Breaking News on Web of Lies

“Collins deftly finesses the accelerator on this knuckle-chomping ride. Only a master storyteller could pair two strong heroines and juggle first- and third-person narration to achieve a harmony of plot and voice.” --RT Bookclub

1. Web of Lies releases this Friday, meaning that it begins to ship from the Zondervan warehouse. It should start showing up on shelves in the following two weeks. By beginning February, it should be available in most stores.

I am thrilled with the sentences from the RT BookClub review, above. Not merely because they’re favorable, but because the reviewer got it. Looked deep into the structure of the story and understood my difficulty in writing it. Mixing the two heroines, plus mixing the different POVs that came with them just caused all sorts of issues. Whose story was it? How to move seamlessly from one POV to another, while making an especially complicated series of subplots and twists work? I’ve been pretty honest with you all in saying how hard the novel was to write. Entrenched in the process, I thought I was making a terrible mess of things. It was only after the book was written, then rewritten, and I had some time away from the manuscript, that I began to feel it all had, in fact, worked out very well. I’m now very excited to see its release approach.

2. Twenty or so folks (can’t remember the exact number) won a contest a couple months ago and received an ARC (advanced readers copy) of the Web of Lies. Feedback from them (in letters to me or to e-mail loops) has been particularly good. A few samples:

“Absolutely magnificent! . . . You wove the two characters together with ease. The storyline was THE scariest, yet also meant a lot to me spiritually . . . gave it to my son to read, who LOVES those freaky books, and he even got his atheist grandpa to read it!”

“Just finished Web of Lies. I want you to know I am no longer a black person. I’m a blue person . . . from holding my breath. It was FABULOUS!”

“Wow. What an awesome combination of the two series! I was totally enthralled from start to finish. My sister read it, and now she wants all of your books.”

“Absolutely fantastic! . . . I loved the spiritual aspect . . . [such as] how to put your trust in God . . . The revelation that God doesn’t let us know everything up front also rang true.”

“I’ve loved all of Brandilyn’s books, but this is even better than the rest . . . Although [Web of Lies] is a nail-biting page-turner, Brandilyn expertly weaves in threads of spirituality and reliance on God.”

“Brandilyn is a master at the craft. But she just keeps getting better . . . The Christian thread is woven in so seamlessly as a part of the characters that it flows into the story.”

3. Upon the release of WOL, it and two of the other Hidden Faces books—Brink of Death and Dead of Night—will go into 360 Costcos across the country. In the regions where I live (northern California and Idaho), the books will have “local author” stickers. Each of these 360 Costcos will stock 24 copies of each book. (I think they only had slots for 3 of the 4 books, which is why Stain of Guilt isn’t included.)

4. Web of Lies will be featured in the major spring/Easter catalogs for Parable stores, Lifeway and Family Christian. These promotions will run about the beginning of March through Easter (mid-April). WOL will have featured placement in these stores, and many of the stores may offer a discount.

5. By the way, WOL has a surprise dedication. (If you received an ARC and saw it—remember, mum’s the word.) Yup, been keeping the secret for over a year. A couple people are going to be very surprised . . .

6. The prologue and first chapter of WOL are now posted on my Web site.

Tomorrow—an opportunity to receive a copy of Web of Lies, hot off the press—free.