Swan Tower

First up: Book View Cafe is having a sale! From now through the end of the year, it's half off on all our titles (with a $3.99 minimum purchase).

And speaking of sales, Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers is offering all of its on-demand courses for $5 each, also through the end of the year. (This is the venue through which I've taught "Writing Fight Scenes" a few times, and for which I intend to do an on-demand version, though it won't be ready until next year.)

And speaking of teaching! On January 30th I will be doing a workshop on public readings through the Dream Foundry -- register at that link. Attendance is free, though they gratefully accept donations to help defray the cost of paying their instructors.

And speaking of me being online! Because I've got The Mask of Mirrors coming out on January 19th and The Night Parade of 100 Demons coming out on February 2nd, it is Interview Season Ahoy around here. Alyc and I were interviewed about the former at Litcast of Doom, and I did one about the latter at Court Games (web link, Apple link, Spotify link).

And speaking of The Mask of Mirrors! Alyc and I have two cool events planned for January, which I'm giving you a heads-up for ahead of time: first, on book launch day (i.e. the 19th), at 7 p.m. Pacific we'll be doing a live-streamed event at Mysterious Galaxy with Christopher Paolini. There will be signed books available! (Though it may take a while to get them to you, given the vagaries of shipping right now.) And we're also doing an Orbit Live event on the 21st at 6 p.m. Pacific, this one with our fellow Orbiteer Andrea Stewart (author of The Bone Shard Daughter).

There will be more to come, I'm sure; in fact, we've already recorded several other podcasts that just aren't up yet. But in the meanwhile, this should keep you busy!

(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/H61wTi)

I met Christopher Paolini on a panel at Denver Comicon last year, and we wound up chatting for a while afterward. Then we wound up chatting for an hour on camera, because he periodically interviews other authors, and invited me to be one of his guests.

In the video we talk about worldbuilding, writing process, and a bunch of other things. I'm only sad that we stopped recording when we did, because it means you miss out on the part where we started nerding at one another about kdramas and Bollywood and Nirvana in Fire -- which, okay, drifted away from the professional focus a bit, but only bit, because we both still think like writers even when being fannish about stuff. But if we'd recorded that it would have been two hours and nobody would have watched the whole thing, so.

At long last, the series is complete.

This story has been living in my head for . . . about a decade, I think. I know I wrote the first third of A Natural History of Dragons in 2007 or thereabouts, before stalling out on the plot and setting it aside. I came back to it in late 2010, sold it in 2011, the first book came out in 2013, and now, my friends, the end of the story is in your hands. (Or will be, as soon as you run out and buy it.)

I’m going to be launching a new blog series, along the lines of John Scalzi’s THE BIG IDEA or Mary Robinette Kowal’s MY FAVORITE BIT, called SPARK OF LIFE: a place for authors to talk about those moments where the story seems to take on a life of its own, with a character doing something unexpected or the world unfolding a bit of depth you didn’t plan for. For me that mostly tends to happen in the depths of the tale, when I’ve built up enough momentum and detail for such things to spring forth. But in the case of this series, it happened less than a page in, because the spark of life?

That was Isabella.

Countless reviews have talked about how the narrator is one of the strongest features of the story. I’m here to tell you that, like Athena from the head of Zeus, she sprang out more or less fully-formed. The foreword got added a bit later, so it was in those opening paragraphs of Chapter One, where Isabella talks about finding a sparkling in the garden and it falling to dust in her hands, that she came to instant and vivid life. Part of the reason that initial crack stalled out in 2007 — or rather, the reason it got so far before stalling — was because I was having so much fun just following along in her wake, exploring her world and listening to her talk. The narrative voice has consistently been one of the greatest joys of writing this series. I have an upcoming article where I talk about how sad it is for me to be done with the story, because it feels like a good friend has moved away and I won’t get to see her regularly anymore. That’s how much she’s lived in my head, these past years.

Stay tuned on future Tuesdays for a glimpse at how other authors’ stories came to life. And stay tuned in upcoming days for some more behind-the-scenes stuff about my own characters!

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In the meanwhile, the book is out, and so are the reviews. Here’s a spoiler-free one from BiblioSanctum, and two reviews on one page at Fantasy Literature; here is a SPOILER-TASTIC one at Tor.com. (Do NOT click unless you’ve read the book or are fine with having the big discovery of the entire series laid out in full. I’m serious.) (And while I’m at it, the same goes for that Gizmodo article that shows all the interior art for the book, because spoilers can come in visual form, too. Love ya, Gizmodo, but oof. Tor.com warned; you didn’t.)

Back in the land of no spoilers, you can read about my absolute favorite bit of Within the Sanctuary of Wings on Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog. It’s . . . a wee bit topical, these days. And I’m on the Functional Nerds podcast, talking about all kinds of things that aren’t this book, because they like to give authors a chance to branch out and natter on about roleplaying games and things like that.

