Sword and Sorcery (The Hammer and the Blade)

[PaulKemp]

Apologies in advance for a self-promo thread. I rarely do these, but I know a lot of you share my affection for sword and sorcery fiction and I want to make sure you've at least heard of my next novel. Some of you might know me from my Forgotten Realms or Star Wars novels; some of you may not know me at all.

Anyway, my next book is entitled The Hammer and the Blade, will be released by Angry Robot books on June 26th, and is the first in a series that represents my run at pure sword and sorcery. I've posted links to excerpts of the novel in another thread, but it's probably easiest (if you were interested in reading them) to just go to my site here, where all the links are compiled.

The pre-release reviews of the novel have been enormously positive. I've rounded up some of them here.

And if you want a chuckle, I've listed the Top Ten Reasons to buy The Hammer and the Blade.

Again, if this kind of post irks you, please accept my apologies. The noise in the marketplace is loud sometimes and it seemed worthwhile to try to break through it, at least on ENWorld (where lots of folks who frequent this board read the same novels I did in their younger years (Lieber's Fafhrd and the Mouser tales, Howard's Conan stories) and are, therefore, exactly the folks for whom I wrote this book).

Paul

 

[Zaukrie]

Paul, keep posting. I love to hear from authors. Good luck with the New series.

Sent using Tapatalk 2

 

[PaulKemp]

Appreciated, Zaukrie.

Well, THE HAMMER AND THE BLADE releases on Tuesday, so Angry Robot Books has posted a preview of the first 50 pages of the novel. I hope you'll have a read and maybe see if the book is for you.

The Hammer and the Blade 50 page preview.

Paul

 

[TarionzCousin]

Best of luck, Paul. I enjoyed Erevis Cale but am glad you are doing this now. I'll buy this book.

 

[PaulKemp]

Thank you kindly.

Oh, and I'm still doing the Cale stories (and Star Wars, for that matter), but I can say unequivocally that THE HAMMER AND THE BLADE is the most fun I've ever had writing a novel (and I've had fun writing all of them). It's pure, unabashed sword and sorcery.

Oh, and let me add (as a final, arm-waving, self promo thing) that, in addition to the many rave reviews I linked to above, Publisher's Weekly also dug it (calling it "a gripping tale"), and so did Library Journal (writing, "Kemp delivers sword and sorcery at its rollicking best, after the fashion of Fritz Leiber").

Anyway, I hope you'll check it out. I'm going to go away for a bit now ere a make a nuisance of myself.

Paul

 

[PaulKemp]

Today is release day for THE HAMMER AND THE BLADE, for those interested.

My Bookday post is here.

 

[PaulKemp]

The sequel to THE HAMMER AND THE BLADE, entitled A DISCOURSE IN STEEL (the second tale of Egil and Nix), releases in a few months. As I did with HAMMER, I'll be posting monthly (non-spoilery) excerpts leading up to the release.

So, for anyone who wants to get a flavor for the book, here's the first snippet from DISCOURSE.

A Discourse in Steel, excerpt one.

 

[Krug]

Congrats! The Hammer and the Blade was a guilty pleasure. Looking forward to more Egil and Nix!

 

[PaulKemp]

Thanks, Krug.

Paul

 

[Hal G]

Good luck Paul, it appears to be a real solid piece!