Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 138

Codex Born Cover Reveal and Thoughts

CODEX BORN has a cover! This is 99% final, but I’ve been given permission to share. Click on the pic for a larger view, if you like.

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There are many things I like about this image. I’m happy that the artist, Gene Mollica, found an Indian model for Lena Greenwood. I love seeing her teamed up with Smudge.1 And I think this fits well with the look of the first book.

I’m particularly pleased that when I tried Lena’s pose, I was able to do it without pain. I love the expression on her face, and the fact that she’s actually got some muscle on her. And while the outfit she’s wearing is rather revealing, it’s also completely in character. Lena might be dressed sexy, but she’s not posing as a sexual object. There’s no unnecessary thrusting of hips or chest. She’s dressed the way she likes, and she’s stepping out of her oak to kick someone’s ass.

Now, those of you who’ve read Libriomancer [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] have probably noticed where this version of Lena doesn’t match the text. When we first meet Lena in chapter one, she’s described thusly:

Lena Greenwood was the least imposing heroine you’d ever see. She was several inches shorter than me, heavyset but graceful as a dancer. I didn’t know her actual age, but she appeared to be in her early twenties, and was about as intimidating as a stuffed bear. A damned sexy bear, but not someone you’d expect to go toe-to-toe with your average monster.

Which raises the question: Why has Lena been “thinwashed,” for lack of a better word?

When my editor was talking to the artist, she asked me to provide description for Lena, which I did. Like I said, Gene Mollica does photo shoots with a model in his studio, then manipulates the best pictures into the cover art. He looked for models who matched my description of Lena.

This was the largest Indian model he could find.2

I have the portfolio shots of the rest, and this truly was the best option for Lena.

This is just one piece of the problem. If we had found a heavier model, I wonder if marketing would have nixed it because they didn’t think people would buy a book with a fat woman on the cover. It’s a moot point, since Gene couldn’t even find a fat model … is that because the modelling profession in particular is hostile to anyone larger than a size six? Or is it because we’ve mocked and shamed people for being fat until they wouldn’t even consider trying to model as a career?

What it comes down to is that our disdain and disgust for anyone overweight, particularly women, permeates our whole culture, and it pisses me off. You don’t want to know how young my daughter was the first time she came to us worrying about her weight. I do think we’re finally starting to figure out that maybe it’s not okay to mock people for their race or gender or sexual orientation, but fat people are still fair game, both in real life and on every movie and sitcom you see.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH US???

The Lena Greenwood on the CODEX BORN cover is a sexy, attractive woman. 3 But you know what? The Lena Greenwood in my book is damned sexy and attractive too. And while I’m happy with this cover, and I think Gene did a nice job, I’m also disappointed that we don’t get to see that Lena Greenwood.

Because she’s awesome.

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Cover Trivia: Smudge has now appeared on more of my U.S. book covers than any other character. ↩
While I’m certain there are larger models out there, I’m not sure what other constraints Gene was working with in terms of location, budget, and time. I do know there was a rush to get this cover done for the catalog. ↩
As much or more because of her confidence and humor and strength than because of her body or the amount of skin she’s showing. ↩

The Superheroes Union & My Life as a White Trash Zombie

I read Ruth Diaz’s novella The Superheroes Union: Dynama [Amazon | B&N] a while back, and then discovered a new problem (for me) with e-books. When I read a print book, the book sits on my bedside table, reminding me to do a review. When I read an e-book, I don’t have that reminder, and then a month goes by before I get off my butt and review the thing…

TJ Gutierrez is a divorced former superhero with twin children. Her ex-husband is a villain named Singularity, who can manipulate gravity in nasty ways. Our story begins when Singularity escapes from prison and starts hunting for TJ and the kids…

And then there’s Annmarie Smith, who helps save the world not with superpowers, but by looking after the children of superheroes while they’re fighting evil. She moves in to watch the twins while TJ does everything in her power to intercept and stop her ex-husband.

