Cherie Priest's Blog: It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion, page 69

Links roundup and other assorted mayhem

Stuff's piling up over on Twitter and Facebook, so it's time to play clearinghouse and get it all onto the main page. Here goes:

How You Can Help the Tornado Victims in the South – Time does a pretty concise round-up of the usual suspects. I wish I had something brilliant and useful to say on the subject, but it's mostly been said already – by smarter people than me, who are closer to the situation than I am right now.

Do you like furniture? How about Michigan? – My friend Sarah Sharp has a most excellent KickStarter project underway. Behold – I give you … THE COUCHES OF DETROIT. No seriously, it's awesome. Click through to see.

Dreadnought gets love from Drey's Library – Huzzah! Many thanks. Actually, Dreadnought has been getting a lot of love lately. See also below …

The Denver Examiner digs Dreadnought – "I thoroughly enjoyed Dreadnought. The writing craft is as good as the story, and both are as entertaining as they are suspenseful. If you're looking for zombies, zeppelins, and some zealous history re-writing, Cherie Priest's "Clockwork Century" series is for you." This is one of those reviews that decides Dreadnought was oodles better than Boneshaker; so whether you loved or hated Boneshaker, maybe you should give the sequel a chance.

Look, another Dreadnought review – I wonder if it's been going around a book club or something. Not complaining! Just curious about the sudden influx of friendly commentary. "The characters are wonderful, and the images Priest builds are so well done, you can almost smell the coal dust in the air. It is a fine example of not only what Steampunk is, but what it should be."

In other news, I am not writing about Bin Laden. If you're like me, you're probably generally happy he's gone – but in a somewhat complicated way. I don't really have the energy to dissect it at this time, nor the inclination to put it in public, so there you go.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

I'm doing science

Still alive over here, people. Just snowed under with work and gradually digging out. Today I'm already behind schedule, because I utterly forgot that the husband was off work (for some reason) and had not set his alarm. Went to bed around eleven. Woke up around the next eleven. That's twelve hours, people. Apparently I needed it.

However, this does mean that all the stuff I planned to work on this morning must now be doubled-up on top of afternoon work.

This is less than ideal, but generally okay. After all, it's Friday, and I have VOWED to give myself a slight break this weekend – and by "break" I mean "go on an epic shopping quest for graduation presents [brother] and Mother's Day presents [mom, stepmom, grandma]." So there will still be work involved, but it will be a fun, hunter-gatherer sort of work. I might even see about picking up a new dress to wear for the little bro's graduation in DC next weekend. I deserve a new dress, don't I?

(More to the point, I work from home – so the vast majority of my wardrobe is not exactly the sort of stuff one typically wears to a dressy-type occasion. I need a won't-embarrass-anybody-to-see-me-outside-a-goth-bar-or-sci-fi-convention dress.)

Anyway. Let's see…since last I blogged, here in CherieLand there's been a lot of work (as mentioned above), a haircut (just a trim and a touch-up), a number of kitty pictures (behold), and Russian rights selling on Dreadnought – which was pretty awesome. And I think that probably brings us all up to date.

Now I need to scare up some breakfast (lunch?) and dive back into my index cards, scratch pads, and notes so that I have something to show from all this brainstorming before the weekend begins in earnest.

[:: zoosh ::]

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Back from Atlanta

I'm home now, and furiously trying to get caught up on all the things that backed up while I was out of town. This is particularly tricky since in the last three weeks, I've been in San Francisco, Oklahoma City, and Atlanta, respectively. I've had more out-of-town than in-town, and if I don't get all this stuff sorted soon, I'll be snowed under beyond hope.

But I did want to come up for air long enough to post about FroliCon, which was absolutely smashing. The event organizers were delightful, the attendees were awesome, and my fellow guests were their usual fantastic selves. Bonus fun: Thursday and Friday nights, Stacia Kane crashed with me teenage sleepover-style, so on top of all the usual hobnobbing I had someone with whom to watch cartoons and eat snack machine junk food.

