Kay Kenyon's Blog, page 17
March 7, 2014
Conversations: My blog tour
The raja’s magical white tigers.
Please join me for my virtual tour! Beginning Tuesday, March 11, I’ll be showing up at some blogs, talking about books, writing, and fantasy.
Beginning Tuesday, check out the giveaway at the sites below: $50 in an Amazon gift card or Pay Pal cash.
And if you like this picture, I’ll be posting more on Pinterest throughout the tour.
Here is the schedule:
Tuesday, March 11 – Friday, March 21
Tues, March 11th
I Am A Reader – Interview
Vonnie’s Reading Corner – Review
Auggie-Talk – Interview
BookHounds – Spotlight
Wed, March 12th
Booknerd – Review
Cici’s Theories – Spotlight
Fire and Ice Reads – Guest Post, My Victorian World
Thurs, March 13th
MichaelSciFan – Interview
The Opinionated Me – Spotlight
Kelly P’s Blog – Spotlight
Fri, March 14th
Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys – Spotlight
The Wonderings of One Person – Interview
For Writers, For Readers, For You – Spotlight
Sat, March 15th
Jemima Pett, author – Review
The Literary Melting Pot – Review
Katie’s Clean Book Collection – Spotlight
I Love to Read and Review Books 
– Spotlight
Wed, March 19th
Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews – Spotlight
Bibliophile Mystery – Spotlight
Doodles, doodles everywhere – Spotlight
Thurs, March 20th
Juliababyjen’s Reading Room – Review
Mythical Books – Guest Post, Fantasy Mixed with History
Curling Up With A Good Book – Review
StoreyBook Reviews – Spotlight
Fri, March 21st
Chick with Books – Review
The Serious Reader – Guest Post, Experiencing Exotic Places: Through the Heroine’s Eyes
Fire & Ice – Review
#SFWApro
February 17, 2014
Best little writing conference around
You gotta love it. Write on the River in Wenatchee. Join us in wine country May 16-18 for sunshine, workshops, exciting teachers, and the great Jess Walter.
Featuring:
Jess Walter, Keynoter. Friday evening, May 16. Author of Beautiful Ruins. Walter is brilliant and funny, humble and inspiring. Meet Jess and enjoy an evening of words and wine. Separate tickets to this event only $15.
Guest agent, Andrea Hurst who will hear pitches and talk about Crafting Fiction and Memoir that sells.
Sunday Master class and Saturday story engineering class with Larry Brooks, author of Story 
Physics and the Wolf Schmidt thriller Deadly Faux.
Guest Editor Beth Bacon from Booktrope, a hybrid publisher that has the chops to produce a quality book, put together a marketing team, and share the revenues with the author.
Plus: Nonfiction with Wendy Call and Peter Stark, science fiction and fantasy with Nancy Kress and Jack Skillingstead, fiction with Craig English, social media with Jason Brick, YA writing with Suzanne Selfors and much more!
Registration now open!
@SFWAauthors
February 7, 2014
On the road
I’ll be getting around a bit in the next several weeks. Love to see some of you at these events: (I realize I live in the upper left hand corner of the country . . . but hey, how about San Diego?)
Pybus Market Author Signing. Wenatchee, WA. Saturday, Feb 8, 11:00- 2:00 p.m.Think Locals First! I’ll be at Pybus farmers market to sign with fifteen other local writers. Authors include Derek Sheffield, Bill Layman, Robert Wells, Patricia Clark, Theresa Monsey. Door prizes and a book buzz!
Wenatchee High School Journalism Class Fundraiser. Pybus Market, Wenatchee, WA. Thursday, Feb 13, 6:30.All proceeds to WHS nationally acclaimed publication, Apple Leaf, and year book. Dave Herald from Sunny FM will MC, and I’ll be giving a nice little talk on what to believe and not believe about being a novelist.
Radcon SciFi/Fantasy Convention. Pasco, WA. Feb 14-16.Guest of Honor Mike Resnick! Yes, the great man is coming to Eastern Washington, and we are ready! Here’s my schedule.
Fri Feb 14 – 12:30 – 2:30. Kennewick High School visitFri Feb 14. Plots Within PlotsSat Feb 15. AutographingSat Feb 15. Alternate HistorySat Feb 15. Dropping the World (avoiding info-dumps)Sat Feb 15. Kay reads from A Thousand Perfect Things
Feb 14, 2014 12:00pm – Feb 16, 2014 5:00pm – See more at: http://www.kaykenyon.com/about-kay-ke...
