As many of you know, I managed to rope in Mike Krahulik (aka “Gabriel”) of Penny Arcade to do the cover art for the cover of Agent to the Stars. And here it is!
I ask you, how awesome is that? The answer: Pretty damn so. The tabloid on the cover is the one that’s mentioned in the book, and I particularly like how Gabe’s given the picture a tabloidy feel with subtle half-toning (and finger smudges). I’m really really really really happy with this cover.
And now, a reminder: This book is going to be a signed limited edition, so if you want to own it, or even just the cover art, you’re better off pre-ordering it now. Once the run is done, it’s done; no more than 2,000 will be printed (1,000 is actually more likely, but that will depend on pre-orders).
And as a reminder, for each pre-order through the Subterranean Press site, Subterrean will contribute 10% of the book price to Child’s Play, Penny Arcade’s charity for childrens’ hospitals. So not only do you get a cool signed hardcover with great cover art, but you’ll also help make a hospital stay more bearable for a kid. And as an additional reminder, if we sell out an entire 2,000 copy print run, I will contribute an additional $500 to Child’s Play from my own royalties from the book.
(Remember also that you can try Agent before you buy: The entire book is available online here. Enjoy, and then if you like, get it to keep.)
Naturally, I’ll continue to keep you all in the loop with the progress of the book. Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered, and thanks especially to Gabe for doing such excellent work.
19 replies on “Agent to the Stars Cover Art”
Uh how to start my post to make it noticeable and have people comment on it, thats always my problem getting people to check out my posts, the attention who*e(censoring it because I don’t have time to read the rules right now, gotta get back to reading in a second) that I am.
Anyway, I just started reading the novel, online version of course and I am absolutely hooked. This is going to basically be a flagrent Fanboy post so delete it if you want. I mostly just wanted to say that I am hooked on Agent of the Stars, and will probably be checking out another one of your books soon, my birthday is tommorow and I am going to the book store so it works out nicely. My world of warcraft patch is done and installed and everything and I’m not logging in because I have to read more of this story.
I have to admit tho I wouldn’t have even found out about this if it wasn’t for Gabe and the fact that one of the posts above said that one of the other novelists that had his books published from subterrainian(spelling)press was Orson Scott Card who is my all time favorite author (but your quickly climbing the charts) coincidently the last book I completely read was Shadow of the Giant, which was like three weeks ago, and i’ve been reading The Age of the Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzwell sporadically for the last couple weeks.
I don’t think there is a single conducive thought through out that babbleing but I am excited to get back to reading, wasn’t planning on going to sleep tonite anyway, gotta wait up for my birthday, tradition and what have you. I’ll check back here in a bit because that’s what I do.
You rock! Keep writeing.
Wow you check the site often huh?
Cool, I’ve got a question for you then. As I said before my bday is tomo and I am going to the book store, and if they have any of your books I am definetly going to get a couple, but here’s the twist, I am not going to have time to surf around to see what your other books are about so if you could possibly tell me the books your most proud of or your favorites or what not, it would go a long way to helping me out.
My cousin just IMed me, he’s actually an aspireing author but he’s still in highschool so his aspirations change on a daily basis and I have sent him your link he’ll probably check out the book soon.
Jamie: Try “Old Man’s War,” which the science fiction book I currently have out in the stores. It’s military science fiction, so there’s lots of action, but it’s also got some introspective and funny moments. If you can’t find it, look for one of my “Book of the Dumb” books, which are about stupid people doing stupid things. That’s always fun. And happy birthday!
Ivan: At this point there’s no other book run planned for “Agent,” although it will remain online indefinitely. I wouldn’t be opposed to a paperback release of it somewhere down the line (and I would hope if there was one they’d use Gabe’s excellent work), but to date there’s not much movement.
Ironically, what would probably spur interest in a paperback release is if this this limited run sold out in pre-order; that would prove to pther publishers there’s a market for the book (and me as an other — and Gabe as a cover artist, not coincidentally).
John,
I’m with the PA flood and just ordered your book (and not just for the cover art either). I like how your book is available for free and that alone sold me on it.
With that said, your writing is very solid and reminds me initially of Max Barry (specifically his novel “Syrup”) to a certain extent.
I can’t wait to get a hardcover copy of it and dedicate a weekend to reading it.
Kiyoshi, Jamie, Skye: Thanks!
Interesting casting choices there, Leonardo!
Thanks, Benson C!
To be clear, the publication date will be in July. We opened up pre-orders early so that Penny Arcade readers (and readers of this site) can be sure that they get a copy if they want it — as I mentioned, there’ll be only a limited number, and when they’re gone, that’s it.
