Category Archives: Generation V
Iron Night Page Proofs
My page proofs, in all their glory!
The page proofs for Iron Night have arrived! This is pretty exciting, and a little nerve-wracking, since this is the last chance I have to catch any screw-ups before the whole book goes off to print. Let me tell you – pressure is on.
But the book looks really fantastic (admittedly right now it is a pile of pages I carry around in an old file folder, but still), and I really can’t wait to see what people think of it! I’ve gotten fantastic feedback from so many people on Generation V that I’m a little (okay, a LOT) anxious to see how readers respond to the return of Fort and Suzume. Plus there are some new characters, some bigger roles for returning characters, and a few deaths. (not telling who, but yes – I kill. *maniacal laugh*)
In other news – some great new reviews of Generation V since the last time I posted. Here’s what people are saying:
Bastard at Bastard Books wrote:
Generation V is a refreshingly unique novel that all urban fantasy enthusiast should read, and a book capable of encouraging even the most ardent critics of the genre. Very much a page turner, a story that has a lot of heart and much to offer. With an extremely fun novel full of charm, Brennan has written a winner.
Justin at Staffer’s Book Review wrote:
…it’s a vampire novel that surprised me with its originality. What begins as a typical vampire urban fantasy, ends up with a lot in common with Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London. It’s a delightful novel that would strongly recommend to lovers of urban fantasy or urban fantasy doubters (like me) looking to stick a toe in the water.
Kathy F. at Stellar Four wrote:
First of all, my thought through many parts was, “This is effed up.” And it is, wonderfully, magnificently effed up. Horrible things happen, the whole way vampires are created in this world is nightmare fuel, and we have a MC who realizes how messed up his world is but feels powerless.
I also had the pleasure of doing an interview with Matt at 52 Reviews and I really encourage people to check it out – it was definitely the most in-depth interview I’ve ever done, and the result was one of my favorites!
Here’s a sample:
52 Reviews: To take the discussion of vampiric family values a bit further, I found it interesting that Fort and his siblings fall into somewhat predictable models of abnormal psychology while their mother seems to be a completely different model all together. What can you tell us about your processes in creating the matriarch of this family of vampires?
M.L. Brennan: Primarily, I think of her as an adult crocodile. Crocodiles are a pretty interesting species — when they are born, they are around ten inches long, and are preyed on by mammals, birds, and even big fish. They eat bugs, and spend most of their time hiding and trying to avoid being eaten. But you take that little creature, and (if nothing eats it) it is going to grow into this massive, tough, absolute apex predator that has pretty much no natural predators except other crocodiles.
If you could sit crocodiles down on a therapist’s couch, and assuming a few factors, namely, a) The crocodiles didn’t eat the therapist, b) The therapist had somehow found a way to communicate with the crocodiles, and c) That the crocodiles actually had a complex interior landscape, I think that would be pretty interesting. Because here’s a creature that goes from pretty much being everything’s dinner — and not just for one or two seasons, but for a very serious number of years, and the mommy crocodile stops responding to its distress peeps after the first few weeks — and in fear of everything to this absolute boss of the river with just about nothing being a real danger to it. That’s kind of neat when you think about it. To me, it would suggest that as little as I think I would really be able to understand or empathize with a crocodile, even with a helpful translating therapist (mostly because of the reptile thing, to be honest), I think that it would be almost equally difficult for its offspring to understand or empathize with the adults of the species.
That is admittedly kind of a weird genesis for a character’s psychology, but that’s how I picture Madeline, the vampire matriarch, and it helps me write her.
Pretty neat, right?
Regarding the writing, I just delivered the manuscript of Book 3 to my editor, so I have a little time before the response to that gets back. Iron Night page proofs are due back on September 24, so after that I’ll probably be seeing about lining up some publicity, maybe scheduling a blog tour. I definitely have a slightly larger rolodex than last time, and I really can’t wait until I get my hot little hands on some ARCs, because I am so looking forward to handing a few copies off to a few bloggers who I made friends with last time around.
Oh, and by the by – if you love RPG games with a strong sci-fi storytelling base? You really need to check out this kickstarter for Ambrov X – I’ve already donated money!
The author’s cat proudly surveys the page proofs. “Yes,” she thinks. “Right here is where I will vomit tonight.”
Back from WorldCon!
That was a very busy weekend! I was lucky enough to meet a number of writers who I admire, several very lovely and kind fans of Generation V, and quite a few interesting and kind-hearted people who listened to my spiel and professed themselves very interested in checking out Generation V.
My cat gives my business card five lazy blinks of approval. Pretty heady, I know.
Now, as fast as I was handing out my cards and info, people were handing great cards and info back to me. Check out my collection!
