Amazon now has The Lure of Devouring Light up for Kindle preorder. I assume the paperback preorder will show up nearer to the April 30 release date. And of course, you can still preorder the paperback-ebook bundle directly from Word Horde.
Amazon Kindle preorder HERE.
As you may have noticed, the book was announced without cover art. Some of you went ahead and preordered anyway, based on your confidence in Word Horde, or maybe even in my work, and I thank you for that.
But while we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I think writers, editors and publishers can all agree we’re happier when our books have a cover that suits the contents, that looks cool and attractive, and makes people think, “I want to know what that’s about.”
I’ll have more to say about the idea of book covers, and the process of finding the right image, but for now… here’s the cover of The Lure of Devouring Light.
The art is by Jarek Kubicki and layout by Scott R. Jones, so they deserve the credit for this striking cover. I also really appreciate Ross E. Lockhart taking my input throughout the process. Ross is the reason Word Horde books have all looked so great, even though they’re all very different in style.
Word Horde’s official cover reveal post is HERE.
The updated image may not show up on the order page until later today, but you can preorder The Lure of Devouring Light HERE.
Final tease… the official cover reveal for The Lure of Devouring Light will definitely be the week. Woo!
Here’s the Table of Contents for The Lure of Devouring Light. I’ll have more to say about the stories and the book as release date (April 30, 2016) draws nearer. For now, here’s what’s included.
Introduction
The Lure of Devouring Light
Dreaming Awake in the Tree of the World
Far From Streets
The Book of Shattered Mornings
Arches and Pillars
Diamond Dust
The Accident of Survival
No Mask to Conceal Her Voice
The Jewel in the Eye
The Need to Desire
The Black Vein Runs Deep
Five of these stories have never been published before, including the final novella which comprises almost 40% of the book. Two more (including the other novella, Far From Streets) were published previously, but seen only briefly or by a very small number of people. This means something like 80% of the book (not by number of stories, but by page count) will be completely new to just about everybody.
Yesterday Word Horde announced the planned release of my collection The Lure of Devouring Light for this April. Yesterday it became official, and known to many.
I’ve known this was a “done deal” for quite some time, and didn’t for a moment doubt that Ross E. Lockhart would do what he said he would do… and yet, yesterday’s announcement was a relief to me, as well as a cause for excitement, for several reasons.
There was the obvious pride and pleasure of seeing the announcement met with interest and enthusiasm. Hey, people want to see my book when it comes out! Some people are even pre-ordering it without having seen the cover.
There was relief at being able to stop keeping the secret, especially from people I thought might be interested to hear it. Last October, Orrin Grey visited Portland for the occasion of his book release (Painted Monsters, which came out on Word Horde), which coincided with the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Orrin stayed the night before the HPLFF began at our house. Lena and I and Orrin had a nice time, chatting at the Edgefield about horror movies. I wanted to tell Orrin “Hey, guess what? Looks like we’re going to share a publisher,” but the deal wasn’t final yet and I didn’t want to go around talking it up prematurely.
There was the realization that now I get to share the wonderfully flattering blurbs I’ve received from four of my favorite writers. I’ll post these here soon.
There was knowing that I would be seen differently by a lot of people who hadn’t previously read my work, but might now give it a shot, whether because of the endorsement of Word Horde or the kind statements of respected writers in the blurbs I just mentioned. The point of this isn’t “I want to be perceived differently,” but that I hope my work will reach more people in the future, and I think this book will really help that happen.
Yesterday felt like a big deal. It was fun and exciting, and I have the sense the fun is just getting started.
I’ll have lots to say between the time of this announcement and the actual release of the book, so this blog space will be much more active for a while.
I will have oh-so-much more to say about this in the coming few months, but for now, I’m pleased to be able to let people know that debut collection The Lure of Devouring Light will be coming in April, 2016 from Word Horde.
I have enormous respect for Editor/Publisher Ross E. Lockhart and what he’s been able to accomplish in the relatively short time Word Horde has been in operation. There is no other publisher I would rather work with on my first book. The cover art is not yet complete, but the book is available for preorder directly from Word Horde, HERE.
Last Tuesday, the new April issue of Apex Magazine appeared, featuring my story “The Lure of Devouring Light.” I’ve already received some nice feedback, from friends, family, fellow writers, and even a NY literary agent. In case you missed my previous post about this, here’s a reminder, and a link to read the story for free, or purchase a PDF or a (Kindle) MOBI or (iPad/Nook) EPUB file of the entire issue for $2.99.
http://www.apex-magazine.com/the-lure-of-devouring-light/
Thanks again to the great and talented people at Apex.
GriffinWords 