Cherie Priest's Blog: It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion, page 75

January 24, 2011

Hello everyone – I'm back! Yes, as usual, I was a terrible blogger while I was out of town; and I was a terrible tweeter, too … except for Saturday night, when I posted a whole bunch of pictures from the bar. Scroll around here to see them. I'd tell you all about who's in them, and what wackiness is going on, but I got accused of name-dropping on Twitter so NEVER MIND, THEN. Just go look. We had fun.

Actually, the entirety of Confusion 2011 was fantastic. It's as I said – Michigan has been very good to me; and honestly, I can safely assume that any event with Yanni and Brian involved is going to pretty much rock my face off. I can't recommend the convention enough, if you're a writer or fan-person who's curious about it. GO TO IT.

Likewise, I highly recommend Off The Beaten Path bookstore and cafe. Wonderful little indie shop with a speculative-fiction/steampunk leaning and a kick-ass owner who will bend over backwards for customers and guests alike. You want books? You live in the greater Detroit area? This is where you need to go.

Anyway! I'm back, yes – and playing catch-up like crazy over here. I had about 40 important emails in my inbox this morning, by which I don't mean Facebook notifications, spam, weird urban legend forwards from my mom, or hate mail … I mean messages that required my actual attention sooner rather than later. All this, in addition to all the assorted writer-business work that landed while I was out of town.

Therefore, please pardon the semi-perfunctory nature of this post because it is not quite 5:00 here and I can still make the post office if I hurry up, log off, and get this cat off my freaking lap. Have a good week everyone, and check back here in the morning. Tomorrow is a big day!

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

Michigan and Me

So ConFusion11 is awesome so far, for all that it hasn't really started yet. I spent Wednesday night at "Doma Decker" (with friends Yanni and Brian), then Thursday getting wined, dined, and shown around Detroit – mostly gawking happily at very old, nice houses and then quietly reconsidering my intolerance of cold weather when I learned what they cost.

Then, of course, there was the bookstore event at Off The Beaten Path. It was a most excellent night out! I rambled (as per usual), the store people were fabulous, and the crowd was amazing – particularly considering how crap-tastic the weather was. I counted about 45 people…? And I'd like to extend giant friendly thanks to every single one of them for making the trek through the snow and selling out almost my entire stock of books. Thanks also to the aforementioned store people, who put it all together – and to the ConFusion folks for being so accommodating.

Now I'm at the hotel, where I've taken a couple of hours to play catch-up on some stuff up in my room (stop: hermit-time); but that's about to come to an end. In about fifteen minutes I'm meeting the crew downstairs, and off we shall shuffle to supper. Following that , I believe I have a very big, very broad panel wherein I'm the Token Chick. (Not that I mind, considering the excessively illustrious company: Scalzi, Bacigalupi, Peter Brett, and Doselle Young).

And then it's on to opening ceremonies, lots of panels, lots of goofing off, and probably some running around yelling "WOO!" and hugging friends I don't see very often. You know. As it goes.

But first, I'm going to freshen up, stretch my legs, and throw on a sweater before heading out to meet the gang for noms. Have a good one, everyone – and may all your weekends be as awesome as mine is shaping up to be.

:)

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

Michigan Bound

Getting ready to head out to the airport, everyone – so I'll catch you on the other side. I hope to see some of you out at the bookstore event tomorrow night (see previous post), and at ConFusion. Can't wait! Even though I hear it's wicked cold over there right now …

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

ConFusion 2011

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Detroit, and then onward to Troy for ConFusion 2011, which is guaranteed to be a socks-rocking experience in all possible ways. I love the Michigan fan scene; it's an excellent crew, and every event I've ever done out there has been outstanding.

(I'd post my convention schedule for those who are curious, except that I have a question or two about it … which I'm sure will be sorted when I arrive, one way or another, as I'm incapable of being in two rooms talking about two different subjects at once. I'm pretty sure it's just a simple typo, but I don't want to repeat it here.)

While I'm in the region, I'll also be doing a separate, off-site reading/signing too – at the Off the Beaten Path Bookstore and Cafe, Thursday at 7:00 p.m. [23023 Orchard Lake Rd. Farmington, MI 48336]. So even if you're not making the convention, you can come out and say hello, get stuff signed, laugh at my no-longer-cool-blue-hair, what have you.

To the best of my knowledge, this will be the absolute debut of Bloodshot – at least, this is the very first event where you will find both (a). me, and (b). that book occupying the same space in public. Quantities are limited. I know this because the helpful publicity fellow had to make special arrangements to get the shipment expedited to the bookstore, ahead of the street date.

WE ARE BREAKING ALL THE RULES HERE, PEOPLE.

Come on out and watch us get in trouble. Or rock out.

