Some French Acacia Material - Glimpse Of The Cover?...

Like I've said before, the author is often the last to get a glimpse of anything. You know, I've still never held a copy of the Russian edition of Pride of Carthage, and that was published a couple years ago. (At least I think it was.) The newest incarnation of this dynamic is that I've just learned that French reviewers/bloggers are receiving arcs (advanced reading copies) of Acacia! Lucky for them, I guess, but no such luck for me. My friend Emmanuel at Elbakin.net clued me in, and he sent me a scan of some of the promotional material that came with it... (Tis' clickable.)

Emmanuel assures me that not many books get arcs in France (especially in fantasy), so it's another good sign my publisher, Le Pré aux Clercs, is behind the book. But will the French readership get behind it as well?

By the way, is that a glimpse of the cover I see in the upper left corner? I guess so, but I also know that they were rethinking whatever their early ideas on the cover was, so I won't swear it's going to look anything like that. We'll see..

French Acacia Release Date and Acacia Recommended by... Orson Scott Card - in French?

I've just learned that the release date for the French version of Acacia will be October 16th. I'm really looking forward to that. One can never know how a book is going to do at home or abroad, but so far my French publisher has expressed much enthusiasm for the book. As I understand it, Acacia is the fall book on the list, the one that'll be getting the biggest push. Love that. Here's hoping it works. I'd love to be big in France...

Getting that news put me in "killing a few hours in the French Fantasy blogosphere Mode". Over at Ebalkin.net, I came across a search that turned up an interview with Orson Scott Card. I promptly began scanning, and what do you know? I'm in there! Here's the question and the relevant part of the answer:

Avez-vous des livres à recommander à nos lecteurs, en fantasy ou autre ?

Card : Je ne sais pas exactement ce qui a été traduit, mais il y a de très bons nouveaux romans : The Name of the Wind de Patrick Rothfuss, Acacia de David Anthony Durham, et Mistborn et Elantris de Brandon Sanderson.

Ah! Translation, translation... Babel Fish to the rescue...

Do you have books to recommend to our readers, in fantasy or other?

Card: I do not know exactly what was translated, but there are very good new novels: The Name off the Wind of Patrick Rothfuss, Acacia of David Anthony Durham, and Mistborn and Elantris of Brandon Sanderson.

So, yes, that's a "recommendation". What do you folks think of that? I'll admit to being pleased that such an amazingly popular author (one whose work I have enjoyed) chose to mention my work, but I can't go too far with that positive response before I start to ruminate on the other side of Mr. Card: all that political stuff.

There are some significant and fundamental things that I disagree with him 100% on. There are occasional moments when he thoroughly surprises me by coming to conclusions that I do agree with. And a lot of the time when reading his essays I'm a bit knotted up by his labyrinthine logic - which I'm sure he doesn't feel is labyrinthine at all.

For a basic introduction this article in School Library Journal isn't bad. If you don't know what his politics are you could check out his posts on World Watch - The Ornery American. He is very public in his views (even on Star Wars), and a Google search about his politics provides both his own words and plenty of responses to them. (Check out this essay by John Kessel, for example.) Oh, and the folks at Elbakin.net just sent me a link the the entire OSC interview in English.

But what should any of that mean to me in reference to his recommending my work? They asked him for fantasy recommendations; he mentioned me. Any thing wrong with that?

The Times - You Mean the London Times?

I know I just posted some UK review news about SFX, but apparently last weekend was a doubleheader... I got an email from my British publicist this morning alerting me to "a rather good review" of Acacia in the Times. It was immediately like, "You mean, THE Times?" The answer, I believe, is "Yes, The Times."

I'm the second half of a review that begins with the latest Arthur C. Clarke novel, Firstborn. Rather heady company. The reviewer says some very nice things, including...

"David Anthony Durham has won acclaim for his historical novels, and brings his knowledge of the past and other cultures to create a rich and compelling world on his first foray into fantasy. His skilful storytelling, depth of characterisation, and an ability to unsettle reader expectations is reminiscent of George R.R. Martin, but his is a distinctive new voice."

Wow. I'm all goose pimply... Here's the whole thing.

Addendum: June 14th. I just realized something that makes me even more chuffed about this review. I was so focused on the London Times side of things that I forgot to pay attention to who the reviewer was. It's Lisa Tuttle, sci-fi/fantasy/horror writer of lots of books! That's cool to me for several reasons. One is that she's an American writer that lives in Scotland. I was once an American writer that lived in Scotland - and I hope to be again eventually. I'd noted that we had that in common a few weeks ago and actually looked her up, making a note to seek her out if we were ever at a convention together. I'd also noted that she was a Campbell Award Winner - something which I don't yet have in common with her but, you know... I think about the pending award thing every now and then. And the third thing - I'd knew that she'd written a book with George RR Martin! The book is Windhaven. It's cool to know that the person comparing me to GRRM actually knows him so well that they've authored a book together.

