When I’m working hard on something, one of the things I like to do is imagine what success will look like. So I’ve constructed a number of scenarios, over the years, for what it would look like to sell my first book. They became pretty realistic, what with my career in the bookselling business, my posse of working writer friends, and my own recent time in the short-fiction trenches. In fact, my scenarios had become so realistic that when the call finally came, I split in two: one of me, Business Me, recognized that my predictions had been accurate and was satisfied and pleased and totally unsurprised, and the other me, the one who’s been dreaming of this since childhood, was pretty much like this: That’s Sidney Crosby scoring a hat trick, in case you were wondering. He looks kind of cheerful about it. But I’ll tell you all about my recent hockey obsession another day, because the important thing about this post is that I have a book deal. It’s currently called KINSHIP but that’s probably going to change; it’s coming out with Thomas Dunne in spring of 2016. My agent, Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary, arranged the deal […]
A post I have been planning for ages
…yet now that it’s here, I still haven’t thought of a way to sound clever at it, because I am just too damned cheerful. I have just signed with Connor Goldsmith of Foreword Literary. A writer’s relationship with an agent is incredibly important, and there are a whole lot of variables that go into making the right choice, on both sides. I’m confident that we have, and I’m so excited about working together. The last couple of weeks have been interesting and volatile ones for me, with major changes on several fronts. But saying “changes” makes it sound like I’m talking about single events, like lightning strikes or lottery wins. I should rather say “fruitions”. Change has been happening for a long time. It is always happening, under the surface, and only sometimes does it come to light. This particular fruition, I greeted with some dear friends, some extremely loud music, and some Death in the Afternoon. (Hemingway’s advice on this recipe is “Drink three to five of these slowly.” I maintain that drinking three to five of them quickly is also worthwhile.) It’s been an excellent couple of weeks on the short fiction front, also–a couple of sales that […]
In which there is art!
You guys, I can’t even tell you how excited I am by this. I’ve never had an illustration for one of my stories before, and this one is beautiful! It’s for “Haunts”, coming out in Interzone #249 in November. This story has its roots in an eclipse, back in 1993 or thereabouts. I lived in a small city with a fountain in a square downtown. My best friend and I watched the sun go dark and then we went for breakfast. As often happens with stories, I can’t quite describe how I got from that eclipse to this rather dark story about an ex-duelist selling off her fingers to keep her failing school from closing. I can tell you it has some other hidden ingredients from the time of the eclipse–a kitten who only lived a few days, a house in the west end where the lilacs were all cut down–but how those little realities are woven into this fiction, I can’t even explain. There were some wrong turns–I finished the first draft of this story a few years ago, but I didn’t finish the final draft until quite recently, and it changed a lot in between. Now it’s finally […]
Unveiled!
Tenea D. Johnson and Steve Berman have announced the table of contents for Heiresses of Russ 2013, and guess what…I’m in it. “Harrowing Emily” by Megan Arkenberg“Reality Girl” by Richard Bowes“The Witch Sea” by Sara Diemer“Saint Louis 1990” by Jewelle Gomez“Narrative Only” by Kate Harrad“Nightfall in the Scent Garden” by Claire Humphrey“Elm” by Jamie Killen“Beneath Impossible Circumstances” by Andrea Kneeland“One True Love” by Malinda Lo“Winter Scheming” by Brit Mandelo“Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints” by Alex Dally McFarlane“Nine Days Seven Tears” by JL Merrow“Oracle Gretel” by Julia Rios“Otherwise” by Nisi Shawl“Chang’e Dashes from the Moon” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew“Astrophilia” by Carrie Vaughn“Barnstormers” by Wendy Wagner I was also really happy to note that last one, Wendy Wagner’s “Barnstormers”, which first appeared in Ideomancer. (I was the slush reader who caught that one–for some reason this always makes me feel extra-pleased when the story goes on to do well!) Strange Horizons makes a great showing, too: several of these stories first appeared there, including mine, plus work by editors Brit Mandelo and Julia Rios made the list. I’m proud to appear in this company. Go here to look at the cover! […]
In which I play with Babelfish
Here’s a paragraph from the middle of the story I’m working on. I used Babelfish to translate it into Mandarin and back again. …It was a bit clearer in the original. “The new cat, the starting, strolls by to smell the decision in mine face. His student opened in the shadow width. He invested his nose to me, and his whisker has itched my cheek.” Here’s something from the first scene: “In the air, contains the fat wool one kind of sickness warm smell or the cotton material: I imagined a rug merchant to try from any clean 50 year stain once was jewelry bright kilim.” In slightly less random news, I am officially a member of SFWA, as of today. Also, I recently sold a story to PodCastle, and this will be my first audio publication. […]
Pillow book of awesome
One spends the morning dancing in the kitchen, singing along with Aimee Mann and Wolf Parade. One fries an egg, and lays it on toast with kimchee. One’s colleagues laugh at one’s jokes. One tastes a beer so perfectly brewed that it causes hop vines to bloom in one’s mouth. One attends a rock show. One sells a story. […]
Sale!
Yes, my temperamental heroine Gus Hillyard of “Who in Mortal Chains” will make her debut in Strange Horizons in the new year. (Since very few people read this journal, I shall confess here that when I read the acceptance letter, I cried out loud like a little child. No one was home but the cats. I got cat fur stuck to my face. It had been an amazingly awful day up to that point; and then it was something else.) This story, which I thought weaker than its predecessors, made the cut; goes to show that I’m not the best judge of my own work, I suppose. For the first time since I began this project, I have more than one completed story in the kitty, as well: I’m going to be in SFWA by Christmas, at this rate. And I’ve given myself a deadline to finish the somewhat related Not-a-Werewolf book, so that I’ll have something to show the agents who will doubtless come calling 😉 Good Lord, but I must work faster! Accepted for publication:“The Tongue of Bees”“Who in Mortal Chains” To submit:“The Duellist, After Her Prime”“The Oracle of the Dashboard” First drafts complete but in need of […]
Sold!
ToB: first professional sale of my fantasy-writing career. Red letter day! […]