Okay, that’s done

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Just finished the manuscript for the next “New Frontier” novel, “M.I.A.” The book around about 10,000 words longer than the previous one.

Moving on: I’m working on two more books: One on how to write comics, and the third in the “King Arthur” series, entitled, “Fall of Knight.” And hey, kids…check this pull quote for the book on writing comics:

“I can’t think of anyone better qualified to give advice on comicbook writing than the multi-talented Peter David. I’ve been a fan of his for years and will be first on line to buy his book. “–Stan Lee

Cool, huh. Some days I love my job.

PAD

68 comments on “Okay, that’s done”

  1. Kind words from the legend himself. I would buy the book even without his plug. Can’t wait to read the next installment of the “New Fronteir”.

  5. All these sound great!

    I love the NF novels but they kinda got away from me a while ago when there were the crossover stories, the short story collection and the hardcovers (I prefer to wait for the paperback… is that as bad as ‘waiting for the trade’???) and so I’m not sure of the order of the books after BEING HUMAN. Anyone mind helping me out a bit here? Cheers.

    No Fear Here.
    LEE

  6. Can’t wait for the New Frontier book! Let me guess…There’s a wild cliffhanger at the end, isn’t there?

  7. “Can’t wait for the New Frontier book! Let me guess…There’s a wild cliffhanger at the end, isn’t there?”

    Actually, no. There are some threads left to be picked up in the next book, but no, no cliffhanger. I decided that although I didn’t mind having a cliffhanger that hung from one year to the next (as was the case with “After the Fall”) I disliked the notion of sustaining that for a second year in a row. I think if readers wait a year, they should get the rest of the story rather than a middle chapter and more waiting. So I give you my word, NF books will either be self-contained or be, at most, two-parters.

    PAD

  8. What all is your How to Write Comics going to encompass? Is it markedly different than (what’s her name?) Lorraine Haines (?) book? Does it get into formatting as well as story development?

    Stephen King’s “On Writing” was perhaps the best book I’ve read on writing, yet it was really unlike any other book in its conversational tone.

    Any chance you can give us a quick blurb on what makes your’s better and different (and I have no doubt that it will be)?

  9. Mr. D:

    Are pull quotes for covers usually written before the books are written?

    Or is this a joke that I just missed?

    Todd Morton

  10. Todd,

    I don’t know if it’s typical, but it’s certainly not unheard-of. Half the time the cover quotes are about some other work by the same author anyway, it seems.

    I want to know more about this book, though!

    TWL

  11. I’m curious..what made you decided/agree to write a How To..book…
    In BID, at least the early days, you were often opposed to the idea of you writing similar theme collumns, and only did so relunctantly.

  12. Or, sometimes pull quotes are from readers of advance copies of the book. In this case, or in other industry-specific, sometimes advances are sent to other comics pros. However, that’s not always the case, as the general public at times gets the opportunity to review advance copies.

  13. Why do New Yorkers say “on line” when everyone else in the civilized world says “in line”?

    But anyway, this all sounds cool, Peter. When do you sleep? If I write two pages in one day (I’m a screenwriter) I consider myself lucky.

  14. Need to get around to all these cool books to read…I tell ya, it ain’t easy being green and not having any (green that is).

    So if I come up with a cool quote can I get it on the jacket of the “How To…” book? Something along the lines of “Please, put my quote on your book”?

    Hey, had to ask right?

    Michael J Norton

  15. could be a New Yorker thing….or SL may have meant he would be the first person online to order the book…like at Amazon.

  16. I am very excited about the news about the new New Frontier book. Now I don’t have to go and keep checking my local bookshop to see if it has come out yet. I hate doing that because the sci-fi books are on a shelf behind the Mills and Boon and I think when I go there everyone is looking at me and saying “Oh look at the sad women who reads trashy romance novels.”

  18. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait until all three come out!

    I wonder how your How To book will compare to the one Denny O’Neil wrote for DC.

    Incidentally, Peter, will it be a Marvel book, or one published independently by you without their endorsement?

  19. I am definitely very much looking forward to the next NF novel! So far it has been preliminarily scheduled for February next year. Do you know if that is still the case?