Fri Feb 14 – 12:30 – 2:30. Kennewick High School visitFri Feb 14. Plots Within PlotsSat Feb 15. AutographingSat Feb 15. Alternate HistorySat Feb 15. Dropping the World (avoiding info-dumps)Sat Feb 15. Kay reads from A Thousand Perfect Things
Feb 14, 2014 12:00pm – Feb 16, 2014 5:00pm – See more at: http://www.kaykenyon.com/about-kay-ke...
Fri Feb 14 – 12:30 – 2:30. Kennewick High School visit
Fri Feb 14. Plots Within Plots
Sat Feb 15. Autographing
Sat Feb 15. Alternate History
Sat Feb 15. Dropping the World (avoiding info-dumps)
Sat Feb 15. Kay reads from A Thousand Perfect Things
Condor. San Diego. Mar 21-24.Another great SFF con. Sunny San Diego this time. I’ll be there. Hope to see some of you!
#SFWApro
Fri Feb 14 – 12:30 – 2:30. Kennewick High School visitFri Feb 14. Plots Within PlotsSat Feb 15. AutographingSat Feb 15. Alternate HistorySat Feb 15. Dropping the World (avoiding info-dumps)Sat Feb 15. Kay reads from A Thousand Perfect Things
Feb 14, 2014 12:00pm – Feb 16, 2014 5:00pm – See more at: http://www.kaykenyon.com/about-kay-ke...
January 26, 2014
Tori Harding: A Victorian Heroine
While writers strive for a dramatic plot, stories are always about people and their relationships to each other. Here’s a character sketch from my notebook on the protagonist of A Thousand Perfect Things. Available in paper and the eBook at $5.99.
___________________________
In 1857 Tori Harding is eighteen years old. She lives in world where magic has lately invaded her country, escaping from a mystical continent called Bharata.
Tori is a devoted student of her grandfather, Sir Charles Littlewood/ She has a passionate love of science and especially botany, a discipline learned from Sir Charles. She suffers from a club foot, and this infirmity has oddly made it acceptable for her to train in science, since she has little hope of marriage.
Far too used to expressing her opinions, Tori can be brash in social settings, something she tries (a little) to control for the sake of her sister (Jessa’s) need for a suitable match and in light of her mother’s relentless social agenda to brighten Jessa’s hopes.
Although she has formerly been content with her apprentice status, her grandfather’s approaching death raises the issue of her future in botany. She is aware this may be an unsupportable dream. But Sir Charles’s theory of extra-ordinary mental states and the lines of scientific inquiry they open galvanizes her. If no one else will credit the theory, perhaps this is her opportunity to make her mark.
Her desire is so strong she fends off reality: her grandfather is losing his stature through age and infirmity 
and, not least, through his growing obsession with theories of magical paths of knowledge. (In this story, an alternate England called Anglica is relentlessly scientific, dismissing spiritualism, religion and intuitive states.) Further dimming her prospects, the scientific societies of the day, which control access to publication and professional endorsement, do not accept women in their precincts.
Despite her scientific ambitions, Tori is not without doubts. Deeply suppressed is a yearning for a love relationship. While she doesn’t want a conventional marriage with its strictures, she does yearn for a great love in her life. Meeting Edmond Muir-Smith (a suitor to Jessa) heightens this internal conflict.
When she reaches the magical continent (Bharata, an alternate India) with her father’s regiment, she will enter a journey into both the dark reaches of the jungle and her own heart to learn how narrow are her old Victorian principals and how wide the world–and her reach–can be.
___________________________
A Thousand Perfect Things. A Victorian woman takes on magical beasts, ghosts and the British Raj.
#SFWAauthors
January 18, 2014
Good books lately
I’ve curled up with some lovely reads lately. Here’s a list of my recommended reads, ranging from fantasy to mystery, thriller and suspense.
