Exciting news!

[adelaidesean]

Sci-fi Wire ran an interview with me concerning The Crooked Letter, which has just been released by Pyr in the US. See here for the full text of the interview, and here to order the book from Amazon.

Here's part of the blurb from Publishers Weekly: "Drawing on worldwide myths and legends, Australian author Williams (The Resurrected Man) expertly twists the familiar into the grotesque in this deeply spooky story, the first in a new fantasy series. When Seth Castillo is stabbed and killed, his spirit is whisked away to the Second Realm, a literally inside-out place full of hideous monsters, while his mirror twin, Hadrian, remains in the First Realm of the living. Their psychic link draws the two realms together, precipitating a world-warping cataclysm..."

But the really big news concerns a new series: The Broken Lands trilogy, written for kids of 10 and up, which HarperCollins Australia has picked up for publication in 2007-8. Set in the same world as the Books of the Change and Cataclysm, the new books--The Changeling, The Dust Devils and The Scarecrow--follow the adventures of a young boy living on the north side of the Divide. The Changeling was the ms I submitted for my MA in Creative Writing last year. Expect golems, crabblers, sand bandits, man'kin, ghosts, strand beasts and more!

Comments

[ex-benpayne119.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's awesome. And about time someone wrote a novel called The Scarecrow! *shudder* I'm creeped out already.

Let us know what it's like writing for the 10+ age bracket... for some reason, that's an age range that I have trouble conceiving in my head...

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Glad you like the title, Ben. I agree: it makes me shudder too, especially after shows like "The League of Gentlemen"...

I'll confess to writing The Changeling just like I would a normal book, but with the expectation that some of the language will be edited later. Obviously it's shorter, and having to capture things in fewer words than normal is trickier, but I love the challenge of that. It's a very economical way to write.

The most fun thing was tapping into a whole raft of my childhood fears (and joys) that are hard to explore with adult characters. It was confronting at times to show the ms to my fellow students, since I'd been holding onto these private foibles for so long, but it worked out well in the end. It's amazing what we all had in common. Terrifying, actually.

Excellent!

[(Anonymous)]

It's great to hear about more books dealing with the Change! It'll be interesting to read them considering that they're intended for a younger age group. Hope all goes well!

(Still looking forward to The Devoured Earth....)

Re: Excellent!

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I hope it goes well too. :-)

I've just finished the final-final draft of TDE, not counting my editor's pass, and I reckon it's a great ending. Less than six months to go now.

Here, just to tease you, is the opening of chapter three (no spoilers, if you've read the end of the previous book):

"The sun was a bloated red ball in the sky, too bright to look at directly but casting little heat and no comfort at all across the blasted land below. Shilly had stopped looking at it long ago, keeping her head bowed as she hobbled as quickly as she could along the lit sections of the ravine. When she reached shade, she stopped to take a breather. She knew the route as well as she knew her own face in a mirror, and the wrongness of it never failed to surprise her, too. Ever since the sun had stopped moving across the sky, light had become a baleful force in the world. Only shadows and darkness offered sanctuary. Night was an alien concept, a dream she occasionally woke from with wet cheeks, like the dreams of Sal that still plagued her after so many long years."

Re: Excellent!

[(Anonymous)]

Sincerest thanks! :) Excellent teaser. Looks like it's going to be very eventful, even early on.