Sign up for my newsletter to receive news and updates!

Posts Tagged ‘linkage’

Signal-boosting for various things

SF Signal is giving away two copies of Clockwork Phoenix 4 (which, you may recall, includes my Anglish story “What Still Abides”). Trade paperbacks, and all you have to do is send in an e-mail to enter.

Daily Science Fiction is running a fundraising drive via Kickstarter, to cover a year and a half of publication costs. They’re two-thirds of the way there, with eleven days to go; take a look, both at the project and the site itself, and if you like what you see, give ’em a bit of love.

Laura Anne Gilman has a new book out, Heart of Briar, which is loosely based on “Tam Lin.” And you know how I loves me some “Tam Lin” retellings . . . .

And finally, just for grins, “The Devil Came Up to Boston.”

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/594610.html. Comment here or there.

a belated announcement re: Mythic Delirium

I thought I had posted about this before, but apparently it’s on the list of things that have slipped through the cracks of my brain lately.

Mythic Delirium — long known as an excellent magazine of SF/F poetry — is reinventing itself as an online title, publishing both poetry and short stories. Its “zero issue” will contain my story “The Wives of Paris;” I’m looking forward to seeing that one out in the world.

But that’s not the point of this post! No, the point is to tell you all about the Mythic Delirium Kickstarter project, now in its last two days. It has reached its funding goal, and also the first stretch goal, meaning that there will be a print anthology of the first year. If they can make it up to $4K total, there will also be an anthology of the second year. This is all being run by Mike Allen, the same guy bringing you the excellent Clockwork Phoenix anthologies, so you know the result is gonna be good — quite apart from the nifty stuff you get for being a backer.

Head on over and check it out!

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/591723.html. Comment here or there.

The Tropic of Serpents, revealed!

I can’t decide whether the people at Tor are mean, or love you very, very much. (Can they be both at once?) You see, The Tropic of Serpents won’t be coming out for another eight months . . . but we have cover art now, and they’ve decided to make it public.

Can I just take a moment to say how pleased I am with myself? Also with Todd Lockwood, of course, who once again has turned in an absolutely gorgeous piece of work, and let’s not forget Irene Gallo (the art director at Tor) and everybody else involved in making this happen. But myself, too, because a few months back I was sitting here chewing on concepts and trying to figure out how we could repeat the general look of A Natural History of Dragons without pulling the same anatomical cut-away trick every single time. Then I hit upon the idea of a motion study, and lo: it worked!

You all know what this means, of course. I need an icon! Post your best efforts in the comment thread, and if I pick yours, you can have your choice of either a signed copy of A Natural History of Dragons, or an ARC of the sequel when those become available.

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/591069.html. Comment here or there.

Neverland’s Library

As I mentioned a while ago, my short story “Centuries of Kings” is going to be in the charity anthology Neverland’s Library, whose sales will benefit the literacy charity First Book.

Before it can do that, though, the anthology has to be funded. You can find them over at Indiegogo — note that this is a “flexible funding” campaign, which means all pledges will be honored, even if the project doesn’t make its goal. You can also see updates over there, with shiny things like the cover art (which is really, really lovely). If you scroll down the project page, you can also find a list of the contributing authors — the ones accepted so far, that is, as submissions are still open.

So click around, and if you like what you see, lend them (us) your support. You get good stories and a good cause out of it. 🙂

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/588952.html. Comment here or there.

It’s a novel! Also a pasta sauce!

Okay, this is really nifty. The blog Paper/Plates bills itself as “exploring the world through food and literature” . . . and someone there just posted a review of A Natural History of Dragons, followed by a recipe for a vegan alfredo sauce inspired by the book. (On the grounds that Isabella’s lifestyle does not fit her culture’s expectations.)

I think fanworks in general are cool, but I never thought anybody would make a pasta sauce for one of my books!

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/587126.html. Comment here or there.

two (three) good causes

The Indiegogo campaign for Neverland’s Library has started up. You may recall me mentioning this before; it’s the anthology to which I sold “Centuries of Kings.”

