I'm Christopher Husberg, fantasy author (of the Chaos Queen Series), desultory blogger, and zombie apologist. Also Buffy fanatic. Ballroom danced a bit. Etc.
Next stop on the Duskfall book tour is Powell's in Portland, OR! They'll be hosting a Duskfall event at their downtown location (1005W Burnside St.) on Wednesday, 23 November @ 7:30 PM!
I'll be doing a reading, a brief Q&A, and a signing at the event. There'll be books, swag, cool folks, and overall an awesome time being had by all (or so I predict). Come one, come everyone!
EDITED (20.11.2016): Updated location to Powell's City of Books in downtown Portland instead of the Powell's location in Beaverton.
I'll be at the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, OH next week. World Fantasy always seems a different animal than some of the other conventions I've attended. It has a more intimate feel; they usually cap the attending memberships at around 1000, I believe. This year I'll have the pleasure of participating on a couple panels (see schedule below)! I'm very much looking forward to that, and if you're one of the folks attending, come say hello. I don't know as many people going to this con as I usually do, so I'll be looking for new friends :-). Friday 28 October at 1PM (Delaware CD): Fantasy Emerging from Crisis Are there trends in fiction that can be tied to global crises? E.g., certain kinds of fantasy emerged from the instability that led up to WWI. The Lord of the Rings is a clear response to the Great War. Are there directions we can anticipate with near-future environmental conflicts (water wars), destabilizing natural disasters, rising seas, income inequality issues, etc. perhaps leading to more political works (especially considering the popularity of Game of Thrones)? 9/11 produced Lavie Tidhar’s World Fantasy Award winning Osama and also inspired stories by Lucius Shepard, Richard Bowes, Jack Ketchum, and others. Fantasy inevitably arises from the zeitgeist. It can also come right out of the headlines. Saturday 29 October at 5PM (Delaware CD): How George R.R. Martin Has Changed Fantasy Will imaginary-world fantasy ever be the same? A whole generation has grown up reading A Song of Ice and Fire. As Martin’s epic fantasy comes to a conclusion, where will those readers turn next? ASoIaF is rife with strong female characters, both good and evil, disabled characters with real power, and lack of security around the characters they love. What kinds of stories should we be writing for those fans? What is the long-term influence likely to be, beyond the obvious cash-ins and knock-offs? Great works inspire real growth. What should we anticipate?
Basically: if you haven't heard of Sigur Rós, you need to go listen to them right now. I suggest starting with Ágaetis byrjun, but really any one of their albums is a great listen. Fun fact, by the way: Sigur Rós produces some of my favorite writing music. Honestly, though, my favorite way to listen to them is in the dark, lights out, headphones turned up--the way beautiful, powerful music deserves to be consumed.
The most common complaint I hear about Duskfall criticizes the lack of a map in the US/UK editions.
First of all, I'm quite content with the fact that the #1 complaint about my first book is something that was largely out of my control. (If I could've dictated everything about the publication of Duskfall, of COURSE it would've had a map; it would've also had a hardcover edition, and a collector's edition, and a platinum-plated "edition" edition where the text of the book was made up of little diamonds embedded in the metal. What I'm getting at, here, is that it's probably a good thing I wasn't in charge. Also, it's my first published novel for crying out loud--I'm just ecstatic to see it on shelves, to see that it has a beautiful cover, and to see people reading it and reviewing it and talking about it. All that is pretty amazing stuff, you know.)
Ahem. Anyway.
Secondly, the wonderful irony is that my German publisher actually did decide to put a map in their edition of the book--and I love how the map turned out. The artist responsible (Andreas Hancock--you can check out his webpage here, although it's in German, so good luck) was kind enough to allow me to post the image on my webpage for all of my US/UK fans.
So, without further ado, and with great pleasure, I present Roden and Northern Khale, the small portion of the Sfaera in which Duskfall takes place:
Most of the proper noun names are quite similar to, if not exactly the same as, the english version, so I don't think you'll have much trouble figuring out which city is which, etc. That said, the legend in the top left corner is obviously in german, so I'll provide a little legend for that legend. I won't try to write out the german words because I don't even think I could transcribe them correctly; the words below correspond with the words in the legend, going from top to bottom.
Legend legend:
forest
mountains
lakes
rivers
roads
small cities/towns
large cities
capital cities
So there you have it, folks! A real, genuine, official map! I hope that helps everyone's reading of the book.
* Wait. They don't love you like I love you. See also:
That means you can get my novel for just $1.99 on Kindle. Usually it's, like, FIVE TIMES more expensive, so if you or someone you know have been on the fence about whether or not to read an awesome dark epic fantasy novel about assassins, magic-addicted elves, religious upheaval, and kick-ass vampires, this should totally win you over.
Tell your kids! Tell your wife! Tell everyone you know!
