The Inner Circle

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The Inner Circle Gets Mentioned

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Some writers fall all over themselves and do whatever they can to get mentioned on year's end best-of lists. I'm not one of those writers. Still, I was thrilled and pleased to see that Brian Keene named The Inner Circle as one of his top ten books of 2012, alongside Stephen King, Joe Lansdale, and Tom Piccirilli. Here's some of what he says:

Critics love to attach comparisons to this new generation of authors. I don’t know that such comparisons do anyone any favors, but they do alert the previous authors audience to the presence of an author whose work they might also enjoy, so it is with that in mind that I offer this: Robert Swartwood is the next F. Paul Wilson — if F. Paul Wilson’s DNA was spliced with Michael Marshall Smith. The Inner Circle is a crafty, clever, white-knuckle thriller. If you haven’t yet read Swartwood, you’re missing out.

Thanks, Brian!

You can read the rest of what Brian said, as well as check out the rest of the books on his list, here.

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New Interview And Review

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Steve Umstead -- with whom I did a podcast once upon a time -- kindly interviewed me about Man of Wax and The Inner Circle. And hey, chance to win free stuff! Speaking of Man of Wax, the book is still getting reviews nearly a year later, this time by the Parents' Little Black Book of Books. The reviewer calls the novel "one of the best 'scary' stories I have read this year" and "great job, I loved it." You can read the rest of the review here.

Reminder: The Inner Circle Live Reading Tonight

First, the trade paperback of The Inner Circle is now available via Amazon. The expanded distribution will probably take another week or two, but really, why not just buy it from Amazon, like, now? (UK readers, check it out here.) As always, if you'd like a signed personalized copy of The Inner Circle or any of my novels, email me at robert (at) robertswartwood (dot) com for details.

One thing I really went back and forth on was the price. I've been pricing my paperbacks either $13.95 or $14.95 (or £8.99 in the UK), depending on the number of pages. The Inner Circle, though, is my longest book yet, coming in at just over 450 pages, and to make the book cost effective I had to bump the price a bit. So you can pick it up for $16.95, and in the UK £10.99. Is that too much? I studied a lot of pricing structures for thick novels, and believe it or not, some were even more expensive than seventeen bucks. In the end, I priced it as fair as I could without practically losing money.

Now, are you excited for tonight's live reading? Sure you are! The first one begins at 7:00 pm EST, the second one at 10:00 pm EST. Why am I doing two? Well, because I know not everyone is free at one particular time of the day, so I'm hoping by doing two readings, more people can join in on the fun. It seemed to work out well the last time I did it. See you then.