Friday, May 30, 2008

Look into the Mirror

So, my bud Dave Williams' The Mirrored Heavens is out, and garnering raves as well it should. And if you wander over to the appropriate Amazon page and click on the cover art, you'll see a blurb dead center of the spread, courtesy of Stephen Baxter.

But once you get your hands on the actual book you'll see a whole different quote there, from me:


And I don't know if they decided at the last moment they simply liked my blurb better (possible, I suppose), or if they thought my name would sell more books than Stephen Baxter's (unlikely, and misguided if true) or if someone screwed up and spliced in the wrong quote just before everything went off to the printers (which, as I can attest from personal experience— albeit with a different publisher— has happened before). Or if Dave just sent me a one-off vanity mock-up to feed my ego and set me up for a fall. Regardless, I'm pleased to see my name up there, basking in a little of Dave's reflected glory.

Not least because Bantam/Spectra turned Blindsight down flat.

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8 Comments:

Blogger Ark said...

Congrats! Extra exposure is always a good thing. Seems to be an interesting book, maybe I'll read it.

By the way, I've sent you an email titled "Hello from Europe" yesterday, have you had a chance to read it? (Just checking it arrived, in case my email didn't get past your spam-filter)

May 31, 2008 1:44 PM  
Blogger HannuB said...

Saw it at a bookstore over here, and when I saw it got your blurb on the cover, I bought it outright.
Haven't read it yet though, but as it's got a Peter Watts Golden Seal of Approval I expect it to be good...;)

June 1, 2008 12:03 PM  
Blogger Ark said...

Off-topic:

The Neuroscience of Illusion
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-neuroscience-of-illusion

What Dictionaries and Optical Illusions Say About Our Brains
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=understanding-how-our-bra

June 1, 2008 1:29 PM  
Blogger Teresa said...

It was indeed a nice surprise to see you quoted on the cover! I bought my copy yesterday.

June 2, 2008 1:20 AM  
Blogger Mac said...

However your quote wound up on the cover, it worked. For me, anyway. ("The Mirrored Heavens" is on fairly prominent display at my local B&N: the same one that seems positively steadfast in its refusal to carry Peter Watts titles.)

June 2, 2008 1:25 AM  
Blogger AltWorlder said...

Are there any other sites that do the whole futuristic alternate reality thing well? I love speculative geopolitical coverage- it's like planting seeds for future amusement at the quaint ideas of the present.

June 8, 2008 1:54 AM  
Blogger Peter Watts said...

Can't think of any offhand. Just Dave and me. Most author web sites out there greet you with tub-thumping and big honking ads and demands to BUY MY BOOKS, which kind of shatters the fourth wall of verisimilitude, if you know what I mean.

June 9, 2008 3:17 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

Mirrored Heavens was fantastic, though it got a bit frenetic at the end. As it wrapped up, it felt like Dave was bending over backwards to avoid a sequel but then, bam, classic setup.

Very Lenie-like at the end there.

June 13, 2008 11:16 AM  

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