NEWS: Curse of a Dark God has a release date!

ByJohn Brown

Curse of a Dark God, book 2 of the Dark God series, can now be published!

That’s the short version.

Here’s the long version that will probably not be what you expect.  A little over nine months ago I initiated a contract termination with my publisher Tor Books.  A few days ago Tor reverted the rights. This means I have all the rights to all the books in the series back.

But why would I initiate such a thing? Tor’s like THE publisher of science fiction and fantasy.

There are a couple of factors, but I think the biggest issue is that we had differences in our vision for the story. This meant there were things I didn’t like about where the project was going and how it was progressing. It also meant there were things Tor didn’t like about the project and how it was progressing. This translated into some big delays. 

We could have hung together–Tor never raised the idea of termination. But I saw no benefit in limping along. If things aren’t working, I tend to want them fixed. So after I raised the issue, all involved agreed that a termination of the agreement would be the best option.

And although all of us were disappointed it didn’t work out, this was an amicable parting. Tor went to bat for me with Macmillan, their overlord, to get this thing done. And we ended up with, I feel, a fair agreement. Of course, my agent was a valuable resource every step of the way.

I don’t look at these last years as a loss. The series was introduced to thousands of readers. And I learned a number of valuable things about the business and craft working on this project with the folks at Tor. We’re farther along now that we were, even if we didn’t take the rocket ship to the stars.

Most importantly, the good news is that for those of you who have been waiting, I can now move forward! The series will be published by Blacksword Books, my own imprint. We’ll start with e-book and trade paperback formats. Both will be available online from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other retailers. Once that’s rolling, we’ll look to see if audio is feasible.

I’m very excited about CURSE. My agent loved it. I loved it. My early readers have loved it. I think all of you who enjoyed SERVANT will enjoy this just as much if not more.

Mokad is coming.  And bringing all its might to root out and obliterate the sleth in the New Lands.  And they’re not alone.  You’re going to meet a Guardian of awesome and cunning power who leads Mokad ‘s dreadmen army.  You’re going to meet the Dogmen of Toth.  And sleth who have rallied to Argoth’s call.  And a fearsome ally who lives in the Wilds.  All the main characters are back with Sugar and Talen learning new magic, facing new creatures, and discovering unsettling insights into what’s really going on.

I love this book. I can’t wait to get it into your hands.

But there’s a lot to do to get it out the door.

I need to make some edits to SERVANT. There are a number of maddening typos that crept into the manuscript. I’ll also be changing the sequence of the first eight chapters back to my original sequence, starting with Sugar and Legs and then moving to Talen. I know some readers like the sequence my Tor editors requested that starts the book with Talen sitting around in his under pants, but I structured it for him to follow Sugar for specific reasons, and starting with Talen undermines a number of those things. Finally, because I don’t have a word limit, I’m going to be adding some clarity to the ending that wasn’t in the Tor version. I also need to make some revisions to the last draft of CURSE, which has been done for almost two years, and then put it through a rigorous copy edit. And then there’s cover design, interior formatting for the print versions, and the publishing part.

So lots of work. But I think it’s going to be worth it. At the very least I will satisfy the young woman, soon to be a mother, dining at a pizza place I went to this last week who told me she loved SERVANT, thought it was awesome, and was angry at me because there’s no book two!

I’ll post a schedule soon. My hope is to have both books up sometime in August.

Oh, and when they do come out, please know that both the e-book and trade paper versions will be on sale for two weeks.  I’m going to put SERVANT on for a massive discount so those of you wanting the author’s cut can get it cheap. I don’t want you to have to buy the book twice at full price. And I’m going to put CURSE on sale as well because those of you who have stuck with me deserve a reward.  

Then it’s on to DARK GOD’S GLORY which I’ve already completed the working outline for. There might be another book in the same world about a team of fell-maidens (the female version of dreadmen) given a difficult task. And then there’s a whole other series—different world, different awesome magic—waiting in the wings. The first one in that series is tentatively titled LORD OF BONES.

Get zinged, Baby!  The Dark God is back in action.