SFX

The "Earth's Greatest SF and Fantasy Magazine" (that's a quote but I don't doubt it) has given Acacia a rather lovely positive nod. The UK based SFX had nice things to say, including "This could be the arrival of a fantasy classic". But that's not even the best of it...

You can check it out here.

The Final Winner - After the ReDo!

So you'll have to trust me on this (which is nothing new - you've had to trust me on all of it - I'm worthy of your trust, by the way), but the new, official winner was selected after an evening session of diving. I won't make you wait too long. You should know that Padme went up against the Wookie Tarful and the Gungin General Tarpals.

It was a close competition, but a definitive winner did arise. Said winner is seen in the this photo... Not being nearly as reserved as I expected, Tarful began working the crowd.

It's possible that the time spent down under caused some damage. I'm not sure. But he did get rather wild... Still, Tarfuls pulled it off. That, I believe, means that the Dynastic Queen is our official winner. All hail the Queen! And... least anyone doubt it, this is yet more evidence that good relations with the Wookies it is advantageous to have.

Acacia UK

The UK trade paperback version of Acacia is now officially on sale!

(Just thought I'd mention it...)

A Review For German Readers...

Just in case you've found your way here because of the German edition of Acacia: Macht un Verrat, I thought I'd post a link to an online review I came across recently. I know, this is a little risky considering that I don't speak German, but my online translator makes the review sound pretty good. And the reviewer gave me 9 out of 10 stars! Very nice, and each good foreign review is relief. I mean, hey, I can have my own opinion about the English version. I can't always know how it's held up in translation, though...

Here's the review if you Sprechen Sie Deutsch.

Acacia UK Trade Paper Giveaway!

Hi Folks! I know we just wrapped up a giveaway a few days ago, but I think I'll go ahead and do another one...

The UK edition of Acacia just arrived! I only got two at this preliminary stage, but if you want one it can be yours. Kinda nice cover. Some heft to it. For US folks there's the cool factor of having the foreign edition, one with squiggly pound signs beside the price, etc. And there's the knowledge that you'll be getting one of the two very first copies of this book that I ever saw. One goes on my bookshelf; perhaps its twin goes on yours. (You can have the one on the right...)


The routine is the same as before. Just go over to the Forum and toss your name in the hat. They're are no downsides, and it's not like there are millions of people entering these things. You've actually got a shot at it! Ask Scott, our last winner. I've actually just mailed his book off this morning. So it's on the way, Scott.

Second Acacia Signed Hardback Giveaway...

has been decided! Thank you to everyone that joined my Forum and threw their name in the helmet. Yes, the helmet. Please view the official contest photographs, in which the process is documented...

Here we see the contestants' names, on roughly equally-sized tabs...


Here we see the vessel of the Fortune, as held by my son Sage (He of the Big Hair.)...


(The Vessel, by the way, is my old Whitewater Kayaking helmet. Still fits, right enough, although it's most used now a days by my daughter as she skateboards. She eschews pink, see. She'll have nothing to do with Princesses. She rather prefers black. I think, honestly, that I enjoyed Enchanted more than she die. Anyway...)

He of the Big Hair offers the vessel to the Judge, the Decider, the... Picker of Winners. (That's my daughter, Maya.) She approaches like an agent of doom. (You'd think it was bad thing to get free book, by the looks of her!)


She reaches for the winner...


Oh, wait!.. Sage realizes the pot has not been sufficiently stirred. (Note the focussed expression and the blurred rapidity of his stirring technique...)


And then... Maya chooses. She does so with eyes closed, using nothing but her innate Picker clairvoyance to guide her hand...


And after all that, she emerges with the winner...


His name be... SCOTT. Congratulations, Scott. I'll be contacting you soon.

Acacia Mass Market Paperback Cover

Finally, proof that the paperback version of Acacia really is forthcoming!

I've just gotten a look at the cover Doubleday has for it. It's been a long process, although a circular one. They'd first told me they were going to stick with the original - and since they were planning a trade paperback the basic format of the cover would really have been the same as the hardback. (They did this with Pride of Carthage.) But then they proposed - and I agreed - to try a mass market paperback instead. At that point the word was they'd try something completely new for the cover. Hearing that both excited and worried me. I'm always keen for a cool new cover, and always worried that's not what I'll get. So that's what I've been waiting to see. What showed up? This:


"Wait," you say, "I thought they were going to do something drastically different?"

