Current projects, October 2010.: seanan

Current projects, October 2010.

Today is the 15th of October, or, as the Disney Channel likes to call it, "the fifteenth day of Halloween." Since I have to put up with a full month of Christmas every year, I am okay with getting a month of Halloween to soothe my wounded, ghoulish soul. Anyway, welcome to my monthly current projects post, the regularly scheduled update which provides the only non-hysteria-inducing answer to the question "What are you working on?" It has the extra added bonus of proving that I am able to stop time, since otherwise, even I don't quite understand how the hell I'm getting everything finished in a timely manner. Seriously, I don't think I sleep. This is the October list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list. Late Eclipses and Deadline are off the list because they have been turned in to their respective editors, and I am waiting for page proofs.

The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

***

One Salt Sea.
October Daye, book five. Urban fantasy/fairy tale noir, modern setting, first-person protagonist. Status: So I tossed out my entire original outline and wrote myself a new one, and suddenly hey-presto, this book doesn't suck! It's like a Halloween miracle. I'm just delighted with where this is going, new complications, new dangers, and all, and I think everybody else will be pleased, too. This is the book where some things people have been waiting for since the beginning finally get dealt with. It rocks, and it's rocking right along.

Blackout.
Formerly Deadline News. Modern political/zombie horror, near-future setting, first-person protagonist. The third (and final) book in the Newsflesh Trilogy, and the direct sequel to Deadline. Alive or dead, the truth won't rest. Rise up while you can. Status: I have written chapter one, and finished my outline. I will buckle down seriously once I finish the first draft of One Salt Sea.

Sparrow Hill Road.
Short stories don't normally make this list, but the Sparrow Hill series is a special case, since it's twelve interlinked stories focusing on Rose Marshall of "Pretty Little Dead Girl" fame. The first ten are finished and turned in, and I'm working on the eleventh one right now. This has become a little more urgent because, well. That's next month.

Midnight Blue-Light Special.
InCryptid, book two. Paranormal romance/light horror, modern setting, first-person protagonist. Verity Price is back, and she's ready to kick a lot of cryptid and human ass in her pursuit of a career in ballroom dance. If only the Covenant of St. George would leave her the hell alone... Status: I'm about two-thirds of the way through chapter one. DON'T JUDGE ME. I was bored.

Ashes of Honor.
October Daye, book six. Urban fantasy/fairy tale noir, modern setting, first-person protagonist. Status: new outline done, summary done, prepping the last of my foundation work before starting. Toby is not gonna be happy with me.

Sit, Stay, I Hate You.
Coyote Girls, book two. Young adult horror/paranormal romance, modern setting, first-person protagonist. Having survived the events of Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues, Clady would really like it if her life would settle down and get, y'know, easy for a little while. Clady is not going to be terribly happy with me, either. Status: about halfway through chapter one, semi-stalled while I work on other things.

Deathless.
Dead Girl Diaries, book one. Modern urban fantasy/supernatural romance, first-person protagonist, two books per narrator. (First two are currently Deathless and Breathless, for Patience; they're almost certainly going to get renamed, just to avoid market confusion.) Status: poking in that vague and chipper "I'll be writing you soon" fashion.

The Nativity of Chance.
High modern fantasy ranging across the country, through the wonderful lands of Oz, and through a lot of explosions. Pythagorean philosophy meets the works of L. Frank Baum, alchemy meets modern technology, and a pair of cuckoos meet their destiny. Status: researching.

Chasing St. Margaret.
Chick-lit romance/travelogue, modern setting, first-person protagonist, diary-style. Think Bridget Jones' Diary meets Lost In Translation meets A Twelfth Night. Actually, quite literally, on the last. My dear, sweet, utterly bewildered Margery. Status: finished, pending revisions and rewrites.

Pretty Poison Apples.
The sequel to Nativity of Chance, and that seasonal monarchs book I've been threatening to write forever. Stop looking at me like that. Status: researching.

There are lots of other books floating around here—some finished and slated to be worked on further, others pending getting started—but these are the ones you're likely to hear the most about, at least currently. I'll update this list from time to time, as things move from "project" to "print" and new things take their places on the workshop floor.

O_o

darkkatpouncing

October 15 2010, 14:48:24 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

WAT? OMG I need to be on the internets more consistently...your lists are now my watch lists...lol I was going to go check out your website to see what I need to ad to my collection of Grant/McGuire books and make my own list...now I have TWO lists. "Things to get that are published" and "Things to watch out for." Also thank you for writing, drawing and singing and getting your stuff out there. Your work is SHINY! Create...Create...CREATE!!!! MWA HA HA HA HA!!!! *ahem* Um...Thank You :)

Re: O_o

seanan_mcguire

October 15 2010, 15:54:37 UTC 6 years ago

I try to be very upfront about what's being worked on, and what's going to be appearing where. It seems like the best way to keep everybody sane.

blackic

October 15 2010, 14:50:11 UTC 6 years ago

Will there be a dead tree format collection of the Sparrow Hill Road stories? That would be awesome.

