News & Blog

So…funny story.

It was recently discovered that a very small portion of Dying Is My Business‘s print run contains a terrible misprint. Pages 309-341 were replaced with pages from a completely different novel! (Carola Dunn’s cozy mystery A Colorful Death, it turns out. No, her book does not contain pages from mine. That’s not how it works.) My novel resumes on page 341, but not where it left off. I’m told this kind of misprint is not all that unusual, and as I said, it affected only a very small portion of the print run, thank goodness.

The bad news is that many of these misprinted copies were shipped out to bookstores. I’ve already heard from a few people who bought misprinted copies, and have seen a few with my own eyes on bookstore shelves.

I’m reminded of the time Tor accidentally printed Mary Robinette Kowal’s Glamour in Glass without the novel’s first line. Though I imagine she was fuming inside, she found a way to have fun with it. In a way, her situation was worse because the entire print run was affected, if I recall correctly, and not just a small portion. I also learned recently that something similar happened with a Jim Butcher novel. Only, in his case it wasn’t 30 pages replaced by another book’s. It was 30 pages just flat out missing. I suppose I should consider myself in good company!

Anyway, if you bought a copy of Dying Is My Business, please check to make sure you have the proper pages 309-341. You’ll know immediately if the pages are wrong. The font is different, the page number is on the bottom instead of the top, and of course the characters are entirely different. (One is, amusingly, named Nick. Well, it’ll be amusing to me one day. Not so much right now.)

If you have a misprinted copy, it can be exchanged for a proper copy without charge from the store where you bought it. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Please bear in mind that none of this is the fault of the bookstores. It was a production error, something neither they nor I have any control over. Please be patient with them if they can’t accommodate you by replacing your copy immediately.

For those of you who do not want to part with your misprinted copies, St. Martin’s is working on getting the missing pages to me in a file that can be downloaded directly from my website. I don’t have it yet, but I should soon.

Again, I’m deeply sorry for the inconvenience. I wish this misprint hadn’t happened, but everyone, including St. Martin’s, is working hard to make sure everyone with a misprinted copy can exchange it free of charge for a proper replacement.

If you have any questions, just ask!

Today I’ve got a guest post up on Glamourist Histories author Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog as part of her ongoing “My Favorite Bit” series. I love “My Favorite Bit” because it features so many authors I like, all talking about their favorite chapter, scene, moment, character beat, what have you from their latest publication. And now it’s my turn to share! Here’s a snippet:

Mention the words “Renaissance Faire” to any group of people, even fantasy fans, and you’re likely to be greeted with groans and eye rolls. I can’t blame them. Heck, I used to be one of them. But lately I have developed a legitimate love of the Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park. In fact, it was a huge influence on my novel, Dying Is My Business.

On a side note, I’ve been friendly with Mary for years now, since the days when she and her husband lived in New York. I remember sitting with her at a Chinese restaurant after a Fantastic Fiction reading at the KGB Bar eons ago and describing to her a book I had just started writing about the last living descendant of St. George. I remember feeling iffy about the book, but Mary liked the idea and that helped me stick with it. That book, Chasing the Dragon, went on to be published by the amazing, award-winning ChiZine Publications and nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award and the International Thriller Writers Award! So, I owe a big thanks to Mary Robinette Kowal for keeping me on track – and for featuring me in “My Favorite Bit”!

Another quick bit of fun news: Dying Is My Business is featured on the Black Gate website. It actually focuses on cover artist Chris McGrath, who deserves every bit of attention he gets, but editor John O’Neill also has some nice things to say about the book. Check it out here.

Manhattanites, you’re in luck! Today’s edition of “Spotted in the Wild” takes place exclusively in your borough of our fair city!

Here’s Dying Is My Business on the New Fiction table at the Barnes & Noble on 46th Street and Fifth Avenue! As you can see from the sticker (awkwardly placed over half of Jonathan Maberry’s very kind blurb), their stock is now signed by yours truly! Go get some! Also, stacking my book right next to the new paperback of Joe Hill’s NOS4A2? I’ll take it!

Here’s Dying Is My Business on the New Fiction table of the 86th Street and Lexington Avenue B&N! These, too, are signed, as you can tell from the sticker that has been placed just as awkwardly over half of my name. (I’m going to stop worrying about sticker placement before it drives me crazy!)

Fun fact: The 86th and Lex B&N is the only store to ever ask me for I.D. when I told them I wrote the book and offered to sign their stock! I asked the bookseller if she’d ever asked an author for I.D. and it turned out they were lying. She said no, never. Which I guess makes it sort of like those new voter I.D. laws. (To be fair, she also said it was a personal policy, not company policy, and she asks for I.D. mostly because she thinks it’s fun.)

Anyway, if you Manhattan types happen to be in Midtown or on the Upper East Side and are looking for signed copies of Dying Is My Business, now you know where to go!

“Dying Is My Business is a delight, a fabulous blend of mystery, crime, fantasy and thrills!” — James A. Moore, author of Seven Forges and Subject Seven