Speaking of Stacia and the sleepover – it got off to a rough start. Shortly after we'd checked in and settled down for the first night, someone pulled the fire alarm, sending me and Stacia out into the parking lot in our jammies … having toted everything important down ten flights of stairs. False alarm, of course.

(Other points of excitement included a power outage that caught me on an escalator, stuck in a domino line of falling fan people.* My feet were bathed in candy, which poured like a delicious waterfall from some unfortunate soul's Easter basket.)

Of course, I also got to see a great number of people who I haven't chatted with in years, many from my old V:TM** days; and likewise I caught up with more recent cronies such as Austin Sirkin and his wife Megan Maude, Cindy McLeod and the rest of the AnachroCon gang, Eugie and Matt Foster, and too many others to list here without boring the lot of you.

Suffice it to say, I had a most excellent time – and I heartily, thoroughly thank everyone who made the weekend so damn cool.

:)

* Yes, yes. I know. Escalators are never "Temporarily out of order." They are only "Temporarily stairs." Thank you, Mitch Hedberg.

** If you have to ask, you don't care about the answer. I promise.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

On FroliCon tomorrow

Tomorrow morning I'm heading out once again, this time for FroliCon in Atlanta. I'll arrive in the evening (losing a few hours due to time change), so it's a long day of travel – but I'm looking forward to being back in the south, even if it's only for a few days … especially since I'm skipping DragonCon.

Anyway, you know the drill. I'll be making posts and putting up pictures on my Twitter page, but I likely won't be blogging. (All my tweets cross-post to Facebook, too.)

I hope to see some of you there – and if you spot me running around, or bouncing around, or sitting around looking confused, come on up and say "hello." My 10-foot personal NO SHYNESS force field will protect you, and so long as I am not in a restroom or midway through chewing something, I am happy to sign books/magazines/whatever you like. That's what I'm there for!

So. Yes.

Now I'm logging off to be productive, get some work done, and get all my travel stuff together. Everyone have a great week/weekend, and I'll be back on Monday.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

On DragonCon

Yesterday afternoon, I handed over my DragonCon room reservations to a friend – because I finally decided that this year, I won't be attending.

I'd first begun to waffle when I got word that my guest application had been declined, which was startling, since 've been accepted as a guest every year for about a decade.* But it wasn't the end of the world or anything. After the epic, exhausting over-scheduling of last year, the prospect of showing up with no responsibilities whatsoever … sounded like a pretty cool deal, actually.

But then again, if I'm not a guest and not on any programming, it's a little iffier as a tax write-off … which would mean we'd likely end up eating the full cost of attending – usually about $2000-$3000 after airfare for two from Seattle, food, transportation, and four nights in the hotel. (The convention has never paid our flight or board; it's something we have to budget for.)

So you can understand why I'd be unsure about it.

Still, I sat on the fence. After all, DragonCon is the one time every year when I get to return to the southeast and see my old friends – and it's something I've traditionally looked forward to a great deal. So, you may be wondering, what tipped me from "Maybe" into "Maybe next year"?

Two things. (1). All this freaking travel, and (2). the new job I've picked up in California.

The truth is, I'm tired. I'm happy for the opportunity to do so much cool stuff on the road, but I'm just about worn out; and I still have Atlanta, D.C., and Phoenix to do in the next six weeks, plus (I predict) another couple of trips to San Francisco wedged in there someplace.** And if all goes well, once summer comes around I'll be at the beck and call of California on a more rigorous basis. My new bosses have been very laid back about working around my existing schedule – but I'd like to keep the next stretch as open for them as possible.

One day, I will get to blab about this project. One day. But until then, I just have to say that yes, it is exactly awesome enough for me to prioritize it over a convention schedule for awhile. (Particularly since I still have about 3/4 of a novel to write before the middle of September, too.)