Pretty nice, right? I know I have two of Taylor Anderson’s cards, but that’s because I ran into him twice – once at a party, and once at breakfast. What a great guy, with an absolutely fascinating skillset!
Definitely take a close look at the flier at the bottom – when I was doing my autographing session (which, actually, went very well – a combination of everyone’s love of free books, plus being seated next to the amazing Cat Rambo) I was lucky enough to get a chance to talk to Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah, and they told me about their newest project – it’s a Kickstarter for a story-driven RPG that’s set in their Sime~Gen universe! Gamers, particularly the gamer ladies, this one is definitely one to take note of. You can check it out in more detail at
Ambrov X.
I’ll talk about the con (so much fun!) and San Antonio (seriously, San Antonio, what the hell is going on with that river? it looked like Chtulhu’s bathwater!) in a bit more detail later, but for now, I’m going to tell you about something important.
A quest.
A quest that happened when I suggested to my hard sci-fi loving brother that he check out the list of WorldCon attendees to see if there was anyone that he really liked, because I’d be happy to get a book signed for him. Well, it turned out that there were quite a few of my brother’s SF heroes at the con, and we entered into some fairly intense negotiations about exactly how many books I was willing to shlep down for him. (I drew the line at bringing David Brin’s entire Uplift series. Yes, I am heartless)
So my brother managed to narrow it down to his top five picks, which he then mailed to me from San Francisco. Here’s what that stack looked like:
Right now there are books in my brother’s apartment that simply will not even look at him, so disgusted are they that they didn’t make the cut.
I packed them into my bag, and took them down. Something to keep in mind – first, I made my brother prioritize them, just in case I had only a chance to get one signed and not another. Then he took it a little further and wrote up a post-it note for each one so that I could read it to the author to explain just why this book was beloved.
Okay, so I set myself up to go – firstly, I didn’t get down to WorldCon until Friday afternoon, which means that the first thing that happened was that I completely missed Joe Haldeman and David Brin’s signings. Nuts. Now, they both had programming later in the con, but the problem there was that I’d scheduled myself pretty tightly for most of the con and I actually didn’t get to go to many panels. (‘cuz I was there to, you know, *work*) And then I couldn’t find Greg Bear anywhere on the programming, and was told that he’d had to cancel at the last minute. Whoops. But that still left Gregory Benford, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Alistair Reynolds. And Alistair Reynolds was actually on my panel, so that seemed very doable!
So, the quest began. (impressive music) I flew down to San Antonio, got to the hotel room, and packed my shoulder bag for the day. Off I went to pick up my badge – and guess who was in front of me at the programming table? DAVID BRIN! And I was all, “FUCK, I left the book back in the room!” (which is probably something that David Brin is not un-used to hearing when people meet him) But he was absolutely lovely, and had a stack of fliers for his new book on him, so he personalized one of those for my brother. And then even let me take a photo with him. Awesome!
And then I realized about forty minutes later that I’d actually had the book in my bag at the time, and I screeched obscenities at myself for about five minutes. Good times! (seriously, the moral of this might be – I kind of suck at this thing) And I really tried, but I never saw David Brin again.
Which, in all honesty, isn’t surprising. I mean, somewhere a deity was just shaking Its head, all, “Seriously, ML? I arrange it so that the very first person you bump into at WorldCon is David Brin, who is your brother’s personal SF hero because of the Uplift series, AND that he’s in a good mood, and you completely fumble the moment? Forget any favors in the future.”
Bummer.
But after that I went the solid route – autographing lines. And I learned a few things – firstly, that autographing lines are actually a good way to meet some pretty neat and nice people. Secondly – there are people who are kind of in the business of getting autographs. There were people with *carts* of books! And lists! (at one point I was at the SFWA table, and after I introduced myself to a very nice woman, she pulled out her list to see if I was on it – it turns out that I was, but only sort of. She’d actually put *Marie* Brennan on her list, because she thought we were the same. This actually turned out to be kind of a theme, so I’ve made an adjustment to my FAQ sheet.)
This is Marie Brennan. I am definitely not Marie Brennan. I love her books, but all we have in common is the fantasy genre, potato-digging forebearers, and one letter of the alphabet.
I also learned that it’s usually kind of important to get to the autographing line a little early. That way you can save some time. But on Friday I was able to get two of my brother’s books signed!
See? That’s Gregory Benford holding my brother’s book post-signature, and that’s David Brin *thinking* about my brother’s book. Or, you know, space. Or cheese.
Single-author books are a bit easier. That’s Kim Stanley Robinson, who was very nice about me fucking up the first photo and having to re-take.
