Cherie Priest

Don’t forget! Tonight from 7-9ish (or whenever) p.m. you’ll find me spookin’ up the joint over at the Secret Garden bookstore in Ballard. Swing by and say hello - and visit with me, other readers, and some other writers, too.

And here are the recent stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! half-Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:

Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 7445 (over the last 2 days)
Present Total Word Count: 61,764 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12





Things Accomplished in Fiction: Went excavating in a graveyard in a grave that isn’t a grave; bickered; pulled together some clues into a nasty revelation.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work all morning; took new vehicle off to shop in order to get exhaust system fixed (we knew it needed fixing when we bought it); did some day-job reading, too.

Reason for Stopping: Time to go pick up the vehicle and/or get ready for the Secret Garden event. Hope to see you there! At the event, not at the vehicle …

First of all, let me give a huge and hearty thanks to everyone who’s posted about Boneshaker — reviewing it, talking about it, recommending it, and otherwise being the best damn digital support group a girl could ask for. Seriously, you’ve been amazing! And I couldn’t do it without you.

And second of all, here I go again, running more programming on the Boneshaker Channel. Momentum has been good so far, but I fear it’s beginning to taper off; and the promotion that’s kept this book front and center at Barnes & Noble is drawing to a close; so I kind of feel like this last bit of October is a Last Chance Push — a final major attempt to keep it visible and selling.

Therefore, I come to you, the readers … asking for just a little more indulgence on your part. Please allow me to present a few more Boneshaker links, for your clicking pleasure:

• Boneshaker is in-stock and ready to ship at Amazon - So if you’ve been waiting, or if you’ve had a hard time locating it locally, there’s no time like the present to pick it up. Or if you’ve already read it, I’d be forever grateful if you’d take a moment to leave a review or two.

• Tor.com offers free and fabulous Boneshaker desktop/wallpaper art - People have been asking me about this for awhile now; but until Tor.com made the big files available, I didn’t know what to say. Well, here you go! Have at! Click, download, and call it an afternoon. A very fancy afternoon …

• Jon Armstrong is kind enough to interview me - Click the link to find me over on his outstanding podcast, “If You’re Just Joining Us.” Don’t do it for me. Do it to hear Jon’s groovy radio-dude voice, and to hear us talk about the Seattle Underground, Boneshaker, book promotions, and all kinds of other rambly stuff.

• Hey Seattle-area locals - Whatcha doing on November 4th? - Because at 7:00 over at the University Book Store, I’ll be reading and signing with Jeff VanderMeer and Cat Rambo. AND IT’S GONNA ROCK.

• Hey Seattle-area locals, Part Deux - Whatcha doing on November 12? Because I’ll be having a Boneshaker celebratory event on Capital Hill, right on Fifteenth Avenue. Click that link for the Facebook page with all the details, and if you’re in the area, please stop by! We’ll have prizes. We’ll have schwag. We’ll have books for sale and signing. We’ll have a heck of a time, but it’ll be even better if you join us!
  

Whew! I think that’s pretty much everything, at the moment. But if you folks feel the urge to link this stuff around — or pass it around, or consider picking up a book or two for birthdays or Christmas or Hanukkah or for Steampunk Appreciation Month (okay, I totally just made that up) … then I hope you’ll feel absolutely and merrily free to do so.

Thanks again for reading, and as always, thanks for taking a chance on my books. Or at least, thanks for listening to me go on, and on, and on, and on about them.

:)

Here are the recent stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! half-Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:

Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 3482
Present Total Word Count: 54,319 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12





Darling du Jour: “So he stood in my kitchen, leaning over the bar and glistening with sweat — and a dusting of leftover glitter. That stuff really is the gift that keeps on giving.”

Things Accomplished in Fiction: Discovered backstory and may have offed somebody’s parents, accidentally. Then again, maybe they’re fine. Also, got a refreshing phone call from the client, who seems to be as hale and hardy as a blind dead man can reasonably be.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work all morning; grocery shopping; delivered a couple of books to the staff where my event will be held next month; went to bank; did laundry; made phone calls.

Reason for Stopping: Time to go get that laundry out of the dryer.

