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First off, apologies for taking so long to get this contest up and running. I know I teased it a couple weeks ago, and then… silence. I’ve been running without an assistant since Karen leveled up and moved on. I was about to start looking for someone new when the pandemic swept in and everything just became a blur of remote schooling, late night writing, and hand washing.

Y’all know what I’m talking about. Taking care of family and work in 2020 leaving you a little behind on everything else is the 2021 vibe.

Anyway! I am gonna just leap into this feet first and see what happens.

DESERT PRINCE ARC CONTEST

Inspiration:

It is the little interpersonal parts of the Demon Cycle that mean the most to me. The moments of support and introspection, but also the big shouting matches where characters call out each other’s bullshit rather than bottling it up. The times supporting cast share unexpected confidences or offer a different perspective.

So I’d like to have a Dramatic Re-enactment Contest. Hat tip to Jess for giving me the idea. Click through to her twitter if you want to see her fab art as well: https://twitter.com/Jess_Bookish/status/1380362189123555330

Rules:

Everyone is eligible, worldwide!

1) Create a dramatic re-enactment of a Demon Cycle scene.

I like to keep a low bar for entry into contests, so feel free to be creative! This can be short as a social story, a longer video, or just still photo with a funny caption. You can cast an ensemble of semi-willing quarantine podmates, or shake action figures in front of a camera whilst making funny voices. You can cosplay, or stay in your quarantine chic fleece pants and face-act That Mood When…

Whatever.

2) Email your entry (or a link to it, if it’s too big to attach) to contest@www.petervbrett.com along with a mailing address for a prize, should you win one. DEADLINE IS MAY 14, 2021.

You are of course free to jump the gun and post to your own social media and tag me. I will almost certainly see and share it. My social tags are pretty easy to find:

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/TikTok/Twitch/Reddit/Pinterest: @www.petervbrett.comrett

YouTube: PeterVBrett (I should fix that one of these days…)

But when it comes time to pick a winner, I will be using the emails to make sure I haven’t forgotten anyone, so this is an important step if you are in it to win it. I won’t disqualify anyone on purpose, but honest word, you don’t want to trust my memory.

3) Enjoy as I do my best to share every entry across the various social media.

I’ll try to do roundups here on the blog, but no promises about consistency until I get a new assistant. Book writing > Blog writing.

4) Dream of Prizes!

ARCs! I have 4 US Advance Read copies of THE DESERT PRINCE from Del Rey Books earmarked for this contest. (And at least one more marked for some other giveaway, TBD). Sometimes I can puppy eye the publisher into giving us more, or acquire some UK copies when/if they decide to make ARCs.

Signed books! I’ve got a mountain of books, from rare editions of novellas to piles of Warded Man paperbacks, all earmarked for giveaway.

Other prizes! If there are just too many awesome entries to choose from, I also have samples of Warded Hollow Klats from Shirepost Mint and Warded Jewelry from Badali Jewelry.

Signed bookplates will be sent to thank all entrants, as always.

5) Winners will be announced Monday May 17.

Prizes will ship (reasonably) soon after.

Beginning… now!

Posted on April 29, 2021 at 6:23 pm by PeatB
Filed under Australia, Badali, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chinese, Contests, Cosplay, Czech, Denmark, Desert Prince, Desert Prince ARC Contest, Estonia, Fan Art, Fans, Favorite Character, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Shire Post Mint, Taiwan, Tattoos, UK, Warded Art, World Traveler, Writing
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I am SO excited to finally reveal the US cover for THE DESERT PRINCE painted by the amazing Tommy Arnold and coming August 3, 2021 from Del Rey Books.

We worked so hard to get the look and feel right for Olive Jardir Paper, and Tommy nailed it, along with the incredible descriptive border incorporating wards, demons, and gorgeous story elements.

Read a sample chapter Here.

UK cover is forthcoming soon. Watch this space!

Posted on March 9, 2021 at 11:41 am by PeatB
Filed under Uncategorized
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At long last, I am excited to announce that THE DESERT PRINCE is with the copyeditor! In production terms, this means there are no structural or editorial changes left to make, just nitpicking over grammar and style, checking of math and timelines, that sort of thing. Sometimes a copyeditor finds a glitch, but it’s never one that has required more than a few hours’ work to correct.

I realize there has been a longer than usual gap between books. I’ve prided myself on delivering a book every 2 years, something I have done consistently since I was first published more than a decade ago. Some of the extra time was due to reimagining a new cast and landscape for the next generation of Demon Cycle stories. Some of it came with the change in writing style as I shifted from a close third-person narrative to a more intimate first-person point of view.

And some of the delay—a significant portion if I am to be honest—was due to the various trials of 2020—the worldwide ramifications of COVID-19 and the accompanying social and political change that came with it. A lot of folks had to leave their office and adjust to work from home, but writers suddenly found themselves with a crowd in their previously serene writing space.

