Tag Archives: Hounded

Origin Story

I get asked semi-often where I came up with the idea for The Iron Druid Chronicles, and I respond, quite truthfully, that it started out as a webcomic based around a guy who could talk telepathically with his dog. I was going to call it American Druid. It was always about Atticus and Oberon, and all the worldbuilding and mythology came into it much later. Until now, however, I’ve never been able to “prove it,” because the computer on which I was doing all my illustration died abruptly with no possibility of recovering a damn thing. Did I have backups? Nope. Damn damn damn. But I always figured, hey, it’s no big deal, because I abandoned that project anyway after six pages and started writing Hounded instead. BUT GUESS WHAT!

I was cleaning my house (I know, right?) and tucked away in a box were the paper-and-pencil layouts for my webcomic! It was such a trip to find them, especially since I haven’t seen them since 2008 and now here we are with three novels about Atticus and Oberon out on the shelves. For me, it’s fascinating to see what made it into the novel and what didn’t. The first four pages show Atticus and Oberon hunting bighorn sheep at Papago Park without Flidais. Page 4 is the big splash page, where Atticus shifts from hound to human and you see him standin’ there nekkid with all his tats on display. Page 5 is where we really get introduced to them as characters and see their relationship, so I’ve scanned it for you and included it below. You can click to enlarge. Be warned, however, that I kind of suck at drawing dogs, and even though I’m a bit better at it now, arrgh. It’s a good thing I didn’t try to pursue the comic any more after this! I think you’ll have fun recognizing some stuff from the books, though!

Fun, huh? On page six they kind of sneak into the kitchen and find Flidais there trying to figure out how to make a strawberry smoothie. So much of this made it into the book in one way or another—the story arc that I had planned for several issues of the comic just got absorbed into the novel. Keep in mind that this was drawn two or three months before I decided to write a novel instead; I did a lot more research once that decision was made, and obviously I chose to begin Hounded inside Third Eye Books & Herbs instead of at Papago Park. Different mediums suggest different ways to tell stories. I also don’t draw Atticus this way anymore; my image of him changed as I wrote the book. Anyway, I made a copy of page 5 and wrote some comments on it for funsies.

So glad I cleaned my house! I loved finding these old pages :)

Release Day Shenanigans!

HOUNDED is now available! I'm a real author! Squee!

Well, I’ve only waited twenty years for this day. What shall I do first?

Coffee! Ahhhh.

Right. Next, how about a handy-dandy list of all the places I’ll be on the Internet(s)?

1. John Scalzi’s Whatever blog, where I’ll be featured on The Big Idea sometime today.
2. Many o’ my friends in The League of Reluctant Adults graciously let me guest blog in their spaces about various doodads, and the next six are they: first, I’m at  The Biting Edge talkin’ about the query letter that got me my spiffy agent. That’s the blog of Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein, both of whom write excellent vampire series.
3. Over at the blog of urban fantasy author J.F. Lewis, I share my looong path to publication to give toiling writers hope. If a day like this can happen for me, it can happen for you.
4. Some time ago, author Kelly Meding challenged me to insert something into a book of mine and I manfully made it happen. I return the challenge on her blog and she has NO HOPE of meeting it. Mwah-ha-ha-haaa!
5. I discuss my back-to-back-to-back release schedule at Stacia Kane’s blog because she went through a very similar schedule last year with her Downside Ghosts series.
6. I want to start a flagon revolution. Jaye Wells, author of the Sabina Kane novels, shares this passion, so I’m talking about it over at her blog.
7. Because I’m a nerd, I’ve been working on a card game based on the events of my books. It’s the kind of thing that makes nerds happy. I spill the beans and give a sneak peek at the game over at the website of Dr. Nicole Peeler. She’s also doing a giveaway for me, so check that out!
8. I think I’m supposed to be on the blog of The Guide to Literary Agents today. If not, oh well, it’s a cool blog anyway!
9. I have an interview up today at the spiffy book blog called The Qwillery. There’s a giveaway going on there too! I think. I’m having trouble keeping track of this stuff.
10. My run at Babel Clash continues with Chris Wooding. Have you seen this yet? We started on April 26.

