Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, and Games

Video: Brandon Sanderson Event

2009-11-20T19:28:45Z

As I reported yesterday, author Brandon Sanderson was in Seattle on November 18th for The Gathering Storm tour.

I took pictures of his stop at The Signed Page, the dinner afterward, and the actual event at the University Bookstore.

I also filmed video of Brandon talking, reading from The Gathering Storm, and answering questions from the fans!

The event was a lot of fun. Brandon is very enthusiastic about his role finishing what he considers the best epic fantasy of all time. He has been a fan since his early teenage years and when the opportunity to finish the Wheel of Time series presented itself, he could not imagine another person doing it. As he says in the video, the main characters in Jordan's opus were Brandon's best friends during high school. Before Harriet even approached him, Brandon had read and re-read the books numerous times.

I have no doubt after listening to him that he is the right person for the job.

Continue on, watch the videos, and enjoy this time to revisit the Wheel of Time:

Part I of V: How and why Brandon became involved in the Wheel of Time

More videos! There are five altogether. Continue on for the reading and Q&A!

]]> Part II of V: Brandon continues discussing his Wheel of Time involvement

Part III of V: Brandon reads from The Gathering Storm

Part IV of V: Brandon answers questions from the fans

Part V of V: Brandon answers questions from the fans

There you have it! Straight from Brandon himself. I really hope he comes through on tour next year for the next Wheel of Time book, Towers of Midnight. If he does, I will bring you more pictures, more video, and more goodness!

Until then, let the Wheel turn!

365 Days of Manga, Day 66: The Last Uniform

2009-11-20T17:53:58Z

THE LAST UNIFORM (Saigo no Seifuku, "The Last (School) Uniform") （最後の制服） • Mera Hakamada • Seven Seas Entertainment (2007-suspended) • Houbunsha (Manga Time Kirara Carat/Manga Time Kirara Max, 2004-2006) • 2 volumes (3 volumes in Japan, suspended) • Yuri Romance • 16+(brief mild language, brief mild violence, sexual situations)
Willowy, wispy big-headed girls fall in secret love with each other at a girls' dorm in this distinctively drawn romance anthology. As the five main characters--some of them roommates--spend time together, talking smack and complaining about guys (who, of course, are either offscreen or creeps), their separate relationships brew into a stew of repressed loves, secret friend-crushes and heart-pounding close encounters. Although the characters are drawn like little children, their slice-of-life dialogue is sharp and quirky and elevates the series above purely juvenile gaze-into-the-girls-world stuff like Strawberry Marshmallow. ("But I want Tsumugi's body!" "Just for that, you have to write a sex story about me, Kisaragi Asagi and that girl! A really juicy one, too!" "Hey, write a story where Beniko jumps me!") In short: tasteful lesbian-themed thrills set on a background of red, melancholy sunsets. The third volume is on hold as of November 2009.

Today's winner is Carolyn T. of Delaware. Congratulations, Carolyn! I'll be sending you some manga ASAP!

Dead on Suvudu: The Dreg Files, Day 1

2009-11-20T15:08:00Z

A Note from Suvudu:

To celebrate the coming publication of Kelly Meding's Three Days to Dead, which represents both an awesome addition Urban Fantasy fiction and a stellar new voice in the genre, we'll be running a few original stories by Kelly over the coming weeks.

We're excited to feature her work here on Suvudu, as we believe that Kelly's is an exciting voice that will be around for quite some time.

Enjoy the ride!

--Team Suvudu

The Hoarder

By Kelly Meding

Killing was easy if you had the stomach for it. Killing quickly and efficiently, with only minor cleanup required, took effort and training. Judging by the sixteen countable pieces of goblin strewn around the row home's dilapidated living room, as well as the congealing puddle of fuchsia blood and effluvia, the effort had not been made and training had gone sorely to waste. The Rookie was trouble, she thought. Trouble, plain and simple.

Ash Bedford surveyed the gruesome scene, clucking her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she contemplated the mess. Goblins were small, never taller than five feet and always gangly-thin, making their bodies somewhat simple to dispose of--as long as they remained intact. But if Ash hadn't been certain of their destroyer, she'd have thought several wild dogs had done the damage.

Triad Rookie. Wild dog. She was beginning to lose sight of the difference between the two.