As the case may be.

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

January 17, 2011

It's been a few days since last I posted, which is a bit unusual for me – but I do want to assure everyone that I am, in fact, still alive. In case you worried. Or anything.

I've actually taken the weekend to do a smidge of extra day-job work, in order to get a leg up on what is turning out to be an epic nightmare of a project (and I'm not even halfway finished); and also … here and there, in the cracks, I've even managed to scrape up a smidge of relaxation.

(In the form of too much TV and video gaming, mostly. But the husband and I finally found the end of Resident Evil: Zero, so hey – sense of achievement: achieved.)

Anyway, weekends such as this most recent one make for crappy blogging fodder – and today isn't looking much better. I just got back from the daily run/climb, and as soon as I pry this cat offa my lap, I'm going to take a shower and get dressed. Then it's on to more day-job work and some laundry, with lunch shoehorned in there someplace.

THRILLING. Yes, I know.

But don't say I ever left you in the dark.

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

Everybody's free to feel good

Yesterday I had two cavities filled without any anesthetic, which was a first (and wasn't bad at all, actually). There. And with that nugget of information, I can officially say that this is NOT two days in a row of Strictly Bloodshot News. Because it isn't. Technically.

HOWEVER. I do have some really great Bloodshot news – as well as the answers to the most oft-asked reader question. And it's not like I'm just going to sit on this information, you know?

(1). Here, let me put this in bold: Free sample of Bloodshot, right here, come and get it. That's right, the first couple of chapters are live as part of Del Rey Spectra's 50 Page Fridays over at the Suvudu blog – and you can click over there and read them. So if you've been on the fence vis-a-vis whether or not obsessive-compulsive vampires, conspiracy theories, and noir-flavored snark might be up your alley … well, here's your chance to get the first nibble on the house.

(2). Most oft-asked reader question: Will it be available in ebook format? Answer: Hell yes. You can preorder a digital copy for Amazon's Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook right now … and it's coming soon from Sony, Kobo, and everybody you see listed on the right-hand column of this page.

(2b). As an aside, once it's officially "out," you can also nab Bloodshot as an audio book – even on CD! – through any of the outlets you see on the right-hand column of THIS page.

Of course, if you have any other question about this book or its impending availability, just let me know. If I don't know the answer to your query, I can ask around and see about digging up some useful information. And, because I'm just that kind of excited, opportunistic hock-monkey, here's a list of links again where you can pick it up online in its trade paperback form.



Preorder signed/personalized copies of Bloodshot from the University Book Store in Seattle

Find Bloodshot at Amazon.com

Find Bloodshot at Barnes & Noble

Find Bloodshot at Third Place Books

Find Bloodshot at Powell's

Find Bloodshot at Borders.com

Find Bloodshot at Chapters/Indigo for Canadian buyers



Anyway, thanks for reading – and thanks for humoring me as I get all this vibratey-buzzy-excitement out of my system in advance of the book's drop date. This will be book #10 for me, and to date, I can state with absolute confidence and glee that no – it never does get old.

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

an angel's smile is what you sell

Yesterday the mail brought a big heavy box filled with shiny, happy glee – that is to say, my author copies of Bloodshot have arrived!

Listen people, I'm not going to lie: This is a sexy-looking book. I mean, I thought it was sexy when it was just an ARC, but that glossy uncorrected proof had nothing on the finished product. You can't see me right now, but I'm sitting here petting it like a supervillain's cat. True fact. (I'd tell you to ask my husband, but he has rolled his eyes and gone off looking for someone less embarrassing to hang around with.)

One of the bonus sexy bits available in the real thing: words of kindness from other authors who have read it already. For example, on the front cover there is a blurb from the very kind Jeaniene Frost, and just inside the front cover you'll see helpful blurbs from such fine folks as Nicole Peeler, Lucy A. Snyder, Kat Richardson, and Kelly Meding … all of whom shall drink for free in my presence, next time we encounter one another.

(Kat will likely get hers first, due to the fact that she lives right over there and we already have plans for martinis on Tuesday. Unfair advantage, perhaps, but such is the nature of geography.)

So! This is my first Urban Fantasy novel, and it was a learning experience in a number of different ways – some of them more traumatic than others. But in the end, I had fun with it – and I had a really great editor guiding the LogicSpackle(tm) into place, and now in just a little more than a week … this sexy little book hits the shelves.*

I, for one, am psyched. I mean, I'm nervous, sure. After all, I'm genre-hopping again – trying something different, dipping my toes into yet another pool. But I'm also very excited, because I think Bloodshot is a hell of a lot of fun, and I hope some of you readers will, too.

