Something cool arrived in the mail yesterday:
It’s the uncorrected proofs, or bound galleys, of my first book. It’s really neat to see it in near-book form.
Now I need to brainstorm some good writers who might like to blurb my book. Anybody know Nick Hornby’s home phone number? Just kidding. No, really, does anybody have his number?
Some good news. I’ll be publishing a collection of my best short stories with Fantastic Books, tentatively titled THE DINOSAUR DAIRIES AND OTHER TALES ACROSS SPACE AND TIME. I don’t have a publication date yet, but the hope is to have it out before my first book hits the stands April of next year. Doug Cohen, who in addition to working for Fantastic is also the assistant editor at Realms of Fantasy, where the title story of the collection appeared last year, is the acquiring editor. Warren Lapine, who owns Fantastic Books and a number of other publishing enterprises, recently bought Realms of Fantasy, which is one of the reasons I approached them about the collection. Doug was also instrumental in the first story I sold Realms (“The Grand Mal Reaper,” which will also be in the collection), so there’s some nice synergy there.
I’m excited about this for a number of reasons. The first is that it’ll be great to finally have a collection of my best short stories available for people who like my work. It’s always tough when people ask where they can find more of my stories and I have to point them mostly to magazines which can be hard to find without a subscription. I’m also excited because if all goes well I’ll have two collections available before my first book is published. The first, A WEB OF BLACK WIDOWS AND OTHER STORIES OF LOVE AND LOSS, is a mostly original collection that PS Publishing should be out with later this year in a very limited collector’s print run of only 500 copies. It’s a short collection, around thirty thousand words, of darker stories all centered around love and loss. I’m very proud of this one.
The Dinosaur Diaries collection, however, is a more motley mix — fantasy, science fiction, mystery, light and dark, somber and fun, and everything in between, stories that appeared in places like Analog, Asimov’s, Ellery Queen, Weird Tales, and of course, Realms of Fantasy. I’ve tossed in one new story, but otherwise it’s eighty thousand words of what I consider my best short fiction so far.
I’ll have more news on the collection down the road, including a full line-up of the stories, but for now it’s enough to say that I’m excited to make it available to my legions of fans. Okay, maybe not legions yet, maybe not even a single legion, but we’re working on that . . .
One of the perks of being a writer is that your stories or novels occasionally get illustrated. “The Bear Who Sang Opera,” which appeared in the July/August issue of Analog, had an illustration I loved so much that I emailed the artist to tell him so. John Allemand — who said some nice things about my story in return — was kind enough to send me a high resolution image so I could print and put it up in my office (and with his permission, post online). I think it really does capture the spirit of the story:
(Click picture for larger image)
Last week, my editor at Simon and Schuster emailed me the cover to my first novel, The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys. As of today, it’s now showing up on Amazon.com and all the other usual places. I’m very excited about it, because it has exactly the pulpy, adventure feel I was going for:
I love my name on the hood of the car. A real nice touch. I should also mention that the book, which is scheduled to be published April 27, 2010 in hardcover, is now available for preorder. Amazon has even got it discounted down to $11.55. Think of it, for just over ten bucks you can order a first edition hardcover to my first book. If I wasn’t me, I’d order it myself.
And as far as reading goes, this story of two teenagers who steal their principal’s ’67 Mustang and end up on a life-changing road trip should be a rip-roaring read. Think of it as The Catcher in the Rye meets Thelma and Louise. If you’ve ever been a teenage boy, or had a child who was a teenage boy, or known someone who was a teenage boy, or just flat out wanted to know what teenage boys think, hey, this is the book for you. Don’t delay. I can’t throw in any special gifts, but you’ll have my eternal gratitude.