Announcements and Whatnot

Posted on | 3 years, 10 months ago, mid-afternoon | No Comments

I’m not sure how to ramp up to this, so I suppose I’ll just spit it out — following much consultation, investigation, and anticipation, there’s going to be a swap-out in my Tor contract. My next novel after Fathom will not be the vampire noir piece Awake Into Darkness; instead, we’re going to substitute that project for a steampunk piece, tentatively titled The Boneshaker.

Points of Interest/Anticipated Questions:

* Yes, this is the same steampunk piece I was working on earlier this year.

* This isn’t a new contract or a new sale. It’s simply a substitution. The only change it represents for this webpage is that — for the next few months — the writing metrics I post will pertain to The Boneshaker instead of Awake Into Darkness.

* Awake Into Darkness isn’t going away. I’m intensely happy with its progress and, although it is going onto the back burner for now, I have every intention of finishing it and (Lord willing and the creek don’t rise) handing it over to Tor next year.

* The decision is a matter of market timing, and not any personal freak-out over the quality of the aforementioned vampire novel which, for the record, rocks quite a lot.

Let it be known far and wide, I’m tickled pink about getting back to The Boneshaker — which I’ve been obsessing over for quite some time. It’s easily my most ambitious project to date and I’m alternately scared to death of it and so damn proud of what I’ve got so far that I want to shove it up under the nose of anyone who shows a modicum of interest.

Since the end of my Week O’Hiatus I’ve been combing back through the existing content and bringing myself back up to speed on the project, which I set aside a month ago. I didn’t dive back into the writing game because things hadn’t been finalized yet and I didn’t know which project to tackle; so this means that yes, I’ve sort of blown my New Year’s Resolution, but I’ve decided that I really don’t care. Henceforth, I’m going to try to stick to it anyway, and if real life gets in the way once in awhile, I’m not going to kick myself for it.

Today, I have freelance projects which must be attended to; I have a jaunt to the bank that needs to happen, and a dash to the grocery store that’s long overdue. This evening I’ll be participating in a book signing, and beginning tomorrow afternoon, my ass belongs to Norwescon. Ergo, I do not know if this ass will get a chance to plop down in front of a computer for any work-time until next week.

Yes, well. Such is life. And such is the business end of writing, that it sometimes interferes most mightily with the writing itself.

So. With all this in mind, I really need to log off and get cracking. In a few hours I’ll need to tart myself up for this signing — which will also feature Mario Acevedo, Warren Hammond, Richelle Mead, Naomi Novik, John Picacio, Patrick Rothfuss, and Bruce Taylor. You can find us all huddled together tonight, at 7:00 p.m., at the University District bookstore, pens in hand and eyelashes batting like palm fronds as we try to convince you to buy our books.

So come on out and say “hello!”

[Edit: And speaking of Norwescon, I'll post my schedule under the link below -- for those of you who are attending and/or unaccountably curious.]

Growing Artistically Through Crisis Thursday 8:00 p.m. Cascade 5: Your spouse left you, your dog died, and the bank repossessed your pickup. If you’re not a country western singer, what do you do? [Cherie Priest (M), Lizzy Shannon, Janine Ellen Young]

How to Write and Sell Urban Fantasy Friday Noon Cascade 6: Discussion and Workshop on developing a series or standalone for this hot niche. [Kat Richardson (M), Yasmine Galenorn, Richelle Mead, Cherie Priest]

What are the Mythological Roots Of Horror? Friday 2:00 p.m. Cascade 5: Mythology and Meaning in Horror Films — How does the classic myths of history influence modern horror. [Rick Labadie (M), Lorelei Shannon, Cherie Priest, Andrew Migliore]

Remember When Vampires Just Sucked Blood? Friday 4:00 p.m. Cascade 7: Ah, the good old days, when a monster only had to be frightening, and didn’t feel the pressure to be sexy at the same time. When did that change? Why? Will it happen to our new monsters, with a 22nd Century Jason having women wondering if the mask is the only protection he is wearing? [Mario Acevedo (M), Eric Morgret, Cherie Priest]

Should “Lost” Have Called it Quits Sooner? Saturday 5:00 p.m. Cascade 7: Is the series still good or has it mired itself in a quagmire of epic proportions? [Judith Herman (M), Chris Nilsson, Shaharazahd Ehart, Cherie Priest] (Aside: I have never seen a single episode of Lost, and tried to beg off this one, but no one ever responded to me, so screw it. Count me in. I’ll fake it.)

Horror Films as Modern, Dark Fairy Tales Saturday 8:00 p.m. Cascade 6: Fairy Tales used to be scary and full of danger to teach children how to avoid trouble and survive in a hostile world. Today we all know the rules by which to survive because we watched other dumb kids get picked off in slasher movies. Are Horror Films the modern fairy tales we need for rite of passage to “adulthood”, is this part of the appeal? Is there a plausible link between the cautionary fairy tales that were Grimm and the grim horror films of today? [Stevena House-Labadie (M), Phillip Brugalette, Cherie Priest]

Category: misc

Comments

Leave a Reply





Bad Behavior has blocked 791 access attempts in the last 7 days.