Kalayna Price's Blog, page 8
June 22, 2011
Special Guest: Lucienne Diver
I have a special guest joining me today on the blog. Please welcome (back) my very fabulous agent who also happens to be an absolutely amazing writer, Lucienne Diver!
Turning Myth to MagicEvery once in a while in life, someone will say something that really makes you think and becomes incorporated straight into your personal perceptions. I remember one of those moments in college, when an acquaintance informed me that, "When someone asks how you're doing, they don't really want to know." From that moment forward, I pretty much stopped sharing, unless I knew the person truly cared about the answer, and it really separated out for me true friends from, well, everybody else. But the most pivotal of those moments probably came in high school with a friend who lived on the next block. I remember visiting her house and noticing that the bookshelves in the living room held, among other things, a statue of Vishnu, a common picture from Christianity (I forget now but think it was Jesus with the sacred heart), and art from various other religions. Coupled with the saint metal she always wore around her neck, I had to ask. Her response, "They're all just different conceptions of the same God." This blew me away. It was like the universe suddenly snapped into place. Of course! If all the people of the world would just realize this and think of the various religions simply as different paths toward the same goal, Earth would be a much happier and certainly less violent place. Which brings me to my book blog and relevance. When I set out to write Bad Blood , I knew I wanted to use Greek mythology. I knew that I didn't want to exclude the other mythologies, cultures and traditions. Still, I did need to focus, because trying to do everything would accomplish nothing. As a result, I started researching. Ever since that day at my friend's house, I'd been fascinated by comparative religion. I'd gotten a bit of this in Latin class, which I took in grade school, because we discussed the Greek and Roman pantheons, but that didn't go far enough. I got a bit more in college when I took my anthropology classes, especially those that dealt with folklore and myth. Do you know how many cultures have world-ending floods? Or resurrections? You won't see a lot of my research in the book, which is what happens so often with research. You do it so that you don't get anything wrong, but there isn't room in a novel to fit in everything you've learned…at least, not without it sounding like info dump. So, you may not realize the work that went into matching up the Greek gods with their counterparts from other cultures, like Hermes being connected not only to Mercury in the Roman pantheon, but to Iemisch, Loki, Coyote, Spider (Unktomi) and all the other trickster gods. Or the research that went into the backstory of one of my secondary characters, which led me to the story of Liu Lei, the legendary dragonkeeper from Chinese folklore. Diving into these old tales was a tremendous amount of fun…almost as much fun as actually writing my heroine Tori Karacis and her death-defying adventures. It brought me back to my college days, except that turning folklore into fiction is so much better than turning in term papers!
I hope, if you're inclined to read, that you enjoy my completely non-academic rendering of myth and magic. If so, help me spread the word!
Bad Blood
, first novel of the Latter-Day OlympiansAvailable June 28, 2011 from Samhain Publishingwww.lucienndiver.com-Kalayna Price
Turning Myth to MagicEvery once in a while in life, someone will say something that really makes you think and becomes incorporated straight into your personal perceptions. I remember one of those moments in college, when an acquaintance informed me that, "When someone asks how you're doing, they don't really want to know." From that moment forward, I pretty much stopped sharing, unless I knew the person truly cared about the answer, and it really separated out for me true friends from, well, everybody else. But the most pivotal of those moments probably came in high school with a friend who lived on the next block. I remember visiting her house and noticing that the bookshelves in the living room held, among other things, a statue of Vishnu, a common picture from Christianity (I forget now but think it was Jesus with the sacred heart), and art from various other religions. Coupled with the saint metal she always wore around her neck, I had to ask. Her response, "They're all just different conceptions of the same God." This blew me away. It was like the universe suddenly snapped into place. Of course! If all the people of the world would just realize this and think of the various religions simply as different paths toward the same goal, Earth would be a much happier and certainly less violent place. Which brings me to my book blog and relevance. When I set out to write Bad Blood , I knew I wanted to use Greek mythology. I knew that I didn't want to exclude the other mythologies, cultures and traditions. Still, I did need to focus, because trying to do everything would accomplish nothing. As a result, I started researching. Ever since that day at my friend's house, I'd been fascinated by comparative religion. I'd gotten a bit of this in Latin class, which I took in grade school, because we discussed the Greek and Roman pantheons, but that didn't go far enough. I got a bit more in college when I took my anthropology classes, especially those that dealt with folklore and myth. Do you know how many cultures have world-ending floods? Or resurrections? You won't see a lot of my research in the book, which is what happens so often with research. You do it so that you don't get anything wrong, but there isn't room in a novel to fit in everything you've learned…at least, not without it sounding like info dump. So, you may not realize the work that went into matching up the Greek gods with their counterparts from other cultures, like Hermes being connected not only to Mercury in the Roman pantheon, but to Iemisch, Loki, Coyote, Spider (Unktomi) and all the other trickster gods. Or the research that went into the backstory of one of my secondary characters, which led me to the story of Liu Lei, the legendary dragonkeeper from Chinese folklore. Diving into these old tales was a tremendous amount of fun…almost as much fun as actually writing my heroine Tori Karacis and her death-defying adventures. It brought me back to my college days, except that turning folklore into fiction is so much better than turning in term papers!
