Subterranean Press has posted 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.

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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.

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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: 52 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.

 

  • Kazuki Tamada sent in another piece of artwork, this one inspired by Robert McCammon’s The Wolf’s Hour. You can view the art here or click on the image to the right. Look for more art from Kazuki soon….

  • Mister Slaughter is now available in ebook form for the Nook from Barnes & Noble. You can purchase it here.

A number of bloggers have posted about Robert McCammon’s work recently:

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.

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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

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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 [email protected] 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.

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

Some of you may recall the video we posted of Timo “The Doc” Heikkinen’s song “Boy’s Life,” which put music to Robert McCammon’s poem found at the beginning of Boy’s Life. You can see a video of a live performance of the song on the Video page.

Timo’s band, newly-christened The Doc, has released their first studio CD, The First Cut, which includes the song “Boy’s Life.” The song and/or album can be purchased in MP3 format from cdbaby. For more information about The Doc’s album or to purchase the song, visit the The Doc’s The First Cut on CDBaby.