Flashback Blog Tour 5/13

Thanks to Andi’s Book Reviews for interviewing me today about Flashback.  You can read an excerpt from the novel on her site as well.  Read all about it here.

Check back tomorrow for the next stop on the tour.

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Flashback Blog Tour

Starting Monday I’ll embark on a blog tour for Flashback.  Look for a mix of guest posts, reviews and excerpts to be posted around the ‘net.  Check here for day-by-day updates about where I’ve been and where I’ll be next.  You can also follow my Twitter feed (@JaredSandman), where I’ll be tweeting tidbits throughout the tour.  Spread the word, tell your friends, and thanks for sharing.

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James Newman

James Newman is a great writer and a better person who suffered a bizarre accident over the weekend when a tree limb fell on him and broke his arm.  He specializes in southern Gothic stories and psychological horror.  His latest book, Ugly as Sin, has racked up some terrific reviews, and his first novel, Midnight Rain, was a powerhouse that’s recently been released as an ebook.  You really can’t go wrong with Newman’s work.  If you’re a fan of my books, chances are good you’ll dig his too.  So why don’t you pick up a copy? You won’t regret it.

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Batman 75th Anniversary

Batman turns 75 this year, so DC Entertainment is planning a year-long tribute to the Caped Crusader, like they did last year when Superman turned 75.  As part of those celebrations, DC has released a couple new clips of the Batman in action.

The best thing about these clips is that Kevin Conroy is back as the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne.  Who’s Kevin Conroy, you ask?

Kevin Conroy is Batman.  Not Adam West.  Not Michael Keaton.  Not George Clooney, Val Kilmer or Christian Bale.  The others are actors playing a role; Conroy, however, has given voice to Batman for over twenty years.

More than that, Conroy is my Batman.  I grew up with Batman the Animated Series, which in my opinion ranks as the greatest Batman interpretation in any medium.  The animation, the storytelling, the voice acting and the musical scores were all top-notch.  Bruce Timm and Warner Brothers weren’t creating an after-school cartoon for kids so much as crafting 22-minute movies entertaining enough for all generations.  I own the four seasons on DVD, and they still hold up two decades later.  (I’m impartial to the fourth season, after the unnecessary character redesigns made to the bring the show in line with the Tim Daly Superman series.  The scripts were still great, but that lack of continuity irks me to this day.  And don’t get me started on Batman Beyond . . . )

Batman is my favorite superhero because there’s nothing super about him.  He’s just a guy.  A guy with a ton of money and serious psychological issues.  Plus he’s got the strangest, coolest rogue’s gallery of villains in all of comicdom.

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Hugo Award Nominees

This year’s Hugo Award nominees were announced over the weekend.  Winners will be revealed in August.  Congratulations to all the nominees.  (This list taken from The Hugo Awards.)

Best Novel

  • Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US/Orbit UK)
  • Neptune’s Brood, Charles Stross (Ace / Orbit UK)
  • Parasite, Mira Grant (Orbit US/Orbit UK)
  • Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles, Larry Correia (Baen Books)
  • The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books / Orbit UK)

Best Novella

  • The Butcher of Khardov, Dan Wells (Privateer Press)
  • “The Chaplain’s Legacy”, Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jul-Aug 2013)
  • “Equoid”, Charles Stross (Tor.com, 09-2013)
  • Six-Gun Snow White, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean Press)
  • “Wakulla Springs”, Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages (Tor.com, 10-2013)

Best Novelette

  • “Opera Vita Aeterna”, Vox Day (The Last Witchking, Marcher Lord Hinterlands)
  • “The Exchange Officers”, Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jan-Feb 2013)
  • “The Lady Astronaut of Mars”, Mary Robinette Kowal (maryrobinettekowal.com/Tor.com, 09-2013)
  • “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”, Ted Chiang (Subterranean, Fall 2013)
  • “The Waiting Stars”, Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky, Candlemark & Gleam)

Best Short Story

  • “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love”, Rachel Swirsky (Apex Magazine, Mar-2013)
  • “The Ink Readers of Doi Saket”, Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor.com, 04-2013)
  • “Selkie Stories Are for Losers”, Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons, Jan-2013)
  • “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere”, John Chu (Tor.com, 02-2013)

Best Related Work

  • Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ Fans Who Love It, Edited by Sigrid Ellis & Michael Damian Thomas (Mad Norwegian Press)
  • Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary, Justin Landon & Jared Shurin (Jurassic London)
  • “We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative”, Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)
  • Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, Jeff VanderMeer, with Jeremy Zerfoss (Abrams Image)
  • Writing Excuses Season 8, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Jordan Sanderson

Best Graphic Story

  • Girl Genius, Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne & The Sleeping City, written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
  • “The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who”, written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Jimmy Broxton (Doctor Who Special 2013, IDW)
  • The Meathouse Man, adapted from the story by George R.R. Martin and illustrated by Raya Golden (Jet City Comics)
  • Saga, Volume 2, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics )
  • “Time”, Randall Munroe (XKCD)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

  • Frozen,screenplay by Jennifer Lee, directed by Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee (Walt Disney Studios)
  • Gravity, written by Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Esperanto Filmoj; Heyday Films; Warner Bros.)
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, screenplay by Simon Beaufoy & Michael Arndt, directed by Francis Lawrence (Color Force; Lionsgate)
  • Iron Man 3, screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black, directed by Shane Black (Marvel Studios; DMG Entertainment; Paramount Pictures)
  • Pacific Rim, screenplay by Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro, directed by Guillermo del Toro (Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros., Disney Double Dare You)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

