A Meerkat's Bolthole

The State of the Meerkat (2Q) report

BLOOD FROM STONE -- in stores
FLESH AND FIRE proofs -- done/back to publisher

new Luna proposals -- to Madame Agent for feedback
new Nocturne proposal -- to Madame Agent for feedback
new historical fantasy material -- to Madame Agent for feedback

PACK OF LIES -- draft revision in progress. Original deadline was Monday, but since it's not scheduled until
Winter 2010, I have an officially-sanctioned extension of (woo) a month.

MUSTANG -- two chapters shy of a first draft, at which point it will be set in the cave to turn blue (cheese reference, for reasons obvious to Word War participants -- due July)

Cosa Nostradamus short story -- draft done, aging (due August)
Untitled Fantasy story -- draft in-progress
Untitled Fantasy story #2 -- draft in-progress

Pending Freelance #1 -- due 18 May
Pending Freelance #2 -- due June

VINEART #2 -- file open, outline and research files ready... (due November)


Upcoming Public Appearances:

Pandemonium Books, 8 May 7pm (Cambridge, MA)
Library of Congress luncheon Presentation (as part of BookView Cafe), 22 May
Balticon, 22-25 May (Baltimore, MD)
BookExpos America, 29 May (NYC)
East Coast Genre Mafia* mass signing @ the Waldenbooks at the Oakdale Mall, 20 June (Binghamton, NY)


* Joshua Palmatier, S.C. Butler, Patricia Bray, Barbara Campbell, Anton Strout, Laura Anne Gilman, Jackie Kessler. Can you afford to miss that? Dog knows what's going to happen....

Book View Cafe will be holding a chat on Sunday February 15, 7pm EST in the Writer's Chat Room.

Writers scheduled to be on hand include Sarah Zettel, Laura Anne Gilman, Pati Nagle, Nancy Jane Moore, Brenda Clough, and Sue Lange. The authors will be holding contests at intervals during the two-hour session. Winners will receive copies of the authors' print books. Titles to be given out include:

Brenda Clough, HOW LIKE A GOD, contemporary fantasy
Pati Nagle, THE BETRAYAL, fantasy
Sue Lange, TRITCHEON HASH, science fiction
Laura Anne Gilman, CURSE THE DARK, cntemporary fantasy/mystery
Nancy Jane Moore, CHANGELING, contemporary fantasy

The Writer's Chatroom website has over 1400 members and has played host to a number of NY Times bestselling authors and award-winning screenwriters. BookViewCafe is pleased to be able to participate in this event.

Sunday's chat room will be held at: http://www.writerschatroom.com/Enter.htm. For further information contact bookviewcafe@gmail.com

BookViewCafe can be found at: http://www.bookviewcafe.com

OMFG am I tired. Dead tired. But my mom has apparently started to panic, so am reporting in. Yes, this journal really is nothing more or less than a way to reassure my mom that I'm still alive. Now the truth is known. ;-)

( Wednesday August 27 )

( Thursday August 28 )

In not-really-related news:

1. I will be appearing at University Bookstore in Seattle 7pm October 29th. Mark the date now!

2. Early word from madame Editrix is that HARD MAGIC has been read and approved. *whews*

3. Still no word on the good news I can't talk about yet. *looks meaningfully at the people who need to dot tees and cross eyes at some point...*

I've been awake for almost 17 hours now. Falling over...

Woke up Saturday morning at 2am. I deserve a medal of some sort for that. Got down to the studio without incident (the shift-switch, with the club kids coming home and the early morning crew going to work, made for interesting company). Was handed a MASSIVE container of coffee. ( Pic of me and coffee. )
Did the show, discussed genre distinctions, publishing as a career, and why I write short fiction and novels, read two stories ("Fire Rising in the Moon" and "Harvey and Fifth.") and took some phone calls. I'm told the On-Demand stream is here: http://archive.wbai.org/pls.php?mp3fil=18948.

