Martha Wells's Blog, page 149

Many Books

So far this week I've made potato leek soup, and chicken with mushroom and red wine gravy. We're still sort of having a cold front, in that it's only getting up to 86 during the day and going down to nearly 60 at night. Hoping it stays that way through the weekend.

Not much else going on right now except writing and cleaning the house. And getting back into aerobics class after a two week break over WorldCon. The instructor came back from training with a new obsession for dynamic planks, which has been kind of rough.

Oh, the sixth season of The Guild starts October 2!

Books:

The Tainted City by Courtney Schafer. This is the sequel to the The Whitefire Crossing, which I loved and gave a blurb to: A tense adventure fantasy with magic, intrigue, engaging characters in a desperate race to cross a deadly mountain range -- an exciting original read.

Forgot to mention that The Emperor's Knife by Mazarkis Williams is out in paperback now. 'A riveting and intense debut ... compelling characterizations will keep fans of grim fantasy entirely enthralled' Publisher's Weekly.

The first two books from Strange Chemistry, Angry Robot's new YA line, are out. (This is the publisher who will be doing my book Emilie and the Hollow World next April:

Blackwood by Gwenda Bond.
On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back.

Miranda, a misfit girl from the island's most infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony. The one thing they can't dodge is each other.

Shift by Kim Curran.
When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he's not so average after all. He's a 'Shifter'. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he's ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

Near+Far by Cat Rambo.
Whether set in terrestrial oceans or on far-off space stations, Cat Rambo's masterfully told stories explore themes of gender, despair, tragedy, and the triumph of both human and non-human alike. Cats talk, fur wraps itself around you, aliens overstay their welcome, and superheroes deal with everyday problems. Rambo has been published in Asimov's, Weird Tales, and Tor.com among many others. She was an editor for Fantasy Magazine, has written numerous nonfiction articles and interviews, and has volunteered time with Broad Universe and Clarion West.

Saladin Ahmed, author of Throne of the Crescent Moon has a new ebook short story collection.
Gunslingers! Supervillains! Disgruntled actors! The short stories in this collection have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards. They’ve been reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and many other anthologies, recorded for numerous podcasts, and translated into several foreign languages. Now they are collected in one place for the first time.

Steven Gould is doing a Twitter retweeting ARC giveaway for Impulse, the third book in the Jumper series that won't be out until January.

We got some rain this weekend and it was also overcast an...

We got some rain this weekend and it was also overcast and cool, and still is today. A big relief from the upper 90s, where we've been for the last few weeks. It's supposed to get hot again just in time for the Celtic Music Festival at Sherwood Forest Faire, though.

I haven't been doing much else but eating and writing and occasionally reading. Looking forward to Doctor Who (haven't seen latest episode yet). I've been watching Wallander, which is incredibly depressing but then it's supposed to be.

Jack is getting huge, and we keep buying more toys to placate him.

I haven't done this for a while, so:

The surprisingly long list of stuff I have coming out:

The Siren Depths, the third Raksura novel, will be out in December and it's available for preorder at Barnes and Noble, Chapters, Amazon US, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Books-a-Million, Book Depository.com (free shipping worldwide), Waterstones UK, Book Depository.uk, Whitcoulls NZ, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, or look for it at an independent book store in the US through IndieBound.

It will also be available in ebook, including in the Baen DRM-free ebook store.

If you've read one of my books and liked (or didn't like it, that's fine too), leaving reviews on Amazon, B&N, or wherever, or on GoodReads or LibraryThing, or just talking about it to your friends or online really, really helps. Word of mouth is the only thing that really sells books. And if you look for a book at your library and they don't have it in their collection, remember that you can put in a request that they get it.

My next novel after The Siren Depths will be a YA fantasy, Emilie and the Hollow World, coming out from Strange Chemistry Books in April 2013, up for preorder at Barnes and Noble, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Chapters, Book Depository.com, Book Depository UK, Books-a-Million, Waterstones UK, Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr.

It'll also be out in ebook, including at the Angry Robot ebook store, which I think is also DRM-free.