We’ve seen superhero stories look at family dynamics before (The Incredibles being a great example), but Diaz approaches it from a different angle. Her heroine is trying to build a new life and to protect her children from an overly powerful and potentially abusive father. Aspects of the story are almost painfully believable and realistic.

There’s also a romantic plotline, and while at times Annmarie seems a little too perfect, I liked her romance with Gutierrez, as well as her role in the world of superheroes. (Because how would a superhero ever be able to trust a regular babysitting service?)

The ending didn’t work as well for me. My biggest complaint was that it felt like Diaz pulled out a deus ex machina for the climax. But overall, it was a good read.

Diaz has a brief excerpt posted on her website.

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I also just finished Diana Rowland’s My Life as a White Trash Zombie [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy]. I’m going to cheat and post an abbreviated version of the official summary:

Angel Crawford is a loser.

Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she’s a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who’s been fired from more crap jobs than she can count … until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers. Angel remembers being in an horrible car crash, but she doesn’t have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there’s a job waiting for her at the parish morgue.

Before she knows it she’s dealing with a huge crush on a certain hunky deputy and a brand new addiction: an overpowering craving for brains. Plus, her morgue is filling up with the victims of a serial killer who decapitates his prey–just when she’s hungriest!

This was a fun, fast read. I zoomed through the book in a few nights, and enjoyed it. Angel reminds me in some ways of Jig the goblin. She’s society’s underdog, and she knows it, but when you’re seeing life through her eyes, you can’t help but sympathize and cheer her on. Many of the secondary characters were a lot of fun too, and more than they seemed at first glance.

Rowland’s background includes a job as a morgue assistant as well as working as a street cop and detective, all of which add a lot of realistic detail to Angel’s life and work. The plot moves along at a good pace, starting with Angel’s exploration of what it means to be dead, then shifting more into the mystery of the serial killer.

All that said, I found myself occasionally troubled. It would be easy for this book to fall into cliche and stereotype, the “Ha ha, look at the uneducated white trash trying to survive as a zombie” approach. Rowland avoids that trap for the most part, I think. Yet there are still times when Angel felt defined as White Trash as opposed to being an individual, if that makes sense. I’m having trouble pointing to a specific example, which is annoying.

It might just be the title, the way a derogatory label frames the entire story and series. Or maybe it was the sense of needing to be rescued from her life by various men.

It’s also possible that I’m overthinking it.

To be clear, I liked the book a lot, and will be reading the sequel.  But I’d be interested in hearing what other folks thought of this one.

The first few chapters are available on Rowland’s website.

Evolution of my (Lack of) Fashion Sense

I’ve never really understood fashion.

[image error]I mean, I understand wanting to look good, and I get that clothes can affect how you feel. When I was tuxed up for Writers of the Future 13 years ago, I was amused to note how it affected my posture and manners. The leather jacket of infinite pockets I picked up a few years ago is something I’ve learned to associate with Jim-the-Writer, and helps me get into that mindset. (It’s exactly like Bruce Wayne’s psychological transformation when he dons his cape and cowl. I am Writing Batman!)

But in general, clothes are something to keep me warm and to avoid the social awkwardness of parading around naked. All I cared about was that they were comfortable and covered up what they were supposed to.

This wasn’t a big deal in elementary school. I could show up in hand-me-down pants 10 years out of style or turtlenecks and sweatervests, and nobody cared. My plastic-framed glasses let me read the chalkboard and avoid walking into walls, and that was what mattered.

Things changed in 6th grade. Suddenly my sneakers were wrong, my pants were wrong, my shirts were wrong, and my glasses were wrong. Some of the other kids spent a great deal of time and energy making sure I knew how much my look screamed “nerd.”

For the first time, I started to pay attention to what I wore. When I went clothes shopping, I looked for anything that would deflect attention. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was beginning to develop a sense of style based on a single goal: I wanted to be invisible.