In all likelihood I’ll be elsewhere as well. I think I’m supposed to have something on the RTBookReview blog, but, um…not sure. Some reviews might pop up too, and I’ll do a roundup of those in a couple o’ days. Aside from the web, I’ll be tweeting more than usual today. Part of what I’ll be tweeting is my manic drive around the valley going into bookstores and signing whatever they have in stock.

Something else I will most likely tweet is a 140-character SQUEE! HOUNDED is finally published! To my editors, Tricia and Mike, I give you an uncomfortably long virtual hug! Thank you so much for your expertise and your enthusiasm for the Iron Druid! And to my agent, Magic E, you are the disco to my fries.

To the book bloggers and reviewers who have been so kind to me with your reviews n’ interviews—Jessica, Kristin, Mihir, David, Gail, Sally, Kat, Joanne, and more—can I just say how grateful I am that you take the time to promote genre fiction? I didn’t realize how many bloggers were out there or how awesome they were until I kind of got into this gig. I hope I get to meet you someday. Literate people rock.

For the celebratory dinner, I’m headin’ to Rúla Búla, the best darn Irish pub an Irish lad could wish for, either real or fictional. I go there in real life, and Atticus goes there in fiction—often. You should too, if you can! Cheers, my dears; my flagon runneth over. I hope you enjoy the adventures of Atticus n’ Oberon. :)

50-Page Friday

Click to enlarge. You know you wanna.

My publisher does this neato-schmeato thing where you can read the first fifty pages (or more) of selected books online. For FREE. It’s like grabbin’ a book off the shelf at the bookstore and just readin’ it for awhile, except without anybody walking by and asking if they can help you. And reading it at home is probably infinitely more comfy than standing in the fantasy section. I mean, you can fix yourself a sandwich and everything.

This sneak preview feature is called 50-Page Fridays, and as of this particular second, you can go on over to Scribd and read the first fifty-nine pages of HOUNDED for free! If you can’t make it over there today, no problem—it will still be there tomorrow (and for many moons afterward), STILL FREE. On Suvudu, they have a button at the top of the site page called 50-Page Fridays, and if you click on it you’ll see a whole list of books you can check out for free in addition to mine. Fabulous books, too, like Peter Brett’s The Desert Spear, The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick, and Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovich. There is also a little sidebar doohickey on the right side with the same title…find what you want, click, and read!

Enjoy! And I hope you make yourself a really good sandwich to go with it.

Release dates all settled now

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!

Stuff They Never Told Me About Publishing #5

This continues a series I’ve been writing for authors who are breaking into the biz or will be doing so soon. If you missed any of the previous posts, you can search my blog (in the sidebar to the right) for Stuff They Never Told Me About Publishing and you should generate the whole list. OK, onward!

It wasn’t until after Hounded was accepted, about three months after the deal, that it occurred to me that someday, somebody was going to review my book. A fleeting smile crossed my face and then I thought of it no more, because I had two more books to write.

After I wrote Hexed and Hammered and settled in for the long wait before publication, I got around to thinking about it again. “Somebody’s going to review my book! Hee! What a trip!” But I had no idea who, how those sorts of things got done, etc. So here’s what I have learned up to this point—I’m sure I’ll be learning plenty more in the next couple of months, but this is a good place to start:

First, the publisher will print a buttload of ARC’s or ARE’s. They will then give ’em away in various places, and this is where your marketing budget goes instead of into things like signing tours. You get much more mileage out of giving away a few free copies in advance of your release than you do from sitting down in a bookstore where no one’s heard of you. They give them away on Goodreads, Facebook, Library Thing, and Amazon’s Vine program, then they also send them out to a SUPA SEKRIT list of reviewers, and often provide some copies to bloggers who’d like to run a giveaway on their blog. They also take boxes full o’ your books and give ’em away at conventions. RIGHT NOW, they’re giving away a couple hundred copies of Hounded at C2E2 in Chicago. They’ll doubtless be giving some away at San Diego Comic Con too (because I’ll be there, and I’ll sign ’em if you’re going!) and maybe another convention or three. All of these giveaways will translate into online reviews. Hardly anyone gets printed reviews anymore…but apparently, those few printed reviews carry a lot of weight!

