Cover Reveal for Oberon plus Tattoos!
OMG SUCH GOOD STUFF HERE AND I AM CAPSLOCK EXCITED
but i will balance that with no caps here: ahhh, yeah, that’s chill
I have two pretty dang spiffy things to share with you. First, thanks to a bunch of diehard Iron Druid fans who wanted to see the full design for Druidic tattoos, we now have them because they ran a fundraiser to pay the artist, Phil Balsman. I paid Phil to do the arm tattoos long ago, but didn’t have sufficient tacos to pay him for the full body design. Originally I was thinking folks would just use the designs for cosplay—transfer the files to temporary tattoo paper and rock a Druid for Halloween or a comic con or whatever. But much to my surprise, lots of folks wanted them permanent, and they took them to their tattoo artist and rocked that too. So now, if you like, you have the whole kit and kaboodle! The link I’m providing here will take you to the new body tats, and at the top of that page you will see links to the arm tats for both Atticus and Granuaile. Should you want different animals, you can of course take the designs to your tattoo artist and have them work something up in a similar style for the animals you find groovy. GEEK OUT WITH ME PLEASE, THIS IS SO RAD.
Next thing:
Oberon’s Bathtime Stories! Last year I wrote a story per month for paid subscribers, and they basically made this collection possible: Twelve short stories in which Oberon and Starbuck learn about historical figures that Atticus met or had indirect contact with during his very long life, and which inevitably get Oberon thinking about his own.
The true joy for me: I got to address some things from the Iron Druid Chronicles that never made it into the novels, like the origin of the phrase “may harmony find you,” and Atticus’s involvement in the downfall of Rome. Plus Atticus gets to finish up the long project of restoring the earth around Tony Cabin and we finally find out what’s up with the prophecy surrounding the Triple Nonfat Double Bacon Five-Cheese Mocha.
I also tried to dial down some of the language so that younger folks can read it. I mean, yeah, there’s still the occasional ass or shit, but I don’t think (??) there are any f-bombs in there and there are no sexy times. So it’s a great entry into the world if you have younger-ish kids, and they get to learn about historical figures at the same time.
Oberon’s Bathtime Stories will be available on April 8 in ebook, print, and audio narrated by Luke Daniels. (Those who were paid subscribers last year will get the audiobook for free because that was the deal.) If you want to preorder the ebook and make my mom happy (cheap at $5.99), you can already do so at Amazon and Apple, and it should show up on other platforms in the next week. Print will be available from your favorite bookstore, or if you preorder it directly from Horned Lark Press, you’ll get a signed copy (yay!) plus an Oberon sticker—I’ll provide a link to that when it’s ready. For now, please enjoy the cover art by Phineas X. Jones, who made the doggies look so dang cute in the tub I can hardly stand it:
LOOKIT THE POODLE PORTRAIT BEHIND THEM ON THE RIGHT. THE STILL LIFE OF SAUSAGES BEHIND OBERON. STARBUCK IS SO CUTE I MIGHT DIE. It just makes me smile.
Again, my deepest thanks to all y’all who made it possible with your paid subscription. You paid me, the cover artist, and audiobook narrator Luke Daniels. Lots of you are renewed for this year, and if you aren’t a paid subscriber yet, I hope you’ll consider upgrading now. This year I’m writing Iron Druid stories featuring Atticus, Owen, Granuaile, and Gladys Who Has Seen Some Shite. You’ll get a new story each month (the first in a couple of weeks), plus some nature photos from me, and a free audiobook of the stories next year when it’s ready.
But hey, whatcha reading right now? Here’s what I’m reading.
Bunny
Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny," and seem to move and speak as one.
But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon," and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies' sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus "Workshop" where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything--instead, they "check out" large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. Suspicious, Clay engineers an analysis of the clientele's behavior, seeking help from his variously talented friends. But when they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, they discover the bookstore's secrets extend far beyond its walls. Rendered with irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave.
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