Is posting your publications for the year a sign of insecurity? Like, "Look, everyone, I wasn't just sitting around counting my thumbs all year, I was typing with them."

2009 Sales & Publications

Novels published:

• NORSE CODE (Ballantine)

Novels Sold:

• KID VS. SQUID (Bloomsbury Children's USA), scheduled for release May 11, 2010


• LAST (Bloomsbury Children's USA), scheduled for spring/summer 2011

New Stories:

• "The Holy City and Em's Reptile Farm" - in Other Earths (DAW)


• Last Son of Tomorrow - Tor.com


• "Temp" in Tumbarumba

Reprints and Podcasts:

• Taco - Escape Pod


• Carnival Park - PodCastle


• Change - PodCastle


• Chi - Drabblecast


• Frequent Flier Miles - Drabblecast


• "Far As You Can Go" - 9 (Greek)

Hey, if you're in or around Columbus, Ohio this Sunday, do consider coming on down to the Lennox Town Barnes and Noble for a signing event featuring Paolo Bacigalupi, Tobias Buckell, C.C. Finlay, Sandra McDonald, and me. It's sure to be a hoot. I will be dressed in a chain mail valkyrie bikini, if that's enticement.

Meet science fiction authors as they discuss and sign their recent works. Tobias Buckell, Paolo Bacigalupi, C.C. Finlay, Sandra McDonald and Greg van Eekhout will be here!
Sunday September 13, 2009 12:00 PM

Lennox Town
1739 Olentangy River Road, Columbus, OH 43212, 614-298-9516

(That last thing about me and the chain mail bikini is a total lie, by the way. Charlie's going to be wearing it.)

I think I forgot to mention this here, but Mur Lafferty interviewed me for her I Should Be Writing podcast: Listen to more of my blabbing.

Here's my Comic-Con schedule in case you wanna come up and say hello or maybe get a book autographed. I don't know if Del Rey Spectra will have any copies of my book on hand to give away, but Mysterious Galaxy, our very fine science fiction bookstore here in San Diego, will have them for sale.

Thursday, July 23
Room 3
3:30-4:30

Evolution of Fantasy— Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Twilight—the great mega-selling series of recent years have all ended. What will the next one look like? Or is it already here? How is fantasy evolving? Panelists Jacqueline Carey (Naamah’s Kiss), Lynn Flewelling (Shadows Return), Patrick Rothfuss (The Name Of The Wind), Thomas Sniegoski (The Fallen), Greg Van Eekhout (Norse Code), and Cindy Pon (Silver Phoenix : Beyond the Kingdom of Xia) answer questions posed by moderator Lev Grossman (The Magicians).
Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy | Writers & Writing

Immediately following, Mysterious Galaxy will be hosting an autograph session for the panel participants in the Comic-Con Autograph Area.

I'll also be swinging by the Mysterious Galaxy booth (#1119) from time to time, as well as the Del Rey Spectra booth.

Other than that, look for me crumpled down on the floor in the fetal position as I experience complete physical and emotional collapse in response to the crowds.

I also might just hop on the bus and go home. Don't look for me there. I'll be barricaded.

Adventures in SciFi Publishing is giving away free copies of Norse Code. It's a contest! It doesn't take much to enter! You could be a winner! You wanna be a winner, don'tcha, punk? Well, don'tcha?

It's good to have options for places to buy books, and now there's a new one: The Tor.com Store. They're "publisher agnostic," meaning they're not only selling their own Tor books there, but stuff from other publishers, including mine. Full disclosure: My book is a featured title at the store (at least it was today), but I'd think it was an interesting idea and worth pointing out regardless. New ideas, new business models.

***

A reader reacts to Norse Code from a Christian perspective.

***

Heading out for Arizona tomorrow, because I miss it so much that I have to go back. No, of course that's not true! I'm going to a workshop in Flagstaff, and I've got some business in Phoenix to take care of first, by which I mean Four Peaks Brewery and Carlsbad Tavern. I used to get the nachos at Carlsbad on Friday nights after Kenpo class. And, yes, I actually do miss those nachos.

