Cherie Priest's Blog: It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion, page 78

Tuesday's inbox is full of grace

Upon rereading my somewhat-tipsy screed on heroes and villains last night, I am reminded that I've kind of become a one-note blogger, more often than not. I used to tell kitty stories and post pictures of my fish (who says "glub glub" and is well), or recount adventures running around with my friends or my husband. But lately it's all book news all the time: writing books, book announcements, book work, book book book.

But honestly, that's what my life looks like these days. I work all morning on day-job stuff (not interesting blogging fodder), break for lunch and/or the daily run (also none too thrilling), and then spend the afternoon and much of the evening doing writer business work – and if there's anything to report, this is usually where it comes from.

My apologies. I will make an effort to mix things up more.

Starting with my next post.

Because today, I have a links round-up to tack onto this one – but hey, it's lots of good news! I can't really be expected to keep it to myself, now can I?

More foreign rights sales – I'm linking to my bibliography here, because it gives me great pleasure to update it with info like the following – UK rights for Bloodshot and Hellbent have sold to Titan! I've never had an official UK edition before, so this will be cool. That makes Russia, Italy, and now the UK for Bloodshot.

Boneshaker makes Librarians' Favorite Books to Recommend for 2010 – And three cheers for that, eh? Many thanks to all the awesome librarians who have been so amazingly supportive of this book!

And now for a quick Bonus! point of note: All three of my Subterranean Press novellas – Dreadful Skin, Those Who Went Remain There Still, and Clementine – are now available for the Kindle (and they are processing for other electronic formats as well). I am exceedingly chuffed about this for all the predictable reasons, but in particular I'm glad for Those Who Went and Clementine, for they were released in very limited hardback runs – and they swiftly became tough to find.

If you are a Kindle owner and you'd like to pick them up at the killer price of $4.99 each, here are some helpful links:

Those Who Went Remain There Still

Dreadful Skin

Clementine



(As noted here before, Clementine will be released in trade paperback sometime next year. I will keep you posted with the details as they filter down to me.)

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

The Murder Room: Not really a review, so much as an assortment of thoughts

I don't often talk here about the books I read – not because I don't often read books, but because I don't often have time to respond to them. Or feel like responding to them. Or feel that my response would be internet-appropriate. As the case may be.

However, I finished one recently that's really stuck with me, in a good way – which is not something one can usually say in all earnestness about a book peppered with gruesome real-life crimes, reprehensible criminals, egregious failures of justice, and just about every disgusting facet of human behavior imaginable on full display.

All of which The Murder Room (by Michael Capuzzo) has going on in spades.

(It's funny. I went poking around looking for more reviews and/or info on this book, and turned up a bunch of people pissing and moaning about how poorly it was written. If it was, I didn't notice. Or if I did notice, it stayed in my subconscious, smoothed over as part and parcel of the author's frankly fannish reporting.)

I'll be the first to admit that I read a lot of revolting nonfiction. I could write it off as "research" (given what I do for a living), but I've always been a morbid sort – and I like seeing my oft-repeated assertion underscored: Real life is so much weirder than any shit I could possibly make up. And real life is usually at its weirdest when it's violently breaking the law. People are at their most irrational, their strangest, and their most impulsive when they've shattered some boundary of acceptable behavior.

I've heard it said that fiction is harder than nonfiction, because fiction is required to make sense. But even the most bizarre behavior makes sense to someone, for some amalgam of split, freaked-out, bloody, violent, murderous, self-injurious seconds.

Anyway. It interests me, this unaccountable "why?"

Read the rest of this entry »

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

Goodreads Choice Awards

So as some of you know already, Dreadnought is up for a Goodreads Choice Award in the Science Fiction category. Which is great, in all possible ways! But what could make it even cooler, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Widgets.

Widgets make everything cooler.

Just sayin'.

2010 Goodreads Choice Awards Official Nominee: Best Science Fiction

Vote for Dreadnought!