    Now that I am asking a NF question, 2007 will be NF`s 10th anniversary. Are there any plans to celebrate that event, maybe with a new “No Limits” anthology? Pocket books has been celebrating the TV anniversaries with anthologies. I think that should include book only series as well.

    More King Arthur is something I am also looking forward to.

    I was skeptical about the FF movie but now that we have seen it, I changed my mind completely. It is good entertainment, these are indeed the FF as I remember them :). Therefore I also bought your novelization recently. I am still reading a Trek book but that one will be next.

  20. Woo! Another New Frontier book (granted I still have to get After The Fall, bad me). Will there ever be more Sir Apropos of Nothing’s or did I miss that somewhere?

  21. Congratulations on the praise from the Man himself. I would think that would rank among the highest compliments a comic creator could receive.

  23. Well deserved praise from Someone Who Would Know.

    Sooooooo….will there be examples of how NOT to write good comics? Heh. Just to stir up some trouble…you could use clever pseudonyms like Shwan Shyrne and Shmod Smickshmarlan.

  24. Adding to all the other folks’ questions about this how-to-write-comics book project you’ve got going, can you tell us any more about it like:

    Who’s the publisher?
    About when will it be published?
    What’s the exact title?

    PAD on Comics Writing is a book that a lot of folks have been long awaiting, I’m sure. Any more info you can give about the project will, I’m sure, whet many an appetite!

  25. I know y’all like to give Shwan Shyrne a hard time, but I think it’s worth noting he contributed the most to evolving the Shinvishible She into a character qualified to lead the Shantastic Shore. Comparing him to Shmod Smickshmarlan is kind of a low blow.

  26. With that book schedule, smells like there are no new Apropos of Nothing books in the hopper as yet. I just finished Book Two, The Woad To Wuin, and I will be turning to Book Three, Tong Lashing, shortly. Alas, without the prospect of a Book Four on the horizon I will be sadly Apropoless for awhile.

    -TODD

  27. ‘BOUT FRELLING TIME you wrote THE book on comicbook writing, Peter! SHEESH! Took long enough.

    — Ken from Chicago (who has been waay so productive, writing incomplete fanfic series, websurfing, watching tv)

    P.S. And it can go write beside my book on screenwriting by a Joe Mike Strak-er, Strat-er, Strackewinski, no, Straczynski, er some such.

  28. So I give you my word, NF books will either be self-contained or be, at most, two-parters.

    Thanks. I have read everyone of them, but when I have to wait a year, I tend to forget things and don’t always have time to reread the previous one. That said, I will take a NF book whatever way it comes.

    Iowa Jim

  29. Not that anyone cares, but I do know how to spell “yours.” Why I put in an apostrophe above, I don’t know…

  30. Count me in for the How To book. Is it going to be mainly technical, or will there also be some insights on storytelling?

  31. Definitely looking forward to a new Arthur book! And man, Peter, do you not just geek out all over every time you re-read that quote? That’s like you liking my dreck.

  32. I’m also curious to know if it’s a marvel book or published by another publisher? I’ll definatly buy it.

    Joe V.

  33. Y’know Peter, sometimes your life is so cool and/or frickin’ sweet it sucks for the rest of us. I’m fairly certain that Stan Lee will never say anything about most of us here- well, except for “Yes officer, that’s the man right there.” (Obviously being sarcastic here, folks.)

    However, both those pieces of news about NF and the next Arthur book make me giddy with geek glee. BIG fan of New Frontier, and I really enjoyed both of the previous Arthur books. Out of curiosity, any word on a release date for “M.I.A?”

  34. I know you have legions of devoted fans for your comic book work, but I personally really enjoy the NF and Arthur books and wish they came out more often.

    Please consider cloning yourself so as to increase output.

  35. Already set up a date-with my sister- so I can read the new book with my nephew. We are both big fans. In regard to the STAN LEE quote, I can think of several other times when he said similiar things about PAD. You have been getting high praise from ‘The Man’ and your fans for MANY years!!!!!

  39. Already set up a date-with my sister

    You dirty dawg.