"Revenants" in Tales of the Emerald Serpent, edited by Scott Taylor. Out now in trade paperback: Lulu.com and ebook: Amazon.com, Amazon.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.fr.

"Donna Noble Saves the Universe" in Chicks Unravel Time, edited by Deborah Stanish and L.M. Myles. Due out in November, preorder at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

"Mimesis" in The Other Half of the Sky, which will be available next year.

In 2014, I'll have a second untitled Emilie novel, a so far untitled Star Wars novel, and some other fun things I can't talk about yet.

Book Recs

The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin
This is the sequel to The Killing Moon, set in a fantasy world loosely based on ancient Egypt. I don't want to say too much and spoil it, but I really enjoyed both these books. They're both very different, original fantasies with compelling characters.

Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson
This is one of a mystery series set in 1920s Scotland. I loved the funny, self-deprecating tone of the prose, and I loved the main character, a forty-something married-with-kids-and-stuffy-husband upper class woman who finds new life and purpose as a detective. I've been tracking down the earlier books in the series, but had no trouble starting with this one. This book is funny but also gets into some serious issues, like the labor strikes at that time in Scotland, and how horrible conditions were for coal miners.

Luther: The Calling by Neil Cross. This is an original novel from the TV show Luther, with Idris Elba, written by the show's creator. I haven't gotten it yet but as soon as I take care of some bills and have spare money, I am so there.

Guest post on Kari Sperring's LJ for Morgan Keyes' new middle grade fantasy Darkbeast
In Darkbeast, twelve-year-old Keara runs away from home rather than sacrifice Caw, the raven darkbeast that she has been magically bound to all her life. Pursued by Inquisitors who would punish her for heresy, Keara joins a performing troupe of Travelers and tries to find a safe haven for herself and her companion.

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Hugo winner John Picacio and all around great person does a retrospective of the Best Artist Hugo Awards

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Some jewelry - barter for aid towards medical emergency Buy some lovely jewelry and help pay for emergency dental surgery.

Links

Links! I've been collecting a lot of links to post, and these are some of them. I also need to do a book recs post at some point soon. Hoping for rain today, and hoping that Jack stops trying to lie on my mouse hand with his head on the keyboard.


Nathan Bransford: The Publishing Process in Gif Form

Kristine Smith captures a neat moment at WorldCon: Death and the Maiden

Sarah Rees Brennan: Real Lady Sleuths

Booklust: A More Diverse Blog Tour For one week in September (the week of the 23rd), we want ALL OF YOU fantasy/sci fi/magical realism readers (with blogs and without) to read a fantasy/sci fi/magical realism novel written by a person of color. And to write a review of that book. You know as well as I do that books succeed based on word of mouth and mentions and conversation, and this is where bloggers can help the MOST. Just read one book. And share your thoughts on that one book.

Innsmouth Free Press is raising money to pay pro rates for a Sword and Mythos Anthology
Sword and sorcery: the realm of daring assassins, crafty thieves and talented wizards. Lovecraft’s Mythos: a place where the weird, the horrifying and the strange coalesce. Both sub-genres should come together and you can make it happen.

Sword and Mythos is an anthology to be edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles, published through Innsmouth Free Press.

Kickstarter: Texas or Die: an Anthology of Texas Horror with contributors to include Bill Crider, Rhodi Hawk, Angeline Hawkes, Shane McKenzie, Christopher Fulbright, A. Lee Martinez, Wrath James White.

Book rec:

Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top, edited by Ekaterina Sedia
Stories of circuses traditional and bizarre, futuristic and steeped in tradition, joyful and heart-breaking! And among the actors you will find old friends, be they sad clowns or free-spirited gymnasts, as well as new ones—mammoths, mechanical piano men, and things best not described at all. Come one, come all, and enjoy the literary show unfolding!

Trying to take pictures of Jack. It isn't easy:

Trying to take pictures of Jack. It isn't easy:

WorldCon Last Day and Anthology

First an announcement:

I have a story in this anthology The Other Half of the Sky, with a TOC-full of great authors. The theme is SF with female main characters, and the link has the first few lines of the stories as a sample. My story is set in the Cloud Roads world, about Jade. I'll post when the anthology is ready for preorder.