I hope, if you're inclined to read, that you enjoy my completely non-academic rendering of myth and magic. If so, help me spread the word!
Bad Blood
, first novel of the Latter-Day OlympiansAvailable June 28, 2011 from Samhain Publishingwww.lucienndiver.com-Kalayna Price
June 8, 2011
What's on your TBR?
Writers are readers, first and foremost. A love of reading is what drives most of us to write and to create stories for others to read and enjoy. So, once in a while I like talk about books on my To Be Read (TBR) pile.Before I go on, I have to say that 'pile' is a rather deceptive word. Try TBR bookshelf. Stacked 2 books thick. I'd post a picture, but I'm almost embarrassed by all the books I want to read but haven't had time yet. There are tons of great books hitting shelves, and I just can't keep up. But that doesn't mean I'm not hugely excited about the books, and Amazon just sent me two new releases I absolutely can't wait to dive into.
The newest additions to the TBR pile? Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews and Hunt the Moon by Karen Chance. Ironically, both are the 5th books in their respective series--series I absolutely adore! I think both books will be skipping to the front of the TBR pile, so all I have to decide is which to read first. ^_~So what are you reading?-Kalayna Price
June 7, 2011
Author Chat with Magical Words
-Kalayna Price
June 6, 2011
Post con wrap-up and My thoughts about sparkly vampires
I'm back from ConCarolinas, and I had an absolutely amazing time. Hands down, this is always one of my favorite cons--it has been for years (since long before I started hitting the circuit as a guest). Why is it so amazing?
The people.
Seriously, the nicest, most amazing writers and readers attend this con. As a full time writer I often feel like a hermit. I occasionally go weeks at a time in which I speak to only one or two other humans. This weekend I was surrounded by interesting people and there was always something happening: panels, lunches, drinks at the bar, parties, ect. Unfortunately, that means I didn't spend as much time at my table as I intended. Several of you mentioned having to stalk the table to finally find me. I hope that everyone who was looking for me did eventually find me and I'm so sorry for not being at my table more. Next year I'll schedule hours I will definitely be at the table and post it so no one has to constantly check in vain.
Anyway, that's not much of a post con wrap-up, but I'm still processing everything and I didn't carry a camera, so I'm not sure what I want to write yet and have no pictures to post. That said, I think I'm finally going to tackle the Stephanie Meyer question that inevitably comes up at every fantasy con: What are my thoughts on the Twilight series?
I'll be honest, I usually avoid this topic like the plague because it is so controversial. I read the first book years ago because 1) I like to know what's hot on the market and 2) people were talking about the series and as I don't discuss books I haven't read. (People talking out of blind ignorance annoys me, so I try not to do it myself.) I do intend to read the rest of the series one day, just so I see the whole picture, but I'll be honest, they haven't made it up the TBR pile yet. That said, my opinion is on only the first book, not the series. So, on to my thoughts:
As much as I will join in a laugh about real vamps not sparkling, I have to say that Meyer answered the question of why vamps don't go out in the sun in a very unique way. Her vamps avoid sunlight (or at least being in sunlight around humans) because they are very obviously not human in the sun. It's different, but I have to give her props on originality. Also, while like most American's inundated with pop culture, I often feel like the two most "true" aspects of the vamp myth which shouldn't be broken are the need for blood and aversion to sun, if you go back and study the real lore about vampires, you'll find that in none of the legends did vamps (or whatever blood-drinker the particular culture sports) burst into flames when exposed to the sun. Vampires being burned by the sun didn't come about until the black and white movie Nosferatu, when it is said the filmmakers ran out of money and needed a way to kill the vampire quickly.