It will not surprise regular readers of this blog that in the second half of this year, I’ve had three major deadlines. The first two are already put to bed (at least their Draft Ones are): Dreadnought was due at the beginning of August, and my Fort Freak portion was due on October 15. Deadline #3 is the next up: Bloodshot for Bantam by December 12. Hey, better too much work than not enough, right?

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Self, wasn’t Cherie only, like, halfway through a Draft Zero on that project?” Well, you’d be right. I left off somewhere around 47,000 words of an estimated 95,000. And it has not escaped my attention that I now have about six weeks to write the other 40,000 words or so.

It doesn’t particularly freak me out.* I have the whole thing plotted, after all–and I’ve found progress on this project to be swift and entertaining. After spending a few years writing creepy gothic stuff or outright horror, it’s a hoot to have a project where I can let myself be a little more light-hearted … and even funny. Don’t get me wrong — this is still a dark urban fantasy adventure; but there’s definitely something playful about it.

Anyway, as I’m well aware, it’s going to be a lot of work to finish this quickly. But really, I’m looking forward to it.**

By way of reinstating my daily stats and progress notes, I must begin somewhat afresh. I don’t remember where I left off in my word counts, and even if I did, it wouldn’t be too meaningful. I’ve edited some sections out and added some sections in, and today I wrote a couple thousand fresh words to get myself back into the groove.

So. Here are the present stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! half-Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:

Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written Today: Unknown
Present Total Word Count: 50,837 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12





Things Accomplished in Fiction: Escaped a raid on a drag bar; became barefoot and nasty; got the hell out of Dodge.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Went out to the Department of Licensing and picked up (a). affidavit in lieu of title (lost the Doom Sentra’s title some time ago) and all the helpful little slips of official paper that will make it easier to sell the thing; puttered around the neighborhood in our new (used) vehicle, purchased the other day; no (a). it’s not a classic, alas, and (b). I won’t tell you what it is, only that it has been named “The Cookie Monster” and you may infer whatever you like; went to University Books and visited with Duane, signed stock, etcetera; did day-job work as per usual.

Stumbling blocks: It took me a bit to get back in the mindset of this one. The last two protagonists (the last two I’ve written at length, anyway) have been very, very different from Raylene — the heroine of Bloodshot. So I spent some time rereading the last few chapters (even though I reread the whole thing last week) and refamiliarizing myself with how she talks, and how she thinks. But now I think I’ve got a decent handle on it, so it’s full steam ahead …

Reason for Stopping: Husband came home, and it’s time for supper.

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* Yet. Check back around December first and see if I’m still this cool and calm and collected. I predict I will not be.
** You may be asking yourself, “Self, why the hell would Cherie wait until the end of October to start working on this project again?” And then I would refer you to the previous two deadlines, and remind you that I have a part-time day-job too, and that BONESHAKER just came out and I’m sort of giving myself an ulcer running around trying to promote it and keep it visible. This will be a big job, but it’s not an impossible job. I time-budgeted for this. Everything will be fine.

We’re back from Steamcon–which was 100% awesome. Saw some old friends, made a few new ones; ogled many outstanding costumes, sat on some exceptionally good panels; wore lots of clothes, bought a couple of tee shirts. Really, I think one of the most telling things about Steamcon was how (as my husband put it) everyone seemed really happy to be there.

Absolutely delightful, from start to finish.
Two thumbs up, and one bustle a’swishing.

And here’s me and the hubs on Saturday night, after a little rum.

I’m wrapping up the last of my packing over here, nomming on a sandwich and trying to figure out what the hell I’m forgetting. I know I’m forgetting something. I always forget something. But I’ve got one full suitcase of costuming stuff and one (much smaller) suitcase with the regular necessities; and at this point if I’ve left anything out, I’ll have to survive without it.

Yes, in just a little bit I’ll be headed off for SteamCon. If you’re attending, I very much hope to see you there! If you’re not, feel free to keep up with the intermittent shenanigans via my Twitter feed and/or my Twitpic stream.