WorldCon Last Day:

Sunday was a long day too. We got up, did breakfast at the Corner Baker Cafe, and then I did my signing in the dealers room. After that I had two hour writers workshop session run by me and Gregory Wilson. We had three participants who had all submitted novel chapters that were all so good it was a pleasure to read them. After that I went back to the dealers room with my roommate and we shopped until it was time to go to my last panel. I got three t-shirts, one for me and two for gifts, an art book with some of Donato Giancola's art, and a couple of books: a Dandy Gliver mystery by Catriona McPherson, and from the Black Gate table I got the second Tekumel Book by Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker (the man who created Empire of the Petal Throne).

Oh, I meant to mention, in the art show we saw this Donato Giancola triptych Eric Bright-Eyes Triptych and it was incredibly striking. I'd seen it online, but the impact in person is huge.

My last panel was on writing workshops, and we had a pretty small audience, since the pre-Hugo reception was going on in the room across the way, and a lot of people were already lining up to get a seat in the auditorium for the Hugos. But the panel went well though and I think the people who were there enjoyed it. Afterward we went to the Irish Pub in the hotel for dinner (Guiness stew, yummy) and then wandered back up to the hotel to collapse in the room. I think I managed to stay up until 10:00, but that was it. I didn't hear the full Hugo results until I got home on Monday.

WorldCon Day 4

First, a couple of business things:

I wanted to mention that I'm doing a GoodReads Giveaway drawing for copies of The Cloud Roads. That giveaway will go until the end of September. There will be a giveaway for copies of The Serpent Sea in October, and then a giveaway for The Siren Depths in November leading up to the release in December.

Answering a question someone asked, if you want ebooks here are links I've accumulated to places who sell them. My reprint ebooks of The Element of Fire, City of Bones, and Wheel of the Infinite are on Nook, the Amazons of various countries, and DRM-free on Kobo, which sells to many countries.

WorldCon Saturday:

It was a bit rainy that day, so me and aughoti just had breakfast in the hotel (which was good but expensive) and then went up to what was left of the Night Bazaar suite to help clean up. We met Katy and Chet up there, and picked up the trash and collected all the non-alcoholic and non-bug drinks and foods and took them down to the con suite to donate. (The con suite had apparently come through with more cups at a very desperate part of the party, so there was a lot of gratitude toward them.) Then I had to take off for my reading.

The reading was at 10:30 that morning, and the room was kind of packed. It was the most people I've ever had at a WorldCon reading, maybe around 25 people or so. So that was very nice to see. I read from an early chapter of The Siren Depths, the third Raksura book. Afterward I signed some books for people and ran into Sharon Shinn again and chatted with some people a bit about fear of celebrities. (I have an irrational fear of talking to celebrities. At the DragonCon I went to, I was on a panel with Richard Hatch from Battlestar Galactica, and I had to sit next to him, and at one point he reached for his waterglass and accidentally touched my hand, and I almost climbed into the lap of terri_osborne who was sitting on my other side.) Then we were all suddenly separated by an elevator skirmish.


One thing I did like about this hotel was the fact that they had security people and sometimes Bellmen (and sometimes both) controlling the main elevators for pretty much the entire con. Usually the con has volunteers to do this in the party evenings, but the hotel doing it seemed to work much more efficiently. In the offtimes this basically meant that there was always someone to push the button for you and hold the door when your hands were full, and in the high traffic evenings when there are long lines for the elevators it meant a lot of the usual elevator-related drama was way toned down and the waits weren't as bad, at least for us.

After my reading, I had a short break before my first panel, but not really long enough to eat lunch. It was going to be a bit before I could get into the panel room, because a filk session with Patrick Rothfuss was in there and there were about 400 people in a room meant for 50. So I went to the con suite to try to get a hot tea, but the hot water dispenser didn't work. Someone came up and said it was full but the pump had been left out and left the pump there. And more or less this conversation ensued:

Helpful young woman: "I'm a coffee professional, I can fix this!"

