Robert McCammon — THE FIVE at the Printer and an Important Note about Inscriptions

The Five, which Stephen King says "isn't just Robert McCammon's best novel in years; it's his best novel ever..." has been sent to the printer, on schedule for a late May release. You can head over to the book's page to check out the full-color endsheets and one of the interior illustrations by Vincent Chong. (These are exclusive to the Limited and Lettered Editions.)

As we've mentioned before, we're flying Mr. McCammon in to sign and inscribe copies of The Five for readers. The deadline to get in a request for an inscription is May 1, 2011. You may order flat signed copies up until signing day—we'll let everyone know the date once that's firmed up.

Early Word on Robert McCammons THE FIVE from STEPHEN KING and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

As we near sending Robert McCammon's The Five, an epic thriller with a supernatural backbone, to the printer, early reviews and blurbs are starting to come in.

We couldn't be happier.

The first, an unsolicited note from Stephen King:
“The Five isn't just Robert McCammon's best novel in years; it's his best novel ever. Terrifying, suspenseful, unputdownable, and full of rock and roll energy. It's also uplifting, a book you'll finish feeling better about your world, your friends, and your music. Here's one you'll beg friends to read.”

Second, in a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly:
“McCammon (Mister Slaughter) delivers a complex, mind-blowing story of a rock band's last days... Steeped in rock history, infused with power and passion, and laced with psychological horror and razor-sharp tension, this is not an easy read, but a memorable one.”

The Five is right on schedule for its May release. We're waiting on the author's final round of corrections, and for Vincent Chong to put the finishing touches on the full-color endsheets and interior illustrations that will be exclusive to the Signed Limited and Lettered Editions.

Don't miss out on what's shaping up to be one of the finest suspense novels of the year! Check out the first chapter, and remember, signed and inscribed copies are available. Check out The Five's page for the full details or to read the excerpt.

You can read the complete Publishers Weekly review on the PW website. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 03 Mar 2011 09:44:29 -0500 2011-03-03-1 new McCammon update:

Robert McCammon — THE FIVE UPDATE and MISTER SLAUGHTER Limited Edition Available Again for a Short Time

Robert McCammon's contemporary supernatural-tinged novel, The Five, continues to progress toward its scheduled May release.

Here's a first glimpse of Vincent Chong's dust jacket. Vinnys hard at work on the full-color interior illustrations (including end sheets) that will grace the signed limited edition.

Please don't forget: This is a book you can have inscribed to you by the author. Upon publication, we're flying him up to our warehouse to inscribe (or flat sign, whichever the customer would like) copies for everyone who preorders.

In the near future we plan to post the first chapter and an absolutely stellar review from a major review journal. (Can't share the latter until the review is actually published.)

In additional McCammon news, our warehouse finds included a few copies of the Signed Limited edition of his last novel, Mister Slaughter, which we're offering for the bargain price of only $99 plus shipping. Limit one per customer, please, with no specials, coupons or savings certificates.

Speaking of The Five, artist Vincent Chong recently blogged about the cover art, which was based on a suggested design by Robert McCammon. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 14 Feb 2011 09:50:29 -0500 2011-02-14-1 2011-02-14 — The Hunter from the Woods is now available for pre-ordering from Subterranean Press!

Subterranean Press is now accepting pre-orders for Robert McCammon's new collection of Michael Gallatin stories, The Hunter from the Woods. Michael Gallatin should be well-known to readers as the main character in The Wolf's Hour.

You can pre-order The Hunter from the Woods by clicking here.

---

The Hunter from the Woods
by Robert McCammon
(pre-order—coming in November)

Dust jacket and interior illustrations by Vincent Chong

Limited: $75
Lettered: $250

Subterranean Press is proud to present a series of all new adventures, including several novelettes and novellas, set both pre- and post- Robert McCammon's classic novel, The Wolf's Hour. Our edition of that novel sold out on publication, and we had to turn away orders for over 400 copies. The Wolf's Hour has been steadily climbing in price on the secondary market—we've now seen copies going for over $200. Place your order for The Hunter from the Woods now to lock in a copy.

***

The Hunter from the Woods marks the much-anticipated return of Michael Gallatin, the lycanthropic hero of Robert McCammon's 1989 classic, The Wolf's Hour. These all-new, interlinked stories offer a full measure of McCammon's trademark narrative excitement, and comprise a fascinating composite portrait of a unique fictional creation.

The volume opens with a pair of brief glimpses into Michael's early life in Russia and his initial recruitment into the British Secret Service. It ends with a haunting vision of the werewolf at twilight. In between, McCammon gives us three stellar novellas depicting different phases of Michael's long, brutal war against Nazi Germany. "Sea Chase" is a nautical tale about the hazards of transporting a defecting German scientist to a place of sanctuary in England. "The Wolf and the Eagle" is the account of an unlikely friendship between rival men of action and a harrowing portrayal of a lethal forced march through the North African desert. "The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs" tells of an impossible, ultimately tragic love affair set in the embattled city of Berlin during the latter stages of the war.

Erotic, visceral, and filled with moments of desolating horror and unexpected warmth, The Hunter from the Woods is a triumph of imaginative storytelling. Like the best of McCammon's earlier work, it offers intelligent, world-class entertainment. In the process, it shines a welcome new light on one of the most uncommon heroes in contemporary fiction.

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies
Lettered: 26 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase

Table of Contents

• The Great White Way
• The Man From London
• Sea Chase
• The Wolf and the Eagle
• The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs
• Death of a Hunter

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You can pre-order The Hunter from the Woods by clicking here. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 07 Feb 2011 13:57:29 -0500 2011-02-07-1

Isao Hara sent in another great piece of artwork, this time based on Robert McCammon's The Wolf's Hour. You can view Isao's art by clicking here.

Photos of the Mister Slaughter Lettered edition from Subterranean Press have been added to the Book Cover Gallery, along with scans of promotional materials for Usher's Passing. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 26 Jan 2011 09:35:29 -0500 2011-01-26-1 this announcement:

Robert McCammon — Announcing the Signed Limited Edition of BAAL

We're pleased to announce the first Signed Limited Edition in our lineup of classic Robert McCammon titles. Baal has long been the Holy Grail for McCammon collectors, and we aim to produce a volume that stands out, with a full color dust jacket and interior illustrations (and more features in the Deluxe Limited and Lettered Editions). All copies will be signed by the author.

Please note that we do not expect copies of the Deluxe Limited or Lettered Editions to last long, so please get your order in. The Signed Limited Edition has a print run of 1000 copies. By the time The Wolf's Hour was published, we had orders for over 1200 copies, many of which we had to turn away. This may well be the case with Baal.

***

Baal was Robert McCammon's first novel, a debut that would lead to some of the finest popular fiction of our time. Written at the age of 25 and published as a paperback original in 1978, it has been out of print for years. This deluxe new edition from Subterranean Press will give McCammon's many readers—both newcomers and longtime fans—the opportunity to trace the development of an extraordinarily talented man.

The story begins with a horrific rape on the streets of New York City. Nine months after that violation, a most unusual child is born. His name is Jeffrey Harper Raines, but he quickly assumes his true name—and true purpose—as Baal, a new incarnation of the ancient prince of demons. The narrative recounts his lethal progress through the 20th century, which begins with the destruction of his earthly family. From there, Jeffrey/Baal moves to a doomed Catholic orphanage, where he unleashes carnage on an unprecedented scale, then out into the wider world, where he embraces his destiny as the Prophet of the Damned, generating a legacy of chaos, violence, and despair.

Baal is very much a young man's book, raw and brimming with emotion. Listen closely and you'll hear the voice of a gifted storyteller struggling to be born. In 1978, the career that would encompass Swan Song, Boy's Life, and The Five still lay waiting several years down the road. This is where it began.

***

 

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $75
 

 

Deluxe Numbered: 224 signed numbered copies, bound in leather, slipcase, with a different dust jacket than the Limited: $125

 

 

Lettered: 26 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase: $250

 

 

Please note that customers are limited to one copy (per household, family, or plane of existence) of the Deluxe Numbered and Lettered Editions. We will not be accepting dealer orders for the Deluxe Numbered or Lettered Editions.

Buying a copy of Baal will give you the right of first refusal on other classic McCammon titles.

Subterranean Press has posted this announcement:

The Year of Robert McCammon — BAAL and Other Limited Editions Are Coming

In addition to the newer work by Robert McCammon that we've been publishing—such as his historical thriller Mister Slaughter or the forthcoming supernatural tinged novel, The Five—we've just reached agreement to publish a good number of Rick's classic titles as signed limited editions, including Baal, Bethany's Sin, The Night Boat, and They Thirst. They'll join The Wolf's Hour, which sold out prior to publication, as essential additions to the libraries of Rick's most ardent fans.

