Friday, September 12, 2008

Did someone say 'Release Date'?

Should I tell you..?

Do you really want to know?

...Want to know just how long you will have to wait?

Well... Monster-Blood Tattoo Book 3: Factotum (English language editions) will be released ~

MAY 2010

Please don't be too dismayed or beat up on me; it is a bit of a wait yes, but it will be worth it... he says in faith... =/

In the meantime I found this very cool bit of "fan art" - if I may call it that - by a young soul by the name of ponkkaa. I hope they do not mind me send folks their way.

Also there is the wonderful work of our very own E.N.Reinmuth - both MBT and non; I dig you work very much ma'am! - and yes, I shall attempt to put up just how a vialimn works some day soon (certainly between now and the release of Book 3).

Anyone else got a bit of MBT related (or not) stuff they want to show off?

Last but not least, a new poll, in an oblique response to portal's excellent question. (please be seeing the text to the right)

81 comments:

Zakk said...

Hurrah!
At last, some info to seek my teeth into. Make the release date May 30, my birthday. I knew it would be factotum (see anna?). Thankyou so much.
Awesome news.

pearl said...

:D *marks down date on calender*

... I have some MBT related stuff somewhere in my dA gallery, but I'm too shy to show them. xD

About the character poll, I hard a hard time picking one. I ended up with the Misbegotten Shrewd because I'm nearly as silly as him. Awwww...

portals said...

YAY! I hoped it would be called factotum because i always wanted him to be Europes factotum. I know he becomes it at the end of lamplighter, but i was hoping it would not be called 'wit' or 'manikin'.

smudgeon said...

Excellent. I shall also mark that one on my calendar.

Any thoughts yet on whether you'll stop at just three? Probably a bit impolite to ask, I think...but I'll leave it there anyway, just in case it isn't.

RoPunky said...

factotum forever? no, I'd like him to serve as a factotum for a while, but then he should find his own way. Maybe join Freckle and all the good monsters...

portals said...

Who did you guys vote for in the new poll and who are your favourite characters?

No, not facotum forever, factotum so that we can se lots of Europe ...

I hope we find out lots about leers in Factotum.

Anonymous said...

Fouracres was my favorite. I hope we get to see him in Factotum!!

RoPunky said...

I'm Threnody: for her relationship with her mother, her clumsiness in battle and her defensive snobbery.
Only... I'm 41 and she's a child. Ops!
(ok, let's say that I USED TO BE Threnody)

And so (obviously, maybe), my favourite is Europe. She's what I want to become. She's what I WILL become. No doubt! ;)

R.J. Anderson said...

Wow, that poll is tough! I'm not really like any of the characters listed there or any I can think of, but I picked Europe for her feelings-aside, no-nonsense, get-the-job-done qualities, which as an INTJ I tend to share. Not so much with the exotic reputation, though! :D

Also, May 2010 is also when my second book (on which I am feverishly working at present) is scheduled to come out in the US, so it is clearly an excellent month for fine fantasy literature *cough*.

Anonymous said...

2010?

*growls*

o well. can't rush genius, i guess.

i am not much like any character in a very noticeable way, but it was a draw between Dolours and Licurius, and i picked Licurius because i feel more urge to be unpleasant than to be patient just now. i almost went with Herdobog Trought. :)

Anonymous said...

Zakk, good guess! I bow my head to you in respect.

On the poll, I picked FRansitart cause he seems very protective of his friends and seems to go a long way to help and protect them, just as I do.
I would rather be more like Europe.

Sigh, so long before the next book comes? What will I read until then....?

portals said...

I also picked licurius, but probably because i dont like people who smell funny.

Sam Hranac said...

I'm a Fouracres. You Licurius people freak me out.

D.M. Cornish said...

LOL! Mr Hranac! LOL very loudly!

portals said...

Does Rossamund actually smell swines lard all the time, or is he just paranoid?

Jack Dixon Ryan said...

Licurius folks make me creep too.

Anonymous said...

Ditto on the Licurius chaps and chappeses; 'ol box face is hardly a nice chap to identify with.
On another note, I'm about to totally contradict my prior statements about not wanting to know release dates by whooping with elation in the middle of a library [insert loud and obnoxious roar of delight]. Okay, I'm fine now folks. Zakk, don't call me a hypocrite.