Did you have a good weekend? I hope so. I had a good weekend, perhaps the highlight of which was the simple but tasty shrimp sandwich Lisa and I shared at the tiny little fish market/café in La Jolla whose name I can't remember now. And there was clam chowder as well, with those puffy little oyster crackers and hot sauce. And then a long walk around La Jolla, and seals. They want to get rid of the seals because the seals are occupying a strip of sand that's supposed to be set aside for children. If you saw all the tourists with their children enjoying the sight of the seals, you might wonder why anyone would want to get rid of this tourist and civic attraction in favor of another tiny patch of beach. There is no shortage of beach in San Diego. I say let the children swim with the seals. In fact, let the children be raised by seals. I have no real stake in any of this, but I enjoy sights worthy of gawking.

Here's a picture of the view from the sekrit park in Bird Rock. I post it in lieu of the pictures I did not take this weekend. I love that, from the end of nondescript street near the Starbucks, I can look out and, if it weren't for the curvature of the planet and atmosphere and myopia and a touch of astigmatism, I could see all the way to Japan.

From San Diego - 2009

In other news, I have no idea how Norse Code is selling. This is normal.

In still other yet related news, Norse Code was reviewed by Adrienne Martini in the June issue of Locus. It's a very nice review, I think. A few money quotes:

"Norse Code is a flat-out enjoyable adventure cloaked in a brief lesson on Norse mythology."

"Words tumble on the page with a lyric joy that is Pratchett-like in some passages."

And this one particular pleases me, because I was at times a little stressed about it when it would have been too late to save myself:

"And then there’s Mist, a female character who spends almost zero time talking about boys, romance or love. Instead, she can hold her own in a fight if forced while keeping her focus on the main goals of her quest. It’s refreshing that almost all of Mist’s scenes with other women would pass the Bechdel test, in that when two women are talking,they talk about something other than a man."

Not that there's not a little romance in Norse Code, and Mist and her sister do spend a little bit of time talking about boys, but I didn't want to leave the impression that, with the world literally crumbling to pieces around them, my female characters' main concerns were the men in their lives.

Finally, you know that thing people sometimes do on their blogs when they say they have a Big Sekrit and they can't tell you? Well, I'm not going to do that. Except that I do, and I can't, but I will, as soon as I can.

I'm a jerk.

They've got this little widget thing on the Random House website that will let you read the first 32 pages of Norse Code, sort of. You get the front matter (that's blurbs and copyright page and acknowledgments), the prologue (which is different than the first chapter posted at Tor.com, and just as different from the second and third chapters posted at Suvudu), and then the first pages of several chapters.

I just wish the widget had blinking lights and beeped. Like a tricorder. That would have been really neat.

No, really, I'm okay about not being at Wiscon. Seriously. I was thinking about talking Last Son of Krypton last year over breakfast in the Governer's Club with Christopher and Doselle and Ted and totally didn't get moony over it. Hallway conversations with hilarious friends? Who needs 'em? ::sniffle:: Darn these allergies.

Not that these "allergies" have completely stopped me from having a good weekend. Mysterious Galaxy were nice enough to invite me to do a signing and were gracious hosts, particularly manager Patrick. I had the pleasure of sharing the table with Kirsten Imani Kasai, author of Ice Song, and we both read some short selections, answered questions from the audience, and signed for friends, family, customers I assume neither one of us knew, and stock. My cousin Ellen bought about a bajillion copies of Norse Code, and one of Lisa's co-workers showed up, and Steven Klotz (MentatJack) came down by train from LA. (And, again, Steven, sorry I lost track of you as you were leaving; I should have at least offered you a ride to the station! Sorry!!!)

I feel lucky to have such a great bookstore in town. I already loved shopping there, and I couldn't have asked for a better place for my first signing. And then Lisa and I had meat for dinner and ice cream. Meat! Ice cream!

