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Dear All: Just as PEOPLE OF THE BLACK SUN is published (October 16, 2012) we have signed two more contracts with Tor/Forge books. Has publishing ever changed? The first book contract we signed back in 1986 with DAW Books for the SPIDER trilogy was one piece of paper, front and back. And it was written in English. The new Macmillan contract is 36 pages of single-space, written in lawyerese. They’ve gotta stop paying their attorneys by the word count! The upshot is that we’re officially under contract for PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR and PEOPLE OF THE WINE DARK LAND. Both will be delivered in 2013, and we’ll post the pub dates as soon as we have them. (Yes, the fan club gets to hear first) PEOPLE OF THE MORNING STAR is a novel about the great city and empire of Cahokia. This is a political thriller, dealing with betrayal, murder, and more than a bit of insanity. (Who better for a serial killer than a psychopath?) Someone is hunting the rulers of Cahokia, and the death comes silently in the night. No one, not even the thieves can get a peaceful night’s sleep. PEOPLE OF THE WINE DARK LAND will be delivered in mid-summer. Recent research has expanded upon our understanding of the first Viking contacts with North America. It was more extensive than we thought–like for hundreds of years. Two very different world-views are about to clash. Myths and legends will twine around each other in the far northern mist.  

With the release of A SEARING WIND in audio, the entire CONTACT trilogy is now available for those who don’t or cannot read, anyone needing entertainment for long periods of time, folks on long drives, or those just looking for a good story to listen to. The audios are available through recordedbooks.com, under their Western Audio imprint. Audio versions COMING OF THE STORM, FIRE THE SKY, and A SEARING WIND can be ordered through most of the links on the Gear-Gear.com homepage. Happy listening, and please, we’d love to hear what you think.

Dear All: We know that many of you have been waiting for BROKEN LAND and A SEARING WIND to come out in paperback. It’s September, and both are now available at your local bookseller, or through order at one of the links on our homepage. Most of our work has also been published in e-format. Some of the conversions are, shall we say, a little rough. Please let us know when you find typos, and we’ll forward your commments to the publisher. Be well! And read in health!

One of the joys of writing is living with imaginary people. Truth is, if the physical world will leave us alone and stop interfering, their reality consumes us. Of course, these imaginary people are the characters in our novels. Sometimes having them in our heads is a delight. Think of Bad Belly in PEOPLE OF THE EARTH. Other times, it can be frightening, as was Gannajero in PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE. Currently we’re living with a host of new and fascinating characters. Some we love, some we hate, and all of them are interesting. People who don’t write fiction–and some who do, but poorly–just don’t understand. They’ll ask, “How do you make all that up?” The answer is: We don’t. The characters actually live the story, create the drama, and all we do is record what they’re doing or telling us. It’s like writing down a slow-motion movie in your mind. They just take over. And, on occasion, we have to censor some of the more outrageous of their remarks or behaviors. You see, the thing about characters is, they don’t care if you the reader believe in them or not! In their eyes, you don’t exist What, you ask, does this all boil down to? Magic. For the foreseeable future, we’ve hopefully minimized the intrusions and interruptions that would jerk us so painfully from that magical place where our characters live. It will be marvelous.

We’ve always had a love-hate relationship with book signings. The tradition developed out of readings. While we’re not sure how or where that got started, we can imagine it was in England where some fan or scholar was desperate to discover exactly how the author “interpreted” his own work. The reading would have allowed the listener to hear the author place his creator’s emphasis on all the right words, and the correct inflection in the dialog. Or so we imagine, having not been there, and having omitted the necessary research, for once. The upshot was that some starry-eyed fan afterwards stepped up and asked the author to sign his copy of the book, making it a very personal and treasured keepsake. (We’re just as vulnerable as anyone else. Our signed first edition of LONESOME DOVE has its own place on the shelf!) Like all good things, times change. When we started in this business 25 years ago, readings were still popular, though waning. As ever more publicists began to pitch authors for readings and signings, the market was glutted. Readings became simple signings. Instead of having to set up chairs, a podium, and dedicate all that space and effort, it was easier to announce the date, set up a table, and let the author sign for his fans. Bookstores were flooded with authors, and the booksellers soon figured out that they’d make more from the “co-op”–the money the publisher sent to cover the costs of advertising, refreshments, and handling the books. As time passed, more and more co-op was used to pay the light bill instead of buy advertising. In the end, the light bill got it all, and advertising went the way of the dinosaurs. So, in essence, the author showed up, sat down at his table, and, well… sold no books. After all, it didn’t matter if the guy or gal sitting behind the table was Tom Clancy or Debbie Finklestine with her first, self-published novel. If no one knew in advance that Tom Clancy–let alone Michael and Kathleen Gear–was going to be in the store that day, fans were sitting at home, reading a new book rather than having an author write in it. Of course we mentioned this to numerous publicists, remarking that they might want to take over the advertising themselves, placing ads in local papers and radio. Nope. That kind of out-lay would be cost prohibitive! So they spent a couple thousand a day sending us in to do signings in empty bookstores. Now, the quid-pro-quo for all of this was that the bookstore was supposed to be jazzed, excited, keep your books in stock afterward, and hand-sell them to their loyal customers. “Oh, looking for something new? Try this Gear book. They signed here, and this is a great read.” The thought in New York was that the publisher was doing the bookstore a favor, shipping in the author, paying the co-op without strings attached, and raising the bookstore’s profile. Yet, time after time, we’d drop in a couple of weeks later, to find none of our stock on shelves. Every last copy had been immediately returned for full refund. Authors, of course, were part of the problem. Most tend to be introverts by their very nature. And how exciting is it to walk into your favorite bookstore and see a lone figure slumped behind a table full of books? Adding to the image, the bored author has opened to chapter five of his latest tome, and has his nose buried in the pages! Sounds like an exciting read, huh? Most authors are their own worst enemies. Here’s the contrast: This last weekend, we did two great signings. The first, at BAM in Rapid City, fell prey to Murphy, the demon of chaos. These things happen no matter how well intentioned the parties may be, and the books didn’t arrive. No problem. Tammy, the BAM manager, just asked us to bring our own, and we covered the stock she was short. Added to which, was the delight of working with her superb staff! We supplied the final ingredient to making the signing a success. We greeted every person entering the store, engaged them in conversation, and talked many of them into taking a chance on a Gear book. Then, before we left, we signed every copy Tammy still had in stock. So, if you’re looking for autographed copies, give Tammy a call. On Saturday we participated in the Weston County Library’s centennial. They set us up on the lawn in front of the library, along with six other authors, and we sold books all day long. We were told the parade was at ten–only to be crushed when they hadn’t made a float for us. (Craig Johnson didn’t get a float either.) Now, Weston County, Wyoming, isn’t what you’d call a “major population center.” Nevertheless, we sold over a hundred books to the local folks. Many of the buyers were fans, but the majority had never heard of our work before. We call that a success all the way around! The lesson to draw from all of this is that signings are what you make of them. For you fans out there, be aware that in the future there will be fewer and fewer author signing events as the way books are sold changes, and publishers reallocate their resources into other venues. If you enjoy obtaining signed copies, it’s up to you to keep singings profitable for publishers and booksellers. As to Michael and Kathleen Gear, we’ll hold up our end by writing engaging books, and greeting you with a smile when you show up for our next signing!