I'm very thrilled that I had Factotums title correct about the same time I finished Lamplighter. But I didn't say so earlier and I'm starting to wish I had. Still, we no longer have to say 'Book 3' whenever referring to it so that's good news. *Marks date on calendar*

And the pole...hmmm. After a toss up betwixt Sebastipole and Fouracres I chose Fouracres. He seems like a good sort and one of the few who is both knowledgeable and what I would call a reasonably upstanding citizen. His lonely, perilous job is where I'll wind up some day, mark me words. (See, now I'm adding my predictions to the record.)
Hold out for the long haul, Mr. Cornish. We’re all doing our best to support you.
-Ben.

Anonymous said...

I second Zakk as having the release date May 30, since I share the same birthday and that would be a great present.
As for who I am, I voted as Rossamund, since I can be rather shy and let people push me around to a point. And I've been in my fair share of troublesome situations but not nearly as dire as fighting a rever-man (thankfully). My favorite character is Sebastipole, though--you can't help but admire him when you see how other leers can turn so nasty yet he's kind to the less fortunate, such as Rossamund and Numps (another of my favorites).

Anonymous said...

us Licurius-folks are feeling hurt.

hey, you said be truthful, DM.

portals said...

Yeah, i like numps and rossamund as well. He is one of the few main characters that i like. My friend lent me a book called 'Wolf Brother', and the main charcter was an emotionless, incompetent, and uncertain failure. I reckon you did a great job at making a god main character Mr. Cornish! :D

(Yes, we are feeling hurt.)

Sam Hranac said...

It's all in jest. We love you blood-thirsty evil lugs!

portals said...

Oh, thats good.

You smell FUNNY to me!

D.M. Cornish said...

Don't be hurt all you Licuristes out there - he's actually one of my favourite characters (even if he is freaky and a tad scary).

D.M. Cornish said...

Oh, and I am going to be a pain right now (WARNING! WARNING!) and say that if you check earlier posts I actually revealed the tentative name of the title a little while ago... don't ask me where, I just know I did - I was first! ME!

;P

Sam Hranac said...

Wow! It's like you have inside information or something!

portals said...

Yes! Good! He's my favourite.
The main reasons i would like to read backup stories about Europe is Licurius.

Anonymous said...

21st of May would be a good date for the book to be on the shelf in the bookstore. It´s my birthday so it would be a nice gift.

RottenPocket said...

I voted Numps.... Seriously, whenever Dad washes the dishes I go over everything again and again because I still see them as dirty. Even if they're not, I'll do them just to make sure. I freak myself out like that sometimes.... Mind you, it's only the dishes, my room is trashed. Just like Numps' pane cleaning to the dark workroom and possibly no showers 0_o

That being said I just feel so tingly inside now Mr. Cornish! After I posted that Vialimn I got at least 100 views in a day (hey, that's a lot for me), and I've only had good comments for it since-though I think after someone's telling I mistook the hexagonal panes for a hexagonal lantern bell....

Anywho! 2010! Ya know what that means?! We'll be able to read it before the world supposedly ends in 2012!

I can die happy!

portals said...

The world will not end in 2012.

portals said...

Mr. Cornish, in Factotum, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, include NOTHING, ABOUT PROPHECIES! I really hate those things.

pearl said...

I want to know more about Licurius. I was sad when he got mauled and convinced myself that he's still alive somewhere. xD

Anonymous said...

yes. as per stinkin usual, one of my favorite characters died.
does anyone else have this problem with books? i mean all the time?

noelle said...

I always have to convince myself that my favorite character is still alive after their apparent death. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes I have to resort to clones/resurrections.

RottenPocket said...

That's why I suggested earlier that DM ought to make a publication of Europe's Journal thingy. Though I already have a hunch that Licurius had a thing for that Duchess chick in Frestonia, who had and itch for adventure. At first thought it would be Europe but I read through the Explicarium and was proved wrong.

Noelle- I know! I usually end up convincing myself that they're still alive, but then again, I do usually have to read through books again because I zoned out whilst reading 50 pages. Not because it's boring, but because I don't have time to read these days and forget things!

Anonymous said...

Hm...What will I do until May 2010?

u2att said...

Thanks for the compliment on my fan art. I could use a wee bit more practice. And by the by, I'm 49 years old (but still young on the inside).

Ponkkaa

Zakk said...

I like cheese. Abit off topic, i just thought you needed to know.

RottenPocket said...