I won’t have a laptop over the weekend, but I’ll have my phone–whereby I can check my email, take/upload pictures, and post to Twitter. But I can’t reply to anything except actual text messages, sent to this phone. Well, technically I can reply to emails too; but I’m dealing with a keyboard that’s half the size of a credit card, so I hope you’ll forgive me if I tend not to (except in case of emergency). Therefore, please pardon the relative radio silence that’s bound to descend upon this page for the next few days.

Anyway. Time for the last-minute round-up of stuff. Thanks for reading, everyone, and by all means follow along via the links above while I’m absent.

:)

This afternoon my editor Liz came to town in advance of SteamCon this weekend. She came bearing luggage, some news, and some really awesome pictures of her as a mermaid*. Good times were had with her and Caitlin, lunch was obtained, and future shenanigans will most definitely occur. But first: Links!

• November at PW’s Genreville - Boneshaker will be the official bookclub selection! I love Publishers Weekly in general and Genreville in particular, so I’m immensely flattered that they chose my latest for their crew.

• The Literary Omnivore - Reviewed Boneshaker and rather liked it.

• See also: Only the Best SciFi and Fantasy - Also came down on the side of Boneshaker win.

• Ditto Robots and Vamps -Which, let me say, is an awesome name for a blog.

• Boneshaker still hot at Amazon - And I’m not above begging for reviews. As I’ve demonstrated. Repeatedly.

• Newly carved pumpkins - Just so this isn’t TOTALLY a shameless Boneshaker Channel post.
  

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* Liz has EPIC hair. It’s amazing, and lovely–thick, blonde, wavy, and down past her butt. You should see it underwater!

Tonight, 7:00 p.m. at the University Book Store in the u-district, Justine Larbalestier will be slinging by and reading from her killer new book Liar. IT WILL BE AWESOME. But don’t take my word for it. Come on out and see for yourself.

In other news, I’m going to be a busy, busy woman this week so posting might be light. But don’t forget: SteamCon starts this Friday. IT TOO WILL BE AWESOME. And I have to say, they’ve got a really strong, diverse panel track–especially for a brand new convention. It honestly impressed me with its lack of the same old “What is Steampunk?” fodder.

* * *

In other other news, there is no news on a “new” car yet. We checked out a couple more vehicles over the weekend, and were greatly disappointed with the TruthInAdvertisingFAIL and/or blasphemous pricing on vehicles that don’t actually run. It was pretty epic.

We even had somebody’s nosy neighbors call the cops on us while we were investigating a vehicle which (a). we’d called ahead about checking out, and (b). had been left on the street, partly so we could see it and partly because (c). it had a blown carburetor which they didn’t tell us until we were already on the way out there, and (d). amusingly enough, this RATHER SIGNIFICANT DEFECT only barely lowered the price oh HAHAHAH.

Ah, well. We’ve got a couple of queries in to a couple of other listings, so maybe something useful will dawn today. You never know. It could happen.

* * *

P.S. - Boneshaker’s gathering Amazon reviews! Thank heavens. Anyone else who’s interested in doing likewise is more than welcome to do so, I assure you.

At the moment, Amazon is really one of the more reliable places from whence this book can be acquired; I’m hearing about it selling out and being reordered in a lot of places–which is a good problem to have, but still a problem. So if you’re having trouble locating Boneshaker, try Amazon (see above link), or try Tor.com, where it’s on sale for 30% off for the month of October.

If you’re local to Seattle, I happen to know first-hand that the B&N downtown has copies, the Borders downtown should have copies, and the Elliot Bay Bookstore has a few signed copies.*

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* And to the best of my personal knowledge, right this moment as of this posting–so your mileage may vary.

So the hubs and I are in the market for a new car — and by a new car I mean, “Something old and broken in, but less old and broken in than our present beater.” Our present beater is a ‘97 Sentra that is on its last legs due to a combination of electrical failure and transmission quasi-imminent failure. But since (a). we drive so little, and (b). we park on the street, we neither want nor need (nor can we afford) something brand new and shiny.

