Hello, everybody, and welcome to my journal. I'm pretty sure you know who I am, my name being in the URL and all, but just in case, I'm Seanan McGuire (also known as Mira Grant), and you're probably not on Candid Camera. This post exists to answer a few of the questions I get asked on a semi-hemi-demi-regular basis. It may look familiar; that's because it gets updated and re-posted roughly every two months, to let folks who've just wandered in know how things work around here. Also, sometimes I change the questions. Because I can.

If you've read this before, feel free to skip, although there may be interesting new things to discover and know beyond the cut.

Anyway, here you go:

( This way lies a lot of information you may or may not need about the person whose LJ you may or may not be reading right at this moment. Also, I may or may not be the King of Rain, which may or may not explain why it's drizzling right now. Essentially, this is Schrodinger's cut-tag.Collapse )

Publishers Weekly has released their list of the Best Books of 2010. Including their selections for the best science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Feed made the list.

I am genuinely overjoyed. It's also a nice change from focusing on trying to breathe without hacking up a lung, that having been my previous activity for the morning. I wrote one of the Best Books of 2010! OH MY SWEET GREAT PUMPKIN AND PIE.

This isn't very coherent, in part because I don't have it in me to be coherent right now. Mostly, I just have it in me to be flailing wildly, and totally ecstatic.

Squee.

Hello, boys and ghouls, as the great Elvira once said. The time has come for another review roundup, this one celebrating the most wonderful time of the year: Halloween. And that means, surprise, surprise, that we'll be focusing on my more undead works.

First up, there's a lengthy, fantastic video review of Feed up at the New Jedi Order. Now, as a warning, this is a thirty-minute review: it's literally a Halloween special's-worth of zombie goodness. There's swearing and adult content, and it's huge fun, and I get compared to Stephen King. I am a happy girl.

There's also a kick-ass review of Feed on the blog "I Smell Blood and an Era of Prominent Madman," a name which I now want to see on a business card. The reviewer says, "Feed by Mira Grant AKA Seanan McGuire, (you'll never see them in the same room together) is the first book in the Newsflesh trilogy to which all I can say is: Get cracking woman I want the rest of the story." Working on it!

The Paperback Dolls are celebrating Zombie Week, and have posted a fantastic Feed review as part of the party. They say, "Feed resonates because it is a call to open your eyes and really see the problems of the world around you. See them, act on them, hold our leaders responsible for making progress on the grave issues facing us. Whether the problem is an out-of-control zombie virus, global warming, a limp economy, or dangerous enemies wielding the weapons of hate and terror, the call is the same. Take ownership of these problems, and shine a light into all dark corners." Also, "Rise up and read this book, too. If you like zombies, read it. If you like political thrillers, read it. If you are more than a bump on a log, read it. It's worth it." Win!

The Feed review at My Friend Amy's Blog (actual blog title) says, "It is not in any way a romance. There are zombies. There is death. The dead rise again...but only to eat your brains. There's a lot of action and a lot of mystery. And the biggest compliment I can pay it is that when I wasn't reading it, I was wishing I was reading it." That's a damn big compliment, frankly.

Finally for this batch, another video review of Feed, this one by MoonstarElf, who is peppy and fun, and got the book from her mother, which is totally a chain of transmission that I approve of. YAY VIDEO BLOG REVIEWS!

I am a happy blonde, and I hope you have a happy Halloween!

You know the drill: the links are winning, and it's time to smack them down again. I'm trying to keep these posts to a minimum, and I thank you all for your patience. I'll provide koala pictures soon, as penance.

First up, there's a really fun interview with Mira Grant on the Realm Cast, including some questions that aren't part of the "every time, they ask me" list. In fact, some of these questions were totally new. Reward ingenuity! It's fun!

Necroscope is the official zombie fiction review blog of Horrorscope (which says something terrifying about the scope of zombie fiction), and has posted a review of Feed, saying "Feed is a page-turner of the highest order, which hits the reader (emotionally speaking) like a ton of bricks when their defenses are down. A must-read for all fans of horror, SF, and anything in-between." Okay, Chuck at Necroscope, I officially adore you.

Oh, what the hell, have another Feed review, this one from Lordazen's blog. He says, "Mira Grant's first release in the Newsflesh trilogy is a roller coaster ride of action and emotion. She has captured the Zombie apocalypse in its most raw format and dishes it out on discs of pure saw blade lethality. An excellent beginning to what promises to be a thrill ride of a series." Fantastic!

Sick Damage has posted a review of Feed, complete with a first for me in book reviews: a picture of Conan the Barbarian. Well, okay. Anyway, their reviewer says, "The book is really really good. There are a lot of twists and turns and plenty of action to keep you going. It’s also one of the more original zombie novels I've read in a while." Thank you, Conan!

Finally for this batch, since I try to stop at five, Beyond Scary has posted a review of Feed, and says, "I had a lot of fun with this book, which is just as well as it runs to a lurching 560 odd pages of mayhem, and was generally surprised at just how well written it was. Okay the whole media thing isn't a Down Under perspective but I could get with the program there and go with the flow. I have seen the future of the zombie novel folks, and am now simply dying to get my hands on the next novel. Wonder if Mira Grant has thought about a sequel or another novel set in her undead world?" You have no idea how much this review makes me want to set a Newsflesh-universe book set in Australia. ZOMBIE KANGAROOS FOR EVERYBODY!

And that's a wrap. For now.

