We are delighted to announce!
A SEARING WIND
BOOK THREE OF CONTACT: BATTLE FOR AMERICA
ON SALE
MARCH 6, 2012
“Had you asked me the morning before the battle of Mabila, I would have told you I was prepared for the horror, the desperation, and the ensuing pain. I would have told you that the chance to kill the Adelantado, Hernando de Soto was worth the coming blood and misery. After all, we were fighting to save our world.”
“Elder?” The Hopaye’s face swims into her vision, as if through clear water. “Let us help you up. You’ve had too much sun. We need to move you into the shade...get you something to drink.”
Hands reach out. She feels her bony body raised; the dank odor of sweaty people who press too close replaces the stench of Mabila.
Absently, she says, “Black Shell? Oh, Black Shell, the question still lingers: How many lives is a world worth?”
“Elder?” the Hopaye inquires.
“I have to tell him...warn him...”
“Who?”
“Black Shell. He has to understand. Mabila was but a flickering spark. Ahead of him, at Chicaza, is the searing wind...”
So begins the third and final volume of the CONTACT: BATTLE FOR AMERICA series. We think that in A SEARING WIND we’ve crafted a fitting and worthy conclusion to the story of Black Shell, Pearl Hand, and their battle against Hernando de Soto and his Spanish army. If you haven’t read the first two books, COMING OF THE STORM and FIRE THE SKY, we suggest that you do. Both are available in paperback and can be ordered through your local bookstore or through any of the bookseller link icons on our homepage. The novels are also available for download on both Kindle and Nook. If you haven’t read the previous books, it’s not absolutely necessary since in A SEARING WIND our characters explain the backstory to the Chicaza people. That’s a great advantage to a story that covers a lot of country and brings in new characters.
A SEARING WIND is a tough book for Black Shell. Fate has taken him full circle and brought him back to his native Chicaza. Now he has to face the family that banished him as a coward. Not only must he win their trust and convince them of the danger posed by de Soto’s Kristiano invasion, but he must engage the monster face-to-face in a desperate game of wits, bluff, and deception that will determine the fate of the Chicaza and the entire native world for which he fights. It won’t be easy. It’s a toss-up as to who will kill him first: the Spanish, or his own family! We’re uncommonly proud of this one and hope that you’ll find as much emotion and joy in the reading of it as we had in the writing.
Also new: GraphicAudio.net has just released PEOPLE OF THE RIVER Volumes 1, 2, and 3, as their latest “movie in your mind” performance audio. Following PEOPLE OF THE WOLF, PEOPLE OF THE FIRE, and PEOPLE OF THE EARTH this latest performance is one of their best. Not only have the actors really gotten into the characters, but we’re delighted to relive the introduction of one of our favorite personalities: Nightshade. We listen to them on long cross-country drives. Some of our fans listen to them at night before they go to sleep. Others listen while commuting, or on headsets as they clean house. If you haven’t given Graphic Audio a try, please do.
In the news, we’ve just returned from New York where we met with both of our publishers, our agents, and publicists. We’ve about concluded a deal with Macmillan to release all but a handful of Tor/Forge titles from LONG RIDE HOME all the way up to BROKEN LAND. The deal will only exclude titles agented by the William Morris Endeavor agency: THE VISITANT, MORNING RIVER, and BIG HORN LEGACY. We’ll post on the blog when these titles do finally come available.
During the New York meetings, we tentatively came to an agreement to write four more books for Tor/Forge. They include a Native American fantasy, a new PEOPLE book based on the latest research at Cahokia, and a spin-off series from that Cahokia book that will continue the story of most of the major characters as they encounter the complexities of the Cahokian empire. Think of them as the Great Lord of Cahokia’s secret agents.
Within the next few weeks we will be inking a deal with a Hollywood screenwriter who has written a screenplay for one of the People books. You’ll find more details on the website and in the Facebook Gear fan club comment threads. To date this is just an attachment for the screenplay and nothing else. So, no, the book hasn’t been optioned, let alone green-lighted for production. We’re still at the most preliminary of the preliminary stages. Once we approve the screenplay, the writer and his company will start shopping it around. Nevertheless, it’s a start.
We’re happy to report that in the current horribly depressed book market, the sales on the PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE series is keeping up with expectations. BROKEN LAND has sold most of its hardback print run to date. The numbers are nothing like they were before the crash, but we’re keeping our heads above water while many authors we have known and loved have been washed away. Take note: If you’re a Gear collector, you might want to spring for BROKEN LAND now. Within a couple of months the last of the hardbacks will be gone. BROKEN LAND will be out in paperback in September just prior to the release of the fourth book PEOPLE OF THE BLACK SUN in October.
If you are reading the PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE series and have finished LONGHOUSE, DAWN COUNTRY, and BROKEN LAND, you need to know that Odion, Wrass, Koracoo, and Baji will be back in PEOPLE OF THE BLACK SUN. When our editor, Susan Chang, read the final draft she wrote us and said, “I got so emotional I had to stop editing and just read.” She let it sit for a week before she went back with the red pencil and did the hard edit. If we can elicit that kind of response from a hard-core no-nonsense editor like Susan, we think PEOPLE OF THE BLACK SUN is going to provide you with a great pay-off. The kind that leaves you saying, “Wow!”
Coming by April 1 to Amazon Kindle are COMES A GREEN SKY and FRACTURE EVENT our modern anthropological thrillers. Both novels were originally written for our German publisher, Bastei/Leubbe and published as DAS ENDE ALLER TAGE and DER EDEN EFFECT. If you’re a Maureen Cole and Dusty Stewart fan from the Anasazi Mysteries this will be your chance to share time with these two favorite personalities.
For the time being neither COMES A GREEN SKY nor FRACTURE EVENT will be available for Nook, although our agent is working on that. If you think Middle East politics is complicated, try ebook publishing!
Meanwhile, we’re hard at work on the new books. We’ll let you know how they are progressing. In the short term, we hope that you enjoy A SEARING WIND. It should be available at a bookseller near you or through any of your on line distributors. We recommend you contact your closest independent bookstore, Books-A-Million BAM, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or Hastings for a copy.
Be well and read in good health!
W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear