brent, Author at Brent Weeks

Author Archive

International Editions and Book Tour Dates Imminent

Just a few quick news items this week.

First, in my assistant’s slow quest to reach her level cap, she’s recently been grinding on a laggy server called WordPress tutorials. Most recently, she’s cast an AoE spell on the international editions page. Check it out. It looks spiffy.

Second, I will soon be able to announce some book tour dates for the mass market paperback release of The Black Prism, which has official release date of the 29th of August, but may be shipping up to a week early. You can order the book here, here, here, and here (or if you love e-books, you can grab the Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or Sony eReader versions) or from your favorite book retailer.

I can’t announce specific tour venues yet, but I will be hitting Portland, Seattle, and L.A. And in my continuing bid to not abandon any corner of the country, I’ll be doing my first ever event in the South around the time of DragonCon in Atlanta.

Third, we’re looking into celebrating the paperback release with some sort of open chat with those of you who are on the Ning forum. Not sure yet how we’re going to bring order to the chaos, but we’ll think of something!

Posted on July 18, 2011 in Uncategorized

Nibbling Around the Edges of Respectability

Long, long ago, in ages immemorial, when Brent was a young lad, he told his wife (ok, maybe he wasn’t that young of a lad): “Darling, three things I know to be true:

“Antipenultimately, when Brent Weeks starts speaking of himself in the third person, trouble is afoot.

“Penultimately, there are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those who know binary and those who do not.

“And ultimately, even if I get these ninja-assassin-kick-ass novels published, I will probably never get the respect I don’t deserve!”

Yet here I stand, doing an awkward plié, at the border of the mainstream… I’m not flexible enough to do a plié, so sometimes I have stumbled gracelessly, fouling my tutu on The Onion‘s A.V. blog. And now, once again, I find myself at the edge of the limelight, trying to go en pointe, when everything within me screams, “Allemande left!” In plain speech, The Night Angel Trilogy was mentioned in The Christian Science Monitor’s culture blog, as being one of the ten fantasy novels that would make great TV shows.

And now, as a special peek behind the curtain, for those of you who tolerated the previous paragraphs, I will show you exactly how book marketing works. The Christian Science Monitor says, “Cable viewers… couldn’t hope for better source material”!

[Pause for effect. Listen to the appreciate oooh’s from the audience.]

A slightly more honest rendition would be: “A blog that is in some obscure way connected to The Christian Science Monitor says, ‘Cable viewers who want blood and sleaze in equal amounts (I know you’re reading, True Blood fans) couldn’t hope for better source material.'”

Boy, honesty sucks.

And, speaking of the respect I don’t deserve: I recently found out that I am a finalist for the Endeavor Award, which is awarded to a distinguished Science Fiction or Fantasy novel published by a Pacific Northwest author announced every year at OryCon in November. See, I even have a logo:

The other contenders for the award are Cherie Priest, Patricia Briggs, Patricia McKillip, and Devon Monk, so even though I’m going to lose, at least I’ll lose in excellent company! Maybe someone can show me how to do a plié?

Posted on July 11, 2011 in Uncategorized

Writing Advice Update: Fireworks & Reading Your Novel

Happy 4th of July (early)! And for those of you not in the U.S.A. this weekend, I pity you and your lack of fireworks. 😉

Here’s what I’ve got coming to my backyard…

…well, on a slightly smaller scale, perhaps.

Fireworks aside, it’s Writing Advice time again, and this month we’re addressing the most important question you may ever email me:

Can I (Brent) help you be a writer? And perhaps the second-most important question: Will I read your novel/screenplay/poem/magnum opus? Go here for my response, as well as some thoughts on Sparkly Vampires, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Main Thing.

Posted on July 1, 2011 in Uncategorized

Should Evil Ever Win?

