Ok, this is the bit where I jump up and down (and possibly throw some squeeing, too). This was the news I was sitting on last week, which was killing me (I’ve known for a while, but the signed contracts arrived last week, which made it even harder to wait).

My awesome agents at Zeno Agency have sold French rights to all three Obsidian and Blood books to Mathieu Saintout of Bibliothèque Interdite (the aptly named “Forbidden Library”). Bibliothèque Interdite is currently publishing Games Workshop books, but is planning to launch their new imprint at the end of the year.

I’m going to be translated in French. For French bookshops. This is going to be so weird. But so great.

This clearly calls for leaping Bubble Bobble dinosaurs:

And here’s the cover to go with the blurb! Isn’t it so pretty? (note that I have different bloodstains on my covers–you can now collect them all *g*).

Coming January 2011 in the UK/Australia and February 2011 in the US/RoW. With star demons, conniving high priests and generalised political plotting. Oh, and more ahuizotls, because fingernail-eating monsters always make everything better.

Pre-order on Amazon.co.uk|Amazon.com|Barnes and Noble|Book Depository|Amazon.fr

And while I’m at it, another (very nice) review of Servant of the Underworld at Cold Iron and Rowan-Wood.

Remember that character I mentioned, way back when I was writing Harbinger? The one to whom I gave a long and complicated name, figuring we’d never see him again, and who ended up playing a major part in Harbinger?

Well, it turns out he’s going to play a major part in book 3, too. And I’m still stuck with him…

*sigh*

PS: in case you’ve read Servant of the Underworld and are wondering… It’s Acamapichtli, the disagreeable High Priest of the Rain God. He turns out to be still disagreeable, but way too useful for plot purposes.

No cover art yet (though that is being designed, I know for sure), but hey, there’s a blurb on amazon.co.uk:

The year is Two House and the Mexica Empire teeters on the brink of destruction, lying vulnerable to the flesh-eating star-demons – and to the return of their creator, a malevolent goddess only held in check by the Protector God’s power.

The council is convening to choose a new emperor, but when a councilman is found dead, only Acatl, High Priest of the Dead, can solve the mystery.

When he hears rumours of a sinister cabal of sorcerors he must face up to demons, not all of them his own.

FILE UNDER: Modern Fantasy [Aztec Gods / Star Demons / Secret Sorcery / Blood Rituals]

Shiny..

Someone has pre-ordered Harbinger of the Storm on amazon.
(I know because Harbinger has a ranking, and amazon doesn’t display rankings unless someone’s placed an order for the book). Probably just one person, but still… Wow.

In other news, 15 chapters to go until I finish Three Kingdoms. Then we can move on to a shorter book 🙂

So, the big news here: Angry Robot has left HarperCollins and is setting up shop with the backing of Osprey Publishing. An interesting move, more towards a publishing niche (as Osprey is known for military history books and wargaming stuff). Will obviously have to see how that works out, but I have every confidence those AR overlords know what they’re doing and that they’ll successfully take over the SF world–away a big group that might not have the flexibility and enthusiasm needed for a venture like this. Wishing Marc and Lee and Chris a hefty helping of good luck with the change.

Other assorted consequences: the US release date for Servant of the Underworld has now been pushed back to November 2010 (Harbinger of the Storm is still up for a January 2011 release in the UK, and February 2011 in the US). Also, SoU is going to quietly go out of print before (hopefully) being relaunched at the same time as the Harbinger of the Storm debut (to be confirmed, as AR is still reviewing their options at the moment). So hurry up if you want a HarperCollins edition of SoU 🙂

Next post up should be (finally) a review of my Bebook Mini, the ereader I bought a couple of months ago.

So, as I’m trying to get this %% manuscript out the door…
I have this character. His Nahuatl title is cihuacoatl, and I’m not planning to use it lest I give people headaches. So I have a choice between two translations: the Snake Woman, or the Female Snake.

