Jeff Sampson's Blog, page 2
December 24, 2010
Woo Christmas Eve!
Basically most of my day to day life involves writing and books now, with the exception of evening treks to a friend's house to watch Community and Top Chef All Stars (hootie hoo!), amongst our other shows, and the occasional movie outing (omg Social Network and Black Swan!). As such, today's blog post is not about Christmas plans (as my frenzied writing marathons kept me from shopping, which delayed Christmas, which means I RUINED CHRISTMAS OH GOD). But it is about a completely awesome and unexpected Christmas Eve gift I got this morning.
The package, with a note from my editor, Kristin:
And what could possibly be inside? Oh, what's this? Two finished copies of Vesper fresh off the press? It's a real book?! Hells to the yeah!
This little book took four years from inception to existence, and it was a long and depressing and exciting and anxiety-fueled but ultimately rewarding experience. In one month this will be on shelves around the country. I am scared to death of what people will think. That hasn't stopped me from obsessively reading reviews anyway. For any of you guys who takes the time to read this, I really hope you like it. If you don't, uh, well, maybe not directly tell me about it.
Okay! So happy Christmas Eve to all that celebrate. I'm thinking friends and I may spend ours with some adult beverages and a bad Christmas-themed horror movie. We're traditional like that.
Woo Christmas Eve!
Basically most of my day to day life involves writing and books now, with the exception of evening treks to a friend's house to watch Community and Top Chef All Stars (hootie hoo!), amongst our other shows, and the occasional movie outing (omg Social Network and Black Swan!). As such, today's blog post is not about Christmas plans (as my frenzied writing marathons kept me from shopping, which delayed Christmas, which means I RUINED CHRISTMAS OH GOD). But it is about a completely awesome and unexpected Christmas Eve gift I got this morning.
The package, with a note from my editor, Kristin:
[image error]
And what could possibly be inside? Oh, what's this? Two finished copies of Vesper fresh off the press? It's a real book?! Hells to the yeah!
[image error]
This little book took four years from inception to existence, and it was a long and depressing and exciting and anxiety-fueled but ultimately rewarding experience. In one month this will be on shelves around the country. I am scared to death of what people will think. That hasn't stopped me from obsessively reading reviews anyway. For any of you guys who takes the time to read this, I really hope you like it. If you don't, uh, well, maybe not directly tell me about it.
Okay! So happy Christmas Eve to all that celebrate. I'm thinking friends and I may spend ours with some adult beverages and a bad Christmas-themed horror movie. We're traditional like that.
August 10, 2010
Vesper: The Cover!
Here is the final, pre-blurb cover for VESPER, the first book in my new YA series Deviants. It comes out at the end of January/early February. And I LOVE this cover. Like, a lot.
I haven’t been blogging much since I’ve been dealing with an annoying leg infection for like a month and a half, but I’ve been cheered up the past few weeks by tons of awesome book bloggers featuring Vesper as a book to watch in 2011 (or, at least, as one that has a cool cover). Look at all these awesome people: Dark Faerie Tales, Once Upon A Review, Extreme Reader Book Reviews, Reading Addict, La Femme Readers, The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly Reviews, The Bookologist, Tynga’s Reviews, and Angieville.
I’ve no doubt that the rising number of people adding Vesper to their to-read lists on Goodreads is because of these bloggers, so yay! If you haven’t added Vesper as to-read yourself, it’s never too late! Oh and if you want to casually vote on my book in those list of 2011 books it’s on, I won’t mind, promise.
Lastly, Kelsey over at the fabulous The Book Scout blog did the very first interview with me about Vesper for her Introducing 2011 series. You can read it here.
And now I need to run off and continue living the glamorous life of a YA author, which involves me doing the dishes and then elevating the wonky leg. I hope you guys love the cover for Vesper as much as I do!
Vesper: The Cover!
[image error]
Here is the final, pre-blurb cover for VESPER, the first book in my new YA series Deviants. It comes out at the end of January/early February. And I LOVE this cover. Like, a lot.