Here're a couple of pics. I cut off some people on the right, including store manager Patrick. Cameras should be better at knowing what I want to get a picture of. There should be a special Dumbass Prevention chip.

From Mysterious Galaxy Signing

And here I am, signing. Rather furiously, it looks like.

From Mysterious Galaxy Signing

And only tangentially related, Charles Tan sends me this picture of Norse Code in the Philippines. It's under E, which is correct (sometimes) from a filing standpoint, but I prefer V, since van Eekhout is my last name, and the "van" part deserves as much love as the harder-to-spell part. Of course, I've heard of one bookstore where they didn't know if I should be under E or V, so they put me under G. Outside-the-box thinking!

From Bookstore pics

Courtesy of good Mr. Jon Hansen, all the way over in Georgia, capitol of Sid and Marty Krofft and where the peaches are supposedly all that.

If anyone else happens to grab a pic, please do send 'em along. I love this sort of thing.

From Final Norse Code cover

Oh, hey, I can't remember if ever mentioned it, but I sold this book last year? And it's out and stuff today? If I recall, it's called Norse Code, and in addition to the valkyrie in the leather pants on the cover (who actually only wears jeans in the book, plus a sensible coat, cuz it's Fimbulwinter, which means it's quite brisk out), there're gods and wolves and a Malamute and an eight-legged horse and farmers from Iowa. It's a hoot, lemme just say that.

You can find some preview chapters online: chapter 1 at Tor.com, chapter 2 at Suvudu, and chapter 3 at Suvudu.

And over at John Scalzi's blog, I've got a Big Idea column up. How'd that happen? Because I put a grenade down Scalzi's pants and threatened to pull the pin. "Get your hand out of my pants," John said. "Wait, no, don't! Wait ... Oh, fine, you can have a Big Idea column."

And that's how you make things happen in this business. You be a freakin' professional, people.

Thanks for all the kind words posted in the comments yesterday and dozens and dozens of previous days. As it says on the acks page, I appreciate all the "awesome folks who have kept me company by leaving thousands of funny and lovely comments on my silly blog."

That means you.

From Final Norse Code cover

What do you do the day before your first book comes out? Well, in my case, I try to forget about business and contracts and sales and numbers, and I try to remember that I never wanted to be a writer so I could bathe in the strange and murky waters of business and contracts and sales and numbers. I wanted to be a writer because, along with love and friends and snacks, writing makes me happy. Part of writing is sharing. Tomorrow, I get to share my book with people, and that's a happy thought.

Anyway, that's how I'm trying to think.

***

The estimable Gwenda Bond interviews me on her estimable blog. I talk about the book, naturally.

My editor thoughtfully sent me a couple of copies of NORSE CODE in advance of my box o' books, and I stopped rubbing them on myself long enough to take a few snaps.

Look! It's a physical artifact!

From Norse Code

( More dynamic angles below the cut )

No hype today, but I will link to the podcast of my story Frequent Flier Miles (originally published by my friends at Flytrap), which was posted on The Drabblecast a couple of days ago. Cat Rambo graces the story with her reading. (I'm confident she does, though I confess to not having listened to it yet, so it's something I'm still looking forward to.)

"Frequent Flier Miles" appears to be another one about the consequences of immortality. That's largely what my story coming soon at Tor.com is about, too. And it also pops up in NORSE CODE, too. I'd say it's becoming an obsession of mine, but it's possible the obsession has less to do with immortality itself than it does with Highlander.

But who knows? I've been having a lot of vivid and unsettling dreams lately, and when motifs and scenarios appear in my dreams again and again, it seems rude to my subconscious to ignore it when it might be trying to tell me something. Writing stories is usually such hard work and full of deliberate choices that sometimes I forget my typing fingers are getting their orders from more than one source.

