Read PoC//Fantasy and Science Fiction

Just came across this nice list of SFF titles by writers of color. Great to see how much it's grown over the last few years!

Take a look. You'll find a book/author to love. HERE.

A União Sagrada

One never knows for sure, but according to this blog:

http://umabibliotecaemconstrucao.blogspot.com/2014/08/saida-de-emergencia-anuncia-titulos-que.html

the next volume of Acacia may come out next month in Portugal! 

Acácia - A União Sagrada de David Anthony Durham... I like the way that sounds. (Not that I can pronounce it properly, but still.) 

This would, by the way, be the first half of The Sacred Band. (I think.)

I'll post a cover as soon as I can grab one.

Mind Meld

SF Signal has a Mind Meld post up about: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Genre Series: Series vs. Standalones; Ones We Abandoned; Ones We Returned To.

This is wherein several authors/critics respond to the topic prompt. I'm pleased to have had it pointed out (thanks Zach) that the Acacia Trilogy got three mentions - and some further chat in the comments! What nice people...

You can read their thoughts HERE.

George R. R. Martin poleca książki

This amuses me. The reach of GRRM.

A few days ago he was kind enough to post a list of books and authors he recommends for people waiting impatiently for his next book. Happily, I'm one of them!

That's nice enough, but I had to chuckle when the list made the Huffington Post!

And, even further afield, it's on this Polish website! Fortunately, Acacia (and Pride of Carthage) is published in Polish, as Akacja, so I'm in this cover shot with some rather prominent authors:

So if I end up big in Poland it's surely all George's fault.

Mandria Cartaginei

Anyone have connections in Romania?

I ask because I've just seen the Romanian version of Pride of Carthage for the first time. It's called Mandria Cartaginei: Romanul Lui Hannibal and it looks like this:

I like it, but I'm worried about getting my hands on a copy. Never got one from the publisher and, sometimes, I never do. Hey, I'd even buy one if I could figure out how to.

LEYA Has Been Good To Me

A little while back I announced that the very cool Brazilian publisher LEYA had signed an uber-deal for all 22 of George RR Martin's Wild Cards collaborative series of novels (including the one I'm helping to wrap up right now). That still makes me shake me head. 22 books in one deal?...

I can now announce another deal with them that I'm very happy about.

LEYA has also had the incredible wisdom to acquire the Acacia Trilogy for the Brazilian market! Hurrah! I'm going to Brazil! Or... my books and my characters are, at least. Maybe I'll get there myself some day.

This is an entirely new market for me. Saída de Emergência published the series wonderfully in Portugal, but Brazil is a different territory. Here's hoping the LEYA books look as lovely as Saída de Emergência editions!

Saída de Emergência Rocks!

The other day I got something lovely in the mail. Sort of like an early Christmas present. The special boxed set that Saída de Emergência made for the two-volume Portuguese edition of The War with the Mein. Finally, I got me eager little hands on it!

It looks like this:

But that's just from the outside. What's even cooler are the goodies inside. There are the books, of course:

But that's just the start!

There's also a map, with cool highlights and arrows and stuff I can't read:

And on the back of the map are character sketches:

And there's a little Acacia notepad. Are you kidding me? My name is on a notepad in Portugal? I love that.

And I love the way all of the material is full of wonderful details. Great artwork, lovingly crafted touches. They've visualized the world and brought it to life perhaps more than any other publisher has so far.

They've even taking brief descriptions from the text and imagined them artistically. Note the work on the flag of the Akaran family:


I also noticed another cool little bit, the cover for the next book, Outras Terras. It's a small image and a bit blurry, but here's a taste of it:

You know what else? It's just occurred to me that more of my novels have been published in Portuguese than any other language. Different publishers have picked up all of my books since Walk Through Darkness! That only leaves out my debut, Gabriel's Story. (The rights for it are available, by the way...)

It makes me wonder who these wonderful people are? Portugal is very definitely a destination for me before too long!

Strange Horizons/Locus Poll Picks

Niall Harrison has kindly put up his picks in various best of categories for the 20th and 21st (so far) centuries. This is in response to Locus voters doing the same. Very pleased, then, that Niall put Acacia in the top for for fantasy titles of this century! One wonders what great books will be written in the next 80+ years, but it's nice to have some standing with a terrific critic like Niall. At least for a while...

The list is HERE: at Strange Horizons.