And finally, I’m currently running a giveaway on Twitter. Name your favorite female scientist in any field (there, or in comments here), and get a chance to win a signed book of your choice from my stash of author copies. It’s already a stiff competition; we’ve had dozens of women named. (If you were wondering why my Twitter stream has turned into a sea of retweeted names, that’s why.) You have until tomorrow!

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

A whole bunch of audio links have piled up in my inbox lately, so here — have things to listen to!

I’ve raved before about how awesome a narrator I have for the Memoir audiobooks. But if you haven’t checked them out, and need to hear just how fabulous Kate Reading is, here’s an excerpt from In the Labyrinth of Drakes. It’s spoiler-free, so if you haven’t caught up with the story yet, don’t worry about hearing anything you shouldn’t.

If you’d like to hear me reading from Cold-Forged Flame, the Varekai novella coming out this September, here’s a recording from SF in SF. My reading starts around 36:30, after M. Thomas Gammarino, and then there’s a Q&A after.

While I was in San Diego for Mysterious Galaxy’s birthday bash, I recorded with the Geekitude podcast, which is posted here. My segment starts at the hour and twenty-two minute mark, and we discuss a host of things, ranging from what it’s like to wrap up the Memoirs, to hitting your thirties and not being made of rubber anymore, to RPGs and my experiences with them.

Here’s a brief video interview I did with ActuSF during Imaginales. The questions are entirely in French — my interpreter, Hélène Bury, was translating them for me, but too quietly for the camera to pick up — but I answer in English, before Hélène translates it for the camera.

I don’t have a fifth thing. Curse the internet for establishing that five things make a post! We’ll have to be satisfied with 80% of a post instead.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Interview first: I’m over at Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing, talking about a whole host of stuff, ranging from The Tropic of Serpents to my essay on epic story structure to making up slang to about a dozen other things. Check out the link for a giveaway, too — either a copy of The Tropic of Serpents or a set of both books.

As for the contest, this is your one-week reminder; the deadline is coming up on May 15th. If you’d like to see your own dragon concept show up in the Memoirs of Lady Trent — not to mention read Voyage of the Basilisk before it comes out! — check out the guidelines and send in your entry!

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

The full schedule for my joint tour with Mary Robinette Kowal has been posted at Tor.com:

Thursday, May 1, 6:00 p.m.
DePaul University
Chicago, IL

Friday, May 2, 7:00 p.m.
University Bookstore
Seattle, WA

Saturday, May 3, 2:00 p.m.
Powell’s Books at Cedar Hill Crossing
Portland, OR

Sunday, May 4, 3:00 p.m.
Book Bin
Salem, OR

Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 p.m.
Murder by the Book
Houston, TX

Thursday, May 8, 6:00 p.m.
Weller Book Works
Salt Lake City, UT

Saturday, May 10, 2:00 p.m.
Mysterious Galaxy (Part of the Mysterious Galaxy 21st Birthday Bash!)
San Diego, CA

Sunday, May 11, 3:00 p.m.
Borderlands Books
San Francisco, CA

And I would like to state for the record that Mary is a genius. She made a suggestion for something I could do during the events which — well, you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you? (Yes, this is my transparent bid to build suspense and get you all to come.) I promise I’ll talk about it after the tour, for those of you who don’t live anywhere near our stops or can’t make it to the events, but for now you’ll just have to wonder. (Hint: it involves my husband marveling, once again, at what kinds of things can be written off as business expenses for a writer.)

Also, there’s a new interview with me up at Just a World Away, in which I talk a little bit about Voyage of the Basilisk (among other things).

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

1) The funny thing about having a release date early in the month is that it sneaks up on you. After all, we’re still in February. That means The Tropic of Serpents won’t be out for a while yet, right? Wrong — it’s out next Tuesday, i.e. March 4th. (For those of you in the U.S. and Canada, at least. UK folks, your street date is the 20th of June. After that, Tor and Titan should be publishing more or less simultaneously, so you won’t have the added wait.)

Kirkus, by the way, not only gave Tropic a starred review; they listed it as one of their Best Bets for March. They even used the cover art as the top image for the post, which is yet another sign that Todd Lockwood and Irene Gallo are awesome.

2) If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, you’ll have a chance to hear me read from The Tropic of Serpents at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 9th, at Borderlands Books. It’s my intent to also publicly announce the title for the third book there, as an added treat for my hometown peeps.

3) Also for Bay Area types, I’m going to be at FOGcon weekend after next. I unfortunately had to back out of one of my panels because of a karate belt test on Friday night, but I’ll still be doing several things that weekend:

• Friday, 3-4:15 p.m. Narnia, Hogwarts, and Oz, Oh My!
  
