Blake Charlton's Blog, page 11
February 7, 2010
News Post: Exclusive Spellwright Excerpt & DIY Book Tour FTW
Hermanos y Hermanas de la Fantástica:
Here's a pretty frakken important med student tip: Should you be listening to a Medical Spanish podcast about sexually transmitted diseases, do *not* listen and practice pronouncing the vocabulary from said podcast while running on a treadmill in the gym. ¡Estoy embarazada! Oh…wait…that mean 'I'm pregnant?' ¡Al diiiiiablo, Charlton!
Excerpt!More of Spellwright has escaped onto the internet. In addition to the first few chapters on my website, you can now, ...
February 3, 2010
What Happens to a Debut Author's Brain on #Amazonfail
[Soft lights up on a small messy room. BLAKE lies sleeping fitfully on mattress with a unlikely tangle of sheets. Down stage and to the right of the bed lies THE UNIVERSE INCARNATED IN A PROTEAN PILE OF CLEANED BUT UNFOLDED LAUNDRY.:]
THE UNIVERSE INCARNATED IN A PROTEAN PILE OF CLEANED BUT UNFOLDED LAUNDRY: [quivering as it speaks:] Blake…wake up.
BLAKE: Zzzzz…mMrmmmm…zzzz.
THE UNIVERSE INCARNATED IN A PROTEAN PILE OF CLEANED BUT UNFOLDED LAUNDRY: [harshly:] Blake!
BLAKE: Zzzz…Huh? Who's there?
THE...
January 31, 2010
Self Q&A: Why You Can't Pre-order Spellwright on Amazon Right Now
Q: Blake, why can't I pre-order your book on Amazon?
A: Well, Blake, MacMillian (publishing conglomerate) and Amazon are fighting about ebook pricing.
Q: Why?
A: It's kinda messy. Likely not worth your Sunday.
Q: I like messy.
A: That's not really a question.
Q: Bitch, please.
A: Fine, here's MacMillian's message to authors/illustrators and Amazon's response. There are plenty of intelligent analyses of the situation. Check out such by Toby Buckell or by Charles Stross or by Scott Westerfeld or a...
Q&A: Why You Can't Pre-order Spellwright on Amazon Right Now
Q: Blake, why can't I pre-order your book on Amazon?
A: Well, Blake, MacMillian (publishing conglomerate) and Amazon are fighting about ebook pricing.
Q: Why?
A: It's kinda messy. Likely not worth your Sunday.
Q: I like messy.
A: That's not really a question.
Q: Bitch, please.
A: Fine, here's MacMillian's message to authors/illustrators and Amazon's response. There are plenty of intelligent analyses of the situation. Check out said by Toby Buckell or by Charles Stross.
Q: Huh.
A: That answer your...
January 27, 2010
Huzzah! SPELLWRIGHT receives a *Starred* review from Booklist!
I'm excited to announce that SPELLWRIGHT has received a coveted starred review from Booklist, the publication of the American Library Association. I'm especially proud to add this to the starred review from Library Journal! See below for an advance uncorrected version of the review that will appear in the 2010 February 15th issue.
Spellwright.
Charlton, Blake (Author)
Feb 2010. 352 p. Tor, hardcover, $24.99. (9780765317278).
[STARRED REVIEW:] Charlton's first novel superbly tells the story of a y...
January 19, 2010
Book Recommendation: High Yield Embryology
I discovered this novel during my first year of medical school and found it difficult, insightful, but nothing worth comment. Since then I have had two years to write novels, read reviews in the New York Times Review of Books, wear skinny pants, and walk my labradoodle around The Mission in San Francisco. As such, I have profoundly changed as a reader. A second and more artistically and critically rigorous reading of High Yield Embryology has demonstrated to me that no other novel written...
January 12, 2010
First Video Interview (courtesy of Peter V. Brett & EtOH)
The Warded Man himself, Peter V. Brett has posted a bit of video reconnaissance from last year's World Fantasy Convention. Click here for the full report also featuring NYT best seller Brent Weeks & the infinitely charming Gail Carriger.
See below for an embedded interview in the hotel bar 
January 11, 2010
"Adult" Fantasy
**Just as in this popular humorous post, an infinitely fractional part of the below actually happened to me**
[Lights up on an atrium after grand rounds--fichus plants, white walls with tasteful hospital art. Upstage stand several folded tables with bagels on them. The CROWD OF DOCTORS, dressed in white coats, is milling about the table, chatting, holding paper plates with one or two bagels on them. Spot lights up on BLAKE, wearing white coat, and a MINOR DEITY OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, wearing...
January 6, 2010
Two Sides of Thirty Something
The holidays and my birthday have passed, and somehow I'm thirty. Not at all sure how this happened. Certainly didn't plan for it. Thinking back to the chap I was ten years ago—a hyper anxious undergrad who was sure he had been admitted by mistake and _worse_ had only just figured out to shave his head and was considering growing it out again—makes me cringe. Back then I thought that by the time I was thirty, I would have it all figured out: career, money, family, after thirty there wouldn't ...
Wonderful Reviews from Publisher Weekly & Library Journal & a Brief Perspective
Somehow I never got around to blogging about the last two Pre-pub reviews that came in during 2009. I'll post them below and then reflect briefly on how this aspect of publishing appears to the eyes of a newbie author.
The first review is from Publishers Weekly. The complete review can be found here. It's solid that made me smile. The reviewer wanted more world building, which is understandable. I'm not interested or able to write the quarter million word tomes that are masterpieces of...
