As part of the blog tour, Book Equals is bringing you an excerpt from chapter 1 of the book and a Q&A with the author himself. Make sure you visit BookTrib for links to all previous and future excerpts in the scavenger hunt which will help you gather the entire first chapter of THEMINEFIELDS by its end on April 30th.

So without further ado, you can find our excerpt and Q&A below. Enjoy!

Excerpt:

Then, he drew in his fingers, turned his wrist, and gave me a quick thumbs-down, as if to say, “My dear son, it’s over.” That day he looked at me with such tenderness. That day I was not the brute, as he once called me. I seemed only to be his beloved Sam.

Q&A with Author Steven C. Eisner:

What inspired you to write THEMINEFIELDS?

Steven C. Eisner: It’s loosely based on my life. And when I realized, and who would have ‘thunk’ that my life could have possibly taken a turn to be considered , tragically Shakespearean, I knew I had something here and I went to work.

What was the most fun part of writing the book?

Steven C. Eisner: I got great pleasure reliving my most formative years in the business at Doyle Dane Bernbach when that agency was riding the tiger in with such self-assurance and fortitude and not falling off. To save their life. Just turning one astonishingly good work and turning head at every turn! There will never be another agency quite like it.

What was the most challenging part of writing the book?

Steven C. Eisner: When all hell broke loose in my protagonist’s life at times it felt like I was writing about a wicked car crash that evolved in excruciatingly slow motion until I figured out I could splash some needed humor into all the darkness which I did. That’s when writing through this period grew brighter. Humor is a wonderful tonic.

Do you have plans to write another book?

Steven C. Eisner: The sequel is coming together and the thoughts are delicious.

What is your writing process like?

Steven C. Eisner: Up early. Start writing by six. Write hard for five hours. Fresh stuff. Take a three mile walk. Edit in the afternoon. That’s my pattern when I’m really at it. And then of course there is the Russian Standard or Dewar’s & soda when I’m in need of further inspiration.

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To be honest, the cover is nothing special (then again The Passage cover wasn’t too exciting either), but what is exciting is that we finally have a release date for the book. Hold on to your pants because the book will hit shelves on October 16th.

So yes, it seems kind of far, but at least there is something to look forward to in October now. Oh and finally if you can’t wait to get your hands on it, EW will feature a brand new excerpt of the book in their new issue hitting stands tomorrow.

Who’s excited to find out what happens next?

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The move was made in order for the release to coincide with Oliver Stone’s movie adaptation of Savages starring Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek, which will be released on July 6th.

I haven’t read the book yet, but heard great things about it. And in case you haven’t seen it yet, the first photo from the movie was released and looks pretty awesome, you can find it over at our sister site Film Equals.

And for fans of movie tie-ins versions of books, Simon & Schuster will be releasing the Savages movie tie-in on May 29th and the paperback one on June 5th.

Finally, for those unfamiliar with Savages, it tells the story of marijuana kingpins blackmailed into working for the Baja Cartel when one of theirs is kidnapped.

Are you looking forward to reading The Kings Of Cool? What about the Savages movie? Are you planning on seeing it?

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If you’ve been anxiously waiting for J.K. Rowling to release a new book, this news should put a smile on your face. According toThe Hollywood Reporter, Little, Brown and Company has announced today that they had acquired the rights to J.K. Rowling’s new book. Here is the kicker though, this time around Rowling’s book will be for adults.

So far no information has been released for the title, subject or publication date, however, we should find out more about it later this year.

Rowling released this statement: “Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series.” She continued, “The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life.”

This will be Rowling’s first book since The Tales of the Beedle Bard (a volume of five fairy tales from the Harry Potter wizard world) was published in 2008 and her first venture outside of the Harry Potter world since the book was first published in 1997 in the UK.

I know I’m super excited to read Rowling’s new book because on the one hand I’m curious to read something of hers that isn’t Harry Potter related and on the other hand, I’m hoping she’ll be able to recapture a little bit of the magic I felt when I read Harry Potter.

But I want to hear from you, are you looking forward to Rowling’s first non-Harry Potter book? Do you think she can recapture what made Harry Potter so wonderful in an adult novel?

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Moira Buffini will be the one adapting The Night Circus for the big screen. Her most recent work is the screenplay for the latest Jane Eyre adaptation starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, which was pretty great (seriously, I loved it almost as much as Keira Knightley’s Pride & Prejudice). So far this bodes well for The Night Circus.

In addition, the film will be produced by Harry Potter producer David Heyman and Jeff Clifford. Hopefully, the film adaptation will be as magical as the book was. I cannot wait to hear about some casting news for it.

For those who are familiar with The Night Circus, are you excited to see it come to life on the big screen?