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    John guests on Writing Excuses season 3 episode 18

    ByJohn Brown

    writing-excuses-the-guys2-300x139

    Here’s the second episode I recorded with the Writing Excuses guys.

    In the first podcast we talked about putting and not putting ourselves in our writing and making characters who don’t all sound like the author. In this one, we talked about how to not repeat ourselves in ways that make the reader feel like they’re getting the same old same old.

    As usual, the guys had some great insights. Check it out: How to Not Repeat Yourself.

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  • Presentation this Saturday in Bountiful, UT

    ByJohn Brown

    League of Utah Writers Northern Area Spring Conference

    I’ll be presenting this Saturday at this conference that will be held at the Bountiful Art Center, 745 S. Main Street, Bountiful, UT 84010. I grew up in Bountiful, and so this is a special treat for me to go back.

    COST: Free for League of Utah Writers Members.   $25 for non-members. More info at http://www.luwriters.org/.

    • 8:30     Registration-
    • 9:00     Jennifer Nielsen- Psychology of Characterization- understanding your characters psychologically
    • 10:00   John Brown-   Secrets of Story Structure
    • 11:00   John Brown-   How to Get and Develop Killer Ideas
    • 12:00   Lunch- El Matador
    • 1:00     Margot Hovley- The Nuts and Bolts of Writing
    • 2:00     Marion Jensen- Using Social Media in Every Step of the Writing Process
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  • Utah events this week

    ByJohn Brown

    Just a reminder. I’ll be meeting the public and chatting about my book in Utah this week. David Farland and Larry Correia will there as well. It’s a three-for-one deal.

    Thursday,
    October 22
    6 pm – 8 pm    		  Book signing and release party Logan, UT Borders
    1050 N Main St.
    Suite B-2
    Logan, UT 84341
    435-787-0678
    Friday,
    October 23
    4 pm – 6 pm    		 Book signing and release party Orem, UT Barnes & Noble
    330 East 1300 South
    Orem, UT 84058
    801-229-1611
    Saturday,
    October 24
    12 pm – 2 pm    		 Book signing and release party Layton, UT Barnes & Noble
    Layton Market Center
    1780 North Woodland Park Drive
    Layton, UT 84041
    801-773-9973
    Saturday,
    October 24
    3 pm – 5 pm    		 Book signing and release party West Jordan, UT Barnes & Noble
    Jordan Landing
    7157 Plaza Center Drive
    West Jordan, UT 84084
    801-282-1324
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    Wolves in my backyard

    ByJohn Brown

    National Geographic ran an article in the March issue titled “Wolf Wars.” It has a great interactive map. You’ll want to read the whole article, but I want you to look at something.

    First, here’s a picture of a wolf in Yellowstone licking his or her chops over a recent elk kill.  Looks real friendly, doesn’t it. Here, poochie, poochie, poochie.

    A few facts. Wolves can grow up to six feet long (tip of nose to tip of tail) and three feet tall. They weigh on average about 80 pounds but can be as heavy as 150-190 pounds. Wolves can reach 40 mph when chasing, but the use their stamina more than speed. Regardless of how they catch you, their jaws are strong enough to crush bones. You want more facts? Go to this wiki article on canis lupis.  The point is that they are large, smart predators. At the top of the food chain. These aren’t little doggies. They’re killers. And they are mighty hard to socialize with humans (read the wiki article).

    Of course, it can be done. Not far away in Heber City, Utah lives Doug and Lynne Seus (yes, that’s the name–gotta love it!) who train wild animals for movies. The company is called Rocky Mountain Wasatch Wildlife. I know you’ve seen one of their animal “actors,” Bart the bear, in many movies. The Seuses also happen to train wolves. A friend of mine grew up in Heber with the daughter of Doug and Lynne. She visits from time to time. Last summer she went down and saw the wolves. My friend was told that she had to carry any children she might bring.

    Why?

    Because the children are food. That’s why. And when she went out there, the wolves were tracking those children every minute with their eyes. Freaked her out. In fact, another friend got so freaked she took her kid back to the main house and didn’t come out again. Folks, these are wolves that work with humans ALL THE TIME.