Look for more information very soon, as we start work on Baal, with the aim of having it, as well as Rick's other major release, The Hunter from the Woods, out this year.

Finally, our congratulations to Bob J., Michael B., Rod B. Jan M. and Andrew W., who all won Advance Reading Copies of The Five.

Subterranean Press posted this update this morning:

Just a quick reminder. You only have until the end of the business day on January 15, 2011 to order and qualify to win one of five free ARCs of Robert McCammon's new supernatural tinged thriller, The Five.

As we've received a number of queries, we should also clarify one point: Mr. McCammon will be happy to inscribe copies of the trade edition as well as the Lettered and Limited editions. There is no deadline yet to qualify for the inscription, though we will likely be ending the offer sometime before the book heads to the printer.

The latest episode of DJ Rick's Radio 678 is a "secret agent" and "wolf" theme related to the re-release of The Wolf's Hour.

DJ Rick's Radio 678 Show ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 09 Jan 2011 13:18:29 -0500 2011-01-09-1 From Subterranean Press:

We're pleased to announce The Five by Robert McCammon, a contemporary thriller with a supernatural backbeat.

Read on for instructions on how to receive an inscribed copy of McCammon's epic new novel.

***

Robert McCammon, author of the popular Matthew Corbett historical thrillers (Speaks the Nightbird, Mister Slaughter), now gives us something new and completely unexpected: The Five, a contemporary novel as vivid, timely, and compelling as anything he has written to date.

The Five tells the story of an eponymous rock band struggling to survive on the margins of the music business. As they move through the American Southwest on what might be their final tour together, the band members come to the attention of a damaged Iraq war veteran, and their lives are changed forever.

The narrative that follows is a riveting account of violence, terror, and pursuit set against a credible, immensely detailed rock and roll backdrop. It is also a moving meditation on loyalty and friendship, on the nature and importance of families—those we are born into and those we create for ourselves—and on the redemptive power of the creative spirit. Written with wit, elegance, and passionate conviction, The Five lays claim to new imaginative territory, and reaffirms McCammon's position as one of the finest, most unpredictable storytellers of our time.

Lettered: 26 Deluxe bound hardcovers, housed in a custom traycase: $250

Limited: 274 signed numbered copies, in slipcase, including several color plates not in the trade hardcover: $125

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $26.95

***

Important News: When The Five is published, we plan to fly Robert McCammon to our warehouse here in Michigan, where he will inscribe copies for everyone who has preordered.

If you would like your copy of The Five inscribed by Mr. McCammon, please follow these instructions:

• If paying via Visa/Mastercard, please include the name to which you would like the book inscribed (first names only, please) in the comments section of the order form.
• If paying via PayPal, please send a separate email to subpress@gmail.com letting us know which name to include in the inscription.

We regret that we cannot take requests for specific phrases or quotations to be included in the inscriptions.

On January 15, we'll draw five names (appropriately enough) of customers who've preordered The Five and send each of them an Advance Reading Copy. Very few ARCs end up in private hands, so this is your chance to read the novel months before its May release.

]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 30 Dec 2010 20:01:29 -0500 2010-12-30-1

Ring The Bells

Back from my Christmas trip to Cozumel, Mexico. Guys, I can't say enough about this place. It was fantastic. I stayed at a resort called the Fiestamericana...yes, I know it ought to be the "Fiesta Americana", but it's the way it is. Anyway, it's a great resort with fabulous people. I told the manager that I thought the biggest plus about the resort was that the employees had the gift of making guests feel like family...and it was so true. So if you have a vacation coming up or you just need to get to a place that's sunny, where the sea is beautifully blue and clear and the atmosphere just as sparkling, then the Fiestamericana at Cozumel is your place. Believe it!

I wanted to check in with the arrival of the New Year. But first...I can't resist talking about Cozumel just a little bit more. You know, I want to thank everyone for the greetings and well-wishes. I was by no means "fishing" for sympathy in my tale of the unkilled cat. I was simply stating in a straightforward manner the trials and tribulations I've been facing if not in the past several weeks then in the last few months. But I do appreciate the comments and well-wishes.

