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Thought I’d say a few more words about the Chronicle of Sorrows game we’re running right now.  (The original post is here.)

First off, the prizes!  The first person to successfully access the contents of John Stephenson’s desk will win a signed ARC (advanced review copy) of Bitter Seeds.  (That’s right, play along and maybe you can make a few bucks on eBay.  Not a lot, though.  I’m not exactly Stephen King.)  Four runners-up will be eligible for other goodies.  The usual caveat applies: beta testers and people who have a key to my house aren’t eligible for the prizes.  Sorry, guys.

The game starts here.  More suggestions below the cut.

Received my first author’s copies of Bitter Seeds yesterday. 

It’s a real, live book.  With a cover and pages and everything.

More are on their way to my house, but last night I got to hold my book in my hands for the very first time.  Not just the first time for this book, but the first time for me.  I suppose that very successful writers with very long careers might eventually get jaded about this sort of thing.  But I can’t imagine that.

You might have noticed some changes to the website recently.  Bitter Seeds will be hitting shelves 3 weeks from tomorrow (April 13) and so I’ve posted the incredibly awesome cover art by John Jude Palencar as well as an excerpt of the novel.

You might also notice that the Bitter Seeds cover art on my homepage is a link to another website, which just happens to require three pieces of login information. Hmmm…

So I’m holding a contest! I will send a signed (and personalized!) Advanced Review Copy of Bitter Seeds to the first person who successfully logs in to bitterseedsnovel.com. Consider the game an easter egg hunt through this website.  As an added incentive to (I hope) keep you playing along, each successfully decoded clue will reveal another piece of a complete short story set in the “Milkweed” universe of Bitter Seeds!  When you finish the game, you’ll have the entire story to read, and a unique piece of backstory leading up to events in the novel excerpt.

The game starts here…

The publication date for my debut novel is six weeks out, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised, and honored, by some of the buzz generated around Bitter Seeds.

Over at Stomping on Yeti, the venerable stomper of yetis has included me in his list of 25 Authors Worth Watching in 2010 and Beyond.  I’m simply blown away, and more than a little humbled, to see my name listed alongside such incredible writers as Greg van Eekhout, Rachel Swirsky, Leah Bobet, Jack Skillingstead, Theodora Goss, Mary Robinette Kowal, Aliette de Bodard, and Beth Bernobich, just to name a few.  I can only hope that I earn a spot alongside them someday.  But who am I to argue?  He stomps on yetis, people!  And that’s not something I want to mess with.

Stomping on Yeti has been following up the original list with in-depth looks at each of the 25 authors.  I was included in the second spotlight, number 2 of 5.

Bitter Seeds also made it into Simply the Best’s weekly roundup for February 27, under a book recommendation from Daniel Abraham.  Hooray!

The weekend of February 12-14 marked the 47th Boskone, but only my second trip to this terrific convention in Boston. I’m glad that it’s firmly on my radar now—just as with last year’s trip, this was well worth the time and effort.

Read below the cut for a long and somewhat discursive report.