Robin Hobb's Blog, page 15

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For UK readers only! Sorry to everyone else!

Beginning today, if you use this special link you can get volume one of the Farseer Trilogy for your Kindle for 1.99 pounds. This is for a limited time.

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I continue to receive queries from readers in the US and UK about the correct release date for the final book in the Rain Wilds Chronicles.  I know that Amazon has conflicting information.  We are in the process of correcting that.

I have confirmed with both editors that March 2013 is the correct release date.  Not July of this year, not May of next year.  No.  March 2013 for the English language editions in the US and UK.

And yes, the Dutch edition is out there and has been for some time.  That happens sometimes.  As a result, there will be  differences between the Dutch edition as it was translated and the English language editions. For one thing, I've been able to correct a couple of glaring errors that I made regarding a dragon name and a dragon color!  Other changes are minor.

Thanks for all the enthusiam and eagerness for the next volume!

Tha

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

As many of you know, I've had a newsgroup over at sff.net for, well, years now.  How many years?  I've lost track.  We're up about 59,000 posts so it has been a while. 

Over those years, some folk have become permanent fixtures there.  They are true friends, fans and readers, yes, but true friends as well.  They are from far away places and from just down the freeway.  And over those years, as I've traveled, I've had the great pleasure to meet many of them in person.  Via that newsgroup, I've heard of sick kittens, witnessed a marriage proposal sung to the light of his life, shared videos of spiders gone crazy, and we've discussed many topics.  Many topics, indeed, and very often they were topics that ignited flames and ended friendships in other places on the web.

But the rule we have adhered to, with very few exceptions, is that my newsgroup is my virtual kitchen table. While you are seated there, you must treat my other guests with the same courtesy you would if we were actually all seated face to face at a table. And so we have been able to have those discussions, and with a very few sad exceptions, we've been able to treat each other respectfully and walk away from the table still as virtual friends.

At the beginning of this month, I received a mysterious package in the mail.  It was labeled Do Not Open until March 5th!  My birthday. So, for several days it tormented me, and then very early on the morning of the 5th, I opened it.

Inside was the Robin Hobb Virtual Kitchen Birthday Book!  It had photos of many of my friends from around the world, in their various kitchens.  I think it was among the very best things I've ever received for a birthday gift.

You are invited to view the Virtual Robin Hobb Virtual Kitchen Birthday Book here.

I will be taking my Virtual Kitchen Birthday Book on my tours with me.  When I encounter my newsgroup friends, I'm going to get the photos autographed.  And I hope to add an  empty photo album to my luggage, to collect photos of other readers in their kitchens to add to my collection.  Not just the newsgroup people who missed the deadline, but any of you who would care to contribute.

And, as always, new visitors to my virtual kitchen are welcome!  You can post there without joining sff.net, though I'll urge you to join just so you can explore that wonderful site more thoroughly!  Best tech I've ever had lives there!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

I flew into Tucson this morning, and was met at the airport by Festival of Books volunteers   Armando Alvarado and Alexander and Catalina.  (Thank you!  Volunteers like you make the world go around!) They provided me with a warm welcome and friendly chat as they drove me  directly to KGUN for a television interview on their Morning Blend Show.  You can watch the video here! 

From there, we were off to the Marriott hotel, where my room was waiting.  It's a very short stroll to the University of Arizona campus where the festival will be held.  An entire city of tents was going up on the campus.  Enthusiastic volunteers were everywhere.  A very strong wind is blowing here, so all the canvas snapping and the tent poles creaking makes it sound as if a flotilla of ships were getting ready to set sail.  I took some lovely photographs, only to discover when I returned to the hotel that my camera has chosen this moment to misbehave. So here is a rather Impressionistic view of the tent city:

Just pretend I used that 'off focus technique' on purpose, okay? 

My schedule for the weekend:

Saturday, 2:30 PM   The Return of High Fantasy   Integrated Learning/Rm 150

Saturday, 4 PM  Same Place, Same Time, Different Reality   Chemistry/Rm 111

Sunday, 10 AM  World Building   Integrated Learning, Rm 141

Each panel will be followed by a book signing session.  I have some great co-panelists, including Terry Brooks on that first panel.  So bring your books or buy new ones at the Festival. The festival is asking that you limit yourself to 3 books signed at a time, to keep lines moving.  But if you see me wandering about the Festival at any other time, don't hesitate to stop me and ask me to sign a book!  Remember that this is a free event, with a lot of activities for kids, too, so the whole family can enjoy it.

