Kim Harrison's Blog, page 97

Indies get a e-reader

Dead Witch Walking 2004

I have some excellent news that if you are on my FB you probably already know.  I meant to tell you yesterday, but it kind of got lost in my sleepless night.  After three weeks in the sun, A Perfect Blood has fallen off the printed list of the NYT, but as a complete surprise, Dead Witch Walking has shown up!  Due to the spotlight over at B &N and the special pricing that goes along with it, not to mention  you guys taking advantage of it to build your e-library or gift them to others to get them hooked, Dead Witch Walking actually popped in at #12 on the fiction e-book NYT list, and #22 on the e-book, paper combined NYT list.  To say I was surprised is like saying Jenks likes honey.  I have to thank you all for it.  I was dancing!!

The special pricing that prompted this ends Sunday, so this is the last time I'll be able to tell you about it.  (links below to purchase)  But I also want to tell you about the new service from the indie booksellers.  They now have a platform for you to purchase e-books as well for Android and iOS.   Find out how, here.  I'm really excited for them, as it gives your local stores a new way to compete.

B&N Spotlight

Books-A-Million

Amazon Kindle

Kobo  Kobo especially is kind of cool because you can read it on just about anything, so if there is someone you are trying to get hooked on the Hollows, this might be it.  (The first one is almost free.  -laugh-)

I feel like I've forgotten something, but if I remember, I'll repost.  Have a great weekend.  It's supposed to cool down a bit here.  I hope so.  Spring is going way too fast.

One more thing!  I've got a link to a very "this is how Kim talks" kind of interview about the Hollows being optioned by CW that I made while out at Dark Delicacies.  Check it out.  I sound a bit like a flake, but then I sort of am.  -laugh-  Interview with Kim Harrison on Hollows Option

Hard to get to sleep last night

Sleeplessness plagued me last night, but it was the sleeplessness that writers crave, not because you wake up bleary eyed and seeking caffeine, not because you stared at the ceiling all night listening to the clock tick, feeling every shift of the dog at your feet, not even because you used that time to get up and write–which I never do–the night is not for writing on paper but in one's mind.  It's the rare, almost never rediscovered enthusiasm that all writers start with.  The "I can't wait to get back to it" feeling, the drive that our significant others might recognize but never understand.

Newbie writers have it and never know it for the gift it is, the one that gets us all through that awkward stage of seeking publication.  It's worse than adolescence and just as heartbreaking, and if there was a word that meant gift and curse all at the same time, it would be appropriate to use it here. You can see it in them by the creamy tan stains on their shirt sleeves and that they know all the baristas by name–if the synopsis and first three chapters leaking out of the folder tucked under their arm didn't give it away.

Seasoned writers have it, but it's harder to see, a distant haze in their eyes that says that they're working even though, or maybe because, they're sitting in the stands watching their kid play T-ball or putting groceries into the cart.  But the drive has shifted.  Seasoned writers know that the story will wait for them, coaxed into existence by patterns and a writing toolbox that would rival Clint Eastwood's garage in Grand Torino.  New writers have only a borrowed tool belt, a roll of duct tape, and a can of W-D oil.  And yet they get the same job done.

It's a rare day that I'm not ready to sit at my desk in the morning, but I've not seen the sleepless night for a long time.  I know where it's coming from, and as a writer who wants to do this for a lifetime more, I rejoice.    I have finally wrestled the rough plot of the last Hollows book into submission, finding in the doing more than a solid outline with the beginnings of a no-holds-bared, wild and wow ending I want to give you.  I knew I would, but I've battled more than just the story line on this.  I've fought a myriad of emotions that I keep telling myself are stupid, and yet they are real.

Will the next series be well received.

Are my numbers growing fast enough to keep interest high in NY.

Am I being foolish for intentionally letting this series slip away for a maybe and a chance to stretch my skills and continue to grow as a writer.

But it wasn't the questions that kept me awake, it was the story.  My sleepless night was spent waiting for the sun, waiting to get back to this monster of a plot that tested me–and will continue to test me–in all directions.  The questions, I realized, don't really matter.

I am a writer.  I will write.  Come with me.  I'll tell you a damn fine story.

It's going to take all my two weeks

I usually give myself two weeks to plot out a new book, but I rarely use every hour of every day for the process, allowing myself generous downtime to mull things over in my mind.  But this last one I'm working on now is going to take every hour of every day, I believe.  I'm fighting myself, trying to keep the story simple and yet bring in all the characters we've seen in the past.  I like a sparse character list, and so I'm mentally cutting scenes just to get rid of them, and then questioning myself because this is the last we'll see them and I know you guys want closure all around.  It's starting to feel like a "very special Happy Days" and I'm about ready to say the heck with it.  You guys get what you get, and you'll like it or go hungry!  -laugh-

So I'm looking at my half outline this morning, going over it to see where I can trim and where I can realistically bring someone else in without it looking contrived.  I'm using index cards for the rough plotting of this one, which is weird for me.  I've used cards before, and they were a godsend while plotting out Peri with her multiple story threads.  This one has that same feel of multiple threads, so I'm not surprised I've turned to them.  Soon as I have the flow of events down, I'll go back to my handwritten page per chapter, but for now, it lets me look at multiple items all at once, and that's what I need.

Wish me luck!

PS  Cage match at SUVUDU is still going on.  If you feel like voting, go vote.  I think you can vote daily.  Rachel is losing badly, and I'm not sure if it's that much fun anymore if it's turned into a few fans sitting around and clicking buttons all day.  Cale vs Morgan

San Francisco Interview

I have two new things this morning for you.  When I was out in San Francisco, I did a fantastic radio interview with Rick Kleffel.  This guy's questions really tested me on both the books and my writing style, so if you want in on a few things that I've never been asked before, take a listen.  It starts with me reading page 268 from A PERFECT BLOOD which is kind of cool.  This is the page I read before all the events, and I didn't flub even once!  -laugh-  The Agony Column 3/2012  

The second thing I have is also kind of fun.  March Madness character cage match is still going on over at SUVUDU.  Rachel has mastered the two of her first matches, but is faltering in the third.  Paul Kemp has rallied his readers and Everes Cale is putting up a valiant fight.  Rachel might just lose this one.  Regardless, this is a great way to get a taste of a new author if you haven't read Paul's work before.  He crafted the write up and so you can get an accurate feel for his work.  Here's the link if you want to vote, and from there, you can go to SUVUDO's home page and find the rest of the matches.

As for me, I'll be plotting again today.  I found a few interesting things yesterday, and need to go back and slow down.  I'm in such a hurry to get to the climatic end that I forgot to smell the roses.

Weekend hijinks

I spent the weekend finally feeling as if I was back at home after tour–again finding the patterns that keep me balanced with work and play.  My big news is either that I purchased a new monitor (my old one was over ten years old) or that I got the leaves raked out of the lavender.  I'm going with the lavender as my favorite task of the weekend even though pie was attached to the trip into town because while on my hands and knees picking leaves from the vegetation, I found this little guy all hunkered down and struggling to focus.  Even though the air was warm, the ground was probably a lot colder, and he didn't move, still loggy with hibernation.  That's got to be hard to shake off.  The next day I saw him perked up, so I'm guessing he's out and about by now.

I love toads, and have a long history with them and memories of my grandparents and uncle's houses searching for toads in both their yards.  They chirp at you indignantly when you catch them, and pee on you to convince you to let them go, but they don't bite and have gorgeous eyes.  If you ever want to see the glory of creation, just find a humble toad.  A rough, warty exterior with eyes that hold the swirling colors of creation.

So anyway, I worked all weekend outside clearing out the last of the leaves and moving a rock edging in preparation for some new foundation plantings that have to go in to the spot we took the old porch off of.  The ground is too wet to really plant anything, not to mention it's too cold for anything but bushes and such, but now there are lines to stay within. I'm hoping that next weekend the ground will be dry enough to work.  I have two trees that need to be moved.

I will admit that I'm concerned that spring is moving forward too fast.  Oh, the puppies and I like the warm weather, and the bulbs that are springing up can take the snow, but the leaves are starting to come out on some of the more impatient bushes/trees.  My cherry tree is going to be blooming by the end of the week, and the blueberry bushes are getting ready to do the same.  It's my lilac that I'm really watching as it's an old bush and the leaves are already out.  It's an heirloom variety that has probably been in the ground for the last 30 years, so it may know what it's doing, but it's raring to go, and I don't know how much reserves it has since it's been stuck in the shade until last year.  We shall see.  I don't think we're done with cold yet.  It's only mid March.

As for the work, I'm currently breaking down my 4 page synopsis into chapters, and already things are changing.  It's good, and I'm seeing even more that I want to do with my next rewrite of the previous book, EVER-AFTER.  And so it goes . . .

Also, if you haven't taken advantage of the .99 price of the electronic version of Dead Witch Walking, you still have a few days to pick up a copy or use the promotion as a way to get your buds hooked on the Hollows.  Barnes and Novel hasDead Witch Walking as their spotlighted book this week, offering the e-book version to you for .99 cents for a limited time.   B&N Spotlight

And if B&N has Dead Witch Walking on sale for their Nooks, you know the rest will follow.

For Books-A-Million

Amazon Kindle

Kobo  Kobo especially is kind of cool because you can read it on just about anything, so if there is someone you are trying to get hooked on the Hollows, this might be it.  (The first one is almost free.  -laugh-)

Dude, it's finally Friday!

Yay.  I'm just going to say yay that it's Friday.  I'm excited about the chance to get into my yard and pull out the last of the dead leaves and do a general tidy.  I've already been out to my home improvement store but they have no plants yet because it's too soon to move even bushes and trees, but I ah  . . . did get some plant supports.  Tomato red, single stem, four feet tall, gently undulating plant stakes.  They look striking on their own, and if my tomatoes don't grow on them, I'm going to line up some humming-bird feeders on them and call it yard art.

And speaking of tomatoes, I told some of you while on tour about the new all blue tomatoes that were supposed to be commercially available this year?  The ones that they inserted the genes that make blueberries blue and are full of antioxidants?  I can't find them.  I've found the ones that turn blue in the sun and have pinkish violet flesh, but not a true, solid blue.  Maybe I misread the article and I have to wait a few more years.  The Turn is coming, guys.  I'm telling you, the Turn is coming!

Hey, I'm working up something with my editor for inclusion into the mass market of A Perfect Blood, and we are both scratching our heads over what might be fun.  Easy choice is a short story, but I'm wondering if we can't do something different like sticking a more professional tattoo in the back, or a disk of music or maybe an unfolding blueprint layout of the church. You guys have any ideas of something special you'd like to see?

P.S.  For those of you who noticed the PO box location is the same as the spate of tornadoes that went through MI yesterday, we're all good, though I still do not have phone, internet, or TV.  (I'm using my Verizon card this morning, the one I use for traveling.)

A Perfect Blood Tour Recap

I have so much that has happened over the last couple of weeks, I want to take today and do a recap of sorts.

Pictures, pictures, pictures.  All the bunny cam pictures are up on the website along with a few you-tubes and a couple of candid shots of me while on tour.  I'm going to send you to the main page, but from there you can get to the photos from each event.   A Perfect Blood tour

Dead Witch Walking has been spotlighted over at B & N, which means the e-version is on sale for 99c.  Most of the big retailers have followed suit, and to get in on this, jump to Tuesday's post for the links.

There is a cage match going on over as SUVUDU where characters are being pitted against each other.  I believe the current match ends tomorrow?  Check it out here.

Freebies are again available now that Guy and I are home.  To get your temporary Rachel Morgan pack tattoo, hop on over to the website.

Interviews, podcasts, and such are still coming in, but to see what's made the pages so far, I have a list at the web site at the media room.  This will take you right to it.

Yesterday I gave you the cover to the upcoming Harrison anthology INTO THE WOODS, which happens to be up on the boards for pre-order along with BLOOD CRIME, the next graphic novel.  I updated a few of my pages, and I now have a slew of covers for Prom Nights From Hell for those of you who are curious as to how everything translates overseas.  Click for covers.

I'll be spending today going over my rough outline for the 12th Hollows book and deciding what to do with that last floater book.  I did a rough plot of 12 yesterday and realized it's going to be one of those books with three plot lines that somehow all relate in the end.  Mmmm, this one is going to be fun.  I wrote up about four pages of synopsis yesterday, and today, I'll be starting to break it all down into chapters, deciding on settings and supplemental characters with the help of my character grid.  I do like my potting.

Harrison Anthology INTO THE WOODS is up on the boards!

Yes, I'm late posting this a.m.  My apologies, especially when I promised you yesterday that I'd have a cover for you.  I took the a.m. off as a personal morning to get some of the muscle tightness of two weeks on the road and signing all your books worked out.  Wow, it is amazing where the tension and stiffness went.  All sorts of new places.  But it's feeling better now, and even more important, I've got a cover!

Isn't is beautiful?  I'm loving it!  It's feels too soon to be letting this lose to you guys, but it was leaked early and since I've got you all here . . .  why not?  If you have not heard, this is the Harrison anthology that will contain all the shorts and novellas previously published in various formats.  It will also contain a lot of new stuff–stuff that I pulled together as possible series material for after the Hollows.  (More on that later.)

The novella of Jenks and Trent's elf quest to steal Lucy is in here in its Trent POV glory.  I've also got a novella revolving around Grace.  Long-time haunters of the drama box may remember me talking about her before.  This is not the Grace I would be writing about, but a younger, less jaded Grace.  There's a third novel-length piece concerning Meg, another possible series.  And again, Meg is much younger than she would be if I pursue her story.  It's her mom and grandmother who this story revolves around, but we do get to see her.

A few other shorts round it out, so there is a lot of new stuff to go with the old.  It's already up for pre-order, if you can believe it, though it won't be out until October.  And yes, I do believe it will be released as an e-book.

Amazon 

B and N

BAM

Oddly enough, I don't think that any of the novellas I wrote up to give my editor a taste of what I might like to do after the Hollows is actually going to be what I focus on.  Ahhhh, Peri. . .  She took the best of everything, and I'm really enjoying writing her–even if I won't pick her up again for almost a year from now. I'm back to writing the Hollows.  Yesterday I re-read book eleven (Ever-After) and today, I start to plot!

Dead Witch Walking spotlighted at B&N

The burning bunnies of A Perfect Blood Tour.  I seem to gather plot bunnies where ever I go–which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I'm going to need them as I bravely sit down this morning and start to make out my wish list for book 12.  OMGosh, this is going to be one of the trickiest books I've ever had to craft, taking every tool in my toolbox.  I'm so-o-o-o-o glad I'm doing this right after a seat-of-the-pants ms.  The attention to detail is going to be excruciatingly Ivy.

But the big news this morning is that B&N has chosen Dead Witch Walking as their spotlighted book this week, offering the e-book version to you for .99 cents for a limited time.  You gotta check it out at their site.  They put it on a pedestal and everything.  -grin-  B&N Spotlight

And if B&N has Dead Witch Walking on sale for their Nooks, you know the rest will follow.

For Books-A-Million

Amazon Kindle

Kobo  Kobo especially is kind of cool because you can read it on just about anything, so if there is someone you are trying to get hooked on the Hollows, this might be it.  (The first one is almost free.  -laugh-)

Also, I have another really good interview pop up that I did for Denver's Examiner while out at Dark Delicacies: An Interview with Kim Harrison, author of A Perfect Blood.

Tomorrow I've got the cover to show you for the very first Harrison Anthology, INTO THE WOODS, that is due out in October.

Schuler Books and Music Grand Rapids–and home . . .

Guy and I landed in Detroit late Friday night, but we weren't done quite yet, and Saturday afternoon, we made the drive out to Grand Rapids for the last event. I'd told my publicist that the only way I would get myself back out behind the podium after getting home would be if they had cake, and sure enough, they had cake!!They have three Schulers in Grand Rapids, and the event store has a fabulous space where they do stuff. Before I was there, they had live music and a book fair.

And we had roadies too! Lots of familiar faces from previous signings from as far away as Chicago and Toledo.  Harry and Bob showed up. See, I knew the cake was a good thing. Rachel was there too, but she and I didn't end up on the bunny cam for some reason and I don't have a photo. If you would like to see the rest of the photos, click here.

And now that I'm home, I'm able to keep up with all the cool stuff that's been going on in the background.  New today is the SUVUDO March Madness cage match match up going on for a few more weeks.  Rachel beat out her first opponent, and today she's up against Jonathan Strange of Susanna Clarke's world.  I've read up the proposed write up of how the match went, and it's kind of cool.  Go vote for your faves!  SUVUDO cage match

I also have last, but not least, a fabulous interview I with Assignment X while out at Dark Delicies.  Author Kim Harrison on A PERFECT BLOOD and the future of "The Hollows."