33 Comments
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Robin Reardon's avatar

I'd been wondering... it's been so long!

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

I wish I hadn't wasted time going the "traditional" route on this one, but my agent was convinced it had big potential. Everything takes soooooooo long -- as in, YEARS AND YEARS. It's just crazy.

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

(The upside is, I now have many books all set to go.)

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Robin Reardon's avatar

It's a mystery to me how trad publishers decide what to accept.

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

They've gotten soooo cautious! I think "going big time" hurt YA -- everyone was chasing the next version of the LAST hit. And adult publishing is all targeted at 30 and 40something women, which, in fairness, are the only people still reading fiction. But it becomes a vicious cycle into irrelevancy.

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Matt McMann's avatar

I had the opportunity to beta read INFINITE DRIFT and, unsurprisingly, it’s fantastic! Don’t miss Brent’s latest highly original story with compelling characters and razor-sharp writing.

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

And your blurb was/is much appreciated!

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Matt McMann's avatar

Honored to do it for a writer (and a human) of your quality!

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

You are (seriously!) too kind.

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Michael Young's avatar

Congrats, mate! That’s super exciting 🥳 The cover looks so good too 👌

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

Thank you! 🙂 🎉🎉🎉

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Jarrick Exum's avatar

Sounds like my kind of story!

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

I hope so!

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Chris Crutcher's avatar

Alright! Looking for it! Just turned one in myself...but I might have offended too many people. Jury's still out. Good to know you're still getting it done!!!

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

Haha, well, still trying anyway. Yeah, this one got lots of weird, fear-based feedback from editors, which is the norm these days, I guess.

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Chris Crutcher's avatar

I know...it's unsettling that the publishing houses are folding. Right before the title page in a YA sports anthology called GAME ON there's a heads up for each story...on content that might bother SOMEone. Nothing like guiding the idiot book banners

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

I often feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. So many folks supposedly outraged by "censorship," but openly engaging in their own censorship on multiple fronts. But then steadfastedly denying it's censorship because they're "the good guys"!

Sighhhhh.

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Chris Crutcher's avatar

I know. I always want to tell them how tedious it gets listening to them work so hard to not understand what censorship really is.

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

"It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." We are sooo on the same page. The last ten years have really tested my liberalism, realizing that many of my peers are not liberals at all. (Which isn't to say that Trump and his minions aren't a hundred times worse. But that's the whole point! Hypocrisy just makes people roll their eyes.)

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Chris Crutcher's avatar

Exactly. We either get the big bucks out of politics or it ALL goes down, if it hasn't already. When you have to chase money rather than decency to be elected and to stay elected, you never get back to REALLY embracing rule of law. TRUE rule of law, if followed religiously, minimizes institutional bigotry of all sorts.

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Claire Polders's avatar

Congratulations, Brent! Love the cover and the pitch.

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

Thank you, Claire!

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Paul Thompson's avatar

Great news. Looking forward to it, Brent. Cheers from Down Under.

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

Thank you very much!

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Charlotte Rains Dixon, MFA's avatar

Congratulations. Sounds fantastic!

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

Thank you! Appreciate that.

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Jeff Walsh's avatar

Preordered!

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

Much appreciated!

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Sue's avatar

Bet you’re excited!

How a piece you’ve created is received can be a little nerve racking!! Good luck!🍀

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

Haha, yes, excited and scared for sure.

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Sue's avatar

Yikes 😱

That cover is frightening!

👍

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Brent Hartinger's avatar

It is, isn't it? But also beautiful in a way.

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