Anyway. People have begun to ask how come I'm not on the guest list, and now you know. My apologies to those who expected to see me at DragonCon, and best wishes to those of you who do attend, as guests or otherwise. It's a marvelous party, and I wish it well.

Maybe I'll be back in 2012!

* No, I don't know why. I've heard rumors of attempts to cap the guest count; but beyond that, I've not a clue.

** Though San Francisco isn't such a big deal from Seattle. It's a plane ride of less than 2 hours, and it's in my native time zone – which makes a HUGE difference.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

I'm reaching the very edge you know

Finally I'm home, after Mary-esque travel adventures on the return trip (though they don't bear a dry retelling). I won't be here but a couple of days, and then it's off to Atlanta for FroliCon; so my internet time is rather limited as I dash around playing catch-up.*

Even so, I wanted to let everyone know that I'm back, and that I had a fantastic time bopping around the Oklahoma Steam Expo with my old friend Jess and her family. Jess and James (her husband) truly went above and beyond to provide everyone with a cool crashing space for downtime and refreshments in the hospitality suite, and their buddy Nico did a great job keeping the guests and vendors fed.

ALL HAIL.

Likewise, it was good to see and hang with O.M. Grey and Erica (albeit briefly), and marvelous to meet my other fellow guests – including Bev, who I've known online for a bit. Lovely folks abounded, and good times were had.

I signed lots of books, which was great, though hilarity ensued when I realized I was abbreviating the event "OKSEX 2011″. Not my finest moment of cluefulness, I'll grant you.** Like one of my Twitter followers responded, it sounds less like "midwestern steampunk party" than "a year of loving moderately."

Anyway, now it's time for me to get errand-running and work-doing, as this is my first full weekday home in about a week and a half – and I'll be digging myself out for the next few hours, hoping to be productive before suppertime. Yes, well. A girl can dream, can't she?

* Basically, I'm allowed to blog and/or surf until my laundry is ready to go into the dryer.

** At events, I often sign things with a note of where it occurred – i.e., "Cherie Priest, Nova Albion 2011″ or somesuch. I feel like a signature alone looks terribly naked.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Hitting the road again

Well, it's been nice having one whole night in my own bed – but now I'm outta here once more. Oklahoma Steam Expo, here I come! Which means I need to log off, get this kitty off my lap, finish packing, and get dressed so that I'm ready to hit the airport. God knows, I have a hella-long travel day in front of me.*

Hopefully I'll see some of you this weekend – and of course, all the usual applies. Feel free to snag me in the halls or before/after scheduled events, as I'm more than happy to sign books/magazines/whatever at any time. It's literally what I'm there for – to be available to you, the readers – so please don't feel like you're inconveniencing me. Because you're not.

(At least one or two someones always email after every event: "I saw you around at XYZ, but I didn't want to bother you so I never got my stuff signed. Will you be back in the area anytime soon?" Often the answer is, "No, sorry." And then I feel bad because you showed up with your books, to no avail. I don't want to feel bad. I want to sign books.)

So, yes. Here we go again.

See you soon, sooners!

* No direct flights available. I'm routing through Minneapolis, and won't arrive until midnight, if I'm lucky.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

You must know me, I'm one of your secrets

Lately I've been getting a veritable slew of email wanting to know what, precisely, is the deal with all this travel I've been doing. There are rumors afoot that I'm working on a movie/movie deal, or in negotiations to do so; I heard from somewhere that I'm recording an audio book, and I heard from somewhere else that I'm doing voice acting for an animated feature.

None of that is true.

But here are some things that are true.

A couple of weeks ago, I resigned from my position as an associate editor with Subterranean Press. The decision wasn't made lightly, and it wasn't made under any duress – or with any rancor. I love the folks at Subterranean and hope to work with them again in the future. They did not do anything that made me want to quit, and they did not fire me.

But a fantastic jump-now-or-forget-about-it opportunity landed in my lap, and I felt like I had to take it. I explained the whole shebang to my now-former boss, who waved his pom-poms of support and wished me the best (because he is awesome). And with his blessing, I jumped for this New Thing.

Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to discuss the New Thing, except to say that it is a new day job – something separate from my book-writing activities. All the usual publishing stuff is still GO, and all the usual deadlines remain in place. I will still be attending every publishing-related event (conventions, conferences, signings, etc.) for which I am scheduled. None of that will change.

As soon as I'm given the all-clear to blab, you may safely bet that I'll be shouting details from the rooftops. But until then, I will not be answering any questions about the project, nor responding to any guesses as to its nature. Please respect my position on this, and don't be an ass about it.

Anyway. I'm putting this out here now, because (a). people are starting to notice (and ask about) how much I'm on the road, and (b). the only TRUE rumor making the rounds was that I'd left Subterranean, and I don't want anyone to think that it happened under nasty terms or that there's any bad blood there.

Subterranean Press is an excellent company staffed by exceptional people, and I send them all giant tackle-hugs every chance I get. I've appreciated their understanding and support (regarding this matter, and many others) more than I can possibly convey.

So, there you go.

And I think I'll go ahead and lock down comments on this post, just to keep this the final word on the matter (for now). Thanks for reading, thanks for your patience – and I promise, I will tell you all about it one of these fine days.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Yeah the slight of my hand is now a quick pull trigger

It's been a semi-lazy day over here – likely the last one I'll get for a while, so I have carpe'd the heck out of this diem.

After doing some last-minute prep work following lunch, I gave myself permission to take it easy the rest of the afternoon, and I did so – wandering down to Broadway in order to hit up the thrift stores … because it's not as if I own enough tee shirts or anything.* Which, um, did not stop me from bringing home four more of them.

In my defense, one is a reproduction of a 1983 David Bowie concert tee. And Bowie aside, this bad-boy has retro-fabulous pink puffy paint on it. What was I supposed to do, just leave it there?

God, I'm weak.

So. Now it's coming up on suppertime, and when the husband gets home from his ninja practice I will see if he can be coerced into nabbing some noms and an adult beverage before settling in for the night. Then an early bedtime, and tomorrow: I'm off!

* I blame my dad, from whom I appear to have inherited this addiction. His novelty tee shirt collection is a force with which to be reckoned, and I would be jealous … except that he has a 30-year head start on me, and in recent years, I've sort of been feeding his problem. It's not my fault his birthday falls the week after DragonCon. Nor is it my fault that DragonCon is basically ground zero for all the world's nerdiest novelty tees. I cannot be blamed for coincidences such as these.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

We sit in silence waiting for a deadly friend

Woo boy, this must be some kind of record - I've only posted a couple of times in the last week. Well, things are still a mess over here and I'm still not making internet time a priority (can't afford to), and I'm doing my best to wrap up a whole lot of business before the weekend - because Monday starts a whole new round of crazy.

For (good, but un-talk-about-able) reasons I'm not prepared to divulge, Monday morning I'm flying to California for a couple of days. I'll be returning to Seattle on Wednesday, and then I'm leaving Thursday morning for Oklahoma City - where I'll be participating in the Oklahoma Steam Expo. I return from that on Sunday evening (the 17th), and then on Thursday morning (the 21st) I'm headed for Atlanta for FroliCon... before leaving for D.C. on May 5th.

(Edited to add: Because it's the first thing people always guess when I get cryptic and obtuse, no, there's no movie deal in the works, and I'm not doing any movie stuff.)

Anyway. I'm really excited about all this, but it's going to wear me out and keep me offline a bit. Though I will, of course, continue to post kitty pictures and whatnot over on my Twitter (which cross-posts to my Facebook) with the usual regularity, as it's an easy, quick way to waste some time - yet still feel like I'm not completely cut off from the world at large.

And major announcements (of which I have several in the works) plus anything particularly earth-shattering will totally make it to this-here front page, I tell you what. But for now I'm logging off in order to get yet more work done while the afternoon is still fairly young. And maybe some laundry. I really need to do laundry ...

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]