    (Sorry, been watching the Family Guy movie… tons of stupid incest jokes in it.)

  40. Man if Stan had said something like that about me, I would probably be frozen in fear the next time I sat down in front of the key board….

  41. Eeesh, a New Frontier book, a how-to book endorsed by the source of all things good in comics–feels good when it all comes together, don’t it? I just finished a music video, and a wedding video and I’m almost done act 3 of my screenplay, so’s I know the sense of accomplishment. But just a question–with all these books coming out, when is the Official Peter David Cookbook coming out?

    (And I will personally smack the first person to say “Who would wanna cook Peter David?” You have been warned.)

    (Oh, and Robert Fuller–you made me realize that everyone in my family says “on line” instead of “in line.” But we live in Philly! Oh, the paradox! Twice the medical bills!)

  42. Great news about New Frontier. To think that the reason I read these books is because my little brother thought this was a young adult series because of the format of the first four books. He said I should try them and boy was he right. Great series great characters.

    I bougth the first two Arthurs book a couple of months ago but haven’t had the time to reat them.

    Peter have you ever thougth that someday(or probably already) someone will say:”Peter David like my work,wow that make my year. I can die a happy man”

    Antonio

  43. Gratz on the nod from Stan. I really can’t imagine a better endorsement for a book on comics. Just watching Stan in interviews, and you can tell that he IS what comics are all about. He gets it (this is one of those “duh” statements) because he was there when it happened…when comics had its “big bang.”

    Any word on when After the Fall will be available in paperback? With the baby on the way, hardback books were one of the things we cut back on to save $, so I’ve had to wait for paperback editions to come out on a lot of my favorite series.

  44. PAD,
    Congratulations on your upcoming “triple play”. And the quote from Stan is awesome:)

    Bobb,
    “Just watching Stan in interviews, and you can tell that he IS what comics are all about.”

    Absolutely. In every way. Just watching him in interviews you can tell that he just enjoys life, and he is genuinely modest. He stated the last time I interviewed him, about his creations, “I was just trying to write some comics. It surprises me that people are still excited about them.”
    And he has a great sense of humor. The first time I interviewed him, a year after college, he told me he had not been following Spider-Man in the comics and wondered what he was up to. When I finished a lengthy recap, he said, “Sounds like I should be interviewing you.” Then we both laughed.
    Which is something I will never, ever forget.
    The best part is, whether it’s just supporting today’s creators like PAD or controversial moves with his characters – like the Rawhide Kid being gay or Kingpin being black in the movie – he supports the moves instead of being bitter and undermining them, as many others of far lesser stature do quite frequently.

  45. There’s so many things about Stan that you could say about him…the latest that sticks out in my mind is from an interview he did with Kevin Smith. Stan mentioned that, while watching the Marvel movies, he often forgets that he had a hand in creating them, he’s just so taken with watching a man spin webs and swing through the New York skyline. It’s amazing to me that he can still get so lost in the wonder that comics and their progeny create the he forgets that, were it not for him, there’d BE no Spider Man movies.

  46. PAD continues his campaign to send me to the poor house. Stop writing so much great stuff Peter!

    🙂

  47. What I’d like to see is Morgan “getting out” more. Since she can project herself as a hologram, how about setting her up on a date with Voyager’s Doctor? Or maybe get her downloaded to an android body since all we have right now on that score is Data’s brain damaged little brother.

    just sayin…:)

  48. I’ll have to pick up that writing book. Not that I expect to become a great comic book writer, since I can barely write a coherent comment in one of these talkbacks. But, it’ll be cool to get some insight into the process from one of the best writers around. Plus, I can make fun of you if it turns out to be like one of those useless “How to Draw” books. 😛

    “First, come up with an idea. Then, type words. Finally, you should end up with something like this: *Insert complete comic book script* And there you have it, you’ve just written your very first comic book!”

  49. “Why do New Yorkers say “on line” when everyone else in the civilized world says “in line”?”
    Why does it bother people, so much? I grew up on Long Island in the 1980’s and we always said we were standing “on line”. However, this was pre-internet, so maybe there is some confusion now.

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