Got out, blinking at the sudden (to me) sunshine, went uptown and had breakfast and chat at Carnegie Deli with nycdeb. I then ran a few errands, caught the bus out to NJ to do some more errand-shopping at the mall (ugh, malls, were you always this horrid and loud?) and then went to LJ-less P and quarkwiz's place for ribs that couldn't be beat. ( Really. )
Severe thunderstorms waving through the area changed plans, and I ended up staying the night. Wine was consumed, the forthcoming Research Trip discussed, and tentative plots laid for a Reseach Trip next year as well.

This morning, after ten(!) hours of much-needed sleep, more plotting and planning over breakfast (and quarkwiz? I think I've finally got that pronunciation locked down, thanks!). Took the bus back home (helping out a pair of "where do we go now?" tourists from western NJ), and picked up my mail, which included more Research-related materials (yay!) and a regretful reject from Polyphony 7. (boo.) However, the reject was tempered by some possible good-news-happening, so we'll have to wait and see on that.

Now I have to figure out what to do with this story that is racking up an impressive list of "I like it but can't use it" rejects from some notable editors.....

Unlike many others posting on LJ, I didn't even try to go to any panels, or signings or whatnot. I was passingly interested but not enough to deal with crowds and lines. This was a business trip for me, and so I kept to the business.

although yes, business did include hanging with some old friends, both on the main floor and in the lovely wine bar across the street.

The "urban fantasy" panel on Thursday was SRO and well-received. ( crowd photo ) My highlight (lowlight?) involved the phrase "hot tentacle sex." No, it doesn't get better or worse taken out of context, alas. Signed books after, for about 90 minutes. Compared to Laurell's line, of course, we were as dust mites, but the mites had a pretty good time of it. ( authors photo )

Saturday I hied myself over to the center early and gave blood. They were very well-organized, and I didn't pass out. Yay! Recovered in full time to make it to my booth signing.

Armed with several pens, a bottle of water, and a Rice Krispies Treat (from the blood drive folk), this signing likewise went well -- many lovely fans, a few curious freebie-grabbers who will hopefully become fans, and a surprising number of people from the panel who found the tentacle remark irresistable (y'all are sick and I love you). I didn't let myself look up until the books (200+) were all gone, at which point I discovered that the hour mark had come and gone. Wow. I hope I didn't mis-spell anyone's name....

I decamped then to go outside and get some fresh air, wherein I saw a number of sights, including the age of insects woman, ( the elvis stormtrooper ), etc, but missed getting a shot of the guy in a superman costume smoking out in tobacco purgatory. Damn.

Back to the floor to meet up with my dinner companions, and I discovered that Team Luna had found more copies of Burning Bridges. So I signed for another hour, going through two more boxes until the show closed for the night and we were kicked out. My hand, at this point, really was prime to fall off, and the rest of me just wanted to fall over. At a certain point, your smile begins to feel more like a grimace...

(it was pointed out to me that I tend to do a lot more personalizing of signatures than most. But I hate just signing the generic whatever....)

( Team Luna )

As an aside, one of the amusing moments for me, personally, came when I was looking over some animation cells, wondering if I could really justify $500 for a production sketch of Eeyore and Tigger (the answer, btw, was "no, and also, hell no""), when I noticed a semi-familiar man next to me. I waited politely until he had finished his conversation to re-introduce myself. He turned, and looked at me, and said "my god, they let anyone in here!"

Ray Feist, whom I have not seen in many a year. So we stood in the middle of a very crowded main hall, and caught up. They say you can never find anyone at ComicCon and they're right. But you do bump into the most amazing folk (and some folk you can't ge away from -- I think I saw Chris Golden more this weekend than I did all Necon, mainly because the Pocket and Luna booths were right next to each other).

And that was the con that was. Today is non-convention work, tomorrow is play, and Tuesday I'm in San Francisco...

as of rightnowthisminute, my schedule for Armadillocon:


Sa1100Dz Now What Do I Do?
Sat 11:00 AM-Noon de Zavala
Cardin, November, Gilman, Utley, Dimond, Hitchcock, Leahy
Four professionals discuss the future with three new authors.

