Someone Has A Case Of the Mondays

So, it's been a busy time, and I've got a lot on my shoulders, what with finishing The Alchemy of Chaos in time for the deadline.  You all want it to be on time, right?  Of course you do.

But I just got back from ApolloCon, which was a lovely time.  I had some good panels, got to see various writer friends that I only see at cons, got to meet fellow DAW author Jim Hines, read from A Murder of Mages, signed some copies of Thorn of Dentonhill, and came home ready to fall down.

Falling down isn't a luxury I really have, though.  See above, re: deadline for Alchemy.

Something has to give, though, so it's going to be today's blog.  But I have links!

• A really fantastic review of A Murder of Mages from Bibliosanctum.  "Marshall Ryan Maresca has a true knack for creating rich settings as well as characters that feel very real and well-rounded. There’s always something special to the people he writes about, whether they are mage students or constable inspectors. A Murder of Mages was another hit for me, a fantastic read from a new talent whose star continues to be on the rise."  Plus there's a giveaway for a copy of Murder that you can enter.
• I was on a Worldbuilding Panel at ComicPalooza, and someone made it into a podcast.  Listen to it here.
• A pleasant surprise: My niece's high school made a list of suggested summer reading, and Thorn of Dentonhill is on the list.   More surprising: neither my niece nor my sister had anything to do with it.  Which leads me to believe it might have made other such lists.  And being on a list of, "Things you should read" next to George R. R. Martin thrills me to no end.

That's all.  Off to the word mines.

What I'm Reading, And Still To Read

I have to confess, I tend to be a slow reader.  Especially right now, where I have a fair amount of projects and deadlines on my plate.  I usually don't get much chance to sit and read until the very end of the day-- and then it's maybe read a chapter.  Usually less.  So it takes me a while to get through a book, especially a big door stopper.

I've got two books that I currently consider myself to be "reading right now": The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu and The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato, though I'll cop most of my reading attention is on the latter.  Grace might be on hold until I can devote serious brainspace to it. But I'm enjoying both.

My remaining To Be Read pile isn't big, but given my reading speed it's as much commitment as I can handle right now.

A brief bullet list:

• One Night In Sixes by  Tex Thompson
• Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
• Gemini Cell by Myke Cole
• City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
• The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley

And on my "books I intend to get and put on the TBR pile soon" list:

• Dreams of Shreds and Tatters by Amanda Downum
• Cold Iron by Stina Leicht
• The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
• Time Salvager by Wesley Chu

And that should keep me plenty busy for the near future.

Early Reviews for A MURDER OF MAGES and ApolloCon Schedule

Reviews are starting to come in for A Murder Of Mages, which I'm very excited about.

First, over at Mutt Cafe:

I love a well done classic fantasy, particularly when it’s combined with my other love, mystery. A Murder of Mages, Maresca’s debut Maradaine Constabulary novel, does just that.

Next, over at Books and Ladders:

I quite enjoyed Satrine. She was a badass and did what she had to in order to survive and provide for her family. I am looking forward to seeing more of her quick wit in action because she was a treat to read about.

Finally, Rashika at The Social Potato enjoyed it, but she wanted to see more of the world beyond the narrow scope of the Constabulary. Fortunately, that seems to be inspiring her to check out The Thorn of Dentonhill.

I just realized that there is another series set in the same world and the first book just came out this year… I GUESS I HAVE SOME READING TO DO.

---

Also, next weekend is ApolloCon.  Here's what I'm doing:

SATURDAY, 12 noon: That Old (Black?) Magic

Discussion of what makes magic believable and examples of magic systems that work well or don't.

SATURDAY, 1pm: What If We Really Are Alone?

Maybe the reason SETI hasn't found any signs of intelligent life is that there's nobody else out there.

SUNDAY, 11:30am: Reading

I'll be breaking out a selection from A Murder of Mages, so you'll want to check it out.

SUNDAY, 1pm: What I'd Like to Read (But I Won't Write)

Writers discuss what they'd like to read but aren't going to write.

SUNDAY, 2pm: Qa'Pla To You Too, Buddy!

From "Nanu Nanu" to "Valar Morghulis" geekdom has always spoken a language all its own. Where does our love for constructed languages come from, what distinguishes a true conlang form a random colleciton of syllables—and which are the best of the best?

--

Come on up and say hi.  I'll gladly autograph anything with my name on it that you shove in my hands.

Perils of the Writer: Collision of Writing and Life

I'm quite fortunate, in that I don't have a "traditional" day job, and can write "full time", even though that's not really the case.

It's especially not the case in the summer, where my regular life switches up and gets very close to having a "day job".  This is when my wife and I run a summer camp, so obviously that takes up a fair amount of my time for the next ten weeks.

However, right now the Writing Life is cooking along pretty fast as well.  I've got a fully stacked plate: final version of The Alchemy of Chaos is due at the top of July, and I'm working to finish the polished draft of An Import of Intrigue at the same time.  Plus A Murder of Mages comes out in less than a month-- and I've got a few events scheduled for that-- including a Twitter Chat on July 7th and a signing at Book People on July 9th.  I'll also be at ApolloCon, the Writers' League of Texas A&E Conference and ArmadilloCon, which I'm also running the Writers' Workshop for.

