Requiem for a Dream

Sometimes it seems like a dream. You have a great agent. She gets you a good deal and you have a contract. You've been through editing and copyediting and filled out all the forms for artwork. You're almost ready to see your manuscript turned into a real book.
Then you wake up.

I had one of those rude awakenings last week. Strange Chemistry, the YA imprint of Angry Robot books that was supposed to published A Curse of Ash and Iron, my YA steampunk fairy-tale retelling, was cut. Effective immediately. Contract canceled.

No book.

It's taken me awhile to put into words how this made me feel. Sick. Upset. Like the world fell apart. I mean, it happens in publishing. It's business. But it's really hard not to take it just a little personally, not to feel like someone has punched you in the gut. I cried. My agent cried. We can't believe we got so close only to have the rug pulled away. It's like a bad joke. I had booked a very big trip to the midwest to help promote the book at a con with the publisher. No publisher. Nonrefundable tickets. Fortunately I have other books I can push. Not so lucky for other authors who were making their debut.

But it could have been worse. There are many authors who were left with books in limbo after already being published. Or left in the middle of a series.  At least I hadn't booked a venue for the launch party yet. But it was a close thing. I feel for the staff, who might have been let go from their jobs. As least I have my book back right away and can move on.

So, not requiem for THE dream. Just this one. The outpouring of support for the imprint and the authors has been overwhelming. A lot of people wanted to read those books, including mine.People kept pre-ordering it evenI after the news.

We'll find a new home, and let everyone know when and where.

Some good news and a bit about author wish fulfillment

First of all, the GOOD NEWS! If you haven't seen my personal blog or tweets, I have something big happening this year. My Steampunk Fairy Tale retelling has been bought by Strange Chemistry books! It will be released in September 2014, so not too long to wait. We had to change the title, so what was once Smoke & Mirrors, is now A Curse of Ash and Iron. 

Yay!!

The other day, I saw an article where J.K. Rowling says she thinks that Hermione and Harry should have ended up together, not Hermione and Ron, and that she may have thought of killing off poor Ron Weasley.

Okkkkayyyy.... I guess I'm glad she said that. Not. I mean, it's her story and all, but first of all, done is done. Secondly, I think the Hermione/Harry matchup wouldn't have worked as well. It was MUCH too obvious. To compare it to Star Wars, Harry was Luke Skywalker and Hermione was Princess Leia. We all know how that worked out. The relationships are similarly based in mutual respect. Likewise, Ron was definitely Han Solo. Not as dashing, but he drove Hermione BONKERS for five books until she realized she loved him, much the same way Han got under Leia's skin.  She wrote Ron and Hermione so that they NEEDED each other. Hermione needed someone to take care of and be smarter than, and Ron needed someone to...well, he needed someone like Hermione.

Ginny was quiet, not an attention-seeker, and unexpected in a way. She was perfect, because by marrying her Harry got to really become a part of the family he was already part of in his heart.

And I don't know how to feel about the revelation. I mean, as authors there are always things we'd go back and do differently, but we don't tell readers, do we? Especially if we have readers who really LIKED what we wrote? Does it take some of the shine off of the diamond, knowing that the author sees it as imperfect?

I don't think I'd tell, even if I had regrets later on. If readers love it the way it is, let them keep their happiness.

2014 Will Be Epic!

Where did 2013 go? I feel like it was just January a few days ago. The new laptop I'm working on I got in January, and now it's almost a year old. My car accident was in January, so my new car is almost a year old too. Wow. Unbelievable. Thanksgiving is over, and the holiday season is upon us. Three weeks until Christmas *yikes!* and then a month until 2013 is over. 

I'm kind of sad to see 2013 go, because even though it didn't start off great -- Hubby having surgery, car accident, computer dying, the passing of so many people we loved -- it had some nice times too. Great vacation with the family. New car. New computer. Great conferences, time with friends, new friends, new conferences. It was pretty good, overall.

However, I am SUPER EXCITED for 2014 to start because there are so many BIG THINGS coming next year.

First of all, I have a story in a Steampunk anthology that comes out next year. The anthology is called Gaslight and Grimm and will be published by Dark Quest Books. It's all Steampunk fairy tales. I wrote a version of The Three Little Pigs, which contains no pigs whatsoever. There are some other authors whose Names You Might Know who will also have stories included. Not sure of the release date yet, but I will make a big announcement when it comes out.

I SHOULD also finish the final Library of Athena book next year. Should. It's coming along and I really like where it's going. It will be a fitting end to the series, with a couple of twists I didn't even know about until I wrote them down.