I haven’t been blogging much since I’ve been dealing with an annoying leg infection for like a month and a half, but I’ve been cheered up the past few weeks by tons of awesome book bloggers featuring Vesper as a book to watch in 2011 (or, at least, as one that has a cool cover). Look at all these awesome people: Dark Faerie Tales, Once Upon A Review, Extreme Reader Book Reviews, Reading Addict, La Femme Readers, The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly Reviews, The Bookologist, Tynga’s Reviews, and Angieville.
I’ve no doubt that the rising number of people adding Vesper to their to-read lists on Goodreads is because of these bloggers, so yay! If you haven’t added Vesper as to-read yourself, it’s never too late! Oh and if you want to casually vote on my book in those list of 2011 books it’s on, I won’t mind, promise.
Lastly, Kelsey over at the fabulous The Book Scout blog did the very first interview with me about Vesper for her Introducing 2011 series. You can read it here.
And now I need to run off and continue living the glamorous life of a YA author, which involves me doing the dishes and then elevating the wonky leg. I hope you guys love the cover for Vesper as much as I do!
June 9, 2010
Books Books Books
Oh mah god, how can a whole month DISAPPEAR? I swear just yesterday it was the beginning of May. Now it’s nearing the middle of June, which is lame ’cause I cannot stand the heat. At all. And it’s getting hot. I dream of getting one of these:
That circle blasts AIR. Without the use of blades. Is that not the coolest, most space agey thing EVER? But until they’re not HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS I’ll just deal with my janky, old, regular fan. Even if it does get super dusty.
Anyway, so the past month disappeared because of, as always, book stuff. The days all fly by fast and furious, especially since I’m working on the sequel to Monster Slayers at the exact same time I’m writing Deviants book 2. Two more different books I can not imagine, for realz. My mind can barely contain all the madness. So let’s see what’s gone down lately….
Monster Slayers by “Lukas Ritter” was officially released on May 11 and is in stores everywhere. Really! I went to Barnes & Noble to look and everything. Check it:
And I think that’s all. Man no wonder the days are flying by all fast and furious. What’s worse is all this writing stuff is keeping me from the important things like playing Prince of Persia, Alan Wake, Picross 3D, and The Sims 3: Ambitions. Don’t my editors and agent know there’s important virtual work to be done? My Sims author isn’t going to sit down and write his novel all by himself, now will he?
Until next time….
June 8, 2010
Books Books Books
Oh mah god, how can a whole month DISAPPEAR? I swear just yesterday it was the beginning of May. Now it’s nearing the middle of June, which is lame ’cause I cannot stand the heat. At all. And it’s getting hot. I dream of getting one of these:
That circle blasts AIR. Without the use of blades. Is that not the coolest, most space agey thing EVER? But until they’re not HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS I’ll just deal with my janky, old, regular fan. Even if it does get super dusty.
Anyway, so the past month disappeared because of, as always, book stuff. The days all fly by fast and furious, especially since I’m working on the sequel to Monster Slayers at the exact same time I’m writing Deviants book 2. Two more different books I can not imagine, for realz. My mind can barely contain all the madness. So let’s see what’s gone down lately….
