A Star Shall Fall, by Marie Brennan

A Star Shall Fall [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] is the third book of Marie Brennan‘s Onyx Court historical fantasy series.  (I’ve also reviewed books one and two.)

The series takes place in a very richly-described, well-researched London, where the Onyx Court of the faeries coexists beneath the city, magically intertwined with the geography and fate of mortal London.

I’ve said in my prior reviews that the first two books have a more leisurely pace in the beginning … but not book three.  A Star Shall Fall opens in 1757.  The dragon of the second book, which caused the Great Fire of 1666, was banished to Halley’s Comet when its original prison began to fail.  In the seventeenth century, nobody knew the comet would be back.  Now their only hope to defeat the dragon upon its return is to combine faerie magic and human science…

This is my favorite of the series so far.  The plotting is sharper, the characters are great, and Brennan continues to blend history and magic so smoothly it’s hard to tell where one ends and the next begins.  I love the way she worked 18th century science, everything from alchemy to astronomy, into the story.  I loved seeing Lune struggle with her weaknesses, both from the damage to her realm and from the iron wound she received in book two.  Those vulnerabilities made me cheer for her even harder.

The young and untested Prince of the Stone Galen was a nice addition as well, and it was great to see him develop over the course of the story.  I was glad to see Irrith back, rough edges and all.  Delphia, Abd al-Rashid, the von das Tickens … they’re all wonderful characters.  Even the faerie villain was well-developed, to the point where I almost sympathized with him at times, even when I was hoping he’d take an iron bullet to the heart.  (The human villain felt a little flat in comparison, but only a little.)

And the ending … well, there’s a reason I showed up exhausted for work last week.  Authors are, at their best, simultaneously cruel and beautiful.  Well done, Brennan.

The book comes out August 31 of this year.  Like the others, it’s not an action-packed adventure.  But if you’ve read the first two, you have to pick this one up.  If you haven’t, A Star Shall Fall stands alone fairly well.  You’ll be missing a little backstory, but nothing that should keep you from truly enjoying the book.

Read an excerpt from the book.

Pictures from one of Brennan’s research trips to London.

Book Sales Info (and Guppy TV)

One question I get asked a lot is how the release of a new book affects sales of my backlist.  I’ve said before that the only factor I’ve seen consistently and clearly improve sales of a book is the release of the next book in that series.  I figured with Red Hood coming out, I could indulge my inner graph-geek and share a little data to back that up.  (For legal/contractual reasons, I can’t share the actual numbers.)

Let’s start with the princes series.  The green line represents sales of Red Hood’s Revenge.  You can see the first two books in the series were selling fairly steadily.  Column 4 marks when copies of Red Hood started showing up in stores.  Column 6 is the official release week.

Sales of the older books are nowhere near as good as the new one, but those sales do increase significantly when the new book comes out.  In this case, the sales in column 6 for Stepsister and Mermaid are about triple what they had been before.

But what about the goblin series?  Sadly, a new princess book doesn’t do much to bump goblin sales.  Because the goblin books are older and thus not selling as many copies these days, I stretched the graph a little so you could see them there at the bottom.

Looking at the raw numbers, I do see a slight increase in goblin sales in column six.  Maybe five percent?  It’s small enough I’d have to do a lot more work to determine whether there’s any statistical significance, and it’s been way too long since stats class.

So at least in my case, a new book in a new series only moves an extra handful of copies of the old series.

I do think new books help keep bookstores and readers aware of an author, and that readers who enjoy the books are more likely to eventually go back and buy the author’s backlist.  But it’s not an immediate boost like I see for books in the same series.

This has been Jim Geeks Out With Graphs.  Tune in next week when Jim charts hair loss against number of books written, proving once and for all that publishing will make you go bald!

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Totally unrelated, a few of you asked for pictures of Jig the runt guppy.  I still couldn’t get the camera to focus, but for some reason it would focus in video mode.  I like this, as the video is actually cuter.  There’s only a brief glimpse of his kinked back about halfway through, and then at the end one of the other guppies comes along to give you a sense of scale.

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Thursday Eclectia

Shortpacked on Wonder Woman and the Flag.  Heh … I particularly like the Captain America quote at the bottom.

