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A little while back, my über-editor Nina Hess—who’s in charge of the young-adult fiction at Wizards of the Coast—sent me a copy of my first hardcover novel. Secret of the Spiritkeeper, which was my first mass-market novel when it hit shelves in 2004, just came out in a brand-new Japanese translation from ASCII, and although I can’t read a word of it, I love it.

The new cover art looks great. The wacky colors in the title are what you get when you scan something printed with metallic silver ink, it seems, so ignore that effect. In person, it looks fantastic.

The book is about the size of the English version, only thicker. The hardcover gives it some good heft, and it even comes with an attached silver ribbon to help keep your place as you read. It’s snazzy, and it really makes me wish I could read Japanese.

written by Matt Forbeck

A bit of digging through Amazon.com shows that I have three new books and one repackaged book due to hit shelves this year.

First up, we have the novelization of the Mutant Chronicles film. This is listed as shipping August 26, but I wouldn’t put too much faith in that until the film’s release date is set. Still, they have the cover there, which looks great.

Next comes The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing Superheroes and Villains Illustrated. No cover up there yet, but it should look great. Yair Herrera of Chile drew all the gorgeous pictures, while I arranged the words around them. This is set for September 2.

After that, for September 9, we have a repackaged book in the Knights of the Silver Dragon Gift Set. This features the first three books in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series—including the first, my Secret of the Spiritkeeper—in a slipcased set. It also comes with Ree Soesbee’s Riddle in Stone and Dale Donovan and Linda Johns’s Sign of the Shapeshifter.

Finally, there’s the book I mentioned a while ago but couldn’t say much about. I still can’t say anything more than what’s up on this sparse listing, but since it’s a hardcover book titled Orcs, you might guess what it’s about. On November 4, you should be able to read the whole thing.

Whew!

written by Matt Forbeck

A copy of A Practical Guide to Monsters showed up on my doorstep the other day. It’s a fun book for kids, essentially a Monster Manual without any D&D stats, with witty writing and wonderful artwork. It’s a handsome and durable hardcover book that kids should love.

Nina Hess, my kind and insightful editor for my Knights of the Silver Dragon series, wrote the book. She chose an interesting voice: that of Zendric, the wizard mentor I created for that same series.

I get a small sense of cognitive dissonance reading a book written by a character I created. It’s as if we’re narrowing in on a narrative paradox. To cross that Rubicon, all that has to happen is for Zendric to start writing about me.

written by Matt Forbeck

Barak Blackburn pointed out a report of a children’s book club in his local paper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette. In it, there’s a picture of a boy talking about a book he’s just read, my Secret of the Spiritkeeper. Barak sent me a link to the article, but it only lasted for a hour before expiring. Otherwise, you would need to pony up for a subscription to see it.

Thanks for the report, Barak!

written by Matt Forbeck

Earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast asked me to pitch a story for a Mirrorstone anthology, a collection of short stories for young-adult readers, edited by Steve Berman. I jumped at the opportunity, and now I’m told my story will accompany those of Eugie Foster, J. D. Everyhope, Sean Manseau, Tiffany Trent, Gregory Frost, Jim C. Hines, Janni Lee Simner, Lawrence M. Schoen, E. Sedia, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Craig Laurance Gidney, Beth Bernobich, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black.

Look for Magic in the Mirrorstone in Spring 2008.

written by Matt Forbeck

Wizards of the Coast has revamped the website for Mirrorstone, the young-adult imprint of its book-publishing department. Their Knights of the Silver Dragon section, dedicated to the series I created for them, looks prety snazzy. They even have a new photo of me up on my bio page, although I’ll have to get them to update the text. Still this could be one of the few times you may ever see me wearing a tie.

written by Matt Forbeck

This is what I get for not checking on Amazon regularly. Originally—at least as far as I recall, The Dragons Revealed—was due out on August 29. Now it’s listed as having been released on August 8.

So, if you’re interested in reading the final chapter in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series, you could have been doing so already for almost three weeks! Get yourself to a bookstore and snatch up every copy you can find—if it’s not already too late.

I’m told that a major chain or two may not be carrying the book because the line has been ended. If that’s so, I recommend ordering the book through your friendly local bookseller or your favorite online outlet.

I’m looking forward to hearing what people think of this book and it’s immediate predecessor, Prophecy of the Dragons. They represent a huge shake-up in the city of Curston, and a major turning point in the heroes’ lives. I had a blast writing them too.

written by Matt Forbeck

I got my author’s copies of The Dragons Revealed in the mail last Thursday. They look great, and I think this is going to make a fitting capstone for this line. Fourteen books in a series is great by any standard, and I’m honored to be the one who both opened the door and closed it.

Because of the word that the line will end, I’m told not as many bookstores will carry these last two books. If you want them be sure to order them through your friendly local bookstore. Otherwise, you can find them online, too, in all the usual places.

written by Matt Forbeck

Today is the official release date for Prophecy of the Dragon. This is the first of the climactic two-part story that brings the saga of the young Knights of the Silver Dragon to a roaring end.