Well, I guess not. They came full circle, deciding that the original performed well enough that they wanted to stick with it. Actually, I can't complain about that. It's like the old one, but bolder. I kinda think it'll look nice in the small (but thick in page count terms) version. And it'll keep some visual recognition in play, as well. That's my thinking, at least. Any thoughts?

Pat's ACACIA Giveaway

So here I was all proud of myself for offering up one signed edition of Acacia in a giveaway... (Nice of me, huh?)

Well, Transworld is being nicer. (Although they can't sign their copies.) They've set up a giveaway deal at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. They're offering up five copies of the UK version of Acacia, which is pubbing in May. If you're interested, click over to Pat's and sign up!

Pat's Acacia Giveaway!

A Giveaway

In the interests of offering some Acacia-reading incentives in this Pre-Campbell Award period... I'd like to offer up a free hardback copy (signed, of course) of Acacia: The War With The Mein.

All you have to do is go over to my Forum and visit the Giveaway Thread. To play you'd have to join the Forum, but I swear that nothing bad comes of that. No emails, no public disclosures, no anything strange. I promise. If you do join, just post a note throwing your name in there, and it's done. If you're in the US I'm happy to mail it to the winner via slow mail. If you're overseas we'll have to work something out with the postage. But that's only if you win, and before that you have to play!

This is all rather informal, by the way, and the selection process is hardly scientific. Here's a photo of my son shaking up the entries last time... But it works!

Oh, I'd also be curious as to your opinions on the Hugos, the novel category in particular. I have a Forum post about that, too. It's here. There's a poll you could vote in, if you're so inclined...

100+ Amazon Reviews, a Look at the Numbers...

I had this idea a while back that it would be incredible when I reached 100 reader reviews on Amazon.com. I don't mean 100 reviews for a particular book (although that's going to be cool, too). I just mean when the total number of reviews for my four books added up to a century. I know, those reviews can be joy. They can be pain. They can be gushing missives from friends or hatchet jobs by enemies... But no matter what, as an author, it's hard not to keep an eye on them...

Well, I wasn't paying attention when the number turned, but it has! Actually, I only noticed when I was at 106 reviews. 106! Do you realize that there was once a time I had exactly 0 Amazon reader reviews? Crazy.

Okay, but how's the math look? Have things gone well? Positives above the negatives? Let's take a look...

For Acacia, it looks like this: (34 total)
20 Five Star
10 Four Star
0 Three Star
3 Two Star
1 One Star

For Pride of Carthage, it looks like this: (40 total)
18 Five Star
9 Four Star
5 Three Star
5 Two Star
3 One Star

For Walk Through Darkness, it looks like this: (14 total)
10 Five Star
4 Four Star
0 Three Star
0 Two Star
0 One Star

For Gabriel's Story, it looks like this: (18 total)
16 Five Star
1 Four Star
0 Three Star
1 Two Star
0 One Star

Adding those all up by Star rating: (106 total)

64 Five Star
24 Four Star
5 Three Star
9 Two Star
4 One Star

So that's the way the numbers fall. I'm happy with that. The stinker reviews are always disappointing, but they're also a sign that the books are getting read by a wider range of people - and by more people, which is important. I'm not saying I'd encourage you to go and write me a one starred "I don't like this book cause it sucks!" review, but there's a place for them...

Wait... What am I doing? It didn't really take me that long to put this post together, but still it's been 26 minutes of my life that I won't have back again to write meaningful fiction! Why didn't you stop me? My apologies. Man, Resistance can be devious. It can even get me doing math. Enough!

I'm going to write now...

AudioFile Earphones Award

I just learned that the Audio version of Acacia has received a little love from Audiofile Magazine, in the shape of an Earphones Award. This isn't really an award for me (although I'm happy to have a little slice of it). It's one that goes to Dick Hill, the Golden Voiced narrator that brought it to life. Here's the snibbet I received on it:

ACACIA: Book One: The War With the Mein
David Anthony Durham
Read by Dick Hill

Written by noted historical fiction author David Anthony Durham (PRIDE OF CARTHAGE), this epic fantasy is rich with cultural detail. Against the backdrop of an imaginary world, the author explores the things that divide humanity, like race, language, culture, and religion. The story contains assassins and kings and children who grow up trying to make sense of it all. Dick Hill turns in a magnificent performance of this long novel, creating subtle yet distinct differences in the dialects of different peoples. The fluidity with which he is able to switch between these dialects is striking, and a perfectly timed sigh or pause further heightens the believability of the characters. S.D.D. ••• © AudioFile 2008

Congratulations Mr. Hill! (He's heard those words many time, of course, and he'll hear them many more, I'm sure.) If anyone out there wants to have a listen, think about requesting it from your library. Many of them will have it, but also many of them will buy it if you ask...

