Category: The Hunter from the Woods

Hunter From the Woods by Robert McCammon.jpgFrom Subterranean Press:

More Robert McCammon is on the way. We’ve shipped about a quarter of the copies of The Hunter from the Woods to those who ordered direct, with more being bagged and boxed every hour. Hunter contains three novellas and three short stories centering on Michael Gallatin, the werewolf hero of McCammon’s classic novel, The Wolf’s Hour. We currently have fewer than 30 copies left available for sale.

We’re turning away tons of orders from our wholesale and large online retailers, so your best bet is to order direct.

Posted on Friday, December 9th, 2011 at 10:59 am.

Hi, everyone! Summer has passed, the chill has begun here in the South, the leaves are falling…must be autumn, and maybe time to talk a little bit about where I am and my future projects before the onslaught of winter.

I got back not long ago from the Surrey International Writer’s Conference, held in Surrey, British Columbia, toward the end of October every year. This was my third visit. One of the great pleasures this conference gives me is ‘teaching’ or really rather ‘guiding’ a couple of seminars. The ones I did this year were on the importance and power of names and how to write accents in dialogue. Very much fun. Got to see a lot of old friends and make some new ones. The conference is really worthwhile, because beginning writers get to sit across a table from more established writers at what are called “Blue Pencil” sessions, to show three or four pages of a manuscript and get immediate feedback on their work. So…a little scary for both people involved in that exchange, but again…very rewarding.

I would suggest that if you’re at all interested in learning more about the art and craft of writing, you seriously consider attending the Surrey International Writer’s Conference in October of 2012. I can guarantee you will enjoy it AND take something valuable away with you. Plus Surrey is not very far from Vancouver, which in itself is worth a few extra days. A most beautiful area in a great country.

The website you should take a look at, if you’re interested in this, is http://www.siwc.ca/.

On to other things…

Yes, autumn has arrived and that means intense worktime for me. Before I talk about what I’m working on next, let me say that The Hunter from the Woods is nearing publication and also the fourth Matthew Corbett adventure, The Providence Rider, will be released in (I think) March. I’ll tell you that in this one we leave New York for a while to visit a mysterious island in the Bermudas, and that Matthew comes face-to-face (?) with Professor Fell.

A note also on the title. I have a book that lists all the inhabitants of New York during the timeframe I’m writing about. Some of the names of the townspeople I use are real. So I’m looking through the names and one jumps out at me…Providence Ryder. Is that a great name, or what???

Anyway, that name started my thought process. And the book came out of that, of course. So that kinda goes back to my seminar on the importance and power of names at the Surrey conference, huh?

Speaking of names…let’s touch on Michael Gallatin for a minute. I am so proud and excited about the imminent publication of The Hunter from the Woods. It goes back and forth in time from the Wolf’s Hour period to document several episodes in Michael’s life. It hopefully adds to the character and also answers a few questions that some have posed to me over the years. Does it raise more questions? Of course! I wouldn’t be worth much as a writer if I didn’t leave the “soulcage” open for more of Michael’s adventures. So I have…and we’ll see what the future holds there.

Ah, yes. The future.

I am entering a period where I’ll be writing about the future, as opposed to the era of World War II and of course Matthew’s colonial era. Next up for me is a novella I’m doing for Sub Press, entitled Lawson. It’s set about seventy-something years in the future (though I never say the exact year) and involves a mercenary assassin in a megacity in a world run by corporations. The corporations are always at some level of warfare with each other, thus the need for men like Lawson who will go anywhere and kill any man, woman or child for a few extra “credits”. Lawson’s only friend and companion is his sex-doll robot, and he really doesn’t have much reason to live. Until…he meets the target of his next mission…

Lot more to Lawson, and to Lawson, than I’m telling, naturally. This will have a lot of action in it and I think will emphasize a new, more spare writing style I’m trying to develop. Do not fear…this “new” style will not affect the Matthew books…

Okay…onward to my next “big” project.

Many reviewers of The Five have mentioned that the supernatural element is very low-key and muted. That was done on purpose, to make the human element stronger. I recall I was telling someone I could always have gone the route of having a scene where a guitar comes to evil life and wraps around the player’s throat like a python. I was kidding, but this person’s eyes got huge with delight.

No, no, and no! The Five was not meant to be a special-effects showcase. It was a solid story, and I wanted to keep the book grounded in reality while having a supernatural undertone. But the next big project will be a Hell-On-Wheels extravaganza (I hope!!!).

Next up is a science-fiction/horror novel with a huge scope and I am planning to go over the top with this one. Tastefully, of course! But yes, it’ll have some scenes that I hope will both terrify and haunt and creep-out and resonate and all that good stuff. I may have mentioned the title before. I won’t mention it again, though…just let it sit, and trust that this will be worth the wait. Actually, I’m hoping to finish it up around April/May.

Other things…for all five or six of you who seem to enjoy them, I’m going back to doing Radio 678 shows. Why, you ask? Why should I be doing radio shows when I should be writing? Because I like doing them and I get to use some of my special-effects music equipment. So there you go…Radio 678 is fun for me, so that’s the bottom line.

