Huge, turbo thanks to everyone who entered! You guys crack me up! Picking winners was extremely tough, but I think I have ’em figured out. These winners will get a signed copy of HAMMERED once they email me their addresses using kevin at kevinhearne dot com:
From Tyfani, this practical use of the kitchen fire in Hexed. Got me laughing pretty hard!"Kitteh is innocent!" from LadyEcletic on Twitter"Is the pen mightier than the sword?" by Lori"They're always after me Lucky Charms!" by TiffanyThe Morrigan pays Atticus another visit. :) From Synde!
OK, I also promised two random winners, and these people will get signed copies of HEXED. @Will_Knight3 from the UK wins, as does Chris (Hardcore Pooka) for his entry. Send me your email address, guys!
If you’d like to see the rest of the entries, they’re in an album on my Facebook author page! Thank you all again, you’re the best bunch o’ readers ever!
I’ve always loved that bit in The Princess Bride where Westley (as the Dread Pirate Roberts) tells Prince Humperdinck, “Drop. Your. Sword.” Best. Bluff. Ever. It just sort of occurred to me that Atticus is kind of doing something like that on the cover of Hexed. There he is, staring at you, with Fragarach coming around to point at your heart…but you really don’t want to mess with him. He’s worse than the Dread Pirate Roberts. He’s totally badass, and I happen to know what he’s facing because I wrote the book. But the immature part o’ me mind (to which I admit I give far too much freedom) wants to maybe have a bit of fun with this. Unlike the other two covers in The Iron Druid Chronicles, this one really lends itself to a kind of caption contest. A photobomb kind of thing. What is Atticus doing here? Protecting something? Attacking something? Posing pointlessly? Let’s mess around with this! I just want to see my book in some crazy pictures. I’ll give you some time to think about it, and then you’ll have about a week to get ‘er done once the book comes out June 7—let’s make the deadline for entries June 15. I’ll repost the contest rules on June 7, and you can send me your stuff at that time—either JPEGs via email or post a link to your photo(s) in the comments. The prizes? I’m going to give away five (5) signed author copies of HAMMERED. Is this international? HELL YES. Two winners will be picked randomly. Three winners will be picked because they amuse me. Please shoot your photo and provide a title or caption or both. Here’s my sample, which is not stunningly original but is rather intended to set the bar very low (including in photo quality, because my camera phone sucks) for your own creations:
Don't. Touch. My Nuts.
So what do you think? You can come up with something better, right? Atticus is TALKING to you on the cover of Hexed…what’s he saying? Have fun thinking stuff up!
I’ve been informed that one is not allowed to run contests on Facebook to give away things like signed author copies. It is, apparently, Against The Rules. I haven’t read said rules, nor do I intend to, because every time I read a rule a little piece of my soul flies away. I do think someone’s wit is diseased, however. You make a social thingamabob like Facebook and then tell people they can’t have contests on it? That’s like giving a child a toy and then telling them they can’t play with it. Super mean poopy heads!
It’s the sort of thing the Man would do, that’s what it is. So we are going to stick it to the Man. We are going to be ninjas and have a contest without Facebook ever knowing we had one. It will be a Shadow Contest. It’s easy. On Wednesday, May 25, I’m gonna randomly select three (3) NEATO PEOPLE WHO READ BOOKS from the giant list of folks that Facebook calls fans or friends or WHATEVER it says in their rules I never read. I will attempt to contact those people and ask them to send me their addresses. And then I’m going to mail them each a signed copy of HEXED, the second book in The Iron Druid Chronicles. They’ll win it before they can buy it (as long as they’re in the US or Canada)! And the Man will cry.
"Stick It to the Man" by Charlie Flannery
If you already have gotten all clicky on the button that says “like” on Facebook and you are therefore a NEATO PERSON WHO READS BOOKS, you are already entered. If you are not already a NEATO PERSON WHO READS BOOKS, allow me to give you some reasons why you should join the illustrious ranks:
1) You will stick it to the Man.
2) I put some content on my Facebook author page that I don’t share on my blog. The Iron Druid Wallpapers, a bunch of photos from my upcoming tour of Colorado, and the priceless picture of my editors in a Luchador mask are just a few of the goodies you’ll find there.
3) It’s kinda easy to talk to me there, since I actually check it. My blog is spiffy and I love it, but since the comments can become riddled with spam I have a security question thingie that involves math and I think that discourages people from commenting. (Reason #637 why spammers should be sterilized.) I’ve talked to more folks on Facebook in the past couple of days than I have in the past month on my blog.
4) You can win a signed copy of HEXED!
