Kameron Hurley's Blog, page 31

Awards Eligibility and Recommendations

I’ve never been keen on listing eligible works, especially when I don’t have many, but I keep fielding questions about this on Twitter, so here’s a post I can point ya’ll toinstead of endlessly rehashing.

Ok?

Ready.

Set.

Go.

BEST NOVEL (all)

RAPTURE, my last book, came out in 2012, so isn’t eligible for any 2013 awards. Nor is the series as a whole (but it was eligible last year. Spilled milk, my friends!). However, I encourage everyone to vote for:

ANCILLARY JUSTICE by Ann Leckie

AJ can also be nomi...

God’s War Wicked Winter Carnival

In celebration of the mass market release of God’s War in the UK (my first mass market release!), I’ll be visiting a bunch of blog-dens, releasing a new Nyx short story (set during the 7 year gap between chapters 4 and 5 of God’s War), swinging by Reddit, and even getting out of the house for my lone con this year.

If you’re in the UK or have friends in the UK, now, my friends, is time to purchase forty copies of God’s War.If you’re in the US and haven’t read it yet, well, no excuses. It’s 201...

Rollicking 2013 Roundup: My Life as a Grimdark Video Game

This was a hell of a long year for me; much of it felt like grinding through some hellish video game where every time you leveled up on one skill – say, your ability with a mace – you somehow actually *lost* stats on another skill, like your skill with an ax.

And then you were wildly swinging with the wrong weapon, making tiny steps forward while trailing great gobs of blood behind you.

Framing my life this way feels strangely apropos right now at the end of a long year, though it all liklihood...

The Body Project, a Prelude (or, your body is a battlefield)

My body has always been a place of battle.

When I was younger, it was personal, self-inflicted strife encouraged by schoolyard taunts of “water buffalo!” and “pig!” supplemented by family matriarchs who were permanently obsessed with the width of their own asses (and, very often, mine and that of my siblings), despite advanced degrees, working class jobs that soon became high-powered ones, and increasing awards and honors.

Near-death helped me put my body project into perspective. Three or four...

Making Excuses for Science Fiction: Available in December’s Locus Mag

My article, “Making Excuses for Science Fiction” is in the December edition of Locus Magazine, now available for your reading pleasure (for those who haven’t bought a digital copy yet).

“Telling people who don’t read science fiction and fantasy that I write it is still awkward. My mom used to tell people I wrote “novels like Stephen King,” even though I can’t watch a movie more supernaturally terrifying than Ghostbusters without enduring fierce nightmares, insomnia, and night sweats. I prefer...

No Sleep Til 2014

As of tonight I’ll be ducking offline until January, primarily because I have a big social media blitz planned that month (I’ll be spending December writing 22 guest posts that will come out in January. Really). I’ve also got a few things I’m juggling right now, and some work to do regarding my day job career, which is going to take some headspace.

Folks often ask me how I can juggle dayjob copywriting and fiction writing and the answer is that sometimes I spend more time focused on one than t...

Who cares? On the importance of banter and character-driven narrative

I’ve been dutifully churning through episodes of Leverage, a sort of modern-day Mission Impossible where a bunch of thieves go about righting wrongs caused to individuals by The Man (big corporations). But though I enjoyed the concept, I just wasn’t getting into the show. I just didn’t care enough about the people involved in it. They didn’t seem to care much, either. I didn’t get any of them had anything better to do, anyway.

After the first episode, the show seemed to forget that it was abou...

Forgotten Fantasy Favorites: The Golden Key

The Golden Key is a lush, stand-alone epic fantasy novel I picked up back in the hazy 90’s because it was co-written by some of my favorite fantasy authors in my teens: Kate Elliott, Jennifer Roberson, and Melanie Rawn.

This summary from TV Tropes is pretty good, though it forgets some key characters, which I’ll get to after the quote:

“(The Golden Key) traces a family of painters who, by nature of their Gifts, can influence events around them. In the Grijalva family, the Gifted males are usual...

INFIDEL UK Cover Reveal, and GOD’S WAR Mass Market Cover

Covers! Covers! Covers!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about release dates for the second two books in the Bel Dame Apocrypha over in the UK.

INFIDEL is set for May 1st, 2014 (with ebook possibly before then), and RAPTURE scheduled for the year after (sorry!). The good news is I have a cover reveal here for you already (I love the hornets, I won’t lie):

And, coming January 2014 we also have the alt format (UK version of mass market, basically) GOD’S WAR lined up, now with shiny new alt cov...

Movie Roundup: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The upside to a nine-hour flight is that I got to catch up on a lot of movies on the way back. Here’s a round-up of what I saw, with rec’s as necessary:

Good Fun

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

I wasn’t going to touch this movie with a ten foot pole, but a lot of people recommended it as good, campy fun. I suspect that this movie is what Bloodrayne should have been – a fun, silly romp that didn’t take itself too seriously. The script was silly, the premise was silly, and the actors all knew it wa...