Kim Harrison's Blog, page 125

Guest post at i09

Okay, I've tried all morning to get this to work on FB, but it doesn't, so if you've ever wondered where I get my inspiration, io9 has a great guest post on where some of the thoughts and ideas that I put into Pale Demon came from.

Guest post at i09

Dog Show/Valentine's Day

The Westminster Dog Show was a success!  This is the 25th year of Guy and I watching it, our tradition starting on our very first date on Valentines Day.  Two evenings of nachos, the couch, and relaxation all combined one very large dog winning the coveted bowl and ribbon.  This year, it was Hickory, the Scottish deer hound.  I am so pleased!  I see these dogs every year in the 4th of July parade, and they look marvelously big and "doggie" with an outstanding dignity and elegance, and seeing their breed become recognized is great!

Here is a shot of Aleix with her.  I don't know how the dog gets there, but she does it every year.  I think she has a transporter hidden in her basket under her toys.

I also wanted to let my Aussie readers know that voting has opened in the Australian Romance Readers Association for its members, and I am delighted to say that BLACK MAGIC SANCTION is up against some very hard-hitters in the Favorite Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy, or Futuristic Fantasy category.  If you are a member, you can vote here. If you're not, you can at least look at the wonderful choices they have, knowing all of them are a good bet for a good read.

I also stumbled upon an article at the Washington Post which pretty much sums up why I personally like bookstores, too.  It makes for thoughtful reading.  (Please don't send me nasty-grams about how you love your e-book.  I think they are a fabulous way to feed the habit, but for me, who lives to people-watch, I will always love my bookstore.)

Chapter Five of PALE DEMON

Anticipation.  It can carry you through an amazing amount of time, be it standing in line at a restaurant, to waiting almost a year for your birthday and perhaps another shot at getting that pony you always wanted.  Some people hate waiting, but I personally have always been a delayed gratification kind of a girl.  (mostly)  The reward is sweeter for the time spent savoring it in my mind.  If that's true, then I might keel over from the coming sugar rush when Pale Demon finally hits the shelves this February 22.

Two and a half years I've been working on this road-trip book, dropping teasers and spoilers to my readers when my anticipation overflowed and spilled out.  These last two months, I've been delighted to share with you the first few chapters of Pale Demon. Here is the last I can give you before Pale Demon officially becomes "real."  It has been a pleasure to bring you these early peeks.  I like anticipation, but sharing something I love is a lot more fun.  Enjoy!

Kim Harrison, 2/15/11

Chapter Five, Pale Demon

And if you missed it

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Guest Post at LitFestMagazine

Today is the second of my guest postings over at LitFestMagazine.com, where I talk about why I've been making freebies to celebrate the release of the books since Dead Witch Walking.  So if you're curious where those bus tokens, mourning armbands, warmth amulets, and poker chips come from, here's your chance to find out.  LitFestMagazine.com (the new post isn't up at the time I posted this morning, so check back later in the PM)

If you haven't been following the patten, tomorrow is the last chapter released for PALE DEMON before it goes on sale next Tuesday.

Today is also another Manic Monday!  Guy took a look up in his cupboard and found that we have twenty complete sets of the Truth series that we would like to give away for shipping and handling.  The story of Alissa is not Rachel in a pre-industrial setting, so please don't expect such.  Because it's traditional fantasy, the feel and the pace is very different, (hence the different author name) but the character development is about what you  would expect from me.   Here, more than anywhere else,  you can see me falling in love not only with the characters, but the writing process, everything awkward and enthusiastic.  I was at a gas station yesterday, staring out over a sleeping cornfield thinking about the books, and I swear, I fell in love all over again with the beauty of the mirth trees and the man who only wanted to tend them.  sigh . . .

If you would like one of the twenty sets, please email Guy at vampcharms@comporium.net for a S&H paypal invoice with TRUTH BOOKS in the subject line. If you don't put TRUTH BOOKS in the subject line, you will not get the books. I will edit the post here when they are gone.  In the interests of time, we can only accept payment through paypal.

USA will cost $5.91

Canada is .91

Other international is $20.91

They will come priority express.

And happy Valentines day!  I'm watching the dog show and eating nachos!  (two-day event!)

Yay! Weekend Rush!

I'm having the worst time with the recycle guys.  Last week, they put one of my empty bins at my neighbor's curb instead of mine, (if I knew whose, I'd go get it, but I don't, so it's gone) and this week, they ignored them all together.  Sitting at the curb.  All by themselves.  Looking so lonely and A STARK BLUE AGAINST THAT THREE FOOT TALL SNOW CURB!!  I'm starting to feel as if my garbage isn't good enough for them.  How embarrassing having to take your recycles back in the garage.  I hope no one saw me do it.  (sigh)

So, another week is ended, and I have to say thank you for all the fab ideas for spells and charms you guys gave me yesterday.  I usually try to detail out at least one charm per book, so I have a bit of practice making these things up, but I can only do about 3-4 a day.  Earth charms are done, and now I'm going to do a few more ley line.

This next week is going to be busy with a few phone/recorded radio interviews, and the last sneak-peek chapter going up Tuesday, but I should be able to get through my first brush through of the world book as well.  Almost ready to tear it apart and rebuild.  I really wanted to get this done before tour, but I'm running out of time and I want a good job, not a fast one.  I REALLY like what I've done here, and it is going to be something special–something that has so much of my energy and imagination invested in it, you really have no idea.  I've never done anything like this before, and it is turning out so well.

Monday is going to be another Manic Monday with more free books for the cost of S&H!  I'm not sure what they're going to be yet, but we have a lot up there, and it will likely be a package deal of two or more books for the cost of shipping to get them to you.  I will post the details here on Monday, Valentines day, at 10:00 EST to give the west coasters a chance.  (Sorry about that the early hour the first couple of times.  I was not thinking globally.)

