The Illustrations That Didn't Get In The Book

When you write a book things don't always work out as you planned, it's no ones fault, that's just the way the business works. When I was commissioned to write What Will Happen In Eragon IV I had the great idea of asking my wife if she would be interested in doing some illustrations for it. When I approached the publisher with the idea they said have her come up with some sketches and send them to us.

Unfortunately, the way things worked out, the illustrations ended up not being used. I think it came down to the marketing people or something. However I still really like the drawings Eriana came up with and I thought you might like to see them. What I find very interesting is if you check out the new book that Paolin has put out -Eragon's Guide To Alagaesia quite a few of the drawings in it bear are quite similar in style to what my wife came up with.

Now unfortunately we don't have a scanner so all you're seeing are photographs taken of her black and white sketches, but I think they give you a good idea of their quality. The first one, (above left) is what we had thought would make a good chapter heading, while the chap off to the right there is her version of Solembaum the werecat.

This dude below us and to the right is of course the white raven who Eragon meets when he visits the Elves to begin his training as a Dragon Rider and off to the right is her image of a dragon and her rider. While you won't see these pictures in the book I figured it might be nice for you to check them out now and get some idea as to how we visualized Paolini's world.

Book Signing Photos

Here are some photos from the book signing that went down on November 14th - a friend of mine took them and they're not too bad.

On the left you can see me studiously signing - note furrowed brow a sure sign of an artist at work - or somebody with no idea what to write - you pick. On the right I'm pointing out the obvious to somebody - yes this is a book.

Help!

Look up at the top of this blog - what do you see? The cover of the book right - now looking at it can you see anyway in which anybody could mistake this for the actual fourth book in the series? Be honest, I know I'm biased and maybe there's something I'm missing that gives people the mistaken impression that Christopher Paolini wrote it - even though his name isn't listed as author.

While people actually have made that mistake, and to compound their own stupidity they have posted reviews of the book at Amazon.com giving it a poor rating based not on the book's quality, but on the fact they made a mistake. If you have read the book could you please post a review based on its content and its content. I don't really care if you don't think that highly of it, as long as you have actually read it and are prepared to judge it on its merits, not on the fact that you can't read.

I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but I don't like the fact that stupid people are dictating the worth of my writing. Right now if you happen to glance at the book you'll see that it has a rating of one out of a possible five based on that review. I've asked Amazon to remove both reviews, and so far they've only removed one - I would appreciate it if anybody out there could do something to compensate for the one that's left by posting a real review.

Thanks

Richard Marcus

Book Signing - November 14th

Well the really nice people at Publishers Group Canada have come up with the following poster for my book signing at Indigo Books in Kingston on Saturday November 14th 2009 from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Pretty Cool Huh

Updates and Changes

Well it seems like I jumped the gun on quite a few things in my last post. It turns out the book wasn't quite as ready to be released as I thought, and its only just this week showed up on the shelves of book stores in Canada. I don't know about the States, but I can only assume that if its made it out on to the book shelves here it will be available to readers in the US as well. For those of you in the overseas market I can't be sure when and if it will be on your shelves, but I do know that you can order it through Amazon sites the world over. Now is probably a good time for Europeans to buy it as well as the American dollar is really in the toilet so you shouldn't have to pay too much for it.

The other date that I had wrong was the date of the book signing - that should have been November 14th 2009 at the Indigo Books in Kingston Ontario, 259 Princess Street, from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm for those keeping track of this sort of thing. They now have forty copies of the book in stock so unless we get a huge run on it prior to the signing or during that should be plenty for everyone. If by some miracle we sell out, I'll figure out a way of having rain checks for those who are there on the day but don't get a signed copy. Maybe have you leave your name and address and then when your copies come in I'll have Indigo set them aside for me to sign for you.

Anyway that's it, and now that you have a chance to get your hands on the book let me hear what you have to say about my predictions. I see that two people have already taken part in the poll were running as to who will become the third dragon rider - anybody else going to take a guess?

See you later

Publication Date

It's finally official, What Will Happen In Eragon IV? will be available October 1st across North America. At least Amazon.com is now listing that as its availability date and the information I received from Publishers Group Canada - which earlier this week told me that the book was being shipped out to book stores even as we spoke - is sufficient evidence to suggest that October 1st is the date the book will be officially available, with perhaps some stores even having it sooner.

If you live in Kingston Ontario, you can come down to Indigo books downtown on Saturday October 14th and either bring your copy of the book with you to be singed, or pick up a copy of the book and have it signed by yours truly! Yes that's right an official book signing - wah hoo - look for more details in forthcoming posts and local Kingston media outlets. If enough people show up, we may even attempt to turn this into a discussion about the predictions in the book - of course as long as people promise to keep it civil - the last thing we want is the police to be called in to quell a riot because Christopher Paolini fans have run amuck at a local book store.

Its Arrived!

Its Arrived - well at least on its way! I heard from the Canadian distributor of What Will Happen In Eragon IV? yesterday and she tells me the books are now in their warehouses and are shipping out to Canadian stores now. You should be able to find it on your local store's shelves as of sometime next week.

If for some reason they aren't carrying it you can tell them to order a copy from Publisher's Group Canada - they're who are distributing it in Canada. In the US the Publisher Group West are handling the distribution so if you're local store doesn't seem to have a copy tell them to get on the horn and order a couple of dozen.

So, remember, once you've read be sure to come back here and let me know what you think, and just how far off base I may or may not be with my predictions.