I attended the New York Comic Con 2011 today, Saturday around noon, to check out what new books might be in the horizon from Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Gallery Books and Pocket Books).

I found displayed on their booth table all the latest StarCraft, World of Warcraft and Diablo books for sale, and the posters hanging on the walls. I love how the publisher supports Blizzard Entertainment. Oh, and how forget the big screen playing StarCraft II, Diablo III and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematics on a loop. As soon as anyone walks through the alley anyone hears and recognizes it — they have to stop and check out the booth and all it has to offer.

I recommend going to the Simon & Schuster booth # 2612 tomorrow Sunday to grab your copy in person, and to talk with the staff.

I was planning to stick around for a couple of hours, but a head honcho at Simon & Schuster’s booth told me Nate Kenyon would be there Saturday at 5:30pm EDT. I was surprised he recognized me on the fly. I didn’t even have to introduce myself — “You are from Blizzplanet”. I hadn’t been in contact with him, so he didn’t know I was coming. He remembers me from two years ago when I interviewed Chris Metzen and Micky Neilson at 2009 New York Comic Con.

Eldorian interviewed by phone the Stoker Award Finalist and Horror Writers Association and International Thriller Writers member Nate Kenyon a few weeks ago to talk about his latest book inspired in a Blizzard Entertainment video game … StarCraft: Ghost–Spectres. I provided the questions — some gathered from the lore community, and some of mine after I read the copy provided by Simon & Schuster a few weeks prior to its launch.

You can read my review of StarCraft: Ghost Spectres here.

Knowing Nate Kenyon would be there at New York Comic Con, I decided to stay to meet Nate Kenyon in person, and to take some screenshots at the Premiere Collectibles booth (# 2617) — in front of Simon & Schuster, Inc.’s booth (# 2612).

This guy is short of awesome in person. We spoke for a while about his StarCraft: Ghost–Spectres work. It took him about three months of deep research of the StarCraft universe. He had a lot of communication with the Blizzard Creative Team to flesh out their guideline for this story Blizzard wanted to share with StarCraft fans.

Nate Kenyon read previous StarCraft novels — including those by Aaron Rosenberg and Christie Golden, and the StarCraft mangas (StarCraft: Frontline and StarCraft: Ghost Academy). He confessed he also read some of the StarCraft Wiki out there, but he’s aware not everything in the wiki is accurate, so whenever he found something of interest in his research he would contact Blizzard Entertainment to double-check for accuracy and to get some extra details on that.

After I was done talking about StarCraft: Ghost–Spectres, I was starting a question — and before I could even say three words he filled in what I was going to ask. He’s a mind-reader too: Diablo.

Nate Kenyon is writing a new Diablo book for Blizzard Entertainment. This is the first Diablo book to be in development since 2007 when Richard A. Knaak finished the Diablo: The Sin War Trilogy with book 3: The Veiled Prophet. It’s been four years of hiatus with no new novels except for the Diablo Archive which collects several previous books in a single tome of 752 pages.

Nate Kenyon told me his upcoming Diablo novel’s timeline is somewhere between Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and Diablo III. Due to his contract terms — think of a NDA — he’s not able to talk in-depth about it yet, but he managed to provide that bit of info — and that we should expect his novel somewhere within Q1 2012 — sorta in between March and I’d add and speculate possibly up to the Summer because it’s hard to predict when Diablo III will ship, if there might be delays, or if the novel will hit bookstores a month or longer before or after Diablo III ships.

For now the plan is somewhere around March 2012. The new Diablo novel is still Untitled, but you can Pre-Order it already in the following formats: Hardcover, Kindle device, or the Kindle PC app — you know you can’t refuse to pre-order it. It’s a Diablo novel, and it is a Diablo III tie-in. /ends hypnotic suggestion

I have to thank Simon & Schuster for their continuous cooperation and support over the past years to help us inform our visitors. The Premiere Collectibles staff, including Josh Smallbone (Premiere Collectibles Vice President), were very polite too. I also have to thank the Producer and the Host of the ESL’s Intel Extreme Masters — 2011 / 2012 Season Global Challenge New York. The ESL organizers were very supportive with Blizzard Entertainment and their partner Premiere Collectibles by allowing Nate Kenyon to tell the StarCraft II audience at New York Comic Con to walk by the Premiere Collectibles booth to attend Nate Kenyon’s book signing session. Visit, Watch and Read the ESL Intel Extreme Masters website for the Season Global Challenge New York Tournament results.

Check out below the photos, and videos of my visit to the Simon & Schuster, In.c Booth # 2612. You might find some interesting stuff.

Simon & Schuster Booth Photos

In this photos you can see Nate Kenyon signing copies of StarCraft: Ghost–Spectres, and a quick view at the Premiere Collectibles and Simon & Schuster, Inc. Booths. Remember you can pick different resolutions depending your internet connection speed: 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p HD.

 

 

Simon & Schuster Booth Videos

The videos show the Premiere Collectibles and Simon & Schuster, Inc. Booths. The latter was displaying the Blizzard Entertainment cinematics on an LG Monitor.

 

 

Premiere Collectibles Booth Videos

 

 

Blizzplanet: 2011 New York Comic Con Coverage