Glenn Cooper's Blog

New Deal News

2011-12-09T14:57:00.003-05:00

I'm pleased to report that my books finally will be available in the US again. THE TENTH CHAMBER will be out in 2012, published by Thomas and Mercer, the Amazon thriller imprint. If this works well for everyone then they will follow-up with THE DEVIL WILL COME.

Also have agreed to a new Spanish-language deal for Spain and Latin America with my existing publisher, Random House Montadori for one book a year through 2015.

Interestingly, have just signed a deal for China for my first book, LIBRARY OF THE DEAD. A billion plus new readers????

In other news, IL MARCHIO DEL DIAVOLO, the Italian title for THE DEVIL WILL COME, launched this week in time for the Christmas season. And I've just begun work on my seventh book, RESURRECTION 2, a story about King Arthur, the resurrection of Christ and the Holy Grail...

September in Italy and Spain

2011-09-21T06:05:00.001-04:00

Back in the States after a terrific 2 weeks in Italy and Spain. Glad to have reconnected with old friends and made new ones. The Pordenone Book Festival was amazing. Gratifying to see an entire town of 60,000 devote itself to books for a week.

Spanish and Catalan response to BOOK OF SOULS has been beyond expectations with the book on top-ten lists in fiction. Can't wait to return for another visit.

Some launch date info: IL MARCHIO DEL DIAVOLO - 7 December Italy/ THE DEVIL WILL COME - 27 October UK

The DEVIL WILL COME is coming

2011-06-24T13:17:00.002-04:00

Look for my new book, THE DEVIL WILL COME in the UK and Italy in October. It's my first book based in Italy and my first book with a female protagonist. She's a young, beautiful Italian nun! Stay tuned...

Will Piper Movie?

2011-06-24T13:09:00.002-04:00

I've concluded a deal with Evan Katz, the producer of 24 and The Event, to bring Will Piper and THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAD trilogy to the screen. It could be the big screen or the TV screen, we shall see but it's terrific news for me and anyone who's wondered how the book might translate into a film adaptation.

Speaking of trilogy, I'm deeply into THE LIBRARIANS, the third installment of the series.

Fantastic Week in Italy

2011-02-14T17:53:00.010-05:00

I was overwhelmed by the hospitality of Italian readers last week. Their enthusiasm pushed LA MAPPA DEL DESTINO (The Tenth Chamber) to #1 on the bestseller list.

I had a whirlwind mix of TV, radio and newspaper interviews and book signings in Milan and Rome and topped it off with an amazing event in the town of Solfra in Campania. The Association to save their historical Castle Orsini (of which I am the honorary chair) sponsored a cultural debate which filled the town's historic meeting hall. It was a chilly night but I was warmed by the passion of the people of Solofra for their cultural heritage and for their love of books.

Here is a collection of pictures from the week:

Italian Book Tour - LA MAPPA DEL DESTINO

2011-02-03T11:22:00.003-05:00

La Mappa del Destino, (the Italian edition of The Tenth Chamber) launched last week and I'm happy to say, entered the Italian bestseller list at #4 overall and #1 for foreign authors.

Here is the publisher's book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ_SPS8O7fI

I'll be in Italy next week and would love to meet people and sign books at these locations:

MILANO:

9 February, 6:30 PM - Montadori Bookstore, Piazza Duomo

ROMA:

11 February, 6:30 PM - Melbookstore, Via Nazionale

12 February, 11:30 AM - Libreria Nuova Europa, Via Mario Rigamonti

SOLOFRA, AVELLINO:

12 February, 6:30 PM - Palazzo Ducale, Solfra

From Publisher's Weekly

2010-12-10T11:43:00.001-05:00

This article describes my unusual status as an author!

Glenn Cooper: An American Writer Only Europeans Can Love?
by Rachel Deahl
Dec 10, 2010

ShareThis | | Reader Comments (0)

He’s big in Italy. Ditto England, Germany, and Spain. But Massachusetts-based thriller author Glenn Cooper is still largely unknown, and notably under-published, in the one place you’d least expect: his home country of America.

There are plenty of American authors who don’t sell in Europe, and even more European authors who don’t sell in America. Occasionally, there are midlist American authors who find big audiences in certain overseas markets. (Paul Auster’s a bestseller here, for example, yet is more akin to a rock star than a writer in France.) But there are very few authors, especially American ones, who are huge in Europe and barely published in the States. Such is the case with Cooper.

