I just received a finished copy of The Magician’s Book from my publisher last week. Although the official publication date is Dec. 4, it should be appearing in stores pretty soon now. I’ve had some nice early reviews, from Elissa Schappell in Vanity Fair (a short item) and in Book Forum from Maria Tatar, who is the Chair of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard (which I guess makes her the real-life, female version of that running character in Dan Brown’s novels, the “symbologist” Robert Landon) and has edited some excellent annotated editions of folk and fairy tales.
There will be also a bookstore event in New York that should be a lot more fun than a generic reading. Adam Gopnik, Lev Grossman and I will be talking about Narnia at the Tribeca Barnes & Noble at 97 Warren St. on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 7 pm. Adam wrote a terrific essay about C.S. Lewis and Narnia for the New Yorker and Lev (Time Magazine’s book reviewer) has a forthcoming novel with some Narnian element to it. (I’d be more specific, but he’s mighty cagey on that subject, as his book is currently in revisions -- come to B&N and we’ll pry more out of him.)
