(Note: the above video, like a lot of real fighting, contains an obscenity. You can stop it at 00:07 and still get the point.)
Just go here to learn everything you could possibly ever want to know. This post will turn you into the Mike Tyson of fantasy writing scenes! Or not. Either way, watch your ears.
Just wanted to share some awesome art I commissioned from the talented Nicholas Stohlman for the Weeks family Christmas cards this year. Now that the bulk of those have hopefully arrived *cough, cough*, I can’t hold off sharing any longer.
Nicholas Stohlman has a webpage here, and you can like his Facebook page here. Check it out!
(My previously scheduled monthly Writing Advice post will be up on Thursday.)
Did you break down and buy a Nook? Finally receive a Kindle for Christmas? Or just hoping to get an e-reader version of The Black Prism, even though you already own a hardcopy?
Good news! Orbit is offering a New Year’s E-Book Deal on The Black Prism. That’s right, The Black Prism is now available for just $2.99 on e-readers in the U.S. from now until January 31, 2012.
If you’re in the U.K., we haven’t left you out! The Black Prism is available for just £1.99, though that offer is only good until 6 January, so you’ll want to buy your book sooner rather than later.
For U.S. readers, you can download your copy of The Black Prism for the Kindle, the Nook, Kobo, Sony E-Reader and Google Books. Or go here for a complete list of all e-book retailers that are offering the deal. (All these retailers should include the discount now or very soon.)
For U.K. readers, check out Amazon UK; the other retailers should have the same price soon, if they don’t already (Waterstone’s, WH Smith, etc.).
Enjoy!
Visit Michigan? In the dead of winter? Sure!
If you live in Detroit, Kalamazoo, or Grand Rapids — or heck, if you live anywhere near Michigan — come out to see me in January 20-22 at the massive ConFusion 2012! It’s at the Detroit Marriot Troy in Troy, Michigan.
Not only will you have a chance to see me, there will be costumes, there will be panels, there will be Guests of Honor and parties — in short, all things SFF and geeky will be there! Here are more details about Epic Confusion 2012.
Other authors in attendance include: Pat Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Peter V. Brett, Robin Hobb, Saladin Ahmed, Gretchen Ash, Elizabeth Bear, Bradley Beaulieu, Steve Buchheit, Tobias Buckell, Myke Cole, DJ DeSmyter, Anne Harris, Carrie Harris, Merrie Haskell, Kameron Hurley, Howard Andrew Jones, Dr. Phil Kaldon, Christian Klaver, Scott Lynch, Cindy Spencer Pape, Steve Piziks, Christine Purcell, Cat Rambo, Jason Sanford, John Scalzi, Catherine Shaffer, Kristine Smith, Ferret Steinmetz, Michelle Sagara West, Doselle Young, Charles P. Zaglanis, Sarah Zettel.
I had two great hopes for this video. First, that my Brenta Claus look would be a smashing success. Second, that this video would come in under 1 minute. Yep, that’s it. (Really, it’s a quick update on my writing.) Happy holidays!
And thank you, YouTube, for only giving me 3 choices for thumbnails, all of which magically have me with my eyes closed. I hate you. Merry Christmas.
If you’re not a Twitterian (and I don’t blame you if you’re not! Don’t go there, it’s like crack! It was on twitter that I found the sketch of me above by CSpainey!) you probably missed my on-Twitter interview with Bryan Thomas Schmidt. If you are on Twitter, you probably couldn’t miss it because I clogged up your stream for an hour and half (*cough* sorry about that)! Now, Bryan and Grasping for the Wind have been kind enough to scrub out the hashtags and make it generally legible and have posted the full interview online over here. Due to the nature of twitter, you’ll notice that some of the answers are fairly truncated, but I did my best. And a big thank you to Bryan and to Grasping for the Wind.
First, congratulations to the winners of the Goodreads Contest: to both Theresa and Irwin in California, Carola in the Netherlands, Tyler in Ontario, and Maria in South Australia — congratulations! Your signed copies of The Black Prism are on their way.
