Here's something I'm happy to see. It's my most recent foreign publication - The Risen in Spanish! La Rebelión. I rather like that. Spartacus, in this version, is Espartaco. I rather like that, too.
Here's the copy text:
El nuevo libro del autor del best sellerEl orgullo de Cartago. Una novela soberbia sobre Espartaco, el legendario gladiador, y la revuelta de esclavos que encabezó y a punto estuvo de someter a Roma y sus invencibles legiones.
En esta emocionante novela histórica somos testigos de la rebelión más famosa de la historia desde diversos, y a veces opuestos, puntos de vista, entre ellos el del propio Espartaco, el visionario cautivo y gladiador cuya constancia y carisma convierten la fuga de una prisión en una rebelión multicultural que amenaza a un imperio; el de la profética Astera, cuyo contacto con el mundo de los espíritus y sus augurios guía el desarrollo de la rebelión; el de Nonus, un soldado romano que se mueve a ambos lados del conflicto en un intento, en parte desesperado, de salvar la vida; el de Laelia y Hustus, dos niños pastores incorporados a las tropas de la rebelión de los esclavos, y el de Kaleb, el esclavo al servicio de Craso, el senador romano y comandante que carga con la poco envidiable tarea de aplastar una insurrección de meros esclavos, todo ello en un entorno de violencia, heroísmo y traición.
Lo que está en juego con la rebelión de Espartaco es nada menos que el futuro del mundo antiguo. Nadie aporta más brío, inteligencia y frescura a la novela sobre la época clásica que David Anthony Durham.
George RR has just
confirmed that the Spanish publisher Scyla will be publishing editions
of the first seven volumes of the Wild Cards
series. One deal. Seven books.
I've been involved in this world for a few years now, but I've never seen things as popping and rocking as they are right now.
I have to eat dinner, but afterwards I'll mention a few more cool things...
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.
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!
I got an email from George RR Martin recently, detailing some good news about foreign deals for Wild Cards novels. I'm a contributor to the series, so I'm in the loop on such things. ;)
George wrote:
"We have a new Russian deal, this time with Exmo, for translation rights to the first seven books, from WILD CARDS through DEAD MAN'S HAND..."
At that point he says how much the advance is. Alas, I don't reckon he'd want me sharing such info, so on to the next bit.
"We also have a new Spanish language deal. This does not include Spain, but only Latin America. The publisher is Oceano, of Mexico, and the deal is for the same seven books, volumes one through seven. Oceano will pay an advance of..."
Almost got me. But, nope, I need to cut that there.
George concludes:
"So... Wild Cards rolls on, conquering the world nation by nation."
I love that. Now, admittedly, these books all feature the original and early crew members. I'm not one of those, so this doesn't mean that anything of mine is included in these deals. But I'm inclined to believe that a rising tide lifts all boats, even my little dingy. So, I'm pleased for the series in general.
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!
You know that I always love receiving foreign copies of my books. This one isn't new. Been out for a little while now in Germany. But I've just received a few copies all my own. It's a pretty book...
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):
Pretty cool, huh? I'd love to read these books! We can't, though, as they're not in English - and that's a limitation for us, sadly. Kai sent us the comics, though, so the kids enjoyed taking a visual journey through the story.
Really wish these novels were published in the US...
I'm back from France! I had a terrific time, as ever. Imaginales was just as good as last time, better in some ways.
I did quite a few interviews, some audio, some video, some for print. I guess they'll make their way out into the world over the next few weeks. Was on a selection of panels. All went well, I think. I met a terrific group of writers. The international guests included Mercedes Lackey (great fun), Jaye Wells (one of the gang each evening, drinking and smoking like a local), Mary-Janice Davidson (a complete riot - unfiltered), and Naomi Novik (the only one of us that actually spoke decent French). I was also particularly happy to spend time with Kai Meyer, the bestselling German writer. I've been a fan of his middle grade novels for a long time, and we've corresponded in the past. (By the way, he's got a new YA series debuting in the US - Arcadia Awakens.)
Of course, there were plenty of French writers too! Between the panels and signing sessions and dinner and bar time I hung out with them. Just to name a few: Sire Cédric, Laurent Whale, Carina Rozenfeld, Marie Caillet, Nicolas Cluzeau, Marika Gallman, Lionel Davoust, Cassandra O'Donnell, Christophe Vacher, Sylvie Miller, Adrien Tomas, Anne Fakhouri, Pierre Bordage, Ayerdhal, Samantha Bailly... And there were many more! Good people all of them.
Oh, and I'm pleased to say I even had some fans! Lovely fans. I signed plenty of books, took a few pictures, kissed some cheeks. It was France, after all.
If you want to see how I roll in France, you could take a look at the series of videos from my extended interview section. It's an interesting process considering that the interview is conducted in French. And... ah... I don't speak French. (Not yet, at least. If they keep inviting me back I'm definitely going to learn.)
To get you started, the first part is here:
Anyway, I'm very pleased to have attended for a second time. Much thanks to the town of Epinal, the Imaginales coordinators and to my wonderful, dedicated, tireless publishing team at Le Pré aux clercs. Thank you.
Here's the copy text:
returns to Germany with the publication of a recent
triad of collaborative books - INSIDE STRAIGHT, BUSTED FLUSH, SUICIDE
KINGS.