  • An Adventure in Space and Time, written by Mark Gatiss, directed by Terry McDonough (BBC Television)
  • Doctor Who: “The Day of the Doctor”, written by Steven Moffat, directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Television)
  • Doctor Who: “The Name of the Doctor”, written by Steven Moffat, directed by Saul Metzstein (BBC Televison)
  • The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, written & directed by Peter Davison (BBC Television)
  • Game of Thrones: “The Rains of Castamere”, written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, directed by David Nutter (HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions)
  • Orphan Black: “Variations under Domestication” written by Will Pascoe, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions; Space/BBC America)

Best Editor, Short Form

  • John Joseph Adams
  • Neil Clarke
  • Ellen Datlow
  • Jonathan Strahan
  • Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form

  • Ginjer Buchanan
  • Sheila Gilbert
  • Liz Gorinsky
  • Lee Harris
  • Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist

  • Galen Dara
  • Julie Dillon
  • Daniel Dos Santos
  • John Harris
  • John Picacio
  • Fiona Staples

Best Semiprozine

  • Apex Magazine, edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore, and Michael Damian Thomas
  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies, edited by Scott H. Andrews
  • Interzone, edited by Andy Cox
  • Lightspeed Magazine, edited by John Joseph Adams, Rich Horton, and Stefan Rudnicki
  • Strange Horizons, edited by Niall Harrison, Brit Mandelo, An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Sonya Taaffe, Abigail Nussbaum, Rebecca Cross, Anaea Lay, and Shane Gavin

Best Fanzine

  • The Book Smugglers, edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James
  • A Dribble of Ink, edited by Aidan Moher
  • Elitist Book Reviews, edited by Steven Diamond
  • Journey Planet, edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Lynda E. Rucker, Pete Young, Colin Harris, and Helen J.Montgomery
  • Pornokitsch, edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin

Best Fancast

  • The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
  • Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Presenters) and Andrew Finch
    (Producer)
  • SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester
  • The Skiffy and Fanty Show, Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, Julia Rios, Paul Weimer, David Annandale, Mike Underwood, and Stina Leicht
  • Tea and Jeopardy, Emma Newman
  • Verity! Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L.M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts
  • The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond

Best Fan Writer

  • Liz Bourke
  • Kameron Hurley
  • Foz Meadows
  • Abigail Nussbaum
  • Mark Oshiro

Best Fan Artist

  • Brad W. Foster
  • Mandie Manzano
  • Spring Schoenhuth
  • Steve Stiles
  • Sarah Webb

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

  • Wesley Chu
  • Max Gladstone*
  • Ramez Naam*
  • Sofia Samatar*
  • Benjanun Sriduangkaew

*Finalists in their 2nd year of eligibility.

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Flashback on Sale Now

Last week Flashback went on sale at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Expect it to roll out shortly in other venues for Kobo, the iBookstore, etc.  Because the book is now available, I’ll cut off preorders through the site here.  Those books are on their way to me, at which point I’ll sign them and pop them back in the mail.  (All of my novels are available via the website, so it’s not like you won’t be able to snag a copy at any point in the future.  I keep extra copies of each on hand for that very reason.)

As always, thanks for reading my books.

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Link Olio

Here’s a great article from Shock Till You Drop about would-be horror movies that never made it into production.  Some of these sound great — The Van Helsing Chronicles, an adaptation of McCammon’s Stinger, Vertigo’s House of Secrets — while others sound downright dreadful.  (Who wants to see Ice Cube fight werewolves in the film Stray Dawgz?  Nobody.  The answer is nobody.)

And for advice about good movies, listen to William Goldman (multi-Oscar-winning screenwriter).

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Link Olio

Couple bits of interest this time around:

A good article from Huffington Post about creativity.  If you’re a writer, this will all sound very familiar.

Go Into the Story, one of the top screenwriting sites on the ‘net, has released a plethora of movie scripts, many of which recently swept Hollywood’s award season.  From dramas to comedies to animated fare, there’s something for everyone.

And finally a short movie that’s made the rounds online, creepy enough for only being three minutes long.  Sleep tight.

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Flashback

Flashback will go on sale by the end of this month, available in print and as an ebook.  Anyone who wants to preorder a copy can check out the special 20% discount I’m running through THE SHOP.  All preorders will be signed, of course.

This is the first mystery novel I’ve written, what I call a why-dunnit (otherwise known as an inverted detective story).  If you’re a regular reader of my supernatural work, you’ll probably get a kick out of this one too.  The main character is a B-movie star, so there are enough genre references and in-jokes to hold any horror fan’s attention.

LIGHTS!

In the annals of Hollywood cinema, the name Gregory Kincaid is as synonymous with Jack the Ripper as Bela Lugosi to Dracula.  He portrayed the infamous serial murderer in half a dozen films, spanning a five-decade career filled with monster movies and sci-fi schlock.  Twenty years ago, weary of celebrity’s harsh spotlight, he withdrew from public life, never to be seen again — until now.

CAMERA!

After a wartime accident seriously injures journalist Jenny Pearce, she turns her attention to reporting entertainment news.  More comfortable on frontlines than the red carpet, she jumps at the opportunity to track down the notoriously reclusive Kincaid.

ACTION!

The damaged pair forges an unlikely friendship, working together to write the actor’s memoir.  Except someone doesn’t want Kincaid’s tell-all all told, somebody who aims to protect secrets best left buried.  Fighting for their lives, Kincaid and Pearce are forced to unravel a murder mystery gone unsolved for over seventy years.

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Link Olio

Although I’ve never been to Dark Delicacies, I have met owner Del Howison on several occasions and know he runs a wonderful store in Burbank, CA.  Here’s an article about Del and his wife Sue that appeared recently from LA Weekly.

And here’s a video interview with Robert McCammon, possibly my favorite living writer, conducted at the World Horror Convention a couple years back.  He talks about writing, abandoned manuscripts, the reasons why he walked away from the publishing business and more.  Well worth an hour of your time.

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