She tries to get the lid off, and I try to help her, but it won't come off.

HYW: "What's wrong with this thing? We need a physicist!"

Passing Physicist: "I'm a physicist."

HYW: "Will you help us fix this?"

Physicist: "No! I'm not here this weekend, I won't help you." (I suspect he had a very demanding job and was called on to fix stuff a lot.)

I am now using both hands to hold open every latch on the lid while HYW tries to wrestle it off, but it won't budge.

HYW: "I should be able to do this! I do this all the time at work."

Me: something vaguely encouraging, along the lines of "it's not your fault, this thing is just messed up"

Then the physicist walks up and lifts the one latch we didn't see, and the lid pops open.

HYW: "See, you helped us!"

Physicist: "I didn't help you, I'm not here."

HYW installs the pump, we manage to get the lid back on, and I pump it and get hot water.

Me to HYW: "Yay you!"

So I got tea after all. Then I went to the panel on "Drill Down into Story Ideas" about how you develop an idea once you have it, and how different people shape the same idea. Ferrett Steinmetz was an excellent moderator.

Then I had to run right to my koffeeklatsch. I grabbed a piece of brown bread from the con suite which was all I had time for, and ate it and a package of m&ms while talking to everybody. I answered a lot of good questions and I think we had a pretty good time.

It was after 3:00 by that point and I went and got aughoti and we left the hotel to walk to Macy's. It sound weird, but this Macy's is Macy's on State Street is the second largest department store in the world and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's twelve floors and really a neat building. We went up to The Walnut Room, which is the old traditional restaurant and had a late lunch. First, the restaurant is beautiful, with dark wood paneling in this large two-story room, with a wine bar and fancy coffee and tea drinks. Second, our waiters looked like they should be following the Grateful Dead on tour and were charming and hilarious. Third, the food was incredibly cheap compared to our hotel. (Seriously, I got a chicken pot pie and a salad that was more than I could eat for $10.95.) Fourth, the food was really tasty. And aughoti gave me a really pretty dragon necklace for my birthday.

We walked around the store a bit afterward, but had too much decision fatigue to buy anything. We went back to the hotel after that, and then went to the masquerade. It went for about an hour and a half, and there were some great costumes. (And I stupidly didn't bring my camera.)

It was after 10:00 by that point, and we thought about trying to go to parties, but ended up just going up to the room and collapsing.

WorldCon Day 3

Bugs from the Night Bazaar/Night Shade Books party.

Woke up at 5:30 for no reason, again, and at a more reasonable hour went with roommate to eat breakfast at the Corner Bakery Cafe. Breakfast was spoiled by the fact that they put the calories of everything on the menu, so did not order the 1400plus calorie french toast. What we did have was really good, though, and we sat outside again and looked at pretty buildings.



Did the art show again that morning. Oh, and I wanted to talk about the exhibit hall, which had a space flight display, a set of video games, and a set of these special video booth/virtual reality things where you get in and play a game where you're like a transformer or giant robot. I didn't do it so my knowledge of it is vague. Also, one of the neatest things was a collection of hand-painted globes depicting various SF worlds.

My first panel was Female Villains at noon, and we basically came to the conclusion that a good female villain should be written the same way as any other character, as an individual with individual goals, an agenda a viewpoint. Also talked a bit about classic villains like Malificent, antagonists, and also villains who see themselves as the hero.

Then we had late lunch at an Indian restaurant in a subterranean passage under the hotel that my roommate had found, then went upstairs to help with setup for the Night Bazaar party.

We did the first Night Bazaar (the group authors blog for Night Shade Books) party last year at Reno, and it was very successful. Courtney Schafer (The Whitefire Crossing and The Tainted City) organized it again, and this time we had a bigger suite, more books to give away, and a better idea of how much and what food and liquor to buy. The suite had a beautiful view which I forgot to take a picture of. I couldn't stay very long to help, as I had a dinner that night with my agent and her assistant, and then a panel after that at 7:30.