Then on Saturday I went to my panel on writing horror. It was very fun, very sharply moderated, and there were some pretty cool questions from the audience. One interesting thing that came out was that all five of the authors sitting on this panel were completely obsessed with non-fiction accounts of Himalayan mountain climbers – particularly when someone loses fingers or a nose to frostbite and then keeps climbing. Make of that what you will, but to those of you who like getting writing advice? Apparently you should be reading Into Thin Air and watching some documentaries.
Anyway, it was lots of fun, and then at the end Alistair Reynolds was very lovely and signed my brother’s book!
We were getting kicked out of the room so that the next group could come in, but he even took the time to reference the post-it note!
That was basically the end to the quest. However, my brother did have one specific desire to make his nerd life complete, and that was a photo of Benson, Brin, and Bear all together. And I completely delivered.
This might look photo-shopped, but I assure you, all three of these men were standing together! It was just a very complicated room design!
The Heavy Lifting
So Generation V has now been out for three months! Pretty amazing, actually, when I think about it. I’ve learned quite a lot over the last three months – namely that the Amazon sales rankings make little to no sense, and seem simply designed to break my heart.
Now, what should I be expecting from a three-month-old book? Well, as always, the Internet provided an answer:
Your 3-month-old is growing bigger and becoming more aware every day. By this age, your baby should be settling into a schedule, and giving you some much-needed rest!
Your 3-month-old’s nervous system is maturing, and his stomach can accommodate more milk or formula. Those changes should allow your baby to sleep for a stretch of six or seven hours at a time, which translates into a good night’s sleep for you.
If your baby does wake up in the middle of the night, wait about 30 seconds before heading into the nursery. Sometimes, babies will cry for a few seconds and then go back to sleep. When you rush in at the first sound of fussing, your baby won’t learn how to fall back asleep on his own.
When the cries don’t stop and you do need to go into your baby’s room in the middle of the night, stick to the essentials. Feeding and changing should be done in the dark, if possible, and then it’s right back into the crib. Eventually, your baby will get the idea that nighttime is for sleeping only.
Your baby’s daytime sleep schedule should also become more routine by now. Most 3-month-old babies take a few naps of about 1 1/2 to 2 hours each day.
Thanks, WebMD! I’ll definitely keep those things in mind. Somewhere between improving its nervous system and working on not waking in the middle of the night, Generation V got reviewed again – this one is from Book Lovers, Inc. I also had a great time recently writing a guest post about naming the Generation V characters for Shadowhawk’s Shade‘s ongoing series on the topic. If you haven’t been reading these posts, I really recommend that you go over and check them out. Abhinav has gotten a really great roster of writers, and it’s very fun to see so many different perspectives.
My posting recently has gotten fairly erratic – August is a pretty busy month right now. I just finished the copy edits for Iron Night and mailed them back to Roc last night (WOO!) – it really helped clean the manuscript up, and hopefully we’ve caught all the typos and little bits of weirdness that always seem to hold on no matter how many eyes go through the manuscript. (until the first real reader, of course. THEN they pop out.)
Here’s something interesting that I learned during the copy edit – apparently “Wookiee” has two “e”’s? What the hell is up with this? Now, I actually read a not-insignificant number of Star Wars books when I was younger (for those curious – the Thrawn trilogy), and somehow this missed my notice. What is up with all those extra vowels? One “e” would’ve been sufficient!
“Chewbacca the Wookiee” by Chris Uminga – I found this at dmsw.net
That took a little under a week, but now I can fully shift back to work on the yet-unnamed Book 3 (it has a working title, but it’s pretty horrible, so I’m not going to mention it at this time… or EVER). The deadline on that one is September 1, which is getting just slightly stressful.
On top of that I’m teaching two classes this fall (that part isn’t so bad – usually I teach five) which each need a syllabus before classes start – on August 28. Usually wouldn’t be too bad, except some jackass decided to assign new books. What jackass would that be? Yeah. Me. Fuck you, me from April! Stop making more work for August Me just to try to stop plagiarism! (Meanwhile October Me is probably all, “Yeah, fuck off, August Me. I am totally not dealing with that shit.”)
Aaaaand WorldCon is the last weekend in August. Which should be awesome and all, but Jesus Christ, at this point it would be redundant to even throw up a .jpg of The Scream.
Eh, like redundancy has ever stopped me before.
So if I’m frothing at the mouth and twitching spastically in another two weeks – that’s why. Not all is gloom and doom, though. My brother wrote me an inspirational haiku! (seriously, this is an ML Brennan’s Older Brother original. If you want to use it, you MUST credit him)
Bare slate beckons man:
“Fill the page ere dusk descends.
Words don’t write themselves.”
–ML Brennan’s Older Brother
Isn’t that nice? Clearly my brother got the poetry gene in the family. (which I am actually very, very okay about)
So, what are the odds that I’ll be delivering a Book 3 manuscript on deadline? Here, I will defer to the master.
NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS.
Blog-versary!
Cute picture, right? Well that orca EATS the porpoise!
So I just got the notification that this is the one year anniversary of my blog! Whoa! Bit of a milestone, and probably one that deserves a long and thoughtful post….
…but since I’m up to my eyeballs in the Book 3 manuscript (tentatively titled, “Woods And Bears And A Few Poop Jokes Concerning The Two” — it’s a work in progress), I’ll have to be brief — a year ago, I’d just sold my book and two unwritten sequels to Roc, and my agent told me that I needed to set up a website. I had really no idea what to expect.
A year later — yes, there are things that I might complain or grumble about, but I’m always very aware that my problems now are very much first-world-writer problems. Generation V is in print. Iron Night will be published in January. I’m writing a book now with the knowledge that it goes to my editor rather than having to be shopped around in hopes of a sale.
Life is good. Very stressful, but good. I’m looking forward to seeing what things are like a year from now.
The State of Monday – July 15
This was my favorite cosplay at ConnectiCon – which, believe me, had some stunning and beautiful cosplay. But look at that – that’s Sherlock Holmes in a bedsheet and Irene Adler in her lingerie. It’s so wickedly clever, and I loved it.
Is great! Seriously, I had a good trip to Newport, and an amazing time at ConnectiCon!
I’ll start with Newport – it was low-key, I was able to get some solid outlining work done, and I took some good reference photos for the books. Great ambiance, pleasure to visit there again, and I had a lot of meals at the Newport Creamery.
Oh, and for anyone who has wondered what Madeline’s mansion looks like, here was what I used as a reference:
That’s Rosecliff. It’s right on one of the main roads, Ocean Drive, but with 30-odd acres, you actually don’t hear the road noise. In my opinion, it’s one of the most beautiful mansions.
I got home on Thursday, meeting up with my good friend John, who was nice enough to agree to ride shotgun on my first convention. Let me tell you – ConnectiCon was a shit-ton of fun. For one thing, this happened at the first panel we attended:
Most impressively? Those guys had not coordinated in advance! The guy who did Torvo was, hands down (hee hee) unbelievably funny.
I ended up being on three panels over the weekend – Worldbuilding 101, Crossgenre Writing, and The Ten Things You Need To Know About Writing (on that last one, I don’t know what our final tally was before we went to questions, but a few people taking notes said that we were about fifteen-ish – even without counting how often we were expanding on what the person before us had just said). Each one was so much fun – the first two I was lucky to be with Michael J. Sullivan, Leona Wisoker, and the incredible Joseph Bruchac. All so lovely. Big kudos to Michael J. Sullivan, who managed to avoid looking horrified the third time I showed up on a panel with him (seriously, he was not only wonderful, but also graciously served as defacto moderator for two of the panels – Leona Wisoker made a heroic moderator stance in the second panel when the topic completely dried up on us). Last panel included Margaret Killjoy, who was such a pleasure to meet, and who very graciously began peppering his speech with profanity to make me feel less conspicuous after I accidentally broke the curse barrier. I am reading through his thoroughly delightful choose-your-own-adventure book What Lies Beneath The Clock Tower and I’m really enjoying the writing, the goblins, and the presence of absinthe.
Very typically me, I had my camera with me at all times, yet never took a picture with my fellow panelists, or even of my fellow panelists. So instead why not enjoy this picture I took of my favorite set of Game of Thrones cosplayers? That Jon Snow is totally killing it.
I also got to meet wonderful people! Rob Durand and Rachel Sasseen were incredibly nice and cool for the whole weekend, and so much fun to hang out with! We talked, we had dinner, we played games, they introduced me to the fantastic Cam Banks, and then they even did me the *huge* solid of helping me with a very inconvenient and stress-inducing box.
Typically, after that great weekend with many a fun laugh, plus a great round of both Gloom and 7 Wonders? This is the closest thing to a photo I took of everyone – yes, that is the trunk of Rob and Rachel’s car.
Oh, and the gaming. Seriously, I had so much fun. I got to play 3-person Puerto Rico (fast, too – John and I played with a guy who apparently plays Puerto Rico in tournaments – and, yeah, I totally tied him on points, but he beat me by three coins), I learned Revolution with John and my husband (thanks Steve Jackson game instructor!), Gloom (which Cam very nicely taught me how to play), and Rob and Rachel taught me and John how to play 7 Wonders, which is so good that I’m probably going to have to buy it now.
Also amazing? The artists’ area. Stunning, stunning artwork – if I was single and I didn’t have to compromise on my choices in wall art, I would’ve come home with so much stuff to frame. But I did pick up a few small things – one whimsical print of sheep having a tea party by Anne Hoffer, and a set of the most glorious postcards by Cari Corene. Yeah, I’m not sending those postcards – I’m going to frame them.
