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Hope everyone got that Red Rider BB Gun they wanted. Having a good time in Kempland, with many a starship filling the airspace of our living room and basement, laser fire everywhere, droid parts scattered among the ruins, and the victorious shouts of clone troopers filling the air.
In that regard, I guess it's a bit like a normal day here. |
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I am interviewed by The Book Blogger. Click on over and have a read. Much Star Wars and Forgotten Realms chatter.
My thanks to Patrick for the interview. |
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There were a smidge over two-hundred entrants in the contest to win a signed print galley of Crosscurrent . My thanks to all of you who entered. I appreciate the enthusiasm and I'm really looking forward to the book hitting shelves. But three of you won't have to wait for it to hit shelves, and your names are behind the cut:
( Galley Winners ) |
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Well, I tried once more to read The Time Traveler's Wife but it leaves me bored. I find it ordinary in all respects.
Fortunately, I heard Alice Sebold interviewed on NPR, heard her read from her novel, and thought I could learn a few things from reading her work. Accordingly, I picked up The Lovely Bones. Started it yesterday and have not been disappointed in the least. Powerful stuff so far.
After that, it will be The Gone Away World, by Nick Harkaway, based on a recommendation from my friend Colin (aka ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) haetmunky). Looking forward to that, since anything Colin calls a mindf*ck just has to be good. |
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The Crosscurrent galley contest will go on for another week. Please enter if you're interested.
I've gotten a fair amount of emails from readers of my Cale stories -- readers who've never read a Star Wars novel before -- asking me whether I think they will enjoy Crosscurrent. Answering this is awkward, but I'll do it anyway: If your enjoyment of my Cale stories did not depend on them being set in the Forgotten Realms, then I think you will enjoy Crosscurrent. I think it shares a lot of similarities with my Cale stories: the dark tone, the pacing, the characterization.
Likewise for the Star Wars fans who eventually read Crosscurrent. If you find yourself enjoying the tone, style, pacing, characterization, etc., of Crosscurrent, and if you're willing to try something with those same characteristics outside the EU, then I think you'll like my Cale stories. And if you want to try them for free, you can download Twilight Falling in its entirety right here.. Twilight Falling is the first book of The Erevis Cale Trilogy and is a good place to start with my Cale stories. While my writing has matured some since I wrote Twilight Falling in 2003, I still think it's a pretty decent reflection of my style. I hope you'll check it out. |
| » Autographed books |
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A quick note to you procrastinators to say that if you want to order an autographed book and get it in time for Christmas, you need to let me know (instructions at the link) this week or it may not arrive by the 25th. Just sayin'.
Dec. 7th, 2009 @ 10:03 am
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| » Here I thought it was about killing orcs and taking their stuff! |
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Apparently you're supposed to kill orcs and take their stuff while you're high and naked. Noted for future reference. I'll take a moment to mention that that's a very different style of play from what I'm used to.
Dec. 7th, 2009 @ 09:46 am
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| » Crosscurrent galley giveaway contest |
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Perhaps you are interested in reading Crosscurrent before its release date? If so, I've got just the thing.
I'm holding a contest to win not one, not two, but three, count 'em, three, unbound, autographed (and personalized) print galleys of Crosscurrent.
To enter, just leave a comment to this blog entry (you'll need an LJ account, since the blog doesn't allow anonymous comments, but registration is easy, fast, and free) and I'll determine the three winners by random draw on Friday, December 18th.
The rules:
First, enter only once. International entrants welcome.
Second, enter anytime between now and 9:00AM EST December 18, 2009.
Third, enter only if you can pay me in advance (Paypal being preferred) the cost of shipping. Typically, shipping is about $7.00USD for domestic shipping, and anywhere between $12.00-$20.00 USD for international shipping.
Fourth, I'll post the names of the winners on December 18, 2009 and I'll then want the winners to contact me with their respective address at paulsvantekemp at yahoo dot com.
Fifth, enter only if you'll agree, on your honor, not to distribute the galley (either by copying or scanning) or discuss spoilers prior to the novel's release. You can discuss the novel before its release, but please resist spoilers until the release date. Again, on your honor. If this rule gets violated, I fear I won't be able to do this kind of contest with Star Wars books in the future.
Sixth, you do not talk about Fight Club.
Dec. 3rd, 2009 @ 11:19 am
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| » More Star Wars news |
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Since it's been mentioned at Starwars.com, I can confirm that I'll be writing a third Star Wars novel, this one a hardcover set in The Old Republic and connected to The Old Republic MMORPG ( to be clear, this Old Republic novel is NOT the sequel to Crosscurrent that I mentioned in another post; that sequel will be a mass market paperback and will not be set in The Old Republic time frame).
As the article states, this novel is in the very early stages so we're still working through details. I'll provide them when I have them and get the okay.
Dec. 1st, 2009 @ 09:38 am
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| » A second Crosscurrent excerpt |
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Random House has posted a second excerpt from my forthcoming Star Wars novel, Crosscurrent. This one features the opening scenes of the novel. There's some Great Hyperspace War stuff right there. :-)
Hope you enjoy.