MBT Related comment-

:O I read that the Jim Henson Company have signed on to make an adaptation of Monster Blood Tattoo, but no writer has been assigned yet. Is this true?!

portals said...

en reinmuth
I'm not sure you're wrong about the frestonian girl being Europe.
Licurius was a guard of the duchess of naimes or something, and Europe is duchess in waiting and naimes is in frestonia. i dont know if its true but ...

I agree about good characters dying. it always happens. Licurius was too amazing to be true though.

I think he should have survived the fight and died on the way to the Harefoot Dig.

portals said...

Even though this is completely irrelavent,
There is a great political simulator called NationStates in which you create a country and control it.
It is completely free and quite fun.
Just type nation states into google and it should be the second result.

Anonymous said...

I'm only 80% convinced that Licurius is dead. There wasn't enough 'screen time'/'bonding time' between him and Europe. There must be more!! *pounds desk in frustration*

-- Pearlius
(I seem to have forgotten my password. :P Oh well, I'll recover it later.)

RoPunky said...

but would anyone like to see lots more of MONSTERS as I do?
what about Freckle?
isn't it the most lovely thing?

come on, Rossamund, take the monsters' side! :D

Anonymous said...

yes yes yes, more monsters please!

Anonymous said...

Well, I tried to stay occupied writing fan fiction and i just cant write in the style that DM writes it in. I will just reread the books again... and again... and leave the imagination INSIDE my head. These posts will be my coffee. Seriously. If this ends, I'm going to DIE.

D.M. Cornish said...

Now I have to say after this last dramatic statement from jack that though MBT might be all done with in the next book, it is my deep hope and intention to continue writing about the H-c through other characters and other situations.

How does that sound?

Also, Ponkkaa/ctwistedpair, I am wonderfully amazed to discover your age - why should exploration and imagination be the sole preverve of the young! Onwards, good soul!

As for what you could do until 2010? Anyone want to ghost write Book 3 for me? Ha ha ha he he errr ... ok, no.... just jokes. How about checking out my booklist of favourites in my profile and givinhg some of the tomes that inspire me a go? (Am I coming all too teacherly here?)

And, zakk, I like cheese too, especially Dutch Smoked and Jaarlsberh (sp?)

D.M. Cornish said...

Oh... and why would I want to write about monsters? Silly, childish things! A man of my age cannot be seen relating to them!

... besides which, I'll be accused as a stinking sedorning blackguard and strung up on the nearest gibbet!

(BTW, my pleasure Ms. Reinmuth :)

Anonymous said...

Mr Cornish, looked at your booklist but there wasn´t much I recognized, Tolkien is soo boring to read in swedish. Don´t know if it´s the translation or just the book. Austen I can agree on but Kafka... Had to read it in one of my Litterature-classes and ...sigh. to heavy.
OS Card I´ve only read THe Abyss.

But I can see we have almost the same taste in movies.
I have to see if I can find something readable in the bookstore until you book arrives. Or watch films!

D.M. Cornish said...

So, anna how does MBT hold up in Swedish? I had Nihle, the Swedish translator, ask some very probing questions so I have been hoping it is a good version.

portals said...

For those who are interested, there is quite a good western movie called '3:10 to Yuma'.

Licurius may be alive, alhough he is most probably not.

his face was apparently mitulated already, and no trace of him could be found, so unless monsters eat cloak then he oculd be alive.

I dont believe he actually is alive, i think he is dead, but he could be

Anonymous said...

wishful thinking, i suppose

*sniff*

Anonymous said...

I´ve read book 1 in swedish and book 2 in english and I think the translator "Nille" has done a good job. I just hate it when the translator make up replacement names in their own language like they have done in Tolkiens books but in Your books the names and diffrent words are mostly the same. The language is "alive" like in your book.
Book 2 hasn´t come out in swedish yet, what I know. But I think you don´t have to be worried about the translation.

RottenPocket said...

I had the sudden urge at the pet store yesterday to buy a Rottweiller and name him Griffstutzig o_0.

Shame, if I also had the urge to call my child Freckle.... :D

Anonymous said...

Actually when I said "What will i do until May 2010?" I was just joking and as for other books to read I'm doing okay there Im reading the lord of the Ring books and will be getting Brisingr soon (can't wait for it to comeout)

Anonymous said...

Bringstr should be good

And will u possibly write anymore about the falsegods I found that small part about them interesting

yeah im the may 2010 guy

Jack Dixon Ryan said...

