Gwenda

Thank You & Some Miscellany

Blackwood, Nattering / By /

Thanks to everyone who tweeted/blogged/facebooked the cover reveal yesterday. As any author can tell you, the hardest battle for most books–especially first ones–is simply making people aware they exist. There'll be more of that to come and I'll try to make it fun and not obnoxious. And please know that every shout out, recommendation, link/tweet is very, very appreciated.

The Blackwood ARC giveaway at the Book Smugglers will be open until Saturday, April 7, at 11:59 p.m. (PST). All you have to do to enter is comment on the post. So, it's not at all too late to enter or spread the word.

Reading the comments has been truly fascinating–obviously I am so glad that most people seem to be keen on both the cover and the premise, and it's fun to get to share them. The reason the contest is running for two weeks, by the way, is because the ARCs are currently in the production process. Soon they will be winging their way out into the world. This is both nervous-making and exciting…but mostly exciting. I tried to put all the things I like best into this book–mystery, romance, humor, smart characters, creepiness, some subversiveness, a girl who says frak, SPOILER, and etcetera–and so fingers crossed you lovely people like it. I've often said that my favorite kind of book is the meaning-of-life page-turner.* That is, more or less, a book with something to say that's also into giving the reader pleasure. I hope Blackwood is that kind of book.

A teensy round-up of some links from yesterday, besides the Book Smugglers: Heroes and Heartbreakers did a nice post, Leila at Bookshelves of Doom cracked me up (I am no John Grisham, madame!), and Colleen Mondor is too good to me, as always. Also, thank you to the wonderful Book Smugglers ladies for being so, well, wonderful.

I've updated my Blackwood page with the cover and also pre-order links. The cover is already up at Amazon, though for some reason it has kind of a neon glow there (I assure you it won't have that in real life–unless you get a rare radioactive copy), and at goodreads, and I imagine it will show up other places soon too. Bonus points for asking your favorite indie bookstore to order it for you and/or encouraging them to stock it. September 4 will be here before you–or at least before I–know it.

OH, and I just added a new (and soonish) event to the Travel & Events page (note to self: must start thinking about fall events soooon). At 7 p.m. on April 26, I'll be part of the Southern Kidlit Writers Cabal Panel at Malaprop's Bookstore in Asheville, N.C., with a whole bunch of people WAY fancier than me–Alan Gratz,  Carrie Ryan, Beth Revis, Megan Shepherd, Megan Miranda, Tiffany Trent, Laurel Snyder, and Kristin Tubb. If you're in the area, check it out. We'll be almost a week into a workshop by then, and probably a bit punchy.

Have a great weekend, everybody. And, again, all the ♥ in the world.

*As coined by the brilliant Sean Stewart.

Thank You & Some Miscellany Read More »

This Just In!

Blackwood / By /

Excitement! The ultra-fabulous Book Smugglers* will be hosting a reveal of Blackwood's final cover tomorrow, complete with an ARC giveaway.**

I hope y'all love it as much as I do.

*I'm beyond excited, since theirs is one of my favorite favorite blogs in the history of the world. Eep!

**ARCs coming very soon = another thing to be anxious about. But also excited, obviously. (Yes, new imprint efficiency is efficient. If only publishing always moved this fast. *smile*)

This Just In! Read More »

Wednesday Hangovers

Hangovers / By /

Wednesday Hangovers Read More »

I Heart ICFA

Nattering / By /

Another International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, another fabulous time. I loved Jeff VanderMeer's post about the conference; what he says is true. I think part of what makes it so special is the size–fairly small, very relaxed alongside all the serious and academic conversations, and then there's just some indefinable magic that can't quite be quantified (but which is probably the cumulative effect of having so many amazing people in one place).

In many ways, for me, this year felt like a family reunion–it tends to feel like that every year, but especially this one. Christopher and I actually met at an ICFA just over 10 years ago, introduced by our common friend Kelly Link. Kelly was guest of honor this year (along with the delightful China Miéville). In fact, lots and lots of my friendships if they don't go back to ICFA directly, certainly deepened there. By far the highlight of this particular weekend was getting to see Ursula in action.

Anyway, silly pictures were taken, there was writing talk and gossip, there was me trying to show my cover art to people on my tiny phone screen, there were froofy drinks. I learned important lessons, like that Barb and Kelly will take advantage of my weak swimming with the borrowed water weapons of young girls. And we all–except Chris Cevasco, who already knew–discovered that first edition D&D had a quite detailed…prostitute class. EEP. (Seriously, you must look at the designations on the hilariously-named Harlot Encounter Table.) I stayed up until 3 Saturday night and still made it up for a breakfast at 8:30–I'm usually early to bed, late to rise, but there were just too many wonderful people to spend time with. In fact, as always, there were far too many people it was wonderful to see for any sort of comprehensive list.*

This was also the year we finally got a good look at the alligator, which entertained with some hair-raising growls during the banquet-refugee gathering on Saturday evening. Swamplandia = necessary ICFA reading, and not just for fun.

The Famous Alligator Finally Shows Itself!

