Isaac Marion's Blog, page 5

Burning World slow burn

Remember book trailers? They were a cool idea that was almost never executed well, with most publishers apparently passing them off to their teenage interns to slap together in Powerpoint rather than hiring any kind of actual filmmaker with a vision—let alone a budget!

I haven't seen a book trailer in a long time. They probably still exist, but they seem to have fallen out of fashion. Nevertheless, I wanted to make one for THE BURNING WORLD. I made one all by myself for WARM BODIES and I thought it was pretty cool. But when I asked my publisher if they wanted to fund a REAL trailer, something with style and flair and genuine cinematic artistry, they looked at me like I was asking them to put on a vaudeville tap-dance show.

"We don't really do those anymore. They don't sell books."

So I gave up that dream, because it's been 5 years since I released a novel and my pocketbook is steadily shrinking I can no longer afford to self-fund my campaign. But I've been doing something else that's...kind of similar? But not quite as cool? But still kinda cool?

It's like...a very slow trailer...that moves at one frame per week...it's pictures and text. It's quotes from THE BURNING WORLD over photos that I took on my various travels. Slowly, one week at a time, it reveals a glimpse of what's going on in this story.

You can follow this slow show (and eventually other Warm Bodies content) on Twitter
Instagram and Tumblr.

3 months to go...
 

Van Fulla Books Tour

You know where I am right now? Sitting in my 1989 VW Vanagon Westfalia in a rocky field on the edge of a suburban construction site somewhere in northern California.

Why??

I am driving down the west coast on something I'm calling the Van Fulla Books Tour (#VanFullaBooksTour !) Because, see, my van is fulla books. Galley copies of THE BURNING WORLD, which I'm delivering to bookstores in order to make some kind of human connection to the people who will (hopefully) be selling my new book. Here's me with one of them!

Tegan from Queen Anne Books, probably the most excited one so far.

And here's the van in question, the portly princess of the road, Porpoise.

Fuck hotels.

I am going ALL THE WAY DOWN. San Diego and perhaps beyond. I'm making a frantic pace to get to all the stores on my list, but on the way back up, things will be more leisurely, and I may do some fan meetups in which you'll get a chance to receive a very special gift. So stay tuned if you like special gifts and/or me.

Basically, I've poured my entire self into this book, like a poorly chosen horcrux, and if no one reads it, I will fade from existence. So I'm going to do ridiculous things to get it out there. Please join me for the disintegration of my sanity.

-Isaac

TREASURE!

Hey friends. As you may have noticed, I'm doing a thing. I'm trying to sell The Burning World on my own little author store widget, for exactly 4 reasons:

I get more of the money! It cuts out the evil empire that starts with A and ends with mazon. You get more of your money, because I can set my own price and I've set it as low as it can go.(here's where it gets fun) I can give you things! Every preorder comes with a download of a very special and magical item that I will talk more about later.It allows me to do this referral game where you spread a link around and get a point for everyone who orders via your link. (and also for every copy you order.) When you reach certain scores, I send you increasingly rare stuff to say thanks.

So far, three people have reached 15 points and received signed copies of “M's Journal," along with a thank you note scrawled by R himself. See?

“M's Journal" won't be published anywhere. So far, there are 3 copies in existence. So if you're one of those crazy kids with huge online followings, or just someone whose enthusiasm is infectious, or just a really good manipulator, this is your time to shine!

Remember that you can copy the referral link out of the Facebook/Twitter posts and repost it other places—texts, emails, blogs, whatever. And if face-to-face is more your style, you can always order multiple copies yourself and sell them to your friends personally. I know that sounds crass. I'm just giving you options! 

I think it's pretty amazing that you guys are helping out like this and I hope these gifts show you how much I appreciate your efforts.

4 months and 21 days to go...

Your imaginary friend,

Isaac

 

Warm Bodies sequel is alive

THE BURNING WORLD finally has a cover.



It's coming February 7th, but if you preorder it from my website you get an instant download of The Exed World Almanac, a mysterious post-apocalyptic "zine" that appears throughout the series and gives a glimpse of what's been happening since we last saw R and Julie.

I also made a bunch of special prizes (including an exclusive story!) for anyone who spreads the word about this book. Check it out on my fancy new site!
isaacmarion.com

Thank you smart and cool and readers I love you very much!

-Isaac

Cover feels, zombie prejudice, and the battle for attention!

Bookish did a cool interview with me to celebrate the reveal of THE BURNING WORLD's cover.

Behold!

 

Prequel Books Are Still Books

I've been having an odd argument with the good people of Goodreads.

THE NEW HUNGER is my second book. It's the second book in the Warm Bodies series. Yet for some reason, Goodreads insists on calling it "Warm Bodies 0.5" and no matter how many times I change it, you guys change it back.

The half-book status I can understand, since it IS a novella, so call it "1.5" if you want...but zero? What is that? If the first book in a series is book 1, then book 0 would have to be...a book that doesn't exist. But this book does exist. You can buy it here. So what's with the zero?

Well, THE NEW HUNGER is a prequel. The story (most of it) takes place before the events of WARM BODIES, and apparently, to a lot of people that means it's somehow a "negative installment" or even not a part of the series at all. As one news item put it, "Marion is calling this a 4-book series, even though one of the books is a prequel."

I don't like this, you guys. This is nonsense. A prequel is as much a "real book" as a flashback is a "real scene" and its place in the series is wherever the author put it.

