Category Archives: novel

Thing One and Thing Two

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Time for another update, since things have happened. Things don’t always happen, you know. It’s that whole “Feast or Famine” situation I’ve mentioned before. Most days the only update would be, “Wrote XXXX number of words today. Can’t think straight. It all looks like garbage right now.” I mean, can you imagine 360 blog posts exactly like that, with maybe five about something else? No one would read that. Heck, *I* wouldn’t read that.

Ahem. Getting off course a little bit. The things: First of all Rich Horton has picked up “The Manor of Lost Time” from Beneath Ceaseless Skies #150 for his Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015. This will be the first time I’ve had work in one of Rich’s YBs, so I’m pleased.

The other thing goes a little beyond a reprint fee and an ego boost: Both books in the Yamada Monogatari series, Demon Hunter and To Break the Demon Gate are “Out of Stock.” Now, this does not mean that there are none left. Amazon and B&N still have a few of Demon Hunter and a few more of To Break the Demon Gate, but the book’s distributor does not have any more. Which means that the distributor cannot fulfill new orders and there is a backlog of orders waiting, especially with the second book. As a result, TBTDG is going back to press for an extra 1500 copies, which brings the total run up to 4500. Bear in mind, Prime Books is a relatively small publisher, so this is a big deal. It’s even possible that DH will get a reprint as well, though that has not been determined.

Now it’s likely that the next in the series, The War God’s Son, will get a larger initial run. I’m happy, the publisher is happy (astonished, but happy), though with larger runs comes larger expectations. We’ll see how it goes, but for now at least it’s a Good Thing.

Publisher’s Weekly Comes Through

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeOne problem with the writer existence is that it’s feast or famine, and there is an awful lot of famine. But, now and then, a feast. Last night I got an IM from my publisher telling me to check my email, and sitting there was a link to a Star Review in Publisher’s Weekly for Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate. I’ve only gotten one of those before. You can read the entire review here, but one takeaway is in the final line.

“Playing with Japanese demonology and political scandal, Parks creates an absorbing and original tale.”

I’d only quibble with the first line of the review, wherein I am proclamined to be “prolific,” which I know I am not, or at least not nearly enough. As for the rest, you can’t beat that, not even with a really big stick.

Yamada Monogatari: The War God’s Son — Audible Update

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Break The Demon Gates endpapersI just got the news that Audible.com has made an offer for the third Yamada Book, The War God’s Son, so there will be an audiobook edition of this one as well. Word is they want the fourth one too, only there’s the slight technicality that it isn’t written yet.

I hope they’re able to get Brian Nishii to do the narration again, but that’s something to be determined later. In the meantime the third book actually is written, turned in, and scheduled for release in October of this year from Prime Books.

Capsule Description:

“With the Abe clan and its allies in full rebellion, the Emperor’s greatest military leader, Minamoto Yoshiie, is targeted for assassination by magic. It is up to the newly sober Lord Yamada and his exorcist associate Kenji to keep the young man alive long enough to put down the uprising before the entire country is consumed by war. Yamada knows how to deal with demons, monsters, and angry ghosts, but the greatest threat of all is one final assassin, hidden in a place where no one—especially Lord Yamada—would ever think to look.”

Locus New and Notable – February 2015

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeYamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate made the Locus New and Notable list for February. My books have made the list a few times and it’s always cool. Especially when they say things like this:

“Parks is a versatile fantasy writer, but he excels at fiction inspired by Japanese culture and mythology, and this is no exception.”

Granted, in reviewer-speak “versatile” is often a euphemism for, “Would you find one kind of thing to write and stick to it, please?” Regardless, I consider it a compliment of the highest order.

 

Things I Like–Haxan

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FoxSince I’m not putting up a section of Power’s Shadow today, I thought I’d add a little to the very occasional “Things I Like” motif. Which in this case, to be fair, is oversimplifying things just a tad. I’m going to talk a little bit about a novel titled Quaternity, by Kenneth Mark Hoover. It’s due out from CZP/HarperCollins on March 31st.

Full disclosure—Mark’s an old friend. We were in a writing group together for several years and I got to watch him grow as a writer first hand. He’s a versatile guy and I knew him first for his science fiction, but he really started to hit his stride when he turned his attention to the Weird Western, specifically a character named John Marwood, a U.S. Marshall based in the town of Haxan, New Mexico Territory. Marwood isn’t your ordinary lawman. He may not even be completely human, as we understand the term. He’s also a lot older than he looks and—to be blunt about it—he’s a stone cold killer. He has to be. Continue reading →