That’s one of the ones I bought by Cari Corene – she draws foxes, people. FOXES. I am helpless before her power. So was everyone else – her booth was *never* empty.
I also was able to hand out a lot of my business cards, talked with many aspiring writers, and hopefully some more people will check out Generation V. And, in Generation V news – I’m up to 25 reviews on Amazon.com, so thanks so much to everyone who has done that! If you haven’t written a review for them yet, please do! I was very lucky to get wonderful coverage by two fantastic bloggers – shewolfreads posted a review and an interview, and Civilian Reader also posted a review and an interview. All are well worth checking out – I really enjoyed these ones!
For this week – just working hard and trying to stay cool in the monstrously hot temperatures.
The wildlife of Newport (ie, the seagull that ate my breakfast leftovers every morning and the idiot rabbit that kept hiding under my car) entreats you to buy Generation V!
The State of… not Monday
Monday’s usual blog update will not happen, since I’ll be in Newport, working on Book 3, drinking Awful Awfuls from the Newport Creamery, and avoiding soaking up the sun. (I have a big floppy hat and a stern warning from my dermatologist)
Awful big. Awful good. Seriously, best milkshakes *anywhere*.
I’ll be without internet access for the most part (yay for productivity, sad face for Twitter), so I probably won’t be updating again until after ConnectiCon. For anyone attending who would like to say hello, here’s my set schedule:
Panels:
Friday 1:30p – 2:30p: Worldbuilding in Fantasy & Scifi 101 – Panel 7
Friday 7:00p – 8:00p: Cross-genre Writing – Panel 8
Signing:
Saturday 1:00p – 2:00p: M.L. Brennan Autograph Session – Online Media Guest Hall
I’m really excited about being on these two fantastic panels – I only know that Michael J. Sullivan is on both, which will probably give him the distinction of being the first author who I publically geekspaz out on since becoming a published author myself. (authors who I publically geekspazed out on *before* getting published myself? Um… let’s not dwell on that list…)
Also, if you are going to be at ConnectiCon on Saturday? PLEASE come see me during my signing session! I’m really looking forward to meeting some of the great people who I’ve bumped into on Twitter and through blogs, and I can even promise some swag!
Emphasis on “some,” but still – check out what just arrived in the mail today:
Came out even better than I’d hoped for! Thanks, Moo.com!
My Generation V business card! They are actually very cool to hold – the perfect size for sticking in a pocket or wallet, but the cardstock is really nice and the picture actually doesn’t do justice to how well the cover photo turned out! I’m really happy about these. So if you come say hi to me at my signing, but either don’t have your copy of Generation V or don’t have the spare money to buy it that day (though my publisher is sending a whole BOX to the convention, which, let me tell you: pressure), come over and I will sign one of the cards for you! I’ll also have a few of the Ace/Roc samplers that has the first chapter of Generation V in it, and I’m happy to give those out to the first 25 people who ask me. (and, I cannot stress this enough: ask me *while I’m carrying them* on Saturday. You can probably ask me for the business card if you run into me at any point in the con, since I’ll have a bunch in my pockets)
Next time I update, then, I’ll be able to talk about Newport, hopefully I’ll have some solid work done on Book 3, plus I’ll be able to talk about my FIRST CONVENTION!
Remember – in my absence, please harass friends, loved ones, and random strangers to buy my book.
Yawning baby fox entreats you to purchase Generation V!
The State of Monday – July 1
Welcome to July (also known as, “shit, how is it July already?”)! Last week was pretty good for the writing. I had a very useful phone conversation with my editor (the great and powerful Anne Sowards) in the middle of the week.
Maybe it’s a little bit of a power move that she insists on using this thing whenever she talks with me, but, hey, whatever works.
We talked about where I’m planning on taking Book 3. This was a pretty important phone call, since when Roc bought the three books, the purchases on #2 and #3 were based on a set of proposals, plus an over-series arc document. Iron Night is similar in most major points to its proposal, but the problem is that there are a few really BIG events that were in the Book 3 proposal that I just didn’t feel should happen yet. They needed more prep before I could get to them.
How big are these events? Well, about as big as the giant balloon that Anne Sowards does all of her business travel in. It’s slow, but she gets great mileage.
Anne agreed with me, and I had a really productive week of outlining. I’ve cleared up one of the thornier areas of the main plot, and now I’m just figuring out how some of the ongoing plots will fit in around it. The timing is going really well on this, since on Saturday I’ll be heading down to one of my favorite places in the world for a six-day solo vacation – can you guess the place?
