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Posts Tagged ‘month of letters’

I have run out of clever names for the latest iteration of the Month of Letters

Last year I titled this post “Return of the Revenge of the Bride of the Son of the Month of Letters, Pt. Whatever: Quantum Boogaloo,” which pretty much uses up all the clever sequel references I could make. Maybe call this one: “Month of Letters: Letter Harder”?

Anyway! The point is that I am doing the Month of Letters again!

Years ago, Mary Robinette Kowal declared February to be the Month of Letters: a time to send actual letters through the actual mail, like, with paper and stuff. As part of this, she invited readers to correspond with Jane, the protagonist of her Glamourist Histories — and, inspired by her example, I did the same with Lady Trent.

So this is your annual heads-up that February will be your opportunity to write a letter to Lady Trent and receive a reply, in my very best cursive, written with a dip pen, and closed with a wax dragon seal. I’ve gotten some incredible letters in the past — some of them very funny, some of them deeply moving — along with more casual notes. If you’d like to participate, all you have to do is send some kind of handwritten missive to:

Marie Brennan
P.O. Box 88
San Mateo, CA 94401

Make sure to include your return address! I will reply as quickly as I can, workload and pile of correspondence permitting. I’ll answer anything postmarked within the month of February, though it may take me until March to deal with the last few, depending on how many I get and when they arrive.

Because I’m writing a sequel to the Memoirs, this will probably not be the last year I do this. The book won’t be out until after next February (I’m still writing it), so you’ll get another Month of Letters next year, and then possibly one the year after that, giving you a chance to write to Audrey, Isabella’s granddaughter. So enjoy them while they last!

Return of the Revenge of the Bride of the Son of the Month of Letters, Pt. Whatever: Quantum Boogaloo

As some of you may know, years ago Mary Robinette Kowal declared February to be the Month of Letters: a time to send actual letters through the actual mail, like, with paper and stuff. As part of this, she invited readers to correspond with Jane, the protagonist of her Glamourist Histories — and, inspired by her example, I did the same with Lady Trent.

So this is your annual heads-up that February will be your opportunity to write a letter to Lady Trent and receive a reply, in my very best cursive, written with a dip pen, and closed with a wax dragon seal. I’ve gotten some incredible letters in the past — some of them very funny, some of them deeply moving — along with more casual notes. If you’d like to participate, all you have to do is send some kind of handwritten missive to:

Marie Brennan
P.O. Box 88
San Mateo, CA 94401

Make sure to include your return address! I will reply as quickly as I can, workload and pile of correspondence permitting. I’ll answer anything sent within the month of February, though it may take me until March to deal with the last few.

This will probably be the final Month of Letters for me, at least in the sense that I will be answering mail as Lady Trent. I may do one more round next year, since that’s when the trade paperback of Within the Sanctuary of Wings should be coming out, but I’m not sure. So if you would like a letter from Isabella, this is your chance!

Month of Letters followup

Just a quick notice to say that, unsurprisingly, the end of the month brought in a mini-flood of letters. I’m working diligently to get through them, and should have replies out the door by the end of next week at the latest. But I figure you all would prefer that I prioritize finishing the draft of the final book — not to mention that if I don’t take frequent and lengthy breaks, my cursive gets even worse than it usually is. 😛 So it’s one letter here, one letter there, in between other things. And of course a few more may yet come in, things that were mailed before the end of February but took a while to reach Lady Trent’s mailbox.

excerpt; letters

If you want to whet your appetite for next month, Tor.com has posted an excerpt from Voyage of the Basilisk.

It seems a good excuse to remind you all that you have until the end of this month to send a letter to Isabella and get one in return. (Those of you who have sent one already will be getting replies soon: my progress on those has been slowed by the necessity of finishing and revising the draft of the fourth book.) I have to say, I’ve been touched by the number of personal elements people are incorporating into their missives; it’s wonderful to know that this story speaks so deeply to their own lives, in one way or another. I hope my replies will do that justice.

And now, back to the revision mines!

Month of Letters is a go!

