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Apologies for the shameless plug, but one of the depressing things about The Painted Man being out of stock was the message on Amazon.co.uk saying “This book will not be delivered in time for Christmas.” That really stung.

But no more! Now that we’re back in stock, Amazon has changed that painful message to the much more soothing: Note: this item will be delivered in time for Christmas in the UK.

Now you can give the gift of reading to your loved ones, and keep my baby in diapers, to boot!

Truly a Christmas Miracle.

Posted on December 17, 2008 at 6:35 pm by PeatB
Filed under Sales
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I hit something of a snag while writing The Desert Spear last week. It wasn’t writer’s block, because that is a myth and an excuse. It was more… writer’s clog. I reached the climax of the storyline for two and a half of the the book’s 6 main POV characters, and realized that the scene as it was written in my stepsheet no longer worked smoothly.

This is normal, and not something to be worried about in the long run, but it tends to grind things to a halt while I take some time to mull the problem over and massage out the clog. This is usually when I turn to other projects so I can still feel like I’m working.

And that’s exactly what I did. In addition to the sudden surge in Peephole posts, a number of interview requests had piled up in my inbox over the last couple of weeks while I was writing up a storm, so I got started on those. By the time I finished them, I had mentally worked out all the kinks in TDS and was back to writing.

Part of me is angry at myself for not making my writing quota last week (blogging and interviews don’t count, or else I would have made it three times over), even though I WAS actively working on the story, just not writing prose. It’s funny how we choose to punish ourselves for not exceeding our own standards.

Anyway, two of the interviews I wrote are already up. Take a look:

Fantasy Book Critic is doing a 2008 Review/2009 Preview, wherein various authors, many with names FAR bigger than mine, give their take on the books they themselves read in 2008, as well as what we’re looking forward to in 2009. We work a few plugs of our own work, as well, naturally. It was a lot of fun to go back through my (somewhat meager this year, since we had the baby) 2008 reading list, as well as ponder upcoming goodies. I’ve really been enjoying other authors’ reviews as well.

Also, I had a nice back-and-forth with Mihai at Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews. He had some great questions, and I got to disccuss some of my thoughts on writing and the fantasy genre, and talk about how they applied to my own work. You can read the full interview here.

Posted on December 15, 2008 at 12:18 pm by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Interviews, Writing
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Sometimes in life, you have mixed feelings. A good example from my own life is the day my daughter was born. It was, in many ways, both the best and worst day of my life. I say worst, because I was frantic, and terrified, and hadn’t slept, and there were complications that scared the Core out of me.

On the other hand, I got this out of the deal, so despite all, it was totally worth it, and to spare:

So in a similar fashion, I had mixed feelings a couple of weeks ago, when I noticed The Painted Man was out of stock on Amazon.co.uk, and my agent called the publisher, only to discover that their warehouse was empty, too. The books had sold out.

On one hand, I was like, “I wrote a book and it sold out? Are you fucking kidding me? That is the greatest thing EVAH!” I even did a little dance, and made “Peter is sold out” my facebook status.

But then, all of a sudden, the flip side hits me. It’s Christmas shopping time, and the book is sold out. No one can buy it. My Amazon and Bookscan sales ranks plummeted. People started complaining they couldn’t find it, and there was nothing I could do. That sucked.

But no more! Just got word that Voyager has gone back on press and fresh copies are on their way to the Amazon warehouse and other vendors as I write this! It’s a fantastic feeling to have done so well for Voyager. They took a real chance on me as a debut author, and it’s incredibly gratifying to have been able to show that their trust wasn’t in vain.

In addition to the more obvious awesomeness of this news, it also excites me as a collector, because a second printing makes those first edition hardbacks just a little more precious.

I made “Peter is second printed” my facebook status the other day, and my friend Kim had an interesting comment on that. She said:

Congratulations! Makes me think that this is one of those cases where “second” is definitely better than the first. And being “second printed” has to be the best “second” anything. Better than being “second place” or “sloppy seconds”…though perhaps not quite as good as being at “second base.” Or the second law of thermodynamics. That’s a pretty awesome law.

I agree that the second law of theromdynamics is awesome, but it is also kind of depressing, as it deal with entropy and loss. Second printing is giving something back to the universe, which is much more upbeat. As for second base, it depends on whether you’re talking sports or snogging.

Anyway, that’s all neither here nor there. What you should take away from this is Buy The Painted Man! It’s back in stock throughout the United Kingdom, and Books are Great Gifts!

Posted on December 12, 2008 at 6:12 pm by PeatB
Filed under Sales, Writing
6 Comments »

So guess what I found on Amazon Germany today?

That’s right, Das Lied der Dunkelheit, AKA Song of the Darkness, AKA The Painted Man, AKA The Warded Man, AKA Malowany Czloweik. It’s up for pre-order on Amazon.de. Sweet.

In addition to the glee I generally feel as seeing my book up for sale somewhere, I was very happy to be able to get a better look at the cover, as Amazon had a larger version of the cover than I had seen before. I liked the thumbnail version, but seeing the ancient ruins in the background of this one (just a blur in the thumbnail) makes it all the better.

One of the things I did in the story was leave time gaps, sometimes substantial ones, in the lives of the protagonists. This was an intentional decision to give a highlighted version of their lives in order to keep the book moving quickly while still giving readers the moments that defined who the characters where and what they were about.

But I had an ulterior motive, too. Those years, particularly for Arlen during his Messenger days, are filled with adventure, while not being bogged down by ongoing storylines. I am planning a series of short stories about those “Lost Years”, the first of which, entitled The Great Bazaar, is already written and will be a little treat for readers while they wait for me to finish editing The Desert Spear. I have notes for two more that I will get around to writing eventually. The German cover makes me long to work on them, but first things first.

In other news, I found a nice review of The Painted Man this morning on the blog Pecked by Ducks. It was a fantastic way to start the day.

Posted on December 11, 2008 at 3:58 pm by PeatB
Filed under Craft, Germany, Reviews, Sales, Writing
4 Comments »

Fantastic review on Total Sci Fi today. Helps to wash yesterday’s bile from my mouth.

Work on Desert Spear has slowed a bit this week as I work out a plot snag and dig myself out of other projects that have piled up. I should wrap up the story arcs for 3 of the 6 POV characters by week’s end, though, which will be HUGE.

Posted on December 9, 2008 at 12:01 pm by PeatB
Filed under Reviews, Writing
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