David Anthony Durham's Blog, page 18

Trade Paperback Reboot!

Minutes away from starting the drive toward the Glasgow airport, but I can't help posting news...

As of today, the entire Acacia Trilogy is available in trade paperback editions. Anchor saw fit to republish them in the slightly larger format. I think they make a handsome set, and it doesn't suck that there's a blurb from George RR Martin splattered across the top of each cover!

If you've ever had the hankering for buying them in a format between the hardcover and the massmarket versions, that's now possible. They'd make nice gifts, too...

I've made a few edits, by the way, to the first book. Nothing added, but lots of small trims made to the text. I think you'll find the story completely intact, but with quicker pacing at the beginning. I'm pleased with the changes.

Okay, gotta go...

Unfettered

Proud to announce that I'll be contributing a story for the Unfettered anthology, a project intended to help out Shawn Speakman - webmaster extraordinaire - as he confronts a mountain of medical costs. (Yep, it's one of those American lack of a real healthcare system stories. I so wish we could get that sorted out. I mean really sorted out.)

Here's the press release:

 GRIM OAK PRESS TO PUBLISH UNFETTERED FANTASY ANTHOLOGY 

Genre’s Best Writers to Contribute Against Fellow Writer’s Cancer Debt SEATTLE, WA — Grim Oak Press, a new publishing company formed by webmaster and freelance writer Shawn Speakman, will be producing Unfettered, a fantasy short story anthology by some of the best writers in the genre, for a very good cause. 

In 2011, Speakman was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He completed the recommended chemotherapy, but lacking health insurance, the treatment left him with almost $200,000 of financial debt. At the suggestion of New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks, and with the help of nearly two dozen authors who call Speakman a friend, Grim Oak Press will publish the short story anthology Unfettered, with the proceeds helping to alleviate the medical bills. 

Authors contributing include: Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Naomi Novik, Brandon Sanderson, RA Salvatore, Tad Williams, Jacqueline Carey, Daniel Abraham, Peter V.Brett, Robert VS Redick, Peter Orullian, Todd Lockwood, Carrie Vaughn, Blake Charlton, Kevin Hearne, Mark Lawrence, David Anthony Durham, Jennifer Bosworth, Lev Grossman, Steven Erikson, and Shawn Speakman. 

Some of the authors will be writing short stories set in the fantasy worlds that made them famous. Other writers will be creating entirely new tales. The contribution by so many noteworthy authors of bestselling titles speaks to the generosity found within the science fiction and fantasy communities. 

Unfettered will be published as a trade hardcover as well as a leather-bound, signed and numbered edition limited to 500 copies and autographed by all contributors. Speakman will also publish his full-length urban/high fantasy novel, The Dark Thorn, through Grim Oak Press to further offset treatment expenses. 

 Orders are currently being accepted for The Dark Thorn, which is tentatively scheduled to publish in August 2012. Unfettered will be released by early 2013. 

I hope you'll check out Grim Oak Press and Unfettered and The Dark Thorn!

Turmoil

In complete turmoil as we approach our moving day! We've been in moving mode for two weeks already, but tomorrow we head toward the final stages. It's picking up the rental van and stuffing it full of our bags, and then we drive to Glasgow on Wed for our very early flight on Thurs. There's way too much organizing going on.

Craziness.

But I don't feel I should neglect the old blog/Facebook, so today I offer the happy news that the fabulous UK publisher Gollancz has agreed to reboot the Wild Cards series in Britain! Seems they couldn't turn down GRRM! They'll be publishing the first three books later this year, and then jumping forward to continue with the newer books next year. So before long my characters may be slithering through the UK. I'm pleased about that.

More soon.

Couple of Nice Reviews

Catching up on linking to a few newish reviews of Acacia-related stuff.

Dave Brendon finished up the series and talks about it HERE: DaveBrendon's Fantasy & SciFi Weblog.

Pornokitsch's Underground Reading series writes wonderfully about Acacia HERE.

A Missing First Line

I've been crazy-busy this last week. Between moving out of Upper Park, staying with friends in Aberfeldy, saying goodbye to the wife and kids (who headed toward the Isle of Rum from a family meet-up), to driving up to Aberdeenshire to drop off our stuff and our pets with my sister-in-law (who then also headed to Rum), to driving in to Aberdeen and flying to London for Eastercon, to returning to Aberdeenshire, meeting up with the wife and kids (and everyone else that was on Rum), to driving down to Edinburgh and playing host to our neighbors from Massachusetts... well, it's been a bit hectic.