The other bit of news is a BIG HUGE SEKRIT. I cannot tell you. Or, I could, but then I'd have to kill you. Or give you kittens, or something. This is the Most Exciting piece of news of all the news that I have to share. Hopefully it will be able to be shared in the next two weeks. I am BURSTING.

I'd love to tell you. But I can't. Just know that 2014 Will. Be. Epic.

The Fickle Nature of Publishing

I have been trying to get this Steampunk/Historical Fantasy/Fairy-tale Retelling novel published for what seems like forever. It's been though edits, and total rewrites, and of, course, a myriad of rejections. Not terribly many, though it feels like a million. But what struck me this week was that I got two rejections within hours of one another, and the reasons for rejection are so...contrary. 

One publisher said there was so much to love about the book. They gave me a long list of the things they had liked about it in the two months they had it. Ah, that's nice. But then there was a long list of things they didn't like and felt would require too much revision. One stood out. They said the setting seemed like 'window dressing', and they would have liked to see more world building. Huh.

The other publisher said that there was too MUCH detail, and they would liked to have seen details shaved down to concentrate on the plot. That was the SOLE reason they gave for rejection. To be fair, it IS a 99,000 word book. There is probably some room for tightening, but...really? That's all you could find wrong? You couldn't assign an editor to work with that? But, seriously? One wanted more, the other less.

It's enough to make one drink.

It reminded me of the absolute subjective nature of publishing. Even myself, when I'm looking for books to acquire for Palomino. I read a lot of YA speculative fiction, so I know what the market is doing. I kind of look for something that will sell, of course, but mostly I look for manuscripts that I can't put down, that have great voices and that I can't live without. We've all read or heard of books that, well, we think are just awful. That a lot of people think are awful. But somewhere along the line, and editor read the manuscript and thought it was GREAT, then managed to convince other people it was GREAT, and managed to convince the accountants that it would SELL and MAKE MONEY. And then that awful book hits the shelves, and my manuscript is still unpublished.  I mean, it's okay, it's the way publishing is. It's not personal, it's a matter of taste. Of one or two people's taste.

I'm going to go find that drink.

Some Like it...not as hot

I know this month's theme is Some Like it Hot. But I write YA, and I don't really read romance outside of that genre. But lately I've been thinking about YA romance, which is a , um, hot thing right now. And I'll tie it into a theme that comes up at just about every conference I've been to in the last year or two. How much is too much for YA? What is the line?

Well, I usually answer, if you've read the Hunger Games, then you know the line is WAY back there.

 But what about sex in YA? That's a tougher questions. I mean, it's obviously going to be off-screen sex, or toned down. YA is more of the sweet variety of romance, but that doesn't mean it can't have a little heat in the buildup. In the Young Adult romance, there is the added layer of turmoil that comes with adolescence, the hormones, the flirting, the jealousy, the uncertainty of first (or second) love. There's kissing, petting, even allusions to sex, off-stage sex, and some of those flirting and kissing scenes can leave you swooning. It's almost an art form.

And it's a rich soil in which to grow a story. Add in fantasy elements, and it can be a roller coaster ride.

For me, the look at it this way, whether dealing with violence in YA or with romance scenes: it's not the subject, it's the author's treatment of it. Cursing, for example. A book for older kids may use the word "Bitch", but one for younger kids might say "he cursed", leaving to the reader's imagination. For a violent scene, it's the difference between a scene written by Suzanne Collins vs. the same scene written by Stephen King. See what I mean?  Same with romance. The difference between a scene written by Cassandra Clare and the same one written by...someone who writes hotter than that. LOL.

Hot can be hot without being...hot. In YA, it has to be.

Dark Quest Books

I’ve been hinting around that there was to be a big announcement, that I’ve been making changes in my writing career. I couldn’t tell anyone officially until after Balticon, when we made the public announcement at the Dark Quest launch party.

There’s a whole big story behind this, but long story short.

Dark Quest Books, an independent SF/F/H publisher (yes, the website is out of date, it’s on of the things on the ever-growing to-do list.) is opening a Young Adult imprint, Palomino Press.  Here is the shiny new logo:

And I am the Acquisitions Editor. Yes, me.  I know, right?  The first release from this new imprint will come out in the Fall – The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin, by L. Jagi Lamplighter, who is the author of the Prospero's Daughter series, from TOR, and an all around nice lady. This will be a multiple book series.

So, we have six (JUST SIX) slots left to fill for the imprint for 2014-15.  Right now we’re accepting submissions. THESE ARE THE GUIDELINES:

*YA ONLY (no middle grade), we’re aiming for 15-19 year old readers (and crossover with the adult readers who read YA, of course).