Having said that, I'm here to say that I do feel great after my trip. I got along fine on my "wounded" ankle. It got a little stronger every day. As a matter of fact, one day I took a cab from the resort to downtown in search of some Cuban cigars and decided to walk back (after I got a small tattoo on my chest...henna, not permanent, but thinking along those lines). Well, I walked away from midtown through neighborhoods and local shopping areas, and all of it along the oceanfront. It was warm, the sun was high, a soft breeze was blowing, the sky and sea were awesome shades of blue...ahhhhh! I went into a local department store and scoped the place out. I investigated an area of nice houses going up that evidently had been abandoned for lack of money, but it was an interesting excursion anyway. I went into the terminal at the dock where the cruise ships come in. I walked and walked. Until at last I had walked seven miles, and I was standing in a pasture scratching behind the ears of a solitary horse. It showed its pleasure by thumping its hoof on the ground...whichever ear was being scratched, that was the hoof that beat out a little counting rhythm that I found very charming.

I went snorkeling, I went on a sunset cruise, I swam and swam, I had a fabulous seafood feast, I did karaoke for the first time in my life (and did better than I thought I would because I sang with a guy named Joe Bargo from Kansas City who actually is in a jazz band and can carry a good tune), I drank liters of Coke Zero and smoked Cuban cigars by the pool, I partook of a fantastic tequila bar where there were about thirty different bottles of variously-flavored tequila, I drank my favorite Johnny Walker Red, I met all sorts of people from everywhere, I laid out on the beach, I watched the moon set and the sun rise and then the sun set and the moon rise, I went on a submarine a hundred and ten feet down to the edge of The Shelf, I rode on horseback through the jungle, I heard a GREAT band do their Steppenwolf set, I ate cactus and enjoyed it, and I have vowed to return to that place in April after I finish The Providence Rider.

So, yes...I did have a good time.

And the New Year approaches, and may be here before what I'm writing is on my website. I am looking forward with great anticipation to 2011. Aren't you? I mean, really... 2010 was a tough year. A year of change, not all of it wanted and not all of it good. A year of bracing yourself. A year of taking it on the chin. Or sometimes getting kicked in a lower area, and having to grin and bear it so nobody knows the pain you're feeling.

Yeah, that kind of year.

But that kind of year, it seems to me, has its value. It teaches you discipline and toughness. It teaches you to depend on yourself. To know you can handle whatever happens... because you have to. And to handle with grace and style the difficult things, the things that a few years ago might have put you down for the count.

Nossir. I ain't goin' nowhere now. I'm here to stay, so go ring the bells and tell 'em, the best is yet to be.

And it is, guys. I have some tremendous projects ahead. Much more Matthew to come, and many more surprises. Some things, I think, that will even surprise me. And one project in particular I wish I could tell you about, but it will happen when it happens...and when it does happen...and it will...wow.

So hang in with me. Enjoy this ride into the future we all are on. Trust me to guide you. I will take you to some wonderful places, and introduce you to some amazing characters. There's a lot ahead for all of us, and I can't wait to get started on that journey from here to there.

Ring the bells, my friends. Ring the bells and tell 'em.

I'm here to stay, and the best is...

Yeah. It's comin'.

Happy New Year to all, and thank you for believing in me.

Best Wishes,
Robert McCammon ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 22 Dec 2010 14:19:29 -0500 2010-12-22-1 RobertMcCammon.com.

The Doc's song "Boy's Life," based on Robert McCammon's poem at the beginning of Boy's Life, can now be purchased from cdbaby. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 17 Dec 2010 14:21:29 -0500 2010-12-17-1 J.N. Williamson's Illustrated Masques in 2011. The book collects the two-volume 1992 graphic novel J.N. Williamson's Masques and adds some new material. One of the stories adapted to comic form for this book is Robert McCammon's "Nightcrawlers". The script was written by James Kisner, and the art is by Ted Naifeh.

The book is expensive, but if you're interested, you can read more about it on the Gauntlet Press site or on the Cemetery Dance site. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 27 Nov 2010 10:13:29 -0500 2010-11-27-1 Chris Frahme has posted a great film adaptation of one of Robert McCammon's most disturbing short stories, "Pin." The trailer for the film can be seen on Vimeo.com. The entire 18-minute film can be viewed on Blip.tv.

"Pin" was published in Robert McCammon's short story collection, Blue World. ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 22 Nov 2010 17:11:29 -0500 2010-11-22-1

The latest episode of DJ Rick's Radio 678 is a post-Halloween Halloweenish Special featuring the music of Alice Cooper, Duran Duran, Elton John, Screaming Lord Sutch, and more!

