Category: Matthew Corbett

“The Wicked Gambler” is a character who represents the era in which the Matthew Corbett stories are set. Robert McCammon’s next release is a collection of stories from Matthew Corbett’s world, Seven Shades of Evil. In his author photo for the book, Robert McCammon had makeup artist and photographer Amanda Chapman create “The Wicked Gambler.”

Robert McCammon has written a new short story entitled “The Wicked Gambler and His Walking Cane” to tell the origin of the walking cane that can be seen in the author photo.

“The Wicked Gambler and His Walking Cane”

The walking cane is the prize in an Alabama Booksmith giveaway that will take place at the Seven Shades of Evil launch party on Saturday, October 28, 2023! For details about the party and how to enter the giveaway contest, please read the June 26 post Alabama Booksmith: October Launch Event and a Giveaway!

The author photo for Seven Shades of Evil and huge news from The Alabama Booksmith!!

Robert McCammon as “The Wicked Gambler” (Makeup and photo by Amanda Chapman)

Robert McCammon’s walking cane is going to one lucky fan!

For his author photo for Seven Shades of Evil, coming in October 2023 from Lividian Publications, Robert McCammon once again asked makeup artist and photographer Amanda Chapman to create “The Wicked Gambler,” a character representative of the time period in which the Matthew Corbett stories are set.

The elegant walking cane Robert McCammon used in his period photo shoot will belong to one lucky fan when the book is published! The first 500 signed first editions purchased from The Alabama Booksmith will come with an entry in a drawing that will take place at the launch party. All previous pre-orders from The Alabama Booksmith have already been entered.

Read about the origin of the walking cane in the brand-new Robert McCammon short story “The Wicked Gambler and his Walking Cane”!

Seven Shades of Evil launch party set

The Alabama Booksmith announces details of the official launch party for Seven Shades of Evil. The event will take place on Saturday, October 28, 2023. At 2:30, in the upstairs auditorium, Mr. McCammon will talk about the new book and take questions. At 3:30, he will draw the name of the lucky winner of the beautiful walking cane and then go downstairs to sign books.

Because of limited space for the talk, reservations are required. There is no charge for tickets, but they must be requested as books are purchased. Each copy purchased from The Alabama Booksmith may receive one seat. No reservations are needed for the booksigning, and space is unlimited. Simply ask for a ticket in the Notes section when you place your pre-order for the book.

You can pre-order a signed first edition of Seven Shades of Evil from the Alabama Booksmith website.

For full event details, visit the Alabama Booksmith website page for the event.

Lividian Publications is producing the release of Seven Shades of Evil.

Polish publisher Vesper has revealed the cover to their upcoming translation of Robert McCammon’s The Queen of Bedlam, the second book in the Matthew Corbett series. The book is on-track for publication in October 2023. Vesper previously released a translation of Speaks the Nightbird in 2022. The cover art is by Maciej Kamuda. More info when it’s released!

Seven Shades of Evil: Stories from Matthew Corbett’s World will be published by Lividian Publications in October 2023. The book contains stories set in the world of Matthew Corbett and featuring various characters from the previous novels. Lividian has revealed the Table of Contents:

  • *The Four Lamplighters (features Matthew and Hudson)
  • Night Ride (features Matthew)
  • The House at the Edge of the World (features Hudson)
  • The Scorpion’s Eye (features Minx)
  • *Skeleton Crew (features Katherine)
  • The Pale Pipesmoker (features Katherine and Minx)
  • *Wandering Mary (features Matthew)
  • *Incident on The Lady Barbara (features Berry)

“*” indicates stories that are new to this collection. Two of the others were previously published in limited editions, and the other two were published here on RobertMcCammon.com.

Audible has acquired the audiobook rights to Seven Shades of Evil, the next book in the Matthew Corbett series. Seven Shades of Evil features stories set in Matthew Corbett’s world. If all goes according to plan, it will be released in Fall 2023 by Lividian Publications in lettered, limited, and trade hardcovers, in ebook by Open Road, and an Audible audiobook. The official announcement of the book’s release is coming in May.

Lividian Publications has posted about their upcoming Robert McCammon announcements, and rather than rewrite it, I’ll just replicate their post here. News about Seven Shades of Evil, a new limited edition, and more trade paperback releases!

Hi Folks!

As I’ve mentioned, we have a very busy year planned here at Lividian Publications, and I thought it might be helpful if I posted a schedule for the next three announcements and who would receive first shot at ordering these books:

* We’re preparing our announcement for our special edition of Gone South by Robert McCammon, which will be shipping by June. Because this is not part of the Matthew Corbett series, the Limited Edition and Lettered Edition will be offered on April 12 to those who purchased The Store by Bentley Little directly through our site since that is the most recent Limited and Lettered we’ve shipped. On April 14, my Patreon supporters will be offered their advance ordering window. Any copies that remain will be offered to the Lividian mailing list and through our favorite retailers on April 17. Here’s a preview of the Limited Edition’s dust jacket artwork by François Vaillancourt:

* Three new Robert McCammon trade paperbacks will be announced publicly for preorder on April 24 through the Lividian website and some of our favorite retailers, along with Amazon and the other big chains.  The Border will be published on July 25, The King of Shadows will be published on September 19, and The Listener will be published on December 12. There will be a “first printing” bundle of all three books, which will ship in July. Join our mailing list for the official announcement.

* In early May, we will be announcing our trade hardcover, Limited Edition, and Lettered Edition of Seven Shades of Evil by Robert McCammon, the next volume in his acclaimed Matthew Corbett series. The Limited Edition and Lettered Edition will be offered on May 1 to those who purchased the same edition of The King of Shadows directly from our site. On May 3, my Patreon supporters will be offered their advance ordering window. Any copies of the Limited Edition and Lettered Edition that remain, along with the trade hardcover, will be offered to the Lividian mailing list and via our favorite retailers on May 8.