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.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

So my recent radio silence has been largely the result of the New York Comic Convention, where I have paneled many panels, signed many signatures, shopped much shopping, and slept many sleeps. Honestly, I should probably sleep a few more sleeps, and that's why you're getting a link roundup now. Because I am lazy, and my inbox is exploding.

Rena has posted a lovely review of A Local Habitation, and says that, "There are some interesting twists and turns, and a lot of action—this book was less about solving the mystery than it was about advancing other aspects of the plot of the series, with some very discreet info dumping." Cool.

Wayward Drui has posted a review of An Artificial Night, and says, "This is the most solid book to come out of this series yet. And the creepiest. And topping A Local Habitation for chill factor was quite the feat in of itself." I'm creepy! Yay!

Dave at Dave Does the Blog (love that name) has reviewed Feed, and says, "This is ostensibly the first of a series. I’ve rarely read such that didn’t scream for a sequel, but this story works perfectly well stand-alone novel. A really fun, really readable, really engrossing book. Very highly recommended." He's ambivalent about the idea of a sequel, but I'm not.

A fabulous review of An Artificial Night has been posted at From the Shadows, and says, "I highly recommend An Artificial Night to readers of urban fantasy, paranormal suspense, fantasy, and especially to fans of the Rachel Morgan books by Kim Harrison and The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher." Yay!

Finally for this batch of THE LINKS THE LINKS OH GOD THE LINKS, Janicu has posted a review of An Artificial Night, and says, "What an awesome series this is. Every time I read one, it manages to make me feel a jittery need to read the next one. Luckily, McGuire seems to be a prolific writer and so far we’ve seen two Toby Daye installments a year." ...prolific, I can do.

Anyway, that kills the current batch of links, for which I am very grateful, as it means I can go back to posting the unending archival links (and thus, someday, potentially, end them). I am still in New York, I am still largely away from the keyboard, and I am still dying for a Diet Dr Pepper.

IGNITE THE BIOSPHERE!

I'm starting to have nightmares about my link list. Anyway...

The Horror Fiction Review has published a review of Feed, and says, "At the risk of seeming disloyal to some of my idols, mentors and all-around awesome cool guys like Brian Keene and Dr. Kim Paffenroth, I am going to go ahead and come right out and say it...Mira Grant's Feed just might be the best damn zombie book I’ve ever read." Well, that's hard to beat, really.

Brutal As Hell has also posted a Feed review, now with bonus profanity (yay!), and says, "Feed is hands-down one of the best zombie novels to be published in a long time, which is saying something extremely special given the volume of zombie literature being published right now. Grant weaves a plot with a substantial amount of twists and turns, never losing the quality of writing, and she is certainly not afraid to go to places most authors wouldn’t even consider. I've read some great books this year, but nothing has left me with such a sense of excitement for future installments or for zombie literature as a whole like Feed has. Mira Grant has certainly captured my attention in a way that no other author, particularly a new author, ever has. Run to your nearest bookstore to get this book immediately. Bring a machete if it makes you feel more comfortable." Dude.

Cookies, Books, and Bikes has posted a Feed review, and says, "I loved this book! I was captured by the story from the first couple of pages and couldn't stop reading until it was done. The action just dragged me right in and kept me reading. The story had enough action interspersed with more mild events keep me reading and waiting for the next big event." That's all I can ask for, really.

Here, let's break things up a little with a new interview of Mira, conducted by the lovely crew at Fanatic Space. With some new questions and some new answers, it was a really good time, and you should totally give it a look.

Finally, for right now, Girl On Book Action (this is my new Journey cover band name) has posted a fabulous Feed review. Her review is long, detailed, and doesn't offer many pull quotes...although she does criticize the number of typos in the book. Oh, well, can't win 'em all.

That's it for today; look for another roundup coming soon, as I struggle to reclaim my link file.

So I'm still trying to dig my way out from under the review links that built up in the time leading to and including my trip to Australia. Thank you for being understanding; I'll be through them pretty soon, if I continue at my current pace, and shall reward you soon with kitty pictures. Anyway...

The Devourer of Books has posted a review of the audio edition of Feed, and says, "Honestly, Feed was everything I had hoped that The Passage would be but it wasn't." You know, that really works for me. It's a good review, and she definitely liked the audio edition.

2xKnight at Fanatic Space has posted a review of Feed, and says, "I highly recommend this book." Also, "Feed combines some wildly different subject matter in a way that is both natural and riveting. Not only does Mira Grant come up with a novel approach to zombification, giving her zombies a very interesting background, but she also makes the people living in that world just as much fun to read about." Win!

Grumpy Dan has posted his review of Feed, and says, "One of the better zombie stories I have read. I can't wait for the next book in this series." Rock on.

Word Nerd has posted an excellent review of Feed. It's structured in a way that doesn't lend itself well to pull quotes, unfortunately, but you should still take a look, as it's lovely.

Finally for today, Sommer Leigh has posted her review of Feed, brilliantly titled "President Bartlett Hates Zombies Too." She says, "Feed is like a cross between Dawn of the Dead, Hackers, and The West Wing. You think I’m joking, but I'm not." Goodnight, everybody!

More to come, later on.

10. It's Friday! And that means that tomorrow is Saturday, which further means that it's finally time for me to have a book event at the Other Change of Hobbit! Conveniently located next to Ashby BART, spacious, and full of neat things, this is one of my favorite bookstores. You should totally come.

9. Karen Healey (I know, right?) has a poll for the best moment of WorldCon 2010/Aussiecon IV, and yes, my squeaky acceptance of the Campbell Award is currently in the lead. Which is the sort of thing that makes me blink and cry a little. But in the good way, I promise! Also, John Scalzi licking stuff.