The dinner was excellent, and I had a glass of Prosecco which was also very good. The panel was on Worldbuilding, with Jacqueline Carey as moderator. It was her first time as moderator but she did a great job, and I think we had a really good panel, despite it being late in the day and after dinner. Then I went up to the party, which was in progress.

Last year at the Reno party, we didn't have as many books to give away, so author Katy Stauber and her husband Chet Hoster had supplied some bugs (sour cream and onion crickets, scorpions inside lollipops, etc) and people had to eat a bug to get a free book. This proved very popular (there was also a lot of free beer, etc) and we decided to do it again in Chicago. The party was very crowded and very happy, and lots of people were willing to eat bugs for books. One person told Chet that he had been to our party earlier, then did a tour of the others, and came back to ours because he felt the most welcome there. So that was really nice. Since my birthday was Saturday, they gave me an awesome musical Star Wars card. There was also a cake, but I was so tired I forgot to eat any.

And I found out from David Palumbo that Matthew Stewart won a Chesley award for the cover of The Cloud Roads!

I had to leave at a little after 11:00, because I was dead on my feet when I got there at 9:00 and increasingly incoherent through the evening, though it was really fun and I wanted to stay. They gave away all the books by the end (I had brought about 32 copies of The Serpent Sea, I'm not sure how many there were of the others). We're not sure when the end was, because there were still people in the suite talking when Chet closed the door and left at 4:00 am.

Courtney Schafer also has some photos here.


The bug table

Some photos from the exhibit hall:










These are the virtual reality/video booth things.

WorldCon Day 1 and 2

It actually started for me on Wednesday, but my airline issue was about the only interesting thing that happened that day. (I went so early because a few years ago I had a flight problem over Memorial Day Weekend and missed the first day and a half of my first DragonCon, so now I try to allow time for things like that if I can.) I got to the hotel, which was huge, downtown, and right on the river, and sitting on top of a huge convention center. I picked up my registration packet, and then fell asleep at 7:30. (Which was about right, since I had gotten up at 3:30 am)




Around 11:00 or so I saw tweets from the Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry people and went down to the upper lobby to meet them, and met Amanda Rutter, who is my great editor for my upcoming fantasy YA novel Emilie and the Hollow World. We talked for a bit and then the dealers room opened at noon and everyone bolted for it.

It was a pretty huge and awesome dealers room, with tons of books, art, jewelry, comics and graphic novels, hand-painted silk scarves, pottery, a flying shark, and other cool stuff. I saw a bit of the exhibits hall and talked a bit to John O'Neill at the Black Gate Magazine table, and then sat around with friends at the Adventures in Crime and Space Books table, which was catty-corner to Black Gate. Which later led to Howard Jones trying to tell John where I was at pointing at me and John didn't see me behind the other table, and thought Howard was pointing at other people in the aisle who clearly weren't me, and telling Howard he didn't know what I looked like and might be crazy.

I went to lunch in the restaurant and got accidentally seated next to friends that I didn't know were coming to the con, so that was great. Then I went to the art show and ran into more friends, then found Sharon Shinn at her koffeeklatsch and we went out to dinner with Kay Kenyon at the Corner Bakery down the street, which was delicious.

Then Kay and I went to the Adler Planetarium for a while, and then I was supposed to go to a bowling party with the Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry group, but ended up not going, and was really too tired by that point to have had much fun at it. My roommate got in late that night, and we hung out and talked for a while, and that was Thursday!

And I'm going to post this before I lose it.


View from our room


Another view from our room


Trying unsuccessfully to show how big the dealers room was.


Flying shark in the dealers room


Adjusting the flying shark

I'm back from Chicago! My flight went fine, but I got a ...

I'm back from Chicago! My flight went fine, but I got a slight cold last night, and my ears didn't pop when the plane landed in Houston, so now I can't hear very much.

Big news: Matthew Stewart won a Chesley award for the cover of The Cloud Roads!

Locus: Hugo Award Winners Congrats to John Picacio, everybody at SF Signal, and all the others!

IO9: How Copyright Enforcement Robots Killed the Hugo Awards

I'll do a better con report later, when I'm conscious.