Bodyguards Wanted

I just came across this press release from Pyr regarding the two Hugo and two Campbell Award nominations they scored. (Congratulations, by the way. Well done.) Sounds like a good bunch of folks over there... Or so I thought until Joe Abercrombie let slip that:

"My Uruk Hai hit squad are already on their way to Wisconsin to 'dramatically reduce' the chance of a Scott Lynch victory. They may well stop by David Anthony Durham's house on the way back..."

And I thought this was a refined, gentile company I was entering! Now I'm thinking I might need bodyguards. From my understanding of these things Uruk Hai don't come cheap these days, and my budget doesn't really allow for that sort of expenditure, so I'm looking for volunteers. Anybody willing to defend me from the assassins? (Oh, geeze "Assassin" is the second word in Acacia. That was silly of me to put that juju out there...)

On another note, I liked Joe Sherry's Campbell piece at Adventures in Reading. (He was kind to me.)

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer!

This year's list of finalists is out, and it includes me! Here's the gang...

Joe Abercrombie (2nd year of eligibility)
Jon Armstrong (1st year of eligibility)
David Anthony Durham (1st year of eligibility)
David Louis Edelman (2nd year of eligibility)
Mary Robinette Kowal (2nd year of eligibility)
Scott Lynch (2nd year of eligibility)

Just so you know, the Campbell is an award for the best new writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy appeared during 2006 or 2007 in a professional publication. It's sponsored by Dell Magazines, but sort of managed and voted on along with the Hugo Awards. It's named after a prominent science fiction writer and editor of Astounding Science Fiction. He was a major figure in the "Golden Age" of Science Fiction, and he was a quirky character that seems to have riled some people with his opinions on several things. You can check his Wiki page for more information.

For my part, I'm thrilled by the nomination. I think it's quite a testament to the award and to science fiction readers that it's there to welcome such a broad range of writers into the community. (Click here for past winners.) I've got nothing but love for my fellow nominees - so check them out too, if you haven't already. Honestly. Winning would be great, but the nomination is reward enough...

Do you know what this means to me? It wasn't easy to shift from a pretty solid career as an historical novelist to try to break into another genre, seeking a largely new readership. It was risky - my agent and editors made that clear - and I didn't at all assume that I could just breeze in. So far, though, the reception has been terrific. And this award nomination makes me feel welcomed, part of the gang, and even invited to stay for a while. I love that. And, thank you, I will stay for a while. Maybe a long while.

The award winners will be announced at Denvention 3 this summer. Will I be there? You bet.

Oh, and I should mention that the entire Hugo Ballot has also been announced. Check it out here.

Reading Deutsch

The German copies of Acacia just arrived in the mail! I'm very pleased, and a bit aghast at how big the thing is in German. It's like Moby Dick sized... I hadn't quite expected that sort of heft. But it's lovely. The cover image works wonderfully, and it has nice inside flaps, even though it's a trade paperback. Even has the map of the Known World inside. That's quite cool because, of course, everything has been translated in to German. The League Platforms become Schwimmende Plattformen Der Gilde. The Gray Slopes are Die Grauen Hauge. Palishdock is Weisshafen, and Methalian Rim is Methalischer Rand. I like this. Makes it feel like the book has grown up, left home to travel and returned with a foreign fiancee. One wonders where the children will call home?...

My son, Sage, snatched the book up and promptly began reading. He's big into reading now, especially since he's begun Harry Potter. (Word by word, baby. It's no picnic, but he's getting it done.) He took a break from that and really seemed to get into Acacia Macht und Verrat. We reminded him that it was in German, but he didn't seem put off by that. He's homeschooled, you know, and not easily daunted by things like language barriers...

Having said that, much later in his reading, he did admit: "Man, this is hard to read."

Visions of Nothing Obligatory

Just a couple of Acacia-related links that popped up this morning...

Visions of Paradise has taken that Locus "Books on Most Best of the Year Lists" a bit further. Looks like adamosf checked twenty different best lists. That's quite a bit more than Locus, although he doesn't say which ones. He has Acacia getting 9 mentions, putting me in fifth place behind Brasyl (16), The Name of the Wind (13), Thirteen (11) and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (11). I'll just have to take adamosf's word on this, but I'm happy to do so.