A doctor-turned biomedical executive-turned author, Cooper had an unexpected European sensation with his first book, 2009’s Library of the Dead. Then represented by agent Steve Kasdan (who now works at Amazon but was then at the Sandra Dykstra Agency), the book was bought in a flurry of international deals and wound up becoming the number one translated title in Italy where, according to Cooper’s current agent, Simon Lipskar at Writers House, it has sold over 400,000 copies.

Library, Lipskar said, went on to hit the bestsellers lists in both England and Germany but, didn’t spark much interest in the U.S. As Lipskar recounts, although the book ignited “staggering” deals in Europe in 2008—it drew seven figures in some places and was sold in a total of 30 foreign markets—it was universally passed-on in the U.S. After HarperCollins Canada acquired Library, it urged its U.S. counterpart to publish the novel. HarperCollins acquiesced but didn’t put much muscle behind the book, releasing it in 2009 as a paperback original under the new name, Secret of the Seventh Son.

Lipskar, who took on Cooper for his third book—Cooper’s second book, a sequel to his debut calledBook of Souls was also published in the U.S. by HC again to lackluster sales—is now trying to rectify his author’s curious publishing record in America as he bolsters his author’s booming stature in Europe. Lipskar has been closing foreign deals on Cooper’s latest two books, both standalone thrillers,The Tenth Chamber and The Devil Will Come. In Spain, where Lipskar said Library of the Dead has sold nearly 200,000 copies, Lipskar sold the two new titles for six figures each to Random House Mondadori.

So what about the States? Lipskar said he’s waiting for the right offer to publish Cooper here, this time the proper way. “It should be a no-brainer that an author of commercial fiction who’s found a million readers across the world, and writes about America, should be read with the same enthusiasm in his home market.”

Name a Character in My Next Book!

2010-11-17T17:16:00.003-05:00

There's an auction on e-bay right now to name a character in my next book. Pick your own name, a husband, a wife, someone you love (or hate!) and at your bidding I'll make him or her a good guy or a bad guy!

The auction is to benefit Austitica, a wonderful foundation in the UK funding scientific research to find cures for autism.

Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160501773439&ssPageName=STRK:MESC:IT

Autumn News

2010-10-11T10:14:00.005-04:00

Many exciting things to report in the book world.

In Italy, La Biblioteca dei Morte and Il Libro Delle Anime continue to be bestsellers in hardback with now almost 700,000 copies in print between them! I was recently in Como and was invited by the Mayor of Villa Guardia to come to the town hall for a public discussion. The hall was packed with readers and we had a fantastic session lasting 2 hours.

In Spain, La Biblioteca de los Muertos, has been a top-ten bestseller for several months and I'm pleased to say that at the Frankfurt Book Fair, I made a terrific deal to publish Books 3 & 4 with my publisher Random House Montadori. So, I expect to be spending a lot of time in Spain next year.

The Tenth Chamber has been a bestseller in the UK in mass market paperback and I'm just making the last push to complete my next book for the UK, The Devil Will Come.

Finally, my composer friend, Corjan, has been having great success with his musical rendition of the Book of Souls. His new CD, Mystery Pop EP which includes my track. If you're interested here's his website: enter the discount word "glenncooper" for a half-price discount.

http://corjan.bandcamp.com/

TENTH CHAMBER in the UK

2010-09-14T14:47:00.003-04:00

Today is release day for the mass market paperback of Tenth Chamber in the UK. As usual the Random House marketing group has done a masterful job and London is plastered with these eye-catching posters. The response from booksellers has been really strong and I hope that readers will respond as well.

Summer News

2010-07-12T19:19:00.002-04:00

Pleased to say that Book of Souls has now spent 10 weeks on the top-10 bestseller lists in Italy and that Library of the Dead has become a top-10 bestseller in Spain. It looks like Library is also having a good run in France.

Just back from Thrillerfest in New York City which was wonderful as always. Terrific seeing old friends and meeting new ones...

Hard at work on my new book, The Devil Will Come, which is based in Rome. As always, the research is the best part.

Book of Souls - The Song!

2010-06-14T17:08:00.003-04:00

Dutch singer/songwriter Corjan De Raaf has composed a wonderful song based on Library of the Dead and Book of Souls. It's a haunting love song about fate called, Book of Souls and I couldn't be more delighted and more flattered.

Here is a link to the song on iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/nl/album/book-of-souls/id377399350

Italian Launch - Book of Souls

2010-05-29T14:23:00.008-04:00

I've returned from a 10-day trip to Italy where I helped my publisher launch Il Libro delle Anime at the Turin Book Festival. There was plenty of media attention, over 30 print, radio and TV interviews and several packed book signings and public events. I'm pleased to say that the book came out from the gates strong and is currently #2 on the bestseller lists.