*65,000-100,000 words

*Speculative Fiction ONLY (SF/F/H)

Other than those three things, pretty much anything goes!

*Contemporary, Historical, Alternate Universe, Futuristic, Dystopian, Steampunk all welcome!

*Romantic elements are certainly acceptable, but should be secondary to the plot.

*Especially looking for sharp, original YA voice (think Cassandra Claire, Kady Cross, Lauren Oliver, Jennifer Armentrout, Suzanne Collins).

I know what I want for this imprint, now I just have to find it! If you think you’ve got the perfect manuscript, please submit a query letter, the first three chapters, and a 1-2 page synopsis to me at palomino@darkquestbooks.com. Please do NOT email my personal email — it will be deleted. Snail mail queries will not be accepted.

My Journey into Self-Publishing

Yeah, okay, so I self-published a book. For the record, I have no problem with self-publishing, EXCEPT when people do it half-assed and expect to make millions. First of all, historically that's not been the case. You have your one or two exceptions, but overall many self-published books are flops. And those that DID make a boat load of money will tell you that they did it RIGHT, and that means they spent a lot of money and paid people to help them get it out right.

So why did I do it? A list:

1. This is not my first book. I've been through the commercial publishing process before, so I KNOW what's supposed to happen.

2. This book is made of two republished short stories. There is a novel that goes with them, and the original publisher never did anything with them, but they are part of a shared universe, so I can't submit them to any other publishers. I have permission to put them out myself, or else they'd never see the light of day, and that would kind of be a shame.  

3. Along with #2, these works have been edited. By myself, by the original series editor, by me again. They may not be perfect, but they're not fresh off the word processor, either. I am not one of those authors who thinks that the publishers 'just don't understand my voice' , nor do I have Golden Word Syndrome. I think there are a good number of self-published authors who turn to self-publishing for these two reasons. And then they get mad when the reviews trash their books. 

4. I'm not planning on making a lot of money with them. I'm not pushing these books. They are mostly for fans to have something else of mine to read, and for me to buy a few copies to take to events, and to even give away free on Kindle once in awhile. It's for FUN. 

IF I were to ever self-publish a work that I really wanted to push, there are several things I would do differently. I would:

a) Hire an editor. Not that these haven't been edited, but if I were publishing a story NOT in a shared universe, I would definitely find a good editor and PAY them. I would also have them help me write back cover copy.

b) BUY an ISBN myself, and give myself a publisher name. I got a free one from Amazon for this one, and they get to be the publisher of record. No biggie for this book, but if I were putting out an original work that I really wanted to push, I would.

c) HIRE a cover artist. I chose Amazon stock art for this first book, and paid a modest fee to iStockphoto for the cover art for the novel (which is almost ready, I just have to finish writing the back cover copy).  I used their flat template too, and would have the artist design one specifically for my book. 

d) I would fill out all the forms for the Library of Congress and register the copyright. I didn't do either this time, because, like I said, these books are pretty much for fun.

You can see that all of these things cost money.  And that's always my point about self-publishing -- if you're gonna do it (and not just for fun), you need to PAY for the things a publisher pays for.  And if you don't have any idea what a commercial publisher does, then you'd better LEARN before you get started.

Now, myself, I have managed to figure out how to format the book for both print and Kindle (which was an ordeal, but now that I've done it, I can do it again and faster), but if you're not tech savvy or don't have the time (and it WAS time consuming), then you're going to need to HIRE someone to do that for you as well. 

On the up side, now that I've done it, I kind of have some insight into what it takes.  CreateSpace/Amazon and Kindle Direct Publishing is a good way to go. 

There are some things they don't tell you about Kindle formatting (which I had to find out through the forums), but once you figure them out, it's a piece of cake.

By the way, here's the link to the new book: Wizard Academies: The Kingsbridge Chronicles (paperback) and Wizard Academies: The Kingsbridge Chronicles (Kindle Edition).  You can download a sample from the Kindle edition and check it out! 

Telling a story with Tarot

I read Tarot Cards. There, I said it. I don't do it all the time, and I do it for fun and not as something I use to run my life. When I read for other people I am always careful to make sure they understand it's for entertainment purposes and that I am not telling them to skip town and start a new life under an assumed name in Bora Bora. 

Unless, of course, they're actually into that. But then that's their decision, not mine. Whatever. The point is, that when I read the cards, I tell a story. I had this discussion with a fairly famous agent at the last NJSCBWI conference over dinner, and he, surprisingly, was fascinated by the way I described it. I don't read just one card, but try to see how they all connect together. 