Although the first one is the traditional, correct Nahuatl translation, I’m afraid it will have also everyone thinking he’s a woman. But I’m not 100% up-to-date on connotations, and for all I know the second one also strongly implies a woman, too…

What do you think–Snake Woman or Female Snake/Female Serpent?

EDIT: what about “She-Snake”?

The writer took a day off for some administrative formalities–except that of course, we’re having a massive train strike here in France, and the person with whom we were supposed to do the formalities can’t make it to Paris. Well, at least I caught up on sleep, and am slowly catching up on email backlog and stuff.

Got BF’s crit of Harbinger of the Storm yesterday. Basically, lots and lots of problems, but most of these should be small fixes: the basic structure of the novel looks to be sound. I’ll brainstorm some extra fixes, and then go roll up my sleeves and tackle revisions…

Finished a short story for the upcoming Villa Diodati workshop. Temp title is “Age of Miracles, Age of Wonders”. Set in the same universe as “Memories in Steel, Feathers and Bronze” (upcoming in Beneath Ceaseless Skies), and “Prayers of Forges and Furnaces”.

Snippet:

The god
The weals on Coztic’s back have begun to heal by the time they reach Axahuacan. The marks of the chains on his ankles and wrists–the deep burn lines rimmed with red, puffed skin, encrusted with scabs–haven’t. At night, when the moon rises over the desert, its light as pale as the face of corpses, he shifts in the copper cage and feels pain lance through his limbs, as familiar and as welcome as an old enemy.

The hierarch walks ahead of the cage and of its guards, the metal of its face turned straight ahead. If it thinks of anything–if metal and cogs and wheels can have thoughts–it doesn’t say.

I have three major deadlines at the end of the month (the novel, one other sekrit one, and a work-related one). April is going to be loads of fun…

-Review on Fantasy Literature.

(…) Servant of the Underworld is a highly original debut novel. Thanks to a solid mystery plot and Aliette de Bodard’s extensive research into pre-Conquest Meso-America, this novel should strike a chord with more than just fantasy readers.

–Review at the Honeyed Knot, courtesy of edroxy

While I greatly enjoyed the richness of the setting, the perfect balance between fantasy, mystery and historical fiction, the solid suspenseful plot, for me, it’s Acatl and the many ways through which I could relate to him that really got me. It’s a new aspect of Aliette de Bodard’s fiction I was pleased to discover as in short stories, it’s often difficult to demonstrate the extent of one’s talent at characterization.

Highly recommended whether you enjoy mystery novels, fantasy, historical fiction, Aztec culture and solid characterization. Surely one of those describes you. I’m eagerly waiting for the next installment and hope this gets translated in French and many other languages.

-My very first French review, at Blackwatch’s blog. (very loose translation, done in about 3 minutes. It’s the spirit of it, but I don’t claim it’s 100% accurate…)

(…) This kind of plot can seem over-familiar, especially if you’re a dedicated reader of fantasy. But the strength of Servant of the Underworld resides in the character of Acatl, implicated in events against his wishes. In spite of his authority as high priest, many gates remain closed to him. The obstacles keep growing in number, and the author doesn’t leave us time to breathe, spinning a frantically-paced story.

Personally, I’d recommend this book to any lovers of fantasy or thrillers who want to read something a little different.

(the funny thing is that the first one and the last two disagree quite spectacularly on whether Acatl is an interesting character to follow around. Fascinating).

In non-review links, I’ve put up a specific Obsidian and Blood webpage, which includes a list of characters, and a blurb for Harbinger of the Storm (subject to rewriting and publisher’s approval, of course, so it’s very indicative at this stage). But in case you were wondering what the next book looks like…

And I also have Servant of the Underworld bookmarks, courtesy of the awesome Janice Hardy, which I should be handing out at Eastercon.

…as Granny Weatherwax would say.

Been very, very busy, both with administrative stuff, as well as trying to hammer Harbinger of the Storm into a presentable draft before I ship it off to my crit group, and so the blog’s taken the brunt of the neglecting.

Normal business will resume after the editing flurry has finished, (before the end of the week).