March ’09: Book 1 comes out in the UK
Oct ’09: Book 1 comes out on Germany
April ’10: Book 1 comes out in the US

This could change, but it’s not likely to get any quicker than that. The good news is that the books will come out very quickly in the US–about 6 months apart. So you’ll have a big wait for the first one, but very little wait for the others. Though of course it will SEEM like forever, because you’ll be desperate for more.

ps. Is there a release date for “I Am Not a Serial Killer” yet?

I remember a scene New Spring where the character Lan does a tactical march with horses and paces them by having the soldiers spend time on foot and changing speeds. It was pretty casual, but oddly, as someone who has never ridden a horse, I never really thought about how a long march involving horses would be done and the logistics.

It was amazing.

Thanks thats what I’m working on.

Mind, since those vampires are biologically explained rather than the supernatural sort, it may not be quite what you’re looking for. That’s not an area I focus on — I’m more an SF fan (go Schlock Mercenaries!) — so I’m not aware of any others.

When you think about it, though, an apocalypse is going to severely impact the number of vampires around (unless it’s something like Matheson’s plague) due to the predator-prey relationship and the crash in the prey population. And there might be a story in that. (Help yourself – I’ve got too much on my plate right now.)

- Alastair

You’re right, Brandon did indicate there were people who did do research. I guess it was the comments in the beginning I was focusing on that seemed to color the discussion of epic fantasy thereafter. Research is a marvelous and important tool for story. I just got the general feeling that epic fantasy writers could and should avoid it.

Mike,

King’s key points are as follows:

1. “I think story belongs in front, but some research is inevitable; you shirk it at your peril.”

2. “I knew absoluetly zilch about the Pennsylvania State Police, for one thing–but I didn’t let any of that bother me. I simply made up all the stuff I didn’t know. I could do that because I was writing with the door shut–writing only for myself and the Idea Reader in my mind.

…but I eventually hope and expect to spend a couple of weeks in western Pennsylvania, where I’ve been given conditional permission to do some ridealongs with the State Police

…Once I’ve done that, I should be able to correct the worst of my howleers and add some really nice detail work.

Not much, though: research is back story, and the key word in back story is back. The tale I have to tell in Buick Eight has to do with monsters and secrets. It is not a story about police procedure in western Pennsylvania. What I’m looking for is nothing but a touch of verisimilitude”

There’s more. A lot of interesting insight into his process. It appears if he can’t do the smoke and mirrors as Brandon suggested, then he makes sure he does the research.

But Brandon spent some time on a really concrete example of meticulous research in epic fantasy. As scene from a Wheel of Time book by Robert Jordan’s where Perrin pauses from being a hero to make something in a blacksmith’s shop. I went back and read it after the podcast because I always loved the scene and Brandon describing it brought it back for me the way hearing a snippet of a song on a radio does (gotta play the whole thing to get it out of your mind!). Anyway, there was tons of research done to get that scene right and that’s why it was raised as an epic fantasy example.