I also took the opportunity to do field research for my 5th book, The Devil Will Come, which will be set in modern and ancient Rome. I was privileged to have behind-the-scenes tours of several sites including the Christian catacombs off the Appian Way, the University of Rome and the Vatican, where I was fortunate to have a close encounter with the Pope!

Since I Last Blogged

2010-04-25T12:12:00.002-04:00

Lot's happening in bookland.

Book of Souls is doing nicely in the UK, Australia and the US and has spent some quality time on the bestseller lists in the UK.

My Italian publisher, Editrice Nord, is pulling out all the stops for a launch of the book (Il Libro delle Anime) at the Turin Book Festival in mid-May where I will speak and do book signings there and in Milan and Rome.

Library of the Dead (Le Livre des Morts) is out in France where it's generating a lot of excellent buzz on the blogosphere.

And The Tenth Chamber has had an excellent launch in the UK in trade paperback with 4 weeks so far in the top 20 original fiction list. Plenty of terrific reviews including this one (below) from Amanda Gillies at Eurocrime:

Cooper, Glenn - 'The Tenth Chamber'
Paperback: 352 pages (Mar. 2010) Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd ISBN: 0099545675

Glenn Cooper's outstanding style and tense, gripping storylines have done it again. THE TENTH CHAMBER is this fabulous author's third book and is even more fantastic than his previous offerings. If, indeed, that is possible. As ever, I love the way he intertwines three different plots, from different periods in history, and produces a nail-bitingly exciting thriller that ends far too quickly but is impossible to read any slower.

The three plots are as follows:

First, Tal, a pre-historic man and a powerful clan leader, accidentally makes an exhilarating magical potion that gives him special powers and helps him see visions. Filled with passion and energy, he produces amazing cave paintings to illustrate what he sees and his sons eventually join him in his art. Pretty soon he discovers that his potion has also gifted him with seemingly eternal youth but trouble is coming in the form of another species of early human. Not even Tal's potion can help him with this new threat.

In the second story, medieval monks stumble upon Tal's cave, and his potion, with long-lasting effects for all of them. One of them, guilt-ridden, writes a coded book describing their findings and then hides it in a wall in the monastery, for people to find in the future.

The book is then found in the third, present-day, storyline and has disastrous consequences for nearly everyone involved in it. Mysterious people want the book's, and the cave's, secrets to remain just that and will stop at nothing to ensure things remain this way. Meanwhile, Luc Simard, one of our central characters and a professor of archeology, is called in to analyse the book and happens across the hidden cave, and the potion, in the process.

The marvellous way in which Cooper mixes the plots, and teases the reader piece at a time, is spellbinding. This drip-feeding of information makes the tension build delightfully and you end up trying to second-guess things, then feeling all silly and excited when things happen the way you predicted. I love the way we find out what happened to Tal, but the modern day scientists don't. We see him as a person while they just see his beautiful paintings and wonder at the significance of them.

A truly wonderful book with a shocking and unexpected climax and an ending to make you smile and nod, THE TENTH CHAMBER is a definite must-read for all fans of historical/religious crime fiction. I am eagerly awaiting the next instalment from this brilliant author.

Amanda C M Gillies, Scotland
April 2010

On the new book front, have just finished my 4th book, tentatively titled Near Death, about near-death experiences. It's being sent around to publishers next week.

Italian Book Trailer - Book of Souls

2010-03-31T15:07:00.002-04:00

Il Libro delle Anime - coming May 8th in Italy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOrTrFSEt9A

French Book Trailer

2010-03-13T12:01:00.003-05:00

The French edition of LIBRARY OF THE DEAD, LE LIVRE DES MORTS, is out in about 2 weeks. the publishers have produced a really nice trailer which captures the mood of the book nicely.

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2010-03-13T11:51:00.001-05:00

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Books in the UK

2010-03-13T11:31:00.002-05:00

BOOK OF SOULS has spent some time on the Times bestseller list which is gratifying and I've received many lovely messages from LIBRARY OF THE DEAD readers who thought it a worthy sequel.

It's a bit dizzying, but THE TENTH CHAMBER now follows in rapid succession and will be available next week. It's coming out in as my first trade paperback in the UK and will be a mass market paperback in the fall. Will Piper is nowhere to be seen in this book. The hero is a French archaeologist, Luc Simard, who, like all my heroes, is an imperfect man. I hope fans of my first two books take to him too.

