And, boom. Publishers Weekly broke the news:
I’m pleased to announce that my Heartland young adult “cornpunk” trilogy — starting with the book known presently as POPCORN — will be published by Amazon Children’s Publishing. From the article:
Marilyn Brigham at Amazon’s Children’s Publishing bought world rights, for six figures at auction, to Chuck Wendig’s Heartland trilogy. Agent Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency brokered the deal. The series follows a 17-year-old who discovers a secret garden full of rare vegetables in a world where the government only allows the growing of genetically modified corn.
I wrote the first draft of this book last year just after my son was born, and thanks to the mighty wisdom of my agent (and fellow Team Decker author Joelle Charbonneau) was able to cycle it through a couple very robust edits. And, around one year later, it went out on submission and — after tangoing with a few publishers — ended up in very good hands. I’m very excited, totally over the moon, dizzy with disbelief.
I’m told that grown men don’t squee.
But I think it’s time we did.
EEEEEEEEE.
*swoons*
*falls down cellar steps, breaks ankle*
Full piece here at Publisher’s Weekly.
Other News
Hey, remember Double Dead? Remember that cantankerous old vampire, Coburn — the one vampire in a land of zombies? Mmmyeah, well, he’s back. The e-novella sequel to that book has arrived. It’s called Bad Blood and you can find it at Amazon or B&N, baby. Ketamine cult! Angry children! Lots of zombies! The hills of San Francisco! Alcatraz! And maybe, just maybe, more vampires. Check it, won’t you?
And I feel compelled to again mention Dinocalypse Now — two-fisted jetpack kilt-wearing-ape Atlantean magic psychic dinosaur fun! Click here to pre-order print or to get the e-book (which is available now).
I guest over at the Vodka O’ Clock podcast where I say inappropriate things about the Easter Bunny.
Blackbirds is now rocking 48 very kind reviews at Amazon, and also has garnered another bevy of lovely reviews scattered like knucklebones across the web (links at the bottom of this post). Also, keep your eyes out later this week — I’ll be giving away three copies of the book (print) in a little contest. If you have read the book and feel so inclined to leave another review somewhere, I’d be very gracious. So gracious, in fact, that I will take you for a ride to the moon in my unicorn Lamborghini which is made of dodo bones and smells like cupcakes baked in an angel’s mind and oh hey I think the acid is kicking in.
More Blackbirds Reviews!
http://www.theeloquentpage.co.uk/2012/05/01/blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig/
http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2012/04/24/blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig-review/
http://notjustnonsense.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig.html
http://amberkatze.blogspot.com/2012/05/65-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig.html
http://waggingthefox.blogspot.com/2012/05/rabid-reads-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig.html
http://lilyelement.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-blackbirds.html
http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig.html
http://a-fantastical-librarian.blogspot.com/2012/05/chuck-wendig-blackbirds.html
http://eyewryte.blogspot.com/2012/05/blackbirds-miriam-black-1-by-chuck.html
http://www.blueinkalchemy.com/2012/05/10/book-review-blackbirds/
http://whirlingnerdish.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig.html
http://muchlovedbooks.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig.html
http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/05/miriam-black-blackbirds-chuck-wending-book-review-bane-kings/
http://www.elizabethawhite.com/2012/05/09/blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig/
http://bwmathews.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/book-review-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig-angry-robot-books/
http://popculturenerd.com/2012/05/08/book-review-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig
http://bunnycates.com/reading/2012/05/blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig/
http://scotspec.blogspot.com/2012/05/book-review-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig.html
http://www.thenovelblog.com/tnbReviews.aspx?id=1435
http://www.erikreads.com/Book%20Reviews/2012/05/03/blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig/
http://damosays.com/journal/review-blackbirds-by-chuck-wendig/
Delilah S. Dawson says:
CORNGRANULATIONS!!!!
May 14, 2012 — 9:02 AM
Rebecca says:
I would deny no one the right to squee at news like this. It’s wonderful to see someone talented put in so much work and be rewarded for it. Congratulations!
May 14, 2012 — 9:03 AM
Josh Loomis says:
Absolutely fantastic news, my friend. Congrats!