8. After our horrible "oh crap the house is full of fleas" experience this summer, everything seems to have settled down. Alice's belly-fur is growing back, no one's trying to claw their own flesh off, and our strict regimen of flea powdering the carpets and pouring poison on the cats is keeping the blood-suckers away. Thank the Great Pumpkin.

7. SHARKTOPUS! Tomorrow night on SyFy! Because Coyote loves me and wants me to be happy.

6. By the same measure, have you seen Jane Austin's Fight Club? Because seriously, this video is love. (Technically safe for work, if you're allowed to watch videos at work and feel like doing some potentially awkward explaining about why all those girls are smacking the crap out of each other.)

5. Resident Evil: Afterlife actually doesn't suck. I know, I'm as surprised as you are. Sort of tickled, too, but mostly just surprised. It's not as good as Resident Evil: Apocalypse, but then, what is?

4. Jean Grey is still dead.

3. Things that are back on the air: Glee, Fringe, Big Bang Theory, Bones, and America's Next Top Model. Things that have managed to stick the landing in their season finales: Rizzoli and Isles, Leverage, Unnatural History, and Warehouse 13. Things that make me happy: watching too much television.

2. Despite my currently perennially delayed posting schedule (curse you, Australia, and your lack of Internet), the latest iteration of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show went well, and we all had a fantastic time. Plus, the bookstore now has signed books, and that makes everything wonderful.

...and the best thing about today...

1. Welcome to fall.

What's awesome about your Friday?

Yes, again. Australia let my links get all out of control, and I'm just now starting to beat them back down to a manageable level. It's like wordy kudzu!

The Fantasy Cafe has posted a review of Feed, and says, "Even though I usually would treat a zombie book like zombies themselves and run the other way, I'm glad I read this one." Works for me.

Oh, hey! I did an interview with the Word Zombie to go with their Feed review. Give it a look, it's fun. Plus? Actual photo representations of my dream casting. Swoon.

My darling catvalente posted a long, thoughtful review of Feed, complete with MAINE COON MADNESS, and says, "The plot? Bloggers are hired to follow the Republican candidate for president some 40 years after the zombie apocalypse. A full society is in swing that knows how to deal with zombies but is still plagued by them. It's fascinating stuff. There is a conspiracy. Things bite other things. There are, I shit you not, both zombie palominos and zombie moose. This is unassailably awesome." Hee.

Beth at Flying Off the Shelves posted a lovely review of Feed, and says, "When I first started reading this book I wasn't expecting it to be nearly as good as it is. I questioned it and asked myself, 'How could this book be any good after reading World War Z? I don't want to read another crappy zombie book,' but I took the chance and I found that this book is truly an amazing piece of writing. The characters are dynamic and complex. The story line will knock your socks off. I actually don't have anything bad to say about this book whatsoever. Even the science behind this story is interesting and spot on when it comes to basic virus information. If her next book is anything like this I may just die (and hopefully not zombify)." Yay!

Finally for today, my old friend Mike Jones reviewed Feed for SF Site, and says, "Combining zombies, politics, epidemiology, pop culture, blogging, humor and horror, this is one hell of a series opener. Grant (the open pseudonym for urban fantasist/artist/songwriter Seanan McGuire) knocks the ball out of the park with Feed." Works for me.

Rise up while you can.

The fun never stops!

Ragnarfan has posted a review of Feed, and says, "Feed is a proper thriller with zombies. Grant doesn't get carried away with describing her world or the virus. She's clearly thought both out brilliantly, but she doesn't let it get in the way of a taut, well-written story." Hooray, proper thrillers!

The Word Zombie (still love that blog name) also posted a Feed review, and says, "I enjoyed this book far more than I had anticipated. It's that rare combination of a great story that also happens to be a great zombie story. I really found myself invested in the characters and was emotionally affected by the ending in a manner that happens far too infrequently for me these days. For that, I have to thank Mira Grant—job well done." Yay! You're welcome!

This detailed Feed review has been posted at Ravenous Bookshelf, the blog of a library school student, and says, "If I wanted to be really analytical, I could talk about the parallels of zombie virology (Grant has crafted a fascinating model of infection) and the 'viral' spread of information among people with the blogging universe, crowdsourcing and communications advancements...but mostly? Georgia + Shaun = Love." Awwww. I agree.

Bea Connors posted this review on the Falcata Times, and says, "Grant takes a while to establish her world and is occasionally stingy about revealing information but overall, the book is a solid, fascinating read, well worth the reader's patience. It's an intriguing mix of science fiction, sociology, current events, action, horror and politics. One note: hardcore zombie fans may wish there were more zombie appearances but it was just right for me." Awesome.

Finally for right now, SFRevu has posted a kick-ass Feed review, and says, "Overall I thought the idea was very well done and executed and I'll be looking forward to seeing what Grant does with the second book in the series." Works for me.

That's all for right now. More, as always, to come.

When will you rise?

Words: 4,444.
Total words: 4,444.
Reason for stopping: I have finished chapter one.
Music: random shuffle. Lots of angry rock.
Lilly and Alice: flopped on the bed.

Well.

I just wrote an entire first chapter in one long sitting. Like, the whole thing. Beginning, middle, end. I'm just saying. That's a thing. Anyway, here we go again. I recommend hanging onto your seats, because it's going to be a bumpy-ass ride.

Rise up while you can.

To celebrate the release of The Living Dead 2 (featuring my/Mira's new story, "Everglades"), John Joseph Adams has arranged a full-on zombie week over at Tor.com, beginning with a massive prize pack associated with a zombie caption contest. That's right; caption a picture, potentially win an incredible amount of crap.

The prize package includes, among other things...

* Both anthologies
* A signed copy of Feed (US or UK edition to be determined)
* A copy of Red Roses and Dead Things
* A DVD of Shaun of the Dead
* A copy of The Zombie Combat Manual

...and lots and lots of other signed books, short stories, and other goodies. Seriously, it's like doing five minutes of work for the potential of a whole lot of pay-out. Give it a go! All you have to lose is your braaaaaaaain.

Bit by bit, I am beginning to catch up on everything that went undone while I was in Australia! First up...

The Living Dead [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] is one of my favorite anthologies of the past few years. It's smart, it's savvy, it's awesome, and it's chock-full of zombie goodness, in every shape and size and degree of decomposition. So when it was announced that there was going to be a sequel, you can probably guess that I damn near dislocated something running to beg for a slot on the table of contents.

Well, I got it—or Mira did, anyway. "Everglades" is a story of the Rising, set in the Newsflesh universe more than twenty years before the events of Feed. You can acquire it, along with many other pieces of awesome zombie awesomeness, in The Living Dead 2 [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy]. We're talking forty-three stories, many of them appearing for the first time ever, all edited by the fabulous John Joseph Adams. It's swanky.

Come on. Let us tell you a deadtime story.

Well, that's that; my magical murder pixie toils are done, and they have borne sweet, sweet fruit, has the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy, Deadline, has just been sent back to my publisher in final draft form. Barring acts of god or unforeseen gaping plot holes, my part in this book is over until the page proofs. Which will probably hit around October, assuming we follow the timeline we followed for Feed. Post-It notes in Ohio, here we go again!

Final book stats, including Dedication and Acknowledgments:

150,001 words.
525 pages.
Twenty-seven chapters.

When asked to say something about the book, Vixy says, "Fucking brilliant. Gripping. Terrifying. Satisfying. It's about heroes." So, you know. Fucking brilliant. You heard it here first, folks. Really, I'm scared out of my mind—I always am at this point—but I'm also deeply relieved, because it's done. It's finished. My baby is heading out into the great wide world, and there's no more chopping or stitching or graverobbing to be done. (What? You mean everyone doesn't assemble their offspring out of transistors and corpse parts?)

I'm done.

One more book, and this grand adventure is over; one more book, and we find out whether or not I can stick the landing. I think I can. I hope I can. I believe I can. Because alive or dead, the truth won't rest.

Rise up while you can.

maryrobinette is in town for this month's SF in SF—which I will regrettably be missing, due to having a prior engagement—and I managed to catch her on chat this morning and arrange for an afternoon meeting to hang out. This delighted me utterly, because I adore Mary, and don't get to see her often. (For those of you who need a footnote: Mary Robinette is the "voice" of the October Daye series, as she reads them in audio book form. She's also a puppeteer, an author, and the 2008 recipient of the Campbell Award. Girl's got game.)

Since the first thing I do with any out-of-town guest is take 'em for cupcakes, I arranged to have Mary meet me at Cups and Cakes Bakery. Yes, I am the devil. She was properly delighted by the palace of sugary delights, and consumed a peanut butter cup (chocolate cake, peanut butter frosting, dipped in chocolate ganache) and a red velvet, while I, being a pretty pink princess, ate a Pretty Pretty Princess (strawberry cake with strawberry frosting). Yum, all the way around.

You can't hang out in a bakery forever, so I asked Mary if she'd like to walk over to Borderlands. She was game for this adventure, and I've walked that route so many times now that I don't really need to pay attention anymore. Gleeful chattering and wandering ensued, culminating in our arrival at the bookstore, where we found Jude, Alan, and—eventually—Jeremy.

Jeremy had a box.

Inside the box was the new Night Shade Press anthology, The Living Dead 2. This is a big, handsome book, with a gorgeous cover, and a great table of contents. Said table of contents includes Kelley Armstrong, Max Brooks, David Wellington...and Mira Grant.

Oh, wait. That's me.

Oxygen is hard.

The story, "Everglades," is set on the U.C. Berkeley campus during the Rising. It's sad and wistful and tragic, and you should totally read it. I mean, you should totally buy this anthology if you like zombies, even a little, because it's gorgeous, but really? My story. In a book. With all these amazing people.

I managed a) not to break Jeremy's fingers snatching the book away, and b) to stay and keep talking for a while, because running cackling into the night would have been rude. We eventually shifted to the cafe, where I hugged Cole, hugged Mary goodbye, and departed for home, taking my book with me.

My book. You cannot have it. Get your own. MINE.

Damn, this was a surprisingly good day.

I have come to admit that I will not be clearing my list o' links before I leave for Australia, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to give it the old college try. So here's another batch of Feed reviews, to whet your interest in the book:

N.K. Jemisin included Feed in an awesome book rec post, and says, "This is a thriller. The fact that it takes place during the zombie apocalypse is irrelevant; it could be taking place during an outbreak of weaponized ebola. (Except ebola victims don’t try to eat you.) I count it as science fiction, though, because Grant deals realistically with the evolution of society; the worldbuilding here is fascinating in and of itself. And the characters kept me hooked all the way through, particularly as Grant pulls no punches in showing just how ugly a conspiracy in high places can get. There are some obvious digs at Bush-era politics and the information privacy wars. I can’t wait for the next book." Yay!

