JoSelle Vanderhooft's Blog, page 5

Small BPAL sale

So, while we wait for the Halloween 2011 scents to go live, here's a little sale for those of you who want new scents now now now!

Long story short: My partner lost her job in July and I need to raise some money as I'm now the sole earner in the house. So my loss is your gain!

Boring stuff: $3 shipping to US and Canada. Other locations? PM me and we'll figure it out.

Ultra rares:

Brom Bones: $25 (between 1/3 and 1/2 bottle cleanly decanted into an amber vial with a drip stopper)

LEs

Ghosts of Halloweenies Past

The Bloody Sword (between 1/2 and 2/3--purists take note: I added a decant to this bottle as well): $7



Yules

Peacock Queen 2007: (- 1 to 1 1/2 decant): $15
November: (-1/2 decant or so): $15
Snow White 2010: (1.5 decant in bottle? Maybe 2 decants): $3


Anniversaries:
Earth Phoenix (2008 anniversary) (a little under 2/3): $13
Phoenix in Spring (2010 anniversary) (full): $22

Lunacies
Peach Moon (2009 lunacy): (2/3 full with wand cap): $13

Chaos Theories
Edge of Chaos XLIX: (Lemon Verbena, pretty much a single note at that!)

GC
Dance of Death (a little under 2/3 assembled from decants): $7

Discontinued
Ephemera: (-2 decants, cleanly made by me):$15

Non-BPAL

Good Judy
A Woman, Creeping: (full): $10

See something you like but don't like the price? Make me an offer. I really need to get these gone :(

Bitten by Moonlight chat today at 4pm EST at Bitten by Books

ETA: 12:45 pm EST:

Event's being moved to September. Sorry for false alarm, folks! But please come then.


OK, so I'm having a chat today about Bitten by Moonlight, my lesbian werewolf anthology over at Bitten by Books, a superawesome paranormal romance site. It starts at 4PM EST and will last a few hours, giving people from other time zones to roll on in.

Please come and ask me questions, and bring friends. Because nothing is sadder than sitting alone in a room, be it virtual or brick and mortar, when you want to talk about your book but no one is there.

Updates! Updates *everywhere!*

OK.

So.

My health was pretty awful in July and early August, thanks to one of the worst episodes of PMDD I've experienced since college. Basically, all I could do for about four weeks after Readercon was go to my day job, come home, sleep, and force myself through a few immediate commitments like book review deadlines and Steam-Powered II stuff. Needless to say, LJ and Tweeting pretty much fell by the wayside, and I've been spending the weeks in August where I haven't felt like crap playing Clean/Write/Edit/Review All the Things.

In my hiatus, a bunch of things have happened.

Lesbian Werewolves!

First, I have another anthology out. It's called Bitten by Moonlight , and it's a bit unusual as my anthologies go, in that it's a collection of four novellas/novelettes (how do we differentiate these anymore, btw?) this time instead of 12-15 short stories/novelettes. It's a super awesome book featuring stories by catherineldf , erzebet , and rm and Tyree Campbell, Sam's Dot Publishing's owner and a damn fine author in his own right who unfortunately is not on The Live Journal. I am really proud of this one--though I always am of my anthologies--because I think it offers a much-needed take on my favorite creatures of the night. The Kitty books and a few other paranormal romances aside, it is so rare to find stories about female werewolves where the wolves in question aren't either pathologized or dismissed as a joke (hi, Leah from Twilight!). To say this has disappointed me for years is a major understatement. So, with the kind permission of Zumaya Publishing, I put this book together.

I think the blurb on Amazon sums it up better than I could. So here it is:

The full of the moon is a time of transformation for the characters in this collection of four novellas, in more ways than one. Becca [Catherine Lundoff's story] discovers menopause is more than just a question of hormones. Gretchen's life, which she views with shame and horror, may not be the worst that can happen [Erzebet YellowBoy's story]. Paulina [Racheline Maltese's story] just wanted a place to sleep, but fate has other plans. And are there really vegan werewolves? [Tyree Campbell's story] Terror and joy, love and death, fear and courage: all facets of the human, and inhuman, condition evolve when you're Bitten by Moonlight.

