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Posts Tagged ‘three parts dead’

The Road to Comic Con

“The Road to Comic Con” doesn’t scan well with “the Road to Rhode Island,” unless you invert the long and short syllables. Worse harm has been done in the service of doggerel, I guess.

Friday, my grandfather sent me a large square package, that turned out to contain…

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Which was an excellent capstone to the week. Thanks, grandpa!

Yesterday, also, I wrote a brief essay for Sci Fi Fan Letter about the way some of my experiences in China influenced Three Parts Dead. Check it out here if you’re interested.

First Three Parts Dead Signing: Done! Second Three Parts Dead Signing: Tonight!

Last night was the first signing for Three Parts Dead!  We had a wonderful crowd at the Harvard Book Store, despite the drizzle.  If you’re in the area, but missed the event, you’re in luck!  We have a signing tonight at 7:30 at Pandemonium Books & Games!  My friend Aaron came last night, brought his photographer’s kit, and snapped some excellent shots:

Some great questions asked.  How did questions of systemic trust figure into my portrayal of the gods?  Will we ever see the God Wars?  What other narrative forms (other than noir, which is being done a decent amount now) could be crossed over with fantasy to good effect?  (Still pondering that one!  I tried to write a fantasy rom-com once but people started stabbing each other.  Maybe for another day.)

More blog tour madness ensues:

  • I wrote a post called Freedom to Name for World in the Satin Bag, about how the world’s fantastical, and the literature we use to represent it should also be comfortable with the fantastic.
  • I finally stopped lurking on reddit and commented on an r/fantasy posting of Alyssa Rosenberg’s awesome review; a cool discussion ensued, people were very welcoming, and the post stayed at the top of r/fantasy the entire day.  Pretty cool!  During the conversation I realized that I need to learn more about how ebook rights work…
  • I picked up some amazing laser-burned bookmarks for Three Parts Dead.  More about these soon!

That’s it for the moment.  I have to get some more writing done before my event tonight.  Have a great day.

Three Parts Dead In Stores Now!

Today my morning walk passed by a bookstore; I peeked in, and what did I see but my book, sandwiched between William Gibson and Terry Goodkind.

Way to go, little book.

I’m on Day 2 of a rocking blog and media tour.  Would you like to know more?

  • Alyssa Rosenberg of ThinkProgress posted an incredible review of Three Parts Dead: “That question of what is strange, and what is possible, and at what point we suspend logic and skepticism and take off into belief is at the heart of Three Parts Dead. It’s a luminous, wonderful book. And I hope that if I’m lucky, for a future birthday, Max will take me back to Alt Coulumb.“
  • I wrote at Fade into Fantasy about why magic would be big business, and how you get from wizard schools to cube farms.
  • I don’t always write about writing (in fact I rarely write about writing), but when the redoubtable David Coe asked me for something on that theme, I couldn’t resist.  Check out some thoughts on writing, silence, and pacing that I contributed to his site.
  • I’m the featured author for October over on Drey’s Library.  Drey has posted an excellent interview with me, in which I deny all rumors that I am a nanocloud located in the Kuiper Belt, and explain why you should look both ways before crossing the street, even in an ancient temple.  Drey’s also giving away a few copies of the book; her event will run through the end of October.
  • On the subject of giveaways, Layers of Thought should have one live today.  I’ll post the link when that hits the airwaves.

And that’s all for now, folks!  I have to stop writing in my browser and start writing fiction.  Rock on.

 

Three Parts Dead Release!

Three Parts Dead is now in the wild.  Off to school.  I know that at least one person read it on the way to work this morning—because he texted me to tell me so.  The next few weeks will be a haze of travel, signings, and promotion.  For the moment, I’m trying to remember to breathe.

If you’re waiting patiently for the mailman, or staring at your Kindle waiting for a download, consider the following short reads:

And if you haven’t bought the book yet, what’s keeping you?  Buy it from your local store, or from any of these fine retailers: (Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Booksamillion, IndieBound, Powells).

More to come throughout the day!

A Reaction to the Three Parts Dead Cover

From my wife’s coworker, Fred: “Your husband’s book looks awesome… and sort of creepy in a why are gods dying/ what is the woman on the cover doing with a knife / why is her arm blue / does she stab gods to death with a kitchen knife?/ and did that make her arm blue/ are gods’ blood blue sort of way.”

The cover’s work is done!

Six Days Until Three Parts Dead!

Three Parts Dead goes live on October 2!  At least one pre-orderer has already received it from his bookstore.  Those of you who pre-ordered from brick and mortar stores might well have a surprise in the next couple days.

As for me, I’m feeling the good version of this Johnny Cash song:

I’m incredibly excited, which presents new challenges to focus.  Jazz helps.  Coffee doesn’t, but when have you known  a writer willing to give up coffee?  For non-religious reasons, I mean.

