BOOK SIGNING SATURDAY!
Saturday, November 20, 2010: 5 pm – 7 pm
It’s fantasy night at Dragons & Fairy Tales bookstore. I’ll be there with NY Times best-selling author Larry Correia, mega-popular comic strip writer Howard Tayler, ”I Am Not A Serial Killer” author Dan Wells, and others.
3535 E Ranches Parkway Suite A
Eagle Mountain, UT 84005
801-789-5014
Click here for store details
So after finishing The Husband I wrote a letter to Dean Koontz. I never expected a reply. Today I got a package in the mail. I picked it up, thinking it was a book from Amazon. The sender was Mr. Dean Koontz. What? Dean Koontz?!
I opened it up. There was a form letter folded in half over a book. The part I read said:
At certain times of the year, I’m able to answer readers’ letters with a line or two, more personally than I am able to do right now. Currently I’m so overwhelmed by book and film deadlines that I’m going to have to resort to this less than satisfying form response.
I’m all, cool, a form letter and a book! He then talks about how he reads virtually all his letters even though he gets over 10,000 a year. Then he says he’s included a FAQ and his Useless News newsletter which talks about his latest books etc. The last part of the letter I could see was:
I hope you’ll understand why this less personal reply is necessary for the time being. And I hope
So I thought, hey. The man sent me a book. Holy cow. Talk about your customer service. Then I actually cut away the plastic wrapping and unfolded the letter and saw, despite his busyness, he had indeed written a note.
John–thanks for your great letter and kind words. Most of my career, I’ve been told–subtly and less than subtly–that my world view is that of a minority that won’t long–or much longer–sustain a large audience. Worldwide sales now are past 400 million copies. I tremble, wondering when it will all end! Congratulations on the TOR sale! From me to you, a book close to my heart.
Merry Christmas!
Dean
Duuuuude! And it wasn’t some admin either. The last paragraph of the letter says:
For what it’s worth, the signature below is mine. I don’t use legions of monkeys trained to forge my name, in part because they don’t seem quite smart enough to learn what’s wanted of them; and although dolphins are no doubt smart enough, they don’t have hands.
The signature is in blue ink. The same hand as the note. By this time I was totally geeking out.
Dean Koontz. He’s like one of the top 10 most popular novelests in the world. I LOVE his stuff. Then I opened the book. He’d signed it.
To John–WOOF. Dean Koontz 12-18-09
At that moment I was in total fanboy heaven. And I don’t do fanboy or any of that other wussy stuff.
I sent my letter on December 14th. 2 days down. 2 or 3 days back. That means he read it almost the day he got it. What a class act. And I was expecting nothing. I only sent my original letter because I truly appreciated his books and had to let him know.
So I guess one of the next books I’ll be reading is his A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog. I expect it will be great.
BTW, here’s the text of my letter.
Dear Mr. Koontz,
I just finished reading The Good Guy. Thank you. Loved the interaction between Tim and Linda. And the reveals of their back stories. Loved Mary and Pete. Loved the situation. Krait was interesting and horrible. But the thing that put me over the top was the ending. [SPOILERS DELETED] I finished and said, “Yes!”
Thanks for the thousands of hours you’ve put into writing that have allowed you to deliver these kinds of stories and characters who are interesting, funny, and, despite some flaws, deep down good. I appreciate your view of the world, a place where great evil can exist, but also people like Mary, Tim, and Pete.
Thanks for stories that entice me to be more. The Husband enticed me to be that kind of man for my wife. The Good Guy enticed me to be a man of courage. Odd Thomas, on the other hand, has inspired me to make heavenly light and fluffy pancakes. I know you’re not sermonizing, but that’s probably why the tales move me the way they do.
I’m a new author; my debut from Tor (an imprint of Macmillan) just came out this October. I’m working like a madman to learn the craft and produce. And it’s wonderful to be able to see someone like you at the top of his game, writing these kinds of stories and sharing these kinds of characters. I hope, when I get to the end of my career (big or small), that I will have been able to deliver suspense, laughs, and goodness as you have.
Sincerely,
John Brown
And now I hope I can not only be the kind of author that delivers stories like Koontz, but also one who isn’t one whit behind in graciousness with my readers.
A few years ago I was going on and on about a couple of authors whose work I love. It drove Nellie nuts. But she finally got over the eye-rolling stage. At least I thought she’d put it aside. However, on that Christmas she gave me a 4×6 inch piece of material that looks like a Persian rug with votive candles and the names of those favorite authors on little cards that had been folded in half, tent style. She thought that was the best joke ever. Yeah, until she caught me praying in the basement. (Actually, I never prayed, dang it! Why does it take me seven years to think up these comebacks?!)
Of course, when I rushed back up stairs after having opened today’s package, she sighed. “I guess this means I gotta make a card for Koontz now, doesn’t it.”
Oh, yeah. Votives for the man.
It’s official. SERVANT is in grocery stores outside of Utah. Saber2gecko saw and purchased a copy in a Raley’s grocery in the San Francisco Bay area then very thoughtfully posted that fact here. That chain has 144 stores. So not only is that great news for the book, but it also just plain rocks. I lived in that area for a few years. I love it down there. To know my book is circulating in the stores I used to shop is cool. Welcome to the Grove, California.
On Wednesday, at 8:53 PM, I finished the first draft of Assassin.
It clocked in at just over 97,000 words, making it the biggest book in the Drovers series. Prey was 73,000 words, Outlaws 68,000, and Sura 84,000.
More importantly, Assassin finishes the story arc that began with Prey. I may return to Ferran and company for another arc in the future, but I wanted these books to have a real, satisfying ending. And now they have one, if only in first-draft form.
Nobody but me sees the first draft of what I write. For good reason.