If you contribute, you’re actually helping two things happen: first, the anthology itself, which includes such authors as Mark Lawrence, William Meikle, R.S. Belcher, Jeffrey J. Mariotte and Marcy Rockwell, Peter Rawlik, Jeff Salyards, Kenny Soward, and Tad Williams. (Plus others — the TOC isn’t entirely filled yet. Submissions remain open until June 20th, and I especially encourage women to submit, as I’d like to see a more balanced final TOC.)

Second, your donation is helping to support the literacy charity First Book, since 50% of the profits from the anthology will be going directly to them. First Book is a good organization, so I’m in favor of a project that both helps them out and produces a cool book.

Also, the Public Domain Review is running a small fundraising campaign, which is almost over; there are six days to go, and they’re 96.39% of the way to their goal as of me posting this entry. It isn’t a Kickstarter/Indiegogo-type thing, with all the reward levels, but if you donate $40 or more you do get a tote bag.

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/586272.html. Comment here or there.

two links

Time for a post up at BVC, on spells and folklore.

Also, I’m participating in “Women in SF&F” month at Fantasy Book Cafe, along with a great many other people: Courtney Shafer, Jan DeLima, Mur Lafferty, Patricia McKillip, Angie (of Angieville), Deborah Coates, Rachel Neumeier, Julie Czerneda, Janice (of SpecFic Romantic), Lois McMaster Bujold, Sue (of Coffee, Cookies, and Chili Peppers), Lane Robins, Ana and Thea (of Book Smugglers), Sherwood Smith, Karin Lowachee, Jacqueline Carey, and Renay (of Lady Business) — and that’s just the roster so far. My contribution is a discussion of why I chose to include sexism in the world of Lady Trent’s memoirs.

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/586118.html. Comment here or there.

Ladies and gentlemen, my karate instructor

I may have mentioned before that the man who runs our dojo (though he doesn’t teach all the classes anymore) is ninth dan in Shorin-ryu karate and eighth dan in Yamanni-ryu kobudo, which is our weapons style. I don’t know what rank Shihan was when this video was filmed, but, well, just watch:

Shihan performs a bo kata

He didn’t hit anything there. He just moved the bo that fast.

Yah. This is the guy I study under.

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/583393.html. Comment here or there.

news, posts, ets ceteras, I HAVE A TITLE

I’m drowning in revisions right now (due Monday; I’m almost done; I just need my brain to keep working a few days more), but I’m surfacing long enough to share a few things.

First: YOU GUYS YOU GUYS YOU GUYS I FINALLY HAVE A TITLE. The sequel to A Natural History of Dragons will be called The Tropic of Serpents.

(Now I just need to go put that phrase in the book somewhere.)

Next, story sale! To the charity anthology Neverland’s Library, which will be funded through Kickstarter, and 50% of whose profits will go to First Book. The story in question is “Centuries of Kings,” based on several Chinese and Japanese folktales.

Finally, I have a couple of posts up in different places, that I hadn’t yet linked here. One is over at Darkeva’s blog, talking about how I developed the habit of choosing music for a story while working on the original draft of Lies and Prophecy. The other is my biweekly post at BVC, talking about how folklore adds another later to the world around you.

Time for me to go work some more on revising The Tropic of Serpents. (I am going to be using the title incessantly for a little while, now that I have it to use.)

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/582815.html. Comment here or there.

Not Prime Time

Just a quick heads-up, for those of you who like this kind of thing: Not Prime Time, a fanfic exchange for medium-sized fandoms, is open for nominations until Friday. The exchange itself will give you about two months to write, starting around the end of April.

(Medium-sized fandom: too big for Yuletide, too small to be ENORMOUS.)

The timing of this coincides nicely with my revision, which is to say, I’ll be sending that off next Monday and then looking to kick back with something fluffy for a little while. So yes, I intend to participate.

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/582639.html. Comment here or there.

New Releases from Book View Cafe

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/581078.html. Comment here or there.

a final pack of dragons

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.

***

Interviews:

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:

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.

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/580700.html. Comment here or there.

Batman had it easy

Only just now remembering to link to it, but this months’ SF Novelists post is “Welcome to the Desert of the Real,” in which I challenge the notion that so-called “gritty” fantasy is a) realistic and b) superior on account of its realism.

(Both that post and the rest of this one discuss sexual violence — quelle surprise, given the obsession gritty fantasy has with that topic — so if you don’t want to read about them, click away now.)