Seriously. This book has a woman who is dealing with The Change and lycanthropy at the same time, a young woman whose lycanthropy is a beautiful metaphor for disability, a mannerpunk tale of wolves and oppression set in an alternate Rome, and a sweet romance set in Arizona--which opens with a werewolf ravaging a box of tofu.

The dead tree version can be purchased here and Kindlers can get their copies here. Fellow Nook users, I know that it's not yet available in Nook format, but we're working on getting Barnes and Noble to get that up. I will have a link for you shortly--and believe me, as a Nookie myself, I am very anxious to see this little wrinkle ironed out.

Given how fast this book ultimately came together, and some of the hiccups that happened along the way, I didn't have time to really blog about it before now. But there will be a few fun things surrounding its release. For example, I'm scheduled to appear at Bitten by Books, a super awesome site for All Things Paranormal Romance on Aug. 30. I'll be around pretty much all day answering questions, chatting about the book, and doing some fun stuff like giveaways. I'll post lots of reminders up to that time, but please drop in and say hi if you can, and spread the word if you can't. I really want to talk to you there!


And of course, if you want to review this thing for your website/blog/multi-national newspaper, please shoot me an email at upstart(dot)crow @ gmail, or leave a comment here. I or my publicist Jaym Gates will get in touch.

Steam-Powered II!

As of this week, Steam-Powered II is done, man. It's off to the publisher for proofing and its new release date is Oct. 26. There's a lot going on around and after its release, so stay tuned. And if you want to review it and/or Steam-Powered I, please let me know. I only ask if you request that you make good on putting up a review. Out of about 60 people who requested a review copy of SP1 last year, I think maybe 1/10th of those actually read and reviewed.

Femmes Fatales!

I've been meaning to post about this for ages, but ill health and fatigue kept messing up my plans. Femmes Fatales, my lesbian mystery/erotica/romance anthology for Lethe Press is again extending its reading period--to Oct. 15 (initially it was going to be Sept. 30, but as i'm two weeks late getting the word out...). As of now, I'm in need of about 4 stories and I HIGHLY prefer non-spec mysteries to mysteries with spec elements at this point. Basically, I have about five spec stories I've accepted for an anthology that isn't really a SF/F/H anthology, and I need to balance it out. Guidelines are here: http://upstart-crow.livejournal.com/442166.html (scroll down past the guidelines for Steam-Powered II).

PLEASE spread the word and PLEASE submit! I know my four stories are out there trying to find me.

Lace and Blade!

I thought I'd announced this, but apparently not. As of 2012/2013, I'll be taking over Norilana's Lace and Blade series. New guidelines will be up soon. Right now, I don't know whether my first book will be for 2012 or 2013, but I'll let you know as soon as I do.

And another reading period...

I'll be reading stories for another Zumaya anthology in September. And--wait for it!--this one will be my first book about gay men, which should be both challenging and exciting. Theme to be announced hopefully early next week, as I think this deserves a separate post and I've got ArmadilloCon to prepare for.

ArmadilloCon!

Schedule for that to be up in a moment.

I think that's all.

updating from work

So, situation maybe you can help me with.

There are three stray kittens in the parking lot of my workplace that have climbed up into the engine of someone's car. We're trying to get them out, but they're hiding from us.

Can anyone help? We don't know what to do.

Making a big update post.

I've been way too silent on LJ lately thanks to being sick and exhausted and generally in need of some major down time. But there are many things to announce!

I'm workin' on it. :)

UK people, are you OK?

Hey all: If you're in the UK right now and you've got a second, I'd really like to hear if you're OK.

Steam-Powered II: Table of Contents!

At last! I can announce it!

