This year, Mr. McCammon is scheduled to conduct two workshops and to particpate in a panel discussion.

• Page One
  Speaker: Robert McCammon
  Time: Friday 1:30pm

  How to (really) get started. What do you need? How far along do you need to be on an outline or plot? Time to stop wasting time and get started on your writing project...but exactly how? And how important is Page One, anyway? That's what we'll be covering. (Come prepared to write in class).

• An Eye and an Ear For Dialogue
  Speaker: Robert McCammon
  Time: Sunday 9:30am

  Dialogue can make or break any writing project. How do you know it's any good? Learn to see good dialogue on the page as well as hear it in your head. Come prepared to write in class.

• A Sense of History
  Moderator: Jeffery McGraw
  Panel: Anne Perry, Jack Whyte, Robert McCammon, Diana Gabaldon
  Time: Friday 3:30pm

  Writing historical fiction poses unique challenges and offers unique rewards. Our panel gives some insight into the process of crafting stories set in the past that appeal to modern readers.

Subterranean Press has posted the following update on their site:

Have a look at Robert McCammon's The Wolf's Hour page, where we've just posted two of the full-color interior illustrations, including the foldout death train scene. The book is progressing nicely, on schedule for its fall release. We've designed the book and proofread it once, and are going through it a final time. Now that all of the art is in, we'll be ordering Advance Reading Copies in the next week.

Speaking of the art for The Wolf's Hour, Vincent Chong blogged a bit about the influences behind his striking cover for the book.

Where I'm "At"

Hi everyone, and as always thank you for taking the time to check in, see what's going on and make comments on my work. Your input is always appreciated.

I'd like to talk about a few subjects near and dear to me this time out. First up: work-in-progress. I'm very excited about what's coming up in the future, namely the really beautiful edition of The Wolf's Hour and of course The Five, which I believe (or would like to believe) is the best book I've ever written. So I personally am "stoked" about what's ahead.

I guess you know by now about the new Michael Gallatin novelette, The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs. Well, I had a lot of fun writing that and I started thinking...you know, Michael's story is far from being told.

So...while The Wolf's Hour is fresh on my mind, I'm doing a new book of short stories about Michael Gallatin. The reason (well, one reason) I never went back to do a Wolf's Hour sequel is that I figured I'd said everything that needed to be said. I mean, really, The Wolf's Hour is packed with just about every World War II situation I could think of. What else could I write that wouldn't be repeating myself?

I started thinking...maybe short stories would be the way to go. And I'm not usually into writing short stories because I prefer the longer form, but in this case I was thinking I could do some different things in different (and experimental) ways and see what happens. So right now I'm doing this book of Gallatin short stories and including probably another novelette. I hope also in this book to answer some of the questions that have been posed about...well...about a lot of Michael Gallatin's past and future.

Okay. That said, I'm working hard also on the next Matthew book. So don't worry, The Providence Rider is trotting along.

Now...another thing near and dear to me. The podcasts.

Oh, the humanity! Also...listen to all that silence in the room.

Guys, the podcasts are really mostly for me because I enjoy doing them. If I hadn't become a writer (and I didn't have much of a choice on that one), I probably would have gone into sound production and become a recording engineer. I really, really do enjoy working with music and sound. Also, for me it's a bigtime stress reliever and I do need that.

So...I'm going to do two more Psycho 60s podcasts (the last one being our time machine trip to the Northern Soul dance club in July) and then shift the format to what I call Radio 678. I'll be broadening the focus of the show to include songs from the 70s and 80s. I plan to do one of these a month.

Guys...I'm not taking any time away from my writing. I know you don't necessarily want to hear music or hear me talking about music on the website, but this is all for the good, believe me. So I hope you give them a listen and I hope you enjoy them and...you know what?...you might glean from them some better understanding of me and why I write what I do.

Now, I have to address a comment that was made by an Irish gentleman on Facebook. The comment being that I am arrogant because I don't want the first four (actually, I believe it's the first three) books I wrote to be re-published. The idea is that I'm arrogant because I say they're not good enough to be published again and I supposedly should let the readers decide that.