Okay, those are my thoughts on sparkly vampires in particular, but what about the book as a whole? I'll be honest, it's never going to top one of my favorite YA lists, but I can't deny the amazing affect the book had on the market. Vampires, which were headed into a decline, rose again to stalk the charts. But not only that, the YA market exploded! There are some absolutely amazing YA series out there such as Mead's Vampire Academy series and Marr's Wicked Lovely series, that probably wouldn't have gotten the reception they had if Twilight hadn't come first. It didn't break new ground--there was already a YA market, but the upswing that market received was amazing.
On top of that, it got people reading.
Teens (and adults!) who otherwise wouldn't consider themselves readers picked up the books (just like with Harry Potter) and discovered that reading was fun! No writer can complain about that. Especially no writer in my genre, as many of these new readers grow up and migrate into the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genre. So again, I have to give Meyer's major props.
Now, if only I could figure out how she did it . . .
(I still say heroin in the ink ^_~)-Kalayna Price
The people.
Seriously, the nicest, most amazing writers and readers attend this con. As a full time writer I often feel like a hermit. I occasionally go weeks at a time in which I speak to only one or two other humans. This weekend I was surrounded by interesting people and there was always something happening: panels, lunches, drinks at the bar, parties, ect. Unfortunately, that means I didn't spend as much time at my table as I intended. Several of you mentioned having to stalk the table to finally find me. I hope that everyone who was looking for me did eventually find me and I'm so sorry for not being at my table more. Next year I'll schedule hours I will definitely be at the table and post it so no one has to constantly check in vain.
Anyway, that's not much of a post con wrap-up, but I'm still processing everything and I didn't carry a camera, so I'm not sure what I want to write yet and have no pictures to post. That said, I think I'm finally going to tackle the Stephanie Meyer question that inevitably comes up at every fantasy con: What are my thoughts on the Twilight series?
I'll be honest, I usually avoid this topic like the plague because it is so controversial. I read the first book years ago because 1) I like to know what's hot on the market and 2) people were talking about the series and as I don't discuss books I haven't read. (People talking out of blind ignorance annoys me, so I try not to do it myself.) I do intend to read the rest of the series one day, just so I see the whole picture, but I'll be honest, they haven't made it up the TBR pile yet. That said, my opinion is on only the first book, not the series. So, on to my thoughts:
As much as I will join in a laugh about real vamps not sparkling, I have to say that Meyer answered the question of why vamps don't go out in the sun in a very unique way. Her vamps avoid sunlight (or at least being in sunlight around humans) because they are very obviously not human in the sun. It's different, but I have to give her props on originality. Also, while like most American's inundated with pop culture, I often feel like the two most "true" aspects of the vamp myth which shouldn't be broken are the need for blood and aversion to sun, if you go back and study the real lore about vampires, you'll find that in none of the legends did vamps (or whatever blood-drinker the particular culture sports) burst into flames when exposed to the sun. Vampires being burned by the sun didn't come about until the black and white movie Nosferatu, when it is said the filmmakers ran out of money and needed a way to kill the vampire quickly.
Okay, those are my thoughts on sparkly vampires in particular, but what about the book as a whole? I'll be honest, it's never going to top one of my favorite YA lists, but I can't deny the amazing affect the book had on the market. Vampires, which were headed into a decline, rose again to stalk the charts. But not only that, the YA market exploded! There are some absolutely amazing YA series out there such as Mead's Vampire Academy series and Marr's Wicked Lovely series, that probably wouldn't have gotten the reception they had if Twilight hadn't come first. It didn't break new ground--there was already a YA market, but the upswing that market received was amazing.
On top of that, it got people reading.
Teens (and adults!) who otherwise wouldn't consider themselves readers picked up the books (just like with Harry Potter) and discovered that reading was fun! No writer can complain about that. Especially no writer in my genre, as many of these new readers grow up and migrate into the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genre. So again, I have to give Meyer's major props.