Evangeline Stone had been assigned to their Triad almost two months ago, and she had yet to earn any title other than Rookie. She continued to fight with her heart and her anger instead of her brain, and it was going to get her killed. In the four years she'd Hunted, Ash had seen it happen time and again in other Triads--hot-headed Rookies who succumbed to their own stupidity and lack of self-control.

Ash had just lost a friend of many years. He'd been reliable and steadfast and impossible to replace. She had no interest in attaching herself to a tempestuous blond waif who had yet to master the finer points of Dreg execution. The trio of goblins had been Stone's first solo assignment. She'd killed them, yes, but Ash still considered it a botched job.

]]> "What the fuck do you mean, I botched it?" Stone asked the moment Ash voiced her thoughts. Ash was not intimidated by the younger, taller girl's snarled query. "They're dead, aren't they?"

"They're also in pieces," Ash replied, perfectly calm. It took more than cussing and posturing to raise her pique, and she didn't think Stone was up to the task. Too many years of playing doormat to her step-mother's abuse had taught her that steady resolve trumped in-your-face aggression. "Sixteen pieces to be--no, wait." She spotted a detached hand, clawed fingers fisted tight, peeking out from behind an overturned recliner that had seen better days a few decades ago. "Seventeen pieces, not to mention the massive quantities of blood and entrails."

"No one lives in this dump."

"That's hardly the point."

Stone puffed air through clenched teeth. "Then what is the point?"

"We gotta burn it, that's the point," Jesse Morales said. He stepped out of the hall doorway where he'd lurked since they came inside, allowing Ash, as Team Senior, to critique their junior partner's work. Though only twenty, Jesse was built like a professional linebacker and dwarfed both women with his bulk; he was also the reason for the term "gentle giant," as kind and cuddly as he was deadly. With his preferred weapon of a double-bladed ax, Ash had once called him Mexico's Paul Bunyan.

He then called her Babe the Korean Ox, and that was the end of that bit of banter.

"Burn it?" Stone repeated. Her cold blue gaze shifted between them, as though waiting for one of them to crack and reveal the punch line. "No one lives here. Why burn it?"

Ash heaved a deliberately heavy sigh, then said, "Because we can't put the pieces outside in Hefty bags, and the sheer volume of bleach it would take to disguise all this blood would be enough to ignite if someone so much as lit a match on the front stoop."

Stone bit down hard on her lower lip, eyebrows scrunching together. Some of the flush and euphoria of the fight had gone out of her, and the consequences of her rampage were sinking in. She eyed the pile of body parts, then the bloody, serrated knife still clenched in her right hand. When she met Ash's gaze, uncertainty had taken root. "What about the people who live next door? The whole block could go up, these houses are so old."

"It's possible, yes." Ash was proud of the nonchalance in her tone. She hated what had to happen, but Stone needed to learn. Sometimes, given her brash and hasty nature, Ash wondered how the teenager had ever managed to leave Triad Boot Camp. Half of the recruited teens who went in came never back out--except as cremated ash.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of The Hoarder, available tomorrow.

Purchase a copy of Kelly Meding's breakout novel, Three Days to Dead,
available on November 24:

Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
Borders.com
IndieBound.com
Random House.com

"Kick-Ass" Trailer

2009-11-19T22:05:18Z

....Or, McLovin is finally in a superhero movie.

Based on the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., Kick-Ass already looks like its going to live up to its name. It certainly isn't the first comedy to feature superheroes with no super powers, Mystery Men comes immediately to mind, but it may be the most epic. Come on, how can watching fail-tastic teenagers beat up hardened criminals not be entertaining?

Oh, and the man in the red cape at the beginning of the trailer? He's my new hero.

The Writing Life: The Downside of the Revolution

2009-11-19T21:56:04Z

Publishing, and subsequently writers, are in the middle of a revolution.

Not only do we finally have practical ebook reading hardware, there's an infrastructure for ebook delivery that is not only up and running but rapidly expanding. Which means that there are now more books available from more outlets than there have ever been.

This is a good thing. Frankly, even the best publishing houses and editors (Hi, David), can only shepherd so many books to market. And even the best stores can only stock so much on their shelves. The ebook outlets can get long out of print books back into circulation. It provides a way for quirky, hard-to-classify authors or books to try their wings and maybe generate a little buzz for themselves.

Full disclosure: In case you don't know, I'm a member of the online cooperative Book View Cafe, which is doing this exact thing, so, of course I think it' a good thing.

