I'm aware that my posting of late has primarily consisted of 'look! Here's more places where you can buy my stuff!' rather than being a true blog per se, to whit something detailing the minutiae of my life as a writer and/or soap box for my opinions. But you'll have to bear with me a little longer, and should feel relieved that I only ever really feel inclined to blog (outside of when I'm flogging something) when I think I actually have something to say. Further, when I do have something to say, it's not usually something that can be said in just a few words, requiring a level of time and energy I worry about putting into something that doesn't have a deadline attached.
However, I did pop into the Glasgow branch of Waterstones and asked if they'd ordered in Empire of Light, which they hadn't, upon which the bookseller concerned very kindly put some copies on order. Which is one of the interesting and indeed even unique things about a chain book store like Waterstones; their booksellers have the power to order stock in for whichever sections they're put in charge of if they think it'll sell. I worked very briefly in Borders, and the booksellers there certainly didn't have that level of involvement.
What this means is that if you're someone who prefers to buy their books from a physical store in the UK - and I know a lot of you do - and you can't find one of my or anyone else's new book in your local Waterstones, ask the bookseller in charge of that section to order it in. Otherwise, given the regular flood of titles in sf and fantasy published every month, that book might well have slipped past the bookseller's attention.
Public service announcement over. Where am I now? Dazed and bleary. I should be able to finish the current edit of Final Days today and tomorrow, following which will be a week or two of checking and tidying before sending it on its way. And then, essentially, straight on to Thousand Emperors.
I should note lastly Empire of Light has its first non-Amazon review up, kindly provided by Liviu Suciu over at Fantasy Book Critic. It's a good one.
And a quick edit - I see via a tweet from my editor Julie Crisp over at Tor that I am their 'featured writer of the month' at Tor UK's dedicated Amazon page. There's a reposted interview I did with Mark Chitty and the aforementioned Liviu, and even some pdf download links for the two short stories I have posted here on this website, namely 'Touched by an Angel' (first published in Interzone in '94) and vampire romp 'The Ranch' (previously published nowhere but here). Altogether it's a nice little package.
4 comments:
Isn't that a recent change at Waterstone's, though? Admittedly, Borders was notorious for its centralised control - and many commentators blame that for its demise...
I think it might have been that way at Waterstones for at least several years, if not longer, though a tiny voice in my head seems to think it used to be that way, then they scrapped it, then they reintroduced it again. I'm sure I had a conversation with someone about it something like ten years ago. And, yes, Borders was heavily centralised, with a frequently highly inaccurate database system that would tell you any number of books were out of print (including new books, in my recollection) even while you could see them on the shelves six feet away.
You're ALWAYS dazed and bleary!
It's my default state, Martin.
Post a Comment