Newport, RI. My family starting going down for a week every summer when I was about 4, and I actually lived there for a full year on my own. Newport is both one of my favorite settings in the Fortitude Scott books and a really important place in its creation. I finished the first draft of Generation V in Newport in the summer of 2011. In the summer of 2012, I’d just sold the series to Roc, and I thrashed out the full outline of Iron Night during my time there. This summer I’m hoping to get a chunk of writing done on Book 3.
Here are two pictures from last summer. Isn’t it great?
My schedule in Newport is pretty basic – I get up in the morning, eat breakfast and read on the porch. Then I come inside and write for a few hours, breaking for lunch. In the early afternoon I take a break and head down to the town – I walk all over, looking in shops, checking out what has changed, until I’m exhausted and sweaty. Early dinner at the Newport Creamery (greasy spoon diner and decent eating for a writer on a budget – plus, Awful Awfuls!), then back to the keyboard. Time out on the porch to enjoy the sunset. Work until I’m tired, then to bed. Repeat until vacation is over.
It’s wonderful – though my brother usually calls me a few times to make sure I haven’t gone all The Shining on my own.
This year I’ll be leaving Newport on a Friday – the same Friday as my first convention! I’m really excited to be attending ConnectiCon – I’m on two panels, plus I’m going to get a chance to sign copies of Generation V! Plus I also get to attend a convention – yay! If you’re planning on attending ConnectiCon, drop me a note so that we can meet up!
So that’s what’s going on with me (and why there won’t be a State of Monday next week), on to the important stuff – what’s going on with the books! Firstly, Generation V is up to 22 reviews over at Amazon. Amazon also has a new format which I’m not especially thrilled about – I find it really visually annoying, and it kind of pisses me off to have to click on something to see basic book info like where something was published. But, hey, I guess when I’m a global conglomerate with billions in assets, I can complain then, right?
Two really great reviews of Generation V – one from Kristin over at My Bookish Ways, and the other that I found over at bookistry. Also, Candace from Candace’s Book Blog is having a guest post and giveaway extravaganza, and she was nice enough to ask me to add a post. I had a lot of fun doing it, so check out My Top Ten Favorite Books So Far This Year — because, really, I’ve never been able to do a Top Ten list of favorite books of all time. I remember getting really frustrated over that once back in 8th grade, and let me tell you, I’ve read a *shit-ton* of books since then. It’s not getting any easier. But favorite books read in a six month period? That I could get a fun handle on. Oh, and you should also check out my list because Candace is running a giveaway of a signed copy of Generation V. So, free stuff!
I’ll be guest blogging tomorrow at That’s What I’m Talking About for their Urban Fantasy Summer Reading Celebration ) — they have a pretty great lineup of books to raffle off, and they’ll also be talking about some of my favorite authors.
Speaking of summer fun – check out the Blogger Summer Circus Giveaway Hop. There are a lot of great blogs involved, but start off at one I like very much – Danielle at Coffee and Characters is the ringmaster, and she also has a lineup of cover reveals, and I’m *very* flattered that she included Iron Night as one that she’s really looking forward to! Believe me, I’m *dying* to find out what people think of it, and January feels like forever and a day, but it’s with the copyeditor now, who will no doubt point out about fifty problems that I was completely unaware of. (last time favorites included the fact that the gun Fort was using held about four more bullets than I thought it did – so the final version ended up with four more shots to explain how he emptied his gun)
Speaking of the Iron Night cover….
…my own… my precious…
…it was included in the All Things Urban Fantasy Cover Art Coverage! They had 36 covers to get through (whoa!) but were nice enough to include Iron Night. The entry is worth checking out on its own (I love reading their cover art posts), but here’s what was said about Iron Night:
Chris says:
The covers for this series suck. A lot. They’re boring as all get out. That’s especially sad since this is a tremendous series.
Did you hear that? Chris says that this is a “tremendous series”! Woo!
Kristina says:
While I will always applaud sensible clothes and just plain clothes on a model this is kind of boring. He looks like he’s just taking a stroll with his gun.
“Taking a stroll with his gun” would be the best kickoff to an animated Disney song EVER! (wait, didn’t that already happen in Pocahontas?) But, yes, I am continually relieved at Fort’s state of dress on these covers – ie, his commitment to wearing shirts. Actually, this cover got even safer, since he now has a tee *and* a long-sleeve shirt! That’s smart layering, Fort!
Jennifer says:
The V in the background is why I’m giving this cover the middle. My interest is peaked by it alone.
I’m a huge fan of that background V. Yes, it has flummoxed a few people, since the official series name is American Vampire, not Generation V, but I was seriously worried around title time that my series didn’t have themed titles, and I think that the artist did a fantastic job of using that V to tie them together. Bravo!
