Happy reading, everybody! TRAPPED is now available wherever you like to get your books (except the release date in the UK/Australia is Thursday). Very excited for you to see the binding process for Druids and meet the dark elves and the dwarfs of Nidavellir! Those are the parts I geeked out about while writing it, anyway… :)

It’s a heck of a day in general for sci-fi and fantasy releases. Jim Butcher’s new one, COLD DAYS, is out today, and I’ve also been waiting for THE FRACTAL PRINCE by Hannu Rajaniemi. And of course, the legend himself, Alan Dean Foster, has the third book of his latest series out, THE SUM OF HER PARTS. It’s a great week to be someone who enjoys reading, basically.

Wee reminder: If you’d like a signed copy of TRAPPED—or any of my books—you can order ’em from The Poisoned Pen by calling 1-888-560-9919. They ship internationally.

If you’re one of the people who has a ticket to Atticus & Oberon’s Beer Bonanza on Saturday, I’ll see you soon! Tacos and beer and Druids and probably some ill-advised shots of tequila!

If you don’t  have a ticket but you’d like to say howdy and ask me stuff and take a picture and whatnot, I’ll be at The Poisoned Pen at 2pm on Sunday, Dec. 2, and I’ll sign darn near anything. But LOOKIT! You can also win shiny pretty things by showing up! First up is a print of Atticus and Granuaile by watercolor illustrator Cody Vrosh. Granuaile is pictured here as a new Druid, brandishing one of two different staffs she uses in TRAPPED:

Would you like your own copy? You can snag one from Cody directly here!

You’ll also have a chance to win a framed poster of the glorious map of Yggdrasil illustrated by the peerless Priscilla Spencer, signed by both Priscilla and me:

If you’d like your own copy of that—she has ten of them signed by both of us, I believe, and more signed by her—you can do that right here, and please see my previous post on her awesomeness and some background info on the map!

Last but not least, in case you’d like a spiffy new wallpaper for your computer, I have an ultra-hot n’ sexy one for you right here—click, download, and set as desktop. I got it courtesy of my homies at Del Rey, who modified the cover of TRAPPED for me. Thank you all for reading!

I’m one o’ those people who likes maps in books. For me it’s an essential part of losing myself in the world. But since I’m writing an urban fantasy series set in the modern world, there hasn’t been much call for maps…until now! I have a map in TRAPPED and it’s so cool! I loves it, Precious! It was drawn by the amazingly talented Priscilla Spencer and I couldn’t be happier with it. Here it is—click to embiggen:

Norse cosmology is fascinating stuff and sometimes contradictory. If you do a Google image search on Yggdrasil you will see a surprising number of variations on which realms are actually included in the Nine and where they are located. So I’m just piling on here.

For example: In some versions of the cosmos, Hel is a realm separate from Niflheim rather than a territory within Niflheim. In some versions Muspellheim is left out entirely—very odd since Muspellheim plays a key role in the end of the world. In yet other versions there is no distinction betwixt Nidavellir (land of the dwarfs) and Svartálfheim (land of the dark elves). So you could look at my map and compare it to any other one and say HEY YOU DID IT WRONG in all caps, but quite honestly, there’s no agreement that anyone has done it right. Where the sources do tend to agree are on the following points:
1) Yggrasil has three bigass roots and these are fed from three different sources on three levels or planes: The Well of Urd in Asgard (at the top), the Well of Mimir in Jötunheim (in the middle) and the Spring of Hvergelmir in Niflheim (way down there).
2) There’s an abnormally large dragon lizard thingie called Nidhogg nibbling at the root by the Spring of Hvergelmir. And there’s a buttload of rivers (in this case, eleven) flowing from the spring.
3) Also: Ratatosk! An eagle at the top! And some rather confused hinds who have somehow become arboreal and frolic amongst the branches on their hooves!
5) Five of the realms are pretty solid in terms of their location; it’s the other four that get people squabbling. The Fab Five are Asgard, Vanaheim, and Álfheim at the top, and Midgard and Jötunheim below them.
6) Jormungandr, the world serpent, circles Midgard. You can see that Priscilla got extremely clever and represented Jormungandr with the knots.