Lions and Men posted a lovely review of Feed, and said, "This novel is written in first person perspective and is interlaced with excerpts from the main characters' blogs. This alone is a fresh breath in the horror genre. The way in which Grant writes her characters allows the reader to truly connect with them. You never get the feeling that any of the characters are just placed in the novel to become zombie food; each one has a unique perspective of the world they find themselves in. The dialogue is at times hilarious, and at others, grave." More, it's a review of the audio edition! How cool is that?

To spice things up a little, Lions and Men also interviewed me, which is always a good time. Check it out!

Here's something awesome: a video review of Feed, posted at Through the Eyes of a Journalist. Also, the reviewer wears sunglasses the whole time, which is badass. I am a happy blonde.

Finally, for right now, Feed was reviewed by the Seattle Pi. The reviewer says, "These days I am often intrigued by cover blurbs for novels, but rarely surprised by the words within. Mira Grant's novel Feed starts out innocently enough but morphs into a complex, amazingly intelligent, engaging story that kept me reading late into the night a few nights. This is not your average zombie story and easily in the top three books I've read so far in 2010." Also: "Honestly, if you only read one book about zombies this year, read Mira Grant's Feed." Works for me!

Okay; more to come, as I try to muck out the stable of tabs, but for right now, this batch will have to do. Whee!

Well. There we go. As of roughly an hour ago, I'm done with my next-to-last pass through Deadline, incorporating commentary from The Editor, a vast file of notes from Vixy, and a lot of extremely useful technical detail from Alan, aka "my new things-that-kill-people expert." All hail those who actually know what the hell they're talking about!

I still have some work to do—the nature of my revision process means I'll be getting notes from my editorial pool for a week or so, and I want to go back and add a few things here and there throughout the text—but the heavy lifting is essentially done. The most thought-intensive part that remains is writing the acknowledgments page (which I hate doing, almost as much as I hate gargling with Spaghetti-Os). It's all commas and commentary from here to Australia...and it looks like I'll be making my "turn it in by" date, allowing me to spend the trip focusing on The Brightest Fell. Total win.

The nicest thing about final-pass editorial is that it generally happens after the book has been in someone else's hands for weeks, if not months, allowing the text to "age out" and turn alien to me. I remember writing scenes, but not sentences; I remember pages, not paragraphs. So I can rip things out with impunity, having lost all emotional attachment to the words in favor of being emotionally attached to the core point of the scene. This stage can also be dangerous, as the urge to rewrite entire chapters into something better is always there. It's the Mad Science Editorial phase.

(Appropriately enough, as I write this, my iTunes is producing a run of songs that can really only be referred to as "Seanan's greatest mad science hits." Seriously, it's played three versions of "Maybe It's Crazy" in the last half hour. Apple wants me to ignite the biosphere.)

I am done with book two of the Newsflesh trilogy. And because I've met me, I can say with certainty that while I'm busting ass on The Brightest Fell, I'll also be taking the first happy steps into the world of Blackout. It's...a little sad, actually. I only get to spend one more book with these weird, wonderful, fascinating, fucked-up people. I think I'm going to have separation anxiety when I get to the end of book three.

But I'm not there yet. Right now, I'm at the end of book two. And while the final stats are not yet ready, I believe I can say with assurance that I am now a magic murder pixie with a chainsaw.

DINO DANCE PARTY!

It's August 15th, and that means I need to take a break in my preparation for Australia and make my monthly current projects post. This is 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 August 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. Discount Armageddon is off the list because it has been turned in to The Agent. Late Eclipses is off the list because it has been turned in to The Editor.

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.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

It's Sunday, and that means it's time for a Feed review roundup! ...what? Look, I need to justify these things somehow, and this is as good an excuse as any. Next week, I'll probably use being carbon-based as my excuse. Anyway:

The Literate Kitty has posted a lengthy review of Feed, and says, "Every once in awhile, though, something manages to exceed all your expectations, proving to be far better than you'd even hoped. So, with that in mind, let me start by saying that I was totally unprepared for Feed." Also, "Feed is an intricate yet at the same time sort of simplistic tale, dealing both with 'big issues' such as the role of the media, politics, duty, and governmental and societal responses to major outbreaks (including all the paranoia, irrational fear, and hatred that too often result); as well as looking at 'smaller issues' like friendship, integrity and honesty, family, and sometimes just figuring out how to get through another day." Very nice.

tigertoy provides today's Livejournal review of Feed, and says, "On one level, this is a nearly mindless high-speed romp through a world derived from a premise so silly that it is not enough to suspend your disbelief, you must actually expel it. On another level, it's a spot on, scathing commentary on the society we live in today, with a clear message that a lot of people need to hear. I could quibble about a lot of things that don't seem to be quite right, but they're just quibbles; the story works." Excellent.

The Book Bag has posted a review of Feed, and says, "Feed is a book filled with menace and fear that grips you hard from the opening lines and doesn't let go. Probably won't even long after the final page of the final book in the trilogy. Absolutely superb." Short, sweet, and awesome.

Alpha Reader has also posted a lovely review of Feed, and says, "This book is a spectacular Zombie-romp. But to call it a 'Zombie' book is too simplistic. It's more a post-Apocalyptic political thriller with Zombies in the background. Seanan McGuire, aka 'Mira Grant' is a deft hand at world-building and characterization, and she is in her writing element in this living undead disaster-filled universe." What can I say? I like me some dead stuff.

There's a lovely short review of Feed up at We Zombie. No pull quotes, since again, short, but you should still have a look.