Heh. I just remembered that OSTEOMANCER'S SON is full of characters going to great lengths to achieve immortality. So, there it is again, right on the screen in front of me.

From Osteomancer's Son

Please forgive the repetitiveness of this post, but I noticed that Norse Code's Publishers Weekly review is starting to propagate to online booksellers, so I figured it'd be okay for me to post it in its entirety. I also heard word today that my publisher has copies of my book in stock, which means it is now an actual physical artifact rather than just a big ball of hopes and dreams and anxieties and fears in my head. I look forward to getting my box of books and bathing in them.

Should I talk about something non-hypey? Kung fu? I can talk about kung fu. After two months of sick decrepitude, I finally made it back to class last week. Good staff sparring class, just me and an upper-level guy I like to work with, and it felt awesome to move and bash sticks. This week I've managed two classes, an empty-hand forms class in which I got recquainted with twisting-grabbing fist sweeping-tripping fist (apparently not so reacquainted that I could remember the name of the form) and a staff forms class. Learned a few new moves and pulperized many imaginary bad guys.

So lemme tell you this: If you're an imaginary bad guy, you DO NOT WANT TO MESS WITH ME.

Okay. Well. Here's the hype:

NORSE CODE [Amazon - Powells - Barnes and Noble - Borders - Mysterious Galaxy]

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Short story author van Eekhout makes a successful leap to long fiction with this thrilling urban fantasy. As human civilizations crumble, Valkyries prepare for Ragnarok by using DNA testing to select perfect warriors for their army of the dead. Resurrected NorseCODE operative Mist loses faith in the project after a tragic accident, and she goes AWOL. After Mist encounters the near-forgotten god Hermod as he investigates portents of doom along the California coastline, the two journey into the afterlife of Helheim, where they make some unexpected allies. With deities scheming and ancient prophecies coming true, can a reluctant Valkyrie and a world-weary god prevent the apocalypse? While a few aspects of the conclusion don't quite hang together, the compelling prose and epic blend of mythological and modern elements make it clear that van Eekhout is an author to watch. (June)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

An overall shiny review of Norse Code [Amazon - Powells - Barnes and Noble - Borders - Mysterious Galaxy] in Publishers Weekly:

Norse Code Greg van Eekhout. Bantam Spectra, $7.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-553-59213-9

Short story author van Eekhout makes a successful leap to long fiction with this thrilling urban fantasy. [Plot summary redacted to avoid stealing PW's intellectual property, but the reviewer does make the book sound quite exciting.] While a few aspects of the conclusion don't quite hang together, the compelling prose and epic blend of mythological and modern elements make it clear that van Eekhout is an author to watch. (June)

This morning's coffee joint was almost a little too hip, so full of young creative-types that I was lucky to get a table. But I did, and here's a pic of what was on it. I did not take a pic of the cute barista in the fishnets reading Watchmen on her break. This isn't that kind of website.

Oh, and I got around to adding a soundtrack to my How I Wrote Norse Code YouTube movie. It's not Rush. It is obnoxious.

From Flotsam Novel Progress

Many young writers come up to me and ask how one goes about writing a novel.

Okay, that never happens, but for the sake of argument, let's just say young writers do often come up and ask me how one goes about writing a novel. Can we pretend? Okay? Thank you.

Anyway, whenever that happens (and remember, we agreed to pretend it happens), the video below is what I show them.

If I were more interested in paying it forward, I'd do a better editing job and add a soundtrack. But there's only so much I'm willing to do for pretend young writers.

ETA: Soundtrack added.

Look at the birdies!

And now I'm off to get blue pencils.

From Norse Code

And another blurb came into today. Editor, agent, and author are all thrilled.

"Norse Code has bone crunching battles, ironic ravens, a resistance movement of dead Iowans, a great loner hero redeemed by the love of a spunky valkyrie in California during the apocalypse, and lots of wit. If that doesn't sound like fun to you, all I can say is, well, I'm sorry. Cause it is." -- Maureen McHugh