If you were there with me at the beginning with Secret of the Spiritkeeper, be sure to join me for the finale!

written by Matt Forbeck

This morning, Nina Hess, my editor on the Knights of the Silver Dragon line, gave me a call. That should have been my first clue something was wrong. You see, in this age of the internet, I’d yet to speak with Nina even once. If she’d picked up the phone to talk with me, something had to be up.

In her kind way, Nina told me that, while Secret of the Spiritkeeper had sold well, the Knights line as a whole hadn’t kept up with Wizards’ hopes. The editorial team had made the hard decision to cancel the series.

Now, I’d known for a while that the line would come to an end—just not this soon. Not too long ago, Nina had commissioned two more novels in the series from me, which were slated to be books #17 and #20. The 20th book was meant to be the series’ capstone.

However, Wizards took a look at the numbers and decided that it would be better to end the series now. Book #14, The Dragons Revealed, will now be the final book. Look for it on shelves this August.

I don’t hold any ill will against Wizards for this decision. I’ve been a publisher myself, and publishing is a business. You have limited resources, and if you find that something isn’t generating the money it must, then you have to cut it loose.

Also, since I’ve only had one book in the series published to date, I can’t take it too personally. In fact, I’ve been going back and forth with Nina on a proposal for a whole new series, and with luck you’ll hear something good about that soon. She’s been wonderful in every interaction I’ve had with her, and I’m looking forward to working with her again.

In a way, it’s fitting that the line end with The Prophecy of the Dragons and The Dragons Revealed. The two-book story offers a huge shakeup to the setting and resolves a number of dangling plot lines, while still offering the hope of future adventures. That’s pretty much how I’d intended to end the series, albeit a bit later. Still, it should ring true.

So, no pity for me. Just go out there and pick up those last two books when they come out. Prophecy is due out June 13—this Tuesday—and Dragons hits stores August 8, the Wednesday after my birthday. And let me know what you think.

written by Matt Forbeck

You can now read the first chapter of Prophecy of the Dragons, my upcoming Knights of the Silver Dragon novel, for free! This is a sequel to Secret of the Spiritkeeper, my first mass-market novel, which came in August of 2004.

If you liked that book, you’ll love this one. But don’t take my word for it. Go read that free first chapter. It’s short and goes down easy. If it leaves you wanting more, you need only wait until the book hits shelves on June 13.

written by Matt Forbeck

On Saturday, I got my first copy of Prophecy of the Dragons in the mail. It looks great. Emily Feigenschuh created a fantastic cover and her interior illustrations fit perfectly. Look for it on shelves everywhere in June.

This is the second book I wrote in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series of young adult novels I created for Wizards of the Coast. Other able authors have written most of the other books, and this one will check in at #13 in the series. It’s the first of a special two-part story that wraps up in book #14, The Dragons Revealed, due out in August.

written by Matt Forbeck

Over on the forums at Essential-Eberron.com, new Eberron author Marcy Rockwell asked how I happened to get into writing young adult fantasy novels.

Hey, Matt, I was wondering—how did you get involved writing the Knights of the Silver Dragon books? Did you come up with the idea and pitch it to Wizards, or did they say “we’re looking for YA stuff, show me what you’ve got”? I’m curious, because it doesn’t seem like you’d really done YA stuff before this (not that I’ve memorized your bibliography), so it might have been a bit of a stretch for Wizards, especially starting off a brand new series…not all good fantasy writers turn out to be good YA writers, so Wizards certainly chose wisely with you!

I answered: Thanks! Secret of the Spiritkeeper, the first in that series, was my first mass-market novel, which makes it even more of a stretch. I’d signed on with Wizards to write one of the Iconic series, the thin tomes by house name T.H. Lain. When they cancelled the line, Steve Winter asked me to pitch them something for a YA series instead.

It took me two or three tries before I figured out how to structure the series, which was the real breakthrough. I came up with a set-up (medieval fantasy teenagers as young sleuths) and a cast of heroes and villiains, but the trick came when I realized what it meant that I wouldn’t be writing all the books. I had to treat it as episodic television.

I said, “Here’s the setting, the characters, and the basic hook. Riff on that all you like, but when you’re done playing with the toys, be sure to put them back where you found them, in roughly the same shape.” That worked.

Also, any idea why I can’t find these books in the bookstore? We’ve looked everywhere, and have had to resort to ordering off of Amazon. Getting books in the mail just isn’t as fun as buying them from a bookstore, where you get to manhandle them a bit first.

Hopefully it’s because the books are flying off the shelves. If you can’t find a book, and you have a bookstore you’d like to support, I suggest ordering the book through the store. This tells the store that there are people who want the book and that they need to keep it in stock.

I understand the lure of Amazon though. It’s so easy, and it’s as close as your web browser.

written by Matt Forbeck

Amazon.com has posted the covers to my next two Knights of the Silver Dragon novels: Prophecy of the Dragons and The Dragons Revealed. These form a two-part story (“Revelations”) due out this summer, the results of which shake the world of Kellach, Moyra, and Driskoll to its core.

Click the thumbnails for larger pictures of the covers. Note that they form a single image when placed next to each other. Thanks to artist Emily Fiegenschuh for doing such a great job with them!

written by Matt Forbeck