A friend described it as the gray-man approach. If people were going to give me crap about how I dressed, how I talked, how I interacted with others, how much I read, and so on, then I would do my best to blend into the background and avoid notice.

When I picked out glasses, I followed the same strategy: I chose whatever was comfortable and least likely to attract attention. Simple designs, thin metal frames. Contact lenses for a while. For the most part, my style was all about the unobtrusive. Even in my thirties, I automatically avoided anything remotely close to the bulky plastic nerd-glasses of my youth.

I’m 38 years old now. I still don’t care about fashion (though I have nothing against those who do). But I was out shopping for new glasses a few weeks back, and something was different. Maybe it’s the antidepressants and therapy putting me in a different space. Maybe it’s being old enough that I finally don’t give a damn anymore. But as the woman who was helping me brought over a pile of frames similar to my old ones, they just struck me as boring.

So I asked, “What about something … different?”

She got an odd smile on her face and came back with another pile of frames to try on. Some didn’t work at all. And nothing in this pile was terribly subtle … yet I couldn’t bring myself to buy another damn pair of bland glasses.

I kept returning to a pair of plastic frames that looked much like the nerd-specs of my youth. I was torn. I even posted a picture to Twitter and got mixed reactions. A friend gave me a flat-out “No.” But I kept looking in that mirror.

The woman helping me said not everyone could make those frames work, but she thought I could.

I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me before. That, in terms of style, I could make something work.

That little voice inside got louder, and I started to realize it was … not angry, but old and tired and defiant, asking, Who gives a shit what the other kids think?

My self-esteem is in pretty good shape these days. I have a healthy ego. (Perhaps too healthy, sometimes.) I feel good about who I am and what I’ve accomplished. And yet those voices from a quarter of a century ago were still whispering in the back of my brain. What’s up with that?

I write fantasy novels. I blog and socialize on the Internet. I go to science fiction conventions. I play Dungeons & Dragons and watch Avatar: The Last Airbender with my son. I built a LEGO Tardis and a customized Doctor Who minifig.

This is who I am.

I’m therefore dedicating this picture of me in the new glasses to every person, TV show, movie, and book that ever flung the word “nerd” at me like it was a bad thing.

An Interview with Pearl North

Pearl North is another Michigan author whose far-future trilogy (under this name) is all about the magic of books and the power of libraries. So naturally I had to ask her about LEGOs and dessert preferences, because here on my blog, I’m not afraid to ask the really important questions!

Her newest book is The Book of the Night [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy]. I wrote a bit about the first book, Libyrinth, here.

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1. Let’s start with introductions. In exactly 29 words, who is Pearl North?

Ooh, tricky! Pearl North is the young adult pseudonym of that notorious genre jumping author, Anne Harris. It’s all done with mirrors, actually. Is that twenty-nine words yet?

2. That’s 29, but I think that last bit was cheating. Anyway, this is the third book of the Libyrinth trilogy, which includes a magical library and a librarian—pardon me, a libyrarian—with some amazing gifts. Why are libraries and librarians just so dang awesome?

A book takes up a relatively small space on a shelf, and yet when you open it, you enter a whole new world. So for anyone who loves to read, libraries are a vast realm of possibilities. All of those words and worlds are just awaiting the reader’s exploration. And the librarian is the one with the map, the seasoned navigator guiding you through uncharted waters, the shaman who’s been initiated into the mysteries of the books. Pretty hot, really.

3. All right, let’s get into your books. Tell us about the new one!

In The Book of the Night, Haly travels to Thesia, a clockwork city stuck in time. There she discovers a secret that calls into question everything she thought she knew about her world. Meanwhile Clauda has returned from her own adventure in time and space with another piece of the puzzle. But she may die of thirst in the desert unless Selene can find her in time. And Po is engaged in a battle of wits and will with Queen Thela, who now possesses the Pen, an ancient device that rewrites reality. Thela is determined to revise the world to suit herself, even if it means destroying it in the process. Ultimately, Po, Haly, Clauda and Selene must come to grips with the truth about the Libyrinth, and it will be up to Selene to decide what kind of world she and those she loves will live, or die in.