Now, if only I could figure out how she did it . . .
(I still say heroin in the ink ^_~)-Kalayna Price
June 1, 2011
The absentee writer reveals her ConCarolinas schedule
Hey guys. Sorry for the total media silence recently. There has been an utter lack of blogging, tweeting, and facebook and I owe several of you emails. I'm hoping to catch up on email before I leave for the con this weekend, but if I can't reply to everyone, some emails might be answered next week--But don't give up on me! I promise I read every single email and I will reply. (Unless the black void of cyberspace ate the email. If you don't hear from me by the end of next week, you might want to re-send.) As far as twitter and facebook: good news! This weekend is ConCarolinas--one of my favorite small regional cons--so I should have plenty to tweet about in the coming days.
If you'll be at the con (and if you're not planning to, you really should consider it) I'd love to meet you/chat. The organizers have scheduled a great line up of panels (and Panelists!) for the writer's track this year, so I'm very excited. Here is my panel schedule:
Saturday 10:00am (Ballroom A): Magic in the City - Trends in paranormal/urban fantasy fiction.
Panelists: Carrie Ryan, J. F. Lewis, Kalayna Price, Jana Oliver, Pamela K. Kinney, Gail Z. Martin,
Marcia Colette
Saturday 06:00pm (Keynes): Vampires Suck! - Are vampires overdone or are there still ways to write fresh vampire fiction?
Panelists: Theresa Bane, Kalayna Price, Rebecca Carter, Faith Hunter, Gail Z. Martin, J. F. Lewis
Saturday 07:00pm (Keynes): Howling at the Moon - Creating characters that are werewolves or other were-creatures.
Panelists: J. F. Lewis, Marcia Colette, Faith Hunter, Kalayna Price, Gail Z. Martin, Pamela K. Kinney
Sunday 01:00pm (Ballroom A): Mythology & Folklore - Borrowing from the past for your writings of the future.
Panelists: Gail Z. Martin, Jana Oliver, Kalayna Price, Stuart Jaffe, Natania Barron, Mason Lavin
Sunday 02:00pm (Ballroom A): Truth is Stranger Than Fiction - How you can use today's headlines in your genre fiction.
Panelists: Chris Berman, Kalayna Price, Harry Turtledove, Wendy S. Delmater
When not on panels (or attending them, really, you have to check out the schedule--it's going to be a great weekend) I'll probably be at my table in the writer's area. I also intend to hang out with the Magical Words gang at their Drop-in lunch gathering Saturday from 1-3pm at Boardwalk Billy's (located just across the pond from the conference hotel). This is an informal social event, so think about joining us for lunch!
I hope to see many of you this weekend. Happy hump day!-Kalayna Price
If you'll be at the con (and if you're not planning to, you really should consider it) I'd love to meet you/chat. The organizers have scheduled a great line up of panels (and Panelists!) for the writer's track this year, so I'm very excited. Here is my panel schedule:
Saturday 10:00am (Ballroom A): Magic in the City - Trends in paranormal/urban fantasy fiction.
Panelists: Carrie Ryan, J. F. Lewis, Kalayna Price, Jana Oliver, Pamela K. Kinney, Gail Z. Martin,
Marcia Colette
Saturday 06:00pm (Keynes): Vampires Suck! - Are vampires overdone or are there still ways to write fresh vampire fiction?
Panelists: Theresa Bane, Kalayna Price, Rebecca Carter, Faith Hunter, Gail Z. Martin, J. F. Lewis
Saturday 07:00pm (Keynes): Howling at the Moon - Creating characters that are werewolves or other were-creatures.
Panelists: J. F. Lewis, Marcia Colette, Faith Hunter, Kalayna Price, Gail Z. Martin, Pamela K. Kinney
Sunday 01:00pm (Ballroom A): Mythology & Folklore - Borrowing from the past for your writings of the future.
Panelists: Gail Z. Martin, Jana Oliver, Kalayna Price, Stuart Jaffe, Natania Barron, Mason Lavin
Sunday 02:00pm (Ballroom A): Truth is Stranger Than Fiction - How you can use today's headlines in your genre fiction.
