Ketchup

It's been a good week. I'm nearly done with a brand new fun short story (a rarity for me) despite fighting a nasty sore throat-with-cough, hooray... and there's been more excitement overseas. This is the cover of the April issue of Pevnost, the Czech Republic's top genre magazine of horror, fantasy, and sci fi. It says so right there behind the awesome vampire soldier, who's just about the coolest thing I've ever seen, with the possible exception of my own name in the table of contents.

Included in this issue is "Zamrziá Obloha," better known to you and me as "The Frozen Sky," which I've always considered one of my best stories. It's got a high concept, it's dark, driving, and there's a smart, tough hero. Apparently other people think so, too. That pleasant clinking you hear behind my sick groans and sneezing is the sound of dominoes!

I'm told that editors from two of the Czech Republic's largest publishing houses were struck by the story, went out of their way to find U.S. editions of my novels, and, whammie, we had a small bidding war between BB Art and Triton. It's official. BB Art, which also publishes books by Stuart Woods, James Rollins, and Douglas Preston, won Czech rights for Plague Year and War. We're very excited.
Also included with "Zamrziá Obloha" were these original illustrations of Alexis Vonderach and her freaky blind amphibian opponents by Karel Zeman, reproduced here with permission, all rights reserved. Nice work, man! These pictures look exactly like what the story looks like in my head. ;)

Illustrations © 2009 Karel Zeman

Labels: Czech Republic, foreign rights, Pevnost, Plague Year and War