The Demonologist gets a Starred Review in Publishers Weekly!

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)

 

 

Happy Demonological New Year!

Happy New Year, dearest friends and strangers!  I hope you’re pumped for 2013, or at the very least coming off the holidays well-fed and well-loved and more or less ready for the curve balls that are inevitably on their way…

This is my first day back at the desk in a while, and my first task was hanging up the new calendar.  And then, the jolt that came with doing the mental math:  The Demonologist comes out just two months from now.  It’s been far away for so long that, now it’s so close, it’s taken me by surprise.

What also took me (pleasantly) by surprise was to see the book chosen by The Toronto Star as one of six books to get excited about in the first half of 2013.  I’m honoured that The Demonologist was picked, but should add a couple small corrections to what they reported:  1)  I’m not the author of The Historian, though I enjoyed reading it, and b) my novel is published on March 5 in Canada and the US, and in April in the UK.

Here’s wishing you all a kick-ass 2013!

Toronto Star – Six of the Best in 2013

Demons in Poland, Demons in China

Learned today that foreign language rights to The Demonologist have been sold in Poland  (Zysk) and China (Beijing Time Publishing).

These are both firsts for me, which is due to the hard work of the agents at Aitken Alexander in London, but also, perhaps, in part because the Polish and Chinese are historically big demon believers…?

THE DEMONOLOGIST Web Page Goes Live

Simon & Schuster has put together a very cool dedicated web page for The Demonologist, and it’s now live.  It has links to extra materials (some of which will be available in the near future) as well as a window to view the book trailer (which will go live in early January).

It’s at www.thedemonologistbook.com.  Check it out.

The link is here:

The Demonologist web page

Gillian Flynn on THE DEMONOLOGIST!

Gillian Flynn is a master of the psychological thriller.

She is, to my mind, not only working in the tradition of Patricia Highsmith, but her books are darker, funnier, more complex, more observant – better, in other words.  And book by book, she keeps getting better.  From Sharp Objects to Dark Places to the #1 New York Times bestselling Gone Girl (my pick for the best book of 2012) she is creating an exemplary body of work.

It’s why I’m cartwheelingly pleased to learn that she’s endorsed The Demonologist:

“A smart, thrilling, utterly unnerving novel. Pyper’s gift is that he deeply respects his readers, yet still insists on reducing them to quivering children. I like that in a writer.”

—GILLIAN FLYNN

Kirkus Reviews on THE DEMONOLOGIST

The early pre-publication reviews are starting to come in including one in Kirkus Reviews which is…another thumbs up!

“Pyper is an intelligent writer, steeped in Miltonian symbolism, gifted with language… This artful literary exploration of evil’s manifestation makes for a sophisticated horror tale.”Kirkus

Bulgaria!

Learned today that The Demonologist is to be the first book of mine to be translated into Bulgarian.  (The publisher is BARD, who also publishes Harlan Coben, Dan Brown and Stephen King, among others, in that territory).

Just goes to show the old saying is true:  When you wake up in the morning, don’t be surprised if someone wants to translate something you’ve written into Bulgarian.

(That may not exactly be an old saying, or a saying of any kind – but it ought to be).

The Demonologist – First Advance Review

Caught a glimpse of the first early, advance review of The Demonologist today (in Booklist) and…they liked it!  Nice Friday weekend that-first-drink-is-actually-deserved-this-time kickoff.

“The evil of Milton’s pandemonium comes to life . . . Pyper’s novel takes on ‘things that go bump in the brain’ and delivers a stirring entry in the supernatural thriller genre.”  — Booklist

Kate Mosse on The Demonologist

Thank you to Kate Mosse – busy on the road with her new book, Citadel – for this!

The Demonologist is that rare thing – a novel that is both genuinely terrifying and erudite.  The research is excellent and lightly worn, the pace and cleverness of the plot thrilling.  One of the most exciting works of fiction I’ve read for some time.

— Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel