Kim Harrison's Blog, page 19
March 11, 2016
Walk around my yard
Snow is gone, and the ground is dry just enough to work. I’ve been watching the weather closely, and we just missed the heavy rain that is training over the south and up toward MI. Which means I’ve actually gotten out and worked it this past week instead of sulking at the window, watching it rain. 
I have a new space to play in this year, an adjacent back garden that has been mown, but neglected for ten years or so. I pulled out ten bags of leaves Tuesday/Wednesday, exposing bulbs coming up and whatnot.There is a real drainage problem over the entire yard. There’s no way for the water to get out but through our garage, which it does once a year or so. I’m accessing what I can do. There’s the mouth of an old alley from the 40s in the back that could reach our side drive, or possibly a gentle seepage through my side yard and down the drive we took out a few years ago. In the mean time, lots of weeds, leaves, overgrown ivy, and that nasty ground cover that you just can’t get rid of. Bags of it. I’m putting four bags at the curb this week that I can’t put it in my compost because just one root will start an entire plant.
Clearly it will be a season of ripping out and finding what I have to work with. I’m thinking of making the focal point of the area a fire pit. Maybe someday I can put an outdoor kiln there. If I could have my way, I’d be a potter when I retire. Turn my office into a studio. I can throw a mean pot, wether you believe it or not, and I miss the hum of a centered pot, the balance of gentle force needed to hold and shape. It’s probably why Strell was a potter. (First Truth, Hidden Truth)
My yard, though, looks pretty good, making me glad that I’ve got this new space to monkey with, otherwise, I’d be moving plants around in my yard. These guys have been in the ground five or six years now, and they have multiplied really well.
March 10, 2016
Waylaid released today
Happy Book Birthday to both Rachel and Peri! E-books come out on Monday, and the Hollows/Drafter mash up has gone live this morning. Don’t have a nook or kindle? No problem. Both retailers have free software that lets you read it on your computer. I can’t imagine that this won’t be included at the back of something someday, but don’t count on it being anytime soon.
For the price of a coffee, a glimpse of what might happen if the two worlds collided: A little bit of Peri, a little bit of Rachel, a little bit of Jenks, and a tiny slip of Al, because somehow, he’s become the narrator of this drama, refusing to let anything happen without him being involved. But that’s kind of what demons do . . .
Buy buttons below:
Waylaid cover release
I’ve been teasing you all week about the cover for “Waylaid” the Hollows/Drafter mash up. It’s got Rachel. It’s got Jenks, and just a wee smidgen of Al as I mix two worlds that were never meant to touch. But the cover? I love the cover with the hot and cold tones. This comes out fairly soon, actually, with a April 4th release on the usual e-book outlets, but both retailers have free software that lets you read it on your computer. I can’t imagine that this won’t be included at the back of something someday, but don’t count on it being anytime soon.
For the price of a coffee, a glimpse of what might happen if the two worlds collided:
Waylaid has become the kickoff for my new campaign that celebrates the broken hero. Tim and I have shirts, (I’ll show you Monday!) and give aways, and a rare opportunity for you to get some of my older titles personalized if you order them through Nicholas. (So I can, you know, sign them to you.)
With that in mind, I’m making the first of the Truth series available from March 1 to March 31. (Yes, these were written by me!) I’ll have the other two titles available next month, and so on until all my back list has been run through.
Click book to go right to Nicola’s. To order a personalized copy, please make a note as to who you want it personalized to in the note section when you order. Any questions, just email orders@nicolasbooks.com International is okay. I noticed that their page said the titles might not be available, but I have checked, and they say they can get them. I’ll go in to sign at the end of the month, and ta-da!
If you order both books at once, I’ll slip in a signed cover flat for The Drafter mass market as a thank you.
Don’t let the pure fantasy covers put you off if you’re a diehard urban fantasy reader. I won’t kid you and try to tell you they aren’t fantasy, they are, but there’s no purple prose here, the language and attitudes comfortable. My love for dragons shows here, and my propensity for small, powerful defenders that sit on your shoulder and keep you safe. Clearly, dragons haunt me still a decade later.
These were not only the first books I got published, but the very first book(s) I had ever written, and if you want to watch an author learn her craft, this is a great place to see it. (laugh) But the characters still ring true to me after all these years. The books were marketed for the adult market, but I am totally comfortable with recommending them to younger readers. They are also a great vehicle to open up a safe discussion about prejudice if you care to read these at the same time as your kids. Curiously enough, one of the protagonists and the villain share a similar flaw, one overcomes, one doesn’t.
March 8, 2016
Foot stompin’ good
I can hardly stand waiting until Thursday. I tried, but it’s so darn pretty. I promised I wouldn’t show it until Thursday, but I can’t help but show a tiny little part. Rachel and Peri, my two favorite leads, together. I’l have the full cover Thursday, but you can read the book description at Amazon or B&N if you can’t wait.
retitled Leylined in the UK
March 7, 2016
Homework
Monday, Monday, Monday . . . I’ve got homework pulling me away from THE TURN today, not hard, but tedious, and I know I’m going to get stuck and start reading instead of evaluating as I go over THE OPERATOR, (Peri Reed’s second volume) for pithy tidbits that can be used for promotion.
THE TURN (full-length novel prequel of the Hollows series out 2017) has been occupying my time for a few months now, but, as is not unusual, I have to set it aside to work on something already in the queue so as not to slow publcation down on THE OPERATOR.
Switching world to world isn’t hard for me, but it does tend to be a little depressing having to pull yourself from something you’re excited about right now to go back and look at work you’re not quite ready to face again. What I mean, is I’m full-throddle into THE TURN. I’m happy with it, like where it’s going, and it’s full of promise. All I remember from THE OPERATOR is the stuff that I didn’t do in the first draft that must be fitted in now, or the mistakes I have to fix, moments that I have to flesh out: the feeling of unfinished scaffold and clunky structure.
However . . . today, as I open up the prologue and start in with the intent to fast-read through the entire manuscript, looking for poignant passages that hold the heart of the story, I got lost. In five lousy pages, I got lost. Those first five pages are basically an info dump with five to six important plot and character “must haves,” to intelligently tell the real story along with the early foreshadowing of where the story is going to end up. But the touch was so light, I hardly noticed them, and I’m the one that put them there. I guess what I’m getting at is that I didn’t leave THE OPERATOR in as bad a shape as I thought, and that is a real relief, seeing as it’s going to be on my desk for the next six weeks, bare minimum. I love the raw, in your face exuberance of the Hollows, but Peri’s war with herself still holds my heart hostage.
Today is going to be stressful. I really like what I do, and skimming is hard for me.
And because I have to have a picture, here’s my Lady Slipper Orchid. I’ve had this plant for two moves, and though this isn’t the first time I’ve had it rebloom, this is the first time it has had four flowers in one cycle. I think it might have a fifth flower in there yet, too.
P.S. I should have the cover for the Hollows/Peri mash up novella “Waylaid” (retitled “Leylined” in the UK) for you on Thursday. I’ve seen it, and holy cow, it took my breath away. Check your newsletter. We’ve got a couple of cover releases yet this month.
March 4, 2016
Just showing off now
Snow everywhere, but if I can get through the weekend (Yay Friday!) it will melt under the warmer temps Mr. Cantore promises me. In the meantime, I’m loving my green grass. This is what happens in two day. I’m shocked at how much better I feel with green grass and the promise it repersents. The three bluebirds on my bird bath didn’t hurt, either.
March 3, 2016
Drafter mass market cover
A-a-a-and we have a new cover! Isn’t is beautiful? I love that she’s running to something, not away from. Running with purpose! Come April 19th, the mass market will be available in the U.S., so if you’ve been waiting for that ebook price drop, it’s almost here. Me, I was always a mass market girl when I was growing up, so I’m excited to see The Drafter coming out in this format.
As a bonus–because you know I like to put extra things in my releases when I can–the novelette “Sideswiped” will be included. It will be the first time this prequel to The Drafter will be in print, and I’m very pleased it will be available to my readers who don’t use ebooks. The second full book in the series, The Operator, is scheduled for release November of this year, and after that comes, The Turn, which is what I’m actually writing right now. (You may have been getting hints of Al, and Quen, and Alice, and maybe Takata on FB,)
Sideswiped: Amazon / Barnes and Noble
But you know I can’t stop there, and to help mark the Peri Reed Chronicles moving forward and the new Hollows novel in 2017, I let myself have some fun and wrote a novella that combine the two worlds. Waylaid will be out April 4th, and I should have a cover to show you next week.
Waylaid/Leylined: Amazon / Barnes and Noble
Stringing these releases together will be Tim’s and my “I’M BROKEN, DON’T FIX ME” campaign. I”m still working on the logistics, but there will be shirts, and give-aways, and the chance to get personalized some of my backlist titles that have the broken heros I love so much.
To kick off the backlist personalization’s, I’m going to go way back and offer from now to March 31, FIRST TRUTH and HIDDEN TRUTH through Nicola’s books.
Don’t let the pure fantasy covers put you off if you’re a diehard urban fantasy reader. I won’t kid you and try to tell you they aren’t fantasy, they are, but there’s no purple prose here, the language and attitudes comfortable.
These were not only the first books I got published, but the very first book(s) I had ever written, and if you want to watch an author learn her craft, this is a great place to see it. (laugh) But the characters still ring true to me after all these years. The books were marketed for the adult market, but I am totally comfortable with recommending them to younger readers. They are also a great vehicle to open up a safe discussion about prejudice if you care to read these at the same time as your kids.
But broken heros. There are here. Alyssa is broken in her family woes, Strell fights a lifetime of perceptions, and though it takes me to the second book to wrap it up, Useless battles his past. Don’t get me started about Lodish, my first book boyfriend. (He’s as mischievous as Al, but the good twin.) And yep, there be dragons, here, which is probably why I knit them. They still haunt me.
To order a persolalized copy from Nicola’s, just click the books. Please make a note as to who you want it personalized to in the note section when you order. Any questions, just email orders@nicolasbooks.com International is okay. The site says they might not be available, but they are. If you order both, I’ll slip in a signed cover flat for The Drafter. ;-)
March 2, 2016
Sprouts grow
This morning, into my office I went
with a pot of tea, as is my bent.
O’r frozen sleet, and crispy snow.
With cold so deep
the floorboards creak
with my weight, as bitter winds blow.
But snow and sleet
their end will meet
and wren’s bold song will show.
When warmth and sun
no longer shun
and green sprouts at last will grow.
Needless to say, my live Easter grass baskets have sprouted. (see yesterday’s post) It makes the four inches of snow we got last night easier to take. I’m just glad we got rid of the twelve inches from last week, first. But it’s heartbreaking to have walked in my yard and seen the crocus up and know they are again, waiting.
If you want to sprout your own baskets, it’s not too late, but I’d suggest using vermiculite instead of dirt unless you have plans on using the dirt later. It’s cleaner is all.
But what has my mood bright, other than the sun streaming in, is that I just got the go-ahead from Nicola’s, my local store, to move forward on my latest “Don’t Fix Me” promotion to help promote both the mass market of THE DRAFTER, and the late November release of THE OPERATOR. ;-) I had to make sure they could get my backlist first, and they can.
I’m still working on the logistics, and I’ll have more tomorrow, but yes, there will be shirts, and hopefully freebies, and a rare chance to get the older titles personalized, but what I’m excited about is the opportunity for me to look back at my work and see the common threads running through it. I’ve got enough out there now to actually have a stylistic pattern, and it’s fun to take a step back and see what cloth you’ve been weaving for the last fifteen years.
March 1, 2016
Making my own spring
Somehow we actually got rid of the foot of snow that was dumped on us last Monday. And what should be in the forecast? 5-8 inches again. Well . . . nuts to that. I want green grass, damn it. I guess I’ll just have to make my own.
It’s been a couple of years since I made real grass Easter baskets, and it’s not too late to start them. There really should be vermiculite in the pots, not dirt, but I want the dirt for later, and neither Tim nor I mind a little earth on our jelly beans. (snerk)
They’ve been planted since Sunday, so I imagine I’ll see some green Thursday. I could use a little green. This up and down is hard on the soul.
February 28, 2016
Oscars. Mmmm. More than a fish.
It’s Oscar month, which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite TV seasons. I don’t watch the Oscars themselves, thought I do pay attention to who wins the biggies. No, what I enjoy is the chance to settle into my couch with a pot of tea, and perhaps some simple knitting that I don’t have to look down at to do, and just enjoy movie after movie all frigging month long, all the best available and one after the other. Great grand glorious stories being told to me without interruption of commercial and as their storyteller intended. i.e. no cuts or deletions. It is truly a treat, one I’m becoming more enamored with.
Tonight, it was “Out of Africa,” which I remember watching when it came out in 85. I loved it when I was near twenty, but this time, as I did five years ago, I bawled silent, slow tears at the end. Some of it, I will admit was envy for being able to tell a story like that, but most was the story itself.
Tonight, I plan on watching “Chicago” because I love musicals, and murder, and women who get away with it.
Not that I ever intend to. (snerk)