And I'm telling you, it's a sign of how much things have changed that I'd actually suggest publishing with an e-press, or even self-publishing with an outfit like the Kindle store as a route for an aspiring writer. But these days it can be a boost. If you're careful, if you're realistic and if you're able and willing to get out there and push your work. When I was on an award jury a few years back, we found a book that had originally been e-published, and it was phenomenal. We all loved it for its fresh style and creative approach.

But all this expansion has also made for some new gray areas in the world of publishing, and thanks to the publishing giant Harlequin, it's about to become even easier for new writers to get lost in the fog.

You see, Harlequin has just set up a vanity press.

This is very different from a traditional publishing house which pays the author a set amount up front in return for their work. It is different from an e-press where an editor goes over your work and the publisher puts it up for sale, giving you a percentage of the cover price for a contractually agreed-upon time frame. It is also different from a self-publishing situation where the writer themselves does the work of formatting and uploading your own book online with someone who is renting out out virtual shelf-space. A vanity press requires the aspiring author to pay up-front, in the case of Harlequin's new venture between $600 to $1,600. In return, Harlequin will create an electronic file, and put a couple of lines in a large online catalogue.

In the old days, they would have shipped the author a carton of books, and a bill for purchasing additional copies of their own book.

This is not publishing. It is not even self-publishing where the author only pays a cut of their actual sales income once they've received it. It's printing, pure and simple, and the only entity that will profit from it is Harlequin.

In short, it's a scam. Pure and simple.

The Twilight Phenomenon

2009-11-19T21:00:00Z

What does it mean when a book that seems to be almost universally dismissed as drivel by many in the publishing industry is probably the greatest driving force in the hottest genre on the market today?

I'm no expert, but I'm guessing it means that, somewhere, all those smart industry people are kicking themselves.

If you're not sure which book I'm referring to (I know--there's so many that could fall into this description, no?), than I'll give you some hints:

It's about vampires.
It's set in a high school in the Pacific Northwest.
If you have a teenage daughter, granddaughter, or niece, chances are they expect you to get them to the movie theater on November 20th--with gaggles of their giggling friends.
If you have a middle-aged wife, girlfriend, or sister--ditto.
If you're a twenty-something young professional woman--ditto.

If you haven't guessed by now, then I suggest you lift your hands high up over your head, as that's the best way to get out from under the rock you're living beneath.

]]> I am, of course, talking about Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga.

With the upcoming release of the second movie, New Moon, it seems like an opportune time to talk about what I consider part of the "Twilight Phenomenon." Now, I've read the first novel, and I think I made my thoughts about it pretty clear in a previous post. But the thing is, as much as I have no interest in reading more of the series, to deny it's impact on what I do for a living would be like the bird whose beak acts as the needle on Fred Flintstone's record player flying off because he didn't like the album Fred chose.

In other words: "Hey, it's a living."

(For more obscure references like these, please check out my postings on obscure_references.gov).

(Please note that the above link is made up, and won't actually work).

So what does Twilight mean for us in the science fiction and fantasy community? Well, the biggest impact it's had is clearly how editors have approached acquiring books.

Unlike Harry Potter (which didn't really result in an explosion of more contemporary fantasy, unless you want to somehow connect his popularity with the rise in urban fantasy--which I'd say is a stretch), Twilight is often the topic of discussion (the go-to comparison, if you will). Prompting questions like these:

"Who's the next Stephenie Meyer?"

and

"Is this the next Twilight?"

Which is pretty amazing, when you think, again, that almost a dozen agents passed on this book, as did--I'm sure--a number of publishing houses before Little, Brown took a chance on it.

But really, what we're asking is how do we tap into the energy that is being expended on Twilight? How do we harness Meyer's readership to create our own bestsellers, that spawn movies and merchandising and frantic fans screaming their lungs out because the guy who played Cedric Diggory happens to be a smoldering hunk of manliness (or so people have told me...)?

And so Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy became the genre's soup du jour (if you're unfamiliar with those two terms, go here). Yes, obviously authors have been writing about sexy vampires and werewolves for years before Twilight (it's hard to think that Meyer wasn't, in fact, influenced by these writers), and to great success. Laurell K. Hamilton and Kelley Armstrong were both writing bestselling paranormal fiction long before Twilight made the scene in 2005. And, of course, successful shows like Buffy, the Vampire-Slayer had a devoted legion of fans beginning in the early 1990s.