 Now here is an image that is not only much sharper but stunning as well:

This is the cover for volume 6 of L'Assassin royal, the French Graphic novel based on the Farseer Trilogy. Soleil will be releasing it in September of 2012.

And no, I am very sad to tell you that there is no English version.  But to date the graphic novels have been gorgeous. And they are the perfect way to practice your French!

I am very excited for this coming weekend.  I hope to see you at the Tucson Festival of Books!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Tonight, March 8, I'll be at Mysterious Galaxy at Redondo Beach, California at 7:30 PM, to do a reading and answer questions.  I always look forward to Mysterious Galaxy events, but this will be my first one at their new store.

Then tomorrow, I fly on to Tucson, Arizona for the Tucson Festival of Books.  (Where Mysterious Galaxy will also have a strong presence!  Great place to buy books!)

To find my schedule for the Festival, go here and look for me under H for Hobb!  I have three great panels, and although you can't tell it from this particular schedule, some of my fellow panelists include wonderful writers such as  Terry Brooks, Cherie Priest and Dennis McKiernan!   We should have a lively time. You can also search for authors by your favorite genre, so you'll know which books you can get signed. The Festival seems to be offering something for everyone, regardless of what your reading tastes are.  I'm anticipating that this will be a great festival.

I'll be beginning my day tomorrow with an appearace on the The Morning Blend, on KGUN 9 On Your Side, between 11 and 12 noon.    My appearance will depend on how quickly I can get from the airport to the television station, so I hope all goes well.  I'll be bringing a couple of hardbacks of City of Dragons to give away, so I hope you'll tune in.

See you there!

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I don't have details as to panels or events I'll be attending, but I'll definitely be there!

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Have you ever looked at a dragon and thought, "I could do better than that!"  Well, now is your opportunity!

Construct your own dragon and send it off to HarperCollins.  You may end up with a signed hardback of City of Dragons!

Open to UK residents only, please!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Shawn Speakman and I finally managed to get together! Shawn operates a website called The Signed Page.  Via his site, readers all over the world are able to order personalized siged first edition books from some of their favorite authors.  I regularly visit Shawn after the release of each hardback to personalize and sign books for him to ship out.  To get in on this, all you have to do is visit his website, pre-order the book and tell him how you would like it signed.

Right now, Shawn has a few copies of Subterranean Press's hardcover edition of my story collection The Inheritance.   This was a limited edition, so when they are gone, they are gone!

He has upcoming signing dates with Patricia Briggs and Kim Harrison!   Act fast if you want to pre-order A Perfect Blood or Fair Game, or Indomitable from Terry Brooks!

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I am being asked about this so often that I think it deserves a post of its own!

YES!  There is a fourth books that concludes the Rain Wilds Chronicles.  It is called Blood of Dragons and is currently making its way through the editorial process, to emerge in 2013.  Yes, it will feature a Jackie Morris cover!

To recap:  I intended to write one stand alone book about the dragons in the Rain Wilds.  When I turned in Dragon Keeper, I was very late and the manuscript was very long. Rather than  hack the story down to size, we opted to release one book  as two volumes.  Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven make up one story.

Then, I resolved to try again to write a third book that would tie up any loose ends about the Dragons, the keepers and Kelsingra. That time, I did manage to turn it in on time! But again, it was far too long.  So, once more, we cut one book into two volumes.  City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons make up on story from the Rain Wilds, and conclude my Rain Wilds Chronicles.

I am so sorry for any confusion and to any readers who bought City of Dragons expecting it to conclude a 'trilogy', my heartfelt apologies!

Oh, and that new link on City of Dragons goes to a SUVUDU interview I just completed!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Last night was a great experience.  Murder by the Book is a well lit and organized and friendly place.  I had a warm welcome there, with a great reading area full of waiting readers.  John had met me first at the airport, and then to give me a lift to my reading.  As I often find with bookstores, he was  exceptionally knowledgeable about the books, and not just within the genre.  So I had a great evening, and then a nice dinner with friends afterward at Houston's Hobbit Cafe.  It was another friendly and welcoming place, and the good food definitely came in Hobbit size portions.

Tonight I'll be at Bookpeople in Austin!  Looking forward to it!