Well, the books are available. They're on eBay and other places, I'm sure. They're in used book stores, yes they are. I'm not trying to destroy all the old copies of those books. They're out there. I just think my writing has progressed over time and I don't think those books need to be published in large quantities with my name on them saying I'm the writer of the Matthew Corbett series or The Five or some future novel. Those books are starter novels. They got me going, but I'd like to think I've come a long way since. In essence, they've done their job.

Am I arrogant for this? For deciding that readers should not buy those early books expecting the quality of the new work? I'm trying to save people some money! Is that arrogant?

Gee, I kinda got my feelings hurt over this one.

If deciding that I require excellence in my work now, and that if someone sees my name on a book they know they will hopefully get as close to an excellent experience as I can give them...yeah, I'm as arrogant as I can be.

And I guess I'm proud to be arrogant.

See, I made the decision that these books are not up to my current standards so you guys wouldn't have to.

Sir, when I come visit Ireland you owe me a brew.

Onward.

Summer's here! Have fun and keep reading!

Best Wishes,
Robert McCammon ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Sat, 29 May 2010 11:25:29 -0500 2010-05-29-1 Artist Vincent Chong, who did the artwork for the Subterranean Press release of Mister Slaughter, has posted a blog about the inspiration for his cover art for the upcoming Subterranean limited edition of The Wolf's Hour.

You can read his blog here.

A new image has been added to the Fan Artwork Gallery. Artist Nikooru Shimo painted a collage inspired by Robert McCammon's Boy's Life.

Click here or on the image to view a larger version. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Mon, 17 May 2010 16:38:29 -0500 2010-05-17-1 2010-05-17 — Subterranean Press to publish The Five in early 2011!!

From Subterranean Press:

Robert McCammon — THE FIVE is Coming

Just off the phone with Robert McCammon's agent with most welcome news. In early 2011, we'll be releasing The Five, one of Robert McCammon's most ambitious novels to date, a mammoth 180,000 word epic thriller with a very dark fantastic backbeat. More news on the limited and trade editions soon.

Subterranean Press has unveiled the cover art for their upcoming limited edition of Robert McCammon's classic WWII thriller, The Wolf's Hour. This is from their site:

Robert McCammon — THE WOLF'S HOUR APPROACHES

As you can see, SubPress favorite Vincent Chong has created an utterly perfect cover for Robert McCammon's classic WWII adventure novel, The Wolf's Hour. Now that the dust jacket is completed, Vinny has turned his attention to the interior art, including a full-color pull-out illustration of one of the novel's high points—the death-train scene.

If the illos and a sturdy signed edition of Hour aren't enough to convince you to unlimber your wallet, don't forget "The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs," a new 36,000 word Michael Gallatin mission, debuts in the limited edition.

Pre-order The Wolf's Hour from Subterranean Press ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:32:29 -0500 2010-04-29-1

Psycho 60s Podcast #2 is now available

A new edition of Robert McCammon's Psycho 60s podcast is now available. Join DJ Rick as he spins some forgotten songs and discusses the bands and their music. The featured music includes songs from The Birds (not The Byrds), The Paniks, Ed Pauling, Shotgun Express, The Hangmen, and others.

DJ Rick's Psycho 60s Podcast ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:34:29 -0500 2010-04-23-1 Mister Slaughter is now available in full 1080p HD on the new Robert McCammon YouTube channel. Other videos related to McCammon's work are linked there. If you have a YouTube account, please subscribe to the McCammon channel! ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:41:29 -0500 2010-04-21-2 Big news today!

I've been meaning to answer more of your questions but I've been very busy for the last month. Subterranean Press is doing what I consider the definitive edition of The Wolf's Hour in November or thereabouts, and I was asked to do an introduction.

So I started thinking about what I could say in this introduction. It would most likely be something boring, like talking about my interest in the werewolf legend and in World War II history and how I decided to do the mash-up.

