Hey, guys. I will be having a book signing tomorrow afternoon at Magnolia’s Bookstore in Seattle. It’s easily accessible by the 24 or 31 bus lines, and there’s plenty of parking. I’ll start things off around 1pm and end about half-past “I don’t think anyone else is coming.”
Both books should be available and it’s a nice little store with a substantial kids/YA section. Please drop by and say hello.
Have you ever wondered what I sound like? Expecting a deep, rich voice? A high, shrieking voice?
Well, you can listen to the Seattle Geekly podcast right here and listen to an interview with me. Secrets are revealed! I talk about book 3! Even better (from my POV) they say why they think my books are good.
I only wish I knew how they digitally altered my voice, because there’s no way I really, truly sound like that. I mean, I can hear myself inside my own head, right? Right?
So! Yesterday was release day for Game of Cages, and how did I spend most of that day? Answering emails for one. Public transit for another.
Yeah, yesterday was one of those days when not having a car really hurt.
The mission was simple: sign books on the day they were released. Sometimes it can take a while for new releases to make their way out of the back room onto the shelves, and often the books are delivered late in the day. So I went into the store, introduced myself to an employee, offered to sign books, signed, moved on to the next one.
They were: the downtown Borders, downtown B&N, the University of WA bookstore, the University Village B&N and finally the Northgate mall B&N. The whole time, I had my 8yo son with me.
That took six hours.
Here’s another fun fact about yesterday: the weather was chilly and rainy, with blustery winds. It was cool even for a Seattle August.
And that’s fine. A little rain keeps you cool as you walk from bus stop to store, right? Same for a chilly breeze. It tames the humidity.
Then I would walk into the stores, where the air was hot and still but just as humid, and the sweat would start to bloom all over my body. (Sorry, ladies! I’m taken.) I did not greet a bookseller or sign a book without feeling all nasty and damp.
It was gross. I felt gross. My son? Behaved like a champ (partly because he knew there was a Nerf gun in it for him, partly because he’s a great kid).
And now I’m back at my day job, and I’m exhausted. I’m also way behind on my web/LJ reading. But hey, my book is out there, people are reading it, and one of the B&N employees recognized my name and told me how much she loved my first book. I also have a bunch of new books to read (you knew I couldn’t pop in a bookstores without spending a little money, didn’t you?).
Anyway, I’ll be announcing the giveaway winners for the collection of how-to writing books, Child of Fire and Game of Cages tonight around 6 or 7 PST (in other words, when I get home from the day job). Also, there are a couple of book offerings that have never been claimed. If you want to skim back through the entries, you might find something you like that you missed the first time around.
Hope you guys are having a great day.
It’s the last day of the book giveaway, and that means it’s time for someone to win a copy of —
Speak up if you want it! This contest will close on September 1st at 6pm PST, when my son rolls the die and chooses the winner. Good luck!
Update: This book has been won.
This morning my wonderful wife made a fancy breakfast for me. Soon I’ll be heading out into the rain and bluster to visit local book stores so I can sign copies of my books (and “encourage” the staff to move the books onto the shelves).
But! Things I have written have appeared at various online spaces today. On the very same day my book comes out! What a coincidence! Here’s a quick list of where I am today:
My Big Idea essay on John Scalzi’s “Whatever” blog, in which I talk about the pernicious influence of film/TV media on otherworldly creatures in prose fiction.
My editor at Del Rey talks about the process of telling an author that their work needs major changes. Inexplicably, she uses Game of Cages (and me) as an example, and she titled the post “Mudwrestling with authors.”
At SciFiBookshelf.com, I talk (briefly) about the process of writing this book. In other words, you hear about the mudwrestling from the author’s point of view!
I am interviewed at Fiction Kingdom. Curious about what music I listen to while I write? Want to see me dodge questions (in this case, about series-spoilers) like a politician with a hangover? Check it out.
I’ll be hitting the bus stop soon so I won’t be able to respond to comments for a while. I hope you all have a great day, and more importantly, I hope I have a great day.
Yay! It’s a special Book Day review roundup of my first two books. Whoo-hoo!