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I’ve seen the Bookscan numbers for Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon].  Sales for the official release week?  Best ever for any of my books, and about 30% higher than the first week sales for Mermaid’s Madness, the previous record holder.  Thank you!!!

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We bought a half-dozen guppies a while back.  As I should have expected, they soon produced bonus baby guppies.  I’ve been moving the babies to a separate bowl to keep them from becoming guppy food.  One of the babies got messed up before I could get him out.  His spine was kinked in two places, so he looked like a little lightning bolt.  He wasn’t growing, and I didn’t expect him to survive.

Shows what I know.  He’s still a little guppy runt, but he’s now big enough to join the others in the tank without becoming a snack.  He’s even getting some color in his tail.  Watching that little zig-zag fish zipping around makes me happy for some reason, so I thought I’d share.

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RANDOM POLL: Which has better banter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Sherlock Holmes film?

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Yesterday, the tooth fairy brought my daughter a dollar folded into a fairly intricate heart shape.  She loved it, and is once again convinced the tooth fairy is real, because she doesn’t think Mama or Daddy are talented enough to do that.  I am quite pleased … and also vaguely insulted 🙂

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 I don’t think “eclectia” is a real word, but it should be.

Applying the Bechdel Test

Many of you are probably familiar with the Bechdel Test, named after Alison Bechdel, and originally posited by Liz Wallace.  The test simply asks whether a movie meets the following criteria:

(1) It has at least two women in it, who (2) talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man.

The rule works with written fiction too, and can be applied to more than just gender.  For example, The Stepsister Scheme passes the test with flying colors, but if you ask whether there are at least two nonwhite characters who talk to each other … well, no.  Likewise, it fails if you apply it to visibly lesbian/gay characters.

Red Hood’s Revenge, on the other hand, passes all three of those permutations of the test.  Yay, I win at Bechdel, right?

Now let’s time how long it takes someone to point out that the series fails the test miserably when applied to men.  There are more than two male characters, but I don’t know that they ever talk to one another, and if so, I doubt it’s about anything except our heroines.

BECHDELFAIL!

So does this mean I should add a pair of male sidekicks?  Maybe goblin males, who can chat about the finer points of barbequeued knight?  The armor holds in the juices … okay, actually that sounds like fun.  But I’m gonna say no.

The point isn’t that a “good” story must be like Noah’s ark, having at least two of every character variant.  To me, the test is a way to illustrate how few stories actually have multiple female characters, and if so, they’re often present simply as “accessories” to our male heroes.

I don’t worry that my books fail the test when applied to men, mostly because I can’t remember the last book I read that didn’t pass the “Male Bechdel Test” … but I could give you a long list of books that fail when applied to women, to LGBT characters, to nonwhite characters…

It’s an awareness thing.  It’s something I think we need to be more conscious of, both as readers and as writers.  Stepsister Scheme has only a single non-white human character.  Was that a deliberate choice, or did I simply use white as the (lazy) default?

Or take the zombie story I just sold, for example — those characters were white because I had a week to write the story, and I didn’t bother to think about it.  I just defaulted to white.  (Okay, more of a grayish tinge actually, but still.)

Was I wrong to make them white?  Should I have made them black or Native American or Inuit or something else?  Not necessarily … there might be valid reasons why most of the zombies in that situation and location would be white.  But as the writer, that should have been a conscious decision on my part, not a default.

Discussion is welcome, as always.

Red Hood Discussion Post

This is your official discussion post for Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon].  It probably goes without saying that there will be spoilers in the comments.

I figure this is your discussion space, so while I’m happy to answer questions, I’m also more than happy to stay out of it and let people chat.  Hm … to clarify, I’m happy to answer questions about anything except what happens in book four 🙂

Have fun!

I’m Back!

For anyone who’s had the chance to read Red Hood yet, if you felt like posting a review at Amazon and helping to knock that Harriet Klausner review off the front page, I’d be much obliged.  “Little Lady of the Red Hood” indeed…

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I’m back!  Had a lovely vacation up north.  Kids spent most of the week swimming and working on their sunburns.  Everyone stayed up way too late, and most days I got to sleep in until 9 or even 10 in the morning.

Stopped by the local bookstore, which didn’t have Red Hood, but did have Crosscurrent [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] by my friend Paul Kemp.  It took me a few chapters to really get into it, mostly because I haven’t been reading the expanded universe Star Wars stuff, so I didn’t know the characters or recent events.  But it was a fun story (Star Wars + time travel!), albeit a bit dark at times, and an excellent vacation read.  Finished the book in about a day.