I tell you this because there are writers who use cards to plot a story. Not me. But I find that reading cards and telling a complete story is really great for flexing my storytelling muscles, finding the one aspect of this card and seeing how it fits into the others that have come up, like fitting puzzled pieces together. Sort of the way that really good stories seem to come together. 

I have several decks, but my favorite is the Steampunk Deck. I have a Fairy Tale deck that I also like, but that is harder for me to work with. Who knows why. My favorite thing about the Fairy Tale deck is for me to know the story behind the image (and some are pretty obscure) in order to see why the artist chose it, what part of the story connects to the meaning of that card. Little Match Girl, for example, is the Three of Swords. It's a card of heartache, three swords through a heart. The Little Match Girl is a perfect story to depict heartache (and always makes me cry). 

 Anyway, if you want to learn to read Tarot to help with your writing, I recommend it. You don't even have to learn the meanings of the cards, if you don't want to. Get a deck with pretty pictures (I recommend ones with actual humans, not Cat People or Dragon or anything) and study the pictures and try to come up with a story that goes along with them. Soon you'll be piecing together all kinds of stuff, and maybe story construction will become easier for you.  

Back to Business...uh, well....

So this month we're talking about writing itself, and publishing, right? I probably had something bigger and grander planned for this post, but then, well, life happened. My husband had to have surgery, and instead of having time to write this up yesterday, I wound up waiting for the hospital to find my husband a room post-op. For three hours. After spending the morning in the waiting room waiting for him to come out of surgery. Shot the whole day.

Maybe that's a lesson right there. Life happens. Writing is not a 9-5 job for most authors I know, although many of us wish it could be (there are days I do too, but I actually like my job). I have a goal of 500 words per day. Not a huge amount, but when you hate writing first drafts like I do -- I am a champion reviser-- sometimes those words feel like pulling teeth. And I'm kind of in a funk right now. Graduate School ended in the beginning of December, and there were the holidays, and all this other stuff, and I had given myself permission to wait until January 1 to dive back into writing.

And then...well, stuff gets in the way. And now I'm turning into a champion procrastinator. I've tried to write some  every day, but I think I've made the 500 words, like, once. I'm just not feeling it, and I'm easily distracted. I think I need to go back to the beginning and read over the whole first 25,000 words and find the story again. Yeah, like I have time for that.

What was I saying...oh yeah. My advice for writers -- be flexible. Don't throw up your hands in despair if the time you set aside for writing gets eaten up by life's crap. I finally DID have time to work on my manuscript yesterday (and should have done it while waiting in the hospital, but there were too many distractions, and I had a book to read), and it was during my son's basketball practice. I find those times ideal for writing, when I have to be somewhere and not engaged with what's going on. But sometimes that's what you have to do to get it done.

Some people can sleep anywhere, I have learned to write anywhere. And now it really IS back to business for me. I have three books to work on this year, and one new edition to get out into the world. No more time for distractions.

Look, shiny!

The Next Big Thing

Happy Holidays!

I've been tagged by Kathy Sullivan as part of The Next Big Thing blog-a-thon. Apparently this was started by Kathryn Kuitenbrower. Each tagged author answers 10 questions about what they are currently working on. Here we go!

What is the working title of your next book?
Currently it's A Stitch in Time. But I'm not crazy about it. The previous book, which is with my agent waiting patiently for a Forever Home, is Smoke and Mirrors, and I wanted to keep it in the same vein, since the books are similar -- not sequels, more like companions. If I can come up with something else, it will change.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I had already finished Smoke & Mirrors and wanted to do another Steampunk Fairy Tale. When I was coming up with an idea for the first one, I fought like heck to NOT write Cinderella, but that was what wanted to be written. Then I thought, okay, Sleeping Beauty. Hmm...how can I do that, when the main character is SLEEPING through most of the story. And how can the prince come and wake her 100 years later? Hey, time travel! And hey two POV's for the book, just like in the last one. It's coming out rather interesting.

What genre does your book fall under?
YA Fantasy, specifically Steampunk, with Romantic elements.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I am never any good at answering this question, because I have what they look like in my head when I'm writing and it never matches any known actor. Only once did I have someone in mind when I wrote a character. In The Sword of Danu, the smith god Gobihniu is John Barrowman.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
Steampunk Sleeping Beauty Time Travel with global conspiracy. And Romance. Wait, that's more than one...

