Garth Nix's Blog
June 28, 2016
GOLDENHAND eArc is a partial
If you have the e-ARC it's a partial, but unfortunately it wasn't labelled as such. I don't know how many chapters it included since I haven't seen it myself. The actual book has 40 chapters plus prologue and epilogue and doesn't end on any cliffhangers :-)
Also my apologies for my very rare visits here at Goodreads. I just don't have time to keep up with all social media, write books, spend time with family etc I'm much more likely to reply to questions etc over at Twitter (because short, on phone etc) where you can find me @garthnix though I still may not be able to reply. I figure ultimately readers prefer to have more books and stories than lots of social media posts!
Best wishes
Garth
Also my apologies for my very rare visits here at Goodreads. I just don't have time to keep up with all social media, write books, spend time with family etc I'm much more likely to reply to questions etc over at Twitter (because short, on phone etc) where you can find me @garthnix though I still may not be able to reply. I figure ultimately readers prefer to have more books and stories than lots of social media posts!
Best wishes
Garth
December 1, 2013
Newt's Emerald and General Update
I have sneaked a surprise book out into the world. It is Newt's Emerald
A Regency romance with magic, I wrote the first version of this book in 1990-91. Back then it was a book within a book, a thriller set in a publishing house.
But the combined book didn't work and I shelved it long ago, thinking that one day I would go back and separate out both parts and make them individual novels. The thriller, unfortunately, has dated badly (mobile phones and the Internet have put paid to some key plot points) but of course this problem didn't apply to the Regency romance.
Earlier this year I decided to get it out again and fix it up, thinking it wouldn't take long. Of course, I was wrong and it took much longer than I anticipated. However, I am pleased with the result.
For the time being it is only available as an Amazon exclusive for Kindle, but in due course I hope it will be a print book and also available in other ebook formats.
Clariel
I recently finished going over the copy-edits of CLARIEL. The final part of the process will be to check the page proofs, but it is essentially done. I have seen the US and Australian cover roughs and as always it will be very interesting to see the different final covers.
The release date has been moving around a bit, but it is now confirmed as 21 October 2014 in the USA. The Australian release will be probably a week or so earlier, and the UK release will be very close to the American date.
One big change is in the UK, where I have moved to a new publisher. CLARIEL and the next Old Kingdom book will not be published by HarperCollins, but by Hot Key Books. Hot Key will also be publishing the e-books of SABRIEL, LIRAEL and ABHORSEN in 2014, though the print books will remain with HarperCollins in the UK.
A Regency romance with magic, I wrote the first version of this book in 1990-91. Back then it was a book within a book, a thriller set in a publishing house.
But the combined book didn't work and I shelved it long ago, thinking that one day I would go back and separate out both parts and make them individual novels. The thriller, unfortunately, has dated badly (mobile phones and the Internet have put paid to some key plot points) but of course this problem didn't apply to the Regency romance.
Earlier this year I decided to get it out again and fix it up, thinking it wouldn't take long. Of course, I was wrong and it took much longer than I anticipated. However, I am pleased with the result.
For the time being it is only available as an Amazon exclusive for Kindle, but in due course I hope it will be a print book and also available in other ebook formats.
Clariel
I recently finished going over the copy-edits of CLARIEL. The final part of the process will be to check the page proofs, but it is essentially done. I have seen the US and Australian cover roughs and as always it will be very interesting to see the different final covers.
The release date has been moving around a bit, but it is now confirmed as 21 October 2014 in the USA. The Australian release will be probably a week or so earlier, and the UK release will be very close to the American date.
One big change is in the UK, where I have moved to a new publisher. CLARIEL and the next Old Kingdom book will not be published by HarperCollins, but by Hot Key Books. Hot Key will also be publishing the e-books of SABRIEL, LIRAEL and ABHORSEN in 2014, though the print books will remain with HarperCollins in the UK.
October 20, 2013
Signing in London, UK Tuesday 29 October 2013
I'll be signing at Forbidden Planet in London at 6:00pm on Tuesday 29 October. It is with my friend and co-author Sean Williams, and it says it's for TROUBLETWISTERS but as always I'll happily sign any of my books you bring in or buy.