From now until the end of the month, you have a chance to get a letter from Lady Trent! Send your own missives to:

Marie Brennan
P.O. Box 991
San Mateo, CA 94403

letter-prep.jpg

Address the outside envelope to me, not Isabella; that way you can be sure it will be delivered. And remember to include your return address, or I won’t be able to write back . . .

I’ve got my ink and dip pen, seals and sealing wax all ready to go. Bring on the mail!

The Month of Letters returns!

I suppose it isn’t really the Month of Letters as Mary Robinette Kowal originally conceived it, since I don’t actually wind up mailing something every day of February. But the Month of Letters is where it started, so I still think of it by that name.

I am referring, of course, to the chance to receive a letter from Lady Trent herself. It’s easy to do; all that is required is for you to send a letter to her, at this address:

Marie Brennan
P.O. Box 991
San Mateo, CA 94403

Address the outside envelope to me, not Isabella; that way you can be sure it will be delivered. And remember to include your return address!

Then check your own mail. I will write back as Isabella, in my very best cursive (please forgive its awkwardness), with a hand-dipped pen, and sealing the letter in wax. You are welcome to do whatever you please with the letter: share it with others, post it to social media, etc.

I will answer any letters sent before the end of February, though depending on volume it may take me a little while to do so.

Happy letter-writing!

Month of Letters; Con or Bust

Just a reminder that the Month of Letters is ongoing. If you want to get a letter from Lady Trent, now’s your chance!

Also, my Con or Bust auction is now live. On offer: a signed pair of ARCs for A Natural History of Dragons and The Tropic of Serpents. Bidding currently stands at $45. Remember that this is a charity effort organized under the auspices of the Carl Brandon Society, “a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction.” Con or Bust helps fans of color attend cons they might not otherwise be able to afford.

If you need me for anything, I’ll be buried under this rock, revising the next book. 😛

Mad Maudlin goes on dirty toes / For to save her shoes from gravel

“Mad Maudlin” is live on Tor.com! And the artwork for it is as beautiful as it was the first time I saw it. 🙂

You know what else is live? This audio excerpt from The Tropic of Serpents. There is also a sweepstakes, if you want to win a copy of the book.

Also live: a Con or Bust auction with a pair of ARCs up for grabs. It’s your chance to get signed copies of both A Natural History of Dragons and The Tropic of Serpents, while benefiting a good cause!

Not live yet: the Kirkus review. I think that goes up tomorrow.

Live and ongoing: Letters from Lady Trent. Write! Receive! Don’t make me walk aaaaaaaaall the way to the post office for nothing! (It’s a whole ten minutes away. I could die of exhaustion, y’all. But finding letters gives me the strength to soldier on.)

Letters from Lady Trent

It’s now February, so you know what that means: it’s time to send letters!

As I mentioned before, you can get a letter from Lady Trent, written with an actual dip pen and my best effort at good cursive handwriting, sealed with wax, and sent directly to your mailbox. Here are the necessary steps:

1) Write a letter! You may choose to write to Isabella in her youth (when she’s running around studying dragons) or in her old age (when she’s writing the memoirs). If it isn’t clear which version of her you are writing to, I’ll respond as the memoir-writing version. You may adopt a persona within her world if you wish, but it isn’t required. Just don’t ask her about me; she has no idea who I am. 😛

2) Put it in the mail! Letters should be sent to:

Marie Brennan
P.O. Box 991
San Mateo, CA 94403

Remember to address the outside envelope to me, not Isabella. (And if you’re writing from outside the U.S. you’ll need to add the country to the address, of course.)

3) Profit! Which is to say, receive a letter in reply.

You have from now until the end of February to send your letter; I’ll reply as quickly as I can. Depending on how much mail I receive and where you live, it may take a while — it is snail-mail, after all. 🙂 I look forward to hearing from you!

Write a letter to Lady Trent!

As some of you may recall, for the past two years I’ve participated in Mary Robinett Kowal’s Month of Letters project. But since I’m terrible at writing letters just because (I know, I know; the whole point of the project is to get better at that), I followed her lead in another respect and invited you to send mail to my characters instead.