But now, with the major revisions finally in the rearview mirror, we can look ahead. THE DESERT PRINCE, for all its growing pains, is a book that I am incredibly proud of, and I think it will be something both new readers and longtime Demon Cycle fans will adore. Olive and Darin and the rest of the new cast will, I hope, steal your hearts as quickly and completely as they did mine.

A number of publication dates have been floating around for the series launch—some from guesstimates by others, and some from me based on what I understood at the time—but now, after consultation with my editors, we have at last finalized dates for worldwide English release. Translation dates will follow soon as international partners build off these timelines, and I will report those when I have them.

THE DESERT PRINCE will be available in print, eBook and audio wherever awesome books are sold on: August 3, 2021 in the US; August 4, 2021 in Australia; and August 5, 2021 in the UK.

(This slight variation is due to the normal release days for new books in those territories. Tuesdays in the US, Wednesdays in AU, and Thursdays in the UK.)

We believe this date will offer the best chance for us to return to live events in bookstores and conventions to celebrate the launch, as well as continuing the virtual events many readers have enjoyed over the past year. While no one can say for sure what the landscape will be like next year, my plan is to travel as much as I am able to meet readers, sign books, answer questions, and see you all again after such a long time apart. We will also partner with vendors to find a way to offer signed books online or at local stores to those who are not able to attend.

There is a lot of exciting material to look forward to in the coming weeks. Cover art, character designs, new wards, and some first peeks into what has changed in the Demon Cycle world in the 15 years that have passed since the climactic events of The Core.

I can’t wait to share it all with you. Thank you for your patience as everyone on the team worked to make this very special new series the best it could possibly be.

Posted on December 17, 2020 at 4:53 pm by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Audiobook, Australia, Desert Prince, Events, Sales, UK, World Traveler, Writing
6 Comments »

Hey all. Late again, I know. Time is just a vague notion these days. It seems to drag on moment to moment, and yet the weeks have flown by. But while I have not been keeping to the spirit my promise to pick winners every Friday by announcing them, I have followed it to the letter, choosing favorites and working with Dominik Broniek to bring those readers’ favorite scenes to life.

Before we go into details, the Demon Cycle Quarantine Contest is still accepting entries! Also, with regard to prizes, every entry remains in the running. There are so many wonderful entries to choose from, and honestly, I love giving out prizes. When the Brooklyn Post Offices become less of a infection hot spot, I will offer some runner-up prizes, as well.

We have the first two prizes!

Laetitia requested a portrait of Bruna and Leesha just enjoying a quiet tea in the Herb Gatherer’s hut during Leesha’s apprenticeship in The Warded Man.

Dominik Broniek really came through with this heartwarming picture of one of the series’ most beloved characters (and also Leesha).

The small number of illustrations in the Demon Cycle novels tends to restrict them to exciting, pivotal moments of the series, often full of action and movement. That makes it extra lovely to have gentler images like this one come out of this contest.

One of these days, I am going to find time for the Bruna novella I wrote a rough outline for a few years back…

Róbert Zelei, who works as translator for a few of my books in Hungarian, is a Wonda Cutter Stan, and requested Dominik capture a very specific moment from Desert Spear.

When Arlen casually shows off his hidden weapons cache and the treasures he’s collected from ruins of the old world, Rojer whoops with joy to find a perfectly preserved classic violin. But despite riches and art piled to the ceiling, Wonda and Gared both agree they liked the weapons room better.

Like the Leesha and Bruna moment, this scene isn’t something that would ever have made it onto the list of top 18 moments Dominik captured in the Polish edition of Desert Spear, and generally word balloons are frowned upon in book illustrations, which makes it extra delicious.

There were a lot of other fantastic contest since my last post. You can see the full collection in this Quarantine Warding Contest Album, but here are some callouts:

The April 24 winner was the mysterious @Mbeaureg6 from twitter, whose partner made him this fantastic warded face mask to keep the viral demons at bay. NGL I kinda want one, too, even if Peter B. Parker says it’s gauche to wear your own merch.

His first request was an illustration of a greatward, but the scale of such a picture made it difficult, so his second choice was One Arm breaching the Wall of Krasia. Dominik is working on that one, now.

The May 1 winner was Shanna from Plushes by Oh Joy. In her words: “I have always been jealous of Renna’s warded brookstone necklace, now I have a piece of self warded jewelry of my own! I took a break from homeschooling my kids and sewing face masks to make this warded bracelet. It was a nice little project to calm the nerves and now I can feel a bit safer walking in the naked night.”

Her request, next on Dominik’s docket, is: “I would love to see an illustration of Ashia and the sharum’ting kicking ass fighting demons and putting their arrogant male counterparts to shame.”

I haven’t picked a scene yet to fill this request, so if you have a favorite Sharum’ting scene from any of the books, post it in the comments and maybe we’ll bring it to life!