Brisingr was a book I was looking forward to, but I have to admit that MBT took it down and buried it. I'm a writer, and also a published writer on the internet. I do write every day, but I can't write Dickensian style like these books. The mood created is one-of-a-kind unique.

Kudos to you!

Anonymous said...

Monster blood tattoo is great, yet to say that it "took it down and buried it" may be a stretch and besides it isn't even out yet so lets not judge the book to much until then

And both MBT series and the Inheritence Cycle both have their strong points and they are both very good in their on ways.

noelle said...

The difference is that the Eragon series is rather amateur and relies heavily on the works of other authors, while everything about MBT is unique and the setting is new and fascinating and obviously there's been a lot of thought put into it. Eragon is more or less a cheap imitation of greater works of fiction and there's nothing new or exciting about it. The first book entertained me, I must admit, but Eldest was a bloated, conceited, awkward book with so little actual substance and a great deal of rambling about irrelevant topics...like ants.

As a young author, I clearly have very strong opinions about Mr. Paolini's books :)

D.M. Cornish said...

Mister Paolini stalks his patch of the darkling woods and I stalk mine - some folks prefer the fimiliar, some the unusual.

I must confess I am the latter.

I also must confess I have not read the Eregon books, indeed, that I do not read a whole lot of fantasy at all. I am one o those sods who read LOTR before any genre novel and have been spoilt for anything since.

Each to their own I suppose.

D.M. Cornish said...

Oh and Zakk - could you send that email again, I accidentally junked it... =/

portals said...

I strongly agree with noelle about Eragon.
The plot of eragon and eldest was a COMPLETE mirror of the 4th Star Wars movie.
He is some guy who lives out in the middle of nowhere, until the old man takes him away to become the extinct super heroe type figure. there are a lot more similarities but iu wont go into them
I hate eldest, although eragon was quite good when i first read it.

Anonymous said...

Eragon had it's time, and Brisingr will certainly bring it to popularity, but Paolini seems to write in an under developed sense as apposed to MBT. I just think I like sensory writing, and MBT has a really good mood to it.

Anonymous said...

I found Eragon and Eldest was a bit tough in some parts. what I seek in a book is that you remember parts of the story, which Paolini´s books don´t. If you don´t, it´s not a good and interesting book.
Also it´s good if the language in the book is "alive" and not stiff and boring.

Anonymous said...

thank you so much noelle and portals...by the end of the first chapter of Eragon i was all PO'd because of all the, ahm, *borrowing* Mr Paolini utilized in every single aspect of the book, and the rather mediocre writing and story development, but every time i mention this to fantasy readers they bite my head off for some reason.

i guess as a person with a somewhat widespread experience in reading, esp. fantasy, who has become kind of a book snot over time [yehh, i only like GOOD books now. shame.], the attitude of false originality and the hype really bothered me. like, GRRRR

and i could go on and on and on like this, but i will be nice

Sam Hranac said...

My son (12) described Eragon as Star wars plot with LOTR names.

Anonymous said...

a tad harsh,but it does have truth to it
yah and its pretty obvious the diffrance between the series is the amount of uniqueness in them (mainly less uniqueness=the Inheritence Series And very unique MBT)
the fact that monster blood tattoo is so unique is what makes it so great.
Where as the Inheritence Series is just a great read that is really gripping(atleast it was that way for me).
Not That MBT isn't gripping because it is (I mean I read lamplighter in just 3 or 4 days)

Anonymous said...

yah and mbt is definitly a much more interesting novel

and the first chapters in Eragon were the worst I agree with you there and its beginning was quite borrowed, but it does get better later on

Sam Hranac said...

I'm sure it does move along well later on. It did well. I don't mean to get down on the guy. Eragon just isn't for me. But then, I never got into Harry Potter either, so what do I know.

D.M. Cornish said...

I actually avoided Mr Paolini's work because I heard it was so derivative.

The Scar by Mr Meiville on the other hand is tasty uniquely goodness.

noelle said...

I also wanted to strangle pretty much every character in Paolini's books at one point or another (including wanting to strangle the title character pretty much from start to finish...that's never a good thing). In the case of MBT, however, even the most minor characters are fleshed out to some extent, and many merit sketches! I have so many favorite characters that I can scarcely keep track of them.

On the topic of artwork, I've put up some of my own sketches on my blogspot, if anyone would like to take a look.