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

can't trust that day

It's been one hella-busy Monday so far, but Things Are Getting Done. Most of it isn't worth blogging about; but in addition to the usual whatnot, I've also finalized two more signings for next year. You can get a gander at them over here on my "Appearances" page (one here in Seattle, one in Michigan).

So … yeah. Just thought I'd mention that.

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

one last glad tiding, to close the week

I wasn't going to spam the world with three posts on a single day – but I just can't stop myself: Dreadnought has finally busted onto the Locus bestseller list! And best of all, it's in the trade paperback column right alongside Boneshaker – which is spending a brain-bending tenth month on the list!*

I'd write more on the subject, but I'm afraid I've already used my daily allotment of exclamation points, and I wouldn't want to accrue some kind of fine, or something. Suffice it to say that I am thrilled, and encouraged, and absolutely freaking delighted in every possible way.

Thank you so much to everyone who's reading, talking about, passing around, and sharing these weird little clockwork books. You're the ones making this happen, you know. [:: points at you, yes you ::] And you are awesome.

* No, not consecutive months. It's fallen off a time or two, and then popped back up again. I remain overjoyed, regardless!

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

The Monster at the End of This Post

Dreadnought giveaway over on Goodreads – Four copies are up for grabs, and the give-away ends December 19th – so throw your name in the hat … and good luck to all who enter!

Third Place Books names Dreadnought top 10 fiction pick – Thanks so much, Third Place! What a great store – and I'm not just saying that because they sell lots of my books, host my events, and are generally all-around stand-up book-people.

Karissa's Reading Review gets hold of Bloodshot – Man, I am getting a lot of early reviews on this one, courtesy of the Amazon Vine program….which, I must assume, is a group of elite reviewers who are privy to ARCs and have Amazon posting privileges before a book is released – and not some weird group of chest-beating loincloth enthusiasts.

Book nerdery runs in the family – Lookie! My little brother busts into print, rocks the hell out. \m/ \m/

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

Glad tidings of great joy

What kind of glad tidings? Well, I'll tell you: I've just gotten word that Dreadnought will be headed into a second printing sometime in the next few weeks! This is news of great joy for all the obvious reasons, but I wanted to provide a general "heads up" before the last of the first run has gone out the door … because I know some of you folks are all about the first editions.

And hey, if you want a signed first edition – but you don't live anywhere near the spots where I've been signing for the last few months – you can always pick one up via the University Book Store in Seattle. I mean, should you want to nab a really kick-ass holiday gift for someone who's camping out at the top of Santa's "Nice" list.

Where and how to Get Dreadnought:Order signed/personalized copies of Dreadnought at no extra cost through the University Book Store in Seattle

Search for an independent bookstore near you

Find Dreadnought at Amazon.com

Find Dreadnought at Barnes & Noble

Find Dreadnought at Powell's

Find Dreadnought at Borders.comEbook Editions: Visit Dreadnought's listing here at Macmillan and you'll find digital editions suitable for the iPad, Kobo, Nook, and Sony eReader. Click here for Dreadnought on the Kindle.Audio Book: Courtesy of Macmillan Audio and Audible, you can pick up the audio book of Dreadnought right here.Sample Content: Scroll down at the Macmillan listing and you'll find excerpts, reviews, and other useful things that might give you a better idea of what you're in for.General Information: For general information regarding the world-setting of Boneshaker and Dreadnought, visit The Clockwork Century and take a poke around. Stay Connected: Join the Clockwork Century's fan page on Facebook.

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

Because people suck

Imagine, if you will, a lovely young housecat. Imagine you are moving, so you leave this cat with your dumbass sister in law, who dumps the (domestic, indoor, confused) animal outside shortly before Christmas, leaving the poor thing at a stranger's barn and driving off.*

Now, if you're anything like me, you're probably imagining how good it would feel to burn someone's face with a road flare; but I'm a horrible, violent person who (a). writes a lot of horror, and (b). has a catastrophically low opinion of people who dump animals, so there you go.