Finally France

2010-02-15T16:22:00.002-05:00

The French launch of Library of the Dead (Le Livre des Morts) is a coming in March. Here is an ad for the book on the cover of a French trade magazine.

Eurocrime Review - Book of Souls

2010-02-07T12:07:00.002-05:00

I'm thrilled with this review by Amanda Gillies in Eurocrime:

Cooper, Glenn - 'Book of Souls'

Paperback: 448 pages (Feb. 2010) Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd ISBN: 0099534479

BOOK OF SOULS is an amazing book and a fabulous follow-up to the awesome LIBRARY OF THE DEAD that had me hooked last year. It follows the same mysterious library, full of the names of everyone that will ever be, along with their dates of birth and death, but concentrates on one book in particular; a volume for 1527, that went missing long ago and turns up inexplicably in a London auction after spending centuries lying forgotten on a bookshelf in Cantwell Hall: a stately home in the south of England.

Will Piper, the FBI agent involved in the Doomsday murder case in LIBRARY OF THE DEAD, is an even more unwilling participant this time around. He has recently remarried, become a father for the second time and is trying to turn over a new domestic leaf after his enforced early retirement. All is not going so well for him, stuck in New York, dreaming of fishing in Florida and trying to stay away from the whisky bottle in the cabinet under the TV. When he is offered an opportunity to get involved with the library again he is initially hesitant but then jumps at the chance of a bit of excitement. He and two other men – former employees of the infamous Area 51 – go on a mission to discover the truth behind the last date in the last of the books: 9 February 2027. Their progress is closely followed by the Watchers, Area 51's security team, who are just as determined as Will to solve this mystery. Things get very tense as Will is chased across the Atlantic in a race to buy the book and then find out the truth. Trouble is, the Watchers want everything kept secret, so that Area 51 can continue to be used for the financial gain of the US Government. They have killed before and will do so again to get their own way.

This book follows a similar structure to its predecessor. Again there are three separate, but interconnected, timelines and the plot swaps between them. The earliest timeline follows the fate of the Abbott of Vecti's priory, after the fire that he believes has destroyed the library. The second is concerned with how the 1527 volume ends up in Cantwell Hall and the third is the present day, where they are trying to piece everything together.

There are some rather wonderful surprises for readers of BOOK OF SOULS, despite the fact that you know why the names stop the way they do, as you found out at the end of the last instalment. The ending is fabulous and the chase for the secrets is sheer, nail-biting perfection.

I can't recommend Glenn Cooper's BOOK OF SOULS strongly enough and thoroughly enjoyed being lost in it for the day or so that it took me to devour it.

Amanda C M Gillies, Scotland

February 2010

Coming Out Party - Book of Souls

2010-01-29T14:58:00.003-05:00

The UK launch of Book of Souls is next week and I wanted to share the amazing poster that Random House will be plastering all over London rail stations. It's a beauty.

The book is out in Australia and it's just landed it's first review (a really good one) from Dymocks Book's Notes:

Genre: Fiction

Have you read the Library of the Dead yet? You haven’t? But you like Dan Brown, right? A fan of Matt Reilly? Generally enjoy fast-paced adventure/mystery books? Well go out to your local Dymocks and pick up ‘Library of the Dead’Whatever you do don’t read the below review of the stunning sequel ‘Book of Souls’ until you’ve read the first one.

At the end of ‘Library of the Dead’, as far as Will Piper was concerned, the doomsday curse was all wrapped up. His date is BTH (Beyond the Horizon) so why would he need to worry? But who wouldn’t wonder about the significance of Feb 9th 2027? So when an opportunity comes up to get a look at the one book that didn’t make it into the Area 9 vault, the one book that’s still out there, Will Piper is on the case. Little does he know that the hunt for the truth of the library will take him across the world and put himself, and his loved ones, in grave danger.

‘Library of the Dead’ was a fantastic book; fast-paced with a gripping concept that kept you guessing and motivated right to the end. In Glenn Cooper’s follow up more of the mystery is revealed as Will goes on a scavenger-hunt type search across England for the clues to the missing book. The reader gets to see flash backs of the history of that book, while Will deals with many of the revelations we saw in the first book. This method of keeping the reader ten steps ahead of the characters is daring and keeps the story flowing nicely.

‘Library of the Dead’ was un-put-downable and ‘Book of Souls’ doesn’t disappoint. A fantastic read for summer; highly recommended.