My friend Shawn Speakman over at the huge SFF blog Suvudu sometimes poses some Big Questions to authors in the genre. This past week, he included me. I am more than happy to have been able to join Terry Brooks, C.S. Friedman, newcomer Peter Orullian, and Dave Wolverton in answering “Why do you think evil never wins at the end of a story? Wouldn’t it be refreshing if the antagonists won and the protagonists lost? Has no one ever come up with the idea or do publishers just never publish such stories?”

But rather than steal his thunder, I’ll just post the link here. Please feel free to comment!

Posted on June 27, 2011 in Uncategorized

Ulyssandra

You know you’ve made it as a writer… when parents borrow a name you made up to give to their kid!

That’s exactly what this adorable little girl’s parents did — meet Aurora Ulyssandra (ok, ok, so it’s just the middle name that’s from The Night Angel Trilogy, but still!):

Now, those are what I call real fans. 😉

Posted on June 14, 2011 in Uncategorized

Writing Advice: Character Building

Rightly or wrongly, my character building is often hailed as one of my greatest strengths in my writing. If you click here, I reveal ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING about how I do what I do. If you read this post, you will probably become a better writer than I am.*

*This post contains pos-alutely, absa-tively, zero percent hyperbole

Posted on May 31, 2011 in Uncategorized

How to Read Perfect Shadow… without an e-Reader

Ok, I have to admit the title of this post is misleading. The truth is you do need an e-reader — just not a physical one. If you own a PC, a Mac, an iPad, an iPhone, a BlackBerry, or an Android phone… you can get an e-reader app for free. And once you’ve got that done, you can download Perfect Shadow instantly — and for cheap. Perfect Shadow will be available in all these formats, and internationally, in June. I hope the following tutorials make life a little easier for those of you who are ready to cautiously dip your toes into the new world of e-publishing.

* To download Nook for PC go HERE.

* To download Nook for Mac go HERE.

* To download Nook for other platforms go HERE.

*To download Kindle for PC go HERE.

* To download Kindle for Mac go HERE.

* To download Kindle for other platforms go HERE.

* To download Kobo for PC go HERE.

* To download Kobo for Mac go HERE.

* To download Kobo for other platforms go HERE.

* To download Sony Reader for PC go HERE.

* To download Sony Reader for Mac go HERE.

* To download Sony Reader for other platforms go HERE.

Posted on May 16, 2011 in Uncategorized

GraphicAudio version of Perfect Shadow coming

Those of you who know and love GraphicAudio’s work on The Night Angel Trilogy and The Black Prism, rejoice: they’re also producing Perfect Shadow. And here’s the cover art by Jahbulani Ori, who goes by Jahbu:

(Click to embiggen and see without text.) It will be released on June 3rd. And I’m super happy to announce that this will be available to our international brethren as well and on the very same day–so those of you in the UK and Australia should be able to get this very easily, and for no more than Americans pay. (Circus barker’s voice: It’s yours for a low, low price of only a mere, bare, bargain-basement price of $3.99!)

You can go here to listen to samples of GraphicAudio’s work, if you haven’t had a chance to listen before. Americans on June 3rd, you can go HERE to download Perfect Shadow, and international audiences, you can go HERE. (See, I told you guys I was working on getting this out in as many formats and as quickly and cheaply as possible! It’s just that I usually can’t say until the deals are done and the cover art is finished.)

Posted on May 12, 2011 in Uncategorized

FOUR IVAN DRAGOS AND ROCKY IV / THE DAVID GEMMELL LEGEND AWARD

Baby Snaga. Baaaaaabyyyyyyy Snaga. I got you in my sights. I see you. Over there. Looking sharp. And beautiful. And shiny. And…. Miniature.

Baby Snaga is the award for the also-rans. It’s a reward for the writers who are good enough to get into the finalist circle, but not brawny enough to take Papa Snaga from the hands of an unwitting world audience. This is what happens when a man destined for a Baby Snaga tries to touch Papa Snaga:

Do you see the crazed gleam in his eye? That’s the look of a man who knows that Snaga will never be his. He can pet Papa Snaga’s curves, but if he ever tries to wield the big man himself, he’ll probably chop off a toe in a tragic woodcutting accident.