I have one (1) printed review so far. It’s a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly, and it’s only a paragraph long. I’ve read some long, thoughtful, and extremely kind reviews online—the Vine folks on Amazon have been very nice—but lovely as they were, they didn’t cause my editor and agent to email me with congratulations. The starred review from Publisher’s Weekly did.

It kind of rocked my world a bit. Why was this anonymously written paragraph such a big deal? I found out the very next day. I got an email from a producer in Hollywood, inquiring about whether the film rights were still available. (Why, yes, they are!) Said producer hadn’t read the book, mind you; he/she had only read that wee paragraph in Publisher’s Weekly. Now THAT got my attention. Publisher’s Weekly isn’t read much by the general populace, but it’s read religiously by people in the industry, and a good review there can generate some buzz. (I wish there was a better term than that. How did we ever start equating humans talking about entertainment with the flapping of insect wings?)

So I am very grateful for that starred review, and not only because being contacted by a producer is insanely fun. It’s the review that gets used on Amazon (and Barnes & Noble too). If you get a meh review from Publisher’s Weekly, it’s still going up on those sites and will stay there FOR EVAR; PW is thus the alpha dog of reviewers, because its review is printed first and will stick with you wherever you go.

But I’d also like to stress that I really appreciate those thoughtful reviews that customers (and serious bloggers) write—especially in these early days. I finished Hounded in June of ’09. Aside from maybe (?) six people including my editors, no one has given me any feedback on it until now, so it’s fun for me to see what sorts of things people are enjoying in the books. They tend to be amused by things that I never expected, like my dedication and parts of the pronunciation guide. Some of them focus on the action and the pace of the plot, others are swooning a bit over Atticus, still others are entertained by Oberon’s antics. That’s the miracle of writing: once it’s out there, readers get to have their own experience, and each one is as unique as every reader.

A couple of bloggers are currently running giveaways for Hounded in conjunction with a guest blog I wrote (and there will be more of those coming in the future), so I’d like to point you to them so you can enjoy. On Tynga’s site I wrote a St. Patrick’s Day blog about the Druids and how very, very little we know about them, and I talk about alpha readers on Suzanne McLeod’s blog, where she’s giving away Jim Butcher’s new one as well as Hounded.

Cheers, and many happy reviews!

Quick updates

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!

Launch Party Changed

Lately I have been getting broad hints from the universe that it does not want me to party upon the release of HOUNDED. Various conflicts and miscommunications—actually, a saga full of them—have forced me to change the date yet again. These are circumstances beyond my control, and if you are the least bit frustrated, I’m very sorry! I assure you my own frustration was such that I may have inadvertently choked a teddy bear. But this new date is solid now. Confirmed twice. I ain’t changin’ it no mo’. The teddy bears are safe, and I thumb my nose at the forces of chaos that don’t want me to party. I WILL celebrate my debut, damn it! :) So here is the new, final info on my launch party, also updated on my Events and Appearances page:

MONDAY, MAY 9, 7 p.m. at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ. Only a few short miles away from Rúla Búla on Mill Avenue, where we will raise our flagons afterward and debauch ourselves in whatever way seems best. There won’t be any Monday Night Football, so I know you’ll be free! I look forward to seeing you there!

If you can’t wait until the 9th and you buy the book earlier (hopefully at Changing Hands, it’s a lovely place and it’s good to support your local indie bookstores) I’ll still sign it! Just come on out, I’d love to say howdy!

