Jared Sandman

Been busy with the proofs of my next novel.  It will be on sale later this month, so check back for updates.  For now, here’s the cover and synopsis.

*****

THE HUNT HAS BEEN SOUNDED

The ghoulish horsemen of the Wild Hunt are cursed to ride forever as part of the Furious Host.  Criminals and sadists in life, their savagery knows no bounds in the afterlife.  Their leader, the hellish Lord of the Hunt, has come to reclaim what was stolen from him so many decades ago . . .

A TOWN FROZEN IN FEAR

The village of Wodanfield doesn’t celebrate the holidays.  Its citizens stay locked indoors during the yuletide.  Only a few are old enough to know why, because they remember the evil that is returning.  When Erik and Allie Herne move to Wodanfield, they consider the natives’ odd habits to be charming small-town quirks.  Until their neighbor, Ivan Hertz, reveals the truth . . .

 A PAYMENT IN BLOOD

As mutilated corpses stack up and the body count rises, the Hernes become aware they’re connected to the ongoing violence.  Because now the Host is after Allie, and they won’t stop ‘til she’s dead.  Forced to transform herself into a warrior from a bygone era, she confronts the undead menace.  Only then does she realize there’s no escaping . . .

THE WILD HUNT

Amazon’s selling my novel LEVIATHAN for almost one-third off the cover price.  Instead of the regular $15, buy it for $10.80.  I don’t know how long they’ll be discounting it, so pick up a copy now. 

Best price on the ‘net:  http://bit.ly/aE03cd

Rapper Jay-Z has a memoir coming out next month from Random House.  The list price is $35.  Ouch.  You’ll be able to pick it up for cheaper at your local retailer.  But still, $35?  The Big Six just keep pricing themselves out of the marketplace.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/business/media/18adco.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1287403323-plCBKQtVsRKkrRjz9sBBTw

I bring your attention to this manuscript because of a development I knew would eventually hit mainstream publishing:  ads in books.  Microsoft is buying ad space inside the book to promote their new search engine, Bing.

It seems like a natural progression.  Magazines have ads — in fact, many periodicals are merely booklets of ads, with articles thrown in as filler.  Why not books?  My beef isn’t with the ads themselves.  I’ll do what I always do when presented with a page of advertisement in a magazine . . . ignore it and turn the page.  I’m more concerned with who benefits from this additional revenue stream.

If Microsoft paid ten thousand dollars for the sponsorship (a figure I choose only because it’s round; they probably paid significantly more), does the full ten grand go to Random House?  Or does the author also get a cut?  A 50/50 split between publisher and writer wouldn’t be bad, but I’d never accuse the Big Six of being so generous.

This will become much more prevalent in non-fiction than fiction.  Non-fiction has more opportunities for direct involvement with advertisers.  Not to mention cross-promotion.  Imagine ads for Fox News inside Sarah Palin’s new book, which is published by HarperCollins, of course (all owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp).  A level of commercial incest so unnatural, it rips a hole in the universe itself.  Or CBS Records advertising the music CD of their latest recording artist inside another rapper’s memoir published by Simon & Schuster (which is owned by Columbia Broadcasting). 

You’ll see this encroach on some fiction titles too, mostly from authors who are more interested in making money than telling stories.  James Patterson’s books are perfect for advertisements.  His novels are filled with so many chapters of such short length, half the book becomes white space.  Just add a tag at the end of each chapter:  YOUR AD HERE.

I would never sink to such indignity.

-j.s.

This post brought to you by Skittles:  TASTE THE RAINBOW.

I now have an author page through Amazon’s Author Central program.

Check it out, Jared Sandman on Amazon:  http://bit.ly/cD0XP4

View photos, my biography, upcoming booksignings and join the forum discussion of LEVIATHAN.

This came out of Publishers’ Weekly today:  http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/macmillan-starts-filmtv-division-to-produce-book-based-fare/

I wonder what this means for writers.  If Macmillan starts up its own TV/movie division, will it cull exclusively from its own literary properties?  And will this lead to a future where publishers inherently expect to be granted movie rights for a book (for no additional compensation, of course)?

Random House Films has been doing some similar for the last few years, with mixed results.  Simon and Schuster is owned by CBS/Viacom, which itself has CBS Films.  If these media conglomerates solicit work from in-house, will signing with a Big Six publisher be the same as signing away your screen rights?