Warning to readers: that crazed, sad, pathetic little man above, there, THAT could be me. This is why I need your help. Desperately. Desperately. Need. Your. Help.

The David Gemmell Legend Award is given to the best heroic fantasy of the year as voted on by people like you. That’s right, every award has its foibles, and the David Gemmell Legend Award’s foible is this: THEY’RE TRUSTING YOU.

This year, the finals of the DGLA include a very talented pool: first, the Frenchman, Pierre Pevel, author of The Cardinal’s Blades. Pierre may or may not have been involved in ruthlessly mocking my pronunciation of “Cardinal Richeliu.” Oh, you think you can do better? Just try: Cardinal RI. SHEH. LYOOO. Doubtless Pierre will have the Francophile vote locked down. Anglophiles, consider this a direct challenge to your manhood. Or. Womanhood…

Besides, what have the French ever given us except extremely good clothes… and great wine… and great cheese… and great architecture… and charming waiters… and Lilu Dallas clothed in a bandage?

Secondly comes Peter V. Brett. Who, to my eternal envy, has upon at least one occasion, hugged the aforementioned Milla Jovovich (although it is believed at this time that she was not wearing the bandage at the time of said hug). Peter Brett is the talented author of The Painted Man and The Desert Spear. He is also a noted hugger.

Thirdly, Markus Heitz has burst upon my consciousness like dawn after a night of too much fun. Markus, despite having infiltrated my own exquisite publisher in the US and UK, is carrying the honor (and zillions of votes) of yet another great Old World country: Germany. Dah Dah Dah. And besides, what have the Germans given us? Except music. Philosophy. Poetry. Clocks that run on time. Cars that actually look good. 18-hour Opera. And kick-ass fantasy stories. Oh wait, forget that last part. Don’t vote for him! Look over here! Me! Over Here! The American. Ah, crap.

My fourth and fourth-and-a-halfth opponent is the ubiquitous (and also American) Brandon Sanderson. Brandon is the author of approximately 417 novels. Who is also known as the man who has lost the David Gemmell Legend award more times than anyone else has even been nominated. However: DO NOT PITY THIS MAN. He is also the only man in the world known to proficiently dual-wield Baby Snagas (having had more practice than anyone alive). And of course, the other halfth of his team is the utterly inimitable Robert Jordan who is, indeed, a legend. And if you vote for Robert Jordan (a personal hero of mine), I might someday– after a long and bitter time of personal sorrow–forgive you.

Ok, fine. So the field’s crowded. And the other guys… They’re not half bad. Not even those guys who are splitting a Snaga in half. So, here’s the reason you should vote for me…

Ok, well gosh darn it, I’m just pretty psyched that I get a Baby Snaga! So thanks all you guys for getting me this far in the David Gemmell Legend Award. And, if you’re a glutton for punishment, you can throw in a vote on the losing side. It’s only a couple clicks of your mouse, and maybe you’ll help me sacrifice some dignity by coming in a distant fourth rather than a distant fifth-and-a-half (I hate it when the write-in votes for Mickey Mouse beat me)! Go here to vote.

Thank you so much for the honor, and I hope I entertained you with this brief fight preview! (raw-KEY, raw-KEY, raw-KEY, ROCKY!) C’mon, even the Russians voted for the underdog, and that was during the Cold War!

Posted on May 3, 2011 in Uncategorized

Writing Advice Update: World-Building

In my continuing quest to rid the world of poor world… building… wait, does that make any sense at all?… I am posting yet another brief essay in response to your questions about, well, yeah, World Building.

So, if you care what I have to say about writing in general and world building in particular this month, please click over here. And as always, if you have more writing questions, please feel free to put them in the comments section, and I will add them to the queue. I’ll have more coming next month on character building.

Posted on May 2, 2011 in Uncategorized