La Rebelión

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 seller El 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.

Sounds good, huh?

PUB DAY

Pub Day. That's today. THE RISEN out in paperback. :-)

Another Uprising

Oh, right. There's a book of mine coming out in paperback, like, soon. April 18th, actually! The Risen! I just got a box of books today. I rather like the way they look. 

Also, it's nice for this Book Reporter mention to pop up. I'm on there, though you have to scroll down a bit to get to the listing.

Open Letters Monthly

Just noticed a smart review of THE RISEN at Open Letters Monthly. Very pleased with it.

I like these folks. Of course I do, considering they say things like: "Durham delivers a fuller, grittier, and more satisfying one even than the standard-bearer, Howard Fast’s 1951 blockbuster Spartacus. This is a near-perfect thinking-person’s dramatization of the Spartacus story..." They also quote from the novel several times, which is nice because I get to go, "Hey, I wrote that!"

All Smiles

I woke this morning to a lovely surprise.

George RR Martin just did a post on his Not a Blog called "Good Stuff". It's about films he's liked recently, and TV series, books he's read or is looking forward to reading. You know where I'm heading, right?

He wrote: "Also on hand is David Anthony Durham's new historical novel, THE RISEN, his take on Spartacus. DAD never disappoints, and Spartacus is another fascination of mine... I look forward to seeing how Durham's take on him differs from Howard Fast's and Colleen McCullough's."

Wow. Needless to say, I'm all smiles.

He Was Spartacus - WSJ

Pleased to say that THE RISEN just picked up a stellar review, this one from the Wall Street Journal! The reviewer is Allan Massie, quite a veteran of Roman biographical novels himself. So I'm pleased.

He said some very nice things, including, "THE RISEN is full of blood, thunder and excitement. Spartacus is an inspiring, attractive hero."

 (I've linked to the review just because, but sometimes only subscribers can actually read the whole thing. Other times it appears for me. Weird.)

"an absorbing new historical novel about Spartacus..."

The Washington Post has nice things to say about THE RISEN.

The Risen Is Historical Fiction for Fantasy Fans

Jeff Somers has written a terrific article about magic and belief in THE RISEN for the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog. Wow. As an author it's rare and wonderful to read such a thorough, insightful engagement with my work. Yay!

Historical Novel Society on THE RISEN

And here's another generous review of my new book, just a couple days ahead of pub date.

Book review: Legend of Spartacus retold in 'The Risen'

Very generous review of THE RISEN at the Fredericksburg Freelance Star!

Spartacus Speaks!

Very pleased to announce that there's going to be an audiobook version THE RISEN! It's been in the works for a little while now, but I'm mentioning because I have the visual of the cover to now:

Tantor Media is the publisher, and the wonderful Steven Crossley is doing the narration. Hey, he was good enough for the likes of Salmon Rushdie, David Mitchell, Ian McEwan, Jane Yolen, Peter F Hamilton, Alexander McCall Smith, Diana Wynne Jones, Garth Nix, Connie Willis... to name a few. I'm pleased he's now giving a Durham novel the treatment. I look forward to hearing it. It appears on May 3rd, same as the hardback! It's not up on Audible yet, but I suspect that will happen on pub day.

PW Reviews Spartacus

Here's a nice thing: Publishers Weekly's review of THE RISEN.

My favorite line: "Monumental in scale and rich in intimately portrayed characters, Durham’s (Pride of Carthage) brilliant rendering of slavery and the horrors of war gives the novel its emotional impact." Yay for that!

A New Book!

Got back yesterday from a few days away and found a cryptic note from a neighbor I didn't know, asking me to call in once I'd seen the note. Went over and found a very cheery gentleman (not cryptic at all). He'd received a delivery of two boxes of books for me!

Which books? These ones. Finished copies at last...

Kirkus Reviews The Risen!

I'm pleased to say that my new novel just received it's first pre-publication review. It's from Kirkus Reviews, and it's pretty good. Even has some film casting suggestions!

Think Brad Pitt's interested?

You can read it HERE.

Page Proofs!

I'm p leased to say I recently received and read the page proofs of my next book, THE RISEN - a historical novel about the Spartacus rebellion in ancient Rome. 

Everything looks good, so it's back in my publisher's hands, scheduled for publication in May of the new year!

Spartacus Reveal

At long last, I can reveal the cover for my forthcoming historical novel, The Risen! It's scheduled for publication in March 2016, and it'll look like this...

Acceptance!

Very happy to say that I just heard back from my editor on my recently delivered Spartacus manuscript. It's a go. He likes it and has officially accepted it!

There's still plenty of revising work to be done, but it's a big relief to get the confirmation that the book exists, and will be my next publication with Doubleday/Anchor. Book # 7 with them!

Oh, and I think it has a title now. It will likely be this:

The Risen: A Novel of Spartacus