Other recommended reading: Fantasy Matters will be talking about the conference for the rest of the week. Check it out.

*I will say, however, that Charles Vess let me have a little peek at the graphic/novel hybrid he's working on and, wow, is that going to be *gorgeous* when it's done.

I Heart ICFA Read More »

I Heart Monsters

Miscellany / By /

230px-Medea-SandysOver at the Weird Fiction Review, 12 Days of Monsters continues with a whole slew of people talking about their favorite monsters. Here's a snippet of my response:

Greek mythology is filled with so many appealing (and unappealing) actual monsters that my choice may seem like a stretch of the term, but since she’s often portrayed as the ultimate monstrous mother I believe it fits. And you’ve probably guessed just from that vague description – yes, I’m talking about the one, the only, Medea, famed assassin of everyone from her own brother, to her ex’s would-be bride and father-in-law, and, of course, most damningly, her own children.

Go read 'em all. I'm going out in search of coffee and Floridian sunshine.

p.s. Thank you for all the cover art love. Next stop final cover! *beams*

I Heart Monsters Read More »

Sneak Peek At Some Cover Art? Anyone?

10 Comments / Blackwood / By /

So… I really can't tell you how lucky I feel about my whole experience so far with my editor, the lovely and supersmart Amanda Rutter of Strange Chemistry, and her robot overlords, the team at Angry Robot Books (which is known for producing some fabulous covers, among many other things). I know many first-time authors have no clue what their cover art might come out as and aren't consulted at all.

When I was filling out my author questionnaire one of the questions was whether I had any ideas about cover art and especially any no-nos. I very helpfully responded, essentially, "Not Bad. I like Good Covers." And when Amanda came back to me a couple of weeks later with a cover concept, I was like, "This is why I am the author and you are the publisher." Because the concept was so perfect and cool, and of course nothing I'd have ever thought of. But, you know, one is still NERVOUS. But then a first version of the art came in and I got a little peek and I thought, whew, I really like it. Today, however, Amanda has posted the final cover art and it is Even Better. I truly think it's striking (no pun intended–the artist is Steven Wood), and I love that it's also thematically right and will be even richer in meaning for actual readers.

The basic concept comes from the fact that protagonist Miranda Blackwood's father has a strawberry-colored snake-shaped birthmark that symbolizes the Blackwood family's supposed curse. I'm putting a smaller version here, but: Go look! Ogle! Admire! Embiggen! Leave Comments!

Blackwood_2

What think you? I personally can't wait to see the final cover composition.

More about le book itself here.

Sneak Peek At Some Cover Art? Anyone? Read More »

Tuesday Hangovers

Hangovers / By /

Tuesday Hangovers Read More »

A Glorious End…

Blackwood / By /

…to the Season of Blurbs. This just in from one of my writing (and life) heroes and the author of many fabulous books, including the bestselling The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler:

"A deft and clever debut! Bond takes some reliably great elements—a family curse, the mark of Cain, the old and endlessly fascinating mystery of the Roanoke Colony—and makes them into something delightfully, surprisingly new. How does she do that? I suspect witchcraft."

*practices witchcraft*

And I do believe that's it, though I suppose it's possible a stealth blurb could also sneak in.

I can't express how incredibly grateful I am to all these writers–Marcus Sedgwick, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Micol Ostow, Scott Westerfeld, and Karen Joy Fowler–for taking the time out of their insanely busy lives to read my book, and how humbled I am that they were willing to offer words of praise. There is a lot of smack talk about blurbing and certainly it's so nervous-making that no one enjoys asking. And it's hard to say exactly what their impact truly is…but I don't think anyone would argue with the fact that it's debut authors, people at the start of their careers (or perhaps further along but making big changes in their careers), who blurbs can help the most. I have always felt tremendous respect for established authors willing to help out other, less established writers in this way–and I feel it even more keenly now.

Anyway, I've updated my tiny proto-Blackwood page with all of these quotes and a little teaser about the book. The next excitement will probably be the cover, which is indeed very exciting. (And at some point, I've got to overhaul this site, but that is less exciting than terrifying and potentially painful.)

Happy Monday!

A Glorious End… Read More »

Puckiversary

Cat and Dog Theater / By /

While we were stuck in St. Patrick's Day parade traffic on the way home from grocery shopping, we realized that we adopted Puck the Dog exactly five years ago today. The anniversary is easy to remember, because we got stuck in parade traffic that day too. We still had a small SUV back then, and Emma the Dog was making her feelings known about Strange New Dog by refusing to sit anywhere but the very back and ignoring him and us. Strange New Dog sat on my lap nervously and…threw up all over me and my giant messenger bag a mere five minutes from his new home. (Even in the traffic, we were so close.)

We kept him anyway.

(As if there was any question!)

Here's me and him together on Christmas Eve night (note: it were late):

Me et Puck

And here's the first post I put up about him. It features an adorable video of he and Emma romping together (she got over her attitude) and a picture of him looking tiny and stubborn.

Puckiversary Read More »

Scroll to Top