4. You originally wrote Libyrinth as a standalone. What made you decide to turn it into a trilogy, and now that you’ve finished, what would you say is the heart of that trilogy?

That’s right. However, my editor was adamant that I write a trilogy. It was a bit of a problem for me at first, because (and I’ve said this elsewhere so my apologies if you’ve heard this before) at the end of Libyrinth, I felt that Haly had completed a significant character arc and I really didn’t have more I wanted to do with her at that time. Fortunately, I got the idea to use a minor character from the first book as the protagonist in the second. That’s Po, the “boy from Ilysies.”

The heart of the trilogy. Oh wow. There are so many different ways to answer that. In a very literal sense, the legendary tome entitled The Book of the Night is the heart of the trilogy. From a character standpoint, I would say it’s Selene, because she has been present at so many of the book’s pivotal moments, and because of what happens at the end (but I won’t tell.) But maybe the most sensible and accurate answer is just that the Libyrinth itself is the heart of these books and the world in which they take place.

5. If you had an infinite supply of LEGO bricks, what would you make first?

Infinite, huh? Okay, the TARDIS.

6. What is your favorite bit from the new book? Feel free to share a paragraph or two to make us all fall in love with the writing and rush out to buy our own copies.

Just one? Well, okay. This is from the beginning of the book, so it doesn’t give anything away.

They were close enough now that Selene’s fragrance of ink and wool filled Clauda’s nostrils, making her dizzy. “Do you…” She didn’t know where to begin. The words she wanted to say tangled themselves up in a knot and lodged in her throat, making it hard for Clauda to breathe, let alone speak.

Selene frowned. “Are you all right?”

Clauda nodded.

“Are you having a seizure?  You haven’t had one since the Redemption, have you?”

Clauda shook her head.  She was losing her nerve.  If she didn’t do what she came here for soon, it was never going to happen.  And words were not helping her now.

Selene put a tentative hand on Clauda’s shoulder and leaned down.  “Do you need to sit down?”

Clauda put her hands on Selene’s shoulders and arched upward. She closed her eyes, and pressed her lips to Selene’s.

7. What was the hardest part about writing this trilogy, and how did you get through it?

The complexity of the world I had created. You have no idea. But you will after you read The Book of the Night. I struggled and struggled, trying to make it simpler, and that didn’t work. Eventually, I had to give up and embrace the complexity. Now, I’m actually very happy with the way it came out and I wonder why I gave myself such a hard time about it. LOL.

[image error]8. Cheesecake or ice cream sundae? Defend your answer.

I lost my tolerance for dairy this year *sob*, but a Sanders Hot Fudge Cream Puff Sundae with butter pecan ice cream is totally worth the pain. Creamy, and crunchy, buttery and sweethot and cold, it’s an orgy of delicous contrasts and a Detroit original.

9. ::Drools:: Ahem. Okay, so what’s next for Pearl North?

She doesn’t have any immediate plans at the moment.

10. Thanks for stopping by the blog and saving me from having to write up my own content today! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you for having me. Great questions.

There is one thing I want to mention. Libyrinth got some wonderful attention for having a character of color on the cover, and I was thrilled by it too. It was a total non-issue with my publisher, Tor. With The Book of the Night, we put Selene on the cover, because she’s been an important character all along and she’s a very important character in this final volume. The jacket cover copy, however, focuses on Haly, because she’s been a consistent viewpoint character throughout all three books. I can see how easy it might be to assume that it’s Haly on the cover, looking very different, but that’s not the case. Haly has not been whitewashed. The cover features Selene, and it’s a reasonably accurate representation of what she looks like.