Nov. 30th, 2009 @ 07:42 pm
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| » Wii Games |
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So, the boys (who cannot read this) are getting the Nintendo Wii for Christmas. I bought it in a bundle that came with an extra wand, an extra nunchuk controller, Family Game Night and Mario and Sonic at the Winter Games.
After doing a bit of research, and taking into account the tastes of the Knights Roarke and Riordan, I've also picked up Animal Crossing: City Folk (I think Riordan will love this), Super Mario Galaxy (they both loved Super Mario Bros. on the DS), and Lego Batman (they loved Star Wars Lego on the DS).
Are there any other "must haves" for the Wii (and generally we like those rated E for Everyone)? Are there any great ones that Jen and I might like? I've always enjoyed first person shooters like Quake, Unreal and Unreal Tournament but I think I'd also love something like Left 4 Dead (which isn't made for the Wii, right?).
Nov. 27th, 2009 @ 06:39 am
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| » Thanksgiving |
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Happy Thanksgiving to all of we Yanks who celebrate it. For me, Thanksgiving represents a Thursday when I get creamed in Fantasy Football. I guess I'm, uh, thankful for that. And some other things also. :-)
Nov. 26th, 2009 @ 10:38 am
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| » A scene from Crosscurrent |
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Del Rey and Lucasfilm have been kind enough to allow me to post an early scene from Crosscurrent, featuring Jaden Korr. Any typos, formatting issues, or other awkwardness/style issues in this passage are mine. This is not copyedited text (I would have posted the copyedited text but Adobe Pro seems beyond my meager abilities).
Anyway, hope you enjoy.
Nov. 16th, 2009 @ 07:50 pm
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| » Cale books remaining in print? |
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In response to a question posted in the comment thread below: Yes, I believe Wizards will continue publishing my existing novels for as long as sales warrant it. Heck, Twilight Falling just went through a fifth printing and, as far as I know, The Erevis Cale Trilogy Omnibus is still on track for a June '10 release. And indeed I do continue to receive royalties for those sales.
Here's the thing: I consider these books and characters mine in all the ways that really matter, so I hope you'll continue to recommend them to friends, family, fans of the Realms, and fans of sword and sorcery . I plan to continue to promote them, even as I expand into other things.
Just FYI.
Nov. 5th, 2009 @ 11:38 am
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| » Thanks to all |
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I wanted to say thanks to all the friends, colleagues and readers who wished me well after my separation from Wizards of the Coast. The decision was the right one at the right time. Thanks again.
And there are lots of things already in the works, with contracts flying and matters progressing apace. I hope you'll stick with me as I change gears and explore other things with other publishers.
Nov. 5th, 2009 @ 09:41 am
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| » End of the line with Wizards of the Coast |
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Normally, I would not write anything about this, but I feel obliged to let those of you awaiting the release of Godborn know that I have ended my relationship with Wizards of the Coast. As a result, I will not be writing Godborn and my contribution to the Forgotten Realms will end with The Twilight War. I sincerely apologize to those of you who were awaiting The Cycle of Night.
All that happened here is that Wizards made a decision that they thought was appropriate (and was, in fact, based on perfectly valid reasons), but that decision conflicted with what I thought was appropriate. We tried to resolve matters in good faith, but it just wasn't to be. It's unfortunate, but it goes that way sometimes. And that's all I'll have to say about it so please don't ask for further details.
I remain grateful to Wizards for publishing my novels, and in particular have nothing but the highest of praise for my editor, Phil Athans. Honestly, my primary regret here is that I feel like I've let a lot of you down. So again, please accept my apologies if you were one of those awaiting Godborn.
Nov. 3rd, 2009 @ 02:30 pm
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| » The born of Godborn |
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A brief scene from the prologue to Godborn, just because. Apologies in advance for typos. I'm quite bad at spotting them.
( The birth of Vasen )
Oct. 30th, 2009 @ 10:07 am
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| » Cale Omnibus cover art |
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Here is the cover art for The Erevis Cale Trilogy Omnibus(click it twice to get the full effect).
My son, Riordan, would say: "This is Cale making his angry face."
Oct. 28th, 2009 @ 06:32 pm
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| » Cale Omnibus update |
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The Erevis Cale Trilogy Omnibus will contain the three novels of the trilogy (Twilight Falling, Dawn of Night, and Midnight's Mask) together with two short stories -- "All the Sinners Saints," which originally appeared in Dragon 297, and "Soulbound," which originally appeared in Realms of Dragons.
Why those two and not Cale's origin story, "Another Name for Dawn?" Well, there was only room for two short stories in the omnibus and Saints and Soulbound fit better. Saints occurs immediately before the events of Twilight Falling, while Soulbound fits in after Dawn of Night and gives important backstory on Kesson Rel and Furlinastis, both of whom are introduced in Dawn of Night. "Another Name for Dawn," on the other hand, occurs before the events way back in the Sembia series, and thus would stick out a bit in the Omnibus.
So, there you go. :-)
Oct. 28th, 2009 @ 10:46 am
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| » Eyes like jewels |
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Check out the Flickr stream from photographer Thomas Shahan: Close ups of insects. Beautiful, creepy stuff.
Oct. 27th, 2009 @ 09:45 am
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