But, I didn't think that would be good enough, so I thought...okay, I'll write a new Michael Gallatin short story.

What started out as a short story ended up as 123 pages of new Michael Gallatin material. I guess this would be called a "novella". Anyway, the story takes place after the events depicted in The Wolf's Hour. It's also made me start thinking about writing some more Gallatin material in the short form (say, a book of two novellas and three short stories) because my problem with writing a Wolf's Hour sequel is that I don't want to repeat myself. In the shorter form, it might be possible to do some different things that I couldn't do in novel length.

The new Michael Gallatin story is done and will appear in all editions of The Wolf's Hour published by Subterranean Press.

So, for all who've been asking about a Wolf's Hour sequel, this is probably the best I can do right now. More stories may come later. We'll see what the response is and if it's strong enough there will definitely be more Michael Gallatin.

Okay.

Working now on The Providence Rider. Moving pretty well there but I did devote the last month, as I said, to the Gallatin story. The Five is still making the rounds of publishers but no offers yet. The question was asked if The Five is a "dark" novel, and though it does have supernatural and "dark" elements it also has "light" elements, so it's not strictly along the lines of my earlier work.

You know, I've been puzzled as to why The Five hasn't been picked up by someone, because I think it's the best book I've ever written. But tonight I kind of came to this conclusion:

I was at a library benefit tonight and had the opportunity to speak with a couple of other writers, and we were talking as writers do about the business, and publishers, and genres and such.

Never in the history of publishing (at least never in my thirty years of being in the business) has the role of "genre" been so tight. I mean, everything has to fit a category.

That's just the way it is. People in publishing are very afraid of losing their jobs these days, so what's going to be bought and pushed is usually the "safe"—meaning "it's been successful before"—choice.

So I was thinking on the drive back how the one thing I've always wanted to achieve and feel I have achieved is a double-edged sword.

The Five is unlike anything else being published today. There is absolutely nothing else like it out there. Also, the same can be said of the Matthew Corbett series.

What I've worked very hard to achieve is being unique. Being the kind of writer who does work that no one else does. Of going my own way, on my own road, and feeling I'm doing the right (or write) thing.

I think I've created my own genre that no one else shares. For instance, a woman came up to me and asked me to describe Boy's Life. Is it "horror", is it "fantasy", is it "literary", or "mystery"...or what?

My answer to that was: you know, I think it's something altogether different.

My trials and tribulations in the publishing business began with Boy's Life. I think I created something that no one else could do. Which kind of astounds me when I think about it, but Boy's Life follows no publisher's model of success. That's also true of the Matthew Corbett series and certainly true of The Five.

So I think I've achieved my desire to be unique. Now...in this world nothing is free, so if you walk to a different drummer you might find yourself on the path that no one else wants to walk. But still...this is something I should be very proud of, I think. I believe what I'm doing is good and important, or obviously I wouldn't want to be doing it, and because it has no previous "model" it stands on its own.

I think that's what I'm always wanted to achieve. So here it is, but again the world being what it is, a price must be paid for everything.

Now...don't worry about The Five. It's going to find a good home and I think it'll have a strong future. You know, the plans you make don't always work out but I'm here to tell you, guys, there is always...always...another plan.

So thanks again for your comments. I have to say, I'm writing this late night near two o'clock and I'm pretty tired after the library benefit, but I got one question from a gentleman who lives in Charleston (and I tried to go back and look up his name on the Facebook page but I couldn't find it, I guess my eyes are going too) concerning the fact that there's mention of a "lightning rod" in Speaks the Nightbird when that particular item wasn't invented until much later.

I wanted to address this because I don't want to "duck" a research question. The answer is, this is one of those things that invariably will bite you. And there will be more than one in each book. Writing about history is fraught with research perils. You can take care of a thousand things (and there really will be thousands of things to take care of) but a few are going to get past you, no doubt about it.