Caixa Acácia

Those folks at Saída de Emergência never fail to surprise me. I just discovered that they're republishing the first two Acacia books (really just The War With the Mein in two volumes) in a special edition, with a groovy new gold-flecked cover. I like these people. ;)

Not only that, they're put together a trailer about it. Check it out (and dig the music):

 

A Bookplate

I received something rather nice the other day. A kind reader sent me several Acacia-inspired bookplates that he'd made himself. He requested that I sign them for him, sort of a way of personalizing a book without having to send the whole book in the mail.

Here's what it looks like, with the requested signature:

Isn't that cool?

Thanks, Roger. It's very gratifying to know my work inspires others to create!

If You're One of Those People...

For about a year now I've been able to follow my weekly book sales via Bookscan. Usually, there are lots of ups and downs. Sales go up when a new book comes out. When there are reviews or end of year lists, etc. All the predictable stuff. Normally, I pay only passing attention. Gotta keep my sights set on the new books, right?

My interest has perked up a bit recently, though. For some reason, sales have slowly and steadily increased over the summer. I'm not aware of any particular promotions or ads or anything. No new publications. But week by week for most of the summer the Acacia books have been steadily selling.

It's kinda cool. But I don't know where or why this is happening. My Amazon sales rank is nothing special. So... can it be that people are actually finding the books in bookstores? Is it all because of that GRRM quote? Word of mouth?

Beats me, but I'm pleased. If you're one of the people out that there's come to the series this summer, thank you. I hope you like it!

Cool...
 

I just noticed that Nancy Pearl - the queen of America's librarians (and a bestselling author) - has blogged a short list of books that she hopes librarians recommend this summer. In particular, she's offer a list of titles that AREN'T new, so that readers can discover some books they might've missed.

Nice idea. It got even nicer when I looked at the list!

You can check it out HERE.

Staffer's Book Review

I love series reviews. Great to have an entire sequence of books discussed as a whole. I'm very pleased with a new review of the Acacia Trilogy, just up at Staffer's Book Review.

Among other things, the reviewer - Justin - writes that the series:

"...rekindled in me a love of fantasy and for that it will always hold a place in my pantheon. More importantly though, it's a series I'll pass it on to my children for the honesty that David Anthony Durham brings to the Known World."

Wonderful to hear that. You can read the whole thing HERE.

Couple of Nice Reviews

Catching up on linking to a few newish reviews of Acacia-related stuff.

Dave Brendon finished up the series and talks about it HERE: DaveBrendon's Fantasy & SciFi Weblog.

Pornokitsch's Underground Reading series writes wonderfully about Acacia HERE.

New Suvudu Interview

New interview, just up at Suvudu!

I'm not sure, but this may be the first time I discuss changes I've made to Acacia in preparation for the trade paperback editions. I don't think it has anything spoilerish in it. Mostly, I talk about GRRM and about the new stuff I'm working on.

Take a look HERE!

Neth Speaketh

Seems like the Acacia Trilogy is getting a flurry of series-wide reviews.

Neth Space has another one up, in which he says interesting things like:

"Durham wants to show what a progressive message in epic fantasy can look like. Not the conservative, nostalgic end so common and not a cynical response to that conservatism. He presents a truly progressive move forward rather than backward or a simple reestablishment of a status quo – a vision of hope that could translate into our own lives and society."

 Agree with that? Check it out HERE for more.

One Book After Another

There's a very interesting piece on the Acacia Trilogy over at the blog One Book After Another.

It not so much a review as it is a wide-ranging critical/philosophic/political examination of the books.

Take a look HERE.

A Trio of Reviews

Last week Jessica Nani of ScienceFiction.com wrote a very nice review of Acacia: The War with the Mein. She promised to continue with the other two books of the trilogy. And she has!

Her review of The Other Lands is HERE.

And her conclusion with The Sacred Band is HERE.

It's quite a treat to see all three books reviewed in short order - as a package!

ScienceFiction.com

There's a nice review by Jessica Nani up at ScienceFiction.com. It's her take on Acacia: The War with the Mein, and it's a positive one!

Even better, it looks like they'll be reviewing the next two books in the series soon. Here's hoping they continue to like it!


You can read the review HERE.


Oh, and another thing that's cool is there's an ad up for The Sacred Band on the site. Looks like Anchor is shelling out a little cash for promotion. Lovely.

Acácia - The T-Shirt!

I don't usually feel inclined to inflict photos of myself on the general public, but I'll have to this time.

My Portuguese publisher, Saida de Emergencia, has come through as promised. I recently received this:

Consider me pleased enough to pose for a photo and grin goofily...