I’m doing it again this year, of course — and not just because it’s the only thing keeping my ability to write in cursive alive. You are all invited to send mail to Isabella during the month of February, and I will write back in character, using an actual dip pen and sealing the letter with actual wax. Just follow these steps:

1) Write a letter! You may choose to write to Isabella in her youth (when she’s running around studying dragons) or in her old age (when she’s writing the memoirs). If it isn’t clear which version of her you are writing to, I’ll respond as the memoir-writing version. You may adopt a persona within her world if you wish, but it isn’t required. Just don’t ask her about me; she has no idea who I am. 😛

2) Put it in the mail! Like, the actual physical mail, not some electronic device. Letters should be sent to:

Marie Brennan
P.O. Box 991
San Mateo, CA 94403

It is very important that you address the letter to me, not Isabella. The post office wouldn’t let me put her name on the box unless I brought in two forms of photo identification for her. Which, um. Yeah.

3) Profit! Which is to say, receive a letter in reply.

She will be available for correspondence during February, so you have a few days to plan what you want to say. I may even smuggle hints about upcoming books into her replies — you never know . . . .

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.)

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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!

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/577576.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.

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(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.

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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.

A Natural History of Dragons!

Grrrrrrrrrreetings and salutations, O Internets. Today is a frabjous day for me, as it is the day that A Natural History of Dragons goes on sale in reputable bookshops everywhere!

(The ones who started selling it early are also probably reputable. They just jumped the gun a bit, is all.)

Don’t forget that I will be participating in the Month of Letters Challenge; check that link for details on how to get your own hand-written letter from Lady Trent. You have all month!

***

There are going to be a lot of sightings of me around the Internet for the next month and more, as I undertake a blog tour for this book. Rather than spamming you with links every time an interview or guest post goes live, I’m going to collate them into round-ups. As of today, we have the following:

A giveaway at Jim Hines’ blog. He provided an excellent blurb for A Natural History of Dragons, so Tor sent him four finished copies of the book, of which he is giving away three. But wait, there’s more! He has signed the back of the book, under his blurb, and I am sending him stickers so they can be autographed by me, too. In fact, it’s possible that Daniel Fox (the blurber beneath him in that photo) will also be contributing. If you can snag one of these, and then track down Melanie Rawn and Todd Lockwood, you’ll have the most thoroughly signed copy of this novel in existence! To get a copy, head on over to Jim’s blog and write your own blurb for the fake book Mary’s Angels (previously featured in his Aicardi Foundation fundraiser).

“Why Do Dragons Look Like That?” A PW Tip Sheet, wherein you can see some of the interior sketches from the book, and read my thoughts on why I chose those parts of the story to be illustrated.

“An Interview with Lady Trent, Dragon Naturalist” From the Tor/Forge newsletter, an in-character interview of Lady Trent, by a muckraking journalist of her own world. 🙂

“The Pop Quiz at the End of the Universe” An entirely silly interview with me, featuring seventeenth-century profanity!

Blog Critics interview — and finally, a more serious and thorough interview, where I talk about academia and female protagonists.

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Finally, a quick reminder that tomorrow I embark on my book tour. If you’re in Seattle, Portland, San Diego, or San Francisco, please do stop by and say hi!

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/574047.html. Comment here or there.

The Month of Letters returns!

As you may recall, last year I particpated in Mary Robinette Kowal’s Month of Letters challenge, inviting people to write letters to the characters from the Onyx Court series. I sent replies on old-fashioned paper, handwritten with a dip pen, sealed with wax, and generally had a blast.

This year, your correspondent will be Isabella, protagonist of A Natural History of Dragons. The book isn’t out quite yet, of course — next Tuesday!!! — but you’ll still have most of February in which to meet Isabella via fiction and then write to her via post.

Send your letters to:

Marie Brennan
P.O. Box 6802
San Mateo, CA 94403

IMPORTANT: Address the outside envelope to me, not to Isabella. Otherwise your letter may get bounced by the post office as being for a recipient not at that address. ALSO IMPORTANT: Include your return address! Otherwise I can’t write back.

Now if you’ll pardon me, I have to go practice my cursive again. It’s gotten rusty since last year . . . .

This entry was also posted at http://swan-tower.dreamwidth.org/573604.html. Comment here or there.