Folks, 2018 has been quite a time. A crazy, disheartening year in many ways, but I've made the best of it.
So, we made it! Raise a glass.
(For me, said glass will have a whiskey sour. I go very simple: three parts whiskey, two parts lemon juice, one part simple syrup. There are plenty of variations, but I don't mess with that when I make it at home.)
So keep doing good work, hold your head up, and keep your powder dry.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Books to look for in 2019
How is this year already almost over? I still have plenty of goals to fulfill over the next... eleven days? So I need to keep my nose on that grindstone.
But not before sharing a few books that I'm looking forward to in 2019!
TITANSHADE: I've been excited for this debut from one of the newest in DAW's stable, Dan Stout, for some time. 1970s-esque secondary world fantasy buddy cop story with disco and 8-tracks? YES PLEASE.
JADE WAR: I thoroughly enjoyed Fonda Lee's first Green Bone Saga novel, Jade City, and I'm very excited to see what she does next with this one.
THE SOL MAJESTIC: Just the other day Ferrett Steinmetz tweeted about this book about a gourmet restaurant at a remote space station and THAT IS ALL I NEED TO HEAR. Let's have at it.
THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR: I've been aching for a good rival-factions-from-alternate-futures time war story, and I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO WRITE IT. So thank goodness that Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone have. WANT.
That's just a handful of things on my radar. (Of course, A Parliament of Bodies and Shield of the People are as well.) Hopefully I will be getting them in my hands and getting a chance to read them. Looking forward to it.
What 2019 books are on your radar?
But not before sharing a few books that I'm looking forward to in 2019!
TITANSHADE: I've been excited for this debut from one of the newest in DAW's stable, Dan Stout, for some time. 1970s-esque secondary world fantasy buddy cop story with disco and 8-tracks? YES PLEASE.
JADE WAR: I thoroughly enjoyed Fonda Lee's first Green Bone Saga novel, Jade City, and I'm very excited to see what she does next with this one.
THE SOL MAJESTIC: Just the other day Ferrett Steinmetz tweeted about this book about a gourmet restaurant at a remote space station and THAT IS ALL I NEED TO HEAR. Let's have at it.
THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR: I've been aching for a good rival-factions-from-alternate-futures time war story, and I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO WRITE IT. So thank goodness that Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone have. WANT.
That's just a handful of things on my radar. (Of course, A Parliament of Bodies and Shield of the People are as well.) Hopefully I will be getting them in my hands and getting a chance to read them. Looking forward to it.
What 2019 books are on your radar?
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Fade to Black
So, it's time for those end-of-the-year lists, and one of the classics is the Bad Sex Award, and this year it's some really glorious badness. Looking at these ignoble entries, I'm reminded of why I tend to err on the side of "fading to black" when things are going to go much past kissing.
Of course, anything resembling erotica or explicit sex would not fit in with the tone I've set for the Maradaine books. Those tend to fit in the same category as PG-13 movies/primetime television, in terms of what I'm going for with them. Not quite YA, but certainly friendly to a YA-seeking audience.
BUT-- I've got a non-Maradaine project on the horizon, just in the planning stage, and I think the tone and feel for that one is going to want something a bit more explicit. We'll see. Still sorting it out, but I'd like to think this is an opportunity to build a new set of tools for my writing toolbox.
Or an opportunity to make that year's awards.
But that's a challenge for tomorrow. Right now I'm working on Shield of the People and The Fenmere Job, both of which will have their share of kissing and fading-to-black. Who's kissing who, and when do we fade? Well, you'll have to see. But I will say that characters who were noted by some readers as not getting to kiss anyone in earlier books will be kissing people in these.
Back to work.
Of course, anything resembling erotica or explicit sex would not fit in with the tone I've set for the Maradaine books. Those tend to fit in the same category as PG-13 movies/primetime television, in terms of what I'm going for with them. Not quite YA, but certainly friendly to a YA-seeking audience.
BUT-- I've got a non-Maradaine project on the horizon, just in the planning stage, and I think the tone and feel for that one is going to want something a bit more explicit. We'll see. Still sorting it out, but I'd like to think this is an opportunity to build a new set of tools for my writing toolbox.
Or an opportunity to make that year's awards.
But that's a challenge for tomorrow. Right now I'm working on Shield of the People and The Fenmere Job, both of which will have their share of kissing and fading-to-black. Who's kissing who, and when do we fade? Well, you'll have to see. But I will say that characters who were noted by some readers as not getting to kiss anyone in earlier books will be kissing people in these.
Back to work.
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