Kameron Hurley's Blog, page 25

THE HURLEY ARCHIVES: Archiving Papers at NIU

So this summer I was approached by a couple of folks asking about archiving my papers. This was, as you’d imagine (especially those of you who’ve been reading this blog for ten years) a rather surreal experience for me. The first time I thought it was a fluke. The second time, I was genuinely confused. Who would be interested in this stuff, really? But I suppose you never know how an author’s career will turn out, and folks like to lock things up early just in case.

Itdid require me to sit dow...

The Words Don’t All Have to be Right: Writing and Rewriting

I’m writing about a book a year right now.

With a day job and freelancing work on top of my novel writing, that’s about all I can manage. Next year’s schedule has me writing at least one book in just eight months, which a lot of folks who write four or more books a year are probably laughing at, but my work is known for its worldbuilding, and to be brutally honest, coming up with the worlds I do without starting to repeat myself like a parrot would be impossible with any more than a book a yea...

I Love Writing Books. So I Need to Get Better at Writing Them

I read a really spectacular Advance Reader Copy yesterday of a book called THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT (out Sept, 2015. I’ll talk more about it then). I was hooked from the first page and cried through the first 40 pages. It’s a tragedy in the traditional sense, like Madame Bovary or Macbeth (or Mass Effect 3!). You know everyone is fucking doomed. You know it from the first forty pages, and the inevitability of that, of knowing that to “win” in this book, for the protagonist, means the endura...

MIRROR EMPIRE Back in Print! Holiday Giveaway

After a tough few weeks (we sold out of the first printing in, like, a month) I’m pleased to announce that THE MIRROR EMPIRE is back in print!

That means it should be showing up at your favorite bookstores (not just B&N) today or later this week. Amazon, B&N, Booksamillion already show it available, and any bookstore you ask should be able to order it for you no problem now.

As the holidays are upon us, I wanted to celebrate! Most of you may have already bought your paper copies of THE MIRROR E...

Books You Should Be Reading

As I’m bouncing up and down about MIRROR EMPIRE finally being back in stock at the distributor, here’s some other great titles I’ve enjoyed this year that YOU SHOULD BE READING:

WAIT FOR IT

WAIT

YES THESE ONES:

Usually, a guy with a hood is not a good sign. Not so here.

CITY OF STAIRS

By Robert Jackson Bennett

Unless you live under a tree, you’ve probably heard me rant and rave about this one. Last year I talked a lot about ANCILLARY JUSTICE (pssst sequel out now!) and why you should read it. This y...

When Trolls Attack: Hunting the “Kinder, Gentler” Internet Unicorn

I was listening to the SF Squeecast yesterday when the topic of the “kinder, gentler” days of the internet came up. I’m part of a generation of writers and bloggers who came of age in the early days of blogging, when everything was fresh and new and you clicked the “next” button on Blogger to find new blogs, or accepted LJ invites from friends that pulled you into the rabbit hole of TMI.

I’ve heard a lot of folks talking about how the internet has become some sort of rage shitstorm of abuse an...

When Trolls Attack: Hunting the “Kindler, Gentler” Internet Unicorn

I was listening to the SF Squeecast yesterday when the topic of the “kinder, gentler” days of the internet came up. I’m part of a generation of writers and bloggers who came of age in the early days of blogging, when everything was fresh and new and you clicked the “next” button on Blogger to find new blogs, or accepted LJ invites from friends that pulled you into the rabbit hole of TMI.

I’ve heard a lot of folks talking about how the internet has become some sort of rage shitstorm of abuse an...

How Being a Corporate Copywriter Made Me a Better Novelist

When many fiction writers hear I write marketing and advertising copy for a living, they’ll inevitably ask, “Isn’t it hard to write corporate copy all day and fiction all night? Aren’t you burned out by the time you get home?”

Folks generally tell me the story of a web designer or illustrator who’s so burned out after working on corporate projects all day that they don’t have the headspace to work on personal projects. But for me, corporate copywriting and writing novels are very, very differe...

THE MIRROR EMPIRE In-Stock Date: NOVEMBER 11th (U.S.)

The publishing wheels grind and grind and grind, and now we have an official back-in-stock-date for THE MIRROR EMPIRE. As most folks know, my publisher, Angry Robot, was up for sale this summer at the behest of its parent company, Osprey, which resulted in a bit of a business interruption while they were transferred over to their new owner.

THE MIRROR EMPIRE did far better than I think any of us anticipated, and sold out of its first US and UK print runs in… a month? Six weeks? Something insan...

On Becoming What You Hate, Redux

When I was 18 I was living in a shitty apartment, far from home, with an emotionally abusive boyfriend. I felt totally powerless in my own life. I contemplated suicide often. I would learn, later, that taking birth control pills had caused a debilitating state of depression, one I simply could not shake, no matter how much I willed it. Being mentally fucked up by my medication and entangled in an ongoing bullshit relationship with an asshole left me feeling I had no control over my own life.

S...