    I know the nature programs often make it seem like wolves are harmless, but they’re predators. Just like grizzlies, tigers, or crocodiles. Wolves are dangerous. A pack kills up to two elk a week. That’s a lot of eating. But they’re all up in Yellowstone, right?

    Um, no.

    Exhibit 1: Documented wolf packs, i.e. two or more wolves, in 1992 (click on image to see it full size)

    Exhibit 2: packs released in 1995

     

    Exhibit 3: wolf packs as of 2008 (2 years ago)

    Holy schnitzel!

    If you didn’t read it above, they’re estimating about 1,645 wolves in 217 packs. And that’s just the ones that have been officially documented. You know there are more out there that haven’t been seen. Look at the one all the way out by Casper, WY. Those bad boys can travel. In fact, the NG article says that wolves stake out a territory of about 200 to 500 square miles (a circle of that size has a radius of 8 to 13 miles). They travel on average (AVERAGE!) 60 miles from their pack when seeking a mate or new pack. Although one was recorded traveling 500 miles.

    Okay, so given the maps and sightings above, how is the John Brown family doing down in Laketown?

    Exhibit 4: I need a gun!

    The map below marks Laketown, UT with an A. I marked over that the packs shown in NG in red and others reported in pink. I also show orange rings 20 miles apart.  

    The “unofficial” sighting just inside the 80 mile ring was by my brother-in-law. The wolves were killing a bunch of his neighbor’s ewes he was taking care of. I didn’t say “eating” because they were killing far too many to eat. Wolves looked up at brother-in-law on four-wheeler. Assessed him. No whimpering, no cowering, no doggie wagging of tails. Just a frank assessment–human, danger or lunch? Said wolves sent a herd of the willies galloping up brother-in-law’s back. Freaked him out. He high-tailed it out of there and called the Feds who found that pack and killed them about fifteen miles away. But that sighting was before 2003. The sighting just outside the 100 mile mark was by some neighbors around 2007. The sighting down by Manila, UT was reported in a  news report by KSL news in 2008, just two years ago.

    Okay, so I think it’s pretty safe to say that we probably have wolves in our backyard. And if we don’t, they’ll be here in a year or three.

    Go read “Wolf Wars” in the the National Geographic. It’s free. Then tell me how you’d feel with a few packs in your backyard. Are you all warm and comfy? Here, little doggie . . .

    So I’m thinking that when the girls or I go hiking, which we do all the time, we need to carry more than a walking stick. More than a paintball gun used to scare the deer out of our garden. I know that even with all the packs shown above, I haven’t heard about wolves attacking humans, but is it wise to assume they just freak out when they see humans and all run away–“that’s a eight-year-old human girl, she will make me wear the cone of shame. I do not like the cone of shame.”

    Or will it be, “Hum, possible lunch over there, let’s check it out. Ooh, look at the fat one. I bet he’s tasty.”

    What do you think?

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  • Please, Mr. Brown, I recommend you undress

    ByJohn Brown

    Yesterday a man asked me to get naked.

    It’s true, I can do that to some people. Not wanting to pass up any chance to go native, I agreed. Yes, I know what you’re thinking–these writers think they can bend all the rules! However, the man was a dermatologist. I was there to have this annoyance on my left ear checked. When he found out my sister had some skin cancer once (it appears I should have had my skin viewed annually), that’s when he became interested in my undressing. And in my glorious state of undress, well, with a “gown” that was about as big as a dish towel, he found this thing on my leg.

    He’s like, “How long have you had that sore?”

    I said, “That old thing, I don’t know, years.”

    “Humm,” he said. He noted some odd moles that seemed to be of the happy and peaceful sort. Then he ordered a biopsy of my leg and my ear.

    Don’t know the results of the leg yet. He suspects it’s not cancer, just some random mutant growth, which may be a result of the Lizard people that control our lives and which I learned about on book tour when I was at a Barnes & Noble in Arizona telling some folks my novel was about humans being ranched, and a glassy eyed dude sitting on a nearby chair stood up and said, “Your book is true! Your book is true!”