But, for the most part, those books and shows were relatively unique to the marketplace, not nearly as ubiquitous as they are today.

Twilight changed that.

First, by being Young Adult. Anita Blake is great, as are the Otherworld books, but it's pretty safe to say that most parents wouldn't be super-happy if their children read one of those books. But with Twilight, not only does Meyer refrain from the sexual interactions that make up a part (and my contention is that it's a big part) of paranormal romance's appeal, but she also provides younger readers with a readily identifiable protagonist: an angsty, teenage girl. And what does a teenager like more than seeing that other people have the same problems as them--and that, in the end, their "problems" ultimately lead them to hook up with the hot, mysterious guy who also happens to be a vampire?

Second, and again going with the fact that the novels are YA, Twilight was instantly accessible to adults, because who doesn't have some memories (repressed or otherwise) of high school? The books are also incredibly fast, easy reads. While I think most adult readers (those who read more than ten books a year) do try to read novels and nonfiction that can occasionally challenge them and make them think, I believe the vast majority of people want their books to solely be entertainment. They want the quick fix that things like television, movies, and the Internet provide. And although there's plenty of paranormal romance that is quite well-written, it still remains, for the most part, fairly light and fun.

It's immersive, it sucks you in, and you find yourself getting a vicarious thrill at seeing how the characters are going to get to the happily ever after. In this sense, Twilight is the ultimate page-turner. Even I--who didn't come away completely satisfied by the experience--read it in one day. Oddly, for all the discussions I've ever had about Twilight with colleagues, this is the part I think most of us tend to overlook:

Of course they're guilty pleasures, but they are, for millions of people, pleasures.

And now we're playing catch-up.

Go to a bookstore these days, and you'll see hectares of books about supernatural romantic liaisons. They may not all be about vampires, but they're all over the place--and in any number of sections: Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, and even straight-up Fiction. Because, let's face it:

Sex sells.

Vampires are sexy.

Vampires sell.

Would authors like Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Lara Adrian be bestsellers without Twilight? I mean, they're all great storytellers, but, is it a coincidence they all got started with their big series after Twilight? I'm not implying that there is cause-and-effect here (I'm sure many such books were acquired by editors before Twilight was published), but I do believe they were caught up in the moment, and this couldn't have hurt these authors find their way into the hands of readers (and, ultimately, the bestseller lists). Twilight didn't breed the paranormal romance genre, but it was certainly instrumental in fostering an environment for the genre to be so successful.

Now take a look at television. I have to believe that True Blood, Being Human, and The Vampire Diaries were almost certainly developed and produced with Twilight in mind (consider that Charlaine Harris has been writing Sookie Stackhouse books since 2001).

And, of course there are movies. The Vampire's Assistant springs immediately to mind, but so, too, does the independent film Let the Right One In. Granted, the latter is much more of a horror movie than a paranormal romance, but the key to the movie is the relationship between the little boy and little girl, and I wonder if it would have been as popular if the public consciousness hadn't already been geared towards the ubiquity of vampires.

So, say what you will about Twilight--its mere cultural presence is something to be reckoned with. If Malcolm Gladwell was writing this article, more people would probably read it. But, more importantly, I think he would recognize that Stephenie Meyer is the tipping point for what has been the present and--as I see it right now--the immediate future of where fantasy (and to a point, even science fiction) is heading. Just like you couldn't escape that Celine Deon song from Titanic, you can't escape these novels.

And, for good or for ill, they've changed the genre.

Brandon Sanderson Visits

2009-11-19T20:07:46Z

Hot on the heels of his New York Times #1 bestselling placement that knocked The Lost Symbol from its perch, Brandon Sanderson stopped by my place yesterday to sign several hundred copies of The Gathering Storm for Wheel of Time fans all over the world.

Even after passing through airports and sleeping in a different hotel bed every night for weeks, Brandon was still in great spirits when he arrived.

We talked for a few minutes about fun, geeky stuff like who is painting his The Way of Kings cover art, if he should buck up and buy the original painting of that cover, the Michael Whelan Dark Tower framed art I have on my walls, and the premise of the book I am currently rewriting.

It was then time for work. We knew we were crunched for time.