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I have an agent -- the awesome and cute-as-a-button Terri Wolf, of AKA Literary. She is currently shopping Smoke & Mirrors, and I am hoping she'll take this one on too. Or we'll just sell both in the same deal... ;)

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I am still working on this one, but have about 20,000 words. First drafts take anywhere from six months to a year, depending on what else gets in the way. Now that graduate school is finished, I am hoping to work a whole lot faster.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I would compare it to other types of Steampunk and historical fantasy, things like Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and perhaps The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross. Almost like a mash-up of the two of those with a little of the Sherlock Holmes movies (with Robert Downey, Jr.) thrown in.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I really enjoy the whole Steampunk movement, and I am a fairy tale junkie. It just seemed natural to put the two together. In Smoke & Mirrors, I used a lot of names from my own family tree from that late 19th-early 20th century time period. I sort of did the same for this book, but only for a couple of characters.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Hmmm...there's adventure, love, the Secret Service, time travel. And a Capuchin monkey named Tesla. What else could you want?

To continue the blog chain I am tagging Kim Baccellia, Lisa Mantchev, Charlotte Bennardo, and Jean Marie Ward

Coming Into the Home Stretch...

But not on a manuscript. Boo.

On my Master's Degree. After three years of juggling and putting things off, especially writing, and especially after I got a full-time job, I am on the last month of Graduate School. I am working like mad to get my Special Project finalized and turned in (this week!), and all the paperwork that goes with graduating, AND finishing the final two courses, one of which is absolutely insane with work.

I keep thinking of all the things I will have time for once this is over. NOT getting up at 5:15 am to read textbooks. Or working on papers while sitting at son's football practice. Or having Sundays to do...anything. House projects. House cleaning, which has gone woefully undone for far too long.

And finally...writing. It's not like I haven't written anything the last three years. I put out two novels, one of which was done before I started grad school, the other half done when I sold it. I finished another, and got an agent. I spent the summer pounding away at the keys to get just over 20K in a new book so that I have something to show a prospective editor when my agent sells the book she has. And I wrote hundreds of thousands of words of academia. Yuck. It's weird, some days I don't even think about writing at all, and I don't miss it, and others I long to break into a project and work, work, work. Some days I just want to get some sleep and watch some TV without a computer on my lap.

Oh, I don't plan to start writing for fun and profit the day after grad school is over. I plan on getting very very drunk before that. But once the hangover is gone, and I get a few days to breathe, I will be ready to go. I will have to shift my brain from logical thinking to fictional thinking, but I think it's like riding a bicycle. And there are so many projects just waiting, so many stories to be told.

Home stretch, baby. By Thanksgiving, this will all be but a memory.

A video blog about my series.

Hey gang!

Yanno, I just can't remember what the theme for this month is, and so I decided to copy over a video blog I did recently. I love doing these things, they really are fun. So here is me, rambling on for twelve minutes about my series. Forgive my voice, the allergies are attacking! Ugh!

Villians -- the best we love to hate

There are a lot of really great villains out there, in books and in TV and movies. There are a few things that make a villain a good antagonist (and they're not always the same, BTW), but I tell newer writers when they ask me that they have to remember a few things about villains.

1) Make the villain sympathetic. At least a little bit. Now that sounds weird, I know, and I'll explain in a minute. We shouldn't like him right away, of course, because we have to grow to love our protagonist and dislike our villain, but at some point we have to understand at least a little bit of why he's doing what he's doing. There are exceptions, and because they ARE exceptions, they can be insanely scary. But if your villain is just a mustache-twirling guy doing something mean for the sole purpose of being mean, well, he'll probably come across as one-dimensional and not very good.

2) One thing you must remember, the most important thing when writing a villain/antagonist:

They think they are right.

They are the hero in their own story. The story you're reading, the story the author wrote, is from the protagonist's POV. But if you were to write it from the antagonist's POV, you'd have to turn it on its head and make that villain the hero. Which is why I usually give my antagonist some kind of backstory, even if it's only in my head, because that will color everything he does. This also can help with the sympathetic bit, if the villain's backstory is kind of sad.

My top-five villains:

1) Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty): She is deliciously bad, but again, she has a reason for doing it. Revenge is a really great motivation for kicking some butt. And she turns into a dragon. Which is just awesome.

2) Voledmort: how can you not love to hate old Voldy? It takes five books to discover his back story, but it's SO GOOD. By the very end, you do feel a little bit bad for him, because he's had a bad life-- orphaned (like Harry), rejected by his birth father who was a Muggle. Who wouldn't be a little bitter against Muggles after that? He wanted to conquer death, and well, things got a little out of control. By the end of the series he's a little more pathetic than frightening, and you still want Harry to win but you still feel a little bad. Voldemort's had a sad kind of life.