    The biopsy of my ear demonstrated that I’m a squamous cell carcinoma head. I’m going to have a bit of Mohs micrographic surgery next Tuesday. He said we caught it very early. So I expect there to be no issues. In my mind it’s like finding a wart. True, this wart could spread. But it isn’t like they’re going to have to cut my ear off and replace it with that of a baboon.

    Now, not only did I find Reptoid mutantcy yesterday, but I think the Reptoids have invaded the Logan, Utah police department. I say this because I went to the wrong hospital yesterday. I realized my mistake and zoomed off to the right one. There’s a hundred yard stretch along the road through fields. Lo and behold, after passing through that area, a short 4 seconds, I was pulled over by a cop who gave me a $240 speeding ticket for going 51 in a 30 mph zone. Does this not suggest to you some sort of conspiracy? To me it does. He’s obviously a Reptoid sympathizer.

    Here’s more information for the curious.

    Squamous cell carcinoma

    http://www.aad.org/public/publications/pamphlets/sun_squamous.html

    Mohs micrographic surgery

    http://mohscollege.org/about/overview.php

    Baboons

    I think this clearly shows that what separates us from our primate cousins are brassieres and other articles of fine underwear. And as you can see here, they want them! Just another instance of sad human tyranny.

    Look at this woman’s face. These are the kinds of people who they feature in horror movies. I think this must be part of casting. Put the actress in a car and see what she does with a troop of baboons. She sits and screams? Perfect. What, she taught them the meaning of roadkill? No, we don’t want anyone like that.

    The Reptoids that Control our Lives and Prove My Book is True!

    They live in the hollow part of the earth. Which is probably where the 10 Tribes of Israel went as well. And when they return we’ll have all sorts of lizard people high priests and prophets. Anything’s possible.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke (scroll down to “Reptilians and Shape-shifting”)

    Entrances to hollow earth?

    Are they real?

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  • “From the Clay of His Heart” to be included in Year’s Best Fantasy #9

    ByJohn Brown

    More good news! I just found out that my novelette, “From the Clay of His Heart,” will be included in this year’s annual Year’s Best Fantasy anthology edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The anthology will be released in the summer of 2009.

     

     

     

     

     

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27 Comments

  2. Congratulations on publishing your own books! It sounds like a great way to go. I look forward to reading Curse as soon as it is available.

  3. That’s good news. I’m glad you have control of your story back. I don’t like that a publisher has so much control over the art. That’s probably why so much of today’s music and movies suck so bad, and why so many writers are doing the self pub thing. The business people need to learn that they should stick to the business side of things and allow the artists the freedom to do what they do best. Anyway, good luck with your writing. Looking forward to reading your stories.

  5. It’s is great news! I am very much looking forward to the continuation of this series.

  7. I was sure that Curse would end up another big publisher screwing over an author casualty. Glad to hear that isn’t the case!

  8. I hate to see you part ways with Tor, because they’re kind of my go-to publisher, but this is still great news. Good on you for staying with your vision even though it means uncertainty and more work for you. I respect that.

    Also glad to hear you’re putting it out in paper! Looking forward to August!

  10. why not go for a Kickstarter like Bradley P. Beaulieu did after leaving nightshade books, and Michael J. Sullivan did for hollow world?

    seems like it could big a good fit

  11. Wait, wait… does that mean I don’t get a hard bound copy to go with my copy of Servant. Well, anyway I look forward to the new version of Servant and the much awaited Curse.

  12. Good luck with it, John. I’m sad it was such a long and frustrating road with Tor, but it’s good to see you taking hold of your future with both hands.

  13. I’m reading about more and more authors who are taking control of the direction of their work, and it’s exciting. I can’t wait to read about your world and characters as they were meant to be!

  14. Julie, alas, no. Then again, a fine trade paper is so much better than vaporware 🙂

  15. So glad you will be able to move forward! It takes a lot of work to self-publish and do it well. Let me know if you need any help with the typesetting (that’s what I do for a living). Good luck!

