David Eddings Passes Away at 77

I came to love ooks much later than most folks.  Aside from a childhood obsession with Star Wars, the gift of a book called Fahrenheit 451,  and the dubbed anime aired that on Toonami, I didn’t get into too much fantasy or science fiction.  (At least by comparison to how geek I am for it now-a-days.) I don’t know why, but I never sought it out.  All that changed with The Big Box of Books.  At a yard sale one summer when I was in high school, one particular house changed my life.  I bought a trampoline for five dollars, a set of samurai swords for fifteen, and for hell of it box of books for five.  What I didn’t realize was that if was -all- SF/F.  That box of book and the loan of Eye of the World by Robert Jordan that same week got me my start in the genre.  There were about fifty books in that box, but the reason that I write this is that included in it was a complete set of the Belgariad and Mallorean.  While working my way through the Wheel of Time (not wanting to out pace my friends who were simultaneously getting started on Jordan’s series)  I started with those two sets by David Eddings.

By now many of you will have heard about his passing on June 2. News of this saddens me greatly because his works were there at the beginning of things for me.  It is hard to imagine how different my life would have been – since for most of my life I wanted to go into business – without a few certain writers who’s works energized me to aspire to something different (much poorer one, but one that’s a lot of fun :p).  So RIP David Eddings, and thank you.

Send good karmatic thoughts Tobias Buckell’s way.

My favorite Caribbean author is in the hospital right now.  If you’re a fan of his as well, be thinking of him.

Michael Crichton Passes Away, Age 66

Sorrow!

Michael Crichton, author of the ever famous Jurassic Park, is gone.  The BBC reports: “Best-selling author Michael Crichton has died in Los Angeles aged 66 after a “courageous and private battle against cancer”, his family has said.”

Full Article -> Here

Dune Goodies!

A six part video sequence of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson talking with fans about the newest addition to the world of Dune (Paul of Dune) and future “… of Dune”  installments, has been posted on Suvudu today.  Check it out if you’ve got the time.  It’s a little long but interesting.

“…he basically lives long enough to watch everyone he knows die.  I think that will be fun!”  ~ Kevin J. Anderson

Oh hehe.  ^_^

Eoin Colfer and the 6th Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy book!

WOOOOHOOO!

“Colfer, who has been a fan of Hitchhiker since his schooldays, said being given the opportunity to continue the series was “like suddenly being offered the superpower of your choice”. “For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world,” he added. “It is a gift from the gods. So, thank you Thor and Odin.”

I admit that it’s been years since I’ve read Adams’ works, but from what I can remember, this could work.  Colfer half a fantastic, snarky wit which he brings to his writing.  The Artemis books a a total riot, even if they are a bit juvenile.  My one worry would be Colfer making that transition away from the early teen, as fans of the Hitchiker series are much older than his usual audience.  

Anway, we shall soon see how this turns out!  Squee!

17-year-old author, Michelle Izmaylov, is a best-seller at B&N.

I found this story on CNN from A Common Place Book.  Lo and behold, young Michelle is a Georgia girl from Alpharetta (the town where my parents had their antique store).  She looks so familiar and it’s killing me right now.

Anyway, Michelle’s second novel “Dream Saver” published by Mercury Publishing House has made it to Barnes and Nobles’ daily Top 10 Fantasy Fiction list.  Michelle has a third book on it’s way, “Galaxy Watch” due this winter.

She sounds like a really nice kid.  I also stumbled upon an older article from 2007 that delves a little more into her own story.  Hard-working, smart as a whip, young, and if that print run is correct, why she’s an agent’s dream come true. 

I wish her the best, and I’ll be looking for Galaxy Watch.

You Knew It Wouldn’t Be Long Until…

Michael Phelps got a book deal.

“Olympic superstar Michael Phelps plans to write a book telling the story behind his historic eight gold medal swims just in time for the holiday season.

The announcement came Friday from Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

The publisher says that in Built to Succeed, Phelps will also cover his philosophy on training and competition, as well as his life being raised by a single mother and coping with an attention-deficit disorder.”

The book is scheduled to release in December.  Want to take a guess as to the size of the advance?

