Sneak Peek at the first four chapters of "The Familiars"

Hey Everybody! I know this is what you have been waiting for. It's the first four chapters of the book on the HarperCollins website. Browse inside and then let us know what you think. We're so glad to show you it two months in advance of the book hitting shelves.

Click here to read the first four chapters!

The Familiars Movie - Update

Back in April, we first told you about the Visual Development process taking place behind the scenes at Sony Animation for the film adaptation of The Familiars. This involved a team of artists creating the visual look of the film, from characters to locations to actual sequences from the book and screenplay. Since then, another artist has developed what is known in the animation world as a "beat board." These are a series of single drawings that each represent a scene of the movie. The drawings tell a complex story in a single picture and serve as a guide for the director to pitch the film to studio executives. We have also heard that the talent department at Sony Ani has begun their preliminary search for voice talent! Once you've read the book, we can't wait to get your opinion on which actors and actresses should voice our familiars. If all goes well in the coming weeks, we hope to be moving on to the next stage of development, known as "storyboarding." All is on pace for a fall 2013 release, which for a 3D animated film means The Familiars is on the fast track!

ARCs on Ebay

I just got a google alert today for The Familiars. Excited, I clicked on the link, hoping to find a new press blurb in Publisher's Weekly or a favorable mention in someone's blog. To my dismay, I was directed to Ebay to find that someone had placed an ARC of The Familiars on the site for the low bargain price of $5. Selling a proof of a book that they no doubt received for free.

Click here to see the book on Ebay.

With a quick search I came to see that this is an ongoing issue for authors and the publishing community. Here is a great blog entry on sharonlovesbookandcats talking about how we can bust arc ebayers and a nice blog entry on wordforteens debating the problem.

What do you all think about people putting author's pre-published advanced reader copies of their books up for sale on Ebay? And what can we do to put a stop to this?

Familiars Giveaway - Enter to Win!

We're giving away 2 signed copies of THE FAMILIARS!!!

Enter to Win

Kidlit Book Feud

Hatfields-McCoys. Yankees-Red Sox. Lauren Conrad-Spencer Pratt.



Blood feuds. Sports Feuds. Celebrity Feuds.



And now, the first ever kidlit book feud! The Familiars has called out Hilary Wagner's Nightshade City, coming in October. According to Rick Riordin, “Fans of Redwall and the Warriors series will love this heroic tale of good versus evil in a subterranean society of rats."

Well, I got news for you, rats of Nightshade City. The Familiars are coming for you. It's magical, spellcasting animal companions vs cheese-eating, dumpster-diving, disease-spreading rodents. We're throwing down the gauntlet. It's on!

Fantasy animal adventure series will have to make room on the bookshelves for two more titles.









What's your favorite animal book series?

Photos from our Pre-Pub Tour

One of the highlights of our trip was meeting some of early readers of "The Familiars."

In Naperville, Andrew and I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with students, teachers and librarians. Becky Anderson was a wonderful host and we send her the biggest thanks!





As special as it may have been for these third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh graders to hang out with us, it was even more awesome for Andrew and I.




One of the sweetest parts of the whole experience was that Becky asked the children to sign the ARCS to us with messages about what "The Familars" meant to them.

We'll keep them on our shelves always!

The Familiars - Worldwide

Thought we'd share some other cool news about The Familiars! Even though the book will not be released until September 7, 2010, foreign countries are already scooping up international rights to the series.

So far, The Familiars will be translated for:

England
Germany
Holland
Japan
Portugal
Brazil
Czechoslovakia
Bulgaria

And we're in negotiations with many more.

Can't wait for the world tour.

Oh, and we'll be sharing an exclusive peek at the UK cover soon, so stay tuned.