By the way, I just finished Thirteen yesterday. It's quite a good book. (No comment on the abundance of genetically enhanced sex.)

Larry at OF Blog of the Fallen has a post up called "This is not your obligatory Black History Month SF/F post". It may not be obligatory, but it is a post that highlights writers of color in SF/F, and it is Black History month. He writes that he almost didn't post it because he's "uncomfortable with the notion of forgetting/neglecting for 11 months only to "celebrate" during the shortest month of the year". Well, I'm with him on that, but I'm also glad he posted, and I like being in close company with the other authors he highlights. Check it out here.

By the way, I think Alaya Dawn Johnson also merits a mention. I had the pleasure of hanging out with her at last year's World Fantasy. I haven't read her debut novel, Racing the Dark, but it sounds like a promising start. Like Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Alaya's work is in the YA fantasy realm, quickly compared to Ursula K Leguin's. Here's what School Library Journal had to say:

"This novel has rich details of setting and character motivation. The prose is lyrical and metaphorical, in a style similar to Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist (HarperCollins, 1993). There are also elements of Greek myths in which mortals and spirits meet with mostly tragic results. The complex plot requires careful reading but the effort is worth it. Teens who enjoyed Ursula Le Guin's Always Coming Home (HarperCollins, 1985; o.p.) will like this novel, and many readers will identify with a character facing adult responsibilities while still feeling like a child."

Attack of the Covers!

I woke up this morning to two emails from far, far away, both bearing covers for my... um... Well, just for me to look at, cause it's not like I have much say in such matters.

The first was one you may have already seen a version of. It the Transworld UK cover for Acacia, specifically for the hardback collectors' edition. The image is pretty much the same as before, although I do notice they spiffied up Corinn's dress a bit. It's less a burlap sack and more a silky red now. I prefer it. (Okay, so maybe I do have some influence on things after all.)I like the way they call me a "bestselling author". It's true, you know, really it is!

The second is a first glimpse from my Swedish publisher, Norstedts. Wow, now that's a different take on things! They make it look like I wrote a novel about marauding hordes of sword-weilding uber-men slogging across a frozen tundra with giant woolly rhinoceros beasts... Well... yeah, I guess I did, didn't I? That's part of it, at least. Anyway, here's what they've come up with for Akacien!

Comments are welcome...

(By the way, does anybody know what Hotet Nran Norr means? I tried to translate it online and got "hotel stamp north". I'm thinking that's not right. Then got "the threat fran north", which sounds a bit closer. So is it Acacia: The Threat From The North?)

Oh, and I don't think I ever put up the finished full jacket for the German edition. Here it is...

Locus List of Books on... Well, on Lists...

Locus has come up with a list of the sci-fi and fantasy books that appeared on the most Best of the Year lists. Pleased to say Acacia is one of them! You can check it out here. Good books in this group, but I'm biased...

For the record, I noticed they didn't include Kirkus Reviews in the sources they picked from. If they had I've have earned another point and been bumped up to next to Pat Rothfuss.

Ah, well, I'll get you later, Pat.

Epic Proportions!

The fantastic Tempest Bradford has just put up an Interview with me in Fantasy Magazine.

It's here!

If that one does nothing for you, try clicking on Tempest's name. That'll take you to a listing of her many, many other cool interviews and stuff.

To Market Mass, or Not? Tis the Question...

My paperback publisher hit me with a surprise early this week. They're proposing to publish Acacia as a mass market paperback, instead of as the scheduled trade edition. A little history...

My paperback publisher is Anchor. They tend toward upscale books, with a good bit of commercially viable literary fiction on their list: Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Alexander McCall Smith, Colson Whitehead, many more... They've published my first three books in handsome trade paperback formats - which just means it's the larger size, with a price tag in the teens. It also has a certain amount of cache in the literary/academic world, representing something a bit higher brow than those wee, cramped, fairly disposable mass market airport books.

Thing is, in most cases trade books don't sell in the volume that mass market does. Anchor, when looking at what the should do with Acacia, would like to break out of my past sales record and head into entirely new territory. They think mass market could help that happen. Just get the book in more hands. And, frankly, they're hoping for a lot more hands. The printing they'd propose for the mass edition would be, oh... 4 or 5 times what they'd do for a trade version. Apparently the book stores like the idea also. The book would cost something like $8, instead of $15. That, of course, means I get less for each book. But if we sell a lot more books... And then, later, likely, they'd end up with all my books back in trade format - as part of a backlist that will hopefully be around for a long time.