Panelists: Chris Berman, Kalayna Price, Harry Turtledove, Wendy S. Delmater
When not on panels (or attending them, really, you have to check out the schedule--it's going to be a great weekend) I'll probably be at my table in the writer's area. I also intend to hang out with the Magical Words gang at their Drop-in lunch gathering Saturday from 1-3pm at Boardwalk Billy's (located just across the pond from the conference hotel). This is an informal social event, so think about joining us for lunch!
I hope to see many of you this weekend. Happy hump day!-Kalayna Price
May 18, 2011
GRAVE DANCE excerpt (May addition)
The May addition to the GRAVE DANCE excerpt has now been posted! Click here to read it. I'll be extending the excerpt one more time (in mid-June) and then the book will hit shelves on July 5th. I can't believe we are just over a month and a half from release. In the coming weeks I should have information about blog tours, release parties, and signings, so please stay tuned.
Happy hump-day everyone, and remember to check back later this week for an author chat with Mario Acevedo and clips from last weekend's SC Book Festival.-Kalayna Price
May 17, 2011
First Foreign Cover
I'm very happy to unveil my very first foreign cover. This is the German version of ONCE BITTEN (German title appears to be "The Kiss of Eternity") and I am just floored by how beautiful it is. I will have to figure out how to get my hands on one when it hits shelves this December.
What do you think?
(If you follow my twitter/facebook feed, you might have already spotted this cover, but I just had to share here as well.)
Happy Tuesday everyone! I should have an extended excerpt up tomorrow and videos from the last weekend's SC Book Festival later this week, so check back soon.-Kalayna Price
What do you think?
(If you follow my twitter/facebook feed, you might have already spotted this cover, but I just had to share here as well.)
Happy Tuesday everyone! I should have an extended excerpt up tomorrow and videos from the last weekend's SC Book Festival later this week, so check back soon.-Kalayna Price
May 3, 2011
ARC Winner!
First of all, I want to say thank you everyone who entered! It was awesome to read how you found the books. I wish I could send all of you ARCs!
Okay, on to the announcement you all want to see. And the winner is:
dorien-b who wrote "I believe I found the cover of Grave Witch on All Things Urban Fantasy and kept it in the back of my mind. It was a great cover and the blurb had caught my attention, so when release month came I noticed the cover again."
Congratulations Dorien-b! Please send your shipping information to contests(AT)kalayna(DOT)com and I'll sign the ARC and ship it out to you. To everyone else, thank you again for entering! If you didn't win this time, please check back because I'll be having another contest closer to the release of the book.
Happy Monday Everyone!
(Edit: I've just been informed it's Tuesday--how did that happen? Sorry for the late post!)-Kalayna Price
Okay, on to the announcement you all want to see. And the winner is:
dorien-b who wrote "I believe I found the cover of Grave Witch on All Things Urban Fantasy and kept it in the back of my mind. It was a great cover and the blurb had caught my attention, so when release month came I noticed the cover again."
Congratulations Dorien-b! Please send your shipping information to contests(AT)kalayna(DOT)com and I'll sign the ARC and ship it out to you. To everyone else, thank you again for entering! If you didn't win this time, please check back because I'll be having another contest closer to the release of the book.
Happy Monday Everyone!
(Edit: I've just been informed it's Tuesday--how did that happen? Sorry for the late post!)-Kalayna Price
April 22, 2011
GRAVE DANCE Contest and extended excerpt!
Today all my news is about Grave Dance. You might have seen my earlier tweet that I received a couple of ARCs. I think now is a good time to give one of those copies away, don't you?
What is up for grabs: An ARC (advanced reading copy) of Grave Dance. These are pre-pageproof copies, so there are some uncorrected mistakes and a few very minor text changes.
How to win: Leave a comment telling me how you first found me and my books. I'm just curios. ^_^ Only comments left on the blogspot blog will count toward entry, so if you are reading this post somewhere else, please stop by THE BLOG.
When to win: The contest will close April 30th at 11:59pm EST, so be sure to get your entry in before then.
Who is eligible to win: I'm willing to ship overseas, so the contest is open internationally. Anyone who has not already read or received a copy of Grave Dance, and who is not related to me or my critique partners is eligible to win!
