Say Cheese!

So you guys see me, but I don't see you. Time for that to change I say.

Here's the motivator:

Defaced by my doodles on the dedication page, signed on the author page & annotated with quotes from all three books of the Broken Empire trilogy! A collector's dream. A free book!

All you have to do to win is enter the draw. All you have to do to enter the draw is send a photo of you holding my book to be posted on the 'entries page'. But wait! There's bonuses...

i) picture of you holding my book = 1 entry into draw
ii) picture of you holding both my books = 2 entries into draw
iii) an interesting location or amusing shot wins 1 to 5 possible additional entries depending on how interesting/funny.

All entries go into a black bag. A winner is drawn. Simples.

Send entry photos to empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk


Competition is over. We have a winner! The debt clock selected #47 which is Will (in his tree stump) - congratulations.


Very many thanks to all entrants. As on previous occasions you've exceeded my expectations, and then some.

Rogues' Gallery

(Happy to accept any late arrivals - no more prizes though)

(Libby posed her books with some serious thorns)

(Adam - it pays to be armed when entering the Broken Empire, even via the pages of a book...)

(Ryan - go on, grab one, I dare you)

-------------------------------------

(Johann, auditions for the Shining)(98,99)

(Michael, complete with halo)(96,97)

(Alex - from Prins der Wrake to Pure Fantasy ... via cucumber.)(93,94,95)

(Shane, been there, done that, got the T-shirt ... and the Wheel-Mouse original art)(88,89,90,91,92)

(Ahmed has it all mapped out)(86,87)

(Oliver - with beer it all makes sense!)(85)

(Kyle, story time for everyone!)(82,83,84)

(Jane Doh)(81)

(Amie found a blurred copy!)(80)

(Nadine the loan-out Queen)(76,77,78,79)

(Stacie's menagerie . . . apparently the camel is called Jorg)(75)

(Put the hammer down, Brad . . .)(71,72,73,74)

(Marty auditions new Brothers)(69,70)

(Julia wears Jorgisms)(63,64,65,66,67,68)

(Garrett studies in the master's chair)(59,60,61,62)

(Donna does digital)(58)

(Doug does double)(56,57)

(Ellie fantasy fan)(55)

(Do you know Nuno? - Jorg posed!)(52,53,54)

(Brandon and Dawn the Dog (demanding justice for Justice))(50,51)

(Will, hacking down forest giants for his setting)(46,47,48,49)

(Lisa - close-to-the-edge at Bryce Canyon)(41,42,43,44,45)

(only a tiny bit headless Ned)(39,40)

(It's only Aaron!)(37,38)

(Horizontal Hilary - I think the hair is hair-sprayed to a degree where it can act as a support)(32,33,34,35,36)

(Joshua H has the edge?)(29,30,31)

(Mariano with a new perspective on things)(27,28)

(Jill!)(25,26)

(Mark L on his throne)(24)

(Nate - getting the better of Curiosity)(19,20,21,22,23)

(Josh)(17,18)

(Joshua at The Berlin Wall, Berliner Dom and Brandenburg Tor!)(13,14,15,16)

(Chris toes the line on his throne)(10,11,12)

(Robin's granddaughter makes a bid for his original King of Thorns manuscript ... bad move!)(3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
 

(Amanda kicking us off with a double)(1,2)

A year! One whole year!

Prince of Thorns has now been in print in the US for a year. The paperback was released yesterday. King of Thorns will be released in one week.

An entire year! I could stack enough roller-coasterean cliches up to make a very tall tower, climb it, stretch out and still not come close to touching the strangeness of this whole experience. It's been a mix of mundane and marvellous, an epic of hurry-up-and-wait. The surreal - calls from Hollywood - finding people cared about my opinion for no better reason than I wrote a book folks liked - being a fetish object of hate for extremists blinded by their own righteousness - having people call my book the best (and the worst) they had ever read ... having people moved to tears, left cold ... being ignored by every juried award ... being a finalist for Goodreads best fantasy of 2011 and The Gemmell Morningstar, awards where anyone can vote ... all strangeness and more strangeness.

The picture below is a collage of numbers summarising the year, none of them capture the essence of it, but many of them have occupied me more than they should. So here they are.

Click for detail, though you may be buggered without a touchscreen to enlarge it further.

As someone who at least tries to write I should be able to do a better job of describing what the experience has been like - but here's the thing, no experience stands alone. If you had been in my shoes it might all have struck you very differently. For me the context has been seeing my eldest children grow and start lives of their own, raising my youngest with all her complex medical problems, trying to write more books, trying not to lose my day job as the economy tanks and research & development gets axed all over... To properly tell the tale of the year I'd need to tell my own tale - and we ain't got space for that. Maybe one day. But for now I'm going to have to leave it at 'weird'. Hell, let's make that 'weird but good'.

Many thanks for all the very many people who have supported me in so many ways this book-year & here's to the next one!

Cheers,
            Mark

Try before you Buy

If you'd like to read some King of Thorns chapters - starting at the start - you can do so here:

King of Thorns - prologue & more

If you click to 'like' the page you'll help to unlock more chapters and some extras that aren't in the book!

Even if you don't want to read ahead of getting your own copy, going to the page and liking it will earn me Brownie points with my publisher, so please do  :)