Abercrombie

LepreCon Report!

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A number of you might recall me mentioning appearing at LepreCon this past week.

A greater number of you might recall me raving wildly about my appearing at LepreCon and begging you over a tear-stained copy of Tome of the Undergates to come listen to me and validate my existence.

And a select few of you might possess memories born in half-dream stupors of me standing over you while you slept, gently stroking your hair while whispering private poems in broken Russian.

They are the luckiest of all…assuming they continue not to press charges.

Anyway, I am pleased to report that LepreCon was an immense success.  Organized by the fine Lee Whiteside, and attended by such creatures of myth as George R.R. Martin, it provided fertile ground for a meeting of minds and a spewing of stuff that I desperately hoped people thought I knew enough to talk about.

Despite my earlier travesties at EasterCon, I consider LepreCon to be my very first panel ever, since I actually got to talk about writing (which I know a fair deal about) at this one.  I am pleased to report that most people seemed to think that my oratory went over quite well.  Barely anyone suspected I was a fraud, and those that did suspected things on a highly personal level, rather than a professional one.  I gave panels on Pacing (with Melinda Snodgrass) and on the Perils of Writing Epic Fantasy (with George himself and Mr. James A. Owen, whom I highly recommend you check out right now).  It was a delight to do so and I was amazed that I was able to keep myself from throwing myself over the table and into the audience.  I was so amazed that I threw myself at an elderly guest at the hotel who is now in a coma, he was so amazed.

Equally amazing was my first book-signing.  Yes!  I told you Tome of the Undergates would be on sale at LepreCon!  But you didn’t believe me!  Well, you look pretty stupid now, don’t you?  Sitting there with your Tome-less hands, wondering what all the people with copies are talking about as they whisper between each other and occasionally glance in your direction.

They’re talking about you.

And how much they hate you.

But it’s not too late!  You can still get yerself a copy, as I’ve been informed that Goldsboro books is getting a HEAP O’ COPIES, all signed and secreted upon by myself!  And, if you’re in the US, you can still get them at The Poisoned Pen (or wait until Pyr publishes them in September!)

In addition, the good people at the Poisoned Pen made me a cake out of the cover of Tome of the Undergates! I will endeavor to get you a picture as soon as I can.  Now, I must inform you that George has not yet read my book (though he professes to be eager to), he is a busy man, after all.  Of the cake, though, he had this to say:

Sam Sykes’ book is creamy and delicious…also, I saw a lot of people picking at it earlier and they seemed to like it, too.

High praise, my friends.  High praise.

So, it was a good event, but the fun does not stop there, my friends!

Lee Whiteside is also organizing this year’s Phoenix Comicon and has graciously decided to overlook my many felonies by inviting me to do a few panels on breaking into the genre and discussing the various sub-genres, such as paranormal romance (of which I am a convicted expert) and steampunk.  Come to see it, why don’t you?  And see the various other guests, including Stan Lee, James Marsters and Felicia “God DAMN” Day!

I hear tell she once said something nice about Joe Abercrombie.  In my efforts to out-do him in all things, including siring two children of my own, I will defeat him in this, as well.

Be there or be SHORN OF HAIR.

P.S. Did I not tell you I’d show it to you?  Behold, Tome of the Undercakes.


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Slow News Day

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It’s true, I did have great plans for my first news post of the new website.

It was originally going to be a tale of daring-do and daring-don’t, the staunchly provocative and highly erotic story in which Alex Bell and I quadruplehandedly took down a smuggling ring led by Joe Abercrombie using only a coffee can, a high caliber taser and our guts.

It was going to be pretty good.  You might have crapped your pants.  As I happen to think you look quite good in those, though, I decided against it.

Still, points need to be made in regards to our fancy new site.

First of all: the contact form.  For reasons unknown, it sends all people trying to contact me to the Spam Filter, perhaps suggesting, in that pretentious, wordless way it often does, that you are all beneath my notice?  I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth.  I am so committed to maintaining contact with you, my gentle readers, that I have frequently put off several engagements, including my own arranged marriage, to stay in touch.

