Kim Harrison's Blog, page 103

Out of Jenks's mouth

As some of you might know, I've been working on a new title this winter, starting at NaNoWriMo and just continuing on after that 50,000 mark.  I don't know if it will ever see the light of day, but it feels good writing it, and by the time I'm done, I'll be ready and willing to write the last Hollows.  But as I'm working along, I'm able to step back from the usual and compare this with that and see my own personal quirks in a bright light.  Small things that sit on your shoulder and guide you like Jimmy Cricket are almost irresistible.  Two love interests are not unusual, and of course, the core of the story centered around a strong-willed woman, who may or may not be the most interesting character in the bunch.

Jenks, in particular, has been popping into my mind lately, even though I've not worked with him for months.  I like his smart-mouthed character who gets all the lines, even if they are a tad raunchy.  He's physically untouchable, but vulnerable emotionally if you know what buttons to push.  Ruthless, honest, and willing to kill to save those he loves if necessary.  And I'm trying very hard to keep him out of the next book while keeping the character traits I love so much around, trying to get them to show up in other characters instead of bunched up in one.  I find I'm reaching into my past works to see what I've done before.  It's been an interesting exercise, and I've been kicking around a lot of ideas of how to shift personality traits to make things more interesting.

However . . .

That has nothing to do with today's post.  :-)  If you have The Hollows Insider, or have been lurking around the drama box for over a year, you might have seen the pixy-modified carol,The 12 Days of Pixy Christmas that I started in White Witch, Black Curse. Here it is in its entirety, just in time for your caroling parties.  I wouldn't advice singing it, though.  It loses much of its charm when you're not four inches tall.

On the 12 day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .
12 Humans Hiding,
11 Tinks a Tinkling
10 Porno flicks
 9 Pole Dancers
8 Pixies Partying
7 Karma Sutras
6 Fairies Farting
5 Trolls in Drag
4 Purple Condoms
3 French Ticklers
2 Horny Vamps
And a Sucubus in the Snow
 
–Kim Harrison  Dec 15, 2009

More Perfect Blood Tour Info

Hi all.

I've got more A Perfect Blood tour info for you today!  I think I have these copy and pasted right, but you can always (and should, the closer we get to release day) check the event's page at the website where changes will be noted.  And there will be some changes.  I've got a few happy things I'm not releasing yet due to a cautious nature.  -laugh-

Event's page

Lansing, MI: Schuler Books & Music Feb 21

Ann Arbor, MI: Nicola's Feb, 22

Boston, MA: Boston Public Library (books sold by Pandemonium) Feb 23

(Maryland/DC): Books-a-Million, Arundel Mills Feb 24

Atlanta, G:, Eagle Eye Feb 25

Coral Gables, FL: Books & Books Feb 26

Palm Beach, FL: Palm Beach Public Library Feb 27

Cleveland, OH: Cuyahoga Library Feb 29

Denver, CO: Tattered Cover March 1

Los Angeles, CA: Dark Delicacies March 3

San Diego, CA: Mysterious Galaxy March 4

San Francisco, CA: Borderlands March 5

San Bruno, CA: Barnes & Noble March 6

Seattle, WA: University Book Store March 7

Portland, OR: Powell's Books March 8

Pending: Schulers: Grand Rapids, MI

I've been fielding questions already about signing etiquette, in terms of how many books, etc.  I'm going to send you to a post I did last year, but it always hinges on the bookstore's policy coming first.  Also, more independent stores are asking that you purchase the latest release at their store in order to help defray the cost of having me there.  They usually let you purchase it before I get there, and in a lot of cases, you get a line number right then, so it's advantageous to go in ASAP and get your book ahead of time.

You can also call to reserve/purchase a copy if you don't want to drive the distance twice.  I'll have the store phone numbers up at the web site before too much longer.  I'm a little crunched for time right now . . .  :-) click for Kim's I've-got-all-your-books signing policy

P.S. Rachel has been invited to take part in a March-Madness style cage match with some characters over at Del Rey/Spectra.  This won't start till March, but if you're curious, you can see who else is participating already.  Click to see

The next Hollows book will be called . . .

I put in a late night yesterday working on the freebies, (click to get yours) which meant I woke up this morning grumpy and slow–and remembering my last dream.  It was of birds, and not just any birds, but baby birds.  About five or six of them in all stages of growth in the same nest from just hatched to almost ready to open their eyes.  I was very worried about the little ones.