Australia

2010-01-22T19:27:00.002-05:00

My son Shane is in Australia and took this shot of BOOK OF SOULS front and center at the biggest Borders in Sydney. I'm sitting here writing in the freezing cold in Boston and he's on a topless beach in the hot sunshine. What's wrong with this picture?

First Review - Book of Souls

2010-01-13T08:51:00.003-05:00

The first review is in and it's a good one -- 4 1/2 stars. John Lloyd's piece in UK's The Bookbag website is a great kick-off to the Australian launch next week and the UK launch on February 4th. Here it is:

Area 51 is not what you think it is. No - all that UFO kerfuffle is a smokescreen for the powers that be to hide even better the most unusual manuscript known to (a handful of) mankind - the most unearthly, singular, and unsettling book, in thousands and thousands of volumes. All except one, which is about to come under the hammer in a London auction house. Our hero Will Piper must go very reluctantly on the trail of it and its secrets, a trail which will force him and others to become entangled with shadowy agents, who in turn know the very day of all their enemy's deaths.

I could be a bit more revealing in my summary, but I don't want to completely spoil the first book in this series, Library of the Dead, and while both are too good to rely on prior knowledge of each other too much, it has to be recommended as the starting place. Chances are if you have met Glenn Cooper's debut you will not need me to tell you of its copious merits - only that they are shared here, second time out.

The exposition here is light enough in reintroducing us to the various concerns of the series, and while newcomers I'm sure won't get as much out of this as us returnees, they will definitely see the quality characterisation, with a humanity to most of the protagonists and antagonists alike that similar genre writers never trouble themselves over. Moreover, the chief appeal will be the appropriately-named Cooper throwing barrel-sized curveballs at us.

There was I thinking this had too quickly warped into a mystery where all I could do was watch as people look for clues in a country pile, while the author made us forget the future concerns we and the characters might have, when he slammed that said future right into the distant past, and I genuinely did shiver with anticipation. The balance of Dan Brown-styled airport novel hocum is altered slightly here, and I can still see people for whom this is nothing but pacey hogwash, especially as everyone and everything is included in the mix, but I certainly relish the style, intelligence, artistic forethought - and now the fact this author can expand the concerns of his unusual premise to eight hundred pages.

And over the double bill it's eight hundred pages of, to repeat, very pacey plotting. Different factors are dropped in that we couldn't suspect, which will have bearing only when we least expect them, and the whole cinematic look at his people crossing the territories of this novel will propel Cooper's increasing numbers of fans to the end in a heady rush.

If there is a slight hiccup it is with the erudition of the backstory not quite being as compelling as perhaps possible - the mix is a little too broad, and in an ideal world it might carry further on to the present time in a better way than the aforementioned search for clues. But as escapist action, with a nice clever touch used throughout, and a lot more craft and quality than the generic thrillers this would be shelved alongside in the High St, this can be highly recommended.

John Lloyd

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Book_of_Souls_by_Glenn_Cooper

Very Cool

2009-11-22T11:56:00.002-05:00

The artwork for the Spanish edition of LIBRARY due out early next year is really beautiful. It draws you deeply into the image and is amazingly evocative. This is up there with my favorites.

Italy and the UK

2009-11-02T11:54:00.002-05:00

My thanks to the staff of Casa Editrice Nord for hosting a whirlwind publicity trip to Milano last week. Lots of radio and print interviews, photo sessions and an amazing signing event at the Montadori Center.

We're just about to print the 11th edition, some 300,000 copies, making Italy the most successful market so far.

And I've learned that BOOK OF SOULS will be out in May 2010 in Italy.

Here's a link to an article in this Saturday's Corriere dela Sera

http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2009/ottobre/31/Tutti_abbiamo_complotto_testa_co_9_091031063.shtml

In the UK it looks like BOOK OF SOULS will be published in Feb 2010 and incredibly, THE TENTH CHAMBER will follow by only a few months -- April 2010!

All very exciting...

To My Italian Fans

2009-10-23T16:08:00.003-04:00

I'll be in Milano Oct 30th and my publisher has set up a book signing for that evening. Here are the details from Nord:

BREAKING NEWS: Glenn Cooper, autore del bestseller mondiale "La biblioteca dei morti",sarà eccezionalmente in Italia per incontrare i lettori e firmare copiedel suo libro. Accorrete numerosi! Venerdì 30 ottobre 2009, 18.30 presso MondadoriMulticenter (libreria, secondo piano) Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Milano.

Second Book Syndrome

2009-09-21T16:14:00.002-04:00

It just dawned on me why I've been out of sorts the past few months.

