We’re in the home stretch for the U.S. release of Midnight Never Come.

June 9th, officially, but I know a handful of copies have already been sold in

various places around the country. If you send me a photo of the book on the

shelf between now and one week after the street date, I’ll enter your name in a

drawing for a special prize: a signed copy of Paradox #12, which contains my short

story “The Deaths of Christopher Marlowe.” (There’s absolutely no connection

between that story and this novel, aside from the time period, but you can have

fun imagining one for yourself.)

Also, those of you who prefer your novels in more portable format may be

interested to know that Fictionwise is advertising an e-book copy. I

wasn’t aware one was being issued, but apparently so.

***

If you were curious, yesterday’s post was an image of the promotional item my

publicist and I made for Midnight Never Come. It was sent to the

bookbuyers for stores in order to get them interested in the novel, and is, of

course, the thing for which I held the signature contest in February.

Want more? Why not try . . . <drum roll> . . . the website?

That’s right, folks: Orbit has put together a gorgeous website for the book.

Poke around and take a look at the goodies, and make sure you find the

semi-hidden link. It isn’t entirely finished yet; they’re doing a soft launch,

and will start rolling out the rest of the content on the 9th. If you come back

then, you’ll find a mini-game you can play, with some rather nice prizes to be

awarded.

***

With the book out in the UK and soon to be out here, reviews have started to

surface. My favorite pull-quote has to be the tag line from SFX Magazine: “Like John Le Carre if

he was obsessed with faeries.” (Alas, the review is not available online,

though it may be eventually.) They liked it, and read it through a political

thriller lens, which I find interesting. Not sure I can live up to a comparison with Le Carre, but hey. Anyway, I figure I’ll do occasional review round-ups here, whenever I reach a critical mass.

Myfanwy Rodman at The Bookbag read it the same way, calling it “a

historical thriller with a fascinating twist,” though one that starts a bit slowly.

Darren Turpin at The Genre Files found it “a highly-enjoyable mix of

Elizabethan and faerie politics and intrigue.”

Chris

Hyland, the Book Swede (who interviewed me last month) read it as a love

story, and flatters me immensely by saying, “What sets Marie Brennan apart

[from similar stories], then, is the quality of her writing, the complexities of

her plot, the characterisations, the world-building… everything” — though he, too, felt it opened slowly.

Mark Yon at

SFFWorld.com appreciated all my research, and didn’t find the romance as

off-putting as expected.

Elizabeth Bear

(aka matociquala), who has her own Elizabethan faerie novel

coming out next month, says of my characters that “These are not kinder,

gentler faeries. Really they’re not.”

Mervi Hamalainen at Curled

Up concurs, saying, “Midnight Never Come returns the fairies to their

roots: terrifying, alien, yet captivating at the same time.”

And finally, Debbie Chapman, a Waterstone’s bookseller, calls it “an amazing,

moving, murderous, magical tale.”

***

In other words, so far people are pretty much liking it.

(Except for Kirkus, of course.)