3) The Master (Doctor Who): Many people have played The Master over the 50 years the series has been on the air, but the latest reincarnation--oops, I mean regeneration-- was by far the best. I loved to hate that guy! He was bad, evil, mean, and just plain silly. He was a little bit psychotic, but he was driven mad by looking into the Time Vortex when he was a boy. Hey, it happens. And all he wanted was a planet to call his own, since Gallifrey went teets-up. Who doesn't want that? His humor made all the killing and Earth taking-overing just seem a little more fun.

4) The Joker (Heath Ledger version): this is the exception to the rule of the sympathetic villain. You never really know The Joker's backstory, not really. There's no motivation for his behavior that we ever know. And this is why he's so great, so terrifying, because he's one of the very few villains who just wants to watch the world burn.

5) You tell me. Who do you think should fill this spot, and why? What villains do you love to hate?

Summertime!

At long last, school is over for another year. This was my first year full time teaching, and while I love my job, it is equally nice to be able to get up to the chirping of birds and not the blaring of the alarm clock, and have my coffee while sitting in my loft and writing for however long I wish.

It might get old by August. But I doubt it. I have at least three projects on the table right now -- a short story and two novels. Plus my final project for Grad School. And a 9 year old boy to entertain with day trips and whatnot.

Summer will fly by.

Meanwhile, I DO have a new book out. Please buy it, Like it, add it to your Goodreads to-read list. I'm doing a Goodreads giveaway for two signed copies. So on top of writing new material I have to promote the new title. No rest for the wicked.

But I'm going to pass on some writing advice I got from Kate DiCamillo recently. She was the keynote speaker for the NJSCBWI conference, which I attended AND was on faculty (doing a workshop on Worldbuilding, which you can see here, if you really want to know). It is an AWESOME conference, and I have made many friends and networked with some of the names in NYC publishing to the point where we hug and kiss when we see each other and know each other by name. One of my favorite events of the entire year. Anyway, Kate said she only writes two pages a day. That's all. She gets to the end of the second page and stops. Now, I don't know if that's two pages per project, or just two pages, but however she gets it done, the Great Kate is getting it done, and so I will take her advice. I have been trying all week to write just two pages.

I am working my way up to it. Just two pages, some days, is hard.

Have a great summer!

Balticon Post-con Wrap Up

Last weekend was Balticon. It was my first time being a guest at this particular con, but not my first con in general. I had a great time! Well... once I got past the horrible traffic and the borderline rude hotel personnel (who I understand were overwhelmed, but really need some lessons in customer service. I mean, I have worked in hotels. In FIVE STAR hotels. If I had given any customer the attitude I got from these people I would have been fired on the spot. A single shining star of a bellman saved the day.HE deserves a raise.) things were great. Of course the hotel jumped up to help me after I threatened to take my money and go home. Marriott is getting a strongly worded email from me.

The con people were fabulous!

Originally I had only a few events on my schedule, and one of those was an autograph session with Jean Marie (SO great to see you again, dahling!) and my friend-whom-I had-never-met-before Jackie Dolamore. I had no problem with a light schedule, but being a first time guest I wanted to pull my weight. I want to be invited back again. So I volunteered for several more, sending a list of things I was interested in to the con programming guru. She put me on most of them, which rounded out the weekend nicely. Sometimes all you need to do is ask.

I will NEVER do a Monday panel again, though. At least not one that starts at noon. Hubby wanted to be on the road, and by the time the panel rolled around, so was I. Anyway...

Hubby, who is not into SF/F, had to amuse himself. I dragged the fam with me mostly because I didn't want to abandon them on a holiday weekend while I went to play near a major city. So Hubby scored some Orioles tix for himself and the Boy for Saturday afternoon. They had a great time too, so it all worked out. I spent Saturday reading Tarot cards, signing books, and generally having a con-tastic time.

I also did very well at this con, sales-wise, which was a bonus! My new book, The Sword of Danu (buy it on Amazon or B&N or from the publisher today!), launched on Sunday night as part of an 8-book blowout of a party. I have pictures, but they're all on my phone. The Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading was also awesome (even though I had to leave early...)

Overall, I give Balticon two BIG thumbs-up. I hope to be invited again next year!

New book! The Sword of Danu

I am the worst blogger, I know.  I think I've missed my day for the last two months. Honestly, I was living in Research Project Proposal Hell, and my brain was just bogged down with APA format and hunting down every. last. editing. mistake. My professor is worse than any copyeditor I've ever worked with, lemme tell ya.