For the last few weeks we’ve been checking the For Sale ads and poking through all the listings; we’ve even gone out to look at a car or two, but nothing really looked like a good fit until we tracked down a vehicle that is — alas — all the way out on Bremerton. If you’re not local and you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me put it this way: Bremerton is a 40 minute ferry ride away, never mind all the hassle and waiting to get down to the ferry, get onto the ferry, and get off of the ferry.

Neither of us has been to this place, nor have we ever taken the car on any of the local ferries (though I’ve ridden in a pedestrian capacity), so the whole thing was a little bit of an adventure. I took some pictures.

Anyway, we found the dude and his wife, and we like the car — but just before we arrived the starter blew (more or less). So now the owner (who seems like a totally cool guy) is making the repair and we’re going to talk again on Monday. We shall see what happens.

Why are we going to all this trouble? Well, without telling you too much about the car — lest I jinx things — suffice it to say that it’s a classic 2-door coupe … about 85% rebuilt by a man who clearly knows what he’s doing. Generally, it is in very fine shape. It’s sitting just outside our budget, but there might be some wiggle room on the price. Maybe.

I don’t know. I don’t want to get too excited about it, because a lot can happen between now and Monday; it’s always possible that someone will swoop in and buy it out from under us, or the car will turn out to have bigger problems than we thought, or we’ll stumble upon something else. But we got an afternoon’s worth of adventure out of it, and I find myself thinking of the zippy little vehicle quite wistfully.

Fun to drive, it was.
Of course, I want to paint it black.
But. Yes. We shall see.

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* In the last 4 years here in Seattle, we’ve put fewer than 17,000 miles on the Sentra.

Locals, mark it on your calendars — Friday, October 30th from 7-9 p.m. you’ll find me spookin’ up the joint over at the Secret Garden bookstore in Ballard. And I won’t be alone! I’ll be joined by fellow authors Liz Gallagher, Kevin Emerson, Amber Kizer, and Heather Davis.

This will be an all ages event, appropriate for kids, grown-ups and those who are disinclined to grow up, too. You’ll find a costume contest and prizes, snacks, mingling, and maybe even a few readings … so there’s something for absolutely everyone. And of course, there will be books for sale, and highly dressed-up writers hanging around who will be more than happy to sign them.

So come on out! We’d love to see you there.

• How to steam up your old goth wardrobe - This post up on Tor.com started as a slightly tipsy joke … but everybody was like, “AWW, you should WRITE IT.” So, okay. There you go. Have at!

• Memories of the Future hits the shelves - Like Wil Wheaton? Like ST:TNG? Like witty commentary and hilarious nostalgia? GO YE THEREFORE and give this one a read. (Never mind the fact that it’s really an awfully good-looking book.)

• What’s the Big Idea? - It’s John Scalzi’s running series over on his webpage, and this one is all about Boneshaker … and how its alternate history world differs from (and works with, or against) others.

• Things I do when I have no internet - Also, I got a bunch of people asking about my pumpkin-seed-roasting recipe. Recipe? Well. Here goes: Dump some sugar and some cinnamon and some pumpkin pie spice into a Ziplock baggie. Then add some clean (read: washed in cold water, and free of pulp) pumpkin seeds. Shake and bake - spread out on a cookie sheet (I recommend wax paper and cooking spray, too) for about 25 minutes at 325 degrees. NOM NOM NOM.

• i09 reviews Boneshaker - And they liked it! Review is fairly in-depth, but not spoilery; and it brings up some things I haven’t seen addressed elsewhere.

• Boneshaker in stock at Amazon - And it’s collecting a few reviews, for which I thank the reviewers! Anyone else who feels like chiming in over there … it’d be appreciated. Also, while the offer is still good, you can get Boneshaker from Tor.com for 30% off the cover price.
  

If you’ve been keeping up with me on Twitter, then you know I’ve been having some internet issues as of late. At first, these issues appeared to be purely a matter of my own imagination. While I was home alone, I had no internet. The moment the husband came home, as if he were wearing magic internet underpants or something, the internet was restored.

It happened again today/tonight*; but now we think (maybe) we’ve figured it out. The hypothetical solution, of course, doesn’t make a lick of sense — but at this point, I’m treating all internet access as a matter of superstition. And anyway, we might be wrong.