(Interesting note: there’s a word in Chinese for giving something as part of a religious or personal vow – jie4.  This is a good verb to know if you’re a vegetarian traveling on the mainland–a phrase like “I don’t eat meat” wo3 bu4 chi1 rou4 doesn’t carry the same weight, or hasn’t in my experience, partly because sometimes people don’t think the word rou4 includes less obviously meaty substances like chicken stock, and partly because the sentence “I don’t eat meat” doesn’t carry a weight of finality.  You could just mean “I won’t eat meat on this occasion.”  The vow tells people you mean business. [Apologies for the pinyin – I need to fix wordpress to support chinese characters again.])

But anyway.  There’s still time to pre-order the book, and to get the word out.  And if you’re in the Boston area, and can make it, I’d love to see you at one of my two signings next week: at Harvard Book Store on October 3, and Pandemonium on October 4.  For more information, and links, see the events page.

Come See Me at New York Comic Con!

Since the website’s already updated, I finally feel comfortable announcing the news: I’ll be speaking at New York Comic Con!  I’m delivering a panel on Friday, a panel on Saturday, and signing books.  Here are the juicy juicy details!

In Panel 1, CHARACTERS: HARD CORE VS. BADASS, I will break at least two of the rules of Fight Club, and talk about characters’ strengths, challenges, and the disparity between them.  This one is all me, no backup, no other panelists, no moderator.  Fear for your lives.

Date: Friday, October 12
11:00 am – 11:45 am

Location: Unbound Stage

Speaker: Max Gladstone

Description:
What makes one character Hardcore and another Badass? Is there really a difference? Novelist Max Gladstone breaks it down by dissecting some of the greatest heroes and villains from books, gaming, comics, film and television, revealing the unique alchemy of each one and what every writer needs to think about in order to create truly unforgettable characters.

And Panel 2, HOCUS POCUS: MAGIC & MONSTERS IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, in which I share the stage with some seriously terrifying people, talking about the seriously terrifying powers, and phenomena that fill our work, and from which we all expect (foolishly, I think) to be allowed to leave unaccompanied by nice men in white coats:

Date: Saturday, October 13
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Location: 1A08

Speakers: Andrea Cremer , Beth Revis , Cecil Castellucci , Jacqueline Carey , Jocelynn Drake , Kim Harrison , Max Gladstone , Richard Kadrey , Victoria Schwab

Description:
Science-Fiction and Fantasy authors discuss the costs and consequences of “magic” in their novels. Moderator Beth Revis will have authors Andrea Cremer, Jacqueline Carey, Jocelynn Drake, Kim Harrison, Max Gladstone, Cecil Castellucci, Victoria Schwab and Richard Kadrey dishing about the scary, hairy and dangerous creatures that lurk in the worlds they have created. Moderated by Beth Revis.

And of course: BOOK SIGNINGS (signings inings nings ings ngs gs s…):

Max Gladstone: Saturday, 2:45-3:45pm. Autographing tables 2,3, and 4

Presumably I’ll be at one of those three tables, unless the Javits Center has some creepy co-location magic of which I’m unaware.

If you’re in NYC and want to brave the wilds of Javits, come see me!  Hear me!  Rock out!

Three Parts Dead Unboxing

I’ve received the first copy of Three Parts Dead from Tor!  In honor of Apple’s product launch today, and the new Kindles Amazon debuted on Monday, I decided to try my hand at the tantalizing genre of “unboxing.”

Warning: Awesome Images Ahoy!

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I’ve Sold Two More Books to Tor!

One roller-coaster of a year after I sold Three Parts Dead and its companion novel, Two Serpents Rise, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve sold two more books to Tor!

Publishers’ Marketplace has more information on the deal, but it’s behind a paywall, so permit me to repost:

…Max Gladstone’s A WALKER IN THE GYRE, a “science fantasy” in which an indifferent sci-fi writer must employ his gift — the ability to chart a course through the cauldron of the multiverse — to stop a family of necromancers set on remaking time in their image, to David Hartwell and Marco Palmieri at Tor, in a two-book deal, by Weronika Janczuk at Lynn Franklin Associates, in association with D4EO Literary (World English).

WALKER is by far the craziest thing I’ve ever written (except maybe for my current project).  I described it once to a composer friend as a fugue; he asked what I meant by that, and I said, well, the main characters spend a lot of time running away from stuff.  If you’ve ever wanted a book about gods, monsters, fractal war machines, wolves between worlds, Tantric supercomputers, sex, death, parenting, necromancy, time travel, Hamlet, blood magic, Oh Hell, destiny, responsibility, and love–this is it.  If you’ve never wanted a book like that, I’m very confused by your priorities.

The second book will continue to expand  on the universe I’ve built in Three Parts Dead.  I’m still in the tapping-fingers-together-and-cackling phase for this one, so in lieu of details you’ll have to content yourself by imagining my maniacal laughter…. (I’m a tenor 2 if that helps.)

I can’t overstate how thrilled I am to be here, right now.