The first order of business was to get Brandon in touch with two podcast/video interviewers via Skype on my Mac. After a few minutes of getting things set up, Brandon was answering questions about his own reading habits (Terry Pratchett being foremost among them), who wrote the first fantasy book he read (Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly), and how he was chosen to write The Gathering Storm (one fateful voice message on his phone):

After the interview was completed, he had a lot more work to finish before the night wrapped up! Here is last night, in pictures.

]]> As I said, Brandon had hundreds of books to sign and personalize fore fans all over the world. I spent the morning setting them up before he arrived. The books were flapped to the title page and post-it notes were placed for those who wanted personalizations:

Brandon dove right into signing those books. We soon had a great system set up that allowed for efficiency:

Tor Books and Brandon's publicist gave some help in the form of Storm Leaders! The Storm Leaders are Wheel of Time fans who were willing and able to stop by my place, hang out with Brandon before his event, and help. They were a valuable asset and all stuffed the books with fliers and bookmarks, smiles on their faces the entire time:

After the books were signed and the Storm Leaders were sweaty, we all went out to dinner at one of my favorite Seattle restaurants. As you can see, almost everyone had a Thomas Kemper root beer. Yum:

Gail, the woman who drove Brandon Sanderson all over Seattle, signed for the bill on behalf of Tom Doherty!! Thank you, Tor Books, for the great dinner:

We all arrived at the University Bookstore about 1/2 early. The place was already packed with Wheel of Time and Brandon Sanderson fans:

After Brandon had signed some of the store stock and had given his directions to the Storm Leaders for the U Books event, he got right to the podium to read from The Gathering Storm and answer questions:

After Brandon told us how the Wheel of Time ends in the final book—just kidding!—he went right to signing:

And there was a The Gathering Storm cake! Second yum:

All in all, it was a fun day. Brandon was gracious throughout all of it, and super excited to talk about the Wheel of Time. The conversation during dinner evolved around it, and he got a kick out of listening to the Storm Leaders discuss future possibilities for the next two books. It was one of those days where everyone went to bed feeling good about themselves.

Tomorrow I will post video from Brandon's event!

Until then, hope you enjoy these pictures!

365 Days of Manga, Day 65: Script Downers

2009-11-19T15:42:58Z

SCRIPT DOWNERS （SCRIPT ダウナーズ) • Ryu-tmr • CPM (2007) • Wani Books (Comic Gum, 2002-2003) • 1 volume, suspended (2 volumes in Japan) • Otaku Science Fiction Comedy • 13+ (mild violence, mild sexual situations)
Sometime in the future, the Internet has evolved into a massive virtual reality network, where Hina Matsuki--a short-skirted, teenage Network Security agent-- downloads bootleg ROMs, finds missing virtual girlfriends, and fights cute animal icons run amok. A combination of Ghost in the Shell/The Matrix-type science fiction with otaku in-jokes (Akihabara etc.), Script Downers is a pleasant but forgettable story-gag manga. The art is nicely clean-looking and angular, although the weird-eyed faces are awkward.

Central Park Media... a name from the past. When I got into the anime and manga business in 1996, they were one of the big shots. They had published super-fan-favorites like Project A-Ko and the Genocyber series, and a few lesser-known anime which were truly stunning, notably the beautiful and philosophical art film (with a cast of anthropomorphic cats!) Night on the Galactic Railroad. Around 1997 they started publishing manga, starting with some fairly blah fanservice titles like the... er, topheavy... work of Satoshi Urushihara, and numerous Slayers adaptations, but then taking some interesting risks, such as in 2003 when they became a pioneer in publishing Boy's Love/yaoi manga. I remember that in 2004 John O' Donnell, the CEO of Central Park Media, visited the VIZ offices in San Francisco. We had lunch with him and we joked about how VIZ's family-friendly image would never permit us to publish yaoi manga. "You take the kid's stuff, and we'll take the porn," he laughed. At the same time, they were also acquiring the rights to some very interesting non-porn manga, like Kiriko Nananan's "Sweet Cream and Strawberries," and several other fascinating books.

Unfortunately, many of these books never came out. Even "Script Downers" is so hard to find that I could only find a decent-sized image of the Japanese cover. CPM was hit by the same financial problems which affected every company in the anime and manga publishing industry, but they also had a serious P.R. problem. In 2007 Biblos, the primary licensee of CPM's yaoi manga up to that point, went out of business and was bought out by Libre, another Japanese publisher. CPM had already signed and paid contracts with Biblos to publish certain yaoi in English, so they -- perhaps foolishly -- forged ahead with their publishing plans, despite Biblos' dissolution. Libre became angered that CPM hadn't gotten in contact with them (and perhaps renegotiated the rights, possibly paid them more money, etc.), so Libre put up an open letter on their Japanese website, calling on yaoi fans to boycott CPM. A large number of fans did, and CPM's image was seriously damaged.

