Friday, August 29, 2008

 

La Plaga, by Jeff Carlson (Minotauro, Sept 2008)

Nobody ever tells me anything… but what a brain-croggling surprise today! We received excellent news in this afternoon's mail. The postman brought several copies of Plague Year in Spanish, from European publisher Minotauro. Originally my agents were informed that Minotauro would be releasing the book in trade paperback, which was exciting enough for a guy who’s being published in mass market paperback in his home country. Instead, La Plaga is a gorgeous hard cover with textured embossing for the title. It has sweet cover art, a full color author photo on the inside flap, plus maps and freaky biohazard warning symbols…

La Plaga is Minotauro’s number one title for September 2008, even ahead of reprints by Ray Bradbury and J.R.R. Tolkien.

But it gets better.

Check out this web site they’ve put together:
http://www.scyla.com/laplaga/

Not only are there three original book trailers made at their expense (my favorite two are now posted on my site as well), they’ve also created a series of blog entries by Ruth Goldman, the fictional nanotech researcher who is one of the novel’s main characters. In addition to this wildly cool insanity, their site offers additional blogs, a nanotechnology video and related biotech links, a Facebook fan group to join, and contests with cash prizes up to 100 Euros, including a competition for the best theme-related photos submitted by readers.

But it still gets better.

(insert drooley-faced shock and glee here)

Enclosed with each copy of La Plaga is a glossy full-color bookmark with stark white mountaintops on a black background, portions of the cover art, and the book’s tagline (loosely translated) in scary, broken letters: “Will a vaccination cause the end of humankind?”

There is also yet another contest promoted on the back on the bookmark. You can find the same contest on the web site, too…

Get this. If you correctly answer several questions about La Plaga, you will be entered in a raffle drawing. The grand prize is an all-expenses-paid, seven days, six nights vacation to Aspen, Colorado, where you will be safe from the machine plague!

!!!!! Holy flaming dead monkeys on a shish kabob !!!!!

I’ve never even heard of such a thing as a promotional tie-in for a book, and all I can say is that I hope I’m not excluded from entering, because I’ve never skied in Aspen and I do know the answers to the contest. ;>

I don’t believe Minotauro has much distribution in North America — their markets are in the predominantly Spanish-speaking world, of course — but La Plaga is readily available all over the Internet. If you know anyone who’s fluent in Spanish, make them your friend now. Go! Go and read! This may be your only chance of reaching 3,024 meters before it’s too late!

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Comments:
PREPARE TO BE BLOWN AWAY! www.scyla.com is AMAZING. You don't have to speak Spanish to get chills by watching those videos. The site is very professional and does great justice to Carlson's Plague books!
 
I have to admit I got goose bumps watching that lost, lonely dude stagger out of his deserted office building... ;)
 
Those trailers are pretty creepy! The cover for the Spanish version has a frightening visual, too.

Of course those of us who have read PLAGUE YEAR know an M-40 protective mask is as useless as wet toilet paper when it comes to this plauge!
 
Ha ha. Yes, the gas mask wouldn't be much help, that's for sure... but I think the Spanish cover is in many ways like the tagline across the top of the North American edition. It reads "The next breath you take will kill you," which isn't 100% literally true. You can also get the nanotech through your eyes or breaks in your skin, but those eight words perfectly capture the tone of the book, and, like you said, the freaky dark monochrome masked face on the Spanish cover has that same effect. It says, simply, "Be afraid." ;)
 
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