I don't have a research assistant or staff. It's just me. And, I have to say, I've gotten more careful about researching as the series has progressed, because I'm aware of earlier mistakes I've made. I hate making mistakes, but after they're made and in print all you can do is grit your teeth and hope you won't make any more, which is kind of the impossible dream.

As I've said before, you're never going to write a perfectly accurate historical novel. I think I threw in that "lightning rod" comment just as an aside, and this is where you can get hammered because I was probably too busy researching a dozen other things to think about an aside. My bad, and I hope it won't happen again but I know it will. I will never, ever tell you all the mistakes I've made in this series so far because some of them are real screamers. At least, I screamed when I realized they were in print, too late to be removed from the eyes of experts who know everything under the sun about a single subject. I just have to do the best I can do in any book, which will certainly fall short of being perfect.

Did you guys like the podcast? I'm getting ready to do a second one. I really enjoy doing them, and some of the songs and bands you'll be hearing are mentioned in The Five by the character Terry Spitzenham, who plays keyboards and is the band's retro freak and encyclopedia of, as the drummer Berke Bonnevey puts it, "the moldy territory".

Lots of good things ahead, guys. Very excited. Oh! Almost forgot! How about Chuck Hartsell's video for Mister Slaughter? We're doing videos also for Speaks the Nightbird and Queen of Bedlam. Chuck also wants to do a video for The Wolf's Hour.

And...we're planning on doing a longer form music video for The Five. I've written the words for some of the songs in The Five, so what we might do is put music to one of them and fire that up with a band doing the original song in the video.

How about it? Summertime is coming, guys!

Thanks for all your support and good wishes, and I'll check in with you a little later on.

Best,
Rick ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:40:29 -0500 2010-04-21-1 Robert McCammon — Major THE WOLF'S HOUR News

April 21, 2010

Robert McCammon has just turned in a brand-new 36,000 word novella, "The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs," about a further WWII adventure of Michael Gallatin that will be included in The Wolf's Hour, pushing the book to just shy of 700 pages. We expect the inclusion of this major piece of new fiction will drive sales of this limited edition, making it a must have for every serious McCammon fan.

To accommodate the expected demand for The Wolf's Hour—this novella was a last-minute addition, long after the book was announced—with Mr. McCammon's permission we've decided to increase the print run to 750 copies, to cover the increased printing costs, to compensate the author for a significant new piece of fiction, and to give his many fans a chance at this important collectible edition.

Visit RobertMcCammon.com to see the new book trailer for Mister Slaughter, available now from Subterranean Press! ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:41:29 -0500 2010-04-14-1

Italian publisher Gargoyle Books will be publishing Mary Terror, an Italian translation of MINE, in hardcover on April 29, 2010. The cover art is shown below. Click on the image to view a larger version (it has also been added to the Book Cover Gallery, of course). Thanks to Gargoyle Books for the cover image!

Mary Terror @ Gargoyle Books ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:46:29 -0500 2010-03-29-2

Robert McCammon's Mister Slaughter is now available as an eBook from Subterranean Press in conjunction with Baen Books. It should be available via Amazon and SmashWords soon.

Order the Mister Slaughter eBook from Baen Books ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Mon, 29 Mar 2010 07:31:29 -0500 2010-03-29-1 2010-03-29 — Psycho 60s Subscriptions

Robert McCammon's new music podcast, Psycho 60s, is now available via iTunes. You can also subscribe to it via RSS. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ Fri, 26 Mar 2010 06:50:29 -0500 2010-03-26-1 2010-03-26 — DJ Rick's Psycho 60s Podcast Debut

Robert McCammon's latest novel, The Five, is centered around a rock'n'roll band named The Five. It's the culmination of his lifelong interest in music, especially the rock'n'roll of the 1960s.

Mr. McCammon is a great fan of the obscure rock bands of the 1960s—the bands that may have released only one single or album and then disappeared into the mists of time. We're launching what is planned to be a monthly feature here: DJ Rick's Psycho 60s Podcast! Join Robert McCammon as he spins some forgotten songs and discusses the bands and their music.

DJ Rick's Psycho 60s Podcast ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/