Deadly Faux – Larry Brooks
This ingenious thriller features one of the genre’s best characters, Wolf Schmidt. He’s cynical, out for himself, and has a mouth that will kill him someday – but he’s also sweet, scary smart and sexy. Brooks keeps him believably on the edge of truly appalling danger, while getting laughs in all the right places. For a double treat, pick up the first Schmidt book, Bait and Switch. (Thriller)
Hull Zero Three – Greg Bear
A wildly inventive story of a generation ship run amok. I loved how the main character grew, coming into his memories and his humanity. This was accomplished with a deft touch, humor and mystery. The generation ship is a sheer marvel, technically wondrous and fittingly strange. Stunning work. One of Greg Bear’s best. (Science Fiction)
Royal Airs – Sharon Shinn
In this elegant return to the world of Elemental Blessings, Sharon Shinn brings out all her hallmarks: tight characterization, deeply personal plots threads, surprise, and delicious romance. Her writing, as always, is buttery smooth, the dialogue delicious. By the end, her ensemble cast all feel like your long-time friends. How does she Do this? (Fantasy)
Sacrifice at Sea – Susan Wingate
A compulsively readable mystery set on a cruise ship soaked in sun, love, and evil. It entwines romantic and rocky relationships with murder, sex, stalking, and all those fun rum drinks! A perfect escape from the winter doldrums. The novel is her third in the Bobby’s Diner series, and although I hadn’t read the first two, Wingate made it easy to feel welcome among her strong ongoing cast. (Mystery)
The Paris Architect -Charles Belfoure
A World War II thriller about a cynical architect who finds himself risking his life to hide Jews fleeing the Gestapo in Paris. The hiding scenes are filled with terror, and the journey of one man from self-interest to self-sacrifice was a surprise move, boldly handled. The Germans are portrayed with the usual stereotyping–one longs for a worthy antagonist–but the book was nevertheless hard to put down. (Suspense)
#SFWAAuthors
January 13, 2014
What are you talking about?
Theme is a loaded word. In fiction, it aroused the suspicion that we’re preaching about something. Can’t we just give the story a compelling plot and great characters? Why should there be a theme?
The Golden Theme: How to Make Writing Appeal to the Highest Common Denominator
The answer, I’ve been learning, is that theme is to help clarify for the writer, why she or he is writing the book. And what the book will be about, boiled down to its essence.
I usually come into a novel’s theme after working on concept and characters for a couple weeks at the outset of my planning process, I develop/recognize the book’s theme about then, and it guides the major decisions of the plot and much of the execution.
In fact, theme has guided every book I’ve written since 2008. Because of Brian McDonald.
At a memorable Write on the River conference a few years ago, Brian McDonald conducted a workshop on the subject of theme in fiction and screenwriting. Many of his examples came from film, which is a tighter medium than a long novel–but still, I came away challenged by the idea to state “what I’m talking about” in one sentence.
Regarding the statement of your theme, McDonald says: “That simple sentence tells you what to do. It says that your story must have a reason to be told – a theme. That’s what the conclusion is. In its most simple form, it is the moral of an Aesop fable. Every piece of the story is leading to that conclusion. All elements are there to support the author’s point.”
Are we going to hit the reader over the head with a lesson? No. McDonald maintains that we must be subtle. “The reader won’t know what the theme is, but the writer knows.” The reader will recognize an appropriate, cohesive, satisfying film or story. But as the author you will know the armature (McDonald’s term) and it will shape your decisions about what to pursue and what to leave out.
E.g., in ET, the theme was: “Eliott needs to learn empathy.” In Tootsie, “Wearing a dress has made you a better man.” In the James Bond film Skyfall, the theme was “Sometimes the old ways are best.” (In fact, watch for that line toward the end of the film. It slips in in a way that most people will not even recognize that the theme has just been explicitly stated.
(I won’t tell you the themes of my books, though. The reader isn’t supposed to figure it out unless they really work at it!)
Great stuff on theme on McDonald’s blog Invisible Ink and in his terrific book, The Golden Theme
This is an updated version of a blog post from January of last year. I brought it back for a re-blog, because I think this is a great subject!
#SFWAAuthors
January 1, 2014
Excellent things that happened to me in 2013
Before we utterly leave behind the old year, I’m looking back in gratitude. I often remember the tough parts of the year: the set backs, the worries. Not today! I’m lookin’ at the good stuff, and making a proper list.
JAN: Started on a new novel idea. As I pulled the strands together, fell in love with it. A gift!
FEB: Shopped for a dress to wear for son’s wedding. (OK, it’s not about the dress. . .)
MAR: My publisher put the exact right cover on my upcoming book. (Thanks for all the help here on this blog!) Also published a short story, “The Spires of Greme,” in Solaris Rising 2.