Not many people know it, but I raised canaries for about two to three years after I was let go from the job that was going to see me to retirement.  (Feels like it was a lifetime ago, and in fact, it was for my son.)  I doubt I made any money at it, but it gave my mind something to focus on and a chance to see something positive when things were not that glowy.

Now, I'm not ready to apply any dream analysis on it simply because I know the dream stemmed from FINALLY seeing birds at my feeders yesterday after months of them ignoring them.  There's a lot of food available in the area for the wild birds this early in winter, seeing as I live surrounded by farms and shallow lakes.  It's only when they are very stressed do they come into town–kind of like the deer.  (Which we occasionally see sleeping, yes sleeping, in the middle of the still-warm road.  Stupid deer.)

If you haunt my FB, you probably already know this, but yesterday I released the name of the next Hollows book after A PERFECT BLOOD.  Book eleven will be titled EVER AFTER, playing on one of the latest movies Clint Eastwood directed, HEREAFTER.  Thanks, Mr. Eastwood.  That was a great title to borrow!

From our house to yours . . .

I wanted to do something special this year for you, the readers, beyond dusting off The Hollows solstice poem, (Which I'll repost on the winter solstice) and while Angel's Song is not new, sparkly, or contains anything to make you stop and go "hummmm," it still makes me cry, damn it.  But then I cry at coffee commercials this time of year, so that might not be saying anything.  My editor was kind enough to see about getting it on BN's SciFi and Fantasy blog to help increase its exposure, so please, jump on over and read it there.   Angel's Song is my holiday gift to you and yours, and like the best gifts, please feel free to share it.  Here's a direct link.  However you celebrate the season, I hope you find joy, warmth, and a feeling of completeness.

Kim, Tim, and the boys

Angel's Song: An Unearthed Rarity From Kim Harrison Just in Time for the Holidays!

Holiday treats

I was up late last night making buckeyes, which are basically a peanut butter cup that looks like a buckeye nut.  I think it might be a Michigan thing, but could be wrong. Unfortunately I can't share this particular holiday treat with all of you.  (I do have a literary gift in the works for you in the form of a short story and should have news soon.)  However, I do have a treat for you e-book-ers out there, and frankly, it's better for your health than sugar, fat, and well . . . that's all buckeyes really are, actually.

For a short time only, my publisher has made available thorough a handful of distributors, the electronic version of Holidays are Hell for a special price of $1.99.  If you remember, this is a prequel of sorts for the Hollows books, showing a much younger, not as strong Rachel Morgan, spending a winter solstice with her older brother–getting in trouble after he dares her to do a charm.  He is trying to convince her to go on to school, not the I.S. but we all know how that turned out.  (double dog dare you, anyone?)  It is available for this special price until the 26th of December.  Holidays are Hell also contains stories from Vicki Pettersson from her Zodiac series, Lynsay Sands, and  Marjorie M Liu.  If you're looking to round out your e-library or catch up on the anthology novellas, this is a nice way to do it. Click here to find a list of distributers with this low e-book price.

Even better news is I have  a proposed date for the traditional chapter releases my publisher does right before the next Hollows book hits the shelf.  Five chapters will be released, the first one is scheduled for January 3rd, and if you are like me and tend to forget things and want notice coming to you, you can sign up Harper Voyager's Author Tracker.  I belong to this myself, and I can promise you that they don't flood your email with stuff, but just let you know when a new book comes out or when special promotion offers like this come to light.  Click to sign up for me or any Harper author.  I'd do this fairly soon because I don't know when they update their email list, and I'd hate to have you miss it.  Also, if you already belong to this and have changed your address, you'll need to re-up.

It's rainy here today, not  snow, and I'm hoping to get some major page count into the cabinet of awesomeness.  Monday's reorganization of thought helped, and now I have to make good.  :-)

Altered plans

I meant to rip into the text yesterday, but managed to get a total of zero words down.  (I'm not counting the three pages of dialog I'm going to toss)  I knew it was coming, and I even warned myself.  This book is laying down much more seat-of-the-pants than I've done in a long time, and I'm not complaining, but that does mean I have to stop about every two weeks or so and take a day to write out a couple of pages of what comes next.   Yesterday was that day, the break from the keyboard prompted by an idea that I'd been kicking around the last couple of weeks but didn't have in my outline.  Friday I got to the point where I would have to make a decision, and on Monday, I puttered for about an hour with dialog before I pushed back and took up my pencil.

Today, armed with three pages of rough outline, I will push forth, and hopefully get boocoo pages to try to make up for yesterday.  I, ah, also took two hours over lunch to go shopping, 'cause I don't like crowds and avoid the stores on the weekend.  I'm not sure if my logic was sound.  There was a lot of people out there . . .