Fun side story – I was on the phone with my brother last night, and I asked what he thought of the new cover. Typical brother, he didn’t even know I *had* a website (right on the book! Argh!), but it turned out to be a win, since then I got to listen in realtime to his cover reaction! (once he scrolled past last week’s fluffy dog – not my cover, btw). It was hysterically funny, and I wrote it down to share with all of you:
My Brother says:
WHAT? He went from film theory geek to Die Hard! And why is he carrying a sawed-off shotgun?!
I’m going to call that a thumbs up.
That’s about it – but remember that tomorrow is the debut of Django Wexler’s The Thousand Names (#5 on my list of books I read this year, btw). According to SF Signal:
I would wholeheartedly recommend The Thousand Names, not only to fans of fantasy but also to fans of military fiction of all types. Fans of Steven Erikson, David Drake, Glen Cook, Naomi Novik, Tom Kratman, Jack Campbell, David Weber, and John Ringo take note – there’s a new military fiction cowboy in town and his name is Django.
Django Wexler. The new military fiction cowboy in town.
And if you’re buying The Thousand Names, why not take the opportunity to pick up Generation V as well?
After all, mine has more cats than Django’s does.
The State of Monday – June 24
The Iron Night edits are done! Now the manuscript is in the hands of the copyeditor. I don’t know whether it will be the same copyeditor who handled Generation V (Dan Larsen), but I’ll probably see it back in maybe 1-3 months. The good thing is that all of the major plot events are now basically locked in, so I can move forward to work on Book 3 and not worry about anything from Iron Night suddenly changing.
It was a mostly quiet week – one great interview was posted at Fantasy Book Critic – this is a great interview to check out. Mihir read and enjoyed Generation V, and he put together some absolutely fantastic questions, several of which I’d never been asked before! Lots of fun. Danielle over at Coffee and Characters did a great cover reveal for Iron Night. It’s very exciting and gratifying to know that people are looking forward to the Generation V sequel!
I also set up a Goodreads giveaway for one signed copy of Generation V — the hope there is that some people will learn about it from the Goodreads giveaway page and be interested enough to want to buy it if they don’t win the copy (or, even better, be so interested that they can’t even wait for the contest to end, and must get a hold of it immediately).
Great news from Amazon! Generation V is now up to 21 reviews! That’s really great, since it puts it past that 20 marker that I was told was really important. Thanks so much to everyone who posted a review!
Speaking of Amazon – an interesting article here is making the rounds on Twitter today. I’m certainly a fan of brick & mortars bookstores, and I actually worked for two years in a really lovely independent bookstore, so I do understand how important it is to support places other than Amazon. But at the same time I’m also very aware of how important Amazon is for my books. It’s an interesting conundrum. However, I can quite certainly do better in posting book links that aren’t solely to Amazon – so here is where you can buy Generation V from IndieBound and I’ve added that to the main book info page as well!
That’s just about all the news I’ve got, so back to work!
This is one of my reference photos from when I was writing Iron Night. Look at that adorable little Bichon Frise – it wants you to buy a copy of Generation V
The State of Monday – June 17
Somewhat quick update today – firstly, some extremely exciting news! Iron Night now has listings on Amazon.com and Goodreads! So this means that I can finally do the reveal here (in a tiny picture because I don’t have a larger one yet, sorry):
Young, broke, and lethal.
Underemployed by day. Undead by night.
Underachieving film theory graduate and vampire Fortitude Scott may be waiting tables at a snooty restaurant run by a tyrannical chef who hates him, but the other parts of his life finally seem to be stabilizing. He’s learning how to help rule the Scott family territory, hanging out more with his shapeshifting friend Suzume Hollis, and has actually found a decent roommate for once.
Until he finds his roommate’s dead body.
The Scott family cover-up machine swings into gear, but Fort is the only person trying to figure out who (or what) actually killed his friend. His hunt for a murderer leads to a creature that scares even his sociopathic family, and puts them all in deadly peril.
Keeping secrets, killing monsters, and still having to make it to work on time? Sometimes being a vampire really sucks.
Coming January 7, 2014! Very cool, right? When I saw the cover my first thought was that Fort had leveled up in attractiveness! (he went from Fortitude the Grey to Fortitude the White!) But I do love the cover – particularly the way that the artist used the background V to tie the two books together. And the architectural interest behind the model. Oh, and the gun – that’s exactly how I was picturing it. Okay, I just love the cover.
I’m finishing up the primary edits on Iron Night this week, and after that it will be turned over to the copyeditor (which will be, you know, delightful). But I’m really excited about where the book goes, and I can’t wait until it gets released.