5) You have always wanted to be a part of something with “Shadow” in the name of it. Shadow Council, Shadow Contest, Shadow Fish Fry—they are all cool because of the Shadow. It’s axiomatic. And now’s your chance to be shadowy!
Seriously, thank you to all the people who are already following me on Facebook—I appreciate your support and the chance to connect with you. :) I wish you the best o’ luck in the Shadow Contest! Cheers!
Careful where you point that sword! Available June 7.
Since Atticus O’Sullivan is about 2,100 years old, he has one hell of a backstory. (That’s most of our recorded history, right? At least the parts that were recorded without hieroglyphs?) Though his adventures are firmly rooted in the modern day, occasionally his past has to come up, and when it does, I have to make sure it’s at least somewhat plausible.
Without giving anything away, I had to do quite a bit of research on the World Wars for HEXED. I was trying to confine it to WWII, but then found out that certain details required going back to their roots in WWI. Most of that research didn’t make it into the book, but I enjoyed educating myself nevertheless.
One of the things I learned in the course of doing research is never to tell people it’s for a novel. They never react like you hope they will.
If you’re a nerd who’s into fantasy, you hope they’ll find you vastly interesting and want to buy you a beer in exchange for a story. And I mean a good beer, too, not “the Banquet Beer”—I’m talking something with a craft name like Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti from the Great Divide Brewing Company in a flagon.
Sadly, no one ever does that. I will cling to the fantasy that it could happen, but experience has shown me that the odds against it are pretty high. You will never get a free beer for telling someone you’re doing research for a novel. You will get polite indifference, outright disbelief, or glazed eyes. On the upside, you do get all of those for free. Free is good!
I think I was talking about backstory.
Researching a huge backstory like Atticus’s can take an inordinately long time. It’s so easy to get distracted. Did you know that the ancient Celts used to charge into battle naked? The idea was that they’d terrify their opponents because they weren’t afraid to let their naughty bits go flappity-flap. It’s not a bad idea, honestly. If I saw a few hundred naked men charging me, I would RUN. But then the Celts ruined the effect by wearing golden torcs around their necks; it was concentrated wealth and it tended to focus one’s gaze. Dudes would squash their terror of floppity man meat long enough to get a shot at scoring the gold.
Wait. Was I talking about backstory or distraction?
Once you realize that you’re sinking time into research you should be using to write, you might think it would help to ration your research or schedule it. You can do that, sure, but you might wind up missing something that way. Free association can lead one to spiffy discoveries. I recently discovered this band called Dark Moor on Pandora, by the way. They do this rocking version of Vivaldi’s Winter and their album cover has a bitchin’ squid dude sitting on a throne with a Corinthian helmet. I’m going to put a link to the video on YouTube below. Only about the first 3:36 or so is the real song…bunch of bonus track nonsense after that, but it’s brilliant up to there.
Quick update: As expected, the release date for Hammered has been moved back as well, to July 5. I’m very sorry to delay the story a bit for everyone, but the reason for it is to help introduce Atticus to the widest possible audience. Barnes & Noble will have spiffy little cardboard display thingies (Alas! They are properly called book dumps) for each book now.
Apologies to book bloggers and readers who have been following along and waiting so patiently! The final, settled release dates are May 3 for Hounded, June 7 for Hexed, and July 5 for Hammered.
I first learned that Hounded‘s release date would be moved on February 23. A couple of weeks later I learned about Hexed. And now, on March 30, I learn about Hammered. I am not sure why it seems to take two weeks to make these moves, but I’m kind of enjoying not knowing. It is a delicious mystery that allows me to craft dramatic explanations. I imagine people in trench coats and pork pie hats making deals in posh restaurants, trading code phrases and surreptitiously handing over briefcases full of non-sequential unmarked bills. I tend to dwell on the code phrases.
“The carpet is smoother under the refrigerator,” one trench coat says. The reply is quick and biting.
“It’s shag carpet, you dumbass. There’s nothing smooth about shag carpeting.”
The identity of his contact thus confirmed, the first trench coat nods and says, “Right. So there’s this guy who wrote some books about a Druid living in modern-day Tempe. Can we get him a spiffy cardboard display thingie?”
Second trench coat replies, “We call them book dumps. But let’s order a bottle of something French and pretentious and have them slaughter a hog for us before we talk business.”
You can see why it might take two weeks in a situation like that. If I got to wear a trench coat and order pretentious French things at lunch, I’d take my time too. :)
I’m sure the truth is much more prosaic and entirely safe for hogs. It probably involves polite emails and contracts. Contracts make everything last longer, including gum, which is why I always chew a contract along with my Juicy Fruit.
Anyway, if you’ve pre-ordered any of the books, those are the real release dates now. Some booksellers are better than others about updating their sites to reflect this. Thanks again for your patience n’ understanding!
