Ask the Author: Mark Smylie
Answered Questions (6)
Mark Smylie
Back in the Sirius days the first issue of the comic sold 12k+ and then as is the nature of most series it dropped after that. The first graphic novel (ARTESIA) sold about 9k copies in TPB and HC, the sequels about 6k each (they've been more-or-less out of print for a few years now but have been available digitally up until I pulled them from Archaia/BOOM at the end of last year; Archaia/BOOM's digital reporting did not include copies sold, only $ royalties, so I have no real optics into digital numbers). By comparison THE BARROW has sold about 6900 copies in TPB and 5100 copies digitally, plus some number of audio versions.
Mark Smylie
Hi, Prlqe -- Apologies that I did not see your question sooner, I am not on GoodReads often. Well, the scene is *meant* to bother you; it's the first revelation that Harvald is not the character you might have thought he was. And it is meant to show in a fairly blunt way what life is like in the Middle Kingdoms even for a woman of some privilege. It is only fairly recently in our own history that complaints of sexual assault or abuse would be taken seriously by people in authority, and even today many people are dismissive of such claims. Annwyn does not really have anyone to turn to, or at least feels that way, and unfortunately many people in real life who find themselves the targets of abuse often feel the same way. And as with everything in the book, yes, there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes there.
Mark Smylie
Apologies for not answering sooner, I keep forgetting to scroll all the way down to look at "pending questions." I like many of your cast suggestions, and it strikes me that they can serve quite well as mental images or voices in your head for reading the book. Years ago back when I started working on it (in fact originally as a screenplay) I sometimes had in my head: (a young) Wentworth Miller as Stjepan, Katherine Moennig as Erim (who oddly does kind of look like Kristen Stewart), Alan Cummings as Gilgwyr, Cary Elwes as Arduin, Izabella Miko as Annwyn (pretty close to current Imogen Poots), Ian McShane as Leigh, Josh Holloway as Godewyn, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Guilford. Oddly I've never had a specific actor tied in my head to the character of Harvald.
Mark Smylie
Hello, Guthrie! -- My apologies for the late response, for some reason I did not see your question pending until today. I am still in the middle of writing Black Heart, at current pace I hope to be done in March or so. That would likely place release sometime in autumn of 2016.
Mark Smylie
Hi, Pavel -- My apologies, I did not see this question until today. I am still working on the sequel ("Black Heart"), and hope to have it finished by the end of the year (meaning that it will likely be published in 2016). Sorry about the delay (it's turned into quite a long book, longer than "The Barrow").
Mark Smylie
Hi, Brent -- Apologies, I don't think Goodreads ever notified me that your question was waiting. At the moment I'm working on the sequel to The Barrow, titled Black Heart, and then there'll be a third novel. Black Heart introduces Artesia as a character, and the third novel will tie into and cover the events of the first graphic novel. Once the third novel is finished then I'll be sitting down to figure out if I can get back to doing art again on the comics, or if I have to continue the story in prose format instead. That might not have been the answer you were hoping for.
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