It has vampires and drag queens, and Men In Black, thievery, classified documents, intrigue, parcour, and more four-letter snark than you could stuff in a mattress. Or would necessarily want to. Ahem.

And if you are interested in oh, say, picking up a copy of Bloodshot … nay, even being ahead of the game, then now is the time for preorders! You see, I've already written a sequel (Hellbent); and I just shipped its copyedits back to NYC, so it's in the can, baby … and I would love the opportunity to write more wacky tales in this series. But in order for that to happen, people have to buy THIS one.

Thus my shameless plea. Friends! Readers! Countrypersons and others alike! Please consider Bloodshot when you go looking to spend those holiday gift cards! Here, let me help:

Preorder signed/personalized copies of Bloodshot from the University Book Store in Seattle

Find Bloodshot at Amazon.com

Find Bloodshot at Barnes & Noble

Find Bloodshot at Third Place Books

Find Bloodshot at Powell's

Find Bloodshot at Borders.com





* Street date is the 25th, but I don't think it's a hard date. You might well start seeing them sooner, as bookstores receive them, and simply stick them out on the floor. There's nothing wrong with this, I don't mind it, and if you see it, hey – take advantage of it!

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

Change is Hard

Change is hard, and it is time-consuming. But sometimes it's necessary. My most recent round of personal change has involved two full afternoons sitting in a salon chair, undergoing a stylist's absolutely heroic efforts to remove the blue and green from my hair.

It was funny, in an "not very ha-ha" sort of way – how I'd spent so much time and effort trying to preserve the color … and when it came time to be rid of it, we could't get the damn stuff out to save our lives. In the end, it took three full rounds of color lifting and bleaching plus fillers and dyes to be (mostly) rid it.

And I say (mostly) because underneath, if you shine a bright light on it, you can still see bits and pieces of the aqua hue shimmering through. But just barely, and I'm prepared to ignore it. I'm not undergoing another eleven hours of level-grinding just to fine-tune it – and if I don't point it out, no one will ever notice it.

Right about now, you may be wondering – WHY??? And that's a fair thing to wonder, because it was fabulous and I loved it. The answer is simple: I didn't want to, but I needed to – because the fabulous peacock hair was simply too expensive to maintain. It literally cost me more than my student loan payments. (Yes, literally. I know what that word means, and I am deploying it appropriately here.)

Remember the New Year's resolutions? Chief among them was money-saving, as the hubs and I are preparing to buy a house sometime in the next year or so. With this in mind, I simply could not justify the cost any longer.

Really, if it hadn't been such a damn chore to remove the stuff, I'd probably miss it more. It's hard to feel too nostalgic about something that cost you several hundred dollars and two full afternoons of outrageous effort to be rid of.*

And now … well. Now I feel like I'm all incognito or something. It's an odd feeling, but kind of cool. Lancer Forney at Emerson Salon (on Cap Hill, Seattle) did a great job of (a). not frying my hair, which is astounding given how long it had lifters/fillers/ bleaches/dyes on it, (b). talking me out of doing drastic things as my patience went off a freaking cliff somewhere around day two, hour eight, and (c). leaving me with a great end result that is actually soft and shiny. ALL HAIL.

Anyway, I guess you're wondering what it looks like now.

Okay. Let me show you.

(Either click the jump, or keep on scrolling.)

Click here to get a gander at the results »

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

Yargh.

Hellbent copyedits arrived today, and I'm in the middle of an unrelated personal project (also unrelated to writing) that has kept me out of the house all day. It'll keep me out of the house part of tomorrow, too. We'll see what comes of it. I'll chatter about it when everything is sorted. I'm kind of frazzled right now.

In other news, I've hit the Locus bestseller list for January. Twice at once. It's Boneshaker's brain-bending 11th month up there on the chart (!!!??!!!), and Dreadnought's second month.

[:: huzzah ::] [:: go books go! ::]

Anyway. I'd try to be a better blogger, but as aforementioned – frazzled. And also, now I have copyedits to attend to. I was going to start them this afternoon, but that didn't happen. So I start them now. And so it goes.

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

Teeth and a Movie Reaction

Yesterday I went to the dentist, got my teeth cleaned, and learned that I have to go back on the 13th because I have two cavities. This would be less irksome if I had any dental insurance. Which I don't. But it's got to get done, so oh well. Back I go on Thursday.

In less pain-inducing news, last night the husband and I went and saw Tron: Legacy. And I already know that about fifty people now have their fingers hovering over their mouses – on the very cusp of commenting with some bone-deep snark about "LESS PAIN-INDUCING????" As if I'm unaware that the movie has gotten a metric assload of shit-tastic reviews.

So what was my verdict?

(Very mild spoilers below.)

Click here for the full cheese-a-riffic skinny »

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