Brian McClellan's Blog, page 32

Return to Honor

I've got a new powder mage short out from Orbit Books as a bit of an anticipation-builder for Autumn Republic next month. Return to Honor takes place immediately between Promise of Blood and Crimson Campaign. Here's the cover copy:

Captain Vlora is a powder mage in the Adran army. Once the favored, adopted daughter of the field marshal, she is now a pariah amongst those she called her family. Her superior officers would like nothing more than to send her to a far off posting and forget about her, but no one is exempt when there is a war - and powder mages are desperately needed. 

When a traitorous guard captain goes on the run with information that could harm the war effort, Vlora is sent on his trail. She has three days to find him; she will have to make new friends and test the limits of her skills. Fail, and good soldiers will die. Succeed and maybe, just maybe, she can begin to work her way back into the field marshal's good graces.

Hope you guys enjoy! Get it in ebook from your favorite online bookstore today!

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Kinnen Hotel Audiobook

The audiobook is now out for Murder at the Kinnen Hotel! It went up earlier this week, narrated by the lovely Julie Hoverson (same narrator as Forsworn). You can get it on Audible or iTunes today!

Don't forget to pre-order your hardcover copy of Kinnen Hotel as well! As of right now, there are still a handful of numbered editions left, so be sure to order yours quick!

/r/fantasy Stabby Awards

If you're the Redditing type, /r/fantasy has up its yearly award voting. There are a ton of categories from "Best Novel" to "Best Game" and beyond. If you'll remember, Promise of Blood won "Best Debut Novel" last year and I got a pretty awesome Stabby knife with my name engraved on it and everything.

This year, Crimson Campaign has been nominated for "Best Novel" and Murder at the Kinnen Hotel for "Best Short Fiction."

So head over and vote! 

Christmas Kindle Daily Deal

For all two of you who might happen to drop by the website here on Christmas Day, Promise of Blood is a Kindle Daily Deal at $2.99! Great for a last-minute stocking stuffer for friends, family, or yourself. Spread the word!

Patreon

Over the weekend I set up a Patreon. For those that don't know, Patreon is a crowd-sourced patronage site that allows you to support creative people and endeavors with an automatically reoccurring donation each month. It can be as small or as large as you'd like, stopped and started whenever you want, and the artist gets everything minus a modest site fee (which varies, but is around $.30 + 8%)

The purpose of my Patreon is to allow me to have more time for side projects like self-pubbed stories, annotated fiction, and articles that talk about the business of writing. The articles (like the one where I talked about the economics of a book fair) will start coming for free on my blog every month (instead of sporadically). In addition, Patreon-backers will get advance looks at my new self-published projects as well as other cool peeks-behind-the-curtain.

You can read more by heading over to my Patreon page. Thanks for everyone's support!

Kirkus Review of The Autumn Republic

Another review is in for The Autumn Republic! This time it's from Kirkus, who have given the third book in the Powder Mage Trilogy a starred review. I'm very happy with this one. I've quoted the best bit below, or you can read the whole thing here.

"...fully realized characters contend with a stunning tangle of plots, counterplots, perfidies and conundrums against a highly textured backdrop. The action sequences that intersperse all this are as ferocious as ever, and it’s so inventive that it sometimes seems as though McClellan’s doing it just because he can.

A slam-bang conclusion to an outstanding trilogy."

Yeah! I'm so excited Just eight weeks from today until The Autumn Republic hits shelves.

Kinnen Hotel Hardcover

I got the proofs of the hardcover for Murder at the Kinnen Hotel this week. After a little bit of color adjusting, I've approved the proofs and sent my order to the printer. That means I can put the hardcover up for pre-order!

Here's how this is going to work: the first 100 hardcovers will be signed, dated, and numbered. Once again, these are first-come, first-serve during the pre-order phase. Once the numbered editions are sold out you'll just get a signed and dated edition. Numbered editions are not guaranteed, so get your order in quick.

If you got one of the initial batch of 100 of Forsworn and Servant of the Crown, you have until the 19th of December to request the corresponding numbered edition of Kinnen Hotel. The logistics of this are a bit overwhelming, but I'm going to do my very best to match these up for people.

The hardcovers of Kinnen Hotel will ship by the second week of January (but quite possibly sooner). PRE-ORDER NOW.

Publishers Weekly on Autumn Republic

I'm very pleased to report that one of the earliest reviews of book three in the Powder Mage Trilogy, The Autumn Republic, is a glowing piece from Publishers Weekly! The paywall may prevent you from seeing the full review here, so I've quoted some tidbits below:

"...sharp and moving conclusion to McClellan's French Revolution-inspired fantasy."

"McClellan is unafraid to show tragic consequences and he wisely resists tying up his plot into a too-neat conclusion, allowing some character deaths and glimpses of the unending work of nation-building."

"...will please fantasy readers with a historical bent and a taste of the bittersweet."

The Autumn Republic is out February 10th! Find out where you can pre-order here.

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Final Deal of the Year

The Black Friday sale for my website store finished this morning, but people are still doing their holiday shopping, so...

Between now and the 26th of December, you can get 30% off all copies of Promise of Blood in the store with the code BLACKPOWDERCHRISTMAS. You can now also get the entire collection of Powder Mage short fiction in just one download for $9.99 ($12 if you buy them separately).

Happy Holidays everybody!

And for your viewing pleasure: a Lego Field Marshal Tamas sent to me by a fan!

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Weekend Buys: Black Friday Edition

Here are some book recommendations for the Black Friday shopper out there on the interwebs. Instead of my usual "three books" post, I'm just throwing up some cool deals for books/series/authors that I enjoy and letting you guys go to town.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - $24.99 - What's this doing here? It's not a book! Well too bad, because it's my blog. Civ: BE has gotten mixed reviews but I know a lot of people have been waiting for it to go on sale to give it a try. Personally, I'm a big fan and since it's 50% off, you should hop on.

Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Boxed Set - $15.00 - The Mistborn Trilogy in mass market paperback. It's a staple fantasy read these days, and this would make a great gift for the budding fantasy reader.

Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance ebook - $3.75 - The second book in Brandon's Stormlight Archive mega-series. Good time to grab it if you've read the first and been waiting to get this one. Or get them both together. Way of Kings is only $7.68.

Sam Syke's City Stained Red ebook - $1.99 - Sam is a friend and fellow Orbit author, and this book is the first in his new series. I loved it enough to give it a blurb.

James S.A. Corey's Cibola Burns ebook - $3.75 - The latest in the Expanse series. The best space opera has to offer. Seriously, I love this series and if you haven't started reading it yet you should do so now. Book one, Leviathan Wakes, is just $5.99.