Ah, vacation…

I also hopped online a few times to check e-mail, Amazon ranking, Bookscan numbers, and so on.  Vacation or no, my book was coming out, and I had to be there!  I had to be doing something.  I had to … well … I don’t know.  It’s kind of strange, actually.  Turns out my book was released just fine without me.

Could it be that I didn’t need to be online 24/7 when the book came out?  Crazy talk, I know.  I mean, I did have some blog posts prewritten and scheduled, and I had warned my wife that we’d need to drive into town so I could post a Twitter update or two on release day … but we didn’t get into town until later that afternoon, and as far as I could tell, books continued to sell even when I wasn’t watching.  Heck, it’s too early to say for certain, but this one might even be selling better than the previous books.

Weird.

None of this comes as a real surprise.  Intellectually, I know my control and influence over the book is pretty much done the day I turn in the final manuscript.  Emotionally though, I still like to pretend I’m involved, and to cling to the illusion that I continue to have more control over the fate of the book.

Time to let go, I suppose.  Fly, little book.  Be free.  Enjoy your time on the New Releases shelf.  August will be here all too soon, and then far too many of you will be stripped and returned.  But until then, get out there and make your author proud.

Tomorrow I’ll probably be putting up a discussion post for the book.  And apropos of nothing, here’s a shot from when I was playing with the panorama setting on our digital camera last week.  Click for full size.

Why Read Red Hood?

Jim is on vacation this week, and is blogging from the past!  He has very little Internet access, but will read and catch up on comments eventually.  Fun fact: Monday’s blog post was written three days in the past.  But this one was written seven days in the past!  That’s right, Jim is moving backward in time!!!  He promises to bring you back a dinosaur.

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So Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] has been out for most of a week now.  It’s a bit strange to think back to … I think it was 2004 or 2005, when I started playing around with the idea of turning these fairy tale princesses into action heroines.  I remember the excitement as I realized Sleeping Beauty’s fairy gifts made her the ideal ninja, or that Snow White could be a master of mirror magic.

Then here we are, half a decade later.  The third book is out, and readers everywhere are rushing to read it.  (At least, that’s the vision I’m choosing to hold on to!)

So today’s blog question is:

Hey Jim, why should I join the dozens millions billions of people reading Red Hood’s Revenge?

Good question, made-up reader!  Here are my completely objective and unbiased answers, many of which are actually true.

1. Talia’s fairy curse.  I’m not going to spoil this, but the writers out there know the feeling you get when you come up with a twist that just feels right, something that blows you away.  The “truth” behind Sleeping Beauty’s curse did that for me, and I’m hopeful readers will feel the same way.

2. There will be smooching!  (No, it’s not a kissing book.  It has plenty of fencing and fighting, too.)

3. Hey, what ever happened to _______?  I answer this question, for a certain value of ______.

4. All of the cool kids are reading it.

5. If you rearrange the words in the right order, you get a secret message from the president of Zenbox VII.

6. Two words: sewer goblins.

7. Certain elements in this book are guaranteed to offend twice as many people as previous books.

8. The pages are pine scented, so you can use the book as an air freshener for your car after you finish reading.

9. Gazebo.

10. Because kick-ass princesses are awesome, that’s why!

Other New Books

Jim is on vacation this week, and is blogging from one week in the past!  He has very little Internet access, but will read and catch up on comments eventually.

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So for the past two days, I’ve talked about Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon].  This raises another question:

Hey Jim, don’t you ever get tired of talking about your own book?

Yes.  Yes I do.  So here are some of the other books out this week!

Rift in the Sky [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], by Julie Czerneda.  This is the mass market release of book three in Czerneda’s Stratification series.  Czerneda is a fellow DAW author, and writes amazing aliens.  (In part because she has a fourth-degree black belt in biology.)

The Fuller Memorandum [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], by Charles Stross.  This is book three in Stross’ Bob Howard – Laundry series.  Harriet Klausner describes this book as “a terrific pull no punches paranormal espionage thriller” … which means it’s probably an epic romantic fantasy with weevils.  Either way, it’s Charlie Stross — check it out!

