It’s Not Real… It’s “MultiReal”

It’s here.

I mean, a copy of MultiReal is literally sitting in my lap as I type this. The stack of my author copies is sitting on the ottoman in my living room right now, as this photo here can attest. They were waiting for me, all tidy and snuggling in a box of styrofoam peanuts when I got home from work.

The book’s so hot off the printer, you could make pancakes on it. It’s so slick, those pancakes would slide right off the book cover without leaving a trace. And I feel so sweet, I wouldn’t need any syrup. (Anybody else suddenly in the mood for an IHOP run…?)

My first thought on opening the box was wondering how long it’s going to be before men can have children, like Arnold Schwarzeneggar in that stupid movie or that weird George Michael-looking dude on Oprah. Because seeing the cover of MultiReal with this fabu Stephan Martiniere artwork, I was struck by a sudden urge to bear the man’s children. Really, it’s that good. It’s also a little darker on laminated cardboard than it is on a computer screen, which somehow seems to lend the book a bit of gravitas.

My second impression, just as I had when I saw the finished trade paperback of Infoquake for the first time, was that the book is both taller and thinner than I had imagined it would be. I found myself holding the book up and pinching the entire section 5 (called “Possibilities 2.0”) between my thumb and index finger. It’s 70 pages packed full of intrigue, drama, and intellectual stimulation, yet it’s about the thickness of an issue of Playbill. How can that be?

Once I’d gotten over staring at the book in isolation, of course the next thing I had to do was stack it next to both versions of Infoquake. As you can imagine, the Solaris Infoquake with the complementary Martiniere painting looks super keen next to MultiReal. But what was totally surprising to me was how well the Pyr trade paperback with the original cover looks side-by-side with the new book 2. Witness:

(Yes, I did take those photos myself on my cell phone. Sorry, Annie Leibowitz isn’t returning my calls anymore, that minx.)

So I now officially have two published books to my name, and I’m feeling as high as a zeppelin right this moment. Hey, lookit me! I’ve got an oeuvre!

In addition to thanking Stephan Martiniere for the fabulous cover, special mention should also go to my editor, Lou Anders, whose fabulous instincts are what make Pyr books look as special as they do. Also at Pyr/Prometheus, Jackie Cooke, who is responsible for the marvelous type treatment and overall layout of the book. (She used a font called “Tall Films” for the titles, and a font called “Am Sans” for the rest of the cover text.) And finally, Peggy Deemer, who shepherded the book through production and put up with about 400 paranoid emails from me about things I misspelled and section breaks I mistakenly left out of the final Word documents.

The “official” launch date for MultiReal is July 8, but if you know anything about this business you know how meaningless those official launch dates are. Amazon is claiming they already have it in stock and can deliver it to your door by Monday morning…