Er, wow.
Duncan Lawie reviews Servant of the Underworld for Strange Horizons. It’s pretty special, because SH is huge, and because it’s the one venue I regularly go to in order to read reviews–so to be reviewed there does make me feel like a star…

And, what’s more, it says things like:

(…)Servant of the Underworld is rounded and complete in itself, although the title page suggests this is the first volume of “Obsidian and Blood.” If Aliette de Bodard can continue as well as she has started, Acatl deserves to become as well known as that other priestly investigator, Cadfael.

*writer goes for a liedown*
(I know you’re meant to ignore reviews good and bad and focus on writing, but–wow. Just wow.)

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..

So, it looks like I have about half an outline for book 3. Missing: any kind of sense, and a number of plot elements which come in way too late. Slowly chipping away at it…

Also, I’m sitting on a piece of good news I’m dying to share, but can’t right now (and nope, it’s not the one in the next post). Stay tuned for an update (I hope soonish, but you never know in this crazy environment…)

And finally, I’ve started learning Vietnamese. Currently struggling a lot with a number of wrong-footed instincts (tonal languages are %% counter intuitive when you’ve never learnt one, and I’m mixing up a lot of the many many vowels as well. On the plus side, the alphabet’s mostly recognisable)…

PS: and here’s an obligatory short reminder that you can win a pretty anthology, simply by leaving a comment in this post until next Wednesday.

Not much to report here, apart from the occasional bout of cooking (Cantonese rice, Vietnamese fashion, courtesy of my grandma; and some sliced marinated beef that went great with the experimental tomato rice).

Research for book 3 continues apace; I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that I need to hit the American Library in Paris and their JSTOR subscription for the info I need. If all goes well, I shall be near Schleswig (in Germany, up near the Danish border) from Friday to Monday, in order to attend the Villa Diodati workshop (aka the retread of the one that lost against the Icelandic volcano). Cross your fingers for me.

As the radio silence might indicate, I’ve been fairly busy, though most of it wasn’t writing. Had a fun and busy weekend with friends and family, saw Neil Williamson on his way through Paris, tried an Asian recipe (cha siu, which turned out awesome and which I heartily recommend. There will be pics next time, I swear), and worked my way through more Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries.

And now it’s back to the grind–aka researching the next Obsidian and Blood novel. I’ve already got a fairly good idea of what it’s about, but now I need a detailed outline and a plot that (hopefully) makes sense. Got a pile of books on the sofa, a full teapot, and my trusty notebook…

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.