Unbroken Chain [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], by Jaleigh Johnson.  This is another of Johnson’s Forgotten Realms novels.  It has no weevils that I am aware of.  (I enjoyed her previous FR book Mistshore, which I reviewed here.)

Unholy Magic [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], by Stacia Kane.  This is the second book in Kane’s Downside Ghosts series.  You can read an excerpt or download the first five chapters on Kane’s website.  This one may or may not have weevils.

Winter Duty [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], by E. E. Knight.  This is the mass market release of book #8 in Knight’s Vampire Earth series.  (My review of book one is here.)  This one definitely has weevils … alien vampire weevils!

So which of these are you rushing out to buy?  And what other great new books are out that I’m missing?


Readers Promoting Writers

Jim is on vacation this week, and is blogging from the past!  He has very little Internet access, but will read and catch up on comments eventually.  Please feel free to comment and let him know whether you people of the future are zipping around in flying cars and personal jet packs yet!

Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] came out yesterday.  One question that comes up a lot with book releases is how readers can help to promote the writer.  Either the writer wants to get the readers to help spread the word, or else the readers actively ask what they can do to support the writer’s new book.  So here are Jim’s thoughts on:

What readers can do to support their favorite books!

It’s simple enough, really.

Step 1: Get yourself hired as the head buyer for a major bookstore chain.
Step 2: Stock up on the works of Jim C. Hines.
Step 3: Profit!

For those of us not in a position to take over as a buyer, I refer you to the blog post I did asking where you learn about new books.  (On LJ here.)  Reading through the answers confirmed a lot of what I already suspected: word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful factors in getting people to pick up a book.

I’ve seen and tried a lot of different things to publicize books.  I’ve done author interviews.  I’ve provided HTML code people could copy and repaste with the book’s cover and info.  But … and perhaps this is a “Duh!” moment … what seems to work best is simply people talking about the books they love, and why.

So if you want to help support the princess books, or any books for that matter, just talk about them.  Write a blog post describing what you love about the stories or the characters or the world.  It doesn’t have to be a formal review or anything like that (though reviews are always appreciated).  Your excitement about a book you loved will sell that book far more effectively than the author ever could.

And if you’re really not comfortable with that, there’s always cosplaying your favorite character 😉

Other suggestions and ideas on what to do (and also what not to do) are more than welcome!

Red Hood’s Revenge: Out Today!!!

Jim is on vacation this week, and is blogging from the past!  He has very little Internet access, but will read and catch up on comments eventually.  Please feel free to comment and tell him what the future looks like.

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Happy book day to me!!!  Today marks the official release of Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], the third book in my princess series.  Pass it on!

Preview the first two chapters
Learn about the series

Normally I try not to go overboard with my own book promotion here.  From reading other people’s blogs, I know a little goes a long way, and it’s easy to get carried away.  But when a new book comes out, I give myself permission to celebrate and promote for a few days.

This week, I’m going to try to answer a few questions that come up with each new book release, starting with this one:

Where and when should people buy my books?

Different authors will give you different answers to this question.  Mine is pretty straightforward: if you want to buy my books, do so wherever it’s convenient for you.

I get the same royalty whether you buy from Amazon, B&N, or your local independent bookstore.  Technically speaking, for things like making the Locus Bestseller list, there are certain stores where sales are weighted more heavily than others … but you know what?  That’s not your problem.  I’d love to make the list again, but I’m not going to try to force it by sending everyone out to a specific list of stores.

I do have a soft spot for independent bookstores, since many of them have been very supportive of my career from day one.  But if you don’t have a good independent store, or you’re just not up for one more errand, I have no problem at all with people hopping onto Amazon to order there.  (Plus then I get to watch my Amazon rank drop!)

As to when people should buy?  Again, I’m going to say you should buy it whenever you like.  Early sales are important, don’t get me wrong.  The more the books sell in these first weeks, the more likely the stores are to restock.  Not to mention it makes my publisher, my agent, and me happy to see those big early sales numbers.

But it’s up to you.  I know not everyone who reads my blog buys my books, and that’s fine.  And I’m not going to insist you all run out today to pick up your copy.

On the other hand, I’m planning to do a discussion post for Red Hood’s Revenge next week.  So if you do buy and read the book this week, you’ll be able to get in on all of the spoilery conversation and speculation 😉

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