But while I have this moment of blessed connectivity, I wanted to mention that OMG FINALLY you can has Kindle edition of Boneshaker! No, I don’t know why there isn’t a Kindle button on the paperback page. No, there’s not anything I can do about it.

But thanks so much, everyone, for your interest - and I hope that you digital readers enjoy the book.
:)

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* Much to his amusement. Maybe the magical internet underpants tingle when they’re working.

Hey folks — over here at Tor.com they’re tossing twenty free copies of Boneshaker to twenty random commenters. You have until noon on Wednesday, October 14th, to go to that-there post, leave a comment, and thereby enter yourself in the drawing.

Or if you don’t like those odds (last time I looked there were some 250 entrants), you can order it directly from the Tor.com store at 30% off. Of course, you can also still get it from Amazon.com and … if you’ve already had a chance to read it, I’d be forever grateful if you’d leave an Amazon review.

* * *

I realize that this blog has become the Boneshaker Channel as of late, and I apologize — but basically, it’s been the center of my life for the last couple of weeks. Between that, and the guest-blogging, and the interviews, and the promotions, and the Kindle edition taking its own sweet time, and the question-answering, and the email-responding, and the out-of-town visitors, and the signings, and the preparations for a convention plus three more events in the next six weeks … well, frankly I haven’t had much else to talk about.

But speaking of such things, this morning I spent a while on the phone with the incomparable Jon Armstrong, nattering about steampunk, costumes, Seattle history, pioneer flub-ups, and urban planning for his wonderful podcast If You’re Just Joining Us. I’ll let you know when it goes live.

Following this interview, I went out to the University Book Store at UW and signed the books you kind folks have ordered through that fine store in accordance with these guidelines.

* * *

Gosh. There must be something else I can put here that makes it sound just a little bit less like my head is up my butt. Hmm. Well, let’s see.

Today was a most excellent mail day. I received a new corset (YES, ANOTHER ONE but it was on sale, okay? And I ordered it a long time ago; there was a mix-up); a couple sets of arm-warmers and a pair of menswear-style sock garters from Sock Dreams; and some Surprise! money via my marvelous agent. So. Yanno. Three cheers for that.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. I hope everyone has an excellent weekend, and I’ll catch up to you on Monday (if not sooner).

:)

Because I’ve been very, very busy that’s why; and the busy season ain’t over yet. So instead, you get Very Exciting Links.

• AUTHOR EXPLOSION - Sounds messy, yes. In fact, it’s entertainment — and it absolutely won’t leave a stain. This is the Seattle Geekly podcast interview with yours truly, Mark Henry, A.P. Stephens, and Rob Rogers. You should totally listen to the whole thing because it’s awesome (I come in around 54 minutes, 15 seconds).

• Amazon.com and Boneshaker — Amazon’s been playing catch-up filling orders for the last couple of days (which is a nice problem to have), but Boneshaker will be back in stock on Saturday. You can still order the book, of course, and it’ll ship on the 10th (or thereabouts). In other news, there ought to be a Kindle edition within the next couple of business days; there seems to have been a delay, but I’m told that it’s sorted out now.

• Reverse-Engineering the Steampunk Novel — The interview with me/review of Boneshaker conducted and assembled by Natania Barron is up at Wired. In it, I try to explain myself; and Natania does a good job of keeping me from sounding too cracked out.

• Prescription: Zombies — My newest piece at Tor.com talks about fear, readiness, emergency preparation, and the creeping undead. Have at!
  

• Tor.com offering 30% off in honor of Steampunk month — 30-percent off a whole slew of steampunk titles including Boneshaker and a bunch of books from other publishers, too. Go check out the list! See if there’s anything you’ve been thinking about maybe taking a chance on. There’s no time like the present.

• Speaking of steampunk: LEVIATHAN — Scott Westerfeld’s latest is absolutely KILLER and if you have even the most passing, remote interest in the genre, you should absolutely pick this up. He’s a marvelous writer and this is an exceptional story in every way.

