When is a book like a bus?

Advance copies are like buses. You wait around for months and nothing happens, then one day two come along at once. Happened to me yesterday when the postman staggered up the drive with a parcel of El Emperador Purpura hardbacks -- Salamandra's Spanish edition of The Purple Emperor -- plus, very much to my surprise, an early copy of Ruler of the Realm.

The Spanish book is bound with purple trim and uses a version of the cover illustration originated by DTV in Germany -- a creepy, atmospheric study of the labyrinth featured in the novel. A hefty print run is promised, so Salamandra seem to be anticipating decent sales.

Ruler of the Realm looks great. (You can see the cover on my Web site: http://www.herbiebrennan.com.) It runs to 430 pages, one page shorter than Purple Emperor and I have a half-baked idea of printing the Prologue on my Web site as a teaser. But not yet. If I do it at all, it will be closer to the publication date in October.

Meanwhile, the first draft of Faerie Lord (the fourth book of what Orla Mellling calls an 'Irish Trilogy') should be finished, barring accidents and God willing, this week, a prospect I find terrifying.