Oh, and I got my first review on Amazon yesterday. (Scroll down a bit to see.) It’s very kind! O frabjous day! :)

Release Date Moved!

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 Hounded in 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: Hexed will still come out on May 24, and Hammered releases 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 free on 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.

Whew. That’s all for now. :)

Mental Flotsam Purge #2

I have been graced with my first pro review of Hounded! It’s from John Ottinger, who gives it five stars (squee!). “A must read for fans of Celtic and urban fantasy. Hilarious and fun!” He says he’ll have a full review up on his blog in March—which I can’t wait to see—but what he wrote in January sure did make my day. Very grateful!

In pursuit of our own happiness, a modest proposal: Let the pizza delivery guys deliver beer. The happiness this will bring to me and all like-minded Americans should be one of those famously self-evident truths. But there’s an economic reason to do it, too—there might be a state budget crisis or two we can solve here! Beer delivery equals more tax revenue, guaranteed, without raising taxes. How? Well, pizza joints jack up the price of beverages anyway. If a six-pack costs them $7, they’ll charge $10-12 (or more) to deliver it. 9% of $12 is more than 9% of $7—boom, you just increased revenue without raising taxes. And people will pay it—yes, I will pay it! Because $2 a bottle is still cheaper than what I’d pay at the ballpark or in any bar, and the convenience is simply awesome. You can curtail abuse of this in the statute—food must be ordered, for example, or only one six-pack per customer. I don’t see a downside here—pizza companies will enjoy more profits; states will enjoy increased revenue; people who run out of beer in the middle of a game won’t be out driving to get more at halftime, and people who are drinking at home are obviously not out on the road after drinking at the sports bar. I’m not a legislator (thank goodness), but surely this can be crafted to work for everyone’s profit and public safety. Who will lead the way? I am fairly certain it won’t be my state…damn it.

Got some work done on my epic this weekend (see the progress bar on the right; it was at 5430 but I scrapped that and started over, so I wrote 7K), and I’ve finally come up with a name that I like, but I think I’ll keep it a secret for now…we’ll see if anyone wants to publish it before I trumpet its nimi (that’s Finnish for name—I keep coming up with excuses to use Google Translate).

My tree has been getting lots of hugs on behalf of people who have pre-ordered Hounded, and I’ve mailed off quite a few signed bookplates. If you’d like to get in on this deal (there’s one place in the UK selling the whole series for $5.99 each and FREE shipping to the US), then head on over to the HOUNDED page, click on any red link you like, pre-order and send me an email! Part of this deal is that my dogs get hugged when you pre-order. It’s in the contract. Have you seen my dogs?

I can haz pre-order hugz?

That’s Sophie on the left and Manley on the right (named after the British poet Gerard Manley Hopkins). They are regularly loved and petted, but they are delighted by the BONUS love they’re getting as a result of all these pre-orders. (I think I may have given them an extra snack or five as well in the fulsomeness of my joy.)

I have cats too. Their names are Huckleberry and Lucky (Lucky because we saved him from CERTAIN DEATH), but they are quite adamant on the point that they not be photographed. Or maybe it’s just that the dogs follow me around and thus they keep hiding from me. The cats will only be hugged by your special request, because it takes some effort to chase them down.

After hearing about it for years, I have finally given myself the gift that is The Big Bang Theory. Nerds are so awesome—but especially Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

Currently I’m hammering out details for a couple of appearances. One will be the launch party for Hounded at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe on April 19—the date is pretty solid since that’s my release day, but I’m still working on the times. I will also be at San Diego Comic Con in July—specific time and location to be determined. Soonish, I’ll have an extra page up on the site called Events & Appearances, and I’ll update that every time something concrete comes in.