October 15 2010, 15:55:07 UTC 6 years ago

I am hopeful that there will be. I'm going to need to revise them pretty heavily before that can happen, but I can do that with relative ease.

6 years ago

carlamlee

kshandra

October 15 2010, 16:15:34 UTC 6 years ago

There is a reference to The Brightest Fell in your listing for Blackout - is this a reference to Toby 5 that did not get revised in the wake of the title change? Because I don't see Toby 7 anywhere else on the list....

(And will the relevant LJ tag be renamed/replaced when you have the opportunity, or do you plan on confusing future readers? *gentle smile*)

October 15 2010, 16:22:43 UTC 6 years ago

Whoops, thanks for the catch. I've fixed it.

starmetal_oak

October 15 2010, 16:29:24 UTC 6 years ago

The Nativity of Chance looks pretty awesome!

October 15 2010, 16:50:13 UTC 6 years ago

Someday!

black_faery

October 15 2010, 17:41:19 UTC 6 years ago

Terribly behind the times, I know, but just started reading Feed and hooked - only halfway through chapter 3!

Always find these lists fascinating, and they remind me that I really need to get better at a) plotting and b) finishing. *glares at list that grows ever-longer of current creative projects*

October 18 2010, 04:39:35 UTC 6 years ago

Yay, Feed!

aliciaaudrey

October 15 2010, 22:04:50 UTC 6 years ago

I really don't think you sleep.

Hurry up and make the agent sell Discount Armageddon. I have a horrible lack of cryptozoology in my life.

dornbeast

October 16 2010, 02:50:10 UTC 6 years ago

I'm going to maintain my delusion that she's learned how to type while asleep, and uses directed dreaming to tap directly into her imagination.

trektone

October 15 2010, 23:38:43 UTC 6 years ago

Because one part of my brain just noticed info in another part of my brain: are the seasonal monarchs (assuming it's not about butterflies) in Pretty Poison Apples related to the ones in the story I won't name that you read at SF in SF?

October 18 2010, 04:40:44 UTC 6 years ago

Not quite the same, but similar structure. Each of them sleeps three months out of the year, summer for her, winter for him. They're together the six months they're both awake.

tikiera

October 15 2010, 23:40:59 UTC 6 years ago

Looking forward to your future projects!

And wow, I love the month of Halloween. I have stopped calling it October, it's the month of Halloween. :)

Though I am angry at several stores - they stocked Halloween items back in August, and now they are out of Halloween stuff now when I have the budget to decorate. Being told 'but you should have come in in _August_' has been told me to several times now.

October 16 2010, 07:48:13 UTC 6 years ago

Being told 'but you should have come in in _August_' has been told me to several times now.

That seriously sucks. I (sort of) get why they put stuff out so early, but damn it, Halloween is in OCTOBER. SELL STUFF THEN TOO. And don't be an ass about being out of things.

vincentursus

October 15 2010, 23:47:21 UTC 6 years ago

Now, I could say "Ooh, I'm really looking forwards to X!" but really, I know I'm going to enjoy reading anything you write.

So, instead I shall say thank you.

Your tireless efforts to increase the average quality of modern literature are appreciated.

October 18 2010, 04:41:23 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!

elfinecstasy

October 16 2010, 00:24:01 UTC 6 years ago

I just finished An Artificial Night - and was blown away.
I've loved the first two books - but I think this one is my favorite.

You're amazing.

October 18 2010, 04:41:33 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!!!

dragoness_e

October 16 2010, 00:45:33 UTC 6 years ago

Er... you might want to re-think the title of Toby Daye's sixth book. Ashes of Honor was one of the more significant books in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber, and that's the first thing sci-fi readers will think of when they hear that title.

October 16 2010, 02:48:14 UTC 6 years ago

I just checked my bookshelf; you're mixing Echoes of Honor and Ashes of Victory together.

yellowblackhaze

October 16 2010, 01:21:57 UTC 6 years ago

I'm not worthy! I'm working on 4 things at the moment, anymore and I think my head would explode. How do you keep this all straight?

October 18 2010, 04:42:04 UTC 6 years ago

Flow charts.

saffronrose

October 16 2010, 09:51:30 UTC 6 years ago

What are the first books of the InCryptid and Coyote Girls series's (all right, how DO you pluralize 'series'?)? Must have been mentioned before I started reading your journal.

October 18 2010, 04:42:28 UTC 6 years ago

Discount Armageddon and Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues, respectively.

laughingfalcon

October 17 2010, 01:28:02 UTC 6 years ago

You are one busy girl!

But on the subject of horror movies, have you seen Nightwatch? It is a foreign horror/action film that vaguely makes me think of the movie Equilibrium mixed with Hell Boy. It was really, really good. They made a sequel called Daywatch that was...um, er...did I mention how good Nightwatch was? Yes. Might want to think of it as a stand alone piece.

October 18 2010, 04:42:39 UTC 6 years ago

I have. I have not seen the sequel.

micheinnz

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