Ebook Territorialism

First up, some links and friend-promo…

While I was at Worldcon, I had the pleasure of meeting Julia Rios and Sofia Samatar. Julia interviewed us for the Outer Alliance Podcast, talking about “Changing the Conversation” around things like diversity in fandom and at conventions. She also interviewed Nnedi Okorafor and her daughter Anyaugo, and spliced the whole thing together into a podcast you should all run out and listen to RIGHT NOW!
My friend Saladin Ahmed has self-published his first collection of short fiction. Engraved on the Eye [Amazon | B&N] collects eight of his short stories together in one easy-to-digest file. Rumors that these stories will cure ingrown toenails, warts, and goblin-breath have not yet been confirmed, but my brother’s sister’s roommate says she bought the book, and her pet monkey totally stopped flinging poop at the mailman.
Another friend, Violette Malan, also has a new book out. Shadowlands [Amazon | B&N] is sitting on my TBR pile, but because I’m the world’s slowest reader/reviewer, I haven’t gotten to it yet. So please take this as a temporary “placeholder” blurb. “If my house was on fire and I could only save my kids or this book, I’d save my kids. But I’d be REALLY REALLY SAD about leaving this book behind!!!” -Jim C. Hines

Okay, now on to the meaty bits of the post. (For those who are wondering, the podcast was the mashed potatoes, and the books are cookies and ice cream, respectively. Yeah, I don’t always eat terribly healthy meals…)

I’ve seen a number of unhappy comments about the e-book of Libriomancer [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] being unavailable in other countries. This frustrates me too, since in my perfect world, everyone who wanted to read the book would be able to do so. (Also, my perfect world would have six seasons of Firefly and zero-carb hot fudge sundaes.)

It’s doubly annoying since there are ways to get the print edition in other countries. (See Book Depository, which has free worldwide shipping.) If they can ship a hardcover anywhere in the world, what’s so hard about sending an electronic file?

The short answer is that it’s all about territories. I sold North American rights to Libriomancer to DAW, who published the book in English in the U.S. and Canada. We sold German rights to a publisher in Germany. In some cases, the author sells worldwide rights to their publisher, and the publisher then sublicenses the book to other publishers in other territories.

There are some advantages to breaking Publishingland into territories. For example, it turns out not everyone speaks English, and even those who do sometimes speak/read a different style of English. (Violette always insists on wedging an extra “u” into every other word when she emails me.) So territories allow publishers to tailor their books to their audience’s linguistic preferences, as well as changing cover art where appropriate. I imagine shipping and distribution also played a part in the development of these borders.

And then, along come e-books into a world built for print. Ebook and print rights are pretty much bound together. (I.e., I can’t sell DAW the North American print rights but also give them worldwide electronic rights.) I suspect there’s also fear about undercutting other markets. Thus the sale 0f e-books gets restricted in the same way as the print.

So why can Book Depository sell print books anywhere in the world but a similar company can’t do the same with e-books?

I don’t know. I’m hoping smarter people will jump into the discussion to clarify this point. I’ve read one theory that it’s all about point of sale. Book Depository sells physical books that they have in stock here in the U.S. That sale is considered to have taken place in the U.S., and thus everything’s nice and happy. With e-book sales, there’s no physical stock. Point of sale is the end user’s computer, and if the user isn’t in the U.S., then those territorial restrictions come into play.

ETA: Someone pointed out that Book Depository was a U.K. company, not a U.S. one. Sorry about that!

Like I said, I’m fuzzy on this one, and I hope someone else can help me out.

This will all continue to evolve, but I recognize that it’s incredibly frustrating in the meantime. I wouldn’t mind seeing a shift toward selling language-specific rights instead of territory-specific, but there might be drawbacks to that model too. What I can tell you is…

Authors want to be able to sell you books as much as you want to be able to buy them!
Self-publishing isn’t necessarily much better in this area. (I’ve got three self-published collections. I selected worldwide distribution, but Amazon and the other online retailers still restrict sales by territory.)
This is one of those areas where authors have very little control. (I.e., please don’t yell at us about this one!)

I’d also recommend Seanan McGuire’s post on the same issues and this comment from Patrick Nielsen Hayden over at Scalzi’s blog.

Discussion is welcome, as always.

Goblins on a Hugo

First off, a quick announcement. The Stepsister Scheme is now available from Audible.com as an audio book. The rest of the princess series will be getting the audio treatment as well, but I don’t have the release dates for the other books.

Earlier this year, I said that if I actually won a Hugo, I’d have to pose my goblins with it. I also did a back-and-forth dialogue in which the goblins talked about taking their shiny rocket to the moon and dropping moon rocks on the humans from their lunar goblin colony.

Tonight I finally found our digital camera, and voila! I give you: Goblins on a Hugo.

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I had a plan if I lost, too. You see, all of the nominees get a Hugo pin…

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Crap People Say About Sexual Harassment

From various posts and conversations around the internet…

“If you obviously can’t handle the social interactions at an SF Book con, then perhaps you need to seek some education … I suggest that you never, ever leave the confines of white, educated middle class North American society. In Nigeria and Saudi Arabia they take people like you and kill them with rocks.”

The assumption that “people like you” are treated even worse in some other part of the world does not mean you should just shut up and accept how you’re treated here.
If we’re taking “people like you” to mean “women,” then guess what — white, middle class North Americans kill an obscene number of women too.
I suppose harassment and even assault could technically be defined as “social interactions,” but trying to normalize this kind of behavior and suggest that anyone who isn’t tough enough to take it should just stay away? Yeah, bite me.

“…during my freshman year in college, I knew two women who’d been raped, and a third who was probably raped but was too drunk to know for sure (that was in a fraternity basement).  At the same time, I never heard about a woman being raped at a con.”

See response 1, above. The fact that you perceive things to have been worse at your college does not, by definition, mean that things at a con are all fine and dandy.
The fact that you’ve never heard of a woman being raped at a con does not mean it’s never happened. (It may just mean you’re not paying attention.)

“There are several Learning Disorders and Behavior Disorders that affect a man’s ability to understand body language … Some guys are just creeps but some have a true social disorder.”

I should ask my therapist about this one, because I’m very curious what kind of social disorder causes a man to:

Selectively target women to invade their personal space and touch them without permission.
Ignore verbal boundaries set by women, but pick up on the unstated message right away when a man steps in to “protect” the woman.
Maintain socially normal relationships with men and with women who aren’t in his “target” demographic.


See Rose Lemberg’s post “Enough with the Aspie Bit Already!”

“Is flirting at cons now forbidden? When does flirting become harassment?”

Things people should have learned in kindergarten:

Respect.
Keep your hands to yourself.
No means no.


If you seriously can’t tell the difference between flirting and harassment, I strongly suggest you do neither until you’ve worked that out.

“Is a convention committee obligated to provide a Utopian space throughout the convention? Should the convention committee have some sort of thought and action police, empowered to pull badges at the merest whisper of complaint?”

No. Which is why nobody’s asking for this.
Does anyone else think that equating a space where there are rules against harassment, and those rules are enforced to some kind of impossible Utopia is just depressing as hell?

“Their eagerness to see and punish harassment worries and befuddles me.”

And your eagerness to ignore and accept harassment terrifies me.

The Kingdom of Gods, by N. K. Jemisin

The Kingdom of Gods [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] is the third and final book in N. K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy.

I read and very much enjoyed the first two books, and reviewed The Broken Kingdoms here. Jemisin has chosen to focus on different characters in each book, though there are narrative threads and characters connecting all three. In the final book, we see the social consequences of the changes from the first two, as the ruling Arameri family begins to lose their absolute power over the world, a world that has some complaints over how they’ve been treated.