I’ll let it sit for a week or two so I can come back to it cold and discover that I’ve changed people’s clothing mid-scene, used the word sit six times in three paragraphs, and committed other literary crimes.
Draft two goes to my beta readers, who report where they were excited, bored, confused, or questioned my grasp of reality.
Draft three addresses those issues and gets a thorough line edit, even though I’ve found the best way to discover spelling errors is to think you’ve found them all and then publish your book. At that point, the devils come out of hiding and begin dancing around on the page.
Dixon Leavitt, the artist who created the previous three covers, will be doing this one as well.
If all goes well, Assassin should be out for the holidays.
One of my favorite discoveries in the book was a lad named Weff.
I didn’t set out to write Weff. I didn’t know he existed. But I was up on the hill behind my house on one of my writing walks, walking and talking to myself about the story, when he suddenly appeared.
Broniss has streets paved with cobblestones, and the queen wants them kept clean. The problem is that horses, oxen, and other beasts have an unfortunate habit of leaving things behind.
So the city has children assigned to territories whose job is to keep those streets clear.
They’re called muck runners.
And Weff is one with an enterprising mind.
That’s one of the delights of writing for me. Sometimes you plan a character for months. Sometimes you’re walking along a dirt road talking to yourself and a manure boy shows up. And suddenly he must have a part in the tale.
While you’re waiting for the big wrap up, if you’re looking for an audiobook, I highly recommend Tim Curry’s reading of Garth Nix’s Sabriel. It’s a terrific fantasy to begin with, but Curry’s performance makes it even better. His rendition of Mogget is so enjoyable you may find yourself listening a second time.
If you’ve heard an audiobook performance you absolutely loved, tell me. I’m always looking for the next good listen.
Until next time,
John
A couple of quick updates.
I just finished the edit of CURSE. I now have 697 pages all marked in red. Most of the revisions are small things. But there are some larger scene level edits. I hope to finish these in the next few weeks. Then we do the copy edit, print the proof, do the proof edit, and then at long last this baby will be available for readers. We’re so very close.
In other news, Larry Correia did a book bomb for BAD PENNY yesterday. At 6:30 a.m. this morning it was ranked number 457 at Amazon. It was the #3 book in the Thriller>Military category and #50 in the Thriller>Suspense. Hundreds of folks purchased the book. A couple even finished and began posting glowing reviews on Amazon and Larry’s site. I can’t tell you how excited I am to get the story into the hands of new readers. Both series are now launched.
Both books are available at:
I’m still working with the blasted Smashwords to get it up at iTunes and the Sony eReader store. I’ve been working since the middle of December on that. I’m going to give them one more shot, and then we’ll have to figure something else out. Those of you wanting to get it on iTunes, I hope to have it resolved by this time next week. Thank you so much for your extreme patience.
The cover illustration for SERVANT is finished!
(and there was much rejoicing.)
yea.
Actually, there was DANCING. Because I think the final piece rocks. The artist is Victor Minguez. Here are two of his pieces that I really enjoy.
The first is “Angel.” I love the bright contrast, the face, and the fact that there’s so much rich detail.
The next is “Champagne Havoc.” Again, a wonderful face, but also an awesome idea (a robot carrying a woman in the palm of its hand), and then the lines and chopper give the whole piece a lot of energy.
Click here to see other works in his portfolio.
So we kicked the project off by me sharing the goals I had for the cover and tons of reference on everything from color scheme to character costume. I asked Victor to develop some concepts for an ensemble of Hunger, Sugar, and Talen as well as some for the cave scene towards the end of the book. He came back with these sketches.
I liked the first because it would allow us to see the figure’s faces more clearly. And there was a lot of interesting detail with the cave. Look at the roots by the entrance. I also liked the structure. I liked the third because it included Hunger, and Victor was taking Hunger in a new direction. I also thought we could do some neat things with the energy of Sugar on the horse and that long sash. The fourth one, however, just felt right. It had so much potential energy. I was immediately drawn to the body language. And so this is the one we decided to develop. Then one of my beta art viewers suggested moving closer and putting in more strong diagonals. It was a perfect idea. Victor agreed and came back with this.
I liked the lines of her stance but wondered if she needed something stronger with her legs. Victor adjusted, but my idea just wasn’t an improvement.
So we decided to stick with the previous version. However, this was all too dark. Way too much gray. When looking at things in thumbnail, the cover has to pop. I shared more reference images. And Victor went back and delivered this.
Boom! That was exactly what I was looking for. Bright, dynamic. However, we needed a more neutral bit at the top for the title and author’s name. And the brightest spot had to be behind Sugar to draw the eye to her. Here was the next version.
At this point I started to dance. This was IT! There was a lot going on here. We had the high contrast I wanted. We had the energy. The wind with the hair and leaves and sash and torch all add kinetic energy. As do all the diagonals. Notice as well the cave details–we have hints at previous habitation, runes, and some interesting contrast with the dark foreground. I had shared a number of N.C. Wyeth and Tim and Greg Hildebrandt pieces as reference, and I think this captured elements of those and gave them a new twist. Note as well the sharp projections on Sugar’s behind. Victor put them in there purely for aesthetic reasons. He had no idea what they were. I loved them. He loved them. They worked. We would just have to make them make sense.
After a few more iterations, he delivered the final.
I think it’s gorgeous. And will advertise the book perfectly. In a few days I will reveal the final cover with title etc. Shortly after that, SERVANT will be available again to please English readers worldwide.
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Man, do I wish i lived in Utah so I could come out and hang with you guys. If I thought I could find a job quickly I might consider moving.
Life The Universe & Everything is coming up in February. If you wanted to hang with Utah SFF authors, that’s probably the biggest event.