The downside? Well, personally, I don't like mass market books that much. I'm not talking about the authors or the works themselves. It's just that I'd rather read a mass market author in hardback, instead of cracking open those small pages. And there's my academic hubris... What will my colleagues think of me? Dare I give up the stature of trade paperback for the filthy lucre of the masses?

That, dear readers, is the question I direct toward you. I know what my editors think. I know what my agent thinks. I even know what my wife thinks. But what do you think?

Awards, ahhh, awards...

They're strange things, aren't they? They're flawed in so many ways. They invariably leave out wonderful books and authors. They can be lopsided, myopic, elitist. (This coming from somebody who has judged the Pen/Faulkner and Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards, by the way - both wonderful experiences - but you should hear some of the stories I heard along the way...) Do the judges read all the books? Do the masses pick more worthy winners than small cabals? Did my publisher even submit my book?...

An author can get a little tied up in knots as the big day approaches. This is made even worse because you don't want to look like you care, like you realize the announcement is coming, like you've given it a bit of thought... "Oh, those were announced, were they? I hadn't noticed..."

But don't be fooled. As flawed as the award process is in all its variations authors want them, need them, cherish them... They can jump start careers, sell books, win friends and enemies in high places... That, you see, is why I put the widget to the John W Campbell Award over on the sidebar here. It'll count down the nomination voting days, least anyone forget.

The Campbell is a wonderful award for new science fiction and fantasy writers. It's not a Hugo, but it's voted for in a similar manner and presented at Worldcon, which is in Denver this summer. It's got a wonderful history of predicting some major authors, think Stephen R Donaldson, Orson Scott Card, Karen Joy Fowler, Mary Doria Russell, Nalo Hopkinson, John Scalzi, just to name a few.

Science Fiction Awards Watch has a wee post up - Campbell Recommendations - which mentions me as one of the "high-profile" authors in contention. That's nice, but up until a few weeks ago I wasn't up on the Writertopia site that has info on the award. I had to contact them to ask if I was, in fact, eligible. Guess what? I am! Those little historical novels don't count in this equation. As far as fantasy goes I'm a newbie, and proud of it. Now I'm on the site!

So, I'll own up. I'll be paying close attention. I'd love to be in the running. I'd be over the moon, honestly, just to squeak in with a nomination. I won't even pretend otherwise. So if you happen to be a Campbell voter... give me a look, yeah?

On another note, you might want to check out Sandra McDonald's ongoing letter to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America voters for the Nebula. She's made the preliminary list, and she - quite respectfully (and humorously) - knocks her competition off one by one. Give it a look.

Jeff VanderMeer's List at Locus Online

Is it bad of me to keep posting best of the year lists - the ones that I'm on in particular? I can't help it. If I don't do it who's gonna? And the folks that put in the time to make the lists deserve to have people sent their direction, right? In that spirit...

The smooth, witty and insightful Jeff VanderMeer mentions Acacia (that's favorably, of course) in his Best of 2007 list. He wrote: "Acacia by David Anthony Durham brought a sturdy earnestness to heroic fantasy, wedded to intense characterization." That's a nice sentence. A sturdy one. That's it, really. That's my line, and I'm happy to have it. Do check out the post, though, if you want some more reading ideas. His list has some unique titles, not necessarily the standard fair.

The Reading List!

Groovy. I just learned (thanks to Larry, my un-paid publicist), that Acacia made the American Library Association's "Reading List". Looks like they have a specific council of librarians that puts together a list of favorites by genre. Here's how they describe themselves: The Reading List Council seeks to highlight outstanding genre fiction that merits special attention by general adult readers and the librarians who work with them. Nice.

Pat Rothfuss tops the list. Congrats, Pat. (Again...) The others in the fantasy section are as follows. And very good company they all are...

Bull, Emma. Territory. Tor, 2007.
Butcher, Jim. White Night. ROC/Penguin, 2007.
Carey, Jacqueline. Kushiel’s Justice. Warner, 2007.
Carey, Mike. The Devil You Know. Warner, 2007.
Durham, David. Acacia. Doubleday, 2007.
Ferrari, Mark. Book of Joby. Tor, 2007.
Fforde, Jasper. First Among Sequels. Viking, 2007.
Kay, Guy Gavriel. Ysabel. ROC/Penguin, 2007.
Kiernan, Caitlin. Daughter of Hounds. Roc, 2007.
Lynch, Scott. Red Seas Under Red Skies. Bantam Spectra, 2007.
Moers, Walter. City of Dreaming Books. Overlook, 2007.
Monette, Sarah and Elizabeth Bear. A Companion to Wolves. Tor, 2007.
Novik, Naomi. Empire of Ivory. Del Rey, 2007.
Pratchett, Terry. Making Money. Harper, 2007.
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Scholastic, 2007.
Tolkien, J. R. R. Children of Hurin. Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
Valente, Catherynne. In the Cities of Coin and Spice. Bantam Spectra, 2007.

