Things have been crazy busy today (what with day-jobbing and solid progress on The Buried King) but I have to share this: Child of Fire is going to get a second printing!
B&N ordered several thousand more copies so they can shelve it with Game of Cages in a freestanding pyramid fixture. Both books will be available for new readers! It sold well enough for B&N to order more! Freestanding display for both books!
Damn, it’s been a good couple of days.
I just got word today that GAME OF CAGES received a starred review from Publishers Weekly!
I can not tell you what a relief that is! I’ve been getting some great responses from early readers and that relieves an amazing amount of stress that I didn’t even know I had. Longtime readers of my LiveJournal know how much I struggled with the writing of that book–the restarts, the stalls, the plot mixups, the cast of characters, the uncertainty over whether the ending was too intense–all of it was really, really difficult.
And then I read this: “Connolly doesn’t shy away from tackling big philosophical issues–whether good ends justify evil means, how many civilian deaths can be justified in the pursuit of creatures that can destroy the world–amid gory action scenes and plenty of rapid-fire sardonic dialogue.”
Yes! Monsters! Face-punching! Moral quandaries! Not necessarily in that order!
My only quibble is that Catherine is an investigator, not a sorcerer/peer, but the essentials are spot on.
1) Time for a yay! I’ll be doing another Big Idea essay at the end of August, this time for GAME OF CAGES. Yay! This time I’m going to write a little bit about pets and pet-owners. You guys know how I feel about pets, right? I’m sure many of the people who read it are going to suspect I’m an alien infiltrator, but I swear it ain’t true.
2) I have a huge disorganized jumble of odd books at home. Why, you ask? Because I’m going to be giving them away. They’re all out of my father-in-law’s collection (with his blessing), and they range from ethnic joke books with blank spaces where the ethnicity would go (“You supply the ethnic!”), to stacks of old Archie comics, to old-time erotic photography (now with more bodystockings!), to other, odder books. As the big event, I’ll be giving away this puppy. That’s right, folks. Watch this space.
One question: should I bother with contests? Or just pretend to choose people at random?
Anyway, those books shouldn’t be in a jumble, but they are, because…
3) I spent a good portion of last night tidying my desk so the new printer will fit. My laser printer has stopped working since my Qwest troubles caused me to reinstall my operating system. The Australian print drivers I’d installed seem to have been wiped, and I wasted a bunch of time looking for working replacements. Grr. Way to not support Mac OS, Samsung! I hate you now. Add to that a phone conference about the book trailer for Man Bites World, and I find that…
4) I have a lot of housework to do tonight. Vacuuming, dishes, tidying, recycling, not to mention a quick shopping run for my wife and son’s comfort foods because…
5) Tonight my wife and son come home. They will both need a lot of attention, and I have to say I’m excited to see them. I don’t do very well when my family isn’t around.
Found another review of Child of Fire today that used the “L” word. “Lovecraft.” It’s one I think about often. I stuck werewolves into my first novel because they’re scary (to me, anyway–I have had many nightmares about dog attacks) but the books are meant to feature supernatural creatures you don’t normally find in folklore. No pixies, no rakshasa, no ghosts, no ifrits, none of that. I wanted to make my own.
Which would be one thing if I was writing a second-world fantasy, but the setting for the Twenty Palaces books are contemporary Earth. And if you write contemporary fantasy but do not use the traditional horror/folkloric supernaturals, how are people going to describe those creatures?
With the “L” word.
Me, I enjoy most Lovecraft–especially the monsters–but I have always hated the names. Cthulhu. Nyarlathotep. Yog-Sothoth.[1] They always rubbed me the wrong way. I can’t believe people would be willing to stick with those unpronounceable names, except under very special circumstances (as in “Nyarlathotep, have I got a deal for you!”). I mean, how long did it take for the U.S. to stop using the name “Peking.” People change things for their convenience.
But the real question is, how do you write a fantasy creature that does not draw on a religious or folkloric tradition that does not prompt comparisons to H.P. Lovecraft?
edited to add: finally reached 100 reviews on Amazon.com yesterday, which I think is pretty cool.
[1]All spelled by memory. Because.
I just noticed, as I signed the contracts for the French language rights to Child of Fire and Game of Cages, that Bibliotheque Interdite is planning to publish them in hardcover!
Whoa! Also: Awesome!
Del Rey included a teaser for Game of Cages in the back of Child of Fire, but it was just a few pages, not the whole first chapter. Behind the cut, for those who are interested, is the full deal: the complete chapter one of my upcoming novel.
GAME OF CAGES
CHAPTER ONE
It was three days before Christmas, and I was not in prison. I couldn’t understand why I was free. I hadn’t hidden my face during the job in Hammer Bay. I hadn’t used a fake name. I honestly hadn’t expected to survive.
I had, though. The list of crimes I’d committed there included breaking and entering, arson, assault, and murder. And what could I have said in my defense? That the people I’d killed really deserved it? Continue reading
My post analyzing THE NIGHT STRANGLER, the second of the Carl Kolchak tv movies and the lead-in to the series, doesn’t seem to have posted to my LiveJournal friends list. I wonder if it came up as backdated, which prevents it from appearing on the list. It’s on LJ right here. Warning, it’s a long post.
Also, the back cover copy for Game of Cages has appeared on Amazon.com. Here it is:
A SECRET HIGH-STAKES AUCTION
As a wealthy few gather to bid on a predator capable of destroying all life on earth, the sorcerers of the Twenty Palace Society mobilize to stop them. Caught up in the scramble is Ray Lilly, the lowest of the low in the society—an ex–car thief and the expendable assistant of a powerful sorcerer. Ray possesses exactly one spell to his name, along with a strong left hook. But when he arrives in the small town in the North Cascades where the bidding is to take place, the predator has escaped and the society’s most powerful enemies are desperate to recapture it. All Ray has to do is survive until help arrives. But it may already be too late.
I like that.
Also, I have to put up a complete first chapter for GoC soon, along with revamping my website a bit. I haven’t done it yet, because Life keeps getting in the way. Soon, though. Soon.
Today (I’m actually writing this in March, during a quiet moment) is June 1st, three months before the publication date of this:
If your library is like mine, today is the day you can log onto the library website and request that they purchase Game of Cages. Would you do that please? Libraries bring in new readers, and me, I love them.
Thanks.
I wasn’t sure a blurb would come in on time to make the Game of Cages cover, but it did! Picture this:
Move the text “A Twenty Palaces Novel” down beside the word “of” and in its place, picture this blurb:
“Connolly keeps you turning pages and wanting more.” —C.E. Murphy
Yeah. It’s a good day.
I’d post the cover flat itself (instead of describing it) but it’s not quite final yet. Soon!
Well, I assume it will be better.
I received an email an hour ago letting me know that someone had created an animated trailer for my two books. The emailer didn’t realize that the first comment on that thread was from me (although judging by the f/u email, they did immediately after they hit SEND). Still, it’s pretty damn funny.
Also, I’ve been seeing links to it here and there, some by people I know and some by strangers–there’s something weirdly hypnotic about disco dancers with book heads, I guess. Something weirdly hilarious, too.
Would the trailer I’m planning to make convince as many people to link to it? I don’t know, man. I don’t know.