I will also be giving away some sneaklets of CLARIEL: THE LOST ABHORSEN (the first three chapters in a little booklet) and some Abhorsen's sterling silver bell charms. Recipients chosen at random.
https://forbiddenplanet.com/events/20...
I hope to see readers there!
This will be my only public UK signing of 2013, though I will also be at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton that next weekend, and will be at the mass autographing there etc
I will also be giving away some sneaklets of CLARIEL: THE LOST ABHORSEN (the first three chapters in a little booklet) and some Abhorsen's sterling silver bell charms. Recipients chosen at random.
https://forbiddenplanet.com/events/20...
I hope to see readers there!
This will be my only public UK signing of 2013, though I will also be at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton that next weekend, and will be at the mass autographing there etc
August 20, 2013
Giveaway: Sneak Preview of CLARIEL and Bell Charms
I'm having another giveaway of some super limited edition signed preview booklets containing the first three chapters of CLARIEL and sterling silver Abhorsen's bell charms.
For details see this post on my Facebook author page here:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php...
For details see this post on my Facebook author page here:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php...
November 28, 2012
The Seven Bells . . .
I'm holding another giveaway, this time for a charm bracelet with all seven sterling silver Abhorsen's bell charms. Details over on my Facebook fan page here
Why Amazon and not Goodreads reviews? Because for better or worse, Amazon is by far the main driver of book sales these days, both in its direct sales and as a source of information.
That said, I will also have another giveaway on Goodreads soon, probably including some bell charms and books, maybe some very rare ones.
And the bell charms will be for sale again at some point from here I have had a new casting done, but have no help at the moment to fulfil sales etc and am super busy with writing CLARIEL so have no time to hire anyone either!
Basically to have a chance to receive the bracelet you need before end 4 December to post a review of Sabriel, A Confusion of Princes or Shade's Children on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk and then post a comment telling me which edition, and the name you've posted it under, so I can include you in the random selection.
Why Amazon and not Goodreads reviews? Because for better or worse, Amazon is by far the main driver of book sales these days, both in its direct sales and as a source of information.
That said, I will also have another giveaway on Goodreads soon, probably including some bell charms and books, maybe some very rare ones.
And the bell charms will be for sale again at some point from here I have had a new casting done, but have no help at the moment to fulfil sales etc and am super busy with writing CLARIEL so have no time to hire anyone either!
November 25, 2012
The past is another country . . .
I love historical novels. I think they have much more in common with fantasy and science fiction than is sometimes allowed by people who like to firmly categorise books and keep them on their allotted shelves. The thing they have in common, of course, is that they take you to a place that is not now, and is not somewhere you can ever directly experience. And a great deal of it is made up, just like in fantasy, though you do get more credibility from basing something on a primary text in Latin (read in the original of course) than you do from nicking it out of some other fantasy book you read when you were twelve. Not that I do that. Though I am planning on writing a book about a short hairy-footed chap who goes on a quest with some slightly taller but more heavyset fellows.
That was a ten minute digression. I wanted to simply mention some favourite historical novels, because I have been re-reading them (there's that rereading thing again). This is just those books that have passed my bedside table again recently, there are many, many more great historical novels I could recommend. Including ones that weren't historical when they were written but are now.
Knight's fee or any Rosemary Sutcliff
The Long Ships Viking classic
The White Company This guy wrote some detective fiction too, or so I'm told :-)
Tank Commander or any Ronald Welch
Knight with Armour
The Unknown Ajax hard to pick a favourite Heyer Regency novel, this is in top 5
Dissolution and the sequels
A Morbid Taste for Bones start here and go on
The Long Pilgrimage
The best fantasy novels read as if they are based on real history. Just a history that has never happened for a world that doesn't exist.
Enough musing on the similarities between good fantasy novels and good historical novels. No, wait, the thing they have in common is that you want to believe they are true . . . except this is the case for all successful novels. They should feel true as you read them, no matter whether the setting is fantastical, realistic, historical, futuristic or whatever.
That was a ten minute digression. I wanted to simply mention some favourite historical novels, because I have been re-reading them (there's that rereading thing again). This is just those books that have passed my bedside table again recently, there are many, many more great historical novels I could recommend. Including ones that weren't historical when they were written but are now.
