Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 110

Housekeeping, Fountain Bookstore, and More

The video above is a promo I shot for Fountain Bookstore in their basement, with blooper at end. I highly recommend Fountain, and they may still have signed copies of Finch and Booklife; if you live in Richmond, check them out–great owner and staff. Just look at the cool display they did for Finch, for my reading there:

…But there's an additional purpose to this post, as the end of the year closes in on us. Some reminders and other housekeeping.

- Victoria Blake at Underland Press is offering a...

Madras Press Tiny Editions: Perfect Stealth Gift for Holidays

Okay, so maybe these tiny books from Madras Press featuring original stories by Aimee Bender, Sumanth Prabhaker (the founder of the press), Trinie Dalton, and Rebecca Lee wouldn't make it to their destinations in time for Christmas, but probably by New Year's. You can't find them on Amazon or anywhere except the press's website and some indie bookstores. Which makes them great stealth gifts. They're beautifully produced and I've read all four–great writing, lovely design. Sumanth had a story ...

Finch and Booklife: Bring 'Em Home for the Holidays?

Just a note that although Finch and Booklife have both gone back to reprint due to brisk sales, they should still be available in most bookstores. Also, Finch will be a featured selection of Indiebound in January, apparently, so support your indie bookstores by picking it up there if you can. (If you want to give me a holiday gift, btw, go to Amazon and write a review of Finch.)

Finch is out from Grove Atlantic in the UK/British Commonwealth in August of next year, and Booklife from A&C Black ...

Signing My Booklife on Tour: "Zombie boy doesn't need brains."

Because I'd never done a five-week book tour (44 days including the World Fantasy Convention), I decided to bring a copy of my writing strategy guide Booklife with me that anyone I met could sign–at the events and outside of them. Even though I forgot to take it to a few of the 30-plus gigs and even though not everyone at the events signed the book, I wound up with an amazing memory of the tour–over 800 signatures, many with drawings, several of the personalizations hilarious. The vast...

Review of N. K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Orbit Books, 2010)

Jeff suggested to me yesterday that he'd be all right with me posting this before Friday, so I hope this entry is not ill-timed. If it is, Jeff, feel free to take it down!

Now here's the review:

More spheres floated in this room, dozens of them. They were fantastically varied—of all shapes and sizes and colors—turning slowly and drifting through the air. They seemed to be nothing more than a child's toys, until I looked closely at one and saw clouds swirling over its surface.

Sieh hovered near...

Endurance Book Tour Book Haul: Five Weeks of Acquisitions

(A book on Nabokov's work I hadn't yet acquired, and an indie chapbook bought in Portland's Powell's Books.)

I thought I'd been most reasonable as to my book-buyin' ways while on tour, but when confronted with the full weight of my acquisitions, it became clear I'd been a little profligate in my purchases. Still, some of these were snatched for free from the National Book Awards, some given for free by various booksellers at the bookstores in which I hawked my Finch and my Booklife. Others...

Thanks to the Ecstatic Days Guest Bloggers!!

As I've already noted, I have absolutely LOVED the guest blogging over the past five weeks. (Some of which may continue into tomorrow and Friday.) I've enjoyed the diversity of opinions and posts, and going forward it's given me ideas for expanding the scope of the blog.

I'm a little too tired to compile all of the names, but if each guest blogger would leave a comment on this post with some info on their current work or projects and any relevant URLs, I'm sure readers of Ecstatic Days would a...

Flotsam and Jetsam from a Book Tour…

(Some of the flotsam brought back–things people gave me, places I went, hotels I stayed in, traffic tickets I got, and more. Not including the cookies Emily Jiang baked for me or the fig bread Caren Gussoff made. Or the freebie books all the great indie bookstores gifted me with. For a larger version of the photo, click here.)

I thought I'd be getting away from book tour stuff soon, but the fact is that when you're away from home for 44 days, things pile up and even the things you bring back ...

Look on with Awe: Bellysnatcher Approacheth

Some of Eric Orchard's stunning art for a collaboration he and I are working on called Bellysnatcher, based on a dream I had. We're not worrying about grade level at the moment. Just creating the darn thing. The other stuff will sort itself out. I'll be done with the story part in about a month.

Worrying Out of Order

Will Hindmarch is a freelance writer and designer. He also blogs at The Gist and Gameplaywright.net.

[Thanks to Jeff VanderMeer for lending out his venue during the marathon Finch/Booklife tour, and thanks to all my fellow guest bloggers for thoughtful and thought-provoking reads these past few weeks.:]

With ever-fewer exceptions, modern writers must also be modern marketers, presenting not only their works to their readers, but their identity as writers. Some books sell because of their...