I will offer you this: the next Matthew Corbett book after Providence Rider will be titled The River of Souls and is set in the Carolina colony. I think it will be two books in one, in a way, with the ideas coming together to form a single story…sort of like streams merging to form a river, yes? So I’ll be working on that when I finish the sci-fi/horror tome.

I get a lot of this: that people think I am a slow writer. Guys! It’s always been the publisher who’s been slow. I’ve always had things sitting on the shelf waiting for publication, or things in the pipeline. I think it’s because I do so many “different” things…I don’t know. But I can tell you that I am working full-speed ahead now, so when I hear somebody say I’m a slow writer…well…let’s just say I try to be “exact” in what I want to say, but usually the projects are stacked up and ready to go.

Okay…this autumn’s tale is nearly concluded. This is where I am and where I’m going. As always, I am pleased and honored to have you along for the ride. I have years of good stuff ahead…can hardly wait to get at some of the ideas, but everything has to “cook” at its own time and temperature.

And speaking of temperature…it’s cold outside. Light the fire and pull up the blanket, get something tasty to drink and lose yourself in an engrossing and involving book…there’s nothing better!

Cheers!

Robert McCammon

 

From Subterranean Press:

The Five by Robert McCammon.jpg

It’s been out for a while now, both as a hardcover and ebook, but Robert McCammon’s remarkable rock and roll epic, The Five, continues to draw praise. From Locus: “The Five is Robert R. McCammon’s first novel outside of his recent series of historical thrillers featuring Matthew Corbett since Gone South. Do the math and that’s almost 20 years. It’s a nicely nostalgic return to form for a writer who was one of the most highly regarded novelists during horror’s boom years, and it will put readers familiar with his work very much in mind of earlier novels from that time, including Mine and Boy’s Life; its fantastic element is more suggested than evident, and it eschews the darker possibilities of its theme for an upbeat appraisal of the human spirit’s capacity to rise above adversity.”

The Five

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $26.95

Buy Now

Before we go, an important note about Rick’s new Michael Gallatin collection, Hunter from the Woods: As we expected, Hunter is pre-selling very well. So well, in fact, that we won’t be able to fill orders for large online retail and wholesale accounts. If you’d like a copy, a direct order is your best bet.

Hunter from the Woods

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $75

Buy Now

Several updates from the past couple of weeks:

  • Japanese illustrator Kazuki Tamada has contributed another piece of artwork inspired by The Wolf’s Hour. You can view a larger version of his art, as well as see his other illustrations, by clicking on the image or here.
  • Publishers Weekly has posted a great review of the Subterranean Press edition of Robert McCammon’s first novel, Baal. You can read it on the PW site.
  • Robert McCammon recently finished signing the tip-in sheets for The Hunter from the Woods, which Subterranean Press is about to send to the printer for its November publication.
  • Mel Odom posted a superb review of The Five on his Bookhound blog.
  • A post about the Matthew Corbett series was posted over on Wisdom of Bookmonkey.
  • Author Laraine Herring posted one reason that Boy’s Life is so effective.
  • A fantastic new review of Boy’s Life was posted on Right2Left.

Stay tuned for some exciting news about Robert McCammon ebooks!

The Hunter From the Woods
From Subterranean Press:

Robert McCammon’s new collection of linked tales featuring Michael Gallatin, hero of his classic novel, The Wolf’s Hour, looks to be headed to the printer ahead of its scheduled date. At the moment, we’re waiting for Rick to set pen to signature pages. As soon as those are in hand, The Hunter from the Woods shuttles off to the printer.

In the meantime, head over to the Hunter page to check out a few of Vincent Chong’s seven full-color interior illustrations. Hunter is preselling so well that we many not have copies available to our wholesale and large online retail accounts. A direct order is your best bet to guarantee you receive a copy.

From Subterranean Press:

We have a few great bits of Robert McCammon news to share with you today.

  • We’ve just reached agreement to publish his next Matthew Corbett novel, The Providence Rider. As the novel opens, Matthew is a problem-solver having difficulty negotiating the consequences of his encounter with Mister Slaughter. Readers are going to be thrilled at the Dickensian cast of grotesques and characters in The Providence Rider, from stout friend Hudson Greathouse, to the ever in shadows Professor Fell, to new characters such as Mother Deare, Madame Chillany, the Thacker Brothers, and the turbaned, deadly, Sirki. Perhaps best of all, the signed limited and lettered editions will feature a story from Matthew Corbett’s world available nowhere else. Sign up for our newsletter for more details, due soon.
  • After a bit of delay, the signed limited edition of The Five is in stock and shipping, with the lettered edition due soon. Thanks to everyone for their patience, while we sorted out some difficulties with the slipcases. The limited edition may be sold out, but you can still pick up a signed copy of the first trade hardcover.
  • We’re in the homestretch on The Hunter from the Woods, McCammon’s new collection of linked stories and novellas that features Michael Gallatin, the lycanthropic hero of his classic novel, The Wolf’s Hour. Be sure to check out the long novella from the collection, “The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs”, available on Hunter’s page.
  • All of the work is done on the classic novel, Baal, virtually unobtainable in hardcover at a reasonable price, until now. Our edition of Rick’s first novel is just waiting its place in our production queue.