As a result, I lost the dowry and no longer have a shiny new bicycle.  But you’re worth it, readers.

At any rate, if you’ve yet to receive a response from me, please send it again and demand a free hug and I will probably give it to you.

Second Points Bulletin: The facebook link is broken, yes.  I promise you I’ll get it back up when I get my facebook page working.

Third Item of Interest: Y’all heard of Eastercon?  It’s apparently big news in Britain, bigger even than the Beatles, who were supposedly bigger than Jesus, who trounced Zoroastrianism in the polls.  By that logic, then, Eastercon is bigger than a major religion, a messiah and a rock band.

This is big.

And I am going to it.  I will be there most days, maybe doing a panel or something similar?  And also hanging out with the boys from Sci-Fi London, probably doing an interview with them…maybe going to a strip club…a strip club with girls. It’ll be pretty intense, guys, and I seriously hope you’ll see me there so I can complete my Herculean labors and challenges that have been issued to me by the British public.

Standing Challenges:

So, yeah, only a few good announcements and…what’s that?  You want more?

Oh, very well.  Here, have the fruits of today’s labor:

Can you identify them all?!

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Look Who’s Talking Up Pyr

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2008

CONTACT: Jill Maxick at 800-853-7545
jmaxick@prometheusbooks.com

Look Who’s Talking Up Pyr
A Variety of Notable Fans Brand It Well Worth Reading

Amherst, NY — The conventional wisdom holds that publishers don’t have dedicated readerships, authors and subgenres do. Those few publishers that do cultivate a single brand identity tend to concentrate their focus on a particular subgenre, such as military science fiction.

Yet over the last few years, we have begun to hear from readers, critics, chain bookstore buyers, distributors, bloggers and independent bookstores, that Pyr is becoming an exception to this notion. It seems a Pyr brand is taking hold—based not on any one niche within the genre, but on the expectation of a general level of extremely high quality.

Every press likes to identify their readership. Whether for epic fantasy, hard science fiction, sci-fantasy blends, space opera or something else, just who thinks of Pyr as a line worth reading?

Junot Díaz, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, says “Pyr books has in a few short years become the imprint to beat in the science fiction and fantasy fields.”

Díaz explains, “[With The First Law series, Joe] Abercrombie has written the finest epic fantasy trilogy in recent memory. He’s one writer that no one should miss. Ian McDonald’s Brasyl is beyond superb. This novel should have beaten all comers for all the main awards. And who is writing space opera as sharp as Kay Kenyon in her The Entire And The Rose series?”

Barbara Ehrenreich—author of This Land Is Their Land and Nickel and Dimed (Metropolitan Books)—was asked by Time Magazine to name a guilty pleasure, something she reads when she doesn’t want to work. She named River of Gods by Ian McDonald. Ehrenreich said, “There aren’t many literary sci-fi thrillers that deliver a mind-expanding metaphysical punch, and this one ended all too soon. But in the afterglow of McDonald’s lushly blooming imagination, even the real world is looking better.”

Joseph Mallozzi writes and produces one of television’s hottest science fiction shows, Stargate: Atlantis. During production in Vancouver, Canada, he regularly communicates with the show’s fans through online forums and blogs. Somehow, he also finds time to read for pleasure—and some of his recent favorites come from Pyr.

Mallozzi says, “Pyr continues to impress with its growing line-up of premiere genre fiction. From Justina Robson’s mind-bending Quantum Gravity series to Kay Kenyon’s thoughtful and provocative Entire and the Rose saga, it’s an imprint marked for offering up some of the best Fantasy and SF being written today.”

Apparently, even Stargate: Atlantis characters read Pyr books. In recent episodes, both Chuck the technician and Dusty were seen reading Theodore Judson’s The Martian General’s Daughter.

Lou Anders, Pyr Editorial Director, notes, “Pyr’s goal from day one was to provide books of a consistently high quality, so it is extremely gratifying to hear that readers—famous, fictional, or otherwise—feel that is what they are getting.”

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