You can view the list and all the other categories here.

A little bit more on last year...

Very pleased to learn (thanks, Larry) that Acacia has made Greg L. Johnson's editors list: The SF Site: Best of 2007. I'm in the mix with titles by Ian McDonald, Kim Stanley Robinson, Richard Morgan, Nalo Hopkinson, and Kay Kenyon - among others. It's a lovely list.

And I've received some love from the other side of Atlantic. On the French site, Elbakin.net, Gillossen has included Acacia as one of last year's top titles: Le Top 10 Fantasy 2007 Pour Elbakin.net. (This is for the English edition, by the way. The French one isn't out yet.) The review of the book is HERE, if you read French.

Thank you both.

Maybe Not Sooo Much of a Fixation...

I think my fixation with Amazon.de has already started to wear off. I'm not convinced I'll glean much useful information from it. Actually, I've noticed that some things have changed already. They had the pub date as January before, but now it's changed to February. That makes more sense, as that's what it says on the Blanvalet catalog. Anyway, I won't let it be the time killer it might have become.

What's quite cool, though, is that the interaction I've had with TD because of that last post has lead me to some interesting information about the German edition. Now, I can't confirm that this is a definite (just because numbers rarely are in publishing), but it looks like Blanvalet has announced a 50,000 print run of Acacia! Awesome. That's only happened once before, with the Italian paperback of Pride of Carthage. They've got my US publisher beat by a goodly bit! What's that mean, I wonder?

Anyway, when I looked for the catalog that TD directed me to I didn't find it initially. First, I found one that features Acacia. It's a lovely catalog, especially as the cover art is from my book! It doesn't say Acacia on the cover, but it's my image. And then at the very end of the catalog there's a full page spread on the book. Very nice. If you'd like to see the catalog you can click BLANVALET. I think that'll bring up the pdf...

But then I finally located the other catalog. It's HERE.

New Fixation

As of yesterday I got a new fixation. This is not a good thing, but it's hard to resist...

The German version of Acacia has just gone on sale! I'm very pleased. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time, which may be part of why I'm inclined to pay more attention than usual. In the past, I never had much of an idea how the foreign editions were selling because I couldn't access the figures on line. (And, no, my foreign publishers aren't constantly sending me figures. My US publishers aren't constantly sending me figures, for that matter...) So it was just something that sort of happened out there in the unknown. (I did follow Pride of Carthage in the UK, but that's different. Same language and stuff, you know.)

Okay, but now there's Amazon.de, the German Amazon.com. Oh, curse it! In the past 24 hours I've become just as fixated on it as I once was on the US version! There's good news and bad news because of this. The good news is that the book is selling. It's jumped around from 1k to 3k to 6k and back again. That would be quite good on the US site, although I've no idea what that means in actual sales in Germany. But in general terms it's still pretty good. It certainly means that people are buying the thing. (Magic, that...)

The bad things, though... Well, mainly this new distraction is just that: a distraction. It's so, so easy to skive off writing just to check Amazon.de. You know, the figure changes every hour. I may check it five times during an hour, but, by god, that number is gonna change and I'll be there to spot it when it does!

This is not a healthy way to be. I'll work on it.

The other bummer is that... well, these people that speak another language (one that I can't read) can post reviews of my book. And what's happened? Well, some numbnuts gave me a two starred review! I've got no idea what his issues are, and I'm not bothered by them, actually. But the two stars just don't look good. (And I'm all about appearances.) So far there's only 1 Kundenrezension, which is why those two stars shine like a beacon alerting all of Germany to the tepid lameness of my novel...

Ah, so be it... It's not everyone that can say some German reader doesn't like their novel, right? By that accounting I'm a lucky guy. Plus, I've found that badly reviewed books often do surprisingly well... Am I on my way to German bestsellerdom? Time will tell... Oh, and if you'd like to see my German incarnation click here: AMAZON.DE!

Ah... the Romance of it!

