The Official Site
The first newspaper interview with me about The Demonologist is up now over at the National Post site (out in the physical paper in the Saturday edition), where the excellent Books Editor there, Mark Medley, pitched the questions and wrote the piece.
In it, I talk for the first time about some of the strange and inexplicable and vaguely troubling things that arose in the writing of the novel.
There’s a star e-stickered to the Amazon.com page for The Demonologist I just saw, a star that says “Best of the Month.” What does this mean? It means that the good (and attractive, and tasteful, and smart) people at Amazon have chosen the book as among the best novels – among Mysteries & Thrillers particularly – going on sale in March. This is delightful and surprising – delightfully surprising? – news!
By the way, for those in the US and other territories where you can order from Amazon.com, the hardcover edition of The Demonologist is on sale at the moment for $14. Fourteen clams! You can barely buy a tuna sandwich and a Mountain Dew for that these days.
It’s not every day my picture’s on the cover of a magazine. Actually, it’s not every decade. But there I am on the cover of the new Quill & Quire for March (Canada’s book industry bible). It was fun doing the shoot – fog machine! espresso! – but I’m generally rather Amish in my attitude toward having my picture taken, feeling some part of my soul is stolen (or simply warped) in the process.
Anyhow, it’s kind of an insane shot and I’m pleased with it for its insanity. Here’s a link to the image if you’re curious (and by all means pick up the magazine to read the profile by Gary Butler within).
Thanks to Rino Noto, the amazing photographer, for capturing something I didn’t know was in there.
It’s two weeks until The Demonologist‘s pub date, and I’m pretty damn psyched. I just got back from doing my first public talk about the novel, addressing a group of indie booksellers having a conference in Victoria, B.C. I know I’ll have to get better at this “Talk about your book for five minutes or so” thing, but more than a few audience members told me afterwards they felt “grabbed” – figuratively speaking – so that’s got to be good.
If you’re interested in the book, or want to know more about it, or – God love you – want to buy it, you can have all your deepest, darkest questions answered at http://pages.simonandschuster.com/the-demonologist/.
And the countdown continues…
Simon & Schuster Canada has made its own trailer for The Demonologist, and it’s a different take from what Simon & Schuster US did (below, and at www.thedemonologistbook.com). I really like them both, though they’re very different in approach.
It’s only 50 seconds long, so how much could it hurt to check it out?
Like indie bookstores? Me too. One of the things the indies do so well is provide recommendations for reads you’ll like. They’re curators of a kind, doing some of the hard work of selecting titles from the tsunami of books published each month so you can get some focus on a shorter list to choose from.
To this end, the American Booksellers Association has a program called Indie Next, which picks books in all genres to showcase each month throughout their member bookstores. And I’m pleased as hell (pun not entirely intended) to say The Demonologist is an Indie Next Pick for March!
Click on the link below to see the whole list of delicious-sounding books and bookseller notes. For example, here’s what the intelligent and lovely Becky Milner, of Vintage Books in Vancouver, Washington, said about The Demonologist:
“Pyper combines non-stop action, metaphysical questions, a touch of conspiracy, and poetic references in a story that leaves readers breathless.”
Thank you, Becky! And visit an indie today. Go ahead, pre-order The Demonologist. I guarantee you will make at least two people happy.
I see that The Demonologist has been picked by Publishers Weekly as one of the Top Ten Mystery & Thriller titles for Spring 2013!
Exciting in itself, and then you see that your book is on the list with a couple blokes named Stephen King and John LeCarre.
Heroes. Influential heroes.
A date has been set for the Canadian launch event for The Demonologist, and it’s March 4, 2013. It’s in the Ballroom at The Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West, Toronto) starting at 7PM.
The event is part of the amazing Harbourfront Reading Series, and is co-presented with Simon & Schuster Canada. There will be a reading followed by an on-stage interview with my talented novelist friend, Russell Smith. Cash bar. Oh, and it’s FREE!
There are few things lovelier to think about than seeing you there.
In another pre-publication review, The Demonologist has received a Starred Review in the latest Publishers Weekly (the industry “bible” in the US). What’s also appreciated about it is how the reviewer includes a couple of quotes from the novel, illustrating the time taken on the language of the thing. I can spend a whole morning on half a sentence sometimes, so it’s fist-pumpingly gratifying when those particular hours of sweat and tears get a nod.
It’s rainy out there, you say? Really? What rain?
“A mesmerizing and melancholy narrative voice lends chilling credibility to this exceptional supernatural thriller.” – PW (starred review)
The Demonologist – PW (starred review)