AUDIOBOOKS

Most of my fans know that I have long been a fan of audiuobooks, both as a listener and as adaptations of my own work. My books have been available in unabridged (and some abridged) formats from Books on Tape, Recorded Books, Brilliance, Tantor, MacMillan, Audio Renaissance, and BDD Audio. Now Audible.com has made many of these available for direct download as MP3 files.

Many of the new DUNE novels are available in this format. The first three "Seven Suns" books are in audio format from Recorded Books and have been available from audible.com, but the fans have been writing me repeatedly to ask when Books 4, 5, and 6 (published in audio from Brilliance) would be available to audible.com subscribers. They have finally come online, so listeners can hear the unabridged versions of the first six volumes.

CRYSTAL DOORS, SLAN HUNTER, and some of my STAR WARS novels are also available. For a complete listing of my titles, see this link. For years, my personal complaint with audiobooks is that publishers have offered a very limited library of SF/F titles. Audible.com has just greatly expanded their genre library. Here's an excerpt from their recent press release: "Journey to a "world beyond words" with Audible Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Check out Audible for exclusive access to your authors and exclusive commentary. In addition, the new imprint, Audible Frontiers which features new and sometimes previously unavailable audiobooks made available for the first time in audio." See the audible.com homepage for details.

Keep listening.

KJA

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A DUNE ANIVERSARY -- May 5

Eleven years ago, May 5, 1997, was the first time I met Brian Herbert.

After speaking with him several times on the phone to discuss the possibility of new DUNE projects, Rebecca and I flew up to Seattle, WA, to meet him in person. Brian and his wife Jan met us at the SeaTac airport and, after we gathered our luggage, they took us to a Cinco de Mayo party in downtown Seattle with some of their friends. During that weekend, we brainstormed the entire "Prelude to Dune" trilogy and began the work of writing a proposal to send to the editors in New York.

Ten books ago...

In just a few weeks, we'll be flying out again to meet with Brian so that the two of us can get to work on the detailed chapter-by-chapter plotting of JESSICA OF DUNE for next year.

PAUL OF DUNE is currently in production and is due to be released in the US on September 16.

Our book-signing tour for 2008 is currently being put together. So far it looks like Brian and I will be doing the west coast together, as usual, and then I will spend an extra couple of weeks hitting additional cities in the midwest and southeast. We don't know the specific cities yet.

If you would like to have your name in the database so we send you a personal reminder postcard if we're doing a signing in your area, please send us an e-mail with your *mailing address* (not e-mail) to anderzone@wordfire.com.

KJA

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LA TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS

I will be appearing this Sunday with Rebecca at the LA Times Festival of Books, "one of the largest and most celebrated literary events in the country." The Book Festival features over 400 authors on Saturday and Sunday, and 130,000 people attend.

I will be part of a science fiction panel at 10 AM on Sunday (along with David Brin, Rayment E. Feist, and Joe Hill) and on an audiobook panel at 3 PM Sunday (with Scott Brick, Jackie Collins, and Dennis Kao). Rebecca and I will be autographing our books at the Mysterious Galaxy bookstore booth at 2 PM on Sunday, and there will also be signings to follow each of my panels.

We hope to see you there. For further information on the festival, click here.

KJA

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NEW SF SERIES -- HELLHOLE

In a separate deal from the new Dune books mentioned in the previous blog, Brian and I have sold an original science fiction epic, HELLHOLE, to Tor Books. After writing ten massive DUNE novels together, we are glad to work in a universe that's completely our own creation. These three novels—HELLHOLE, HELLHOLE INFERNO, and HELLHOLE IMPACT—give us an opportunity to showcase our skills in creating a large, well-developed canvas.

After a galactic government opens a cluster of new planets for colonization, a group of misfits, criminals, and desperate people go to a world that was nearly destroyed by an asteroid impact several centuries before. Hellhole is "the place to go when you have nowhere else to go." Nobody wants this turbulent rock . . . until the hardy colonists discover remnants of an alien civilization, and then the government decides they may want the planet back after all, but the colonists have no intention of giving up their home.

For those of you still hungry for big new SF after I finish my "Saga of Seven Suns" this summer and after Brian's third "Timeweb" novel is published, HELLHOLE should fit the bill. These books will be published in between the three new DUNE novels we are also writing.