Now about the photobomb contest: we had some spectacular entries. Here are some of the best:
Fans of the infamous “chicken nuggets” scene.*
Abe? I’m one of your favorites?! No way. You’re one of mine, too!
This is totally how the boxed set should have come:
Assassins-in-training also use my books as training manuals!
Want texts that will engage college freshmen? μολὼν λαβέ!
Assassins particularly like working (and reading) at twilight:
Not so easily killed:
It was a hard decision. But since I gave my “muhaha, there can only be one!” Highlander vow, there could only be one:
Congratulations to Gloria N.! We’ll do our best to get you your copy of the sold-out, limited edition Perfect Shadow from Subterranean Press in time for Christmas.
*No, there’s not really a chicken nuggets scene. But now that you mention it, maybe in the 10th anniversary edition…
Banes, color magic, and vampires. All in one sparkly post together.
It’s not even Thanksgiving, and Brent’s already breaking out a Christmas tree?
I recently passed the 1,000 fans mark on Goodreads, and I thought I should do something cool to celebrate that.
First, a contest just for those of you who are following me on the book sharing/reviewing site Goodreads. So if you’re a member of Goodreads, simply go to this page on Goodreads, and put in your info, and you will be entered into a drawing to win one of five signed, lined, and personalized paperback copies of The Black Prism. This contest will be open to readers worldwide.
We’re hoping that we’re doing this early enough so that you could give these books as a Christmas present if you so chose, and have them even arrive on time. (No promises, but we will push them out the door as soon as we can.)
That contest got me so excited for Christmas that I didn’t want to leave anyone out! Although, I suppose it is the nature of contests to leave someone out. Therefore, perhaps, I’m not being nice. I’m just hoping to expand the pool of losers! Muhahaha!
So, a second contest: the Brent’s Funtastic Photobomb Contest. Take a picture of any one of my books (must be identifiable) in any exciting, interesting, exotic, or funny locale. Sadly, I’m going to have to ask you to keep it appropriate. I will post the very best photos on my website, but winners? There can only be one.
Yay, more losers! Why can there be only one winner? Because the prize is so stinking cool. (To clarify: the picture does not have to be an actual photobomb. And, although I appreciate a good photoshop job as well as anyone, photoshopped pictures will not be eligible for The Grand Prize. Obviously, touching up a real photo is fine. You know what I mean.)
The Grand Prize winner will receive a signed, numbered copy of the sweet, sold-out, limited edition of Perfect Shadow. (I’m at the mercy of when I get my own copies of this, but if you win, I will ship it immediately, so you might be able to get it in time for Christmas.)
To enter, submit your photo to funtastic@brentweeks.com by December 5 at 5PM Pacific Standard Time.
Why, you might ask, is Brent featuring the cover of another author’s book on his webpage? Good question.
If you’ve read The Night Angel Trilogy, you’ve seen the amazing blurb that Terry Brooks gave me, which was a great push right out of the gate for a new guy just scrapping to make it. Terry has been tremendously gracious to me, personally as well as professionally. It was Terry who introduced me to Shawn Speakman, his long-time “web druid”, who in addition to being a writer himself, runs Suvudu and the Signed Page. Shawn has also become a friend of mine, and he was recently diagnosed with cancer.
It looks like Shawn’s going to be fine once he finishes his treatment, but, hey… cancer. Expensive. The writing life is great–but the benefits stink! So Terry Brooks is listing his short story, Imaginary Friends, for 90 days at $2.99 as an e-book download, with all of the proceeds going toward Shawn’s medical bills.
Imaginary Friends is a short story that has been out of print, so you’re not only doing something nice and getting a steal, you’re reading something people haven’t had access to in years.
You can check out more details at Terry’s webpage, including how to download a Kindle app for your computer if you don’t have one. I hope you’ll all consider buying a copy of the story — I know I will! Imaginary Friends is available on Kindle, Nook.
And as a side note, I wanted to let you all know that we’ve updated the Writing Advice page to make it friendlier for all you aspiring writers out there. We hope that we’ve made navigation a little simpler (one extra click, but much less scrolling!). There’s also a special link at the top of the page to direct you to the newest content quickly.