Anonymous said...

Tell me about it. The character sketches really bring things out in a way you wouldn't get otherwise. Particularly since one automatically imagines characters in books to look like something you have seen before. The Explicarium plainly devised to make some obscure yarn more feasible helps a lot with expanding the background of each bloke and lass without filling the story itself with cumbersome exposition.
But please, no one get me started on the similarities between the Inheritance Cycle and Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, as I'm a fan(atic) about the later two.

As for what I'll do 'til May 2010, well, I have some other books like Beowulf, and Lemony Snicket's Unauthorized Autobiography I was planning on reading. Then there's the Star Wars books and my own writing projects (three going at present, though only one is making progress). In addition to that there's the Legos... And I really have a little thing called an education I need to start finishing when I have the time. *wink*

I was Wondering, MR. Cornish, if there's a fulgar with spoors on both cheeks imitating tears. I think that would make an interesting look. Okay, so I am needlessly thrusting my ideas in peoples faces. Apologies if anyone’s gotten sick of it yet.
-Ben.

Stephanie Van Orman said...

Waiting under two years is nothing. I'll look forward to it with eagerness and anticipation. I'm sure it will be a masterpiece! All the best!

portals said...

Sam Hranac-
I agree with your son!
Noelle-
I also hate all the characters in Eragon. Back to the technicality vs fantasticality on the last post, the characters in Eragon don't base their decisions on the right, logical thing to do, they base then on what would be the biggest copy of another book or movie!

MBT is so much better than the Inheritace series, the characters are more likeable, the setting is not Middle Earth with a different name, and the characters are not based on characters from other movies.

pearl said...

IMHO, the characters in the Inheritance series are characteristically weak (did that even make sense?). They were fairly cliche and I couldn't relate to them. It felt more like reading words strung together as a story than the words actually painting a picture in my head and move like it would on a T.V screen. >_>

Anyway, Mr. Cornish, I think I've asked this question before but what age would some of the characters be? (say, Europe, Sebastipole, Numps, Fouracres etc.)

Anonymous said...

I have to say, Lemony Snicket ties with Mr. D.M. as my favorite modern-day author. I own the Unauthorized Autobiography and it is amazing. Then again, I am biased, since I own too much Snicket stuff for one's own good. ;)

And as to Paolini's writing (I know, opening a wound--I'm sorry), I'm not into the books so much anymore because not only are they sooo long, but Paolini's made-up languages are hard for me to remember as to what they mean. At least with MBT, it's a mix of languages here (meaning Earth). The gott language especially I see the German in, which makes me pleased since now I feel vindicated for taking 4 almost worthless years of German in high school instead of Spanish. So theoretically, I could have figured out what an 'uhrsprechman' was if I hadn't been lazy and looked in the explicarium. (I apologize for any inaccurate information--I still do not have book 2 in my possession!) But for a word like 'brisingr,' I see a jumble of letters that have little basis in any language I know of. Then again, I haven't read any of the Inheritance books for about 3+ years, so I might be totally wrong about everything. It's been known to happen.

Anonymous said...

Yah the character sketches in MBT really do make the books muck better and its nice to have a accurate idea of what the author wanted the characters to look like and really make the story so much better and more interesting

oh and when I meantioned I was looking forward to Brisingr I didn't mean to start a comparison between MBT and the Inheritence series so yah not sure why there is so many comparison going on, but whatever.

Jack Dixon Ryan said...

Well, there both great book series and you can keep your favorite, but personally, I say hurrah to MBT all the way!

Anonymous said...

[O + I would officially follow the blog, DM, if blogger hadn't done some freakish warp with google and kicked me off the site and my old blog a year or so ago. sorry. *sigh*]

portals said...

MBT is definately better.

MooseGuy said...

See this? "78 comments"

I demand a forum!

D.M. Cornish said...

Hey, disapointed sure, but no worries monday, freakish technology things are the bane of my stinkin' life. (Like the computer I use to blog with... grrr)

Anonymous said...

2010? I can handle it...it's not like I had the second book preordered and everything and haunted the bookstore at 9 AM for 2days in advance just in case...

Honestly though...take your time. The longer it takes to get it out, the longer and more polished the book will be *_*

A movie huh? Maybe it'll come out at around the same time as the mythological Evangelion movie...if it did...I'd cry. And feel like fate planned my life out entirely for that year. I'll keep an MBT shrine in my closet till then though...