At any rate. On a brighter, more optimistic-with-regards-to-humanity note … if you are a loving, cat-oriented sort of person in the Burbank, California, area – perhaps you can find it in your heart to bring this poor lost feline a Christmas miracle. Or a Hanukkah miracle! Or … the utterly un-supernatural but unlikely and positive event of your choice!

I'm just saying, it'd be really great if this kitty could find a soft spot to land.

Edited to add: More details on the matter available here, via the emergency foster person.

For that matter, it'd be great if all cats, everywhere – and all dogs, guinea pigs, snakes, turtles, birds, and other assorted people-dependent animals throughout the land – could get a good shot at a good home. Do you have an opening in the good home department? Or, perhaps, if the fates are not aligned in such a fashion, could you consider donating some holiday dough to your favorite animal shelter?

Which reminds me. Spain the Cat came from the Pet Placement Center in Red Bank, Tennessee. I do believe I'm going to give their paypal button a tap.

* These details are available because the original owners went to the trouble of having the cat spayed and chipped. Not that they want her back or anything. It's only their cat. At Christmas. But you know, whatever. She's someone else's problem now.

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

link posts are like a box of chocolates

I was rather busy yesterday, performing such feats as grocery shopping, fish-tank cleaning, Christmas present wrapping/boxing/shipping, stock signing at 2 bookstores, sorting/filling out/mailing a whole lot of important paperwork, and generally running myself ragged. If I am in top form today, I might get caught up on all the outstanding errands and tasks that have been hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles.

By "caught up" I mean "make it all the way back to Square One." But if I expect to have a hope in heck of reaching this goal, I need to escape the gravitational pull of the internet. However, I do not want to leave things blank and empty. Therefore you get links:

The Stranger's "Strangercrombie" charity drive – Raising money for Childhaven and the Downtown Emergency Services Center (click here to read more about both worthy causes). And up for bidding is a steampunk prize pack, including VIP tickets to the Steampunk Exhibition Ball at the Museum of History and Industry, signed copies of all my Clockwork Century books, and more.

Owlcat Mountain reviews Bloodshot – And comes away impressed! Or at least, amused. I'm glad the reviewer dug the humor, because I don't often get to write "funny." I more often write "dark," so this was an entertaining departure from a creative standpoint – and I'm happy to see readers plugging into it.

Ravenous Reader tackles Boneshaker – I'm pleased to see people still discovering this series, and it blows my mind (in the best of all possible ways) that bloggers/bookclubs/reviewers are still talking about Boneshaker even though it's been out for fourteen months.

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

December 8, 2010

Last night the hubs and I got dolled up and went out to the Child's Play Charity Auction and Dinner. Why? Because I needed an excuse to bust out this outfit again, and because I'd never done anything black tie before. Also, because Aric contributed a Fremont Coffee Company gift basket to the fund-raising affair.

At this very fine event, we were offered a whole lot of free booze – which I'm sure had NOTHING TO DO with the fact that awesome geeky items were on the auction block, and soused bidders are generous, competitive bidders. Not that I'm complaining, even though I was very swiftly outbid for the one thing I really wanted.* Alas, I need to go to the dentist next month more than I needed a cool new thing. But such is life.

[Also, because approximately one bazillion people have asked (in the wake of many Twitter pictures), my outfit was from Kambriel, and my hat came from Noxenlux. My hair is colored/cut by Lancer at the Emerson Salon on Capital Hill, though I did the curls and updo myself.]

Anyway.

Today has been jam packed already, for I have run many errands – up to and including visiting the University Book Store and Third Place Books out in Lake Forest Park. You may now find signed copies of pretty much everything from yours truly at those two Seattle-area book-purveying locations.

In other news, Steampunk.com is hunting for the best steampunk book of the year. Feel free to wander over there and make some nominations. I mean, if you're in to that kind of thing.

* A limited edition eagle bust from the upcoming Bioshock: Infinite game, signed by some of the developers. Le sigh.

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