To read a brief interview I did on these books and the new DUNE novels, check out this Russian Dune fan site.

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THREE MORE DUNE NOVELS -- JESSICA, IRULAN, AND LETO

Brian Herbert and I are pleased to announce a new deal with Tor Books for three more Dune novels to follow PAUL OF DUNE. These novels -- JESSICA OF DUNE, IRULAN OF DUNE, and LETO OF DUNE -- will also flesh out and fill in the gaps in Frank Herbert's original three Dune novels. The new novels will focus on each of the title characters.

The first book in this sequence, PAUL OF DUNE, is in effect a direct sequel to DUNE, filling in much of the story of Paul's Jihad, and will be published this September. JESSICA also fits mostly into this time period. IRULAN is a sequel to DUNE MESSIAH, taking place after blind Paul has walked off into the sand, leaving his empire in the hands of Alia. And LETO OF DUNE takes place immediately after the end of CHILDREN OF DUNE, showcasing the first years of the God Emperor's reign. (This latter novel is the story most requested in the fan letters we receive.)

These novels will be published every other year (or perhaps sooner, depending on our writing speed and on our duties for the upcoming Paramount film version of DUNE).

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AD ASTRA IN TORONTO

This past weekend Rebecca and I were guests of honor at the Ad Astra science fiction convention in Toronto, where we met a great many fans, gave numerous talks, and signed a lot of books.

We arrived Thursday afternoon, my birthday, and waited at the airport to meet the other guests, author Chris Golden (whom I’ve known for more than a decade) and comic writer/artist Howard Tayler. After checking into the hotel, we all went out for a nice steak dinner and talked shop. Later that evening we attended a party held by the convention staff -- the only opportunity for the behind-the-scenes people to meet the guests.

On Friday, we had most of the day to ourselves before the opening ceremonies that evening. We had plans to have lunch at the rotating restaurant in the CN tower, but both Chris and I had book deadlines, so we begged off and just did editing. I was nearly finished with my last main edit of PAUL OF DUNE and I was anxious to complete the work over the weekend.

We met one of our dedicated Canadian fans for dinner at a Mongolian grill, then attended the opening ceremonies, after which Rebecca and I gave a panel on the CRYSTAL DOORS books and Young Adult fiction in general. Following that, I did a heavily attended reading of PAUL OF DUNE -- the first time I had ever read a chapter of the new book for an audience, and it was very well received.

Saturday morning I got up early to spend a few hours editing PAUL, and I managed to finish the last work, and e-mailed the manuscript off to our editor for his final read, fifteen minutes before our first scheduled time on stage. Rebecca and I gave 7 panels/speeches that day, including a two-hour workshop on "Things I Wish Some Pro Had Told Me When I Was Just Starting Out" and my guest-of-honor speech. We gave another panel on Star Wars fiction, did an autographing, attended the guest-of-honor dinner, then gave another panel on writing media tie-in fiction. Sunday, I gave a full hour talk on the DUNE novels, signed more books, and then we were off to the airport to go home.

On the flight home, I was already starting work on the first big TERRA INCOGNITA novel. No time off!

KJA

PS Publishers Weekly has just published their year-end summary for 2007, and SANDWORMS OF DUNE was the best-selling science fiction hardcover of the year.

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New DUNE film from Paramount

We’ve been working on this for years, and we can finally make the proper announcement. Brian Herbert and I will serve as co-producers on the film.

KJA

From Variety Daily:

Berg to direct ’Dune’ for Paramount
Misher producing adaptation of sci-fi novel
By TATIANA SIEGEL

Peter Berg is attached to direct a bigscreen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel "Dune" for Paramount Pictures.
Kevin Misher, who spent the past year obtaining the book rights from the Herbert estate, will produce via his Par-based shingle.

Herbert’s 1965 novel is a sweeping, futuristic tale set on the remote desert planet Arrakis, which produces the interstellar empire’s sole source of the spice Melange -- used for distant space travel. An empirewide power struggle ensues over the control of the spice. Berg would be the latest helmer to take a crack at the property, which spawned a 1984 David Lynch film as well as a 2000 Sci Fi Channel miniseries starring William Hurt.

The project is out to writers, with the producers looking for a faithful adaptation of the Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning book. The filmmakers consider its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely.

