This, is awesome.

If you like things that are awesome, you should buy it, listen to it, then probably buy it again just to give away to your friends who also like things that are awesome.

Need more reasons? Fine, here you go…

First, it’s BBC. So you know it’s not crap right off the bat.

Moreover, it stars Simon Jones. (Who many of you know as Arthur from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.) He absolutely nails the comedic timing of Blake all the way through this.

Secondarily, this is the best the best radio drama I’ve ever come in contact with.

Sixth and lastly: It’s cleverly written, brilliantly acted, and directed with a smooth, fast-paced clarity I’ve never experienced before.

Thirdly, I have bought no less that eight copies and given them all away as gifts.

And, to conclude, I’d like to officially add the director, Dirk Maggs, to the very short list of people I would unreservedly trust to do an alternate-media version of The Name of the Wind.

pat

Edit: I’m removing all “First” posts in order to nip this behavior in the bud. I did it as an ironcial-type joke in the last blog, and didn’t mean to establish a trend.

I’m now in trade paperback. Today, I am a man.

I don’t know what it is about being in trade paperback, but it makes me feel kinda literary. Which in turn makes me feel kind of dirty. Which makes me feel sexy. Which makes me feel pretty, then embarrassed, and finally kinda tired and confused. Plus hungry.

I never used to appreciate trade paperback books. I just didn’t get them. At best they seemed pointless. At worst they were a type of perversion. They were what happened when a paperback and a hardcover had an illicit, incestuous lovechild.

But now I get the appeal. With trade paperback you have the easy-to-read larger type of the bigger book, but it’s a size that you can actually carry around with you. It can still stop a small caliber bullet, but you can bend the cover back if you’re reading it in the bathtub. It slices. It dices. It’s all things to all people. Ego sum alpha et o.

I really shouldn’t be blogging right now. I’m way too tired to be sure if I’m making much sense. It’s still yesterday for me. I haven’t been to bed yet.

This newest version of the book also proudly proclaims itself to be, “The New York Times Bestseller,” which I have to admit gives me a bit of a tingle.

Also, for those of you who haven’t already heard, The Name of the Wind is now available in all manner of electronic formats. Kindle and Sony and whatever. So now you godless heathens can have your bookless versions of my book. Ick.

Lastly, it looks like we’ll finally be getting an audio book before too long. A few weeks back I spent several hours on the phone pronouncing all the weird names and languages I invented. “Saying things like, “Cealdish. No. Wait. That’s not right. It’s Cealdish. CEaldish. CeALDish. No. Wait…”

It was magical experience, let me tell you. And by magical, I mean vaguely humiliating. I can hear the characters say these things in my head, but it’s hard to make my mouth make the shape of the word. Like Imre. There are two different ways to say it, depending on who’s talking.

Anyway, there are the newest additions to the family. Share and enjoy.

More news on the way,

pat