Monster Slayers by “Lukas Ritter” was officially released on May 11 and is in stores everywhere. Really! I went to Barnes & Noble to look and everything. Check it: Yes, we totally picked the pen name “Lukas Ritter” so it’d be shelved next to Rick Riordan’s books. It was a coincidence that both Monster Slayers and Red Pyramid came out on the same day though.Monster Slayers is also my first eBook! Honestly, I never really paid attention to eBooks because I’m a freak who needs to feel pages, and who wants my house built entirely from hardcover novels one day, but knowing that my books are available on, like, Kindles and Nooks and shiz kind of makes me want to get an eReader. You can get the Kindle version on Amazon, or get the ePub format one at the Sony eReader site. Much like the crazy blade-less fan above, this makes me feel like we’re in Star Trek.Remember The Death and Life of Emily Cooke, the first book in the Deviants series? Of course you do, I’ve been talking about it since forever. Well, this is the book of a million titles. Originally it was called Wildeside. Then it was The Savage Files. Then The Vesper Files. Then, at long last, the Emily Cooke title. And all was well and good . . . until a few weeks back I learned that marketing at HarperCollins wanted a new title. Something shorter and punchier. We were happy to oblige, and thus the book became (bum ba da!) Vesper: A Deviants Novel. I love the new title because it allowed me to dig through the text and make some changes that I think added some really cool connotations to the overall mythology of the series. But, uh, since you haven’t read word one yet, that probably doesn’t mean much.The new title needed to be decided on quick because Vesper is going to become an ARC any day now! Recently I received the galley pages for the advance readers copy, which filled me with glee since it was the first time I got to see the manuscript in a format other than a plain Word document. You can check out some photos I snapped in my Facebook album. And if you really want, you can strain your eyes to read the first couple paragraphs of the book…I also got the cover for the ARC and ohmigod, it is so damn cool. I can’t post it because we’re getting the finished cover anytime now, but judging by the text only version I was sent, the final cover is gonna rock, like, super hard.The ARC cover revealed to me that the official release date for Vesper: A Deviants Novel is January 25, 2011. That’s only six months away! That kind of blows my mind, even more than the space fan.In a few scant weeks I’m being flown to Washington D.C. by Wizards of the Coast to sign Monster Slayers at ALA. I’m a little bit scurred because I’ll have to fly on a plane all by my lonesome and probably rent a car and all that, but I’m excited to sit down in the always-awesome Wizards of the Coast booth and meet the publishing folk and librarians who stop by. My back has been killing me lately (ugh, so out of shape), so I may not walk around much . . . though I may not be able to resist the allure of free ARCs everywhere.Finally, in a little more than a month I’m turning 28. TWENTY-EIGHT. Oh lawd, how did I get so old? I started working at writing professionally when I was 18 — I was a right little upstart filled with hubris and big plans. I decided I would be published by 21 and afterward become world famous. I sort of hit then first part of that goal (I was published right before I turned 23), but now I look back at wee little me and say, “Oh man, I wish I still had your thick, luxurious hair.” And also, “Haha, teenage me! If only you knew the work to come. If only you knew.” I’ve been working as a writer in publishing for a decade now, and it’s only now that I’m having the big-ish releases I dreamed of. So note to anyone reading this who wants to be an author: settle in for the long haul, or don’t settle in at all. Seriously.And I think that’s all. Man no wonder the days are flying by all fast and furious. What’s worse is all this writing stuff is keeping me from the important things like playing Prince of Persia, Alan Wake, Picross 3D, and The Sims 3: Ambitions. Don’t my editors and agent know there’s important virtual work to be done? My Sims author isn’t going to sit down and write his novel all by himself, now will he?
Until next time….
April 27, 2010
Return of the Book Pimper
Okay, yeah, no, it’s been full force pimping lately. An endless gale of pimp whooshing into your homes via computer screen. I’m basically that cardboard cutout of The Critic from the show The Critic saying, “Buy my book!” over and over again. But it’s my first hardcover release! It’s exciting! EXCITING!
Anyway, so it’s time for another weekly dose of Monster Slayers/Lukas Ritter news round up!
Several months back I was tasked with writing a short story based on Monster Slayers that takes place before the book. The resulting story, “Training Day,” is now on the Wizards of the Coast website. Click on the cool picture to check it out!
