrow. Even if I’m not making the London or NY Times like my new friend Brent Weeks did last week (Congratulations, Brent! Time to set a new life’s goal.), it’s not too shabby. Brent had a head start, anyway, putting out all three books of his Night Angel Trilogy in one year. I’ll be lucky to publish three books in five years.

Across the sea, things are going even more spectacularly, with the paperback of The Painted Man selling over 200 copies the week BEFORE it went on sale, and blowing through the entire Amazon.co.uk stock in just under 18 hours when it went on sale last Thursday. If it had been a day earlier, I would Have thought it was an April Fool’s joke. TPM has been sold out all weekend, but it looks like the stock is finally back. It is also the paperback book of the month at Waterstones, which is awesome. The first printing of the hardback is sold out most everywhere, and the second printing has become scarce as well, with limited availability on the internet and only a small quantity scattered in bookstores throughout the British Isles.

The Painted Man was also apparently was nominated to the longlist of the British Fantasy Awards. We’ll have to see how that develops.

Between this and my beautiful, healthy baby girl who is starting to walk and say “Dada” at only 8 months old, I feel like I am using up all my good karma for the next decade.

You can see Cassie (left) going through daddy’s comics for the first time this morning. Granted, she is more interested in eating them than in reading them, but hopefully it is a sign of more good things to come.

Posted on April 7, 2009 at 1:13 pm by PeatB
Filed under Cassie, Musings, Sales, Writing
3 Comments »

I will be appearing at I-Con in Brentwood, Long Island, this weekend (April 4-5). If anyone is in the neighborhood, stop in and say hello. You can follow the link for more info.

I-Con a mid-sized SF convention I attended last year and enjoyed quite a bit.

Sean Astin will be there this year. I know he can’t carry the ring for me, but maybe if I’m good he’ll give me a piggy-back ride up the slopes of Mount Doom to the unholy cracks of fire where in the depths of time the ring was wrought and forged.

Or maybe he’ll teach me that even short guys can play football. You never know with that guy.

Posted on April 3, 2009 at 9:18 pm by PeatB
Filed under Events, Writing
2 Comments »

I know it’s been a while since a meaty post, but I’ve been busy working on interviews for a variety of websites and publications, which should start filtering out soon. I’ll announce it all here.

In the meantime, some reviews!

There’s a great, spoiler-free review of The Warded Man on the website for January Magazine.

Jessica Strider, Bookseller Extraordinaire from The World’s Biggest Bookstore in Toronto, did a nice interview with me for her blog scififanletter.com a couple of weeks ago, and has followed up with a glowing spoiler-free review of The Warded Man now that she’s read the book. Thanks, Jessica!

FantasyWitch posted a brief review on her blog.  It’s mostly the book’s marketing copy, but she puts her own thoughts at the end.

Mini Warded Man review on Walker of Worlds. He promises a larger one soon.

Great Painted Man mini-review from someone who bought it while traveling in Thailand!

Found another pair of very positive Polish reviews, too. Here are the shitty google English translations for Book I and Book II, as well as the original Polish: Book I and Book II.

P.S.

Thanks so much to everyone who voted for The Painted Man to win the David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy. Looks like voting is closed. We’ll see in a few days if I made the short list.

Posted on March 31, 2009 at 10:37 am by PeatB
Filed under Reviews, World Traveler, Writing
5 Comments »

Even after seven months on the market, The Painted Man has continues to sell like gangbusters in the UK. Better than I ever dreamed.

Well, okay. That’s not entirely true. I’ve dreamed of it selling millions of copies and spawning a Harry Potter-style franchise that made me so incredibly wealthy I could buy a private island with white sand beaches, clear water, and a french maid named Suzette to cater to my every whim while frequently bending over to adjust her garter straps.

Obviously that hasn’t happened.

But that said, the book has sold better than I ever expected it to actually do in the real world. Frankly, last September I was just praying it would sell well enough that Harper Voyager wouldn’t regret having taken a chance on me. I did that, and was relieved, but then things just got surreal. The hardback sold out of its second printing a couple of weeks ago, with Amazon.uk being flat out of copies, and most of the other online sellers listing limited availability. Even bookstores are running out, and the warehouse is empty.

But fear not! On April 2 in the UK, The Painted Man will be available in paperback! Already, still days before release, it has reached an Amazon sales rank higher than the hardback ever did on its best day:

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: HarperVoyager (2 April 2009)
• ISBN-13: 978-0007276141
• Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 11.2 x 3.6 cm
• Average Customer Review:
  

  92 Reviews 5 star: (51) 4 star: (26) 3 star: (12) 2 star: (2) 1 star: (1) › See all 92 customer reviews…

  4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (92 customer reviews)

• Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories:

  #9 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy
  #79 in	Books > Fiction

Look out, Stephanie Meyer! The Painted Man is climbing up to kick some angsty vampire ass!

P.S.

Please don’t forget to vote for The Painted Man to win the David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy! Voting ends Tuesday.

Posted on March 29, 2009 at 10:03 pm by PeatB
Filed under Events, Sales, Writing
9 Comments »