Just a holy fool

I did, in fact, go to the doctor – and now I have meds to combat not only the allergies, but also the resulting sinus infection and the ear infection that has been creeping up in its wake. It's never just one thing, you know? Hey – when I get sick, I don't half-ass it.

I will survive, but of course this excessive grossness is landing in the middle of lots of work and travel. The work is never-ending (and presently includes not just day-job work and Inexplicables composition, but also Ganymede edits) … but there's an end in sight for the travel. Next week I'm flying out to Phoenix for the comic-con, and after that, I've got nada out-of-town between here and September.*

I am psyched about Phoenix, but I am also relieved at the prospect of staying home for awhile on the other side of it. I've been careful to keep my schedule mostly clear from summer onward this year, partly for personal reasons that I don't feel like putting in public quite yet – but largely it breaks down to, "After the last year and a half of being on the GO GO GO, I need some serious decompression time in order to write and work." I have designated the second half of 2011 as this decompression time.

Anyway.

Just a quick note on an upcoming project, and then I'll log off to return to the aforementioned writing and working. This project, in fact:

Now please pardon me while I make wazzy magical hand gestures in order to direct your attention to this wicked-awesome cover. That-there is Leo, my retiring NYC detective from Manhattan's Fifth Precinct, AKA "Fort Freak" in the Wild Cards universe.

It is impossible for me to overstate how squeeful I am about this book. Did I write the whole thing? No. Hell-to-the-no.

But I wrote the interstitial – the frame story that both bookends the whole and laces the other stories together – and it was one of the toughest (but most fantastic) experiences I've ever had in the world of writing. I am ludicrously proud of this book – proud to have been part of the franchise, and thrilled to have worked with such amazing people.

Fort Freak will be released June 21st, so look for it then at fine booksellers (and internet retailers) everywhere. If you would like to see a sneak-peak sample, you can click right here to visit George's website, where the first segment is live and free for the reading. And I wrote it! Eeeee!!!**

For a few more details on this book and for the future of the Wild Cards in general, check out George's blog where he posts on the subject, preemptively answering the sorts of questions you are likely to ask if this series is near and/or dear to your hearts.

So go on! Get clicking! And I hope that when this hits the shelves, you'll take a chance on it. We worked our asses off, and had a hell of a lot of fun with this thing. And I do believe it shows.






* Nada except for another few rounds of bopping to San Francisco, but as this is (a). day-job face-time work-related and (b). not nearly so tough as when I have to leave my time zone and be "on" as Cherie In Public for 3-4 days. Don't get me wrong, it's fun being "on" at events – otherwise I wouldn't do them – but when a lot of events are packed close together like the last couple of months, it gets pretty exhausting.

** [:: Insert happydances here ::]

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]