Look — cover wars!

This you have to see...

 http://editorsarticle.blogspot.ca/2012/12/cvc-6-ruler-of-realm-vs-keys-to-demon.html

GrailQuest announcement

It’s happened at last! My GrailQuest game book series from the 1980s is going digital. Here’s the official announcement from Tin Man games...

http://tinmangames.com.au/blog/

Fire*Wolf

Tin Man have just made their first announcement about their plans to bring my game books into the 21st Century as some of the most fantastic apps you are ever going to see on your computer, tablet or phone. Here’s the URL so you can read it for yourself:

 http://tinmangames.com.au/blog/?p=2762

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this. Another announcement due soon.

Fantastic New Gamebook Project

I’ve a soft spot for game books. I wrote a few of my own back in the 80s. Tin Man will be reissuing them as apps before too long, incidentally. But that’s by the by. The reason I’m posting today is I’ve just got news of a hugely exciting project in this area. An outfit called Megara Entertainment are currently working on a game book called Arcana Agency: The Thief of Memories about a paranormal detective agency.

There’s been a bit of a game book revival recently, so no surprise there. But what makes this one special (apart from a quirky third-person plot line) is that these guys plan to bring the book out in hard back and full colour throughout. That’s a real collector’s item for gamers.

You can preorder your copy and help the whole project come to fruition at http://kck.st/TQX6gr. Check it out now.

Secret Prophecy Amazon Book of the Month

Just got the news. Amazon has selected The Secret Prophecy as a best book of the month for Middle Grade for November! BOM picks receive additional marketing support with month long rotating ads, carousels, additional quick promo links on the book page & email blasts to potential readers. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Amazon.

Secret Prophecy Now on Sale

The Secret Prophecy, my new conspiracy thriller novel for teens and up, described by the critics as ‘spellbinding,’ ‘outstanding’ and a ‘masterpiece’ (he reminds you modestly) is now on sale! I thought the day would never come. So far it’s only published in America, where you should be able to get it anywhere. It’s on Amazon, B&N and all the usual on-line outlets and you can even buy it on Amazon.uk if you can’t wait for a British publisher. I’m pleased with this one and I think you’ll like it.

New Book

My first major non-fiction book in more than a decade, Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World, has now been scheduled for publication next June. I’ve been working on this one for more than forty years. Let’s hope it will prove worth the wait...

First curation

My first curation is up and running! It’s called Herbie Brennan’s Occult Archive and it’s available on BiblioBoard.

Here’s how you can find out more.

Download the app BibioBoard (free) onto your iPad. Open the app and there I will be. (Or, if I’m not, do a search for Herbie Brennan’s Occult Archive or even just Herbie Brennan.) If you don’t have an iPad or other suitable tablet, don’t lose heart: the archive will soon be available via your usual Web browser when a desktop version of BiblioBoard is launched.

A curation is a collection of various materials linked by a common theme. The BiblioLab people who run Biblioboard approached me a couple of months ago and asked for a collection on an esoteric theme.  They give you access to special software (called Nuvique) which allows you to put the collection together.  It’s quite hard work, although not so hard as writing a book, but you see the results of your efforts far more quickly than you would in conventional publishing.

I feel like I just joined the 21st Century.

Kind Words from Kirkus

Kirkus, the company who produce the world’s toughest book reviews as guidance for the trade, have just called me a ‘master of many genres’ (heh-heh) in the introductory paragraph of their pre-publication review of The Secret Prophecy. The rest of the review is only available to Kirkus subscribers until two weeks before publication in October when it goes public, but I’m reliably informed it contains words like ‘spellbinding’ and ‘outstanding.’

Masterpiece, eh?

Feeling decidedly chuffed. My new novel, The Secret Prophecy, has had its first pre-publication review in VOYA, America’s leading young adult library journal, which was kind enough to call it a ‘masterpiece.’

It’s a conspiracy theory thriller, set in the real world for once, and those who’ve read it in manuscript had a hard time putting it down.

If you enjoy that sort of thing, you can read more and access some excellent pre-publication price links by clicking here. Official publication date, in America, is October 30, 2012, but they’re taking orders now.

New Novel

Decided to take a few months break after finishing the first draft of Spiritus, my analysis of the influence of spirit contact on human history, but then had an idea for a new fantasy novel and made the huge mistake of thinking I’d just play around a little with the theme to see whether or not it worked.

Today it’s some months later and I have almost 30,000 words in the can now. The opening setting for the book is the Lucca Comics and Games Festival. (Wonder where I got that idea...) Where my heroine has ended up, I’m still trying to find out. Working title is Dark Elf, but this has absolutely nothing to do with Faerie Wars.