Making My Bow on the Supernatural Underground!
Jul
01
2010
The Supernatural Underground is a blog for writers of speculative fiction published by HarperCollinsUSA and I’ll be blogging there on the first of every month—and my inaugural post has just gone live.
Do go over over and have a look. And to make it worth your while :-), you’ll see there’s 2 signed copies of Thornspell up for grabs for international readers (the AREs of Heir are for North American readers only at this stage, sorry!)
And to celebrate the release of Thornspell in paperback here in NZ tomorrow, I am also giving away a further two signed copies of the new paperback edition to readers (again to be drawn from the “sorting hat”) who post a comment here before midnight, July 2, New Zealand time.
Comments
LOVED your post on Supernatural Underground!!!! I’ve heard good things about Thornspell, and I think Heir looks really good, too!!!! Can’t wait to read both of them–Putting them on my wish list! Thanks so much for the contest!!! (from the U.S.)
Thanks so much, Jill. At first I wasn’t quite sure what to blog about and then I thought: hey, why are you doing this whole writing thing anyway, what’s it all about for you—ok, share that. 🙂
I saw your post on Supernatural Underground and really liked it. I have to say that I like fantasy for all the same reason. But, the biggest reason I love fantasy is the characters. They have all of the issues and problems that normal everyday people have to deal with, but in the context of an entirely different world with it’s own rules and challenges. Often, the characters also have powers and abilities to deal with as well. This makes reading, and writing about them particularly interesting.
I had never heard of Thornspell, but am really interested in reading it. Sleeping Beauty was my favorite fairy tale as a kid.
Hey Nik,
I agree with you about the characters … but I thought that characters was such a big subject it deserved it’s own post. Next time, maybe? Definitely, without characters there is no story!
And Sleeping Beauty was always my favorite fairytale as a little kid, too. But the idea for this story first came when I was at the Tchaikovsky ballet of Sleeping Beauty and the prince leapt onto the stage—and I sat up in my seat and thought: “Well, what about the prince? What’s his story?”
Just in case you do miss out on the draw though, Thornspell is in many libraries, as well as being on Amazon, in most NZ bookshops, and in good independent bookstores in the States & Canada.
Well, you know I’m not going to risk missing out on this 🙂
Quite right, too! 🙂
I came from Supernatural Underground, I’d like to be included!
And I’d love for you to be included—so we’re definitely good! 🙂
Hello! I am from the SN Underground too . Look forward to reading your books and experiencing your world.
Welcome—I hope you enjoy!
Hello Helen, I just saw your post on Supernatural Underground, I loved it! I was waiting for someone to ask what it is about Fantasy we love! As I said on there what don’t I love! Nothing is better than experiencing a new world and slipping into someone else’s shoes for a while!
Ah, I’m glad you loved and that I asked a good question. 🙂 And I’m with you, I love experiencing new worlds and wearing those other shoes, especially if you’ve never thought of shoes “quite like that” before.
Great post and you’ve received very thoughtful replies.
And you must read Maria Snyder – she’s great!
For me, it’s characters and worlds – and the possibility anything can happen. I also like strong female characters that kick butt and don’t sit around waiting to be rescued.
Congrats on finishing book 2 as well!
Hey Jan,
Maria SNyder’s on the list, but she just got bumped up a few places!
But sadly, I haven’t finished Book 2 yet, just Part 2 of Book 2. But even that feels mighty fine—durned tootin’ (as Willow would say, in early Buffy.)
OK, exactly how many parts are there?
In The Gathering of the Lost (which is The Wall of Night, Book Two) there will be four main parts to the story (with the working titles): 1) Festival of Masks; 2) The Northern March; 3) Midsummer and 4) (tentatively) Dark of the Moon. But it’s still one book, Jan—I just like to break my bigger stories up into ‘parts’. So in The Heir of Night there is: i) The Wall of Night; 2) Storm Shadows; and 3) Jaransor.
So halfway there then 🙂
Looking forward the the release of HofN – I like big, meaty books to sink my teeth into.
Slightly over halfway—I hope! And Heir is a good size at 447 pages, but not a doorstop. Am hoping you will love, Jan. 🙂