Book Giveaway – The Thief-Taker Series (22/07/13)
What do Charlemagne, Catherine de Medici, Benjamin Franklin, Mahatma Ghandi, Rudolph Valentino and I all have in common? Pleurisy. Which was and still is like being knifed in the kidney every time you take a deep breath and so not much got done last week except a great deal of practice in controlled breathing. I’d like to mark it down as research but to be honest, any character who has this shit is pretty much going to lie very still taking very shallow breaths and whimpering until they either get better or die. And if they absolutely have to do something, it’s going to come with an extremely bad temper and a great deal of shouting and roaring in pain. Maybe they could function if they have access to something like morphine. A lot of morphine.
Also included in last week’s research was the discovery that A&E will indeed turf you out in your knickers and a dressing gown at 5:30am on a Sunday to “make your way home.”
I’m back to working on SF stuff. Empires: Extraction (working title). The whole of Europa has been turned into a neutrino detector, American special forces have come face to face with an alien in the Libyan desert and I think I’m about to break Docklands. Also, lasers, in the vacuum of space, are INVISIBLE.
INVISIBLE!
You know who you are.
Dragon Queen comes out in less than four weeks. Have I mentioned that one of the major characters is a cross-over from the Thief-Taker series? Have I? Here’s the opening of Dragon Queen is case I haven’t.
The King’s Assassin came out in mass-market form a couple of weeks back. Kind of over-shadowed by some other stuff, sadly, but week’s giveaway is a complete Thief-Taker set. All three books, signed and lined by me.
Usual deal – comment on this post before July 27th and I’ll randomly select a lucky victim for a free copy of the series.
This week we’re playing Thief Supermarket. So you need your comment to come up with something to do with thiefly characters in fantasy, SF or real history and the comments have to be in alphabetical order. So for example, “A is for Always keep your caltrops handy,” “B is for Buried Treasure,” “C is for Cutpurse.” etc. etc.
Anyway, to enter the competition, you have to play the game. You can enter as may times as you like but I’ll count the first two entries – the rest are just for fun and showing off. Extra points for humour and originality, not that extra points actually translates into anything useful :-p
Although, though no one has yet complained about how long it takes me to get to the post office and post things, it can take a while and if you live abroad then it can take even longer. Sorry about that, but they do get there eventually. Well, so far.
July 22nd, 2013 at 12: 43 pm
H is for Horses & other Highwayman essentials….
July 22nd, 2013 at 12: 45 pm
A is for Always have a dagger in your boot…and inside your sleeve…and under your shirt…and…you get the picture!
July 22nd, 2013 at 12: 49 pm
B is for Bash ‘em, Bag it, and Bloody leg it!
July 22nd, 2013 at 1: 04 pm
C is for Cameron.
July 22nd, 2013 at 2: 44 pm
D is for the dastardly dagger wielding cut purse
July 22nd, 2013 at 3: 37 pm
E is for embezzle
July 22nd, 2013 at 4: 13 pm
F is for the Fiddle Game – a two-man swindle involving an expensive cheap violin
July 22nd, 2013 at 5: 10 pm
G is for the Garotte………..hope it doesn’t happen to you!
July 22nd, 2013 at 5: 20 pm
H is for the Hand of Glory
July 22nd, 2013 at 5: 42 pm
I is for invisibility cloak
July 22nd, 2013 at 5: 43 pm
J is for Jimmy the Hand, best thief ever (probably)
July 22nd, 2013 at 5: 50 pm
K is for knickers!
July 22nd, 2013 at 6: 51 pm
L is for the Lannisters who seek to steal the Iron Throne!
July 22nd, 2013 at 7: 22 pm
I hope you get well soon.I am not sure I can keep the orc alive must longer -at least if he stays in front of me when I fire my bow!
July 22nd, 2013 at 9: 04 pm
M is for Mark – the thing you leave behind so they know whom to blame. (But make sure they can only blame your Moniker! )
July 22nd, 2013 at 9: 42 pm
N is for nicking things, it’s what thieves do.
July 22nd, 2013 at 11: 08 pm
O is for opportunities, matched with luck, the two things that make the difference between a good thief and a dead one.
July 22nd, 2013 at 11: 58 pm
P is for penny-snatcher, so watch your shrapnel at the chip shop.
July 23rd, 2013 at 5: 54 am
Q is for quick, for if your not you’ll surely be caught!
July 23rd, 2013 at 6: 07 am
R is for rapier, a thief’s blade of choice!
July 23rd, 2013 at 7: 38 am
S = Sly
T = Thief
ST = Sly Thief
July 23rd, 2013 at 8: 11 am
U is for urchin, look-out and diversion.
July 23rd, 2013 at 8: 23 am
V is for villain, as some think they be
July 23rd, 2013 at 8: 31 am
W is for wending your way silently over rooftops.
July 23rd, 2013 at 9: 12 am
Moderator: I’ll allow skipping ahead back to A at this point.
July 23rd, 2013 at 12: 35 pm
A = act like you know what you are doing and people will believe you do
July 23rd, 2013 at 1: 22 pm
B is for basements, often thief hideouts.
July 23rd, 2013 at 4: 48 pm
C is for Caper
July 23rd, 2013 at 5: 25 pm
D is for dirt encrusted fingernails
July 23rd, 2013 at 6: 35 pm
E is for evidence – never leave any behind.