New Amsterdam’s Richard Rubenstein, who produced Sci Fi’s "Dune" and sequel "Children of Dune," is also producing alongside Sarah Aubrey of Film 44, Berg’s production banner. John Harrison and Mike Messina exec produce.

Paramount envisions the project as a tentpole film.

Berg and Misher enjoy strong ties dating back to Misher’s executive days at Universal Pictures. Misher also produced Berg’s second directorial outing, "The Rundown."
Actor-turned-helmer Berg most recently directed the upcoming Will Smith starrer "Hancock." His directing credits include "The Kingdom" and "Friday Night Lights."

Currently listening : Children of Dune By Brian Tyler Release date: 18 March, 2003

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BLOOD LITE

I normally think of myself as a writer rather than an editor, but I have worn that other hat several times. My three STAR WARS anthologies -- TALES FROM THE MOS EISLEY CANTINA, TALES FROM JABBA'S PALACE, and TALES OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS -- are the three best-selling science fiction anthologies of all time. Several stories from the fourth anthology I edited, WAR OF THE WORLDS: GLOBAL DISPATCHES, won major awards in the field.

I have just delivered my fifth anthology, this time a project I helmed for the Horror Writers of America, BLOOD LITE -- a collection of humorous horror stories from some of the top writers in the field. I've been working on this book since early last summer, and all the pieces are now in place and the book is in production from Pocket, which will release BLOOD LITE as a trade paperback in October. The anthology contains 21 all original stories by Kelley Armstrong, Joe Lansdale, J.A. Konrath & F. Paul Wilson, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Mike Resnick, Nancy Holder, Sharyn McCrumb, Jim Butcher, and twelve others.

Editing an anthology is a completely different process from writing a novel -- contacting and cajoling colleagues, reading slushpile submissions, asking for revisions, keeping track of contracts and details. Nevertheless, BLOOD LITE turned out extremely well, exceeding even our already high expectations. I'll post the cover art here as soon as I have it.

KJA

Currently listening : In the Flesh Live By Roger Waters Release date: 05 December, 2000

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ODDS AND ENDS

After the very crowded writing and promotion schedule last year, Brian and I are both recharging our batteries, finishing up deadlines, and enjoying the fact that we don't have such an impossible pace -- at least for the time being.

An extensive new interview with me has been posted on the Fantasy Book Critic website, which covers Dune projects, "Seven Suns," LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON, Batman/Superman FIRST ENCOUNTER, Star Wars, Dean Koontz's FRANKENSTEIN, comics, and other subjects.

Next weekend (Feb 23-24), Rebecca and I will be in the San Francisco Bay Area. We'll be guests at WonderCon in San Francisco on Saturday, and on Sunday at 2 PM I'll give a talk at the Livermore Public Library about DUNE -- the entire city of Livermore has chosen Frank Herbert's classic as their "all community reads" title. There will be a book signing and Q&A session immediately afterward. We hope to see some of you there.

Brian and I have completed our draft of PAUL OF DUNE and have given the manuscript to our US and UK editors, the publisher of Tor Books, as well as our test readers. We expect their comments and suggestions back in a few weeks, and then Brian and I will make further revisions to get the novel ready for publication. The release date is tentatively set for September 2008.

Meanwhile, I have finished writing Batman/Superman FIRST ENCOUNTER and am editing that manuscript for delivery to DC Comics and HarperCollins by the end of the month. I am also working on all the worldbuilding, character development, and plotting for the first TERRA INCOGNITA novel, my nautical fantasy series which follows "The Saga of Seven Suns." Speaking of which, any day now I should receive the typeset galleys for THE ASHES OF WORLDS to proofread. For his own part, Brian has just finished and delivered the final manuscript for his third and last "Timeweb" novel, WEBDANCERS.

So, still busy but at least we're not overwhelmed.

KJA

2:42 PM - 8 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Interviews -- web, podcast, magazine

Three new interviews available, dealing with PAUL OF DUNE, LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON, the "Saga of Seven Suns" and other projects. I hope you find them enjoyable.

SciFi.com has an interview/article up on SciFi Wire.

I've done a long podcast interview on Adventures in SciFi Publishing.

And there's a lengthy feature in the Feb 2008 issue of COMIC BUYER'S GUIDE.

KJA

Currently listening : Threshold By Erik Norlander Release date: 06 April, 1999

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