Okay, I think that about covers it as far as the contest goes. If you'd like a little more Alex before the contest winner is announced, go check out the EXCERPT. I just extended the excerpt and uploaded the entire first scene. I hope you enjoy!
(Note* Grave Dance is the second Alex Craft novel and the excerpt includes some spoilers from the first book, so if you haven't read GRAVE WITCH yet, please check it out first!)
Good Luck Everyone and Happy Friday!-Kalayna Price
What is up for grabs: An ARC (advanced reading copy) of Grave Dance. These are pre-pageproof copies, so there are some uncorrected mistakes and a few very minor text changes. How to win: Leave a comment telling me how you first found me and my books. I'm just curios. ^_^ Only comments left on the blogspot blog will count toward entry, so if you are reading this post somewhere else, please stop by THE BLOG.
When to win: The contest will close April 30th at 11:59pm EST, so be sure to get your entry in before then.
Who is eligible to win: I'm willing to ship overseas, so the contest is open internationally. Anyone who has not already read or received a copy of Grave Dance, and who is not related to me or my critique partners is eligible to win!
Okay, I think that about covers it as far as the contest goes. If you'd like a little more Alex before the contest winner is announced, go check out the EXCERPT. I just extended the excerpt and uploaded the entire first scene. I hope you enjoy!
(Note* Grave Dance is the second Alex Craft novel and the excerpt includes some spoilers from the first book, so if you haven't read GRAVE WITCH yet, please check it out first!)
Good Luck Everyone and Happy Friday!-Kalayna Price
March 28, 2011
Do you listen to your books?
Audio books were something I never gave a lot of thought to. Oh, I'd listened to one or two over the years, but I always preferred to read a book. That has started to change over last year. I can't really pinpoint a single event, but I would say the amount of traveling I've been doing had something to do with this change. Anyway, sometime last year I started listening to audio books in the car. Then I brought them inside and started listening to them while I cooked, or made buttons, or any task that took both my hands but not my full attention. Now I wouldn't say I'd rather listen to a book over read it, but I definitely enjoy being able to multi-task.
All that said, when the audio rights for both the Alex Craft and Haven series recently sold, I was a lot more excited than I probably would have been in previous years. Who will the reader be? What kind of voices will she give the characters? What will Alex/Kita/Nathanial/Falin/Death/Bobby/Tatius/etc . . . sound like? In short, I'm very anxiously awaiting hearing the audio versions.
And for Grave Witch, that wait is almost over.
The audio rights for the first three Alex Craft novels were picked up by the great folks over at Tantor Audio. Grave Witch will be read by Emily Durante and the release is set for next month (April). This will be my very first audio release (though I should have more to announce shortly) so I'm all but beside myself. I get the feeling listening to my book on audio will be quite an experience.
With this release, I also have another first to look forward to--my very first alternate cover. I had no idea the audio release would get its own cover, so I was completely shocked when my editor sent me a cover for approval. It is a different look for Alex, but I think it is totally eye catching and absolutely gorgeous. I have been given the green light to share so I am very pleased to unveil the audio release cover art:
What do you think? (click image to enlarge) And back to the question in the title of this post: Do you listen to audio books?
Happy Monday!-Kalayna Price
All that said, when the audio rights for both the Alex Craft and Haven series recently sold, I was a lot more excited than I probably would have been in previous years. Who will the reader be? What kind of voices will she give the characters? What will Alex/Kita/Nathanial/Falin/Death/Bobby/Tatius/etc . . . sound like? In short, I'm very anxiously awaiting hearing the audio versions.
And for Grave Witch, that wait is almost over.
The audio rights for the first three Alex Craft novels were picked up by the great folks over at Tantor Audio. Grave Witch will be read by Emily Durante and the release is set for next month (April). This will be my very first audio release (though I should have more to announce shortly) so I'm all but beside myself. I get the feeling listening to my book on audio will be quite an experience.
With this release, I also have another first to look forward to--my very first alternate cover. I had no idea the audio release would get its own cover, so I was completely shocked when my editor sent me a cover for approval. It is a different look for Alex, but I think it is totally eye catching and absolutely gorgeous. I have been given the green light to share so I am very pleased to unveil the audio release cover art:
What do you think? (click image to enlarge) And back to the question in the title of this post: Do you listen to audio books?
Happy Monday!-Kalayna Price