Mail call!!

If you Manic Mondayed a glow-in-the-dark poster, you should be getting them today if you are east of the Mississippi.  West, please give it a few more days.  A lot of small post offices don't know what to do with a tube, and it may sit on someone's desk as they wait for an answer.  If you don't get yours by Friday, drop Guy a line.

If you have ordered a Perfect Blood Tour T, they are all in the mail as of yesterday.  Again, please give them some time as the postal service is jammed, but if you feel it's been too long, Guy will be happy to field your email.  Also, check your order to be sure you gave him your address when you paid for or ordered it.  We still have a small window to get Tour T's out before the holiday break, but he needs to hear from you by the 15th. (That's Thursday, I think.)  Click to order Tour T

Guy and I are slowly working through the SASEs for Rachel's pack tattoo . . .

Pale Demon lands top honors at B&N's best paranormal fantasy releases of 2011

I was shocked and terribly pleased this weekend to find out that Pale Demon was picked by Paul Goat Allen as his favorite paranormal fantasy release of 2011 at Barnes and Noble, and I just had to share the news with you!  To see the entire list, click.  Black Magic Sanction made the list last year, but this year, Rachel is heading the list!  Go Rachel!

I've been there myself to peruse the list, and I must say that I'm gratified to see the level of talent that the genre has brought to the shelf.  Wow.  I agree with Paul that it's the mixing of genres that is the core strength of Paranormal/Urban fantasy, and it's that which is going to keep the good stuff coming.  Personally, I can't wait to see what the next ten years or so are going to bring as styles evolve and new blood enriches the field.

 

Oh!  I forgot to mention that Blood Work got an honorable mention, as well!  That really surprised me as it was such a new storytelling technique for me, and I was involved from the ground up.

Show me some skin

Yesterday the stamp with the instructions for the tattoo freebie came in, so of course I had to try it out to make sure that the ink from the stamp did not interfere with the ink of the actual tattoo.  As you can see here, it didn't, so I spent all of last night stamping the backs of half of them.  :-)  The things they never tell you you're going to have to do when you become a bestseller . . .  Stamp the back of temporary tattoos?

If you want one of these babies for yourself, send me a SASE.  We still have a great selection of sizes of Tour T's, as well.  Remember, the last day to order and have a excellent chance of having them before Christmas is the 15th.

It snowed last night, and we might get lake-effect for the rest of the day.  That would be nice.  The little pick-me-up I always get from snow is well appreciated.

Tis the season

I don't have anything for you today apart from a very cool mention of The Hollows Insider at B & N, where The Hollows Insider made  Paul's list of holiday gifts for the SF/Fantasy reader.  I can't tell you  how much this tickles me because part of the reason I ached for this thing to be so extravagant was to make it suitable for gift-giving.  If you want to see the rest of his list . . . When You Wish Upon a (Death) Star: Some Perfect Holiday Gift Ideas for the SF/Fantasy Fan

And speaking of gifts, I have a very short story I pulled out of the bottom of the cabinet of awesomeness that I will be releasing here and at my website.  (Not the solstice poem, something else.) So keep an eye out for that!

Work went very well yesterday with another chapter put away and an unexpected, far-reaching twist that came from the plot shift.  Dude, I didn't see that coming.  Now I've got to turn the bow into the waves and rock with them until I get this figured out.  Should be fun . . .

Time to snuggle in

Bit of a cold snap settling in, so I'm content to sit at my desk and type today.  Yesterday was not bad as far as work goes.  Got another chapter done.  It had one of the most difficult writing techniques I'd ever worked with in terms of getting my idea across of what was going on and still stay in first person.  I wouldn't want to try this five years ago, but I think I have something I can tweak and have it be successful.  I've never seen it done before, though I'm positive it has been.  I don't read as much as I should.  Meh . . .  What are you going to do?

Anyway, it left me in a rather confused state of mind, (though pleased) when I printed out the rough chapter and filed it away in the cabinet of awesomeness.  My outline is shot to pieces by what happened in said chapter, but that's okay.  I'll work back to it after I take care of this one thing that evolved.  Today should be fun as a secondary character comes to terms with that he has grossly underestimated Peri's abilities due to his pride and inability to separate her from his past, and that his failing to accept it has caused Peri great pain when she trusted him to have her back.  It's kind of like "I don't have to pay attention because she can't hit the ball that far" but involving guns and bad guys.  I love my secondary characters.

happy sigh