APR: Went canoeing on the Columbia River (near my house) for the first time. Serene and beautiful!
MAY: An exciting Write on the River conference. We broke even! JA JAnce a hit. Thanks to the amazing Robert Dugoni for joining us.
Robert Dugoni
JULY: Ten people for a family weekend of good food, highly competitive badminton and schmoozing into the night on the patio. My cat hated it and was very bad in my den. (OK, that part was not excellent.)
AUG: Publication of A Thousand Perfect Things to great reception!
AUG: Son’s wedding in La Jolla. A tender and lovely day, with ceremony in a beautiful old Epsicopal Chapel. Wow.
With Greg and Perter Orullian.
SEPT-OCT: Intense and fun launch activities for new book. I’m back in the game with WorldCon in San Antonio, event in Seattle with Greg Bear, with Terry Brooks in Portland. Thanks to John O’Neil of Black Gate Magazine, Susan Wingate, Larry Brooks, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Tim Ward & John Dodds and so many more. (Check out my post at Black Gate, my interview at Adventures in SciFi Publishing.)
DEC: TDO and I spend a month in the desert, relaxing, hiking, golf and nights watching the star display in the cold, clear dark. That will set you straight!
Thank you, 2013, for everything.
#SFWAAuthors
December 22, 2013
Top Writing the World Posts of 2013
Courage, faith, balance. Essentials for the writing life
This year on my blog I’ve had fun sharing my views, exploring the writing industry and tracking the launch of my new book.
I’m very grateful to those of you who drop by from time to time check out the goings on and say hello. It’s nice to know we’re not alone in this rather hermit-like practice of writing.
So, many thanks for helping to make this a great year, one for which I am deeply thankful, at least today, when I consider how blessed I am to be able to write stories and have contact with so many friends and acquaintances!
#SFWAAuthors
The Best of My Blog This Year.
My Novel Meets the Hated Elevator Pitch
An Introvert’s Guide to Writing, Part 8
On Incurably Loving the Beginnings of Novels
My Favorite:
Me and (trust me) Tobias Buckell at World Con
December 17, 2013
Sleeping Hedgehog interview
This week Camille Alexa reviewed A Thousand Perfect Things for Sleeping Hedgehog: A Journal of An Untraditional Nature, the sister publication to Green Man Review. She followed it up with an interview.
Check it out here, where I talk frankly about:
The line of characters waiting in the wing to grace or sabotage your story.
My terrifying swings of opinion on the subject of characterization.
My favorite characters.
Why you must go to the desert to write.
My theory of the short story.
Camille Alexa on my new novel:
“A Thousand Perfect Things, drew me along somewhat slowly at first, but partway through turned into one of those reading experiences you hate to leave, so you avoid work and skip dates and stay awake all night till you finish. I loved her heady mix of romance, history, action & adventure — a real mélange of both exotic and domestic flavors, blended like a fine imported tea.”
#SFWAAuthors
December 10, 2013
Best 2013 things
The year was amazing. Hard to pick the best things, but I’ll try:
Best literary novel: Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walter.
Best SFF: American Elsewhere, Robert Jackson Bennett
Best first word from a child: warthog
Best sight: Early December in my garden: a red rose frozen solid and perfectly unfurled.
Best book store: A Book For all Seasons in Leavenworth, WA; here I am at Indie Authors First, Small Business Saturday at the store, handselling other people’s books.
Best TV series: Foyle’s War
Best espionage: The Spies of Warsaw, Alan Furst
Best trip: San Diego for son’s wedding at the lovely Bishop School in La Jolla
Best historical: Benedict Hall, Cate Campbell
Best best-seller: Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
Best big conference: Worldcon, San Antonio
Best little conference: Write on the River, Wenatchee WA (OK, biased!)
Best book cover: My lovely A Thousand Perfect Things (OK, biased again!)
Best unexpected nice thing: The Ingram sales rep said he Loved A Thousand Perfect Things
Best reading event: With Larry Brooks in Portland, SFWA Reading series
Best Interview: Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing with John Dodd and Timothy Ward
#SFWAAuthors
Sept, 2013 podcast interview from John Dodds and Tim Ward. My decision to write fantasy after 10 SF novels; my main character’s dilemma of love vs. ambition and what it says about women today; finding peace in the writing life. – See more at: http://www.kaykenyon.com/about-kay-ke...
