Tonight a super moon will light the black vault of the sky.  That means this guy rules the night.  I have a soft spot for Moon Knight, as he and Daredevil were the first comics I ever read.  🙂

So we’re less than two months from the release date of my sword and sorcery novel, The Hammer and the Blade, forthcoming from Angry Robot Books on June 26th.

As has been my habit, I’m posting a new monthly excerpt below.  Previous excerpts can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I also want to note that anyone pre-ordering the book (or the audio book or … Read the rest

Continuing my monthly series of posts to help raise awareness of the books coming out from the three publishers with whom I work:  What’s new in May in the land of raging robotamatons, the realms forgotten, and the galaxy so very far, far away? Let’s see.

From Angry Robot, we have Evil Dark, by Justin Gustainis. This sounds very cool. From the back matter:

My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge. Also a crucifix, … Read the rest

This month the second War of the Spider Queen Omnibus will be released, marking the ten year anniversary of the series (this second omnibus collects Extinction, Annihilation, and Resurrection).  Hard to believe that so much time has passed.

WotSQ was the second multi-author series I worked on for Wizards of the Coast.  Sembia was the first, but the two series were quite different.  With the Sembia series, each of the seven authors … Read the rest

Velocity of sales in the first week of a book’s release are important, and pre-orders are a big help in ramping up that velocity.  So I’d obviously love it if you pre-ordered The Hammer and the Blade, my forthcoming sword and sorcery novel from Angry Robot Books.

To encourage pre-orders (and as a way of saying “thanks”), I’d like to give a free digital copy of Ephemera, my dark short story collection (in … Read the rest

So, you’re an author, and you want get your signal heard in the noise of the marketplace.  What do you do?  Here’s my best advice:

Write a great book.*

That’s it.

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*Obviously there are a lot of social media/marketing things you can and probably should do.  But having done this a long time, having watched the careers of other writers at a distance, I can tell you that the best and most important thing … Read the rest

The giveaway of two signed ARCs of The Hammer and the Blade is concluded.  I used random.org to choose two random winners from all the entrants and they are:

Tom S. and Peter A.

Each of you please send me an email at paulsvantekemp at yahoo dot com and we’ll figure out the dedication and shipping address and whatnot.

On a related note, I really appreciate the enthusiasm everyone showed.  I’m excited about the novel … Read the rest

I’m holding a giveaway of two signed Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of The Hammer and the Blade (Amazon, B&N), my sword and sorcery novel forthcoming from Angry Robot Books.  That’s them in the picture and they look great.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment to this blog post.  As always, please enter only once and use a username that’s reasonably distinctive.  I’ll choose two entrants at random next Friday at … Read the rest

It’s April, so let’s see what’s new this month in the Forgotten Realms, in the Galaxy far, far away, and from Angry Robot Books.

From Angry Robot we have Blackbirds, by Chuck Wendig (proprietor of Terribleminds).  The novel has been getting great reviews and has an intriguing premise.  From the back matter:

Miriam Black knows when you will die.

Still in her early twenties, she’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, … Read the rest

I’m 43 today.  Time to come clean.