That's it for right now—believe me, there's buckets and buckets more to come, as I struggle to kill my link file before Australia—and here's hoping you've had a wonderful weekend!

The links are seriously trying to eat me over here, you guys. And in answer to a question I keep getting asked (well, two questions, really): I don't link every review, whether positive or negative, because some of them are short, or have spoilers, or don't show up in my Google scans, or are friend-locked here on LJ, or or or. I tend to throw links I plan to post into a big list, and then grab almost at random when doing a roundup. So while half the links will be new, half of them will be older, and have been patiently waiting their turn. All good things come to those who wait.

Anyway...

Harriet Klausner has reviewed An Artificial Night. I don't know how she reads as much as she does, but the appearance of her review means that release really is right around the corner. The terrifying...terrifying corner.

The Literate Kitty has also posted a review of An Artificial Night. I have to say, I love this review, because the reviewer's sense of humor cracks me up. She says "Have a tough job involving some nasty-angry-crazy fae business, dial 555-TOBY," and "So, yes, when Toby wakes up each day, she’d really prefer there be considerably less of that charging-headfirst-into-danger penciled in on her daily planner. Her life is tough enough, without the equivalent of walking around sticking forks into wall outlets in flooded rooms during electrical storms." Love! As for the book itself, she says:

"As much as I'm crazy about the first two books in this series...I love An Artificial Night that much more."

...and...

"An Artificial Night is both pure fairy tale—a spine-tingly reminder of all those fantastical stories from my youth—and gritty, tough tale, which feels really right."

Backing up a book, Amberdrake has posted a review of A Local Habitation at BSC Review. She says, "I found this second book in the series to be a very quick, fun, and interesting read. I really enjoy October as a character, because she isn’t perfect and she knows it, and she works around her limitations as well as the expectations others have of her. Another little treat is McGuire's use of Shakespeare in the titles. Both Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation are from Shakespeare, and they are both very fitting for the books they title. (I would tell you why they are fitting, but I found it very fun to do the research and find the original quotes and read the surrounding text and get why the author chose them as the titles. Trust me, it won't take long to find out and you'll have fun along the way.)" Anyone advocating Shakespeare is okay by me!

Charlotte has reviewed Feed over at Blogging For A Good Book, and she says, "The prose, punctuated by posts from George, Shaun, and Buffy, is as fast moving and punchline-driven as the tagline on the cover (“The good news: we survived. The bad news: so did they”). The close sibling relationship between George and Shaun, despite their constant bickering, is well done, and it’s their fear for one another that makes the stakes seem real." Yay!

An excellent review/recommendation of Feed is up at Beatrice, and says, "Given the completeness of this particular story, it will be interesting to see where she takes the two promised sequels: What else will she have to say about her zombie-ridden society?" Mwahahahaahahaha.

Finally for today, a review of the Feed audiobook is up at Robots and Vamps. Matt says, "Holy shit. Excuse me for a second while I catch my breath and I apologize for the curse words. For a change, I am going to discuss the ending of this novel first. There is an event that occurs at the end of this story that absolutely crushed me and I still can’t believe that Ms. Grant did it. It was truly epic. For spoiler reasons I won’t discuss the plot twist here but I am in total awe of the author for taking this risk in this day and age of safe urban fantasy fiction. I am still in shock. Let’s put it this way, it affected me the whole day at work as I replayed the events in my head. Wow." I'm...gonna call that a win, really. Yeah. (Plus, there's a comparison to The Stand. EPIC VICTORY.)

More to come!

Um. Um. Um. Okay. Look:

The NPR List of 100 Killer Thrillers has been released.

HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS LOOK LOOK AT #74 LOOK AT IT LOOK THAT'S MY BOOK THAT I WROTE THAT'S FEED ON A LIST PUBLISHED BY NPR HOLY CRAP.

...okay, I'm better now. Sorry about that. Except that I'm neither better nor sorry, but I am fairly convinced that I've been asleep for the last two years. If I wake up and this has all been a really detailed linear dream, I'm taking my brain out behind the woodshed. I'm just saying.

I mean, this isn't the first awesome Feed-related thing that's happened. Consider, if you will, io9's top picks for summer reading. Sure, the summer's almost over, but there's still a little warm weather left in which to enjoy a good zombie apoca—WHO AM I KIDDING WITH THE CALM RATIONALITY?! MY BOOK THAT I WROTE IS ON A LIST PUBLISHED BY NPR HOLY CRAP.

I love this book so much, and I love that my weird science fiction dystopian political thriller full of zombies is actually getting out there and infecting the world with its, well, weirdness and its virology and I am so excited I could just about scream right now. Because HOLY CRAP. That's going to be my refrain today, I swear. HOLY CRAP.

I leave you with the meme your meme could smell like, an awesome Old Spice Man-inspired "everybody is awesome" feedback meme, and I go off to gibber and giggle in a corner until I can calm down a little.

HOLY CRAP.

There is a review of Feed in the October issue of SciFi Magazine. This is a major newsstand glossy, produced by the media group that ones the SyFy Channel (you know, where I spend much of my time). The cover story is about Resident Evil: Afterlife. Inside, there are stories about Haven and the new season of Eureka.

And then there is me.

A review of my book. In this magazine.

Sometimes this business of writing continues to astonish me. I know, I know: I worked hard, I worked for a long time, this isn't all being handed to me on platters by magical ponies from the moon (which is really a pity, as I would love to catch me some magical moon ponies of my very own). I don't sit here feeling like I'm getting things I shouldn't have...even if I do occasionally wonder when I'm going to wake up from this astonishingly detailed linear dream.