I just saw Black Swan and oh my goodness. It’s not a movie to see with your parents, but if you’re a creative person and you have little creative neuroses (or big ones) it’s a powerful, moving film full of questions for artists of all kinds. Natalie Portman definitely deserves the Oscar for this one. And my flotsam is hereby purged…

To Pre- or Not To Pre-Order

Yesterday I DISCOVERED SEKRIT PUBLISHING STUFF, which is generally what happens when people explain things to me. They have to do that a lot because I’m still such a newb at the publishing biz. I was going to make this a “Stuff They Never Told Me About Publishing” post, except that in this case the publishers actually told me something on a red phone in the white room with black curtains: Pre-orders are kind of a big deal.So big, in fact, that they lead one to fundamental questions in the Bardic vein—behold:

To pre- or not to pre-order, I question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the store to purchase
A mass market paperback, or to click mice
And wait for the mailman to deliver
A fine urban fantasy: to click, to wait
Three months: and by a wait to say we will
Molest the postman, and snatch the paperback
From out his huge sack? ‘Tis a pillaging
Devoutly to be wished. To wait, to read—
To read, perchance to snack; Aye, there’s the chips.
But in that precious book, what name is there,
What author hath scrawled his name if it
Be not Kevin’s? There’s the catch to
Waiting to purchase it in the store.
For who would bear the sneers and japes of teens,
The retailer’s sale, the cheesy rewards card,
The pangs of traffic jams, the checkout line,
The insolence of book snobs, and the chance
That they might not even have it in stock,
When he might get a balls-rad bookplate
For pre-ordering?*

Yes, that’s how big a deal pre-ordering is. It makes you write in blank verse…badly. And the Supa Sekrit I learned is that a large number of pre-orders does all sorts of sparkly things for an author and helps ensure the success of a book. I’m still a bit unsure on the mechanics of why this is so, but here’s what my non-business brain has been able to absorb: A book with big pre-order numbers indicates to dudes who buy stuff for bookstores that a certain title has “buzz” or “cachet” or “more legs than a bucket o’ chicken.” They all want a slice o’ the financial pie that leggy title represents, so they will order more copies of that title than a book without any legs. More copies of a book on the shelves means that Random Literate People are more likely to spot it as they browse, and if they spot it, they’re one hundred percent more likely to buy it than if they never see it because there’s only one lonely copy there cloaked in shadow near the floor. Makes sense, kind of.

The problems this system represents for a debut author are manifold. First, I have to pimp myself shamelessly, but I’m only capable of doing it shamefully, so that’s a huge therapy bill right there. Second, people who like to browse bookstores and get a little high on all the ink and glue are not going to want to pre-order. (And who can blame them?) Third, it’s tough to convince people who aren’t familiar with my work to commit to buying a copy.

Nevertheless, I’m going to click that mouse, sniff that glue, and pay that therapy bill. Are you ready? Here’s my shameful self-pimpage: If you pre-order HOUNDED by February 15 and let me know about it, I’ll send you a HOUNDED bookplate that’s not only signed but personalized as you wish. No proof needed—I’ll take your golden word. But what I will need is an email sent to kevin@kevinhearne.com that says you pre-ordered, your snail mail address, and what you’d like me to write on your bookplate(s). <—Whoa. Did you catch that optional plural? Yes, it’s true! Pre-order more books as gifts (because what says “I love you!” better than a book about an ancient Druid living in Arizona?), and I’ll send you a signed, personalized bookplate for every one! Plus I will drink a beer, which I would have done anyway, but this time I’ll do it in your honor. Here’s what the bookplates look like—sticky on one side and not on the other:

They will fit on the inside front cover, title page, wherever, and you’ll get them before the book arrives at your house! So, to sum up: Pre-order HOUNDED wherever you like before February 15 and then send me an email with your address and what you’d like me to write on your bookplate(s). I will personalize ’em for you, send ’em before the book gets there in April, and drink a beer in thy sainted name. Thank you, sincerely.

*May the literary gods have mercy on my soul for doing this to Shakespeare: Amen.