And in case you aren’t familiar with the book, here is the synopsis, I highly recommend you pick it up.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

“Knox will give a full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia and her struggles with the complexities of the Italian judicial system,” HarperCollins said in a statement Thursday.

“Aided by journals she kept during her imprisonment, Knox will talk about her harrowing experience at the hands of the Italian police and later prison guards and inmates. She will reveal never before-told details surrounding her case, and describe how she used her inner strength and strong family ties to cope with the most challenging time of her young life.”

While nothing official has been released, the deal is said to be worth $4 million for world rights. The as of yet untitled book is set to be released for early 2013.

Will you be getting your hands on Knox’s story when it comes out?

I had to share these amazing pictures of the 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world that Flavorwire put together.

While I do enjoy ordering books from the comfort of my own home, especially since I can now get them on my Kindle, I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to some of these bookstores. I mean they are just a sight to see even if you don’t read that much.

I think my favorites are the Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid, Buenos Aires, Argentina (which you can see at the top), Selexyz Bookstore, Maastricht, Holland (first photo below) and Livraria Lello, Porto, Portugal (second photo below). Also I supposed I should probably go take a look at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, CA (third photo below).

Which ones are your favorites? Do you know of any other beautiful bookstores worth visiting?

The cover for the final book of James Patterson series Maximum Ride, Nevermore was revealed by USA Today last week and I have to say it look really beautiful, don’t you think?

I haven’t read any of the books in the series, but this cover definitely has me curious to check out the first one, The Angel Experiment.

Maximum Ride is James Patterson’s first venture into the Young Adult world and has turned out to be pretty successful in the YA world as in the adult world.

For fans of the series you might be interested to know that Patterson promised that “all questions and situations will be resolved in Nevermore, including the love triangle between Max, her old boyfriend Fang and the new guy Dylan.”

Nevermore will be released on August 6th, 2012 (pre-order it on Amazon here), but if you really can’t wait to get your hands on it, a limited paperback edition of Angel (Book 7 in the series) has been released which includes a sneak peek at the first five chapters from Nevermore (that’s pretty cool!).

Finally, if you want to know more about Nevermore from the author himself, head over to USA Today to read their interview with him.

I love book covers and they tend to play a big part in what book I decide to pick up and read. And so that’s why I had to share this fun article from The Millions which compares US and UK book covers designs.

Scrolling through all the covers displayed, I have a tendency to like the US covers more, they would get me to pick up that specific book more. Here are a few of my favorites. I like the US cover (on the left) better for the first couple books and the UK version for the third. What do you think?

And since we’re on the subject of book covers and their impact, I wanted to also bring up the Nightshade by Andrea Cremer cover which originally got me interested in reading the book (which I really enjoyed) but for some reason, that beautiful cover (and the second book cover) was replaced by a new one, which would have probably made me overlook that book. (The original cover is on the left.)

And even though we say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” most of us do exactly that, because how else are you going to pick a book to read out of all the thousand choices you have? Sure you can read the synopsis, but what is the first thing that attracts you in a book which will lead you to read the synopsis in the first place? That’s right, its cover.

So to all the publishers out there, make sure you provide us with beautiful covers we’ll not only be proud to parade around with us, but that will catch our eye.

Finally I have to ask: How big of a role does a cover play in your decision to pick up a book? Who do you think wins in the US vs UK showdown?

Hello everyone,

You might have noticed something different about us today and no, we didn’t get a haircut.

As of today, Daemon’s Books is now “Book Equals.” (http://www.bookequals.com)

Wow, right?

Now, you probably have a lot of questions about this change so we compiled a brief FAQ to answer your most pressing questions.

Why are you changing your name?

About a year ago, we started to feel that our name no longer represented who we truly were. So we started to think about a different name that would reflect our identity in an authentic way. And that is how Book Equals was born.

What is the philosophy behind Film Equals?

We believe in a very simple ideal:

All opinions and tastes are equal.

What does that mean?

We want Book Equals to be a welcoming and safe environment for all movie lovers where you can experience, discuss and share your passion for your favorite movies.

It means that whether you like a goold ol’ thriller or a YA dystopian novel, your taste or opinion of that show is as important as anyone else’s.

What is going to be different going forward?

At first, aside from the name and the URL of the site, not much. We will still continue to provide entertaining and engaging content. So expect the same regular dose of fantastic articles.

What can I do to help?

Your help is going to be crucial. Here is a non-exhaustive list of actions you can take to help us:

What’s next?

We hope that our new name and philosophy will lead us to a great adventure and that you’ll join us for the ride.

Now it’s your turn. Leave us a comment below telling us what TV Equals to you?

Thank you for all your support!

The Book Equals Team