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Two days until Iron Night
CAN YOU FEEL THE EXCITEMENT?
Two days! Two days! Two days until Iron Night is published!
Listen, I think this book is pretty amazing. But I wrote it, and I have a bit of a stake in people buying it. So here are a few people who AREN’T me talking about it:
@BookwormBlues Dear Species: My bookish wisdom today is to read @BrennanML’s books. I can’t even wrap my head around how much I’m loving IRON NIGHT.
– Sarah of Bookworm Blues, January 2, 2014
Matt of 52 Book Reviews included it among his Most Anticipated Books of 2014 — and there are some REALLY awesome books on that list!
And Melliane of Between Dreams and Reality just posted a new Iron Night review!
If you do not know the series, I can only recommend you to read it. This is a beautiful discovery, a little different from what we can usually read all that with a clumsy hero who has a sense of duty and justice as anyone else. A new great surprise and I’ll eagerly wait for the third volume.
And Mihir put a great pre-review of Iron Night on Goodreads — here’s one of my favorite parts:
This is an excellent sequel that actually builds up on its predecessor and manages to outshine it in almost every department. Firstly kudos to the author for a strange and savage twist on one of fantasy’s most beloved creations. I was very excited to see how the author utilized an excellent murder mystery and then wove plot threads about family and lineage around it.
Two more days!
Iron Night Fanart Contest + Book 3 Title Reveal!
Coming soon to a bookstore near you! Or a bookstore on the Internet — I’m really not that picky. But NOT to an illegal download near you! Those should be far, FAR away from you!
26 more days until Iron Night is published! Exciting, right?
Want something even more exciting? I just got the okay to tell you the title for Book 3 – Tainted Blood. (pretty cool, right? I offer no hints at the current time about the contents of the book, lest I give away anything about Iron Night. okay, fine, you wore me down. ONE hint: there will be Star Wars references. this will make sense once you’ve read Iron Night) The team over at Roc is working on the cover right now. I haven’t seen anything yet, but I’ve gotten to be involved in some of the conversations about possibilities, and they even asked if I had any ideas.
A slight bummer – it doesn’t look like we’re going to get to see Suzume on the cover with Fort. The reasoning is actually really interesting, and was a neat insight into the industry of marketing a book. A cover that had Fort and Suze on it together would suggest to readers that the book was a paranormal romance. Now I’m not saying anything about where Fort and Suze are going (you’ll have to read Iron Night to find out more! mwah ha!), but that’s not my genre.
What I was really hoping for, of course, was to have Suze on the cover in her fox form. Because let’s face it – foxes make everything better. Unfortunately, it was pointed out to me that foxes are kind of tiny. In the setup they’re thinking of, the only way to really see Suze would be if Fort was holding her – which would suggest to readers that this was some kind of sexy veterinarian book. Which… is also not exactly what I’m going for. (let’s face it, Fort would *never* make the kind of money a veterinarian makes, or have that kind of job security)
So no foxy cover. *sigh*
However, I do have you, my dozen faithful readers! (and probably some very nice spammers, and a few bots) And if there’s one thing the Internet is missing, it’s sufficient pictures of foxes! (the Internet *is* however, full up on cat pictures)
Moi?
Time for a contest! Make your best fanart picture of Suzume (human or fox!) and email me a picture of it! Just to let you know, there’s already some stiff competition, since my 7-year-old nephew has been tasked with drawing a picture of Suze attacking Luca. (and in full disclosure – my nephew is an extremely average artist for his age)
The contest will run from now until January 1st. All photos will be posted on this website. The winner and two runner-ups will be mailed galley copies of Iron Night.
That’s right, *this* galley copy. Or possibly the one under it. I’m sorry, I really can’t tell them apart.
Don’t think you’re much of an artist? That’s okay, neither is my nephew. (sorry, Caleb – but I do enjoy your stick-figures) Extra points will be given for effort, and do not underestimate the possibility that I will have three or fewer entries! You could win just by entering! (wait, should I be underselling the contest this much?)
So draw Suzume for me! (just to head up potential awkwardness – draw a *family friendly* Suzume for me!) You can have a galley copy of Iron Night in your hands before the official publication day on January 7th! (see how smoothly I stuck that in? oh, yeah, I’m totally getting the hang of this publicity thing. wait, I’m not supposed to type that? darn it!)
Not being on the cover would bother baby fox more if she wasn’t so busy yawning and looking adorable.
Weekend notes
Hitting the road this weekend for a trip up the New Hampshire. Limited internet access, and hopefully a chance to put in some solid work on the Iron Night edits.
Hope everyone has a great few days, and a few last links:
There’s an interview posted today over at SciFiChick.com along with a chance to win a signed copy of Generation V.
Plus a very nice review over at All Things Urban Fantasy — four out of five bats can’t be wrong, people!
So if you’ll have any free time over the weekend, wouldn’t you like to curl up and meet this Fortitude Scott guy that everyone in my links is talking about? Of course you would.
Baby black panther thinks you should buy Generation V. Who can argue with baby black panther?
Generation V out in the world
Ever since Generation V was bought by Roc last year, most of my time (when not focused on work, or during the time when I was writing and polishing the initial draft of Iron Night) and focus was on how to best work on promoting the book before it was published. And now… the book is out. I can visit it any time in the bookstore, and now when I talk to people about it, they can actually order copies on their phones, and have e-copies pretty much immediately.
Which is incredible and amazing… but now I can’t help but wonder, now what?
Oh, don’t get me wrong – I know what I need to be doing. The classes I’m teaching are just going into finals, so there’s a lot of hand-holding and correcting going on there. Plus I received edits back from Anne for Iron Night, and those need to be worked on and finished before June 1. Plus I have the third Fortitude Scott book to plan and write. And I really should mop the floors of my house, because that totally got pushed to the back-burner for a few months when I was crazy busy.
But in a larger sense, regarding Generation V, now what? Worrying about how well it’s selling, or doing research and sending emails to try to get more people to talk about it – that has occupied the majority of my days this week. And I know that with my to-do list of actual writing, that’s going to have to change really soon. Maybe I’ll be able to spend a few hours a week thinking about and working on publicity stuff, but that’s probably it.
I’ve made a deal with myself – I’ll keep focusing on Generation V until the end of the week, but then the shift to Iron Night has to happen. So this is an interesting transition time.
So until the rest of the week to keep obsessing about how awesome Generation V looks on a bookshelf at Barnes & Noble.
It’s like a baby picture that I can’t stop flashing!
Stuff To Check Out!
One of my favorite interviews ever at Yummy Men & Kick Ass Chicks – fantastic and thoughtful questions!
Another great Interview at The Qwillery.
I’m guest posting at Guest post at Michael J. Martinez’s blog & at Smexy Books.
The Supernatural Smackdown is still going on at Dark Faerie Tales, and Fort gets a speed date over at the Book Swarm.
Finally, another really strong review of Generation V by Tori over at Smexy Books. Very thoughtful and great stuff.
And in closing, my usual appeal – wouldn’t you love to own your very own copy of Generation V?
Three out of four baby otters approve of you buying Generation V. The fourth would have approved it, but was too busy snoozing adorably.
M. L. Brennan 