This one is narrated by the godling Sieh, who was one of my favorites from the earlier books. He’s an unapologetic child, complete with playfulness, petulance, pranks, and more. In this book, he stumbles upon a pair of Arameri children, plays with them, debates killing them, and instead grants them friendship … and that’s where everything goes wrong.

Sieh begins to turn mortal. He ages. The further he gets from childhood, the more of his power he loses. He’s forced to survive as a mortal, eventually finding a role as a messenger/spy in the developing conflict with the Arameri, a conflict which reveals a new kind of magic and new players from Sieh’s own past … which I can’t really get into without spoiling things.

It’s hard wrapping up a series, and Jemisin aimed high with this one, pulling together mythological plotlines and changes that affect the entire world she’s built up. While I felt like there were rough patches in terms of plot and pacing, I prefer a book that aims high and occasionally stumbles to one that aims for mediocre and succeeds.

I think my biggest problem was lack of information. We don’t find out what’s really happening with Sieh until pretty much the last page. There were other aspects where it felt like the mystery stretched on too long as well, and it’s harder to stay invested when I don’t understand what’s going on.

That said, I still enjoyed the book. I really like the eventual ending with Sieh, and I love that Jemisin allowed her world and her characters to change so much. I like Sieh’s character, his so-human mischievous side as well as the divine side that’s both curse and blessing. I very much appreciate Jemisin’s matter-of-fact approach to Sieh’s sexuality as well, and the relationship he develops throughout the book. And I like that she doesn’t shy away from the darker side of war and politics, both on a global scale and a personal one.

Finally, the glossary in the back is AWESOME!!!, thanks to some creative annotations by Sieh.

I recommend everyone should at least read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], the first book in the trilogy. If you enjoyed that, you should definitely read the rest. Even if the final book isn’t perfect (and what book is?), it’s an impressive work of writing, and an ambitious end to an ambitious trilogy.

For those of you who’ve read it, what did you think?

Darkbeast Guest Post and Giveaway

I’m off doing Guest of Honor stuff at Northern Michigan Anime Con this weekend, so I turned the blog over to my friend Morgan Keyes to talk about her new book, and how she transitioned from writing more adult books as Mindy Klasky to a middle-grade novelist with a spiffy new pseudonym.

Also, she’s giving away a free book, which is always cool.

You can read an excerpt from Darkbeast on her website.

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Many thanks to Jim for allowing me to visit here and tell you about my middle grade fantasy novel, Darkbeast.  Due to the generosity of my publisher, Simon & Schuster, I will give away a copy of Darkbeast to one commenter, chosen at random from all the comments made to this post by 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight.

In Darkbeast, twelve-year-old Keara runs away from home rather than sacrifice Caw, the raven darkbeast that she has been magically bound to all her life.  Pursued by Inquisitors who would punish her for heresy, Keara joins a performing troupe of Travelers and tries to find a safe haven for herself and her companion.

Before writing Darkbeast, I published sixteen novels in a variety of genres, ranging from traditional fantasy for adults, supernatural chicklit, light paranormal romance, and traditional category romance.  (Those last couple of books – spicier than I was comfortable having my mother read – are the reason that Darkbeast is published under a pen name!)

For the past several years, though, I’d felt a pull from “The Darkbeast”, a short story that I wrote for the anthology Fantastic Companions, edited by Julie Czerneda.  In a couple of thousand words, I’d built a world that I longed to return to.  I wanted to learn more about darkbeasts, about how they worked as scapegoats for their people, about what happened to rebels who struck out on their own in a society controlled by religion.

The novel Darkbeast started out as a story for and about young adults, teenagers who had a fair degree of autonomy.  But as I wrote the novel, I realized that more interesting questions were posed when rights and power were taken away.  I wanted Keara to be most vulnerable, to be faced with tough decisions and even more difficult social restrictions.

And so, Darkbeast became a middle grade novel.

