To My Readers:
Tomorrow morning I fly off to Louisville, Kentucky to attend Rivercon XXV at the Executive West Hotel. I'm one of the convention guests, and will be doing the usual sorts of programming -- a reading, some panels, an autograph session.
Rivercon will also feature an auction on behalf of DUFF (the Down Under Fan Fund), a fannish charity that sends deserving SF/fantasy from the US to attend Australian cons, and Australian fans to American cons. I've always supported DUFF, and the auction will include some signed copies of my older novels.
My author's copies of A STORM OF SWORDS are newly arrived from my British publisher, however, and I have decided to bring a copy of the hardcover for inclusion in the DUFF auction. The book won't be out for another couple of weeks in England, and the American edition is not scheduled until October.
So if any of you are planning to attend Rivercon, and want to help support a good cause and get an advance copy of A STORM OF SWORDS at the same time, come to the DUFF auction and bid, bid, and bid.
And if there is anyone who is too far from Louisville, who nonetheless would like to bid... my lady Parris has offered to volunteer as a proxy bidder. Write her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and tell her how high you are willing to go, and she will attend the DUFF auction and bid for the book on your behalf, up to your limit.
It shouldn't be long now, at least for those of you in the UK.
The books are back from the printers, and my editor at HarperCollins was kind enough to overnight me the first advance copy. I am holding it in my hands right now. There are many rewards in being a writer, but none as sweet, I think, as opening the first copy of your latest book. Makes it all worthwhile.
The British bookshops should be getting their shipments in a week or two, I would estimate. Just when they put the copies out, I couldn't say.
To answer some of the questions that have arisen about my last news item --
"Path of the Dragon" will be the cover story in the December 2000 issue of ASIMOV'S. Readers can subscribe to the magazine by going to [url=http://www.asimovs.com]http://www.asimovs.com[/url] and filling in the appropriate form. If you want only the one issue, however, you'll need to find a newstand or bookstore where it's on sale.
Some people have inquired about obtaining "Blood of the Dragon," which appeared in ASIMOV's a few years ago.The magazine itself does not sell back issues, but occasionally they're offeredfor sale on a random basis on sites such as abebooks.com,bibliofind, and ebay.
I wanted to pass along the word that ASIMOV'S SF MAGAZINE will be publishing an excerpt from A STORM OF SWORDS, in the form of a novella entitled "Path of the Dragon."
As with "Blood of the Dragon," the novella excerpted from A GAME OF THRONES a few years ago, the story will consist of some of the Daenerys sections from the book. We could not include the entirety of Dany's story, for reasons of length; "Path of the Dragon" will cover roughly a third to a half of her portion of the book.
I am told that ASIMOV'S will feature the novella on its cover, with a painting by Bob Eggleton.
[Note: The precise date, beyond July 2000, is unknown.]