More news soon! Thank you again for all of your support and enthusiasm!

Best,
Brian

Alabama Booksmith hosted Robert McCammon on Saturday, December 3, 2022, for the public launch of The King of Shadows. I managed to make it down to Birmingham for the event, and it was great to see so many people turn out for it. The crowd—80 to 100 people—was easily twice the size of the turnout for the Cardinal Black launch in 2019. Considering how small the bookstore is, that was a lot of people!

Before signing books, Mr. McCammon read an excerpt from The King of Shadows and answered audience questions. Thanks to Alabama Booksmith, the event was livestreamed on Facebook, and I’ve uploaded it to YouTube.

In addition, thanks to Tony Thomas, better video of just the reading from The King of Shadows is also available on YouTube:

Finally, YouTube user It’s Terrific has posted a video of his experience and the items he had signed.

Finally, finally, YouTube channel The Jeff Word also posted a video of his experience.

Check RobertMcCammon.com in a day or two for some photos from the event.

It’s publication day for the trade hardcover edition of The King of Shadows, book eight in Robert McCammon’s Matthew Corbett series! Copies ordered from Lividian Publications and their resellers are signed. Copies ordered from Amazon, B&N, etc, are not. Signed copies can also be ordered from the Alabama Booksmith (they also have a few other signed books available).

Order The King of Shadows from Lividian Publications | Alabama Booksmith (signed) | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | B&N

Audiobook: Audible US | Audible CA | Amazon UK | Audible AU

Ebook: Kindle (Amazon US) | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | Barnes & Noble  | Kobo | Kobo CA | iTunes | Google

From the Lividian Publications website:

Lividian Publications is proud to be publishing a deluxe trade hardcover edition of The King of Shadows by Robert McCammon, the eighth volume in his acclaimed Matthew Corbett series. This beautiful hardcover edition features new Vincent Chong full-color artwork for the dust jacket.

Retail Price: $37.50
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Page Count: 472

Please note: this trade hardcover edition contains the exact same text as the Limited Edition, but with different spacing for the interior page design, to reduce the page count and keep the retail price as reasonable as possible in the current market. It’ll still be very readable!

Production Features for the FIRST PRINTING only:
• Full-color dust jacket artwork by Vincent Chong (different from the Limited Edition)
• Offset printed on an acid-free archival quality paper stock
• Hot foil stamping on the spine
• Smyth-sewn to create a more durable binding
• Twine head and tail bands
• Colored endpapers

About the Book:
It’s January of 1704, and Matthew Corbett continues his mission to Italy, accompanied by Hudson Greathouse and former enemy Professor Fell. They seek Brazio Valeriani and information about the mirror created by his father, the sorcerer Ciro. Legend claims the mirror can be used to summon demons from beyond.

But fate has other plans for Matthew as their ship is disabled by a pod of whales, and they seek refuge on a secluded island. The islanders welcome them with a massive feast, but all is not what it seems. As the island pulls them deeper into its influence, the castaways struggle to maintain their grip on reality, even their very identity. Matthew must keep his wits about him and solve the mystery enshrouding the other side of the island, where an active volcano looms and a secretive creature lurks.

The King of Shadows is the eighth installment in bestselling author Robert McCammon’s acclaimed series of historical thrillers featuring Matthew Corbett, a brave “problem-solver” who now faces a challenging foe that threatens to take over his most valuable resource: his own mind.

About the Author:
Robert McCammon is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-six books. He is the winner of five Bram Stoker Awards and a World Fantasy Award. He is best known for Swan Song (1987), The Wolf’s Hour (1989), and Boy’s Life (1991). More recently, McCammon has published The Five, which Stephen King called his best novel ever, and The Border, and is writing the Matthew Corbett series, a nine-book series of historical thrillers that USA Network has called “the Early American James Bond.” McCammon lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Reviews and Praise:
“Admirers of action-packed suspense with paranormal elements… will find much to like.”
— Publishers Weekly

 

Lividian Publications released the following announcement:

The King of Shadows by Robert McCammon
Signed Copies of the 1st Printing!

We’re very pleased to announce a surprise bonus for The King of Shadows trade hardcover edition, which will be published on December 6.

Earlier this year, Robert McCammon generously agreed to sign signature sheets for this edition, which means that any copies ordered directly from Lividian Publications or one the retailers below will be a 1st printing signed by the author. This includes copies already ordered, you do not need to order again.

Bad Moon Books * Camelot Books * Cemetery Dance Publications * Dark Regions * Kathmandu Books * Overlook Connection * SST Publications (UK Store!) * Subterranean Press * Ziesings

The Alabama Booksmith is also receiving 1st printing copies, but without the signed tip sheet because Robert McCammon will be visiting their store for a launch event and personally signing all of their copies. If you cannot attend this signing, you can also preorder a copy through their website.

Please Note: We’ve received a surge of orders over the last six weeks and we’ve reached the point where Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the other bigger retailers will not be getting first printings. Given the current supply chain problems with the printers, there is no way to rush a second printing in time for pub day, so we will also be publishing this title as a print-on-demand hardcover using the same printer Cemetery Dance used for Gwendy’s Final Task. If you order from a bigger retailer, the odds are good that is what you will receive. They’re still very nice books, and a huge leap forward from where POD was just five years ago, but we wanted to be clear that those copies wouldn’t be part of the offset 1st printing we’re talking about above.

Read more or reserve your copy today!

If you haven’t read this incredible series yet, please visit the The Matthew Corbett Trade Paperback SIGNED First Printing Bundle product page for more information about how you can order the new trade paperbacks including one SIGNED by Robert McCammon.