By all reasonable metrics, I should be doing cartwheels over the success of the first book. After all, to date we've sold over 500,000 copies worldwide in only the first 8 markets and there are well over 30 countries still to launch. Italy, in particular has been phenomenal -- the bestselling Italian debut novel of 2009 -- with a quarter of a million copies in hardback and 5 straight months on the top-ten list! Yes, the performance in the US has lagged other markets for a variety of reasons (the subject of another post, perhaps), but no first-time author in his right mind should be feeling queasy with these results -- right?

Wrong. I realized I've been suffering from the dreaded second book syndrome, the anxiety that one's second book will be a dud, fall flat on its face and everyone will conclude that the guy was a one-shot wonder.

How is this possible, you might ask, since my second book, Book of Souls, is long done and has been well-received by my editors.

Well, the answer is that Book of Souls was a sequel, a continuation of Library/Secret, so it never felt like a second book. The full weight of the syndrome hit with my third book, which will be called The Tenth Chamber in the UK and lord knows what elsewhere.

This one is a stand-alone thriller about a prehistoric painted cave in France -- new characters, new writing challenges, new everything. This summer, when I submitted it to my amazing agent, Simon Lipskar, he liked it but had some significant issues re structure and pay-off. Second book syndrome -- home to roost! But we put our heads together and came up with the fix and when it was re-written, a big fat page-one rewrite, it really seemed to work.

Well, today, I've heard from our UK editors at Random house, that they LOVE the book! I mean really LOVE it. They're the nicest folks in the world but they are not shy about telling an author they have problems with a manuscript.

So, the weight is greatly lifted. At the end of the day it will be up to readers to decide whether I've truly escaped the second book syndrome unscathed, but I'm feeling much better, thank you, and properly invigorated to plunge into my work-in-progress which is called, appropriately enough, Near Death.

Great Review from Mark Graham at Sci Fi SoundTrack

2009-08-14T08:59:00.003-04:00

It is hard to imagine that Secret of the Seventh Son is Glenn Cooper’s first book. The debut author deftly juggles several plot lines and genres that eventually come together in a satisfying climax. His characters are believable and charismatic, and each new element he reveals is well planned, while just shocking enough to keep readers from saying, “I knew that was coming.”

The dialogue is particularly impressive, as each character speaks in a distinctive and appropriate voice and does this in a way that is hardly noticeable. This is a fast, exciting read, so I’ll just reveal a bit about how Cooper uses each genre as the novel bounces back and forth from place to place and time to time.[Read about five different genres in one book after the break...]It’s tough to successfully mix genres in a novel, but in Cooper's first try, he successfully blends at least five types of fiction writing, maybe more; I stopped counting after five.

The historical novel: On July 7, 777, a child is born in England. He is the seventh son of a seventh son. He doesn’t have much personality, but he has a pretty weird talent. A significant portion of the book takes place in 8th century England. Later, in 1947, British researchers make a startling discovery that the Brits can’t handle on their own. Churchill calls Truman and asks for help.

The thriller: In New York City it appears a serial killer is on the loose. Six seemingly unrelated people have died. The only link is that each has received a postcard with a a picture of a coffin and the date of his or her death before it happens. All of the postcards were mailed in Las Vegas. And more cards keep coming. The FBI assigns special agent Will Piper, an expert in serial murder, to the case. Piper is just a year from retirement and is ambivalent about taking on the “Doomsday Killer,” as the press has dubbed him. He is assigned a new partner, the young and attractive Nancy Lipinski.

The romance novel: Piper is assigned a new partner, the young and attractive Nancy Lipinski. You can easily imagine where this is going.

The science fiction novel: Guess what the result of Churchill and Truman’s chat was. Give up? Area 51. Enough said.

The horror novel: Strange things happen in crypts and catacombs as the seventh son begins to procreate and ply his secret ability with his equally weird progeny. There are no ghosts here, but some of the killings are grisly enough.A sequel will follow next summer, tentatively called Book of Souls, but not to worry: there is no cliffhanger ending to Secret of the Seventh Son. Cooper ties up everything with a bow in this one. And the characters deserve an encore, at least, the ones who lived through the first book.

Mark Graham reviewed books for the Rocky Mountain News from 1977 until the paper closed its doors in February 2009. His “Unreal Worlds” column on science fiction and fantasy appeared regularly in the paper since 1988. He has reviewed well over 1,000 genre books. If you see a Rocky Mountain News blurb on a book it is likely from a review or interview he wrote. Graham also created and taught Unreal Literature, a high school science fiction class, for nearly 30 years in the Jefferson County Colorado public schools.

