Foreshadowing

So the Warding Contest is finally over. This is a mixed blessing. On one hand, there is no sense of endless wonder every time I log in to get my e-mail, but there is also no sense of impending dread as judgment day approaches and I have to pick a handful of winners from an army of worthy contenders.

I’m looking forward to getting back to blogging about other things than the contest, and to working on The Daylight War in earnest once more. I took a break from it in April to promote Desert Spear and the Warded Man mmpb, and another break last month to go away on vacation with the fam, but I’ve had trouble getting back into it, mostly because I had almost completed a chapter, only to decide that I didn’t like the flow and cut 40% of it, rejiggering the rest. I’m still digging my way out of that hole, and it’s killed some of my enthusiasm. Thankfully, I made some good progress this last week, and am close to completing the revised chapter and moving on.

I could have let it go, of course, left the chapter as it was and pushed forward, but that’s not my style these days. It’s more tedious this way, but I think it makes for a stronger end-product, even if the going is slow.

If you’re frustrated by the implication that this will delay your next Arlen-fix, though, there is good news! I have just inked a deal with Subterranean Press for an all-new (and already written!) Arlen Messenger novella entitled Brayan’s Gold. Longtime readers will recognize the name (referenced in The Great Bazaar as The Duke’s Mines) as a story that was previously attached to Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2, but after discussion with the fine folks at SP, we decided it would be better as a fully-illustrated stand-alone book in the same format as The Great Bazaar, with full-color cover and interior illustrations done by the great Lauren K. Cannon. Lauren and I spent some time discussing the art last week when we judged the Warding Contest, and it is going to be awesome. Pre-ordering for Brayan’s Gold will begin in a couple of months, and the book is slated for January 2011 release, hopefully to coincide with my Detroit, Michigan appearance at ConFusion, January 21-23.

Also, by now some of you may have noticed that I am no longer slated to write Red Sonja 51-54. I will still be working on the book, but my proposal for the run was a little… unusual, and while Dynamite seems very supportive of the idea, they decided to push the books back a bit to make room. I haven’t officially started scripting, so it will still be some months before my run on the series hits the comic shop shelves. If you have 80’s nostalgia and a blue fur fetish, you won’t want to miss it.

In other news, I have bought my tickets to Australia for Worldcon in Melbourne Sept. 2-6, and while I’m there, I will be making a side-trip to Sydney Sept. 7-10 and can hopefully set up a signing there, as well. On the way out I will be stopping in LA for an August 29 signing at the Dark Delicacies bookstore in Burbank, CA, at 2pm. If you’re in SoCal, stop by and give me a hug.

Last but not least, I want to drop a little hint about the next contest, even though it will be some time before I recover from this last one and get it rolling. This is a contest I’ve wanted to have for a while, but have put off because I figured it would be a lot of effort and not many people would participate: Homemade Heroes.

What changed my mind? Several things, starting with the awesome birthday gift I got from my buddy Matt, made from a Spawn Jessica Priest action figure. I put off posting this for a while because it was spoilery, but now that Desert Spear is up and running and the Renna painting it out in the open, the time has come:

Add to this the fabulous Renna action figure entered in the Warding Contest by Dwayne…

…and the general amount of craftsmanship and hard work that went into the entries in the last few contests, and I think it’s safe to give this one a try, especially with an awesome grand prize.

And what is that prize? A complete set of signed worldwide first edition copies of The Painted Man, The Great Bazaar, and The Desert Spear:

All of these books are rare collector’s items, already selling for many times their cover price, and I will customize ’em any way you want. Hand-drawn wards or character avatars, boasts about your attractiveness and sexual prowess, whatever.

This contest won’t happen for a couple of months at least, and I haven’t decided on the rules (if any) or runner-up prizes (if any), but if you’re interested, this is a head’s up to get your modeling paints ready and keep your x-acto knives sharp.

Posted on July 11, 2010 at 12:44 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, The Daylight War, Warded Art
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