Introduction: Kevin Steil (of Airship Ambassador)

Journey's End: Elizabeth Porter Birdsall
Amphitrite: S.L. Knapp
In the Heart of Yellow Mountain: Jaymee Goh
Playing Chess in New Persepolis: Sean Holland
A Thousand Mill Lofts Gray: Jeannelle Ferreria
Dark Horse: A.M. Tuomala
The Return of Cherie: Nisi Shawl
Selin That Has Grow in the Desert: Alex Dally McFarlane
Granada's Library: Rebecca Fraimow
The Canary of Candletown: C.S.E. Cooney
Fruit Jar Drinkin', Cheatin' Heart Blues: Patty Templeton
Deal: Nichole Korhner-Stace
Not the Moon but the Stars: Shveta Thakrar
The Terracotta Bride: Zen Cho

Article/Afterward: Winding Down the House: Taking the Steam out of Steampunk: Amal El-Mohtar

More to come!

If you drive, you need to read this article.

This is everything, EVERYTHING, I have been trying for over a decade to tell people with driving privileges about: how underfunded public transportation, inadequate facilities, and ableist street design endangers lives. Only, because I'm a guilty of being a non-driving adult, few people pay any attention to me.

Basically, a poor, black woman with three children was just trying to cross a street to get home (where the next light was a third of a mile down the road) when a drunk driver ploughed into her and her four-year-old.

A drunk driver.

Who had priors.

Asshole is getting off with a wagged finger while the mom is facing 36 months in jail.

Yep. This is happening one state over from me.

http://www.grist.org/infrastructure/2011-07-20-when-design-kills-the-criminalization-of-walking

I just cannot stress enough how apt "the criminalization of walking" is as a title. I often feel like I'm being punished for the crime of being 31 and unable to drive by many of the following things this poor family was facing on that night.

In my city, the public transportation system is the worst I have ever seen. It runs relatively on time, but the drivers are rude, the routes are confusing, the maps are unreadable, and if you call for help, you get misinformation. I moved where I did in part because a bus was supposed to run by my house. I was told a half-truth about that. There are no sidewalks on one side of the road, meaning that I have to cross a very busy four lane street TWICE in order to get home if I walk. And I have to walk across huge swaths of lawn (which is often wet and muddy because this if Florida) in order to do even that. I have to do this in weather that is often 90 degrees or hotter with something like 150% humidity, which is very hard on a body that 1) doesn't tolerate humidity well and 2) has lived for most of its life in a dry desert climate. I've dealt with the problem of whether to run for a bus or wait another 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes for a bus in freezing snow or heat-stroke inducing temperatures.

This isn't just an issue that affects one or two poor, unfortunate people who you'll never meet. It affects huge swaths of people in every major city. And no one but us ever really thinks about this because they never have to deal with the inadequate transportation, the dangerous streets, and the non-existent facilities.

Please. Read this article and do something. In cases like this, we are actually dying.

Note: I will remove any comments that attempt to derail this topic. This includes denying that the problem exists, making excuses for the prosecutor or driver in the article above, or waxing indignant about how your magical big city has an awesome subway system and you've never, ever *oh my pearls!* heard of such a thing. This is an aspect of many disadvantaged USians lives that never gets discussed and you have a whole internet out there to not discuss it or to say that we're exaggerating. Go there.

Another reason to love cons

I haven't really written much poetry in two years. Lots of reasons. None of them interesting.

Got an idea for another collection/chapbook/interstitial writing thing at Readercon during a panel this weekend.

Uh. Fuck yeah?

Also, if I can get it all cleared with the people I need to clear it with, I want to attend Arisia next year and maybe Boskone as well.

I really dislike how exhausted and depressive I am post-cons, though. That shouldn't be allowed to happen to me. Can someone make a law to that effect, please?

Actual content coming soon

I've been meaning to post about what I'm doing for the Clarion Write-a-Thon and a bunch of other things for over a week now, but Ugly Shit keeps getting in the way. Things just aren't good right now. I'm sorry, fellow write-a-thon participants. I don't mean to let you and Clarion down. :( Just got blindsided by a few things that I'm not coping too well with at the moment.