Where've I been?

2009-07-29T17:34:00.003-04:00

Haven't posted for a month because July was an interesting blur. This is literally the first day I've had to do activities of daily living as they say in the medical world. So, here's a summary if you're interested.

Had a fabulous ThrillerFest in NY where I got to do all sorts of book signings and hob-nobbing with publishers, agents, writers and fans. If there's a better-organized group on the planet than International Thriller Writers I haven't seen it. They put on an outstanding conference for writers and readers. I had the honor to be part of this year's debut author's group. To be up there on the dais with Steve Berry introducing and David Baldacci speaking was sublime.

July continued to be a hot month for book sales, particularly in Italy, where La Biblioteca dei Morti has been on the top-ten bestseller list for 3 months straight! Hats off to my small army of Italian fans who've been waving the flag. I really appreciate their efforts.

Book of Souls, my second book is weaving its path to the booksellers. It will have the same title everywhere which I appreciate. I've just seen the advanced reader copy for the UK and it looks terrific. Expect to see it February 2010 in the UK, April 2010 in the US/Canada, and then a roll-out in 25 languages to follow. Here's the UK cover. Like it? I do.

Yesterday was the pub date for Secret of the Seventh Son in the US! Finally. If you buy it and you like it, please post your comments on Amazon/ B&N etc. If you don't like it -- oh heck, post your comments anyway. Lots of launch activities but the one I'm most looking forward to is a reading and signing in my favorite bookstore in Massachusetts, the Harvard Coop 7PM Aug 19th.

And finally, I've pushed like hell and finished my 3rd book which Random House UK will call The Tenth Chamber. They didn't like the working title, The Perigord Manuscript, and because I love those guys to death, I offered up a new one. We'll see what other publishers/countries think. I'm in the just-finished and shell-shocked mode but I think it's original, really interesting and pretty damn exciting. The manuscript is with my totally brilliant agent, Simon Lipskar, but I expect he'll have me jumping through some hoops before it's declared publisher-ready. Novel-writing is a lot less collaborative than screenwriting, but the contributions of agents, editors and copy-editors and translators can often be the difference between a hit and a miss.

Good Things

2009-07-02T11:54:00.002-04:00

After 6 weeks La Biblioteca dei Morti is still on all the top-ten lists in Italy. I just received my publisher's copies from Nord and it looks terrific. I have to admit it's nice to hold a hardcover edition. Good heft to it.

Turns out the Danish edition is in hardcover as well and its design is strong.

Off the Thrillerfest in NYC next week for a stimulating few days of learning from the pantheon of thrillerwriters, meeting and greeting. I've got a slate of galley signings, interviews and a (by-definition) once in a lifetime participation in the Debut Author's Breakfast. You're only a virgin once!

If you're going to be at the Hyatt for the conference, please seek me out for a chat.

Focused on the US debut of Secret of the Seventh Son on July 28. I haven't seen a finished copy yet but HarperCollins folks tells me it looks boffo.

Australian Book Trailer

2009-06-10T08:55:00.005-04:00

Here's a link to a very cool book trailer Random House Australia produced for their launch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdSfuIzgZn4

Update in Europe plus New Deal in UK

2009-06-02T19:04:00.003-04:00

I'm excited about things in Europe:

Library of the Dead is #10 on the Times of London bestseller list this week and #3 on the La Stampa bestseller list in Italy.

Also, per this blurb in Bookseller UK, my brilliant agents Angharad Kowal and Simon Lipskar of Writers House have concluded a wonderful new two-book deal with Random House UK for my next two books. The Tenth Chamber, which I was previously calling The Perigord Manuscript, about a mysterious prehistoric painted cave in France, is nearing completion and should be out, late 2010.

Arrow - which last week launched Glenn Cooper’s debut novel Library of the Dead, a high-concept thriller based on the notions of pre-destination and fate - has acquired rights to a further two conspiracy thrillers from the author. Arrow will publish Cooper's third thriller, The Tenth Chamber, in 2010, with a fourth in 2011. Kate Elton, Publishing Director, agreed the contract with Simon Lipskar at Writers House Inc. Cooper's second outing, Book of Souls, is scheduled for February. Photo, Glenn Cooper (third from left) with (left to right) Jay Cochrane, Key Accounts Manager; Adam Humphrey, Cornerstone Senior Marketing Manager; Susan Sandon, Cornerstone Managing Director; Amelia Harvell, Cornerstone Press Officer; and Angharad Kowal, newly appointed British Rights Director, Writers House.

