The Shadow Prince Cover Reveal!

 So happy to release the cover for my forthcoming middle grade fantasy The Shadow Prince! Artwork by the amazing Eric Wilkerson. Pub date Sept 2021!

 Here's the description:

FIVE DEADLY TESTS, ONLY ONE SHADOW PRINCE

Growing up as an orphan in a remote village in the Egyptian desert, Ash's life is pretty ordinary--sort of. He spends most of his time working in irrigation canals and avoiding bullies, but he is also being secretly trained by his mentor Yazen "for some great purpose." Yazen has never said what that is, until now: the night before Ash's twelfth birthday. According to Yazen, Ash was born on the same day as Prince Khufu, which makes him eligible to compete to be the prince's shadow, a lifelong confidante and bodyguard. Ash doesn't really believe Yazen, but when a floating royal barge, driven by solar-powered sails, arrives to take Ash and his mentor to the bustling, magical, and solar-powered capital, things get real.

What awaits Ash is deadly--five days of dangerous tests, each overseen by a different Egyptian god. Unfortunately, they've been told, not all will survive. On top of the tests, Ash is up against Set, the devious god of chaos, secretly working toward the candidates' demise. If they fail, a different prince will inherit the throne, one Set can manipulate for his evil schemes. Ash finds two friends willing to fight by his side, but he's been warned. Some candidates lie, cheat, and even try to harm others to win. Can Ash and his friends do what it takes to save the kingdom? And will there be anyone left to become the Shadow Prince?

 

 

10 Best?

Very pleased to see that the College Gazette recently picked my uni - University of Nevada, Reno - as one of the nation's 10 best hidden gem universities. No surprise to me, but it's nice to get that recognition, especially as we're at #3.

Interview

Here's a link to interview Carrie Vaughn and I did during last month's Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl. 

Thanks to Annie Saunders and KWNK! And thanks to Sundance Books for providing us a quite room to speak in!

Write With Me in Brazil Next Summer!

So here's my first announcement of a very cool thing! I'm going to be teaching a fiction writing course this summer in Brazil! At the seaside city of Florianópolis. We'll be reading Brazilian writers (in English), but writing whatever fiction students want to - including SFF if they're so inclined. This is an undergrad college deal, for credit. USAC is based at the University of Nevada, Reno, but enrollment in this program is available to college students anywhere in the country.

Please spread the word! Five weeks of hanging out in a lovely city, writing, reading, eating, drinking, and - if you're up for it - surfing! (Yes, they offer surfing for credit!)

It's going be a blast! Questions about it? Email me at ddurham@unr.edu.

Wild Cards Interview

Hey, an interview I did, now up at Wild Cards World! Among other things, I talk about whitewater rafting and kayaking. Fun fact: I'm going whitewater rafting and kayaking this weekend in California! 

Interview is HERE.

Jean Cocteau Cinema's Signed Books

GRRM just reminded me that he has signed books - by many authors but me included - at his Jean Cocteau Cinema. They have copies of my Spartacus novel The Risen as well as three of the Wild Cards books I've contributed to. All of those have also been signed by George and any other authors who've visited the Cinema (and signed books they wrote or contributed to, I mean). There's a lot to choose from across many genres. Go check it out. Signed books make great presents!

Die Gladiatoren Von

This showed up in the mail today, sent from GRRM. I wasn't sure what it was, but I could tell it was in German.

Oh, I see. It's LOWBALL, a Wild Cards novel that I wrote for. Don't know that I knew this would be published in Germany, but... yay!

Super Special UNBOUND

This just showed up in the mail:

It's the super special signed edition of UNBOUND, edited by Shawn Speakman. I'm in it, and the book is lovely. Yay! Look, signatures!

Video

I make a brief appearance on a video posted at GRRM's "Not a Blog." It's from short interviews we did when we gathered in fall of 2017 for a reunion/get together. I'm on at 1:06.

Black History Lunch

This is fun. The Wild Cards writers room celebrates Black History month.

Good peeps. Good food. And gonna be great shows!