David B. Coe's Blog, page 13

A New Interview on the THIEFTAKER Blog Tour

Back to the Summer 2012 THIEFTAKER Blog Tour today, with an interview at "Fiction Reboot," the blog site of Brandy Schillace.  Brandy and I discuss writing and publishing, reading and criticism, technology and inspiration.  You can read the interview here.  Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks!

This will come as no surprise to any of you, but I have now been doing THIEFTAKER promo stuff for nearly two solid months.  Thank you all for putting up with my posts, my excitement about reviews, my announcements of signings and talks and online events.  I appreciate your patience and your support.  The good news is that eleven days after the book's release, my publisher was already hearing from the warehouse that inventory was low and they needed to print more copies.  They have been waiting for a few more orders before actually going back to press, but we're close, and that's a Really Good Thing.  If you've bought a copy already, thank you so much.  If you haven't yet but are considering it, this would be a great time.  I would love to get a second printing done before the month is out!

Bitten By Books Release Party Going Live Now!

Here is the live link for the THIEFTAKER Release Party/Gift Card Giveaway at Bitten By Books:
http://www.bittenbybooks.com/?p=55526
I'll start answering questions in just a few minutes!

THIEFTAKER Blog Tour Goes to Bitten By Books

The Summer 2012 THIEFTAKER Blog Tour continues today with my Release Party/Gift Card Giveaway at Bitten By Books.  The event begins in about an hour and a half, and anyone and everyone can attend.  You do not have to RSVP to be part of the event, to ask questions, or even to win.  But if you RSVP in the next ninety minutes you give yourself extra chances to win.  here is the link: http://www.bittenbybooks.com/?p=55218.  When the event begins, I will post that link, too.

Two Posts: One on Ideas, One on Violence in Books

The Summer 2012 THIEFTAKER Blog Tour takes me back to familiar ground today.  I have two posts up.  The first, my usual Monday Magical Words post, can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Kalayna Price, C.E. Murphy, and A.J. Hartley.  The post is called “On Creativity and Writing:  Making the Most of Ideas, part I,” and it’s the first post in a series about dealing effectively with new book ideas.  The second post can be found at http://www.sfnovelists.com, the group blog on speculative fiction that I maintain along with a group of over one hundred published authors of fantasy and science fiction.  It is called “A Father and Writer Looks At Violence In His Books,” and it is about how we decide what’s appropriate for your readers.  I hope you enjoy both posts.

Home from the Signing Tour!

Fourteen days, ten cities (well, okay, some of them were towns), 2,930 miles, seven signings, a class on writing taught at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, a business lunch in New York City followed by drop-ins at a couple of NYC Barnes and Nobles, where I signed a bunch of books for stock, visits with wonderful friends and beloved family, and even a couple of truly memorable meals.  I would say that the THIEFTAKER Summer 2012 Signing Tour -- my very first signing tour ever -- was an unqualified success.

I have to admit that as I was preparing to leave for this trip I was intimidated by the scope of what I was doing and afraid that I was setting myself up for one disaster signing after another.  What’s a disaster signing?  That’s when you sit in a store, in front of a table piled high with your books, and no one shows up to buy them.  No one speaks to you.  No one comes near you, because they’re afraid that if they do, if they so much as make eye contact, they’ll HAVE to buy a book that they don’t want.  Disaster book signings happen to just about all of us at one time or another.  I’ve had more than my share of them.

Signing at Books-A-Million in Charlotte with Faith Hunter and Kalayna Price.But this time around I had none.  Not a single disaster.  This is not to say that I had people lining up out the door and around the block to buy copies of THIEFTAKER.  Far from it.  But I did have solid foot traffic at every signing.  And I’m so grateful to every person who came to hear me read, and/or buy a copy of the book.  I hope you enjoyed the various events, and that you’re enjoying the book itself.

Mostly, I want to thank everyone who made the tour possible -- my terrific publicist at Tor Books, Leah Withers, who put much of the tour schedule together; my brother, Jim, who let me stay at his home and came to my Albany signing; my friend, Alan Goldberg, with whom I had a memorable musical afternoon, and who also came to the Albany event; my friends Elyse Poller and Gerald Dunne, who hosted me in Storrs, and told so many friends about the signing that we very nearly sold every copy of THIEFTAKER in the store; James Tracy, the headmaster at Cushing Academy and my closest friend from my graduate school days, who not only offered me the chance to stay in the lovely town of Ashburnham, but also invited me to speak to a creative writing class at the school -- those kids and their teacher then accompanied me to my signing at the Somerville Public Library; my cousin, Lynne Gold-Bikin, who let me stay with her in Pennsylvania, as I made my way from New York to a signing in Claymont, Delaware; Faith and Rod Hunter who hosted me for three wonderfully fun days in Rock Hill, South Carolina, who took me out on the river for a glorious few hours on Monday, and shared a late-night jam session Tuesday; and A.J. Hartley and his charming family, who hosted me for my last night on the road.

Speaking at the Somerville Public Library.And of course, the folks at the various stores where I signed: Maria Perry and her staff, at Flights of Fantasy, Suzy Staubach and her staff at the UConn Coop, Maria Carpenter at the Somerville Library, Greg Schauer and his volunteers at Between Books, Mike Pruett and Alison at the BooKnack, Mel and Rae and the rest of the staff at the Harbison Court Barnes and Noble, and Sonya and her staff at the Cotswold Mall Books-A-Million.

It was as fine a tour as I could have imagined, and I have a pretty good imagination.  How good?  Well, I’m already starting to envision my next tour . . .  Again, thanks so much to everyone who had any part in it.

THIEFTAKER Blog Tour Goes to SFSignal!

After a few days off for travel and signings, the Summer 2012 Blog Tour resumes today with a Q&A at @sfsignal with my friend @bbeaulieu Bradley Beaulieu.  Check it out and join the conversation.  Just beware of John DeNardo’s Pat Benatar earworm . . . “You're a ‪#Thieftaker‬, Dream Maker, Love Taker, don't you mess around with me!”

The THIEFTAKER Blog Tour Continues!

Today’s Summer 2012 THIEFTAKER Blog Tour installments include a post I’ve written for the blog of my good friend Lynn Flewelling, author of the Nightrunner books and the Tamir Trilogy.  The post is about how I chose 1760s Boston as the setting for the Thieftaker books and stories.  I also have an interview up at the Civilian Reader blog of Stefan Fergus, who asked some great questions.  I hope you’ll check out both sites.

THIEFTAKER Featured Today on John Scalzi's Big Idea!!

Today is a very special day on the Summer 2012 THIEFTAKER Blog Tour.  I am posting today on John Scalzi’s “The Big Idea,” blog.   This is a wonderful opportunity for me, and I hope you will visit john’s site and check out my post.  Many thanks.

Today on the THIEFTAKER Blog and Signing Tours

The Summer 2012 THIEFTAKER Blog Tour takes me across the pond today to the blog of my good friend and fellow Magical Words contributor C. E. Murphy, who lives in Ireland.  Catie and I had lots of fun working on our interview -- it can be found here or here.  I also posted at Magical Words today though with that post I took a bit of a break from writing about THIEFTAKER.  In any case, I hope you enjoy both posts.

The THIEFTAKER Summer 2012 Signing Tour has me in Albany, NY, signing this evening at 7:00 at Flights of Fantasy Books and Games.  Hope to see some of you there!