But, now that's over. And I have a new book coming out! I am pretty excited about this book for several reasons. First, it's really fun, and some of my best work, I think. Second, it's Celtic mythology. No, actual Celtic mythology, not made-up fantasy elves and fairies. There's magic and artifacts, Tuath de Danaan, a dragon, and a smith god who looks a lot like John Barrowman.

Third, I am launching (if all goes to plan) the book at Balticon. My friend Danielle and I are doing a co-launch party, since her book is also Celtic mythology based. If you are coming to the con, please find me. I will also be reading from the book at the Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading. Where I will also get to hang out with BTV girl Jean Marie Ward and all kinds of other people I haven't seen in far too long.

I will be posting teasers and stuff on my own blog the closer we get to launch, but today you get the cover!

It is probably my favorite cover of mine so far. I mean, I love the Crown of Zeus cover and all the others, but this one is, as a friend said, kick-ass. And it reflects the book. The graphic artist does tattoos by day, and I think those people are so very talented. Oh, okay, I'll give you the cover copy too:

Megan has embraced her role as the Librarian, protector of the Library of Athena. She’s spent her entire summer teaching herself magic (although it doesn’t always work out the way she wants) and studying the Library’s secrets. The Order of Ares, an organization bent on stealing all of the Library’s artifacts, are always at the back of her mind, though they’ve been quiet for awhile.
 
Then she is forced into yet another enchanted story. Or rather, the story comes to her, somehow ripped from the pages of the book and brought to life. She and her friends must fight their way through an imaginary Ireland, where danger lies around every turn, and find the mythical Sword of Danu.


It’s a race against time—because the magic is spreading. The manor is being overrun, and Megan, Rachel, Claire and Harriet must fight through what was supposed to be an imaginary world to find the sword and return things to normal.


Have a great week!

2012: Where is YA going? (and how will it get there?)

Hi all! I hope you had a great holiday season, and are looking toward 2012 with great hope. I know I am. I was drowning in a sea of deadlines, wrapping paper, and lesson plans last month, but with a nice holiday break, I feel better.

So, I guess in January we're talking about publishing. Which is always kind of interesting, at least to me. In fact I just had a conversation with my agent about what publishers seem to be looking for and what they're tired of, at least in YA. Based on that, and the state of the industry talk I heard back in June at the NJSCBWI conference, which corroborates what my agent told me, here's what's Hot and what's Not in YA for 2012:

NOT:
Vampires and Werewolves. As if there was any doubt in our minds. Apparently agents and editors alike are sick to death (pardon the pun) of bloodsuckers and werewolves, and of course the flood of Twilight clones that have been coming across their desks.

Paranormal in general is also said to be on the way out, but who knows?

Dystopian: This is not to say there's still not a market for a really good, original dystopian, but again, the flood of books and manuscripts trying to ride the coattails of The Hunger Games has editors pining for something maybe a little less apocalyptic. Lighten up, people.

Historical Fiction:  it's not really anything currently flooding the market, but straight-up historical fiction (NOT historical romance or fantasy) is almost always a tough sell. The market share is small, and it must be meticulously researched and impeccably written.

Fallen Angels: After Hush, Hush, and a bunch of other stories about angels, I've heard editors say they're tired of seeing those stories. But that's not to say that the right story wouldn't find a home.

Super-dark stories: I'm hearing that editors are looking for a little bit of hope, a little bit of light, and less...death, despondence, and despair.

And it goes without saying that stories about The Chosen One, wizard boarding schools, and any other number of Harry Potter repeats is probably on this list. At least for now.

HOT:

Steampunk: hot and getting hotter. The neo-Victorian historical fantasy genre has taken off, bolstered by novels like Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series, Scott Westerfield's Leviathan series, and the upcoming The Unnaturalists, by Tiffany Trent. With no clear mega-hit to spawn a bunch of clones, and as long as there are a good long list of different and original stories, Steampunk doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

Re-told Fairy Tales: Just after I started writing Smoke and Mirrors,  the fairy tale retelling/steampunk novel that snagged me my agent, I discovered a whole host of re-issued, re-vamped, re-imagined fairy tales lining the shelves. Apparently this trend hasn't quite run its course yet, fortunately for me.

YA Romance: Romance is always hot, and there seems to be a surge in romance for Young Adults.

Upbeat contemporary: There seems to be a need for really fun, upbeat, coming-of-age but having a good time doing it stories. Go figure.

Mermaids: I have no idea where this trend is now. It seemed to be picking up steam last year, but I think it's sputtered out. I read a couple of mermaid books, and very few of them caught my fancy.


And the one thing that is always hot:

A good story.

Don't take this list as gospel. Don't write to fit a market trend, because by the time you are done, the trend will be over. MAKE the next trend. Write the story you want to write, the best you know how to write it. That's how YA is going to move forward.