This is part of a much larger discussion floating around the internet right now, which I keep encountering in unexpected corners. The most recent of those is “The Rape of James Bond,” which makes a lot of good points; toward the end, McDougall talks about her own decision-making process where fictional sexual violence is concerned, and whether you agree with her decisions or not, her questions are good ones.

But the part I found the most striking was where she talked about reactions to Skyfall and the first encounter between Silva and Bond.

Cut in case you haven't seen the movie and want to avoid a spoiler.

Random House and Hydra/Alibi/Flirt/Loveswept

John Scalzi has been doing a splendid job of chronicling the problems with Random House’s new e-book only imprints and the evolution of same: index post here, with updates here and here.

He’s already covered most of what I might want to say on those matters, but I do want to pull out one particular thread and swipe it a few times with highlighter:

Random House is referring to this model as “profit-sharing.”

Which isn’t false: it does involve sharing profits. But so does the standard model. That’s what royalties are; they’re a share in the profits earned from sales of the book. I’ve been sharing in my publisher’s profits since the first royalty accounting period for Doppelganger, because that book earned out its advance in a couple of months. And the advance, let us note, is an advance on royalties — meaning that the publisher shared with me some of their profits before they even earned any. The math for how an advance gets calculated is complicated, and not every book earns out, but the point is that we’ve always been splitting the proceeds, in one fashion or another.

Calling this “profit-sharing” is a bit of marketing speak, designed to make the author feel like the publisher is offering something that you don’t get under the advance-first model. Which may be true in degree (the royalty percentage), but not kind (the existence of royalties in the first place). As for the degree, it depends on the extent to which Random House hammers out the egregious flaws in the initial contract, such as charging production costs against the author’s share of net (not even gross). As many people have pointed out, that’s called “Hollywood accounting,” and it’s why no reputable Hollywood agent will ever recommend accepting net points as your compensation. The studios’ accountants will make sure that translates to nothing whatsoever. Not to mention that charging the author for production is what vanity presses do . . . but I digress.

One more time with the highlighter: don’t get suckered in by the terminology. All (non-scam) publishers share profits with their authors, one way or another. Random House’s way started out as insanely bad, is somewhat better now, and needs watching in the future. But whatever language they dress it up in, it is not some brave and generous new world.

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/579144.html. Comment here or there.

time for more dragons!

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.)

***

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.

***

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!

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/577576.html. Comment here or there.

last few days for Con or Bust

Just as a reminder, the “Con or Bust” auctions close this Sunday. Bidding on the double-signed copy of A Natural History of Dragons (autographed by both me and Todd Lockwood, with a bonus sketch from him) is up to $48, while A Star Shall Fall is at $15 and With Fate Conspire is at $20. Proceeds go to a good cause, and the books don’t suck either, if I do say so myself. 😉

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/577160.html. Comment here or there.

Dragons had a nice long weekend; how about you?

Two new giveaways popped up over the weekend: one at Short and Sweet, and one at WORD for Teens.

New interview over at Literary Escapism, where I’m asked about writing historical fantasy vs. secondary-world fantasy, and writing British-style stuff when I myself am American.

I also have a post up at Sci-Fi Songs wherein I talk about the soundtrack of the book. (Don’t tell anybody, but I always wish somebody would ask me about the soundtrack. I put so much work into it, and then I’m usually the only person who ever hears it — my music choices are too obscure for me to be able to put it together in a way that can be shared online.)

And, unrelated to dragons, it’s time for my usual post at SF Novelists. This time it’s An Open Letter to the Creators of Sexist Fantasy and Comic Book Art. (Comment over there; no login required.)

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/576737.html. Comment here or there.

Dragon roundup

Before I get to the new links, remember that you, too, can receive a handwritten letter from Lady Trent! That runs through the end of the month.

***

(You thought I was exaggerating when I said I would be EVERYWHERE ON THE INTERNET this month. It ain’t even done yet, folks.)

The Books and Things post, by the way, includes another giveaway. That’s the only new one I’ve found in the last few days, though.

***

Was it really only a week ago that I was in . . . where was I on Friday? San Diego. Wow. And barely more than a week since the book came out! But so far, it seems to be going pretty well.

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/575549.html. Comment here or there.