• Speaking of great books, LIAR is out now too — By Justine Larbalestier, and it now has a spiffy new cover (which is exceptionally awesome — and I’m not just saying that because I’m on a black and green kick). This young adult thriller is smart, wicked, sneaky, and cool, and you simply must give it a look.

• Get books signed by yours truly via the University Book Store — Click that-there link for details, instructions, suggestions, and whatnot. And many thanks to Duane Wilkins, without whom this wouldn’t be possible.

• A tiny name-check from the Seattle Times — Which elicited a tiny woot! from me when I saw it.

• My sister the foodie and poetry nerd — She’s started her own blog, finally. She’s vegetarian, she’s prone to experimenting, and she gushes and crushes on dead authors between recipes. It’s kind of awesome, and I say that even though (a). I’m not vegetarian and (b). poetry is not so much my thing.*
  

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* Yes, yes. Bad English major, I know.

I took a break from writing fiction this afternoon (having set aside FORT FREAK’s contribution to cool off before I return to it later this week). To fill the void in my schedule, I went to lunch with Psynde, changed the cat’s litterbox, cleaned the fish’s tank, cleaned the entire apartment except for the floors, went grocery shopping, did two loads of laundry including bedding, composed another blog entry for Tor.com (which hasn’t cleared yet), did up a rough draft of the bit I owe dear Mr. VanderMeer for Omnivoracious at the end of this week, paid rent and other bills, hauled out three loads of trash, and sorted out the last of my summer/winter wardrobe rearrangements.

Now, I have to go downstairs and get the laundry, subsequently fold it, and re-make the bed*, scare up some supper, and have myself a big fat glass of wine while I sit in front of the TV and zone out to “Antiques Roadshow.” Because it’s a wild life around here, that’s for damn sure.

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* I will be a real adult on the day that I have more than one set of decent sheets.

I’m calling it: Due to today’s progress on my modern pseudo-noir police procedural about a neighborhood full of mutated freaks, a sexy former court reporter, an aging cop who’s being forced into retirement, and a multiple murder that took place thirty years ago in an all-night diner called “The Rathole” … I’ve officially achieved DRAFT ZERO.

Project: Fort Freak “Remember the Rathole”
New Words: 5089 (oh crap.)
Present Total Word Count: 33,864 words
Goal: 30,000 words
Due date: October 15

Things accomplished in fiction: DRAFT ZERO, BITCHES. Don’t get me wrong, it needs work. Serious work. It’s almost 4000 words too long, I have about two dozen notes-to-self that must be addressed before I call it a Draft One and give it to George, and I’m not 100% happy with my final page. But I’m going to let it sit and cool off for a week before I attempt to rectify these things.

Things accomplished in real life: Went out to Ballard to record a podcast interview with the Seattle Geekly folks (it will air sometime next week); went to Northgate B&N and signed stock (after signing stock at the Pacific Place B&N on Saturday); made a Target run wherein I acquired household necessities and footie pajamas (which actually came from the “boys” department but are black with glow-in-the-dark skulls on them so I have NO REGRETS even if they make me look like an evil bunny).

Next up: Oh Christ, I need to clean this apartment. I’ve sort of been letting it slide these last couple of weeks. Also, I will REFUSE to think about FORT FREAK this coming week. I have a crap-ton of other things to worry about, and if I don’t worry about them this coming week, they simply might not get done (which is UNACCEPTABLE).

• University of Washington Bookstore — One more place where Seattle-area locals can find fresh, spanky copies of Boneshaker. In fact, following a very productive conversation with Duane Wilkins over there this afternoon, it looks like you’ll soon be able to order signed books and have them shipped from this fine store. Still hashing out a few details. Will keep you posted.

• My first Tor.com guest post — Wherein I natter.

• Locus Magazine — Allegedly has a review of Boneshaker in its October issue, but I have been thwarted in my early efforts to acquire this issue (see above re: visiting bookstore/Duane).* Boo. I’ll try again Monday.

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* In accordance with science and prophecy, if this were a bad review, fifteen people would’ve emailed it to me before breakfast. But apparently it’s not. Thus I’ve not yet set eyes on it.