But, returning to the book currently making its way (hopefully) onto shelves and into hearts – some new stuff for Generation V as well! Reviews this past week went up at Coffee and Characters and Ladybug Literature, and I did an interview with the Little Red Reviewer. That last one has a giveaway attached to it as well, for anyone interested.
So if you haven’t read Generation V yet, the countdown is now on!
Remember to get one for each of the kids!
The State of Monday – June 10
Kind of a mixed week. Didn’t get nearly as much writing done as I’d been hoping. About halfway through the week I came up with a fantastic idea for a completely *different* urban fantasy world, and spent a few days hashing out a basic world outline and primary character. Which was all very well and good, and I would love to someday have two series going at once, but seriously, FUCK. That was basically anti-progress on Book Three! And now I have to keep straight exactly which world has the egg-layers… grumble, grumble…
So unfortunately the writing goal this week is basically the same as last week – get a solid outline going for Book Three. I need to make some pretty hefty character decisions, figure out exactly how this Mystery Plot A is going to fit together in a way that brings in all the elements I need it to, and keep doing my research on bears.
Yes, that’s right, bears.
Bears are critical to the plot in Book Three. Because someone took their pic-i-nic baskets.
Other stuff went a bit better. Generation V is up to sixteen reviews on Amazon.com (only four more and I’m at twenty!), plus a very nice 5-raven review just went up today at The Bibliophilic Book Blog. Mihir at Fantasy Book Critic also did a great mini-review of Generation V that you can read here, so it was a good week for the book in terms of press as Generation V hit its one-month birthday.
Also fun – my post last week about A Modest Proposal About Firefly was hands-down my most-viewed post ever, so that was great. Even better was when Brian Taylor at A Descent Into Slushland wrote Another Modest Proposal About Firefly, which you should absolutely check out. I talked to a few other people about possibly doing a few more of these as guest posts – it’s a lot of fun to put together, and I love seeing what other people imagine. If anyone reading this is interested in putting a Modest Firefly Proposal together, just drop me a note.
My membership at the SFWA was approved – right in the middle of the absolute Chernobyl-level meltdown over the frothing misogyny displayed in the most recent Bulletin edition. Now, I’ll never see that edition (which I’m sorry to miss out on only because there was an article by the great Jim Hines in it), since my membership kicks in with copies now. But it was certainly an interesting experience to have already paid my dues money, but be unable to participate on the forums or speak as a member. The dust is settling now, and a number of absolutely wonderful responses and articles have already been written (the benefit of an incident happening in an organization of *writers*), many of which I already linked the crap out of on my Facebook and Twitter feeds. I’ll restrict myself to linking to only two items of interest on this entry – the presidential statement by John Scalzi, which I think best exemplifies why I still really want to be involved in this organization, crazy glaring flaws and all, and Chuck Wendig’s marvelous blog post about sexism.
Now, here’s a palate-cleanser link for everyone who just got flashbacks from even that short paragraph – Kickstarter for All-Female Gaming Miniatures Reaches Goal in 30 Seconds!
Last item of note – I just got my copies of the Ace/Roc sampler in Science Fiction and Fantasy (New Classics and New Voices). This is extremely cool – one cover is of a steam-powered ship going into a wormhole and has samples from Jack Campbell, Ilona Andrews, Faith Hunter, Taylor Anderson, Mike Shepherd, and Anne Bishop – but then you flip the book over and there’s a second cover of an empty helmet on a snowy battlefield, and this side has samples from debut authors, the first of which is me! My sample is the first chapter of Generation V, which my brother recently told me was his favorite chapter of the entire book (it ought to be – this was the bait on my fishing hook to get published, and I cannot even say how many times I smoothed and rewrote this fucker). The sampler will be available for free at the Ace/Roc booth at conventions all this summer, so check it out! Also, I’ll be at ConnectiCon and WorldCon this summer with a backpack full of the sampler, which I’ll be happy to sign and give to anyone who wants one!
The other debut authors featured are Stella Gemmell (the cover on the New Voices sampler is actually from her debut The City!), Luke Scull, Alan Averill, Anthony Ryan, and Django Wexler.
Okay, here’s a pair of fun facts – I loved the crap out of Django Wexler’s debut, and think that everyone should buy it and read it. Admittedly, everyone should buy and read Generation V first, but right after that, check out The Thousand Names.
The second fun fact is that Django and I not only went to the same college, but we were in the same program, and actually once took the same writing workshop with Hilary Masters.
In case you weren’t already pre-ordering The Thousand Names, here’s another reason why you should buy it:
Because it comes recommended from Django’s adorable cat, Tomoes.
But, seriously, no buying his book until you already own mine.
Hairless Cape Cat commands that you buy Generation V before The Thousand Names. Do not risk Hairless Cape Cat’s displeasure.
M. L. Brennan 