My book is reviewed in a magazine that includes a review of a Resident Evil movie and a television show based on the works of Stephen King. If there was any actual question of whether or not I may have accidentally sold my soul at the crossroads, this pretty much answers it.

Good thing I keep a fiddler around, huh?

Golly.

( Click here for review goodness.Collapse )

Um.

To quote the NPR page:

"Last month when we asked the NPR audience to submit nominations for a list of the 100 most pulse-quickening, suspenseful novels ever written, you came through with some 600 titles. It was a fascinating, if unwieldy, collection.

"Now, with your input, a panel of thriller writers and critics has whittled that list down to a manageable 182 novels. That roster, which we now offer for final voting, draws from every known thriller sub-genre—techno, espionage, crime, medical, psychological, horror, legal, supernatural and more."

Here is a link to the full story, including the list of 182 novels being considered for the top 100.

Scroll down. Scroll down to books beginning with the letter "F."

Understand why I am sitting here looking pole-axed.

I AM IN THE SECOND-TIER NPR LIST. ME. I am right fucking there, along with my two favorite Stephen King novels of all time, and the first Repairman Jack novel, and Jurassic Park, and and and and...

Ack.

So they say lobbying is okay, right there in the article, and this is me, lobbying. I'm not sure how I made this list; it would mean a lot to me to make the final cut. Please consider swinging by and taking a look at the nominees? And maybe, you know, making with the clicky?

Now please excuse me. I seem to have something in my eye.

As noted yesterday, the links are no longer threatening to eat my world; the links are actively chowing down. So here is another review roundup, this one focusing on Feed. You're welcome!

Once again, we begin with the obligate Livejournal review, this time from my beloved markbernstein (see me identifying my bias?). He says "There are zombies. There's some gore, though not as much as you might think. And yes, some people (and animals) die in highly unpleasant ways. Still, I don't think of Feed by Mira Grant as a horror novel. It's science fiction in both the extrapolative and speculative sense, and a fine example of both." Aww, thanks! He also says "This is an outstanding book. Highly recommended." I couldn't have said it better.

Brion posted his review of Feed, and is also up-front about his biases, as he says "Disclaimer: I know the author personally, which may mean I'm biased in favor of awesomeness." This is because, clearly, I inspire awesome. He says "I grew up reading the science fiction classics: Asimov, Heinlein, Farmer, Niven, McCaffrey...What always kept me reading late at night, eyes wide open, was their ability to craft a detailed world, working out the consequences of the big What If, and then tell a great story in it. Grant doesn't disappoint; her post-Rising world is rich, weaving a gripping story from the societal consequences of a planet that has become quite legitimately paranoid." Thanks, Brion!

Amanda at Another Book Junkie has posted her review of Feed, and says "Oh man, I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot about Mira Grant in the future." Also, "Well done, Ms. Grant. Well done." There's a lot of review between those statements, and you should totally go read it. Don't worry, I'll wait.

Doyce Testerman has posted an awesome review of Feed. It is thoughtful and incisive and well-composed, and quoting it would do both you and it a disservice, because it hangs together so well as a contemplation of the book's message, as well as, y'know, as a review. Go check it out. Again, I'll wait, and thank you, Doyce.

A lovely Feed review has been posted at Flying Off the Shelves, and says "When I first started reading this book I wasn't expecting it to be nearly as good as it is. I questioned it and asked myself, "How could this book be any good after reading World War Z? I don't want to read another crappy zombie book.", but I took the chance and I found that this book is truly an amazing piece of writing. The characters are dynamic and complex. The story line will knock your socks off. I actually don't have anything bad to say about this book whatsoever. Even the science behind this story is interesting and spot on when it comes to basic virus information. If her next book is anything like this I may just die (and hopefully not zombify). Honestly, I rarely buy books in hardcover and I want this one in hardcover. If it isn't obvious already this book easily claims a five rating. Extremely well done Mira Grant." Yay!

That's five links posted, and barely a dent made in my list o' links. Clearly, I need to clean up my act. More to come!

You have four years left to prepare, because it all begins on July 18th, 2014.

At 11:53 AM, CDT, in the city of Peoria, Illinois, a man named Jonathan Dowell will be hit by a car while crossing the street at a busy intersection. Despite flying more than three yards through the air and hitting the ground with a bone-shattering degree of force, Jonathan will get back to his feet in a matter of minutes, to the great relief of bystanders and drivers alike. This relief will turn to bewilderment and terror as he lunges at the crowd, biting four people before he is subdued. By nightfall, the first Peoria outbreak will be well underway.

At 10:15 AM, PDT, in the town of Lodi, California, a woman named Debbie Goldman will be jogging along her usual route, despite the record-breaking heat and the recent warnings of her physician. Her explosive cardiac event will go entirely unwitnessed, as will her subsequent revival. As she makes her way along the road, she will find a group of teenagers out for a walk; in the struggle that follows, three of the six will be bitten. The Lodi outbreak will begin to spread shortly after two o'clock that afternoon.

At 11:31 AM, MDT, in a research laboratory just outside Denver, Colorado, two of the test subjects currently being treated with Marburg Amberlee will go into spontaneous viral amplification as the live virus bodies being pumped into their systems encounter the resting viral bodies already there. The details of this outbreak are almost entirely unknown, as the lab will be successfully sealed and burned to the ground before the infection can spread. Denver will be spared the worst ravages of the Rising until the second wave begins on July 26th. Some will say that the tragedy which follows will come only because of that temporary reprieve; they weren't prepared.