DJ Rick's Radio 678 Show ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 14 Nov 2010 16:51:29 -0500 2010-11-14-1

Subterranean Press posted this update on their site today:

Our mammoth (nearly 700 pages) edition of Robert McCammon's werewolf classic, The Wolf's Hour, is in our warehouse and shipping.

The Signed Limited Edition which features a brand new 36,000 word Michael Gallatin adventure is over 90% sold out. We should add that we will not be filling any orders for our wholesale or large online retail accounts. The classic novel and new novella are joined by the movie poster-inspired dust jacket by Vincent Chong, as well as three full color interior illustrations, including a pull-out of the novel's centerpiece "death train" scene.

]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/ 09 Nov 2010 07:11:29 -0500 2010-11-09-1

Some Thoughts On The Wolf's Hour

Hi, all. November is upon us. Also upon us, and something I've been very excited about for a number of months, is the beautiful edition of The Wolf's Hour from Subterranean Press, which I consider to be the Ultimate Edition of that work. I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about that book, if I may.

Where did the idea come from? I've thought about that and I can't really answer it. I do know I'm very interested in World War II history, and also the "lore" and "allure" of secret agents. You may not know that I tried to put myself in the running several years ago to pick up the James Bond series when the publisher was casting about for a writer. I didn't get the spot, and I guess I'm glad I didn't because my work has evolved in another direction, but I always thought I could do a "bang-up job"—British lingo there—putting across an action-oriented secret agent novel.

So I decided to think about doing a different kind of secret agent, and using of course my interest in World War II and general weirdness. What could possibly make my hero different? I wondered.

Then I had the Ah, ha moment. Eureka, as they say.

But if he's going to be that, I decided, it has to be believeable all the way. It has to be made real. It can't just be dropped in like a gimmick. There has to be a backstory and a wealth of personal history—and tragedy—and if this unreal hero is to become real he must first and foremost be made human.

Now, the fun part about putting this hero together is that I knew there would be a lot of action. If you know what I mean?

Usually I don't get to write scenes like that. If you read the new novelette "The Room At The Bottom of The Stairs," you will see that I decided to go for the gold in terms of the bedroom scenes. Someone mentioned to me after reading those scenes that they were "very earthy."

Well, yeah. I don't get a lot of opportunities to write "very earthy," so in this case I thought...go for it, all the way.

They actually may have said "very dirty," but I heard "very earthy." Same difference. I guess?

I realized when I was writing The Wolf's Hour that it was going to be a long book, but I didn't realize until looking back and re-reading this Ultimate Edition how fully-packed the thing is. I mean, it is intense. I think every possible situation one could throw at a hero, whether he is merely human or more than human, is in this book.

The action scenes were great fun to write. I do mean, here, the physical action. You know. The fighting scenes. Okay? Well, they were fun to write. But I never wanted my hero's life-condition to be a gimmick, something that is used when the pace falters or the story runs out of steam or you just need a good jolt to throw at the reader. No, his situation had to be honest, as much as I could make it.

It had to be depicted as a life lived in both great joy and deep sadness, because for all my hero's abundant strength and speed and animal passion, he also walks alone. He must pay the price for what he is, and though the decision to be what he has become was not his to make...there is still the price to be paid, and so this becomes more than a story about a secret agent in World War II who is a lycanthrope. It is also the story of an innocent boy who set out to catch a kite and became a solitary traveller through a dangerous world.

I am very proud of The Wolf's Hour. It appears that this is another of my books that, thankfully, is growing in stature with the passage of time. I have been asked many times if I would ever consider doing a sequel. Again, there are so many events packed into this book that I might have a hard time writing a book-length sequel. But after writing the shorter piece "The Room At The Bottom of The Stairs," I started thinking... hmmmm, well, maybe I could do a sequel of sorts that was not really a sequel but that did continue my hero's story.

So...I sat down this summer and wrote what has become The Hunter From The Woods, a collection of short stories and novelettes starring Michael Gallatin. He gets to move around quite a bit, from a ragtag circus in Russia to fighter planes clashing over North Africa to a freighter in the fog of the North Atlantic and beyond. It was great fun for me to rouse Michael Gallatin to new adventures and...who knows what the future holds for him?

Thank you for your readership, as always, and I hope you enjoy the Ultimate Edition of The Wolf's Hour. I suppose you know the title is a takeoff on "The wolf is ours" and the idea of the eleventh hour, which was indeed "the wolf's hour" in the lore of several mythologies.

Happy November to you all, and good reading to you as well.

Best Wishes,
Robert McCammon ]]> http://www.robertmccammon.com/