May 14, 2012 — 9:05 AM
Ali says:
Eiiiiiiiii! That is wonderful news, Chuck!!! *happy dance*
May 14, 2012 — 9:06 AM
Anna Silvernail Sweat says:
So friggin’ happy for you! Super congrats! Well deserved. You are a monstrous talent. (Real men do squee.)
May 14, 2012 — 9:07 AM
Dawn says:
FANTASTIC!!!! Congratulations.
May 14, 2012 — 9:08 AM
bex says:
Well congratu-fucking-lations, Sir Wendig of Pennsyltucky! I do believe you went and done yourself a miiiiighty fine deal there! And if the Heartland series is anywhere near as captivating as the other stuff of your’s I’ve been reading lately, I’m really not at all surprised. Please sign me up for one moon ride in the aforementioned unicorn Lamborghini (I have my own hallucinagenics though thanx). Now go buy the tiny person and your better half some shiny shiny!
x
May 14, 2012 — 9:11 AM
Will Entrekin says:
DUUUUUUUUUUDE!
That’s amazing. Awesome. Well done. Fantastic. Totally fucking rad.
Also: is that a reference to Grosse Pointe Blank? Because that’s cool, too!
May 14, 2012 — 9:14 AM
terribleminds says:
Thank you, everybody!
@Will — it is indeed a GPB reference. Dan Ackroyd, baby. That is easily one of my favorite movies.
— c.
May 14, 2012 — 9:18 AM
John Twitter:awesome_john says:
Congratulations Chuck, that’s fantastic news.
May 14, 2012 — 9:23 AM
Ravven says:
Absolutely fantastic – huge congratulations!
May 14, 2012 — 9:32 AM
Stan R. Mitchell says:
Wow, Chuck. Huge congrats! You absolutely have paid your dues and deserve every penny of this.
May 14, 2012 — 9:50 AM
Dave Turner says:
@Will and Chuck: Hound-hitters.
May 14, 2012 — 10:06 AM
terribleminds says:
Poodle pumpers.
May 14, 2012 — 10:09 AM
Samantha Clark says:
Great news! Congratulations. And sounds like a great book. I hate all the genetically engineered corn we’ve got now. Looking forward to reading it.
May 14, 2012 — 10:14 AM
John Anealio says:
I know I give people a hard time about squeeing, but in this case it is justified. Congratulations Dude.
May 14, 2012 — 10:17 AM
Paul (@princejvstin) says:
Booyah!
May 14, 2012 — 10:28 AM
Standard Mike says:
Six figures? Jesus Christ dude! I don’t know much about publishing, but I’m guessing a shitton of that actually is actually going into your pocket. Major congrats man, just don’t get cocky and blow it all at Vegas.
May 14, 2012 — 10:41 AM
Darthqu3 says:
Congratulations bro! Next stop- Hollywood ! 🙂
May 14, 2012 — 10:47 AM
Ren Warom says:
Wow!!! Many corngrats! That’s seriously awesome news!
May 14, 2012 — 10:50 AM
Emma Byrne (@SciWriBy) says:
Congratufuckinglations!
May 14, 2012 — 11:42 AM
Elizabeth says:
Huge congratulations, penmonkey!
May 14, 2012 — 11:45 AM
Ellie Ann says:
I am so excited to read your YA. AND it’s about GMO. I love it already. Can’t wait to see what you do with the subject.
May 14, 2012 — 12:18 PM
David Thayer says:
Chuck, well done young man.
May 14, 2012 — 12:39 PM
John K. Patterson says:
My congratulations to you, Chuck. This is a momentous occasion indeed. You have worked very hard, and you deserve this success. Best of luck to you in all of your endeavors!
May 14, 2012 — 12:48 PM
Darlene Underdahl says:
That’s very good news. Congratulations. I’m human enough to be a little jealous, but you’ve certainly earned this.
May 14, 2012 — 12:59 PM
Kurt Bali says:
That is just spectacular, sir. Congrats!
May 14, 2012 — 1:39 PM
Anya says:
Holy mother of deals, six figures! That’s awesome, congratulations!
May 14, 2012 — 1:48 PM
James R. Tuck says:
Fuckin CONGRAZZI mang!