I’ve included Muspellheim as a land o’ fire to south of Niflheim, the land of ice. Hel is included as a territory of Niflheim—you can see the gates to it in the back (sometimes Niflheim is left out!); and Svartálfheim is a subterranean realm, the entrance to which also lies in Niflheim. The reason for these and other choices should become clear as you read TRAPPED and continue with the series.

If you dig maps & mythology like I do—or if you know someone else who does—you may want your own poster of this. We’ve got you covered! You can order a 12×18 poster of it directly from Priscilla! She has only ten (10) signed by both her and myself—hurry if you want one of those—and a virtually unlimited supply of posters signed only by her or unsigned.

Also: Don’t be surprised if a couple of these signed posters get donated to Worldbuilders, Patrick Rothfuss’s charity. You can win them by donating there.

Also, too: If you come to my signing for TRAPPED at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale on Sunday, Dec 2, at 2 pm, you’ll be automatically entered in a raffle to win a framed poster signed by both of us.

Hope you enjoy! Not just the map, though. The book too. :)

Occasionally the calendar rolls around to the bit where I have to do some obligatory promo in case people have yet to hear that TRAPPED is coming out November 27. So here we go:

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS UNTIL THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ATTICUS AND OBERON! YAY!

If that was news to you then I feel totally validated for writing this! But I feel like I should provide something more for people who already knew that…hmm. I know! I can help you escape all the holiday Doorbuster sales with a single phone call!

You can snag some signed copies for all the geeks you love—and not just copies of TRAPPED, but any of my titles. And this applies internationally, too. An independent bookstore near me, The Poisoned Pen, will ship signed copies anywhere. Call them toll-free at 1-888-560-9919 and say hey dude, I’d like to order x number of signed copies of these titles and they’ll get it done. If you want them personalized “To Buffy” or “Fifi” or whoever, that’s cool too, just let them know, and I’ll head over to sign them! (And The Poisoned Pen offers signed copies by Diana Gabaldon as well, in case you’re a fan of hers.)

Apart from getting signed copies and giving the gift of Oberon, ordering from The Poisoned Pen means you’re supporting a local business instead of a giant corporate kraken from the sea. So there’s no downside here.

If you’re local and you can spare the time, I’m having a signing for TRAPPED on Sunday, December 2, at 2 pm at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale. I’ll be talking a wee bit and taking questions, and you can win a signed print of the map that appears in the front of the book as well. (It’s signed by the amazingly talented artist, Priscilla Spencer.) Would love to see you! Please come by if you can!

Other promo news: Audible now takes audiobook pre-orders, so you can snag TRAPPED from them now if you’d like (US/Canada only). Last time I looked they didn’t have the narrator posted there, so let me reassure you that it’s still Luke Daniels. He’s already recorded it.

Other, other promo news: I want to put this dude on your radar. His name is Jason Hough (pronounced like Huff). His series, the Dire Earth Cycle, comes out next year. His publisher—full disclosure, also mine—pitches it as Firefly-meets-Scalzi. I pitch it as the best thing I read in 2012, period. I scored an early copy and it wasn’t long until I was talking to the book. That’s how you know a book is really good, right? You start yelling at it because you’re fully involved. Here are a few choice things I shouted at various characters in his first book, THE DARWIN ELEVATOR:
“Shit! Watch out! It’s going to eat your ass! GET OUT OF THERE!”
“Oh, you’re a dick. You’re just a dick. I hope you receive a humiliating injury to your groin.”
“He’s PLAYING you and you need to wake the fuck up!”

Of course, that’s not the kind of thing you can put on a book cover. I wrote something a bit more polite for that. Here’s my full blurb for it: “The best part about alien stories is their mystery, and Jason M. Hough understands that like no other. Full of compelling characters and thick with tension, THE DARWIN ELEVATOR delivers both despair and hope along with a gigantic dose of wonder. It’s a brilliant debut and Hough can take my money whenever he writes anything from now on.”

Yes, it’s true. I’m already a fanboy. The Dire Earth Cycle is going to be released back-to-back-to-back, just like my series was. They’re coming out in July-August-September of 2013, and you can pre-order THE DARWIN ELEVATOR now if you like or just click there to learn more about it. You won’t regret it.

As always, thank you so much for reading. Especially the occasional promo posts. You deserve a beer. Cheers!