Hello, everyone. Sorry to have been silent for so long, and I'm going to be much better about visiting and posting here on a weekly (if not more) basis.
First, the big news (which most of you probably already know, but I'm still giddy about it, so I'm going to tell you, anyway): Coffin County has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in the Novel, and I couldn't be happier. (Well, okay, that's not exactly the truth -- I could be happier ... like, say, if CC were to receive the award. I've always dreamed of having one of my novels receive a Stoker. I'm not being greedy here. I know my fellow writers respect my work as a short story and novella writer, and that means the world to me; but I've always wished for that particular acknowledgement from my peers: to be accepted as a novelist. We'll see.)
To that end, I want to announce here that, if you're an Active member of HWA and would like a copy of Coffin County to reads for Stoker consideration, please e-mail me at gary@garybraunbeck.com and I'll send one your way asap. If you're a reader of my work and would like to help me spread the word that reading copies are available to voters, please feel free to post this information wherever you wish -- and you'll have my deepest gratitude.
Okay, next thing: in case you've not seen it, here's the cover for the next Cedar Hill novel, Far Dark Fields, to be released this August:
It's not really visible here, but the title and my name are in this lovely bright gold font that's really quite attractive. (And, yes, that is Hoopsticks you see on the far left, shambling toward the Reverend.)
This is the novel that shouldn't be read as a stand-alone. You can read it without having read the previous 4 novels, but you're going to be more than a little confused about some characters and plot points. Because of lingering questions from the previous novels that have to be addressed and wrapped up, a few new major elements have come into play that also must be grappled with.
And here's the kicker: this is only half the story. While Far Dark Fields does resolve its central questions, the story ends in the midst of a new and bigger problem, one that will be resolved in the 6th and final novel in this branch of the cycle, A Cracked and Broken Path. (I will have more on that as soon as contracts are inked.)
I'm telling you this here on my message board because there will be nothing on the back cover or inside the book to tell readers this is only the first half of the novel, and I don't want people screaming for my head on a pike when they reach the last page and realize that there is still a lot to be resolved. I wasn't trying to "trick" anyone with this, but as the novel progressed I found myself having to cut large chunks of story in order to adhere to the word-count limit. Two-thirds of the way through, I realized that much of the material I'd cut was integral to bringing this part of the cycle to a satisfactory conclusion, so I went back and began restoring large sections. What this all boiled down to was a novel I originally thought would clock in at about 90,000 words announced that it would need at least 160,000 words in order to fully flesh out and resolve its story. I found a natural "ending" at around the 88,000 word mark, and that's where Far Dark Fields ends. Path will begin at the exact moment Fields ends.
If all goes well -- keep your fingers crossed for this, please -- Path will be released in the first half of 2010, so that readers will have to wait only 6 months instead of a year for the conclusion. I figured readers (like myself) waited, oh, twenty-odd years for Stephen King to bring his magnificent Dark Tower series to a conclusion, so my hope is that my readers won't mind waiting 6 months for this conclusion.
And, yes, feel free to spread the word on this, as well.
In other news, I'm going to be a special guest at this year's Bram Stoker Awards weekend in Burbank, California. I found out -- via this message board, believe it or not -- that I'll be interviewing the Guests of Honor, Richard Matheson, R.C. Matheson, and John Farris. Can you hear my teeth chattering where you are? The good news is that it's less than 2 months away, so I've less time to panic ... which if you know me, means that I'll just have to try and panic twice as much between now and then
Aside from the upcoming release of Far Dark Fields, I'll have new stories in the next Dark Delicacies anthology, Dark Delicacies 3: Hauntings, Darkness of the Edge, an anthology of stories inspired by the songs of Bruce Springsteen from PS Publishing, Dueling Minds from CD Publications (an anthology wherein 5 authors write stories based on the same stunning Alan M. Clark painting), Mighty Unclean, an anthology from Dark Arts Books to be released at the Stoker Awards Weekend, and the novella Clipper Girls from Tasmaniac Publications should be appearing right smack at the end of the year. (There will also be news concerning the fate of my serialized Horrorwold novella In Seeing coming soon ... provided that Nanci hasn't crossed my off her Christmas card list
)Once again, I want to apologize for having been AWOL for so long. It won't happen again. In fact, you might very well get sick of hearing from me!
--Gary