Knight's fee or any Rosemary Sutcliff
The Long Ships Viking classic
The White Company This guy wrote some detective fiction too, or so I'm told :-)
Tank Commander or any Ronald Welch
Knight with Armour
The Unknown Ajax hard to pick a favourite Heyer Regency novel, this is in top 5
Dissolution and the sequels
A Morbid Taste for Bones start here and go on
The Long Pilgrimage
October 8, 2012
Re-reading favourite books
I often re-read books. Some books I have read more than a dozen times, usually finding something new in them, as well as re-affirming or re-experiencing at least some of my earlier reads.
Some books I have read ten times or more, over the last thirty years or so, and I hope and expect I will continue to re-read them every three or four years into the future.
These books include some that might be considered obvious for a fantasy writer such as myself, like The Lord of the Rings, or The Moon of Gomrath. But I spread my re-reading widely, and some of the books I have revisited in the last year or so include:Goodbye to All That, Strangers and Brothers 1, The World Of Psmith: The Psmith Omnibus, Double Eagle and Crescent: Vienna's Second Turkish Siege and Its Historical Setting, The Demon Princes, Black Hearts in Battersea, The Black Riders, and pretty much the entire oeuvre of thriller writers Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes. In fact with the latter I re-read The Wreck Of The 'Mary Deare' only a month or so ago, and then saw the film completely by chance a few weeks later.
That is pretty much a random sampling of the recent re-reads, just from looking at what has migrated from the piles next to my bed to the nearest bookshelf. I see a couple of Heinleins too, notably Starman Jones and Citizen of the Galaxy. Which by a process of childhood association, makes me think I am overdue to re-read some Andre Norton, specifically Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D and perhaps Sargasso Of Space . . .
Though perhaps I should read some of the new books next to my bed first!
Some books I have read ten times or more, over the last thirty years or so, and I hope and expect I will continue to re-read them every three or four years into the future.
These books include some that might be considered obvious for a fantasy writer such as myself, like The Lord of the Rings, or The Moon of Gomrath. But I spread my re-reading widely, and some of the books I have revisited in the last year or so include:Goodbye to All That, Strangers and Brothers 1, The World Of Psmith: The Psmith Omnibus, Double Eagle and Crescent: Vienna's Second Turkish Siege and Its Historical Setting, The Demon Princes, Black Hearts in Battersea, The Black Riders, and pretty much the entire oeuvre of thriller writers Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes. In fact with the latter I re-read The Wreck Of The 'Mary Deare' only a month or so ago, and then saw the film completely by chance a few weeks later.
That is pretty much a random sampling of the recent re-reads, just from looking at what has migrated from the piles next to my bed to the nearest bookshelf. I see a couple of Heinleins too, notably Starman Jones and Citizen of the Galaxy. Which by a process of childhood association, makes me think I am overdue to re-read some Andre Norton, specifically Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D and perhaps Sargasso Of Space . . .
Though perhaps I should read some of the new books next to my bed first!
September 13, 2012
This probably won't be a habit . . .
I think it's fairly unlikely that I will become a regular Goodreads blogger, but every now and then I do feel like writing something. Hmm, that is, writing something other than the current books, stories and other fiction I always have simmering away.
I've been reading lots of old books recently, some old favourites like the Psmith and Uncle Fred books by P. G. Wodehouse but also some Anthony Trollope for the first time, working my way through the Barsetshire series and some of the Palliser books. Most of the latter I read on my iphone, while travelling to and from the UK for the Edinburgh International Book Festival and some events in the south-west of England. I think Trollope, who by all accounts considered himself a commercial author would be quite pleased to have his books read more than a century later in a new way. I shall have to bury a shilling to his ghost so he gets his share.
Now, back to my own work . . .
I've been reading lots of old books recently, some old favourites like the Psmith and Uncle Fred books by P. G. Wodehouse but also some Anthony Trollope for the first time, working my way through the Barsetshire series and some of the Palliser books. Most of the latter I read on my iphone, while travelling to and from the UK for the Edinburgh International Book Festival and some events in the south-west of England. I think Trollope, who by all accounts considered himself a commercial author would be quite pleased to have his books read more than a century later in a new way. I shall have to bury a shilling to his ghost so he gets his share.
Now, back to my own work . . .