Things started to fall apart. At the end of one anime convention in New York (rumor has it), the CPM folks didn't want to pay for the shipping it would have cost to send their unsold graphic novels and anime back to their warehouse. John O'Donnell promised that he was going to make an important announcement at a panel at the very end of the last day of the convention. At the panel he gave every audience member a bag, and then said "Now take that bag, go back to the CPM table, and take all the anime and manga you want. It's all free." The table was cleaned out in minutes. Such grandiose gestures were very much in the CPM style. When CPM finally, irrevocably went out of business in 2009, after two years of languishing on life support, they bought a full-page ad in the Anime Expo program book saying to all their fans: goodbye and thanks for the support.

And so vanished one of the giants of anime and manga. So long, CPM. I'll miss them, even if they did publish one of the worst manga ever, "Legend of Lemnear."

Thanks for bearing with me on this trip down Manga Memory Lane. Today's winner is Francisco C. of California! I'll be sending you some manga (probably not CPM manga) ASAP! :)

Reminder: Chat live with Nina Matsumoto!

2009-11-19T14:00:00Z

Chat live with Eisner Award-winner Nina Matsumoto on Tuesday, November 24 at 3 PM EST!

Nina first made a splash into the manga scene with a single image she called "Simpsonzu"--an illustration of the entire Simpsons cast, drawn in a manga style. The image caught the attention and imagination of the comics blogosphere--as well as the attention of Bongo Comics. Impressed with Nina's work, they offered her a position as a penciler for comic book series such as The Simpsons and Futurama.

]]> Del Rey Manga associate publisher Dallas Middaugh also noticed Nina's work and got in touch with her. When she pitched the idea for an original English-language manga about the world of yokai--Japanese spirits--he fell in love with it, and Yokaiden: Volume 1 debuted in Fall 2008 to critical acclaim. It was named in a number of "Best of 2008" lists in the manga and graphic novel communities. Anime News Network named it World Manga of the Month in December 2008, saying, "with a bold sense of line, striking visual designs and clearly defined layouts, this is one made-in-America project that avoids the self-consciousness of 'trying to look like manga' and lets the artist's style speak for itself." And now Yokaiden: Volume 2 will be available in stores next week!

Nina's hard work and her unique, manga-inspired style were recognized at Comic-Con International at San Diego in July 2009, when she won an Eisner Award for best short story for her contribution to The Simpsons' Treehouse of Terror #14, "Murder He Wrote." The story, created along with Ian Boothby and Andrew Pepoy, was a Simpsons parody inspired by the popular thriller manga, Death Note.

Watch Nina's acceptance speech:

In addition to her work on Bongo Comics series and Yokaiden, Nina is the artist of a new manga prequel based on The Last Airbender movie, to be published by Del Rey Manga in 2010.

This is one chat you don't want to miss!

The Terry Brooks Name Auction Results

2009-11-19T05:55:04Z

On October 20th, I posted news titled Auction: Terry Brooks Character Name.

In short, Terry allowed fans to bid on an auction where the winning bidder could have their name in a future book. The auction helped raise $1700 for children, schools, and other non-profit entities around the world. Terry gives as much as possible for numerous charities throughout the year, and that one created a fun new opportunity for him.

The character from the winning bidder became the G'Home Gnome Shoopdiesel in the recently published A Princess of Landover.

That one turned out so well that Terry decided to do it again—this time for a Shannara character name!

The auction went live in October and ended at noon on November 11th. To help get news of the auction to Terry's fans, I posted the information on Suvudu and the News section of his official website, mentioned it on his official forum, and sent out an email blast to his Brooksbooks newsletter which goes out to tens of thousand of people.

By the end of the auction there were 72 bids, fans hoping to get the chance to be immortal as a character in a Terry Brooks novel.

What dollar amount did the auction finally go for?

]]> On the day the auction ended, Terry and his wife Judine took me out to lunch for my birthday at Palisades here in Seattle. While I waited for them to arrive, my iPhone dinged notification that I had received a new email from the auction's publicity director. I opened it. I double-checked what I read. Got the largest grin on my face. And waited to tell Terry.