May 14, 2012 — 1:58 PM
Christopher Gronlund says:
I think it’s cool when any writer gets a big deal, but I gotta say…it’s always the best reading about a good thing happening to somebody who shares so openly and works so damn hard! Congratulations!
May 14, 2012 — 2:03 PM
terribleminds says:
Thanks, @Christopher. And thanks, everybody. It’s a pretty wild ride. Even weirder: the good news doesn’t stop here. More as I can reveal it!
— c.
May 14, 2012 — 2:11 PM
Gemma Buxton says:
Horray!
May 14, 2012 — 2:14 PM
Will Hindmarch says:
Well done and well earned, sir. You’re genuinely marvelous—you write and we marvel—and it’s a delight to see your deserved success. Go forth and conquer.
May 14, 2012 — 2:35 PM
KRVeale says:
Outstanding!
I have it on good authority that money can be exchanged for goods and services, but more importantly Chuck I must ask you questions WHAT DOES THE MONEY SMELL LIKE
i have heard stories
May 14, 2012 — 3:21 PM
Jon Stoffel says:
Squee free, friend. Squee free.
May 14, 2012 — 3:42 PM
Patrick O'Duffy says:
‘Young adult cornpunk.’
You crazy, magnificent bastard. There’s something gloriously wrong with your brain.
Congrats, man! I hope it tears the bookstores up.
May 14, 2012 — 4:53 PM
Imelda Evans says:
Congratulations, Chuck. As someone said on your post about fans, all that investment is finally bringing home the bacon. Ride that unicorn!
May 14, 2012 — 5:49 PM
terribleminds says:
Thanks, @Imelda — mmm, bacon.
And @JM — I dunno, I’m not sure my ideas are all that original. I just make up a bunch of crazy stuff and hope it works.
@Herr Doktor O’Duffy — there is something clinically wrong with my brain, I won’t deny you that. Thanks for the kind words, sir.
— c.
May 14, 2012 — 5:52 PM
J.M. Dow says:
You know, they say that there are no original ideas and that we’re all just saying the same thing slightly different…but c’mon! How do all of your novel premises rock so hard? I am incredibly jealous of that skullcandy you call a brain.
May 14, 2012 — 5:50 PM
R Thomas Allwin says:
Great News Mr. Wendig!
Cornpunk you say, eh? The country boy in me thinks it sounds spiffy, while the city boy in me wantas to switch the p and c…
May 14, 2012 — 6:58 PM
Nick Hurwitch says:
If anyone can resuscitate an increasingly stale and uniform genre, it’s you, Chuck. Finally: an original YA logline! A huge congrats.
Additionally, a heads up: your editor is probably going to ask you to take out all those cuss words.
May 14, 2012 — 9:48 PM
terribleminds says:
@Nick — Heh, thanks. It’s not blistering with profanity, and as YA, I believe I’m afforded a few, at least. 🙂
— c
May 14, 2012 — 9:57 PM
oldestgenxer says:
Congratulations, duder. Don’t forget us little peeps, now that you are a zillionaire world-famous author.
BTW…I have kids and grandkids in the YA age…It would make you blush to hear how they talk.
I might not be the best role model for them, actually. So says my parole officer.
May 14, 2012 — 10:29 PM
Shawn says:
Cornpunk.
😀
May 15, 2012 — 12:23 AM
Autumn says:
Squee away! It’s a little known secret that women looooooove to see grown men squee. Just don’t break an ankle, right?
Massive congrats and so well deserved. Am big grinning for you.
May 15, 2012 — 1:09 AM
Snellopy says:
That’s fantastic news that not only are you getting to write some more stuff that I’m sure to love, but that they’re throwing a bunch of money at you to do it. That means hopefully you won’t starve to death or run out of booze before you write even more books for me to read. I like this vicious circle
May 15, 2012 — 3:34 AM
Mark says:
Congrats Chuck! Does this mean I’ve got to start reading YA now?
I think it does….
May 15, 2012 — 5:55 AM
EC Sheedy says:
Just read the popcorn news! So very happy for you and the little Wendig. Fabulous!
May 16, 2012 — 12:29 AM