It's fun to come across news about oneself on somebody else's blog, which is just what happened this morning. I was checking out Whatever, happily reading that John Scalzi's The Last Colony was up for a Romantic Times 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award in the Science Fiction category. Interesting, and duly noted that the award nominees, as John puts it, "are chosen for their general excellence, not necessarily their romantic content, which is good, because I’m not notably good with romance." About halfway through my nod of commiserating agreement I caught sight of my own name a little ways down the post. Wha? Me? Romantic? Don't tell my wife...

I clicked over to the site and sure enough found myself well down the page, in the short list of Epic Fantasy Nominees! I think it's fair to say that the "romance" side of things isn't that important in this category. I do remember RT giving me a lovely - if brief - review, but I guess they really meant it. Who am I up against?

THE NAME OF THE WIND, Patrick Rothfuss

KUSHIEL'S JUSTICE, Jacqueline Carey

THE WELL OF ASCENSION, Brandon Sanderson

THE INNOCENT MAGE, Karen Miller

Who will come out on top - so to speak - we won't know until April.

(Thanks for alerting me to the news, John. Further proof that everyone should read Whatever. By the way, turns out John had heard the news from another nominee, too - Jo Walton. So I guess this is how this stuff works.)

Some End of the Year Lists...

Glad to say that Acacia continues to make a few.

The Fantasy Book Critic was kind enough to mention my novel twice, first as a favorite fantasy of the year. Robert also choose the German cover as one of his favorite covers of the year. He has quite extensive lists in quite a few categories over there.

Larry of OF Blog of the Fallen has Acacia on his extended list of favorites. He calls me "lucky number thirteen".

Cheryl Morgan includes me in her yearly list at Ambling Along the Aqueduct.

Tia Nevitt at Fantasy Debut likes my villains.

Joe Sherry at Adventures in Reading includes me in his Top Nine Books published in 2007.

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has nice things to say too.

Oh, and I'm very pleased that John Scalzi was kind enough to feature me as a visitor on his stellar blog, Whatever. I'm one of his "Month of Authors" entries, which includes a bit I posted here earlier in the year.

That's it for today. I'm off to make some life-changing decisions. Wish me luck!

Old Country, New Cover

I often get asked how much control I have over various aspects of publishing my works. Some of it - the writing, for example - I have exclusive control over. But a whole lot of the other stuff is entirely out of my hands. People often seem surprised by just how much of it is out of my hands, but I don't think I'm alone in this.

Cover art is one of those areas. I don't design it. Don't hire the artists that draw it, take the photos, choose the layout, etc. Don't sit in on the meetings where they kick around ideas. Don't have a clue about most of the marketing statistics they consult as they make decisions. I do know that a lot of thought goes into the choosing. At a publisher like Doubleday, no cover is chosen by any one person or created without the consultation of many. It's arguable whether or not the factors that influence the decisions are the right ones, but this is a business, and you know what that means...

What is my role like, then? Well... with Gabriel's Story I was presented with the cover. "Here it is. Cool, huh?" That was that.

With Walk Through Darkness it was more like, "Here it is," followed shortly thereafter by, "Um, well, no, that's not it after all," and then, "Here it really is, or, well, maybe not quite that..." until eventually about the third or fourth version that I saw was announced as the cover. (By the way, the four versions I show here all came and went as options. None of them were used. I think they had more options made up also, ones that I never saw.)

With Pride of Carthage it was back to, "Here it is," and then with Acacia there was an earlier option that they loved, until they decided they didn't love it afterall and produced another version. That one I rather liked, although it got tinkered with a bit from my favorite version to become the final cover.

Nowhere in here have you heard me say I vetoed - or was asked if I wanted to veto - one of the options. That's just the reality of it. On occasion there's been some tinkering with the images in reaction to my queries. Things like shading the man's hand a bit on the paperback cover of Walk Through Darkness, but that's about the extent of my influence. My publishers trusts me to write what's in my books; designing what goes on the outside of them is another matter.

Personally, I concede that I have very little understanding of cover-fu. I just don't get what makes one work - if "working" can be defined as appealing to the most people possible. A cover that I love will get slammed or ignored. One that I hate will smile its way on to bestseller lists. It's enough to make me doubt my convictions on such things. Truth is, my tastes differ from the masses, and yet it's the masses I want to buy my stuff... All of this leads me to generally have faith that my editors and their hardworking minions should be trusted.

Which leads me to the most recent entry in the parade of covers... All hail a new life for Acacia, with a new face to go with it! This one is Transworld's cover for my UK edition, which comes out in May. What do I think? Well, you know, I'm inclined to say that's not important. I'm not the one we need to sell the book t