Film rights are the most juicy rights a writer has, more lucrative than print rights in many cases.  Now that three of the Big Six are in the Hollywood game, how long until Penguin and HarperCollins follow suit?  Not so much for Hachette though, as they got out of movies when Time Warner sold out to them.

After watching “The Big Bang” yesterday, I might’ve worked out Moffat’s master plan (or a large portion, anyway).  I’ve really enjoyed the fairy tale elements of Series 5.  I like the idea of using fantasy precepts to tell a sci-fi story.  And the ending, Amy literally “wishing” her imaginary friend into existence, was a high note on which to end.

This multi-series storyline covers the 11^th Doctor’s character arc, from Raggedy Doctor to something darker.  It’s not about Omega.  It’s not about Rassilon or the Master.  It’s all about the Valeyard.

Nobody’s born evil.  People are tricked and twisted into doing bad things; the same holds true of the Valeyard.  The Doctor’s 12^th incarnation is laying the foundation to bring himself into being, getting Doctor 11 to a place emotionally and psychologically where his transformation into the Valeyard isn’t such a stretch.  The 12^th Doctor’s leaving traps for the 11^th (and, I suspect, the 13^th Doctor may be doing the same to thwart the 12^th).  The 12th Doctor is trying to assassinate the 11th, because only then can he be born.

The series grows progressively bleaker as the 11^th becomes corrupted by the 12^th.  Moffat’s already introduced a careful plant in the Dream Lord.  The show’s “new” audience is now aware the Doctor harbors great darkness.  There’s something sinister inside him that yearns to be free.  “There’s only one person in the universe that hates me as much as you do.”

There are two ways to play the Valeyard:  straight-up evil, so evil he out-Masters the Master.  This is unlikely since he is still the Doctor.  And you can’t have the Doctor go around harming innocent people.  That’d make for a rubbish show. 

More likely is a Jekyll/Hyde approach.  The 12^th Doctor has split personalities; the Valeyard does horrible things whilst the good Doctor’s oblivious.  Only at the series’ climax does he realize these tragedies are connected to himself, the Valeyard’s handiwork all along.  If anyone can leverage this angle convincingly, it’s Moffat.  Look at what he did with Jekyll, which is essentially the same concept.

Other clues I noticed this year.  When the Alliance traps the Doctor in the Pandorica, one Dalek says:  “Only the Doctor can pilot the TARDIS.”  Which one?  It’s plausible the Valeyard hijacked the TARDIS to explode.  He chose the specific time and place of Amy’s house and her wedding day, because he knew the 11th Doctor would be there.  (Culled from his own memories:  wibbly wobbly timey wimey.)

Two scenarios:  the Valeyard cobbled together the Alliance — the 12^th Doctor vicariously imprisons the 11^th.  Or conversely, the 13^th created the Pandorica to save the 11^th.  Not built as a prison after all, it’s an escape pod (think Max Capricorn in his Titanic bunker).  The one place the Doctor would be safe if the universe is destroyed.  Imagine the 12^th and 13^th Doctors fighting across their own timestream, using 11 as a pawn.

We know River Song killed “the best man I’ve ever known.”  Like many people, I read that to mean the Doctor.  But not any Doctor . . . the Valeyard.  A diabolical Doctor who’s gone rogue, and the only person in the cosmos who can stop him is River.  Her true purpose is to neutralize the Valeyard; once he’s defeated, the “real” Doctor (13 perhaps, or a reformed 12 “with a new haircut and a suit”) rewards her.  She’s granted “immortality” by the Good Wizard via his magic wand (sonic). 

How did the most powerful warrior of all time become trapped in the Pandorica?  Some say a good wizard tricked him.  (“I hate good wizards in fairy tales.  They always turn out to be him.”)  And this is no different, the Doctor tinkering with his own timeline.

Practically, there are other matters to consider.  Moffat signed a multi-year contract with the Beeb.  Five years?  Six?  More than enough time to cover the tenures of the 11^th and 12^th Doctors (not to mention River’s jumbled storyline).  After the Valeyard’s conquered, Moffat steps aside for the next showrunner to start fresh with lucky Doctor 13.