The story was posted alongside a neat D&D game that I had no idea was being created. Written by Wizards editor Susan Morris, The Heroes of Hesiod game is FREAKING ADORABLE. It’s based on the “Training Day” short story, includes characters from the Monster Slayers books, and you are rewarded with CANDY. This is designed as an easy D&D game for kids ages 6 and up and as such includes cute little beholders and dragons to fight. I am totally gathering five friends to play this. Click on the baby monsters to check it out:
And lastly, the first part of the interview I did with my editor Nina Hess is now online to read. We basically went back and forth Interview magazine style, which was a lot of fun. This first part deals with more general talk about Monster Slayers and how it came to be. The second part, which will be posted next week, goes into the nitty gritty of how we work together for those interested in the editor-author relationship. Follow the plush bouncing beholder to read part 1:
And that’s it for today’s Monster Slayers promo blitz. Now I must dash off to lunch with a friend so I can come back and (gulp) actually work on writing a book for once.<input ... ></input><input ... >
Return of the Book Pimper
Okay, yeah, no, it’s been full force pimping lately. An endless gale of pimp whooshing into your homes via computer screen. I’m basically that cardboard cutout of The Critic from the show The Critic saying, “Buy my book!” over and over again. But it’s my first hardcover release! It’s exciting! EXCITING!
Anyway, so it’s time for another weekly dose of Monster Slayers/Lukas Ritter news round up!
Several months back I was tasked with writing a short story based on Monster Slayers that takes place before the book. The resulting story, “Training Day,” is now on the Wizards of the Coast website. Click on the cool picture to check it out!
[image error]
The story was posted alongside a neat D&D game that I had no idea was being created. Written by Wizards editor Susan Morris, The Heroes of Hesiod game is FREAKING ADORABLE. It’s based on the “Training Day” short story, includes characters from the Monster Slayers books, and you are rewarded with CANDY. This is designed as an easy D&D game for kids ages 6 and up and as such includes cute little beholders and dragons to fight. I am totally gathering five friends to play this. Click on the baby monsters to check it out:
[image error]
And lastly, the first part of the interview I did with my editor Nina Hess is now online to read. We basically went back and forth Interview magazine style, which was a lot of fun. This first part deals with more general talk about Monster Slayers and how it came to be. The second part, which will be posted next week, goes into the nitty gritty of how we work together for those interested in the editor-author relationship. Follow the plush bouncing beholder to read part 1:
[image error]
And that’s it for today’s Monster Slayers promo blitz. Now I must dash off to lunch with a friend so I can come back and (gulp) actually work on writing a book for once.<input ... ></input><input ... >
April 23, 2010
Meet Lukas Ritter
Out of the Slush Pile: The Tale of Lukas Ritter
There have also been a few reviews popping up for Monster Slayers from the copies of the ARC that went out. Here’s a couple totally chosen at random that are in no way being excerpted solely because they were positive:
“Lukas Ritter weaves a magical tale that will keep young readers entranced by the story.”
- Reading Review (I should note that the reviewer mistakenly thinks this book takes place in the Dragonlance world; it does not.)
“With non-stop action and adventure, unique monsters, and a bit of magic, this is an exciting story for young and old alike.”
- SciFiChick.com
Thanks, randomly chosen reviewers! I’ll leave you guys with a sneak peak at the cover for Monster Slayers 2, since it’s too cool not to share. The full thing is TOTALLY AWESOME and I’ll post it as soon as they let me!
April 22, 2010
Meet Lukas Ritter
Out of the Slush Pile: The Tale of Lukas Ritter
There have also been a few reviews popping up for Monster Slayers from the copies of the ARC that went out. Here’s a couple totally chosen at random that are in no way being excerpted solely because they were positive:
“Lukas Ritter weaves a magical tale that will keep young readers entranced by the story.”
- Reading Review (I should note that the reviewer mistakenly thinks this book takes place in the Dragonlance world; it does not.)
“With non-stop action and adventure, unique monsters, and a bit of magic, this is an exciting story for young and old alike.”
- SciFiChick.com
Thanks, randomly chosen reviewers! I’ll leave you guys with a sneak peak at the cover for Monster Slayers 2, since it’s too cool not to share. The full thing is TOTALLY AWESOME and I’ll post it as soon as they let me!
