I’ve now gotten a few Goodreads reviews from folks who have early access to the book (people who work for book sellers or who would otherwise wind up with a copy). They’ve been very lovely and favorable so far, but this one from Vivian, who won my January Goodreads giveaway of an ARC, stood out to me:

“What an astonishing debut! I was absolutely addicted to this novel from start to finish and obsessed about it when reading wasn’t possible. Without spoiling details – what I found most fascinating about the novel was its concept of revolution, not merely as a means of overthrowing tyranny but also as a means of cleansing, curing and rebuilding a broken society. It is indeed a bloody business and the author does not shy away from allowing central characters to actively engage in the dirty business of revolution and revenge. Yet, despite it all, I fell in love with so many of the characters in this book, enjoyed their backstories (both amusing and tragic), genuinely worried about them. True to the central concept of rebuilding an egalitarian and classless society, even a laundress can be complex and significant to the outcome of a post revolutionary country. So fascinating! I also found the classes of magic users and their unique (and often conflicting) applications extremely satisfying. (Even as an avid fantasy reader, “simple” magic use is often a problem for me and will even cause me give up on a novel). The novel moves in an aggressive manner, full of action, mystery and intrigue that make it especially hard to put down. Overall, it’s a damn fine read that will appeal to both novice and expert fantasy readers. I can’t wait for the sequel!”

Needless to say, this blew me away. I was glad to hear that someone had enjoyed it so much.

If you want to follow me on Goodreads, you can go here. To see what other people are saying about the book, or to leave a review if you’ve read it, head over here.

Today is my 27th birthday. So, what did I do in the last year?

I officially signed my contract with Orbit for a 3 book series of epic fantasy novels.

I edited, copy-edited, and did final pass on Promise of Blood (which comes out in less than 3 months).

I wrote the first draft of book 2.

I spent 11 months self employed as a freelance novelist.

I had my first real family vacation as a working adult. Wife and I spent Thanksgiving with her parents in Vegas, which included a road trip up to Utah.

I’m very proud of myself for what I’ve done. That contract was signed about seven years after I first said “I want to be a full time novelist.” It was a long, hard journey through absolutely craptastic jobs and a college career that was 90% pointless. I was supported through the whole thing by my parents, my wife, my friends, and a couple very awesome mentors. Of course, if I wanted to just pat myself on the back I’d be done here.

What didn’t I do?

I didn’t write anything else. No short stories, novellas, novels, or even summaries. Book 2 was a real struggle for me. I started several times and probably threw out 100K words worth of content because it just wasn’t working.

I didn’t lose weight. That was a major goal for the year, and I think I’m actually up 5 lbs from last January. This means I didn’t eat well or exercise enough, despite paying out the nose for a really nice gym.

What did I learn?

I learned that I struggle with depression far more than I’ve previously admitted to myself. This manifests itself in any number of ways, foremost among them avoidance techniques like playing computer games for hours on end.

I learned that I have a hard time with consistency. Every full time author will tell you consistency is key. You have to write, write, write in order to hit your deadlines and pay the bills. I’ve found that I’m a “do nothing for three months and then pound my face on the keyboard for 14 hours a day” kind of guy and in the long term, that’s not going to cut it.

I learned that being self employed is expensive. Health insurance, office supplies. All that crap adds up and it adds up quick.

I learned that if I want to do this for the rest of my life, I need to change. I need to work more and not give in to depression and distractions.

Over the last couple weeks we’ve been sorting out the audiobook and I have a happy announcement:

Christian Rodska will be reading the audiobook of Promise of Blood!

One distinguished looking chap

Christian did the reading of the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. I think he will do a fantastic job and I greatly look forward to hearing it.

To hear some samples from Christian’s work, you can go to Audible.

View Christian’s wikipedia page here.

Another giveaway has come and gone and once again we have a winner!

There were significantly more entries this time; 1114. How many of those are “I enter every giveaway” people and how many are “this book looks awesome I better try to win it” people, I have no idea.

The winner this month is Vivian Hall of Guelph, Ontaria.

Congratulations Vivian!

An ARC of Promise of Blood has been added to the Worldbuilders lottery.

For those of you who don’t know, Worldbuilders is donation drive run by fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss to support his favorite charity, Heifer International.

For every $10 you donate to Worldbuilders, you’ll be entered to win one of thousands of awesome prizes donated by authors, celebrities, publishers, and more. The only catch is that the 2012 drive ends TODAY.

So get over there and donate!

Three months until Promise of Blood gets an international release! To celebrate the countdown, I’m giving away a SIGNED ADVANCED READING COPY.