I didn't write THE NEW HUNGER after WARM BODIES by mistake. It's not "out of order" any more than flashbacks are out of order. It's book 2 for a reason: because your knowledge of book 1 changes the way you read it. It attaches a premonition of hope to an otherwise bleak outcome. Prequels are unique because they tell a story in two overlaid layers of time: the one playing out in these present events, and the one playing out in your memory of the future. And if you take it upon yourself to "fix" the author's "error" and rearrange the books, you lose all that.

So can we keep this book in the series? Can we stop shoving it to the back like supplementary bonus material? Because even if it's not apparent yet, I assure you THE NEW HUNGER is a crucial link in this story. It lays the foundation for much of what's coming, and without it you're going to find yourself quite lost in THE BURNING WORLD.

Ok, the weight is lifted, I'm glad we understand each other, I love you, thank you, goodnight.

-Isaac

WARM BODIES - THE NEW HUNGER - THE BURNING WORLD - THE LIVING

A few months ago, I told you I'd finished the sequel to Warm Bodies. I told you I was calling it The Living, and then I retreated into the editing cave to read what I had wrought. It was the first time I'd experienced the whole story as one piece, and upon reaching the end, I had a realization:

This wasn't the single mammoth tome I thought I'd written. In structure, rhythm, and theme, it was actually two books.

This is why it took me three years of obsessive 7-days-a-week work, why I withdrew from life and lost friendships and grew a white patch in my beard. I knew it was a big story, but it wasn't until it was complete that I could see its real shape: two arcs, two endings, 900 pages...

Maybe the 900 pages should have been my first clue. That would have been a dauntingly long book--about three times as long as Warm Bodies--but what matters more than page count is how the story naturally wants to unfold, and if the story wants two books, who am I to argue?

Sometimes the baby comes out twins.

So without further throat-clearing, I'm proud to announce the final two installments in the Warm Bodies Series:


THE BURNING WORLD
July 5th, 2016


THE LIVING
2017



I'm so excited. I hope you are too. It's going to be a weird and wonderful ride to the conclusion of this story, and while I'm sorry we have wait another year to get there, keep in mind The Burning World is nearly twice the length of Warm Bodies, so you're going to have plenty to chew on. (no zombie pun intended, ever.)

And to anyone worried I'm pulling a Hollywood and trying to stretch a small story across several installments: nope. This is a huge story. It was always a huge story. It's about people discovering who they are across multiple eras of their lives, it's about isolation and love and the many kinds of death, it's about the animal fears that rule civilization and what it might take to overcome them, a doomsday church and an undead corporation and an infinite ladder to the future of all life. Two books should just barely contain it.

So thanks for hanging on with me through these twists and turns of publishing. Nothing in my life happens normally.


-Isaac

Such luster...such sheen...

THE NEW HUNGER is finally on American shelves in all its touchable glory. And it’s shiny!This story takes place eight years before Warm Bodies. It’s a glimpse of R’s first days as a zombie, Julie and Nora’s journeys through the wastelands, and a key moment that set all three on a path toward each other. It’s not just a prequel; it’s a bridge to the upcoming sequel, introducing people and things that will have big roles to play in THE LIVING.For those of you who already read the Zola ebook or the UK paperback, yes, this is essentially the same book, so I won’t tell you it’s a must-have if you already have another edition–but I will tell you it has a new prologue and epilogue and other small revisions throughout, and also a surprise bonus at the end that has made a few readers squeal. So, your call.Here is the plot summary and links to buy, if so inclined. I love you all and can’t wait to show you where this story is going.

THE NEW HUNGER finally gets satisfied

I get it. You're confused. So am I. But it goes something like this.

In 2011, I published Warm Bodies.

In 2013 I published a prequel novella called The New Hunger. I chose to publish it exclusively through Zola Books, an experimental startup that was still in beta and has yet to blossom into its final form.

This was probably not the smartest way to follow up my big debut.


The New Hunger was available only as an ebook, and only on Zola, a brand new, unfinished service that no one had heard of. Even people searching for the book by name often couldn't find it. It was a very, very soft release.


Later that year, a paperback edition finally came out--in the UK. And Thailand. And nowhere else.

Publishing is weird.

In the US, it remained entangled in a complex web of publishing machinations, and I threw up my hands and tried to forget about it while I worked on the sequel.

Now, after three years in limbo, this bruised and neglected novella is finally going to be a real book, available everywhere in the English-speaking world.*






If you're one of the loyal handful who's already read this via Zola or the UK edition, I want to note that this edition has been revised and expanded. There is a new prologue and epilogue and various smaller changes and additions throughout. I won't tell you that it's essential content and that you absolutely must buy another copy, but it is new and it is relevant to the upcoming sequel.**

The book will hit shelves--real shelves made of wood!--on OCTOBER 6.

You can preorder now, before you forget, from any of these fine retailers:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1PhvQA5

B&N: http://bit.ly/1UOGfqK

BAM: http://bit.ly/1KrIf0H

iBooks: http://apple.co/1UOGXUK

IndieBound: http://bit.ly/1TP7kwH

Blio: http://bit.ly/1KrIrNt

Google: http://bit.ly/1ExRsCo

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1Wz4UBe

Thanks! I love you!
-Isaac

*I'm sure it will get an international release soon, but it may be tied to the release of the sequel. More on that as I get more information.
** The sequel is done. It's called The Living. Still a lot of editing work to do, but the story is there, and I'm so fucking excited about it.

Mutterings from the cave

Dear cloud of 1s and 0s floating around my head:
It has come to my attention that I haven't said a word to this lonely blog in almost a year. I have said many words to Twitter and Tumblr but some of you are serious professionals and rely on actual Web Logs for your information and to you, I apologize. Here are some words.

I'm still alive (barely.) I'm still writing (madly.) It's almost done (really.)

More words soon.