Gadzooks! Several spiffy things have happened recently, so I’m just going to list them very quickly:
1. I got a Starred Review in Publisher’s Weekly for HOUNDED! Apparently this was a much bigger deal than I realized, and it surprised the heck out of me. I’ll do a “Stuff They Never Told Me About Publishing” post on it soon.
2. John Ottinger III gave me a very kind review on his blog, Grasping For the Wind! (It’s quite a good blog, by the way, lots of content there.)
3. There’s also a pretty lengthy interview with John on his site as well that might give you a chuckle or two.
4. Minotauro, an imprint of Planeta Group, has bought World Spanish rights for The Iron Druid Chronicles!
5. The release date for HEXED has been pushed back to June 7. As of this moment HAMMERED is still coming out June 28, but don’t be too surprised if that winds up getting pushed back two weeks as well.
6. Nicole Peeler will be guest posting here soon! I’m very excited about this! Hope you are too!
7. Guess what! Brilliance Audio now has a 5-minute sample of the audiobook up! Have yourself a listen!
Lots o’ book news today, but here’s the big one first: Hounded will now be released on May 3 instead of April 19! Sorry to make you wait a wee bit longer—but it’s only two weeks! I promise this has nothing to do with things like last minute revisions or printer problems or anything like that. No, this has everything to do with cardboard—and it’s a good thing!
You know those little cardboard towers/doodads/thingies you see sometimes in bookstores and they’re all full of one particular book and you kinda can’t miss ’em because they’re often in your way? Well, they’re going to put up one of those for Houndedin fine Barnes & Noble stores across the country! That is spectacular news if you normally shop at Barnes & Noble: It means that you will have zero problems finding my book, because my display will practically tackle you and demand that you purchase a copy forthwith! The admitted downside here is that you will have to wait an extra two weeks to be tackled.
Release dates for the sequels remain unchanged: Hexedwill still come out on May 24, and Hammeredreleases on June 28. Three books out in two months. Crrrrazy!
But wait! There’s more! If any of you are up Chicago way, turns out that Del Rey (my spiffy publisher) is going to be an exhibitor at C2E2 for the first time! And they’re GIVING AWAY copies of Hounded! Like, MORE THAN TWO COPIES. Closer to TWO HUNDRED. It’s March 18-20, so if you haven’t made plans to go yet, why not? Besides scoring a free copy of my debut, you could meet Chris Hemsworth, the guy playing Thor, because he’ll be there in all his bronzed, muscled glory! (Somewhere on the east coast, Amalia just swooned.) And Garth Ennis will be there (talented comic dude)! And Sam Trammell, Kristen Bauer, and Brit Morgan from True Blood! It’s a good time!
Oh no, I ain’t done yet. There is MORE. There will be a couple o’ freebies packaged with the e-book version of Hounded—whether you get that from Kindle, Nook, or whatever. Two short stories, both of them featuring Atticus n’ Oberon, will be bundled with that particular e-book purchase. One is “Clan Rathskeller,” which I already have up for freeon my site, but the e-book version will be slightly revised; and another is called “Kaibab Unbound,” which will be available exclusively with the digital copy of the book. “Kaibab Unbound” takes place two weeks before the events of Hounded, and gives you a glimpse at the lives of Atticus n’ Oberon before everything goes kablooey. Warning: Contains Witches.
MEANWHILE! The lovely people at Brilliance Audio are gearing up to start recording Hexed. The extremely talented Luke Daniels has finished lending his voice to Hounded and soon there will be samples to enjoy! If you’re an audiobook fan, all three books will be released simultaneously with the print versions, and they’re available now for pre-order.
They didn’t tell me they would be shiny! I just got what they call sales proofs in the mail—these are what the sales folks take around to bookstores and say, “See, if you’re going to judge a book by its cover, then THIS ONE WINS!”—and the title that was previously white text is now foil stamped and embossed! I had no idea they were going to do that until my editor told me they’d gone ahead and done it. My scan doesn’t do it justice, but you’ll get the idea:
As Patrick Rothfuss would say, click to embiggen
Well, my peeps at Del Rey outdid themselves with these covers. I love ’em! They are going to gleam on the shelves! Ginormous thanks to authors Ari Marmell, Kelly Meding, and Nicole Peeler for reading the book before the awesome cover existed and saying something nice about it. That truly means the most, because they didn’t have to read it or say anything nice, yet they did.
Now here’s a better look at the cover for book two in the series:
I really dig this one because you can see Atticus’s tattoo much better; it wraps five times around his biceps and then falls down the top of his forearm, but you can’t see that in the pose for Hounded. This cover has a couple more touch-ups to go before it’s finalized, but it’s 90% there and they needed to get a proof out for the sales team. I think it looks spectacular as is! Hope you dig ’em too.
