The Return of Peter Octavian...and more!

My first novel, OF SAINTS AND SHADOWS, was published in 1994. Yep, fifteen years ago. Seems like yesterday, but I've written more books in the intervening years than most authors manage in a lifetime, and I've got more ideas left in me than I'll ever be able to put down on paper.

And yet...certain characters always call to me. There are several, but foremost among them are Jenna Blake (of the Body of Evidence series) and, of course, Peter Octavian. The installments in the series heretofore known as The Shadow Saga are all out of print now (SAINTS stayed in print without a break for fourteen years, a hell of a run), and I've seen some of them on e-bay and used at Amazon for as much as $200 or more. I get e-mails every single day from people looking for the series or individual books from the series (the other three are ANGEL SOULS AND DEVIL HEARTS, OF MASQUES AND MARTYRS and THE GATHERING DARK).

I've been saying for years that I would come back to the series eventually. This fall and winter, I will. I've made a deal with Ace Books for the brand new, fifth book in the series, tentatively entitled WAKING NIGHTMARES. It won't see print until fall of 2011, but in the meantime...

Starting sometime late next year, Ace will be reissuring the first four books in the series with brand new covers, each subtitled "A Peter Octavian Novel." OF SAINTS AND SHADOWS will carry a brief introduction by Charlaine Harris.

In related news, the entire series, including the new, fifth book, has also sold to Simon & Schuster UK for publication for the very first time in the United Kingdom. The new book will be published simultaneously in the UK.

The series has also been published in France and Russia, though I'm not certain yet about the subsequent books. My Russian publisher, Eksmo, has been hugely supportive and have published at least half a dozen of my novels already.

Earlier this month, I had the great pleasure of visiting St. Petersburg, Russia, but never managed to get to the bookstore to see my books on the shelves there. You can imagine, then, how grateful I was to receive an e-mail from the beautiful Daria--our tour guide in St. Petersburg--who did me the enormous favor of going to the bookstore and taking these pictures. The covers you see are for ANGEL SOULS AND DEVIL HEARTS, THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN, and THE MYTH HUNTERS.


Thanks Daria!


And to those of you who've supported Peter Octavian all these years and have been calling for his return, I hope this news makes you smile. I can't wait to return to that world, and see what havoc I can wreak.

More on the New Dead

By now a lot of you have seen the cover to THE NEW DEAD, but I've posted it here. F***ing awesome. And you have probably already heard about the signed limited edition hardcover of the book from Subterranean Press...for which I would post a link, except the book sold out in something like four days, though you should go over and see what other exceptional books Bill has available.

Now comes news that Piatkus will be publishing THE NEW DEAD in the United Kingdom on the same day as it appears in the U.S....though under the title ZOMBIE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE UNDEAD. I'm told the cover will be roughly the same, though carrying the alternate title.

Looking at this cover makes me strangely hungry...