My interview with Fantasy Book Critic is now up, check it out here:
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/interview-with-anthony-ryan-interviewed.html
Thanks to Mihir and Liviu at FBC for sorting this out, and their Blood Song reviews, all greatly appreciated.
Completed 150,000 words plus change of Tower Lord today which means I’m now firmly on the downward slope and on target to finish the first draft by September (ish). There’ll be a few tidbits – no plot details – about Tower Lord in my Fantasy Book Critic interview due out on Monday 6th August, so watch out for that. And no, I don’t know when it’ll actually come out.
Also, sales of Blood Song passed the 20,000 mark yesterday. I was going to do a whole elaborate ‘The Number 20,000’ post thing again, but frankly (as you might be able to tell), I’m just too damn tired.
I’m very happy to announce that I recently agreed to sign a contract with Berkley Publishing Group in the US for publication of the Raven’s Shadow trilogy. Berkley is a US imprint of Penguin Books which includes the Ace and Roc Sci-Fi/Fantasy lines, so it will be an honour to have my work appear on the same imprint as Stephen Donaldson, Joe Haldeman, Ursula LeGuin and William Gibson (among many others).
It will take some time for the print edition of Blood-Song to appear so rest assured the current ebook version will remain available, at the same price, probably into 2013.
I’m aware of the ongoing debate about traditional versus indie publishing and fully appreciate why some authors have chosen to stick with the independent route. However, having thought about it long and hard, I decided this was the best choice for me. If I’m ever going to get to the point where I can start writing full time I need my work to reach a wider audience, including foreign language markets and bookstores, neither of which are open to me at present.
Many readers will no doubt be wondering what this means for Tower Lord. The fact is, at this stage I just don’t know. I still intend to finish it this year, but giving any indication as to a publication date would be pure speculation at this point. I’ll post any news here in due course.
Now, off to celebrate with a marathon session on Sniper Elite V2 (buy it, it’s really good).
Passed 100,000 words of the first draft today. I must admit my daily word-count of late has not been as high as I would like, but I am writing every day and remain happy with the quality and the way the story is shaping up. And, in anticipation of an oft-asked question, no I don’t have a release date yet.
As Chuck Heston once told Pope Rex Harrison in answer to the question: “When will you make an end?” – “When I’m done.”
(And I’m not saying my work is on a par with the Sistene Chapel or anything… that’s for other people to say.)
A notveryhumblebrag, and a singularly odd moment when I checked my rankings today:
Maybe I’m dreaming.
PS. re. the growing number of queries about Tower Lord – please rest assured I’m working on it (and looking forward to the day when finally I can sleep).
The 9 chapters comprising Part I of Tower Lord are now complete in the first draft. Total word count now stands at 59,000+. The daily total has slowed somewhat due to a stinking cold, but I am working through it. Watch this space for further updates.
Completed my fifth Tower Lord chapter yesterday, which takes the first draft up to 30,000 words plus which is roughly equivalent to 100+ hardcover pages. Only about another 200,000 words to go. Still managing the 2000 word a day target despite some recent personal troubles. Updates to follow on future milestone passing as and when…
