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Last Minute Book Signing in Bakersfield, California

Back by popular demand – more book tour!  Because I just couldn’t get enough. And someone asked me. And it worked out. Allegedly I have some fans there, so please come see me!
September 25th, noon
Borders Bookstore
4980 Stockdale Highway
Bakersfield, CA 93309
661-328-9800

Then, really, I’m done. No more book tour for a while.

Russian Launch of The Way of Shadows

Sometimes these things come to me in the strangest ways. Apparently, The Way of Shadows was just released in Russia by EKSMO Publishing. Someone in the comments dropped me the link, and sure enough, this has got to be my book: blue glowy sword, crumpled guard, broken window. This is a good example of what’s known as a ‘narrative cover’. The art tells a story. It’s a concept of what a cover should do that you don’t see as often in America or the UK anymore. (Blame short attention spans or evolving market demand or a simple quest for novelty.) But it can be a lot of fun to pick out things from the book and see how the artist has worked those together. It’s also proof that the artist read the book–which is definitely not guaranteed. I’ve seen hugely successful books by great authors that got totally random covers overseas–just because maybe the editor had rights to some piece of art that he liked. So… it’s a big world, strange things happen. So my thanks to my Russian editors and the translator, who contacted me many times (something I love!) to get things just right.

The Russian language version isn’t a huge launch, but if you see it and speak Russian, please let me know what you think!

Power to the People! Or…

Well, you’ve spoken. The Demand It Now Tour voting has closed, votes have been tabulated, bookstores have been contacted, and the winning city is… Orlando, Florida! So, it will either be me and legions of screaming fans (in book circles this is defined as “ten”); or me, the clerk, and one fan who logged in to a lot of different computers to show his enthusiasm. Power to the fan with a muscular clicking finger. May your ip addresses prosper.

Ah, I can see it now…

Props to Parnell for making fun of both himself and something that makes writers wake in a cold sweat.

Seriously, we’re delighted that so many of you wanted me to come to your home town, and even if your city (or country) didn’t snag me, the data will be useful for Orbit when they put together a tour next time. And speaking of Orbit–they not only added Orlando, but they also totally came through by adding ANOTHER top vote-getter to the tour:  Denver, Colorado! (That’s Caul-uh-reh (as in rad)-dough, people, not Caul-uh-RAW-dough.)

Ew, I just kind of grossed myself out with the caul thing.

All the tour details are below. Please come. Please drag a friend with you. I’m a nice guy, my wife is nicer, and hey, The Black Prism ain’t half bad.

Book Tour!

To celebrate the launch of The Black Prism, Orbit is sending me on a book tour. I’ve been trying to put together a rider to rival some of these. I think I’ll demand Vegemite. I’m a simple man.

August 25(on-sale), 7:00 PM PDT

Borders #152
2605 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.
Beaverton OR 97005

August 26, 7:00 PM PDT

University Bookstore
4326 University Way NE
Seattle WA 98122
www.ubookstore.com

August 27,  7:00 PM PDT

Mysterious Galaxy
7051 Claremont Mesa Boulevard
San Diego CA 92101
www.mystgalaxy.com

August 28, 2 PM PDT

Borders #149
100 S. Brand Blvd.
Glendale CA 91204

August 29, 2 PM CDT

Barnes & Noble #2884
7700 West Northwest Highway
Dallas TX 75225

August 30, 7:00 PM EDT

Barnes & Noble #2704
2418 East Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32803

August 31, 7:30 PM MDT

Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue
2526 Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
www.tatteredcover.com

September 2, 7:00 PM PDT

Borderlands
866 Valencia Street
San Francisco CA 94110
www.borderlands-books.com

September 4, 12 noon PDT

Costco #97
13130 SE 84th Avenue
Clackamas OR 97015

***Updated***

September 7, 7:00 PM PDT

Powell’s Books Cedar Hills Crossing

3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.
Beaverton, OR 97005

www.powells.com

****UPDATED AGAIN****

September 25th, Noon PDT

Borders Store 512

4980 Stockdale Highway

Bakersfield, CA 93309

661-328-9800

****UPDATED ONE LAST TIME****

November 14th, 5:00 pm PST

Sci-Fi Authorfest IV

Powell’s Books Cedar Hills Crossing

3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.
Beaverton, OR 97005

www.powells.com

So, what IS GraphicAudio?

A graphic audio book of The Way of Shadows (part 1 of 2)  is coming out in April, with installments following it monthly.

But Brent, I thought you already have an audiobook.

Yeah, I do. But GraphicAudio does something different. GraphicAudio performs books with actors and sound effects and a sound track. The books ARE abridged: say if I wrote “It was raining,” instead of hearing someone narrate those words, you’d hear the sound of rain. In my mind, abridging or adapting is a creative work in itself. For example, remember that Leonardo DiCaprio movie “Romeo + Juliet“? A bit different than Shakespeare probably imagined the action–and yet totally cool in its own way.   That’s how I feel about adaptations. GraphicAudio will bring its own vision to this book. And I, for one, am eager to see what they’ve come up with.

One geeky bonus: If you want to know how _I_ pronounce everything, this should be the authoritative source. As an author, I try to make my made up words look different on the page–among other considerations, of course–but I don’t care too much how you pronounce them. Take Vi. Pronounce it Vie, or pronounce it Vee. Your call. You might even think one is cool, and the other sucks. Naturally, I’d like you to choose the one you think is cool. To me, this is part of the co-creation of a world that happens between a reader and an author. I’m just an architect, folks. You get to pick out the drapes yourself.

A graphic audiobook has different demands, so I was delighted when the director called me up and went through a list of names and places and recorded how to say every single one of them. We had a great chat. He even asked my opinion on some of his creative ideas for music, accents, and the whole nine yards. This doesn’t always happen–once he buys the rights from my corporate overlords, he can do WHATEVER he wants with those rights. That’s how it works. So I appreciate the level of craftsmanship and passion he showed. It makes me eager to see the result. If you want to get a taste of what it’s like, they’ve posted THIS SAMPLE which is the first nine minutes/the first chapter of the book. Go ahead, you can go listen.