Have a great weekend!  I'm probably going to get my hair cut and make sure all my clothes fit.  I had a dream last night about trying on a coat I'd seen before that had unexpected coins and feathers in the pocket.  I wonder if I bought it?  (darn alarm . . . .)

 

Wazzz up!!

I made it to Thursday.  It's Thursday, right?  Work on the world book slid to a slow crawl as I took the morning off for some PR prep and then decided to add some content now rather than after my first, quick brush through.  And of course, I underestimated how long it was going to take to whip up a new few spells.  (And me playing with my art program.  Dude, it's the eye of Mount Doom!  laugh)  The obvious ones are there already, like sleepy time charms, but now is your chance if you've been dying to know what goes into one of the spells I never detailed out.  Tell me what you'd like to see, and maybe I can come up with something!

Just as a reminder, earth charms use plants and heat.

Ley  line is ceremony, words, and symbolism.

Demon is a combination of the two.

I've got lots of demon curses detailed out.  It's the earth and ley line that I'm skimpy on.

Pink chair update:  I oiled it last night, and it looks beautiful.  It's got a lot of damage, though, and I don't know how sturdy it's going to be when I'm done.  I also tacked two new straps on the back supports and recovered the arm supports.  I'm sort of stuck now until I can get to the store, but I might take the seat apart if I get desperate.

 

Guest Posting on i09!

One of the reasons that PALE DEMON is my favorite in the series to date is because it let me get out of Cincinnati and see how the Turn impacted the rest of the world.  Lets face it.  Cincy is rather straight-laced compared to a few other places across the US, and the vamps, witches, and Weres tend to try to blend in.  But Vegas . . .  Ah, Vegas.  Inderland's playground.  –grin-  I really enjoyed my research.

There is an entire chapter posted over at i09 of the gang tooling into Vegas, hot, tired, irritable.  Not a lot of spoilers there, and if you can't wait for Tuesday's last chapter (five,) go look!  You know you want to!  (i09 is a very busy site, so you might have to scroll down to find it as the day goes on and they add new stories.)

And if you're just now finding out about the sneak peeks, here are the first four chapters.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Pink. It's like red, but not quite.

Yep.  My next project is pink.  I spent the Superbowl in front of the TV tearing it apart until I got to the layer of ick that I wasn't sure I could duplicate.  It has springs, which I think I can handle, but the ring of dense stuffing around the edge of the seat giving it support? I've never seen that before.  I have to take it apart carefully so I can put it back together again, and I wasn't quite up to it late Sunday.   I don't have the cord to sew it together, either.  Looks like it's a trip into town for foam and cord this weekend.

Saturday, I made pillows for it, trying to  put stripping it off one more weekend, but I'm getting quite good at pillows, and I used up all my fabric a day early.  –laugh–  Some of the skills I'm using will help me in the quest for the pink chair.  This is going to be the most difficult project yet, but the fabric I want to put on it is beautiful.  I'm thinking I might get it done before tour?  There aren't many weekends left, so it's going to be iffy.  –laugh–

Guest Post at LitFestMagazine.com

I've got a guest post today over at LitFestMagazine.com It is the first of four.  This week, I'm talking a bit about what urban fantasy is, and why it has been popular since the space race.  ;-)

Check it out!  (You may have to scroll down a bit to get to the four guest posters, but the link should be on the front page.)

 

Also, today is the last day to place orders for the PALE DEMON tour t's!  Info at the website

The original artwork is based on a petroglyph that Guy and I "found" at the ancient village in the Petrified Forest. It struck me enough that it figured into the story itself. (Seriously, how could a bird eating a man not get a writer's imagination going?) Wearing one will get you into the "family photo" at the signing, and bragging rights.  (laugh)

JoBeth, Charlotte, 2010.  Black Magic Sanction tour

Guy is placing the last print order today, and after that, there will be no more.  Eve-aaa.  :-)

 

Mr. Fish

As some of you know, Mr. Fish passed peacefully last week.  So of course, I had to go get a new one!  It took me a good fifteen minutes at the pet shop, (and two stores) It came down to fiery red and a pale pearl.  I picked the pale pearl because it was unique.  Guy thought I picked the wrong one, so he bought the red one for himself.  It's in the kitchen, and the only thing it does is flair at itself.  All day!  Flair, flair, flair.

It turns out that my pearl beta was actually a depressed red and/or blue, because as soon as I got him home, he started gaining

color.  I'm not sure what he's going to end up being, but he's looking happier.  I'm hoping he makes a bubble nest soon. He's blue in one light, red in another, and you can see vertical stripes running down his body.  He seems to like me, and I'm even going to try to grow some brine shrimp to give him something fun to eat.

It's day four in my rewrite of the Hollows Insider, and it's starting to make sense, though I'm not implementing all the changes I need to do yet.  This is just my first appraisal brush through, where I fix the typos and address the questions my editor has about logic issues and such.  I learned way back at my first manuscript edit to separate my "editorial edit" into two sections.  The first to fix the typos and tackle the questions that are associated with a page number. Once that is done, I can go through it a second time to address the more in-depth questions that might need changes peppered through the entire manuscript.  Trust me, you want to nail those question-associated issues first–before you change the page count.

So right now, I'm breezing through pretty fast, tweaking as I go, getting a feel for how I'm going to handle the larger, manuscript-wide issues.  I've got some ideas, but before I start working with them, I want to get to the end and see if there might be a less invasive way, or if the fun I'll get out of making an entirely new layer might be worth it.  ;-)