Try $1.6 million.

Goodkind to Publish Trilogy with Putnam

I saw an announcement of this in PW and went to do a bit more research. With The Swords of Truth novels at a close, author Terry Goodkind moves to Putnam with his new project. The Press Release:

TERRY GOODKIND, #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AND INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED NOVELIST, MOVES TO G. P. PUTNAM’

S SONS FOR A THREE-BOOK DEAL

G. P. Putnam’s Sons to Publish First Book,

A Contemporary Thriller,in Hardcover in Fall 2009

New York, New York, June 26, 2008 … Terry Goodkind, the internationally renowned and #1 New York Times bestselling author, has agreed to write three new novels for G. P. Putnam’s Sons, it was announced today by Ivan Held, President, G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Held acquired the U.S. hardcover and paperback rights in a joint venture with Berkley Books. G. P. Putnam’s Sons will publish the novels in hardcover; Berkley Books will publish the paperback editions. All three will be edited by Susan Allison, Vice President, Executive Editor, Berkley Books. Terry Goodkind is the author of The New York Times bestselling epic series, the Sword of Truth, which concluded with the final installment, Confessor, in November 2007. To date, Goodkind’s books have sold some twenty-five million copies worldwide. Terry Goodkind is represented by literary agent Russell Galen.

Ivan Held said: “We are very excited with Terry’s new book and are thrilled to be given the opportunity to share these novels with an even wider market. We recognize the potential to broaden his mainstream audience and I am convinced we can vastly expand his already huge following.”
Terry Goodkind said: “With the completion of the Sword of Truth series in the fall of 2007, and the debut in the fall of the television series based on my first book (produced by Sam Raimi and syndicated by Disney’s ABC Television Domestic Syndication Division), I’m excited about the new challenges that lie ahead, and my partnership with Putnam.”
Susan Allison commented: “Terry is an extraordinary storyteller. He believes in the qualities that make an ordinary man an American hero. I look forward to a long and close relationship.”
Russell Galen said: “Fifteen years ago, an unknown writer named Terry Goodkind sent me a letter asking me to read his first manuscript. Since then we’ve worked together to sell more than twenty-five million copies of his books in more than 20 languages: books which changed literature, and the lives of many people, with a new kind of storytelling that smashed boundaries and crossed genres. Now, as we bring his future works to a new home at Putnam/Berkley, we feel we’ve found the right home and the right foundation to launch him on an even bigger, bolder, more ambitious publishing adventure.”

The first book, yet to be titled, will be a contemporary thriller set in an American city. Resonances from his previous works will be recognizable to his existing readership, but the book will, at the same time, stand completely on its own as a mainstream work.

Terry Goodkind’s first novel, Wizard’s First Rule (Tor Books, 1994) immediately established him as one of the world’s bestselling authors. The story of the Sword of Truth started growing in Goodkind’s mind during the early 1990s while he was building his house in the forests of the northeastern U.S.

Goodkind was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended art school, one of his many interests on the way to becoming a writer. Besides a career in wildlifeart, he has been a cabinet maker and violin maker, and he has done restoration work on rare and exotic artifacts from around the world — each with its own story to tell, he says.
While continuing to maintain the northeastern home he built with his own hands, in recent years he and his wife, Jeri, have created a second home in the desert southwest, where he now spends the majority of his time.

###

Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children’s trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Viking, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, The Penguin Press, Riverhead Books, Dutton, Penguin Books, Berkley Books, Gotham Books, Portfolio, New American Library, Plume, Tarcher, Philomel, Grosset & Dunlap, Puffin, and Frederick Warne, among others. The Penguin Group (http://www.penguin.com) is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.

My Thoughts: I suppose I am excited about this. I really enjoyed the first three books and number six of the series; however, I could barely get through the later installments. I don’t really like Richard, at all. He bores the crap out of me as he just comes across as being too perfect of a hero to me at least. I do respect Mr. Goodkind’s world building abilities. The world and magic system he built up in the Sword of Truth novels were fantastic, but the characters just fall somewhat flat.

I am looking forward to him starting a new series. It should be interesting to see what he comes up with working from a fresh palette once again