All throughout it, a batted emails back and forth about some very interesting new developments (more on those if anything comes of them, of course), and I kept reading student work.

I even tried to do some writing! (Not very successfully.)

I want to post at length about Eastercon, as it was a terrific con and I'm very glad I went. So, that post will come.

Right now, though, I want to mention another writer - Mary Robinette Kowal. She has a new novel out today, Glamour in Glass, and guess what? Somehow, at the last minute, the first line of the novel was cut out. Yikes. The book that's hitting shelves as I speak begins exactly one line after she intended. As horrible as that is, Mary has done an absolutely brilliant job of bouncing back from it.

Go check out all the creative things she's done. She's made someone's massive mistake into a wonderfully memorable launch. And talk about instant collector's items....

New Suvudu Interview

New interview, just up at Suvudu!

I'm not sure, but this may be the first time I discuss changes I've made to Acacia in preparation for the trade paperback editions. I don't think it has anything spoilerish in it. Mostly, I talk about GRRM and about the new stuff I'm working on.

Take a look HERE!

Range of Ghosts

Wanted to mention a book making its way into the world!

Just yesterday, Tor published Elizabeth Bear's new novel, Range of Ghosts. It's the start of an ambitious series, one that essentially dispenses with Europeans and looks elsewhere for inspiration.

Here's a great piece Bear wrote about the process of writing the book at Black Gate. It doesn't hurt that she mentions me, but that's not the only reason it's an interesting read! She wanted to write a fat fantasy with maps, but she also wanted to strike out in new territory.

Has she achieved what she was after? The notoriously cranky people at Kirkus Reviews seem to think so. In a starred review, they wrote:

"This lean, sinewy, visceral narrative, set forth in extraordinarily vivid prose full of telling detail, conveys a remarkable sense of time and place, where the characters belong to the landscape and whose personalities derive naturally from it. Though the book is not self-contained, Bear provides this opener with enough of a resolution to satisfy while whetting the appetite for more. Gripping, perfectly balanced and highly recommended."

Frame that and put it on a wall.

I've got my e-copy, trying hard to clear the decks so I can actually read it...

The Shadow Is In Play!

As of today, my middle grade novel - The Shadow Prince - is seeking a publisher.

Last week I got the last round of editorial suggestions from my agent and a couple of other readers at ICM. I penned responses where appropriate over the weekend, and yesterday I sent back my final manuscript. Sloan approved, and he's going to work with it.

We have a rather specific plan in place. I shouldn't blab too much about it, but certainly if it works out I'll let you know all about it.

Funny thing is that this - my first kid's book - is heading for consideration after more editorial input than any novel I've done so far. My wife and kids read it. Several beta readers (all former MFA students of mine) read it. My agent and at least three over people at ICM read it, and some folks at Curtis Brown (my UK agents) read a portion too. Mary Robinette Kowal read a little bit, as did my neighbor (an Egyptologist). Even my librarian read some! All gave feedback and helped shape the novel. I'm sure it's much stronger for it, and in the process I've learned a great deal about writing for kids.

Among other things, I've learned that I really, really enjoy it!

Will post here when I have good news...

So What Does A Guy With a New Children's Book Want to Hear?

Exactly the sort of good-vibe about the status of children's books that's been coming out of the Barcelona Children's Book Fair.

To quote from the article:

 "I'm going to wrap up a number of deals here," said agent Marcia Wernick of the Wernick & Pratt Agency. "That hasn't happened for me in at least 15 years." Overall, attitudes were positive throughout the show, with strong interest in both middle-grade and young adult fiction... 

Nice. I'm not saying that The Shadow Prince was doing the rounds there, but it's nice to know there's optimism in general!

Full story HERE if you want to take a look.

So What Does I Guy With a New Children's Book Want to Hear?

Exactly the sort of good-vibe about the status of children's books that's been coming out of the Barcelona Children's Book Fair.

To quote from the article:

 "I'm going to wrap up a number of deals here," said agent Marcia Wernick of the Wernick & Pratt Agency. "That hasn't happened for me in at least 15 years." Overall, attitudes were positive throughout the show, with strong interest in both middle-grade and young adult fiction... 

Nice. I'm not saying that The Shadow Prince was doing the rounds there, but it's nice to know there's optimism in general!

Full story HERE if you want to take a look.