Sa1400PC Autographing
Sat 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Phoenix Central
Lake, Andersson, Gilman, Waldrop

Sa1600PN I Fell in Love with an Octopus
Sat 4:00 PM-5:00 PM Phoenix North
Babcock, Felix, Archer, Carl, Gilman, Smith
Has paranormal romance gone too far?  When does a really  weird love story cross the line between plausible and really weird? What are some of the most implausible stories out there? Which ones work, and why?

Su1300De Mythology/Schmythology
Sun 1:00 PM-2:00 PM DeWitt
Wilson, Gilman, Blaschke, Denton, Gould, Kimbriel, Spector
In presupposing that only a "chosen one" and/or demi-god can save the world,  are Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and other such works  anti-humanist at the core?

Su1400R Reading
Sun 2:00 PM-2:30 PM Robertson
Laura Anne Gilman


and now I really am hitting the road, having solved seven problems (okay, three) before lunchtime and proving once again that I am a goddess (my boss even said so, so there). Camp Necon don't got no stinkeeen connectivity, so talk amongst yourselves and if I survive, I'll see all y'all on Monday!

 

Four Warning Signs This May Not Be a Good Signing:

1. You arrive to see a poster of your book in the entryway, but no text to indicate that you will be in residence/signing that afternoon.

2. Your contact person mis-states your name and bio during the PA announcement.

3. They only have books 1, 2 and 4 of the series available.

4. They have tucked you into the far corner of the cafe with piles of books, but without any signage to indicate who you are or what you're doing.

How the store-folk didn't understand that the ideal place for a signing is in the flow of traffic, near the cash register, so you can get people who are already inclined to buy books, not just people who are passing through on their way to the movie theater.... *shakes head*

Fortunately, I am a signing-experienced meerkat, and I had support troops (aka arcaedia and her faithful sidekick mcurry) along with me. We soon had things sorted, had created signage, and taken over a better spot more in the traffic flow. Thus situated, I managed to charm (with the help of lively sales patter and free chocolate chip cookies) a respectable number of people over to my table. And we sold a good number of books, too, considering it was a lovely summer Saturday afternoon and most people of sense were enjoying the great outdoors.

Thanks to Christine, and Phil, and peggin, and all the others who came out to support me (and eat cookies). I hope you had fun!

( bonus material: 'Music & Lyrics' movie review )

The cosa blog has been updated. feedback always welcome (anyone can post there, you don't need an account)

home now. off again tomorrow to EnWhySee. Busy, busy. busy. Someone mix up another pitcher of mojitos, please....


several actual quotes from the signing:

"Not so much an anti-hero as a sonofabitch hero."

"Because I am a geek of a certain age, and it amuses me."

"Evil overlords? Well, there are a lot of obsessive-compulsive workaholics out there..."

"Oh dear. A minon of the minyan."

"If I sleep too much I get stupid. My brains get bored and go away."

Woke this morning to e-mail from a friend in the UK, informing me that BURNING BRIDGES was #12 on the bookscan fantasy trade list, first week on-sale. What does this mean? Basically, that a lot of you bought the book the moment it became available.

I'd smooch you all if I didn't know where some of your mouths have been. *adjusts halo*


Meanwhile, I have been to BEA and BEA has been at me. My feet *hurt*. The signing went very well -- at no point did I misspell anyone's name or forget how to spell my own (it happens, after a dozen or so books signed rapid-fire), I saw many people both skiffy, LJ-ish, and Previous Career, picked up a reasonable number of freebie books (most of which are for other people -- Terri, Vampry, I have gifties for you!), got taken out for a fabulous lunch wherein I learned that a NYT bestselling romance author I'm a fan of is a fan of mine (!!), was interviewed for a podcast, had dinner and drinks with dianora2, and decided to treat myself to a lovely foot massage which, trust me, even one day at BEA makes a medical requirement, not a luxury.

Oh, and it was around 90+ degrees in Manhattan today. *wilts*

Tomorrow, more of the same.

For now, I fall over go thud.