Devil’s Cape has been translated into German and will be published by Piper Fantasy in January. I love the cover, and am also excited about the publicity page, which includes a video (in English) from yours truly. Please recommend it to all your German-speaking friends!
Many thanks to Michelle Gyo from Piper, as well as Christian Jentszch, the translator.
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This story has previously been available in the terrific anthology The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but this is the first time it’s been available as a stand-alone. As a bonus, I’ve added a new “making of” afterword, kind of like a special feature on a DVD.
I’ll likely try to get this released on Barnes & Noble in the next few days, and possibly on Smashwords as well. Many thanks to ebook guru Ben Trafford for his work in formatting.
Here’s a little of the story to give you some flavor:
Click here to read the full post with comments.I had assumed that the long summer boat journey, particularly the sweltering leg that took us through the Caribbean Sea and into the Gulf of Mexico, had prepared me for the heat of Devil’s Cape, but I was wrong. It was a tangible, constant presence, like walking through water.
Holmes and I emerged from the steamship that had carried us there—not that different, really, than the Friesland—squinting into the sun, having left our trunks behind with instructions for them to be transported to a nearby inn where I had arranged rooms. The docks were a swarm of faces and voices. A crew of black men was singing a chantey while unloading our ship. Three Chinamen hawked cool beverages and roasted nuts, arguing about prices and stirring cinnamon-coated pecans over small pails of hot coals. Masses of people milled back and forth, shoving and swearing. I heard traces of French and Portuguese and Hindi. I stared openmouthed, taking it in.
“Not so fast,” Holmes said, darting out an arm and catching a street urchin by the ear. The lad, blond-haired and tan as leather, winced as Holmes took hold of his elbow and forced a wallet out of his hand. My own wallet, I recognized. “Tut, tut,” Holmes said, handing my wallet back to me, and I wasn’t certain if he was scolding the boy or me. He gave the boy a quick kick in the rump and sent him scurrying off.
I nodded my thanks. “Not unlike one of the Baker Street Irregulars,” I said. “Where to, Holmes?”
He pointed at a black hansom drawing up, pulled by an Appaloosa horse. “I believe our transport has arrived,” he said.
The driver stepped from the cab and swaggered to us. He was smartly dressed in a tailored suit, the jacket open in front, a diamond gleaming from a ring on his pinkie. He had tanned skin, a handlebar moustache, and a confident smile. A golden police badge shaped like a sail was pinned to his jacket. “Holmes and Watson, right?” he asked in what I’d later come to identify as a Cajun accent. “I hope you not been standing here too long, you.” He shook Holmes’s hand, then mine, his grip forceful enough to grind my knuckles together. “My boss, he ask me to show you around town real nice and send you back where you belong, see,” he said. “Now, my cousin, he ask me to help you any way I can.” He grinned, showing an infectious smile and a chipped tooth. “I’ll leave you to guess which one I’ll listen to best. You got some boys bringing your things to your rooms?”
I nodded.
“That’s good,” he said. “We can start right quick, then, though I fear your entire trip’s been a waste.” He patted the hansom. “Hop in, gentlemen,” he said. We climbed inside, and he climbed above us, taking the reins. Then his head popped up in front of us, upside down, as he looked through the front of the cab. “Aw, hell,” he said. “I forgot to introduce myself.” He smiled again. “I’m Deputy Chief Jackson Lestrade. Welcome to Devil’s Cape.”
I’m very pleased to announce that a new Devil’s Cape short story will be published in the second issue of the new genre magazine Comets and Criminals. The story, “The Star of St. Diable,” features Doctor Camelot.
Last I heard, the issue should go live on Jan. 1. I’ll plan to send out another update once the story goes live.
Click here to read the full post with comments.I’m getting ready for ArmadilloCon, but Mihir Wanchoo at Fantasy Book Critic posted a review of Devil’s Cape that I had to pass along right away.
Here’s an excerpt:
Random chance gave me another opportunity to read Devil’s Cape, and I’m very glad it did. Rob Rogers’ debut is a fantastic gem, the kind of novel that one fervently searches for, but rarely finds. In fact, Devil’s Cape has now become one of my favorite UF books of all time and I find it a cruel shame that the book is not more popular amongst SFF readers.
Obviously I’m very pleased with and grateful for the review.
You can read the whole thing here.
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I’m going to be a panelist at ArmadilloCon 33 in Austin this weekend and am really looking forward to it.
I’ve posted my schedule below. For the reading, I’m planning to read a new Devil’s Cape short story starring Doctor Camelot. I’ll be interested to hear what people think.
Also, I’m moderating a panel Sunday afternoon about superhero movies. If you’ve got any questions you’d like me to ask the panel, or an particular movies you’d like us to address, please let me know.
ROB’S ARMADILLOCON SCHEDULE
Just a quick note about something I found interesting:
In the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, we of course saw a flood of comments on Twitter and Facebook. Most people felt relieved at his death and happy for that closure. But some also felt ambivalent or guilty about their reactions, not liking the idea of celebrating someone’s death, even bin Laden’s. Riding on the heels of that, I saw two quotes being passed around a lot:
"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." — Martin Luther King, Jr.
And:
"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." — Mark Twain
Both of these were interesting ways of dealing with that ambivalence or with discomfort at seeing the general Schaudenfreude at bin Laden’s death. They were so representative of the world’s feelings that they were copied and pasted and forwarded hundreds of times.
The catch? The Martin Luther King, Jr. quote didn’t come from Martin Luther King, Jr. And the Mark Twain quote? Not from Mark Twain.
The King quote seems to have been made up on the spot, although it was often used to introduce an actual quote from King. You can read more about that in The Atlantic. The Twain quote came from Clarence Darrow instead, but was altered to better fit the situation. That was covered on The Atlantic Wire.
Correcting the attribution of the quotes doesn’t change their sentiment. After all, the quotes did a good job of representing the emotions of hundreds of people. But maybe it does diminish their impact if you attribute the first one to “some guy” and the second to “a paraphrase of Clarence Darrow.”
The lesson? I’m not sure. I don’t want to get all preachy about always double-checking the facts before passing something along. You’ve heard that already. Everybody’s received a forwarded message that’s been debunked by Snopes. And in these cases, I think the sentiment of the quotes was more important than the truth of their origin. But maybe let this be a tickler in your brain: Even if you see it in print, it ain’t necessarily so.
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Christian Lindke was kind enough to write about the eBook release of Devil’s Cape as well as some of his take on the book. He also links to my interview on his Geekerati podcast. Check it out.
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So I let everyone know that Devil’s Cape is available on the Kindle and got a few questions about availability on the Nook (the Barnes and Noble e-reader). And I’m happy to report that it’s now available on the Nook also! You can check it out here.
As before, I always appreciate sales, but it’s also great just to have reviews on these sites. If you wouldn’t mind sharing info about the book through Facebook, a blog or whatever, I’d appreciate that, too.
By the way, if anyone has already purchased Devil’s Cape for the Nook, please drop me a line. It’s currently showing zero sales. That’s fine, since I’ve done zero promotion up until now, but if someone’s actually bought the thing already, I’d like to know if there’s some glitch in the reporting. Thanks.
Next planned post: Where’s the damn sequel, Rob?
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