Italy - La Biblioteca Dei Morti

2009-05-26T19:36:00.004-04:00

Things are jumping in Italy. The launch of the book late last week by the publisher Nord was heralded by a mind-shattering review by Antonio D'Orrico, the esteemed book reviewer for the leading national newspaper Corriere Della Sera. I understand this gentleman can sometimes be pretty tough on a book but it seems he liked La Biblioteca Dei Morti, writing that it was "one of the best-constructed novels I've read in my over-14-years as a book critic." For Italian readers here is the full article:

BDM-d%27orrico-1.pdf

Needless to say, this has had a positive effect and I've been told the book is already a bestseller after only a few days. Heady stuff.

UK Release of Library of the Dead

2009-05-26T19:19:00.002-04:00

Happily back from a wonderful trip to England for the UK launch. I couldn't have been more impressed with the professionalism and enthusiasm of the entire Random House/Cornerstone group. Their posters for the book were all over the place on British Rail and London Transport and all the bookstores I visited for signings etc. had copies on prominent display.

The efforts seem to be bearing fruit. In its first week, the book hit the Times of London bestseller list and there was a nice blurb in the Times Saturday Review books pages!

For thrillers, the supermarket channels are really important, and at ASDA (Wal-Mart) it debuted at the #4 position for all books. Embarrassingly enough, the ASDA books buyer has stickered all their copies as "Better than DaVinci Code." I don't know about that, but I don't hate the way it sounds.

Paperback versus Hardcover

2009-05-08T11:59:00.002-04:00

A reader recently asked me if I was "disappointed" that the US release of Secret of the Seventh Son was going to be in paperback original form rather than hardcover. It's an interesting question.

For a new author, the most important thing is getting published. Period. Beyond that, you can argue that everything is gravy. Worldwide, I'm fortunate to have 25 publishers and each is an expert in marketing and selling books in their own country. Some have chosen hardcover releases, some, trade paperback formats, some, like HarperCollins US, mass market paperbacks.

In a rotten economy, it's hard to ask a reader to fork over 20 dollars for a hardcover thriller from an unknown author. It's certainly in my best interest to get as many people as possible to take a chance on me. The German edition, Der Namen Der Toten, was launched as a paperback original and has spent 8 weeks on the Spiegel bestseller list. Would this have happened with a hardcover?

In the coming weeks we'll be able to do an uncontrolled experiment. The UK will launch Library of the Dead as a mass market paperback and Canada and Italy will release it as a hardcover. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Italian Book Trailer

2009-05-04T20:57:00.005-04:00

Here's a link to the Library of the Dead (La Biblioteca Dei Morti) book trailer the publisher Nord put together for the book's release in Italy later this month.

http://www.ibs.it/code/9788842916062/cooper-glenn/biblioteca-dei-morti.html

Even though I don't speak Italian, the presenter is so expressive and the production value is so high, I can almost understand it. I think it's terrific.

Busy Weeks Ahead

2009-04-10T11:30:00.007-04:00

The clock is ticking towards the UK and Canadian release of Library of the Dead in May. I'll be in England doing some publicity the third week of May.

Meanwhile things are going swimmingly in Germany where reader comments are still strong and the book (Die Namen der Toten) remains, for the fifth straight week, on the bestseller list.

Off to the Dordogne to do research on my third book, The Perigord Manuscript, set among the prehistoric painted caves of the region. It's a pity that mold has completely shut down Lascaux, but Lascaux II is still worthwhile and many original caves and grottos are open for view.

Recently acquired this amazing painting by the New Mexico artist, Thomas A. Baker, a faithful reproduction of the famous Bison Hunt from Lascaux, ~16,000 BP. It's hanging above my writing desk and is egging me on.

Germany

2009-03-23T05:51:00.003-04:00

I've just learned that the Rowohlt German edition of Library of the Dead, titled Die Namen Der Toten (The Names of the Dead) has hit #25 on the Spiegel paperback bestseller list on its second week on the market. That sounds good to me! I've had to rely on Babel Fish to read the mostly positive reader reviews on Amazon.de and chat rooms but the translations are pretty-much hash.

Click here to see a creepy little video trailer that the publisher has posted for the German market.

Welcome

2009-03-18T12:48:00.000-04:00

I'm planning to write periodically on subjects pertaining to my current books, works in progress and the publishing and writing experience. I'd also hope to be able to respond to topics of interest raised by readers who've contacted me.

Stay tuned...