Welcome to fun. I am so enormously pleased and excited to announce that pre-orders for my first full-length novel, Stays Crunchy in Milk are now open. This is the big one, for me. I have never been as proud of a work that I have written as I am of this book. Which is not to say that I don’t love Crazy Little Things and Strange Angel. I love them both and wish you would consider buying more of them. No, Stays Crunchy in Milk is just something else.

First of all – it isn’t horror. At all. It is … if you like the way I write here on this blog, the pop culture entries, bits of my life, all of that stuff? This is the book for you. It is a story with action, adventure, humor … all the good stuff stories should have. It was a joy to write, and I tell you honestly having had to reread it last week for more proofing, it is still a joy to read, even though I wrote it.

After the jump I am going to reveal, for the first time anywhere, the cover and I am going to talk way more about the book and what it means and where it came from and what it is. I will also tell you about the contest for pre-orders, the special gifts, the special editions of the book itself and I will also let you pre-order the book right from this post itself. So, if you have ever enjoyed anything I’ve written, anywhere, I ask that you come along for this ride.

First the release date! August 19, 2009. My 34th birthday. Yes.

Anyway, I want to give you the book’s official blurb:

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They were four: Wereberry the strawberry werewolf, Choco-Ra the chocolate mummy, The Creature From the Fruit Lagoon (his friends call him “T.C.”), and Cherrygeist the… well she was a ghost. At least, until she wasn’t. One day, she wasn’t there at all. And then they were three.

Three friends who have sworn to search for her to the ends of the world and beyond – to find and save her.

Through familiar lands to places startling and unknown – across looming castles, endless battlefields and simple brick roads – these three friends will hunt and search and scour every inch. Along the way they’ll have to rely on a whole lot of luck and a little bit of charm, but mostly each other.

A fairy tale for the super-sugar generation, Stays Crunchy in Milk is road novel packed with 100% of your recommended daily allowance of essential action and adventure. And it’s a delicious part of a nutritious breakfast.

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Second of all I will share the first quote about the book, written by none other than Gary Wolf, the guy what created Roger Rabbit!

This is my kind of book! Stays Crunchy In Milk is that rare story with both heart and substance. Adam Knave deftly reexamines the pop cultural elements of his childhood then reshapes them into wondrous things both familiar and new. Knave’s engrossing story transforms his love for his early memories into an exciting adventure novel. Its narrative swept me right along. I really cared about what happened next. Two thumbs up from me. Four paws up from Roger Rabbit. — Gary K. Wolf, Creator of Roger Rabbit

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Renato Pastor, who draws Legend of the Burrito Blade, did the cover. For the first time anywhere here it is!

I adore this cover so much. Actually in a while, and by a while I mean a week or two, I will do a giant image post with the complete design history of this cover. It was a lot of work but Renato really drove it home and I am so pleased.

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So what is this book? Well for part of that I invite you to ask questions here and I will use them to generate a Stays Crunchy in Milk FAQ. But a few things first:

I was sitting around over the summer a while back and realized I wanted to write something hope based. That, in fact, all I wanted to do from then on was write things that were hope based. What’s hope based mean, though? Well bad things still can happen to good people, that’s life and drama is needed for any story, but hope exists and it is cool. Seriously. Hope can be awesome. And I wanted my writing to reflect that. That even if it doesn’t end up all working out in the end, or even if it does, there is nothing bad about a solid helping of hope to push things and shape things and generally inform your life.

Oh it certainly takes more than just hope to get by, but I have been getting sick of bleak stories for a while now and I don’t want to contribute to something like that. Not now at least. Maybe I’ll ditch the hope based stuff in a few years, who knows. But for now this is my future. It’s fun, it’s exciting and it leads to good stories that you can wrap around and enjoy. At least it did this time.

And why have a story with cartoon characters? Isn’t this just satire on satire, making fun of my childhood and focused on that? Well the characters I wanted because it amused me and made for a good yarn. It opened more doors than it closed. There’s more than that but that will be a different post, I think. The satire stuff – well yes there is a lot of this book that can be read as shots of how I view the pop culture of my youth, what I think of it and how I interpret what it tired to say. But that isn’t the point of the story at all. That’s just the background. It’s the setting and world. It isn’t the goal. It’s like … you have a flashy and shiny race car and have to drive to Boston. The car makes it more fun, but the drive isn’t the car, ya dig?

There is a real, meaningful story in here. It’s a coming of age story, a parable, a fairy tale for 30 yr olds … it’s a fun exciting story.

All right, fine! But you just want to buy the thing! We’re almost there, I promise. But first I have to tell you about the contests and editions and such!

First of all the book not only has that kick-ass cover by Renato, it also features SIX interior black and white art plates!

ALL PREORDERS will be entered in the contest. That’s all you have to do, preorder the book. And what could you get?

FIRST PRIZE: A special, one-of-a-kind print (full color) by Renato Pastor depicting YOU with the main characters of the novel. Printed on archival paper and framed for you.

SECOND PRIZE: A special, one-of-a-kind print (black and white) by Renato Pastor depicting YOU with the main characters of the novel. Printed on good archival paper.

THIRD PRIZE: Tuckerization of YOU into Volume Two of Legend of the Burrito Blade, likeness and first name. And I don’t mean just a one-off. I mean a top tier secondary character who is important to the plot.

ALL PREORDERS will also have their copies signed. They will also come with a separate art print by Renato Pastor. How nifty is that? Buy a book and get it signed and also get free art!

There is also a super nifty extremely limited hardcover edition of the book. I won’t lie, it isn’t cheap (I don’t set prices remember). The normal trade paperback edition of the book goes for $16.95US. The hardcover goes for $49.95US. However, where we have different rates based on US, CAN or UK for the trade, the hardcover is the same price shipped anywhere in the world.

So why an over-priced hardcover? What makes it special? There are only 34 of them in the universe. Yes. Thirty-four and no more ever. One hardcover for every year I’ve been around. Each one is signed and numbered. So yes, they are pricey but you get all the bonuses of a normal pre-order, the price is the same where ever in the world you are, and there are only 34 copies in the world.

Whew! That was a lot of crap to talk about! I know no one will buy the book now because I’ve driven you all away with my rambling. So let me give you the ordering link! Ordering is via Paypal but you can just use your credit card if you don’t have a paypal account or don’t want to use it. Shipping is included in price, but for trade orders please select the right region for shipping.

I will talk more about the book soon, next week, and generally once a week or so until release. Expect interviews, essays and sneak peaks! So yes, seriously, if you have ever wanted to buy a book from me – buy this one now. If you have ever enjoyed anything I’ve ever written – comics, columns, the blog, other fiction, buy this book now.

Oh yes.