From what the publisher had told me, it’s selling at a pretty good clip (it was last month’s biggest direct-seller — even though it was only available on the last day of February — and looks like this month’s sales are good as well), so those of you have pre-ordered, I give you my most humble thanks.
Just bounced over from the PA site. Read the first two chapters and got myself hooked. Wish I had the time to finish reading it today while I’m at work. Decided to go ahead and order it though, as I got drawn in and really can’t wait to see how the story goes. Looking forward to enjoying the limited edition. :)
Thanks for making it available for free. I certainly wouldn’t have ordered the book on blind faith, and being able to read it until I got into the story is what made me decide to buy it. Thanks!
Another from the Penny Arcade bunch; it took me a bit longer then 8 hours to finish, but I had to sleep somewhere in between as well as go to work, so I think I did OK overall:)
Thanks John, excellent work! I was about to send a few nitpick suggestions, then realized that books are not like software and no matter how much we try, there is rarely a version 1.1 out there (Ender’s Game being the only example I can think of). So, good thing book stands well as it is! ;)
Btw, for those who support this type of business model, I think baen library (http://www.baen.com/) also has a similar read-before-you-buy system. I paid for all ten Harrington books before I ended up getting them for free on a CD with last book’s limited edition, but I certainly appreciated the gesture, guts, respect, dedication and ideology it implies in the writer!
I’m reading it online, and I’m on chapter 15 right now. I discovered it at work and abused my internet access all day long… luckily I was wearing my headphones so whenever I laughed too hard I could just say I was listening to a funny song. The hour-long commute without ‘Agent’ was a killer, but now: back to it!
I had every intention of buying a hard copy of the book until I saw the price. I just can’t afford $30 for a book, even if it is hilarious… maybe if it was a softcover for under $10? Any chances of that ever happening?
Even thought I can’t afford it, I will be recommending it to all my friends, and hopefully one of them will be able to splurge on it.
Good luck John, if your other books turn out as well as this one, you’ll have great success!
Joe asks:
“I just can’t afford $30 for a book, even if it is hilarious… maybe if it was a softcover for under $10? Any chances of that ever happening?”
It’s possible at some point but right now there’s no offer on the table. If it sells well in this limited edition there may be some ammunition to approach a publisher with re: a mass-market release. No matter what, however, this is probably the only hardback release the book will get.
And of course, don’t worry if you can’t afford it; the book will be available online. And suggesting to your friends will be payment enough.
Alex and all: Thanks for the pre-orders! I’m very happy and gratified to see the book doing so well.
I started reading “Agent” about 9 or so years(could be even more?) ago when all you had was 10 chapters. You had sent them to mom to read & she shared. I was in love & then bummed all at the same time because there was no more. Now I am waiting till I get my copy to finish reading it. After all I have waited this long. Great job John & Kudos to Gabe on the cover work, it is fantastic.Peace
Well done, John. Great character development, nice dry sense of humour. Something in there is reminiscent of those “hard-boiled” detective novels. The end of each chapter sucked me into the next one, and everything tied up nicely at the end. Time well spent; I’m thankful that PA steered me here.
To the Stars
Instapundit noted that John Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars was available online. I took a quick look and now 4 chapters and 2 hours later I’ve realized I’ve been hooked. In addition to liking the characters I’ve met so far…
To the Stars
Instapundit noted that John Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars was available online. I took a quick look and now 4 chapters and 2 hours later I’ve realized I’ve been hooked. In addition to liking the characters I’ve met so far…
i had read old mans war awhile ago and really enjoyed it. i had been wondering if you were going to write a sequel so i decided to look at your site. also i do read penny arcade but must of missed the info about that cover. anyways going to read agent to the stars now, from peoples comments i cant wait. also eagerly awaiting the ghost brigade book. thanks for the quality reading material!
Just thought I’d contribute a bit of a “me too”-style comment.
I first found out about “Agent” when it was linked to from Penny Arcade. Started reading a few chapters online, and really liked it. I was never a big fan of reading books on a computer screen, so I ordered a hard-copy of the book when I realised it was available here in the UK. It just arrived this morning, complete with its very pretty cover art; I am now the proud owner of book 1105.
Really looking forward to continuing my reading of the book later. I’d like to add that it was great of you to keep the book available online even after you published it in the real world — otherwise, I would probably have never started reading it, and thus never getting my hands on it either.
That’s it really; I guess if I like the ending of this one, I might end up checking out your other work.
Cheers,
Pavel
This is my first time visit at here and i am actually happy to read all at alone place.