Just like last time I’m letting Goodreads take care of the details. Unlike last time, this giveaway is available in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia!

So follow this link over to Goodreads and sign up to win a copy.

As a bonus, here is a picture of my cat:

On the 18th, 19th, and 20th of January I will be at the Doubletree Hotel in Dearborn, MI to participate in Immortal ConFusion.

ConFusion is a science fiction and fantasy convention that takes place around the same weekend every January and is quickly becoming known for being the smallest convention with the biggest names. I went last year and met a bundle of awesome authors, including Brent Weeks, Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, and Peter V. Brett.

A full list of authors doing panels there this year can be found here.

I will be on the following panels:

Saturday, 18th at 1:00 PM

The New Evil

Why is there such a prejudice against the ancient? Malevolent forces seem to need to age like fine wine before they are ready for the attention of a protagonist. Is there a reason that we ignore a new evil, some cultural bias that says innovation cannot be That Which Will Not Be Named? Or is it simply that the ancient evil is a valued, if overused archetype?

Saturday, 18th at 7:00 PM

Religion in SF/F

Is there a place for religion in Fantasy and Science Fiction beyond a tool for the villainous? How do we produce fantastical faiths, or imagine a future society that does not lampoon people who believe? Aspects of religious demagoguery are often the go-to model in speculative fiction, for good reason, but what else should authors be looking for from theology?

Saturday, 18th at 8:00 PM

Changing Societies in Epic Fantasy

Why do elves never seem to progress with metallurgy? Why do the societies in a fantasy realm always seem to go back hundreds or thousands of years? What is it about magic that makes the common folk less likely to invent the cotton gin, hybrid crops, or the musket? The history of humanity is one of constant flux, of achievement and failure, but the worlds of our imagination are much more static. What is the appeal of this stasis? Why is this a common aspect of fantasy literature, and where did it get its start? Is this a good or a bad thing for fantasy? For writers of fantasy?

Sunday, 19th at 10:00 AM

Pop culture in SF/F

Fantasy has its urchins, sci-fi the dilettantes…but what about everyone else? When crafting a world either fantastic or futuristic, what do we imagine that the common folk would do for fun? What news or events would they discuss? Would they know what village produced the most heroes, or debate the thrust/weight ratio of government warships? Would there be a general popular culture in an imagined past? Could we avoid one in an imagined future? Does the addition of these elements do more than aid verisimilitude?

I’m happy to announce a winner in the Goodreads giveaway for an Advanced Reading Copy of PROMISE OF BLOOD!

But first, a little bit about the giveaway:

This is my first time doing this type–or any type, really–of giveaway. It was a great deal of fun. I fully confess to reloading the Goodreads page every hour for the last week to see how many people had requested the book.

I was hoping for a few hundred. After all, no one knows who I am. This is my first novel. I didn’t imagine a flood of requests. But then Brandon Sanderson dropped a tweet that one of his former students was giving away a book. He has 40K+ followers, and I had well over 200 requests in a couple hours.

The total numbers came in at:

673 people requested

539 people added PoB on Goodreads

I had several comments about people being sad the giveaway was only available in the US. I plan on doing another giveaway via Goodreads in January and I will open that one up to multiple countries. After all, the book is getting an international release in April.

It was a cool experience. More people know who I am, I got fuzzy good feelings from all the compliments on how cool the book sounded, and one lucky winner gets a beautiful ARC!

That lucky winner is Julie Lucier of Palmer, AK!

Congratulations, Julie!

As some of you know from Facebook and Twitter, I got my ARCs in the mail from Orbit last week. They look like this:

Full color, and about the size of a trade paperback. As you can tell, it’s a blown-up version of the final cover (which will be in hardcover).

To celebrate four months until the book comes out I’m giving away a free ARC, signed by yours truly, via Goodreads. Follow this link to Goodreads and enter to win!

The giveaway is going on until next Wednesday (the 19th) and is only available in the US.

Mark Lawrence, author of The Broken Empire trilogy, is hosting a children’s charity drive called the Million Dollar Bookshop.

It works like so: authors can purchase pixels on the page in order to advertise their work by donating funds to a children’s charity of their choice. The ultimate goal is to have a total of a million dollars donated to a variety of children’s charities. The page will be a giant mosaic of book covers, each one of which link to an author’s website or a book’s amazon page.

Some awesome authors are already up and on the page with some very cool cover art so take a look and find something new to read, or donate to a charity and contact Mark and add your own book to the mosaic.

You can find it at themilliondollarbookshop.com.