Category Archives: Writing
A tiny reminder
I just sent out my latest author update via the TinyLetter service. If you’re interested in getting updates by email as well as reading this blog, or maybe even instead of reading this blog — insert crushed author emoticon here — then feel free to sign up.
I only send out updates whenever I have a new project to announce, so don’t worry about getting spammed — think of it as an alert service. You can check out the archive of letters here if you’re nervous and not sure you want to commit.
Go have a look. I’ll be here waiting. I should be writing the new book, but I’m waiting for you. No pressure.
Whistles tunelessly.
It’s not too late to sacrifice!
My new Cross novel, The Dead Hamlets, is making its way into the world. The official date when it’s available for purchase is Feb. 17, but some of the people who pre-ordered it have already received their copies. It’s not too late to read the first book in the series, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice. Here’s a little trailer I made to help convince you.
I was trying to break the genre, but I wasn’t strong enough
Further to my last post about charming product placement, I see The Dead Hamlets has made the Genre-Bender list over at Tor.com. Which, now that I think about it, is the perfect way to describe my writing. Can we please start a petition to include “genre-bender” in the list of official genre categories in bookstores and Amazon and such?
Also, The Dead Hamlets is in some pretty fine company on that list.
That immortality game
In a lovely moment of product placement, my new book, The Dead Hamlets, and The Lazarus Game by Stephen J. Valentine are listed side by side over at SF Signal’s February releases roundup. Anyone who’s familiar with Cross will get why this is charming.
Also, great representation by ChiZine!
The Dead Hamlets are alive!
It’s alive! My new Cross novel, The Dead Hamlets, is shipping. ChiZine wasn’t just pranking me when they said they’d publish it!
I’ll have more details about launches, blog tours, reviews and so forth soon. But right now I’m just going to crack these open and breathe deep of that new book smell.
And then get back to working on the third Cross book.
Roll a d20 for appearances
If you follow this blog, you know that I’m a big fan of the Storm Crow Tavern in Vancouver. Where else can you eat an Elvish Burger while rolling a d20 for random shots — Critical Hit! — while playing one of their many board games — who’s in for a quick game of Arkham Horror in front of the giant Cthulhu head?
On very special nights, such as when the Known Planets align with the Unknown Ones, or certain Thursdays, you can also hear writers such as myself read from their works.
I held the Vancouver launch for The Mona Lisa Sacrifice at the Storm Crow Tavern, and it was a great success, aside from that Curse of Typo Terror cast by the wait staff. Now I’ll be returning to the Storm Crow to read from The Dead Hamlets, the sequel to The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 16.
My reading will be part of the Storm Crow Tavern Reading Series – Season Two. Other readers will include James McCann, Kristi Charish, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Claude Lalumiere and Heather Haley. I’m thrilled to be part of such a great lineup.
I already have a special surprise in mind for the reading. But you’ll have to be there to experience it. Book your time away from work and your family now!
It’s alive!
My publisher teases me by posting a photo of my new novel, The Dead Hamlets, partying somewhere in Toronto with new friends, in no hurry to find its way home to me. Wicked, wicked publisher.
Licence Expired
Here’s a piece of interesting news: my publisher ChiZine is publishing an unauthorized James Bond anthology. Ian Fleming’s work has hit the public domain in Canada (there’s a whole other post about copyright in regard to that), and ChiZine is looking for works of a certain flavour. Full press release follows. Read the rest of this entry
And so it begins
The first reviews of my second Cross novel, The Dead Hamlets, have been spotted in the wild. That came as a surprise to me, as the book’s pub date is now mid-February — and I don’t even have a final copy of the book myself yet! I hope the advance reviewers have the most up-to-date version….
I was impressed by a Goodreads review by Pop Bog, which called The Dead Hamlets “A Rewarding, Witty, Hot Mess of Angel-Pummeling, Action and Noir Detective Fiction.” (Warning: minor spoilers.) The reviewer really embraced what I was trying to do and had a great sense of how my work relates to the rest of the genre. That was a relief, as you always wonder if readers are going to get what you’re going for. Also, I had to laugh when the word “unhinged” came up — I think that’s the third time now that I’ve been called unhinged for these books. I should put that on the jacket of the next book.
Please let me know if you see any other reviews of The Dead Hamlets. I do like to read them, as it’s always interesting to know what people think of the Cross books. And you never know: sometimes if you ask for something in a review it may just come true in a future book.
OK, I really should get back to finishing that third book in the Cross series now.
Change the category to non-fiction
Years back, I wrote a little book called The Warhol Gang. The narrator of the book goes to accident scenes and pretends to be a cop/paramedic/firefighter/etc. I got the idea after I read a news story about a guy going to accident scenes in Alberta pretending to be a first responder. Today, I read a story about a guy in Alberta pretending to be a cop, pulling people over, etc. Is it something in the oil in Alberta?
peter darbyshire 