Subterranean Press has revealed the cover art for Robert McCammon’s upcoming The Hunter from the Woods, a collection of stories and novellas featuring Michael Gallatin, the lycanthropic hero of The Wolf’s Hour.  The art is by Vincent Chong, who also did the cover art for the recent Subterranean limited edition of The Wolf’s Hour.  The book is scheduled for publication in November 2011. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Subterranean Press has also made the complete novella “The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs” available as a free ebook download in EPUB (NOOK) and MOBI (Kindle) formats.  This novella originally appeared in the limited edition of The Wolf’s Hour, and it is also included in The Hunter from the Woods.  You can download the novella from the Subterranean Press order page.

Hi, everyone. Thank you for checking in on the website and Facebook. I’m so glad to have you as readers and fans because, as I’ve said before, what would a writer be without readers. Unread, is what! So thank you again.

I realize that in the course of a year I’ve written over a thousand pages. That includes THE FIVE, THE HUNTER FROM THE WOODS, and THE PROVIDENCE RIDER. Way over a thousand pages, really. At this point I have about another hundred pages to go on RIDER, so this book should be finished pretty soon. I think you’ll find it’s very different from MISTER SLAUGHTER and from the other episodes in Matthew’s ongoing career, but my plan was always to make each book “different”, so there you have it.

I wanted to talk a little bit about THE FIVE and why I wrote it. I’ve always loved music, of course—as you might be able to tell from the podcasts—but I was sitting in a California Pizza Kitchen restaurant one day for lunch and I heard a song being played through the sound system. As I listened, I realized…that song is speaking to me. There were things going on in my life at that time that this particular song seemed to be zeroing in on. I thought…wow, this is for me. This is speaking to me in a way that possibly no one else in the restaurant could understand. That song was “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve.

So I started thinking…what is it about music that touches a person? And why suddenly can you hear a song and believe it is speaking, for some mystic reason, directly to you? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I began framing THE FIVE right there in the CPK. A band down on its luck, having suffered many hardships, struggling from one gig to another trying to make ends meet…and suddenly they are part of a larger picture they can’t understand, but they are presented with an opportunity and a path they come to feel they need to follow.

I hope THE FIVE finds a large readership. I do believe it’s the best book I’ve ever written, because it has so much of “me” in it. Not to sound big-headed about that, but THE FIVE was written from a very personal place. So I do hope the emotions and passion in it—and my love for music—translate well to other people.

Let me also talk a little bit about RIDER. Wow, what a journey this has been from SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD! In RIDER, we leave a cold and snowy New York for a trip to a mysterious island in the Bermudas, where Matthew meets…

Yes, you got it. Matthew meets Professor Fell, face to…face?

I will tell you that Professor Fell has summoned—another word for ‘kidnapped’—Matthew for the purpose of solving a problem. The professor needs, as he puts it, a ‘providence rider’—a scout, to seek out a trail—so in essence Matthew is the providence rider of the title, working for Professor Fell among a conference of very colorful and deadly criminals.

The next book I’m working on?

Okay.

It’s going to be a big science fiction/horror novel. I’ve been convinced that readers are eager for my return to doing some kind of contemporary ‘horror’ novel, but I want it to be big and different and have a worldwide scale. I want it to have meaning beyond being a simple scarefest or pot of gore. So…I’ve come up with the idea and the theme and I’ll begin work on that in October. Well…as you can tell, I’ve already started work on it, putting the characters and the scenes together. But the actual writing will begin in October.

After that, Matthew returns. That next book is put together—mostly—and takes place in the hot and swampy Carolina colony in the summer. So get your tarsoap ready to keep the mosquitoes off, make sure your torch is burning bright, and beware the creature that—

Teasers are such a bitch, aren’t they? Heh.

I do have a lot more work to do. As I’ve said before, I write books I want to read. I am blessed that others want to read them too, and get something from them. I have been really blessed to know that many readers feel connected to me through my work, not only in the States but around the world, and so we come back to the idea of a work of ideas speaking to someone, giving them a message or a pat on the back or a word of encouragement as well as—hopefully—a good story to be enjoyed.

There are changes in the works regarding the website and my Facebook page. I’m going to become more involved with both. All praise, of course, goes to Hunter Goatley for keeping things going and for being such a vital presence in my career. Also…for being such an excellent friend. Hunter has really gone the distance for me, and every day he shows his value as a cheerleader and supporter of my work. Thank you, Hunter!

So there are many new things coming, as well as some changes and some surprises. We’ll have some new videos coming up soon and some other cool stuff. Please keep checking back in to see what’s going on.

It’s almost summer! Time to put on the shades, because the future is awesomely bright!

Take care, everyone, and happy reading!

Best Wishes,

Robert McCammon