  16. Thanks, Marny! I just might take you up on that. I’m taking a class on interiors. I know, I know, there’s a lot more to it than one class can teach. I hope what I learn will get me most of the way there, but I may want some review. I’ll let you know.

  17. This is really good news.
    I really loved Servant and was sad to hear that there were difficulties with Tor, but I can’t wait to read the “Writer’s Cut” for both books. I’d almost given up hope of seeing Curse, but now…:)

    Kev

  19. Super excited for you, John. I’m with the man above. A kickstarter would be a great way to go for the second book. You could time it with the discount price on the ebook of Servant and re-ignite the fanbase. There are plenty of stories that get funded on kickstarter that I don’t feel hold a candle to your first book, so I’m sure you could get it funded. And you know I’d be on full media blitz to help. Add in a Correia book bomb for either the first book OR the kickstarter itself, and you’ll be good to go.

    Man, super excited about this. So many ideas and possibilities. This is going to rock.

  20. If anything needs funding, it’s going to be the cover art for both books. Because I want to release them at the same time. The rest of it I can take care of no problem. I’ll look into the kickstarter to see what I think.

  21. This makes me sad that you left Tor. Publishing with a real company is one in a million chance that I can only dream of doing. I do fear that self-publishing won’t bring in the number of fans or the recognition your series deserves. Its hard enough for my own book to be noticed without a label. At least I can look forward to the continuation of the series finally. You had an awesome start. I wish you luck.

  22. ND,

    Only time will tell. I can say with 100% confidence that if I sell even one book of CURSE, that will be more than I was selling of that book with Tor. After writing and re-writing and then waiting for four and a half years, it’s time to move on.

    And this doesn’t mean I’ll never work with a traditional publisher again. It just means that for right now I’m not. The situation on the ground will change with time and with later projects.

    I also want you to look at this blog I posted back in 2009.

    http://johndbrown.com/2009/08/how-many-copies-do-average-authors-sell/

    Some books published via traditional publishers do indeed sell tens of thousands of copies. But the vast majority do not. To verify that, look at the annual Publishers Weekly surveys of best-selling books. Count the titles. Only a fraction of what’s published makes it onto those lists.

    The good news is that I still have readers like you interested in my work. For folks who really loved the series, they will soon be able to finish it. And that makes me happy.

    Going indie certainly is a different model. Let’s see what happens over the next 12 to 18 months 🙂

  23. I was just sitting here on my bed and my eyes fell on Servant, sitting on my shelf, and I thought, “Where the heck is book 2?”

    And here I find the answer.

    As an indie-published author, I have mixed feelings about the path you’re taking, but who am I to second guess your decision? I just think you’re an awesome guy and a great story-teller, and I look forward to reading anything you produce. Best of luck!

    Oh, and I have to agree with the guy above who said something about a book bomb with Larry, who mentioned my latest trilogy of book–not really even an endorsement–and it resulted in TONS of traffic that helped my book literally for months. Larry has quite the huge and rabid following.

  24. Thanks, Stephen.

    Yes, Larry has already asked when he can plug the books. I’m going to see if I can’t do some bookbub promotion and a few other things. But know that I have mixed feelings too. I wish it would have worked out. But I’ve got to deal with the facts on the ground.

    I know the averages on indie sales. So I know it’s not going to be a cakewalk. But I keep looking at the numbers that I share in my post on going indie and can’t help but want to give this option a go for a short time.

  25. You know when thinking about the body, fire, and soul in SERVANT I always end up thinking about time. How the Fire ( or spirit) is the future, your remaining days, the extent of how long you will live. Then there is the body, the here and now, the physicality of what is happening at this moment to this body. Finally there is the soul the thing that is the past, it has always been there.
    Anyway thanks for the awesome read, and for getting me to work my noodle. (even if I am completely of the mark of what you intended. (^_^))

  26. Ryan,

    That’s actually an interesting way to look at it. Shoot, that might show up somewhere in one of the books 🙂

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