Happy Reading!

OMG!

OMG!

I spaced.

Totally.

Completely.

Forgot.

Sorry!

Whatever holiday you celebrate, have happy one! See you next year!

What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

Look, I don't write horror, okay? I stick with beasties of a decidedly fantastical nature. Dragons may eat you, but they don't rip your limbs off for the heck of it. They're HUNGRY, all right?  I stay away from werewolves, vampires, and generally gross and gory writing. I used to be a huge Stephen King fan, but as I got older I suppose the gore-factor was just too much. I won't write horror. Ever.

But I love scary movies. NOT the gore-fest, slash-em-up, stick things in their eyes and watch them bleed for the sake of it kind. Saw? No way, no day. Uh-uh. Never saw one of them. But at this time of year I get a hankering for some good ole' fashioned fright fests. I have my perennial favorites:

Halloween
There is very little actual blood in this movie; it's the suspense that I love. And the awesome score, and the screaming babysitter, Jamie Lee Curtis, seemingly the only cool head in the whole town while the nutjob runs around with a William Shatner mask (okay, who doesn't see the humor in that?) only killing HER friends. Great stuff. Oh, and by the way, every Halloween after number 2 sucked.

Scream
I find this one of the best scary movies EVER. What I love about it, and the gore is really low-key considering, is both the suspense AND the misdirection. The mystery of 'who is the real killer' was really well done. Of course after you've seen it once, you can go back and pick up all the clues and go 'of course, why didn't I see it before!'
Scream 2 was good, Scream 3 bordered on just plain dumb

I Know What You Did Last Summer
Okay this one might take the prize for total cheese, but I still like it. It's like a twin to Scream, and I liked it for many of the same reasons - suspense and misdirection. It's not as good as Scream, but I can watch it over and over.
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer? Meh.

Final Destination 1-850,000
All of these kind of blur together into a single film for me, but I love the idea: that a group who cheats death is picked off one by one by supernatural forces. They get very creative with these demises, and I think that's also what I love. Terrific watching on an October night with a bowl of popcorn and the lights out.

The Blair Witch Project
Yes, I really like this movie. I think it was a good idea, and it was totally cheesy, which is WHY I love it. I know, I know, I am breaking some kind of scary-movie-lover pact by admitting that I like this. It's good TV watching. Whatever, don't judge me.

The House on Haunted Hill
There is NOTHING like a Vincent Price movie - except a Vincent Price movie remake. I LOVE THIS MOVIE. It's completely creepy and has a great premise: the home of a wealthy and deceased psychiatrist, which sits on top of his closed mental hospital, plays host to a group for an evening. All kinds of ghostly shenanigans ensue, and the corpses keep piling up. This has a great twist ending, and I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it. While I love Vincent, Geoffrey Rush does a spectacular job in his role. A classic.

Amityville Horror
The Original. Always. I don't think I need to list my reasons why. It's classic horror at it's finest.

The Shining
The original ONLY. Yes, it's a bit gory, but it's Stephen King. Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall are perfection, and again, the idea of a haunted and evil place rather than a person is fabulous.

That's my list. So as they say...What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

Do Over

Crap. I was supposed to do a blog about characters, right? I thought I had an idea, but then I lost it, and then I forgot what I was going to write. I spent all last week in the revision cave, trying to finish up this next Library of Athena book before it's back to the daily grind at the Day Job and grad school gets back in session. I'm also trying to rewrite Talisman of Zandria for the new publisher. So I'll talk about that.

How often do we wish we had a chance for a do-over? I'm getting that chance with the Zandria books. And boy, am I glad. I appreciate everything the first publisher did for me, don't get me wrong. They were just starting out when they signed me, and we all learned a bunch of stuff together. Maybe not the best way to do things, but it's what we had to work with. Now that I'm going over this again, ten years later, I am cringing at some of the things that made it into print the first time around.

Ugh! What was I thinking? Too much narrative, not enough dialogue, a couple of tiny POV-shifts. in fact, I don't love the main character much either anymore, so I'm sprucing her up a bit. She's too young for her age.

How did this book ever make it out into the world? And yet I've had good reviews for it, and kids who read it love it. Just goes to show, I guess, that readers are really what matter in the end. I honestly don't even know if I would write a story like this now; it's cute and sweet and fun, but I've grown so much and kidlit has changed in ten years that I don't know if this quiet little story would make it. I've re-shaped it and changed it a little, but the same basic story is there at heart. It'll always be my first story, and I'll love it, if for no other reason than that.

But I'm glad for a do-over.