Terry and Judine walked in two minutes later.

"You and I did something wonderful today," I said, standing to give them hugs.

"Oh? Beyond the normal greatness we bring the world?" Terry said snarkily.

"Remember that name auction you agreed to?"

"I do."

"It ended today. It produced over $7300!"

Terry did a double take as we walked to our table—and matched my grin.

It is so great to be a part of auctions and being able to affect them. For the remaining time during the birthday lunch, I could tell Terry felt the same way. By offering the character name up for auction, he helped out a great cause. It was easy for him to do and he did it. It speaks to the kind of writer he is, but also the kind of man he is.

Now the winner who bid $7325 gets to have his/her name put into a forthcoming Shannara book!

And yet it is one of those situations where everyone wins.

In life, those are few and far between!

The Doodling Author

2009-11-19T04:43:42Z

I have run the online signed-book bookstore The Signed Page for almost ten years now. I have had the opportunity to meet dozens and dozens of wonderful writers who have given their time to sign and/or personalize their newest releases for thousands of their fans all over the world.

Today, for instance, the #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson will be stopping by to sign copies of The Gathering Storm for hundreds of fans of the Wheel of Time series.

Two weeks ago I had another large signing—with Naomi Novik.

And I noticed something really fun that she does.

Naomi is a doodler.

She met me at the Random House offices, where I had already flapped and set up the books in one of their offices. As I began sliding the books opened to the title page to her, I noticed she took a bit longer to sign than the average writer. Turns out she gives a little extra to most of the books she signs; she draws a quick sketch of her main character dragon, Temeraire.

It is very cool.

As you can see, it is a simple drawing, called a remarque by artists. It shows a flying Temeraire roaring his Divine Wind, denoted by three soundwave-like lines. It didn't take Naomi very long to do each, but watching her I could tell she gets a kick out of it. It makes her happy to add something most writers do not do.

These doodles, however, can take on a life of their own!

]]>

Here is another remarque. This one features Temeraire doing his thing, but with his human companion Laurence riding on top. Warranted, the Aerial Corpsman is a stick figure, but it doesn't matter; fans of the series know exactly who it is and why Naomi drawing him is fun.

In another book that was going to be given to a fan on their birthday—one that I failed to take a picture of, sadly—Naomi drew Temeraire carrying a birthday cake with candles on it.

Naomi smiled the entire time doing it.

Imagine my surprise when she signed and doodled my personal copy of In His Majesty's Service:

Yes, that is a dragon carrying Shawn back to Seattle from New York City. The Space Needle in the background makes it so—although given the rain we've had already this fall Naomi should have drawn huge raindrops too.

Isn't the doodle cool?

I have no doubt that Naomi has catered several hundred different drawn versions of Temeraire for her fans over the year. It would be interesting to see them too.

So who is the dragon in my book? Is it Temeraire giving me a ride home? I really don't think so. Otherwise Laurence would be there too. Naomi must have given me my very own dragon.

I wonder what name he/she bears? And what species of dragon it is?

I guess I had better ask Naomi the next time I see her!

THE TALISMAN: THE ROAD OF TRIALS #1 now on sale

2009-11-18T23:09:29Z

The Talisman: The Road of Trials #1 is now on sale with two exciting covers to chose from. Cover A is by Massimo Carnevale and the ultra rare Cover B is by Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik. Both are available in comic book stores today!

If you happen to pick up a copy we would love to know what you think of it. Please email your thoughts or questions to delreycomics@randomhouse.com. We just might include your letter in a future issue.

Find a comic book retailer near you here.

Welcome to the Territories! Hope you enjoy the visit.