Last but absolutely not least, there was a surprise entry in the contest from my daughter Cassandra, who warded her most precious possession, her iPhone.

We’re all struggling to manage our new schedule, and Cassandra has been glued to her computer and phone for both schoolwork and gaming. It made me so happy to see she carved out some time to be creative.

That’s all for this post. I will try to be better about doing these updates weekly, but no promises. I do promise that winning entries will continue to be selected and prizes worked on, even if I can’t find time away from Daddy Daycare and working on Desert Prince revisions to get a blog done.

There’s still time to enter! Ward something, anything, and send a picture to contest@www.petervbrett.com!

Stay safe out there.

Posted on May 5, 2020 at 3:34 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Warded Art, Warding Contest
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Hey All. I promised to pick winners every Friday for the warding contest, and I have done so, but I totally forgot to post last Friday’s pick. It’s almost as if some world-changing event is stealing some of my focus and ability to concentrate. No idea what that could be.

Things in the Brett household are as well as one might hope. Cassandra is adapting to google classroom and Sirena is bouncing off the walls, but excited to have her family home more. None of us have been sick, and since Lauren works for a large hospital system, her job is pretty secure. I’m making decent progress on The Desert Prince, all things considered. I am 2/3 of the way through the 2nd draft. It’s the most intense rewrite I’ve done since Warded Man, but I am genuinely thrilled with how it’s coming along. Publishing and the convention economy are in a dark place, as is my home city of New York, but I’m trying not to think about it too much. We could all use a distraction these days.

Speaking of which, there have been some AMAZING entries in the Quarantine Warding Contest (QWC)! You can see all the entries in this album on my public Facebook author page, but I’d like to call out a few special ones, before posting the current winners.

NOTE: ALL ENTRIES ARE STILL IN PLAY FOR PRIZES. See guidelines for entry in my previous post. I will likely add some other prizes once the world spins back up and it’s safe to haul piles of signed books to the post office.

This handsome little Deliverer is Arlen Connell, whose mother Montana made him a warded onesie to go with the warded necklace from Badali Jewelry that I sent to keep him safe until he’s old enough to protect himself from the things lurking in dark places.

I jokingly made a promise to send warded jewelry to every newborn named after a Demon Cycle character, and I am thrilled to report it’s meant a lot of shipments. Especially in times when real world problems are so pronounced, it’s easy to feel like entertainment work like mine is meaningless. Seeing little faces like Arlen’s reminds me that my work touches people in its own way. <3

We ward that which is most precious to us. Jasmyn Robinson submitted beautiful images of her artfully warded page edges, and they are just fantastic.

If only books had been so protected when the corelings Returned, the world of the Demon Cycle might be in a very different place. But it’s good to have the reminder that no matter how bad things get, there is always a way back for the world. Humans have a long history of picking up the pieces and building something better.

The wonderful Tracy Robinson (no relation to Jazmyn so far as I know) decided to represent some of her favorite books in a brilliant tattoo, and (quite wisely) included a mind ward.

Tracy is a longtime reader who I’ve met several times in book tour. She is always a bright spot and a welcome face in the crowd. On the Core tour she helped me find food after an evening signing ended after all the restaurants were closed.

Tracy is good people. She sent in another entry as well, a Minecraft ward, which absolutely THRILLED my eldest daughter. You can see it in the facebook album, and I will post here and on the socials soon.

On to the initial winners!

The first, announced two weeks ago, is Laëtitia from France, who I had the pleasure of meeting at a signing in Paris last year. Laëtitia had one of the very first entries with her embroidered water ward to protect against virus-laden water droplets, coupled with some sound advice.

Those who can, keep in safe succor. And take care of those who can’t—your Warders, Messengers and Herb Gatherers—in these dark and trying times.

Her illustration request was for a portrait of Leesha and Bruna, which Dominik Broniek is already hard at work on. I’ve seen the sketches and they are great.

The current week’s prize goes to Róbert Zelei, who also translated my books into Hungarian.

In his own words: “I work at a medical university as a secretary, so I see the work of doctors and nurses every day. I guess that was the main inspiration for the drawing: the unsung, tireless healer many rely on. The image, like some of my previous drawings, was adapted from a painting, by William Hatherell, of a nurse during wartime.”

If you’re interested in seeing the original Hatherell piece, here is a convenient link.

Róbert requested a portrait of Wonda Cutter, and gave a couple of great suggestions. I’m working with Dominik now to bring them to life.

Thanks to EVERYONE who entered so far, and if you’re feeling inspired, please read the entry guidelines and join in the fun. I’ll post more entries when I announce the next winner ~Friday.

Stay safe.

Posted on April 21, 2020 at 4:49 pm by PeatB
Filed under Badali, Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, France, Hungary, Tattoos, UK, Warded Art, Warding Contest
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