Which is a lot to keep me busy, and running the camp as well.

What I'm saying is, come August, I'm probably going to need a very long nap.

But I'll probably begin writing the books to follow up Alchemy and Import instead.

Perils of the Writer: When It Bears Repeating

There is power in repetition.

A key phrase or term of art used repeatedly in a work can become a totem, a mantra.  A key phrase repeated can set a tone.  "Winter is Coming" isn't merely a statement about the inevitability of the season; it establishes a state of mind.

A key phrase repeated can be an anchor for a piece.  It can bring the audience back to a starting place, remind them of a specific character or moment.  A key phrase repeated can elucidate a key theme or characteristic.  "Resistance is futile", including the repetition itself, tells you everything you need to know about the Borg.

A key phrase repeated can be a revelation.  In early repetitions, it can seem to mean one thing, but when it's presented in a new light, the meaning of the phrase transforms and explodes.  Some writers can really make this work.  Playwright Kirk Lynn is a master at this technique.*

But it's also a very easy thing to mimic in format without giving it purpose.  Anyone can repeat a key phrase.  The question is, why are you doing it?  What are you trying to say with the same phrase, repeated?  Does its repetition ground or enlighten?

Too often I've seen the form mimicked without understanding.  The line kept being repeated and I kept waiting for the turn, for the revelation.  Never came.  Again, this tended to be in plays rather than fiction, but the fundamental truth of it still holds.  I think there is a misunderstanding that the act of repetition alone gives the work some sort of mantra, and with that a degree of depth.  But its use is hollow, and it comes across as pretension instead of depth.

Not that I'm immune to the occasional repetition of a key phrase.  Hell, how often to I say I'm off to the word mines?  Which is where I need to be getting to.  So I'll see you down there.

---

*- Kirk's a master with regards to writing in general.  If you have a chance to see a Kirk Lynn play, run to it like a ravenous cheetah, and bring friends.

Nearby Con Events

So, I've got three cons scheduled in the near future, the Texas Trifecta* of ApolloCon, ArmadilloCon and FenCon.

ApolloCon is running June 19th-21st in Houston.  I'll be posting my schedule for that as soon as I have it locked down.  I'm looking forward to it, and I hope that this drive back from Houston won't involve tornado warnings and sideways rain.

FenCon is Sept. 25th-27th.  Last year I went armed only with cards for Thorn and whatever charm and handsome I could muster, and I had a lovely time.  This year both Thorn and Murder will be out, so I'm looking forward to talking up them both, as well as the 2016 books.

Those two, however, are the bookends to the big one for me, my hometown con of ArmadilloCon, running July 24th-26th.  With ArmadilloCon is the Writers' Workshop, which I am running this year.   We have got a great line-up for teachers this year: Ken Liu, author of what’s quickly becoming the most talked about book this year, The Grace of Kings; L. Timmel Duchamp, editor of Aqueduct Press; Stina Leicht, author of Of Blood And Honey, Blue Skies from Pain and this year’s upcoming Cold Iron; James Morrow, author ofGalapagos Regained and many more novels; also Skyler White, Steven Brust, Kathy Catmull, Rebecca Schwartz, Martin Wagner, Martha Wells, Derek Johnson and myself, of course.

Still time to sign up!  Deadline is June 15th!  Get on it!   You won't regret it!**

----

*- No one calls it this. Maybe we should make it a thing.

**- Non-regret not guaranteed. Void where prohibited.

A MURDER OF MAGES out next month, and other thoughts

June is shaping up to be a very busy month, which is good, except I haven't quite recovered from May yet.  If you weren't aware Austin had severe rains and flooding, which didn't affect us directly, mostly because I was in Houston for Comicpalooza when it was happening.  But that meant when I was done with Comicpalooza and ready to go home, there were serious storms between me and home, and they were heading toward Houston.

I was riding back with Stina Leicht, and she has already detailed our trip back rather well, so there isn't much I have to add to that.  But navigating our way through the storm and washed out roads was not unlike navigating through the process of querying and submitting to reach publication.  So our mindset was locked in: be patient, be careful, find a new route when one is blocked.  Keep moving forward because that's the only way to get to the goal.  (In this case the goal was Austin and our respective homes and spouses, which we both made it to safely.)

So now what's ahead?  A Murder of Mages is out in one month, and I'm rather excited about that.  I'm hopeful that people enjoy Satrine and Minox as much as they've enjoyed Veranix.  This book has a different tone but much the same spirit.  A big thing I've been diving into, thematically, with all the Maradaine books (including the ones that are written but not yet slated for publication) is the nature of heroism, looked at from different perspectives.  Satrine and Minox are very much heroes, but very different in style from Veranix.

One thing of note, if you are one of the reviewers who received Murder through Netgalley: apparently the Kindle version of the Netgalley eARC was damaged in PDF conversion, including de-capitalizing letters in a lot of places.  I'm given to understand that it's being fixed, but if you are reading a Kindle eARC and are seeing that, please note that it's not some strange stylistic choice on my part.  Other e-versions do not have this problem.

But now, it's back into the word mines.  I need to finalize The Alchemy of Chaos and finish the draft of An Import of Intrigue, as well as kick preparation for the ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop into high gear.  See you all down there.