July 23rd, 2013 at 7: 42 pm
F is for filcher – what else are you going to do on a Sunday afternoon but filch
July 23rd, 2013 at 7: 51 pm
G is for Ganking a Grifter – why go to all that trouble to swindle a mark when you can just gank him later and take the booty?
July 23rd, 2013 at 7: 51 pm
G is for Grey Mouser.
July 23rd, 2013 at 7: 52 pm
Oh bother, x-post. H is for hotwire.
July 23rd, 2013 at 8: 19 pm
I is for Inigo Montoya of princess-stealing fame.
July 24th, 2013 at 2: 59 am
So if XYZ are skipped and we have something we want to use, can we just add them at random?
July 24th, 2013 at 9: 31 am
J is for James Bolivar DiGriz, aka Slippery Jim aka the Stainless Steel Rat, conman, thief and all-round rascal.
July 24th, 2013 at 10: 54 am
K is for Kheldar, a thief’s real name
July 24th, 2013 at 10: 58 am
L is for Loose Locks, the dream of any thief.
July 24th, 2013 at 11: 25 am
M is for Money, or Merely a way to keep score.
July 24th, 2013 at 11: 42 am
N is for Narcissus, who stole the heart of Echo.
July 24th, 2013 at 1: 59 pm
K for “keys”. Thieving is easier when you have the keys.
July 24th, 2013 at 1: 59 pm
oops… too late. I’ll come up with the next letter… hopefully
July 24th, 2013 at 2: 00 pm
O is for “outfit”. A thief needs the right one.
July 24th, 2013 at 4: 36 pm
P is for Picking the Pockets of Preoccupied Pedestrians
July 24th, 2013 at 9: 12 pm
Q is for quiet, if not perfectly silent, in doing the deed.
July 24th, 2013 at 9: 13 pm
Q is for quality. If you’re going to steal something it should be worth the effort.
July 24th, 2013 at 9: 14 pm
R is for the Romany, reputed to be thieves extraordinaire.
July 24th, 2013 at 9: 19 pm
Q is for quiet. Don’t want to wake up the people you’re robbing, do you?
July 24th, 2013 at 9: 21 pm
Stealth – quite useful on the job;-)
July 25th, 2013 at 2: 43 am
T is for timelord, as a time lord is a perfect thief to steal artifacts throughout time
July 25th, 2013 at 11: 53 am
U is for underdog, there is always one of those
July 25th, 2013 at 12: 02 pm
V is for Vagabond, a suitable disguise.
July 25th, 2013 at 12: 47 pm
W for whoremonger
July 25th, 2013 at 12: 50 pm
W is for Wits, and always keeping them about you
July 25th, 2013 at 12: 54 pm
Bother, too late.
X is for Xebec, a three-masted pirate ship, the naval thieves of lore.
July 25th, 2013 at 2: 21 pm
Z is for zipline a tool for many thiefs and a stylish entrance to boot!
July 25th, 2013 at 2: 53 pm
A is for Alladin , one of the great thieves of fantasy and myth
July 25th, 2013 at 6: 04 pm
B is for bandit
July 25th, 2013 at 7: 17 pm
C is for Cut the throat, Call the police, Catspaw,…
July 26th, 2013 at 1: 59 am
D is for Dancing. Preferably in the rain.
July 26th, 2013 at 7: 20 am
D for Diplomacy. It is better than bluffing if used right.
July 26th, 2013 at 10: 59 am
E is embezler (he stole the other z)
July 26th, 2013 at 11: 05 am
T is for Thieves’ Guild, an honourable thief is always registered.
July 26th, 2013 at 11: 53 am
F is for Fafhrd, companion to the redoubtable Grey Mouser
July 26th, 2013 at 11: 54 am
G is for Greed, the downfall of so many thieves.
July 26th, 2013 at 2: 03 pm
H is for hangman … The person thieves hope to never meet
July 27th, 2013 at 8: 25 am
I is for Invisible like Ezio in the crowd – pickpocket master.
July 27th, 2013 at 10: 30 am
J for the jailer. The unappreciated part of evey scoundrels story.
July 27th, 2013 at 2: 24 pm
K is for Kill the witness (if any) – cheaper than bribes.
July 29th, 2013 at 1: 14 am
Jonathan Wild (born c.1683), probably Britain’s most well-known criminal of the 18th century, was known as the director of a ‘corporation of thieves’. He learned his ‘trade’ while serving a sentence in a debtor’s prison, and established a curious reputation as ‘Thief Taker General of Great Britain and Ireland’. He directed a largeband of thieves and felons who dealt in stolen goods, kept the stolen goods himself and waited until the crime and theft was announced in the papers, at which point he would claim that his agents had found them, and would return them to their rightful owners, demanding a fee. Any criminals who would not comply with his organization were betrayed by Wild to the police. He informed on about 120 men during his career, and all went to the gallows. He himself was arrested on a minor felony charge, found guilty and hanged at Tyburn in May 1725. His gang included Jack Sheppard, housebreaker, Nathaniel Hawes, highwayman, William Burridge, horse stealer, and others, all executed in the 1720s.
July 29th, 2013 at 12: 04 pm
The gods of random selected Aleksandra for Stealth (note that was the first of his entries) and I’m going to offer a copy of something to Alisa too for the essay on Jonathan Wild