1) Starred review from Publishers Weekly! Whoo-hoo! “Connolly fulfills and sustains the promise of his 2009 rural noir debut, Child of Fire, with this thoughtful Lovecraftian sequel.” (no direct link, because it’s behind a pay wall at PW, but you can read the whole thing at Amazon).
2) Game of Cages gets a Harriet Klausner review, and she liked it. “The second Twenty Palace Society rural fantasy (see Child of Fire) is a great thought provoking yet action-packed noir.” The synopsis is a bit wrong, but, you know…
3) Game of Cages got a great review in August Locus (no link because it’s in the paper edition): “This has become one of my must read series.” Oh, yes that makes me very happy.
4) Child of Fire got this fairly positive tweet-review from @johnmbeaulieu: “… almost as good as Dresden Files” Hey, I’ll take it.
5) TJ at Dreams and Speculations gives Game of Cages an 8 out of 10. “Child of Fire was a great debut of a series very much like Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden but with a slightly different flavor. Game of Cages takes that solid beginning and improves on nearly everything–especially the action.”
6) Only 3 stars from RT Reviews this time (after Child of Fire got 4.5): “Connolly handles the noir aspects well, and Ray is an interesting anti-hero, conflicted about his role in society and the choices it forces on him.” What the reviewer didn’t care for was a slow start (!) and a lack of… wait for it!… exposition! Honestly.
7) John Rogers, writer/executive producer of LEVERAGE, gives a reason you might want to buy Game of Cages: “One of the few urban magic books — for lack of a better term — novels I enjoyed last year was Harry Connolly’s Child of Fire. And I loved it.”
Here I am at my computer, and what do I need most? To not be at my computer.
I’m refreshing my email inbox to search for new comments, searching for places to send review copies of Game of Cages, checking Twitter to see if anyone has re-tweeted the announcement that chapter 3 is online, refreshing the book’s Amazon.com page…
And you know what? I’m not going to do that anymore. I’m not going to check the Amazon.com or B&N page again. I’m not going to do an Icerocket search looking for reviews to link to. I’m certainly not going to go back to the Random House page, sort all their sf/f books by “bestsellers” and search through until I find where my book lies. No. It’s a waste of time.
Any marketing I do now, today, will have a tiny effect. The most effective marketing I could do was finished months ago when I turned in the book. The rest is up to readers and fate and dirty stinking luck.
So! I have two more emails to write, then I’m going to step away from the computer. First, I’ll clobber some hapless sword-wielders on Wii Sports Resort. Then shower, vacuum, clean the kitchen, clean the bathroom, make some pizza dough (or pretzel dough–I haven’t decided). But I have to get the hell away from my computer for a few hours. Jesus!
If you haven’t read any of Game of Cages yet, Chapter One is here. Chapter Two is here. If you have already read them, read on:
Game of Cages
Chapter Three
I had no idea where Well-Spoken was going, but I knew how to follow voices. I picked up the silver tray and left the kitchen.
The halls had dark paneling and were hung with landscapes of sunny places thousands of miles away. The floor was hardwood with a strip of burgundy carpet down the center. The carpet had been plush once but had been worn thin down the middle and dotted with faint brown stains.
I walked quietly but not sneakily. I still had the too-small servant’s jacket on. It would probably fool anyone who didn’t actually live or work here, and I hoped that was good enough. I held the tray in front of me to hide my shirttails.
Well-Spoken Woman and the Russian had talked about attracting the wrong kind of attention, and I knew they were talking about me. They wanted a predator; the Twenty Palace Society kills people who have predators. Continue reading
Last night we had a surprise baby-sitter[1], which means it was date-night with my wife. We had a terrific dinner at Palermo’s in Ballard, did a little boring shopping, then walked around the neighborhood having an actual uninterrupted conversation.
It was nice, even if I was a little distracted. I’ll admit that I’m stressed about the release of Game of Cages and we talked about that quite a bit.
You know what? I am no damn fun at all. Other writers dance around and get giddy when their books come out. All that hard work finally coming to fruition, right? But all I do is fret.
I so very much need to get over this. I’d really like to be a person who was easy-going and optimistic, but damn, that just isn’t my response.
Comments are turned off because sympathetic or encouraging responses make me uncomfortable.
[1] How I define “surprise”: We scheduled the date with her and then got so wrapped up in our lives that we forgot she was coming over.