A Year In Numbers ... Eleven!

For 9 of the last 11 years I've said: "It has been a very good 20** all told!".

2020 & 2021 ... hmmm ... Not so much. My books have done fine, but this year I've also spent 40 days and 40 nights in hospital with my youngest daughter during a pandemic that won't stop. And since on 4 of those visits she had septicemia and was close to dying, it wasn't much fun. She's been doing much better for the last three months though.

This post follows up from similar posts at the same time in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 I record a year of ups and less ups. I take a minute to do the sums and raid the scrapbook.

This year I joined Patreon - which has been great fun so far. It's a platform that allows readers to support authors directly and encourages more exchange. We have a Discord that gets a lot of chat, and each Patreon tier comes with perks, which can be anything from book plates, and free stories, to free signed books and writing consults. I currently have 86 patrons - many thanks!

Since Prince of Thorns turned 10 this year, I'll be doing a smidgen of looking in the rear view mirror.

The Girl And The Mountain came out in 2021 and has been well received. 

Folks seem to like it on Amazon, where it's an editor's pick.

And here's the special editions from Anderida books with an art plate!

April 2022 sees the third and final instalment:

Pre-order for the win (US or UK)! 

Some non-terrible 2021 news is that there's interest in making a TV show out of One Word Kill - so watch this space!

10th anniversary editions of Prince of Thorns are available for pre-order!

They're signed & numbered.

In the US you can order a leather-bound deluxe copy with internal art from original cover artist Jason Chan. An object of beauty!

In the UK you can order a hardback edition with a short Jorg story, and an afterword from me. These editions are at very different price points and are very different beasts - but both are great ways to celebrate Jorg at 10 and have his story in a beautiful book.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics to follow:

I'm passed a million "books added" on Goodreads. Those are crazy numbers!

Prince of Thorns passed 100,000 ratings in 2021 and I gave away a copy of the (sold out) Broken Empire omnibus to celebrate! 

I've decided to stop posting the Amazon ratings as they're getting a bit dull.

The blog is bumping along around 1,000 hits a day - which isn't terrible - should hit 4 million in total in 2022.

I'm still on Instagram. Pintrest, and Tumblr! 

And finally, as ever, our favourite cesspit of witch hunts and fake news: Twitter, where I continue my crawl forward with an extra 2,200 followers this year, same as last year.

Many thanks to all my readers for keeping me going! I hope you all have happy holidays and that 2022 is much much better for all of us!

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Prince of Thorns - 10th Anniversary Edition - UK!

 

Today's big news is that as of 12 noon (GMT) the Broken Binding 10th anniversary special edition of Prince of Thorns went up for pre-order!
 

Pre-order now!
 

There are two very different - but both excellent - Prince of Thorns special editions. International postage with robust packaging + tracking + insurance is sadly VERY expensive.

Broken Binding's UK edition is going to help out all those Brits who complain about the postage from the US.

These two special editions not only ship from different continents, they are at very different price points, and necessarily different beasts.

Broken Binding edition - printed in the UK: 
Numbered = 1000 copies, signed, hardback, sprayed edges, includes afterword and new Jorg short story (a short short story).    Cost £30 on pre-order. 

Lettered = 52 copies - as above, plus lined and dated.     Cost £50.

Copies have arrived!

Grim Oak Press edition - printed in the US:
Numbered = 750 copies, double signed (author & artist), leather-bound foiled cover, embossed & foiled dust jacket, sewn in ribbon, and internal art by original cover artist Jason Chan.      Costs $150 on pre-order.

Lettered = 52 copies, as above plus slip cased.     Cost $500 - sold out within 60 seconds.


Hopefully between these two offerings most collectors are catered to!

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My Reading In 2021

 2021 has not been a bumper year reading-wise but I did manage one more than last year's 9 books.

Since my current read, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, is a long book and I've lots to do this month, I really don't think I'll finish it this year. Thus you're getting this post now rather than the traditional start of January. 

I know some bloggers devour 200 or even 300 books in a year. I've no idea how. But I do like the fact that I can remember what happened in the books I've read, and I doubt that would be possible if I read ten times as many.

Here's a link to my reading in 2020. I've been doing this a while so you can step back quite a way.

As ever, every headline links to my review of the book on Goodreads. 

Presented in chronological order, most recent read first.

Being a prose junky, this year's contenders for top read would be Sidewinders, Ten Thousand Doors of January, and The Fall of Babel.

SPFBO semi-finalist, could easily have been a top finalist.

Last entry in the quadrilogy - brings it to an excellent conclusion.

So many great components - but I only liked rather than loved it.

Brilliant prose - good story.

This year's SPFBO champion - the mother of all twists!

Romanesque fantasy with more than six deaths!

Excellent prose - masterful successor to the masterful Master Assassins!

Goodreads Choice Award finalist - Vikingesque battling!

I expected and hoped to enjoy this subterranean feng shui more than I did.

Grimdark that sometimes hit the mark (pun intended) and sometimes missed.

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