I’m on my October break—which means a week off from school—and having a WHOLE! WEEK! to read and write and run errands during normal business hours sounds like a swim in milk chocolate right now.
My copy edits for Hammered are going to arrive today, so of course I’ll be diving into that, and I’m hoping to finish up my outline for book six this week, which is currently wearing the tentative title of Hunted.
My outlines are about 10-15 pages. I’m making them longer and more detailed than I used to because I saw the advantage of it while writing Hexed; the detailed notes I’d written on Hexed allowed me to crank it out in five months, and it was also far easier to edit/prettify than Hounded or Hammered, neither of which had detailed outlines. So I’ve learned quite a bit about myself as a writer—I can write as a pantser and as a plotter as well—but wow, the job sure gets done more efficiently when I plot. That doesn’t mean I slavishly follow the outline, either—I change things as I go, especially the order of events. I’ll probably post my Hexed outline after the book comes out so people can compare what I’d planned against what actually got written.
Here’s what I plan to read this week:
Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #8
We have three miniature fruits here alongside a giant variation of another. Miniature Clementine oranges, a wee watermelon, and a petite pumpkin frame Scott Westerfeld’s dieselpunk Behemoth, while huge table grapes called Pristines nestle against the steampunk succulence of Cherie Priest’s Dreadnought.
I loved both Leviathan (Westerfeld) and Boneshaker (Priest), so these sequels are going to be delightful returns to worlds I enjoyed on my first visit. I especially love that Dreadnought is printed in brown ink like Boneshaker was.
In other news, Suvudu is starting their Villain Cage Match! TODAY! You can go vote now for who should fill in the last few slots in the bracket here.
And when the first round starts, one of the matchups will be introduced by Yours Truly! The bracket is public now, so I’m not going to be spoiling anything with this: I’ve written up the White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia (Seed #5) vs. Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica (Seed #28)! I hope you’ll follow along and join in the fun by voting! These Cage Matches are the coolest thing ever…it’s a chance to feed the Nerd Inside. So say we all.
•I have publication dates for all three books now: HOUNDED, April 26, 2011 HEXED, May 24, 2011 HAMMERED, June 28, 2011
•In super-duper-happy-mega-big-jumbo news, I’m getting ultra-spiffy, full-color, finished-art ARE’s (Advanced Reader Editions)! Normally ARE’s are sent out with generic covers on them; they say the author’s name, the title of the book, and then there’s a nice houndstooth pattern or some diamonds or whatnot to look at, nothing more. Full-bore ARE’s are supposed to indicate the publisher is really behind the book, thinks it will do well, etc. so I’m extremely grateful and lucky to have the coolest editor evah. But it also means I’ll get to see some cover art a bit sooner than I thought! If you cannot feel my excitement pouring through the pixels at your eyeballs right now, then you are extraordinarily stable to the point of Stoicism! Squeeee! There. That did it. You’re excited now too!
•Whoa! I got my first fan mail! A relative of my alpha reader wrote me a very nice note after he finished reading HEXED. Completely made my week. Here’s a snippet:
The last fight scene was epic! I could picture it exactly–it was very easy to follow what was happening…I’ve read other books where I just get lost in the various battle sequences and I just end up skipping pages. Boo to them. You, sir, know what you’re doing. Kudos.
Wasn’t that sweet? He said a lot of very nice things, but that bit made me all warm and fuzzy inside because fight scenes are extremely difficult for me to write. I count that as high praise indeed. Thanks, Mike R!
•Possessed by whimsy, a couple of my friends are doing a parody of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video with me. We are all giant men. We won’t be wearing spandex or leotards because we’re trying to induce laughter rather than vomiting. Can’t wait to get it all shot and edited…we did the first part today, and it was quite a hoot!
•Getting into The Scarlet Letter with the kids at school. The Romantic writing style is a bear, but the story is first-class soap opera, man. And Roger Chillingworth is the most cold-blooded villain ever. Dude creeps me out. I’ve had nightmares, because he just never gives up. And it’s funny how some adults have heard we’re reading it and they’re instantly down on it. “HATED IT!” they say. Well, it’s only because they’re still having nightmares about Roger F-ing Chillingworth. I mean, if you give Darth Vader, Freddy Kreuger, and Roger Chillingworth each a planet of people to make miserable, first one to make ’em all go insane wins, Roger F-ing Chillingworth will win. He is a master of mental torture. Puritan Guilt: It’s What’s For Dinner!
Author of The Iron Druid Chronicles, Ink & Sigil, the Seven Kennings trilogy, and co‑author of the Tales of Pell
