I am just home from Grandma Joan’s funeral and am quite behind on everything, especially e-mail. I’ll be back on track by Monday at the latest; if you wrote me, I’ll get to you, and in the meantime I apologize for the delay.
In the meantime, thank you all very much for the notes, tweets and other kind thoughts. It was very lovely of you, and meant a lot to me.
A few of you already know this, but now I’m telling the world. Kelly has a job offer in beautiful, scenic Toronto and we are relocating there this spring.
More info to come! In the meantime, if we know you and you’re local, we’re getting rid of a lot of stuff, including books and our gorgeous (though cat-scratched) chaise lounge. (Also, actually, the apartment.) Let me know if you might want stuff.
The cats already know something is up, and are freaking out accordingly.
I will be at FanExpo Vancouver this weekend, signing books and meeting fans. Including some of you, perhaps? I hope so.
Some of the other writers who will be in Authors Alley include my good friend DD Barant, author of the thoroughly awesome urban fantasy thrillers, The Bloodhound Files
And also there will be a few other people you might, possibly, have heard of: James Marsters, Juliet Landau, Amanda Tapping, and Sean Astin, for example, along with many others including what looks like the entire cast of Continuum.
On February 1st and 2nd I was Guest of Honor at Gottacon, where I met many lovely and charming fans:
Gottacon is very gaming focused, with a single track of panel programming. I was on two panels: So You Want to Become a Published Author with Matt Hughes, Dave Duncan and T.J. Silver and Digital Rights Management: The Pros and Cons, with Wired author Jules Sherred and Karl Johanson. Both panels were expertly moderated by Sherred, who interviewed me for Geeky Pleasures last year when Blue Magic came out, and who has posted them on the same site.)
As we were talking writing and publishing, war raged on next door.
Getting invited to be a guest of honor had been on my career-related bucket list for a while. Getting to do it for the first time in Victoria, a city I love, was a delightful extra bonus. The organizers and fans were all very lovely and inviting, and the day was full of nice surprises. If you’re in the vicinity next year might enjoy playing games all day with like-minded spirits, I can’t recommend it enough.
And if you missed me, my next appearance will be at FanExpo Vancouver on April 21 and 22.
GottaCon is happening in Victoria on the weekend of February 1-3, and it pleases me no end to tell you all that I’ll be the Writer Guest of Honor there. The schedule’s here: I’m appearing with so many awesome people, like Matt Hughes and Dave Duncan, and podcaster Jules Sherred.
GottaCon is a broad-spectrum gaming convention. It’s my first ever GoH gig, and as someone who started playing D&D in the Eighties before moving onto the Hero System (and staying there forever because that’s how versatile it is!) and has been gaming, in one form or another, ever since, this is just a delight.
If you’re Victoria-adjacent and interested in attending, the pre-registration price is still only $40 until next Tuesday.
That’s right–I’ve reached S5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here’s my essay on the best Riley episode ever.
In other news, I am building a not-safe-for-work Grammar Cop board on Pinterest. I’m hoping this will use up the energy I spend thinking, “Its, not it’s!”
Finally, author Lynette Aspey has written a lovely essay about my Books of Chantment, Indigo Springs and Blue Magic, as well as the tie-in novelette “Wild Things.”
My year is off to a good start, photographically speaking–I went out on the first of January and look what I shot!
I also wanted to let you all know that my upcoming course at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, “Writing the Fantastic” (WTF, as I like to call it) has filled. There is a waiting list and you can get on it here.
First, this week’s Buffy essay: “You say potato, I say Doomed!!”
I will be at Orycon this weekend, sitting on panels, connecting with people and celebrating the launch of M.K. Hobson’s thoroughly awesome THE WARLOCK’S CURSE. It’s a terrific convention, one of my favorites, and if you are around I’d love to see you.
I’ll be signing books on the Sunday, with so many other wonderful authors–list below!–at the Authorfest 6 at Powell’s Bookstore. Note: Ten percent of total proceeds will go to benefit the Beaverton Education Foundation.
Here we are:
Alma Alexander
Kevin James Breaux
Alyx Dellamonica
Ru Emerson
Mark Ferrari
Barb & J C Hendee
M K Hobson
Louise Marley
Michael Martin
Todd McCaffrey
Devon Monk
Peter Orullian
Shannon Page
J A Pitts
Phyllis Irene Radford
Deborah Ross
Ken Scholes
Mike Shepherd/Moscoe
Dave Smeds
Brent Weeks
Daniel Wilson
Matt Youngmark
My novelette “Wild Things
“Wild Things” is set in the same universe as my first novel, Indigo Springs
Here’s the cover:
Here’s what Tor says about it:
Ah, love. A many splendored thing. Here is a rather unusual love story, sweet and strange as could only happen in the post-magical reality of the Indigo Springs “event.” Read More…
First a PSA: my novelette “Wild Things,” got rescheduled for release on Tor.com. It will be out in early November. Sorry to have misinformed you all. In the meantime there’s still “The Cage” and “Among the Silvering Herd” to be had there.
Second, a celebration: my stepsister B has had a baby boy; he is small and adorable and photos are pouring in. I’m happy for her and her husband, and even happier that my father gets a chance to be a granddad.
Third, and not-quite-endlessly, the mini-reno: the cats continued to be aflutter and restless as the office renovation continued. They got a break for one weekend, because of VCon–there was no point heaving a lot of stuff around when there wouldn’t be time free for dismantling the bedroom. But for Canucksgiving Kelly and I put on the final push: we dismantled the two big pieces of furniture–the bed and the desk–and swapped the rooms.
Displaced stuff and a cat:
And oh! The bedroom is so pretty! We bought an old dresser and put the pitcher from the Tucker family homestead on it, and it’s so very olde fashionedee. All that work was so exhausting–I felt ill with fatigue, and also nearly beaned my face with a falling shelf–and so worth it. Take that, Martha Stewart!
Rumble, who does apparently believe that crap rolls downhill, dealt with his stress by trying to forbid Minnow from eating or using the litter box. You can all imagine how popular this choice of his has been with the cat parents. We now have multiple feeding stations on the go and are watching him like hawks. We’re also trying to lure her into the shiny new bedroom on occasion, by giving them both treats, but only when both of them are in there.