In many ways, that transition was destined from my first days as a speculative fiction writer.  As a child, I always enjoyed reading, but I hit my speculative stride in middle school.  I discovered A Wrinkle in Time and the Narnia series, The Hobbit and the Deryni.  I role-played my favorite characters (although I wouldn’t have known that term if you’d asked me), and I wrote my first fanfic (ditto).

Middle grade reading was magical for me, and now I wanted to share that magic with others.  I wanted to give young readers that feeling of escape, that urge to stay up late reading under the covers, that desire to create new stories that lived on in the light of day.

At the same time, I wasn’t willing to give up complex characters and difficult moral choices.  I definitely wasn’t willing to dumb down my vocabulary.  I learned about people and ethics and language from the reading I did in middle school; there’s no reason not to give today’s children the same keys to their world.

And so Keara became twelve.  And a pen name was chosen.  And Darkbeast has been released into the world.

When did you first discover a love of reading?  Do the plots and themes of those treasured books still inspire you?

Morgan can be found online at Facebook and her website.

Darkbeast is for sale in bricks-and-mortar and online bookstores, including:  Amazon | B & N | Indiebound

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Morgan Keyes grew up in California, Texas, Georgia, and Minnesota, accompanied by parents, a brother, a dog, and a cat.  Also, there were books.  Lots and lots of books.  Morgan now lives near Washington, D.C.  In between trips to the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art, she reads, travels, reads, writes, reads, cooks, reads, wrestles with cats, and reads.  Because there are still books.  Lots and lots of books.

On Being Blown Off

Maybe it was the number of people, but I’ve heard or read more stories about people feeling blown off at Worldcon than just about any other con I can remember.

You know how it is. You’re sitting there in a group, when along comes Big Name Author Robert J. J. Muttonchops. Bob to his friends. He says hi to the person on your left, grins and jokes with the person on your right, glances at your name badge, and then wanders off without saying a word to you.

Your friends may or may not even notice your newfound powers of selective invisibility, but you’re left wondering what the hell just happened.

It’s not something that happens to me very often these days. I know that sounds a little egotistical, but it’s also the reality of being a moderately successful author and blogger. Anyway, after several of these conversations at Worldcon, I started watching for the blow-off. And damn if I didn’t start seeing it happen.

And then I got to wondering if I had done the same thing to people.

It’s possible. There were a lot of people I wanted to say hi to, and for much of the weekend I was running around in high gear, barely stopping for breath. On top of that, my social skills and my ability to fake extroversion are inversely proportional to the number of people in the immediate group.

What I can say is that if I blew you off, I didn’t do so intentionally. There are only two people I would have deliberately brushed off or ignored at this con, and happily, I didn’t run into either one.

If I did do something to make you feel blown off or unimportant, I apologize. I’ve been there, and it sucks. Thirteen years later, I still remember the annoyed brush-off I received from one Big Name Author who clearly had more important things to do with his time.

I know there are people out there who check name badges to determine whether someone is worthy of their time. (Me, I check name badges because I suck at names.) I don’t get that. Partly because whether or not you’re famous in the SF/F community has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you’d be an interesting person to talk to. Heck, if you’re only there to figure out how to get ahead and what “important” people you can use to boost your career, I probably don’t want to talk to you anyway.

But even if you’re being That Guy, it’s a stupid strategy — the person you shun today could be next year’s hot new author, or could be running that big convention you’re hoping to attend.

Sometimes it’s accidental. In the rush to see old friends or talk to a writing buddy about the business, it’s easy to focus only on the people you already know, and to exclude those you don’t. I’ve probably done this before, which can make people feel shut out. I apologize if I’ve done it to you.

I do think sometimes we mistake the unintentional brush-off for deliberate dismissal. But speaking as an author and HUGO-AWARD WINNING BLOGGER (sorry - the squee is still slipping out occasionally), I also think it’s on me to be more aware of how easy it is to make someone feel blown off, and to try harder to avoid doing that.

What do you think?