365 Days of Manga, Day 64: Seito Shokun!

2009-11-18T16:45:33Z

SEITO SHOKUN (Seito Shokun, "Fellow Students!") （生徒諸君！) • Yoko Shoji • Kodansha International (1983-1984) • Kodansha (Shojo Friend, 1977-1984) • 4 volumes, suspended (24 volumes in Japan) • Unrated/13+ (mild language, mild sexual situations, principals hit on the head by softballs)

Only the second shojo manga ever published in English (after The Rose of Versailles) Seito Shokun was almost identical in format to the Shogakukan volumes described under Sasuga no Sarutobi--with the notable difference that Kodansha decided to "flop" the reading order, perhaps to make it seem a more authentic English-language experience. From the golden age of shojo manga, when eyes were all mascara and highlights, Yoko Shoji's Seito Shokun is a reminder that shojo is as much about heroines as shonen is about heroes--the heroine here being 14 year-old Naoko "Nakki" Kitashiro, a smart, self-assured spitfire transfer student, who, ten pages into the manga, has already tried to pass for her own homeroom teacher, and gotten into a fistfight with a boy. Five pages later, that boy's starting to fall for her--which isn't difficult. Slapped by a girl for her cheek in the next chapter (whom she then kisses to make up), Nakki explains, "I like to fight. I don't care who's right or wrong. I just like to have it out, you know?"--another way of saying how her free spirit will seek to free her fellow students, too. Seito Shokun, which won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1978, has a current sequel (made into a live-action TV drama in 2007) running in the josei magazine Be Love. (Review by Carl Gustav Horn)

Today's guest review is by Carl Gustav Horn, one of the smartest people in manga. Carl currently works as an editor for Dark Horse Comics, but I met him when we were both working at Viz, and he was kind enough to review some very, very obscure English-language manga which, as far as I'm aware, no one else in the entire universe has copies of. One such manga is Seito Shokun, published in the early '80s in a bilingual edition for Japanese students of English. This book is so hard to find I wasn't even able to find the cover on google imagesearch (gasp!), so the attached image is actually from the modern sequel series running in "Be Love." This may be the single rarest translated manga in existence -- or if not, it's up there with the Go Nagai American edition of "Devilman" and other rarities like "Sasuga na Sarutobi." Thank you, Carl!

Today's winner is Michael M. of Connecticut. Congratulations, Michael! And today's repeat winner is Lysa:

Congratulations, Lysa! I'm glad you like the stuff that I sent you. I'll send you five more surprise manga today!

New Releases 11/17/09

2009-11-17T20:56:47Z

Here are some of the new book, DVD, game and movie releases for the week!

Hardcover
First Lord's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 6) by Jim Butcher
Halo: Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe by Tobias S. Buckell et al.
The Power of Tolkien's Prose: Middle-Earth's Magical Style by Steve Walker
The Cardinal's Blades by Pierre Pevel
Hidden Currents by Christine Feehan
Luna Park by Kevin Baker and Danijel Zezelj

Paperback
Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton
The Princeps' Fury by Jim Butcher
Beyond the Wall of Time, Book Three by Russel Kirkpatrick
Black Ships by Jo Graham
Dark Side of Dawn: The Nightmare Chronicles by Kathryn Smith
Definitely Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel by Charlaine Harris
Flesh Circus by Lilith Saintcrow
Immortalby V.K. Forrest
Jailbait Zombie by Mario Acevedo
The Knight of the Red Beard by Andre Norton and Sasha Miller

Video Games
Assassin's Creed II
Left 4 Dead 2
God of War Collection
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Call of Duty: Word at War: Zombies
King's Bounty: Armored Princess
Elven Legacy: Siege

DVD Release
Stark Trek
Farscape: The Complete Series
Galaxy Quest [Blu-ray]
Evangelion: 1.01 You Are (Not) Alone - Movie

In Theaters
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Planet 51

Take Our Chat: Naomi Novik and Scott Westerfeld

2009-11-17T17:31:00Z

Last night we hosted an incredible chat between two really exciting authors working in historical fantasy: Naomi Novik and Scott Westerfeld. Naomi is the author of the Temeraire series, which is terribly cool. Scott Westerfeld is the author of the New York Times Bestselling book Leviathan and the bestselling Uglies series.

When we brought them together they talked about everything from fanfic to dragons to their favorite writers and even dropped a few hints at what we'll be seeing from them in the future! To say it was an hour packed full of great chat would be an understatement. But we here at Suvudu don't want to hog all that fun for ourselves. We want to give you a chance to take our chat, repost it, and carry on the conversation on your site or blog for your readers to enjoy as well. So here it is - take our chat!

Use the buttons below to grab the code you'd like (or take them both, I mean, they're free and all). And you have two choices, they are:

If you have a site that supports embeding the chat, then select the Embed Code.
If you have a wordpress.com, blogger blog, or other site that will not support embeding the code, select the Chat Link that will pop up the chat on a blank page (without throwing people away from your site in the process).

Enjoy!