James Barclay – fantasy author

The absolutely splendid Steve Diamond at Elitist Book Reviews has penned his thoughts on Ravensoul. As usual, he’s honest and open.

Here’s an excerpt :

I want to point out how well Barclay manages to make the reader feel emotion. Not gonna lie, DEMONSTORM had me shedding more than a few tears. I didn’t think Barclay could outdo that level writing excellence. But man, there is a scene at the end of RAVENSOUL that just thinking about it makes my eyes get watery. It’s one of the most emotionally powerful scenes I’ve ever read.

Head over here to read the full review. Then you could consider buying it along with the other six raven novels. Oh, go on…

Publication delayed to February 2012

Sorry to be the bearer of unwelcome tidings but the UK publication date for the second Elves book, Rise of the TaiGethen, has been put back to February 2012. I shall not bore you with all the whys and wherefores but suffice to say multiple little delays on all sides have contributed to the decision.

On the hugely positive front, though, you’re going to absolutely LOVE it when it does come out. And look at it this way… when the weather is cold and the icy rain is rattling against your windows, you’ll be able to relax inside with a really good book and forget the hideous nature of our climate as winter tries once more to tighten its grip before giving way to Spring.

Very exciting, is this. I’m opening my home town carnival on Saturday August 13th at Midday (at the Triangle, if you know Felixstowe. Having grown up in the town for 18 years and often gone to see the carnival procession as a youngster, it’s a real honour to be asked to open the whole event. It promises to be an excellent one too – local bands, entertainments, fairground rides as well as the procession. All good fun.

For more on the carnival, click here

And if you’re in the area earlier, then pop along to Magpie Books, 36 Hamilton Road at 10.30 where I’ll be doing a signing for an hour or so before the carnival opens.

I’m really looking forward to this.

What's that you said?

The very latest in Sleep Deprivation devices was delivered to the Barclay residence on Saturday following its successful launch on Wednesday 8^th June 2011. The arrival of the unit had been trailed well ahead of time and the sudden internet silence of all Barclays led many to suspect that delivery was imminent. Now, exclusive photos and information leaked to this website confirm the reason for the sightings of senior Barclays in what was either heavy make-up or down to a significant lack of sleep as all the memories of how it was with Oscar came crashing into sharp focus.

The unit is the top of the range Oliver Dylan and comes packed with a full suite of fantastic features:

• Weighs: 8lbs 5oz
• Measures: 50cm
• Delivers extraordinary volume for such a compact unit
• Automatic wakefulness function preset to 1am – 2am
• Additional random wakefulness feature covers sleep-time hours only
• Automatic Pee Feature (APF) engages the moment the nappy is removed
• APF further enhanced with ‘double-pee’ technology to ensure you get a soaking one way or the other.
• APF range begins at approx 60cm and rises daily
• Baleful one-eyed stare engages on changing table enabling accurate targeting of APF
• Randomised limb movement ensures changing and dressing are genuine challenges every time
• Eyes that stare into your very soul and bid you serve him willingly in perpetuity
• Incredible softness of skin enhanced with ‘downy hair’ function for a limited period only
• Cuteness engine makes even 4am seem a good time of day (eventually)
• Range of snuffling noises carries guarantee of stoniest heart melting
• Massively proud and intensely happy father

One happy big brother

Oliver’s biggest fan is his big brother, Oscar who is so proud of him and so gentle with him. Fair brings a tear to the eye.

Clare, Oscar, Oliver and I are a very contented bunch, asyou can probably imagine.

The magnificent Elitist Books have reviewed Demonstorm. It’s another great review from Steve Diamond, Gawd love ‘im. Click here for the full review and just to whet your appetite, here’s a wee excerpt…

What made DEMONSTORM so satisfying and awesome? The same thing that captured us from the very beginning of DAWNTHIEF: the characters. The truth of the matter is that a series cannot survive the test of time and the readers’ patience if the characters don’t grab you. Through the Raven novels we have become ridiculously attached to the characters of the world. We have been through so much with them that we identify with them. This novel is really the Raven’s last ride, and the immediacy of that statement is felt right from the beginning of the novel.

I’ve recently done an interview for LovelyBooks.de and you can find it here. Actually, what you’ll find there is much more than just an interview. It’s a whole page of loveliness about dear old me, which, if you can read German as well as English, you can enjoy to the max. It’s a digest of reader reviews, has links to other interviews and even a link to the video of me chatting to Mark Yon at FantasyCon in 2009. I can think of no reason why you wouldn’t head over there right now (except the one about not being able to understand a word of German and that doesn’t wash becasue plenty of it is in English

Somewhat in keeping with the news on Italian publication, I’m late on this band-wagon too, for which I apologise. Heyne, my exceptional German publisher, is re-issuing The Raven novels as single books (having originally published each in two volumes). Dieb der Dämmerung (Dawnthief) was published in May 2010; Jäger des Feuers (Noonshade) was published in December 2010 and just recently, Kind der Dunkelheit (Nightchild) appeared on the shelves in April 2011. Just click on the title to head to the relevant amazon.de page should you wish to buy (and why would you not?). Got to say I’m loving the new covers, managing to retain the simplicity of colour of the originals while including striking imagery. Great stuff.

So for those of you who’ve written chasing out of print versions of the original books, help is at hand and it’s damned god looking too.

Yes, yes, I’m late doing this piece of news… a year late, actually, but that’s life. The Chronicles of The Raven trilogy is being published in Italy right now.  First out in March 2010 was La compagnia del Corvo (Dawnthief) and in April 2011 it was followed by Il sortilegio del Corvo (Noonshade). Covers for both books are beautifully done and, I’m happy to report, both books are selling really well last time I looked on amazon.it, where you can of course buy them should it take your fancy. Just click the titles above to get to the relevant amazon.it page.

For  interviews and excerpts in Italian, go to fantasyplanet.it .

I’d love to hear from Italian readers what they think of The Raven so far.

Once Walked With Gods by James Barclay

For all the goodness you ever needed about Once Walked With Gods (and indeed links out to all my books), give this link a good clicking.

Once Walked With Gods by James Barclay

The latest offering from James and one that brings the War of the Elves and
Mankind directly to the reader’s attention in his own indomitable style. It’s
beautifully written with touches of emotional context richly woven within.
Death, honour, betrayal and double dealing abound within this title and its
clearly a demonstration of James’ talent that he manages it with skill to spare.
But when you tie it all up with his own style of descriptive combat that has
enthralled readers since his Raven days and you have something that readers will
latch upon and love. A great offering from this author and one that I can’t wait
to see how it develops further in future offerings especially a certain battle
mad elf who the readers will most certain vote for as one of their favourite
Barclay characters to date.