  What are our favorite secret worlds? What do we love about them? Why is a secret world so useful for storytelling? What can we learn from the ways used to access these places? What about worlds which exclude some people from accessing them, such as adults or non-magical people–are these worlds problematic or necessary? Or somewhere between the two?
  
  M: Tim Susman. Marie Brennan, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Naamen Gobert Tilahun
• Saturday, 10:30-11:45 Secret History and Alternate History; their similarities, differences, and how to write them
  
  Tim Powers, in books like Declare and The Drawing of the Dark, has brought us into the realm of secret history — the events that really took place around known historical facts. Harry Turtledove, Philip K. Dick, and many others have brought us into the realm of alternate history — the what-if-things-had-been-different. (Indeed, one could argue that Mary Gentle’s Ash is secret alternate history!) What about these works fascinates us, and how do we put them together?
  
  M: Bradford Lyau. Marie Brennan, Tim Powers, Tim Susman
• Saturday, 4:30-5:45 Reading
  
  Marie Brennan, Alyc Helms, Michael R. Underwood

4) In non-Tropic-related news, I participated in the Book of Apex blog tour over at Books Without Any Pictures. There’s a review of my story “Waiting for Beauty,” a brief interview, and a guest post wherein I talk about how writing historical fiction helped me become better at worldbuilding in general.

5) And Now For Something Completely Different: I really love both of these art sets, one of Disney princess in historically accurate costumes (the last image is the best!), and one of celebrities cosplaying as Disney characters.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

I think I mentioned before that Sword & Laser chose A Natural History of Dragons for their book club this month, and that they were also planning on interviewing me. That's gone live now, so you can listen to me in all my rambling ridiculousness. :-)

I have to say . . . 2013 has been a pretty good year for me, and A Natural History of Dragons deserves a lot of the credit for that. It's done really, really well: good sales, good reviews, multiple hardcover printings, made some year-end "Best Of" lists (NPR! Slate!). I think what's made me the most happy, though, is the number of people who seem to have gotten the book -- by which I mean, they're picking up on the stuff I tried very hard to put in there. Things like the effect of contrasting Isabella's older perspective with her younger actions, or the way in which the book is kind of science fiction, or the finer points of the gender commentary (like how those expectations constrain Jacob as well as Isabella). Every time I read a review that calls out an aspect like that, I glow a little, because really: as an author, that's pretty much what you hope to achieve. And this time, I seem to have done it.

I hope The Tropic of Serpents does equally well. And whether 2013 was a good year or a bad one for you, I hope that 2014 treats us all even better.

Slightly belated, the final round-up for the blog tour. There will be other posts still forthcoming, but only in the sense that, y'know, I talk about my books sometimes, in interviews or guest posts or whatever. This is the last of the actual formal book tour.

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Interviews:

• Reflections of a Book Addict
  
• Qwillery
  
• A Word's Worth
  
• Small Review
  
• Bookalicious
  
• Examiner (part of the "Never Have, Never Will" series)
  
• Poisoned Rationality
  
• Sleeps With Monsters (on Tor.com)
  
• The Skiffy and Fanty Show (podcast)
  

The Sleeps With Monsters interview isn't about ANHoD specifically (but then again, by this time that's probably a point in its favor). Ditto the Skiffy and Fanty podcast, which isn't even really an interview per se; it's just us talking about mythology and fantasy and Star Trek and I can't even remember what all.

Guest posts:

• On pulp adventure, Let Them Read Books
  
• On finding the book's voice, Aine's Realm
  
• On Judaism in ANHoD, AlmaNews (anghara)
  
• On the origin of my dragons, More Than Just Magic
  
• The Victorians were crazy, Megan Likes Books
  
• On the artwork, Starmetal Oak Reviews
  
• Cultures and Obsession, Angels of Retribution (part of the Names: A New Perspective series)
  

Again, that last one isn't ANHoD-specific; it's more of a post I was asked to write, in which I mention ANHoD in the course of discussing how I name characters. But as long as I'm rounding up everything I've been posting on the internet lately, I might as well include it.

In that vein, I'll also mention my most recent BVC post is "The folklore mode of fantasy," in which I present my own personal home-brewed theory of which folkloric style fantasy as a whole most closely resembles.

And that's it for now. I'm revising the second book (and also facing some hassle wrt getting certain financial records for tax purposes), so I may be scarce around here for a bit.

But first, a reminder: only a few days left to get a letter from Lady Trent. (If you've already written to her, the reply will be on its way shortly -- I delayed a little bit in order to get something cool to include with the note.)

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New interview at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia, another interview at Short and Sweet Book Reviews, and a guest post at Head Stuck in a Book. There were supposed to be a couple of others, too, but the scheduling of those appears to have gone astray.

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I do, however, have my usual biweekly post up at BVC: "It happened to my cousin's best friend's roommate," wherein I discuss legends. Comment over there!