The Rising begins four years from today.

Are you prepared?

1. admnaismith to the white courtesy phone, admnaismith to the white courtesy phone; you have won an ARC of An Artificial Night. Please email me with your contact information, using the contact form on my website, before Sunday, or a new winner has been selected. Also, I totally need you to come make me a drink, because damn.

2. Evolution is awesome, and more bizarre than you can possibly imagine. The best thing about real life is the way that it doesn't even need to pretend to make sense. Also, it allows for factual statements like "those little hornless males have giant testicles" and "they change their color pattern and rearrange their tentacles in a more typical female arrangement." How can you not love this world?

3. Actually, you know what's better than evolution? Drunken paleontologists being allowed to name the dinosaurs that they have discovered. Yes. Thanks to the glorious power of beer, the chasmosaurine ceratopsid family has a new member: the Mojoceratops. How can you not love this dinosaur?! It has a heart-shaped frill, people. A heart-shaped frill. This is like, Barbie's Dream Dino. Great Pumpkin, thank you for the drunken paleontologists and their glories. Thank you.

4. Remember that I'll be at Borderlands Books in San Francisco, California this Saturday, appearing with the lovely jennifer_brozek as part of the second stop on the Murder and Mayhem Tour. Also, we'll have delicious cupcakes from Cups and Cakes Bakery, because we all know that's really why you attend my book events with such alacrity. Be there if you can!

5. We're less than a week out from the San Diego International Comic Convention, which, this year, I will be attending with Amy McFiddler and the fantastic Tara in tow. So, y'know, that should be a good time, apart from all the flailing and hysteria. I'll be posting my panel schedule early next week, and if you're going to be at the convention, you should totally let me know. I'd love to see you.

6. X-Men: Second Coming is over. Several characters are dead. I'm sad about some of them, not so much about others (and barely remembered a few). I really want them to get Elixir on the business of growing back the various severed limbs, as, well, this is all a bit grim for an X-book. But hey, Jean Grey is still dead, Emma Frost is still pretty, and we still have three Stepford Cuckoos wandering around. So it's hard not to be happy.

7. Other things that make me happy: Warehouse 13, Eureka, Unnatural History, Leverage, and So You Think You Can Dance. Why yes, I am a media whore. Why do you ask?

8. Zombies are love.

9. In addition to the San Diego International Comic Convention being in less than a week, I'm about two weeks out from SpoCon, where a) I'm the Music Guest of Honor, and b) Tanya Huff is the Writer Guest of Honor. DAW GIRLS IN THE HOUSE! We shall wear our Urban Fantasy Mafia colors with pride, yo.

10. The turtle can't help you, but Alice will be happy to shed on you. Just ask her.

What's news with you?

Hello, and welcome to my journal! I'm pretty sure you know who I am, my name being in the URL and all, but just in case, I'm Seanan McGuire (also known as Mira Grant), and you're probably not on Candid Camera. This post exists to answer a few of the questions I get asked on a semi-hemi-demi-regular basis. It may look familiar; that's because it gets updated and re-posted roughly every two months, to let folks who've just wandered in know how things work around here. Also, sometimes I change the questions. Because I can.

If you've read this before, feel free to skip, although there may be interesting new things to discover and know beyond the cut.

Anyway, here you go:

( This way lies a lot of information you may or may not need about the person whose LJ you may or may not be reading right at this moment. Also, I may or may not be the King of Rain, which may or may not explain why it's drizzling right now. Essentially, this is Schrodinger's cut-tag.Collapse )

You may remember that I took a trip to Cups and Cakes Bakery recently, to document the process of making delicious BRAIN CUPCAKES. Because, well. BRAIN CUPCAKES. And now the lovely folks at Orbit have posted that documentation for you to devour and enjoy. I give you...

How to make BRAIN CUPCAKES.

We share because we care. About delicious brains, anyway.

A year ago, I sat in my hotel room at Duckon and listened as The Agent walked back and forth, negotiating contract terms on her cell phone. It was an amazing process, frightening and enlightening and elating and terrifying and wonderful. And at the end of it, we had a verbal agreement with Orbit/Orbit UK to purchase the Newsflesh Trilogy (Feed, Deadline, Blackout) under the pseudonym "Mira Grant."

Since that day, I have launched a new website (www.miragrant.com), written the second book in the series, argued the logic of my zombies with a hundred people, and, best of all, seen the publication of Feed in the United States and United Kingdom, made available in virtual form, released as an audio book...and this is all just the beginning. Other languages, other volumes, other miracles, other outbreaks, they're all ahead of us.

It's amazing. It's just amazing. This last year has been such a wonderful adventure, and such an incredible education. I couldn't be more grateful, or more amazed. I've worked so long and so hard, and it seems a little, well...

It's all just a little unreal.

Thank you to everyone who's been here throughout this adventure. Thanks to The Agent, for making it happen; to Amy, for tolerating my crazy during the process of the contract negotiations; to David and Michelle, for all their amazing support; to Rae, for, well, everything; to Mars, for keeping the politics from becoming too much of the pie; to Chris and Tara, for my website; to Steve and Spider, for phone tech-checks; to Brooke, for the medical details.

Thank you to everyone for reading. Hasn't this been an amazing year? And there are two more to come. It's just amazing.

Okay. So. If you made me make a list of my favorite movies of all time, the movies that make me stop when I flip past them on basic cable, the movies that I saw in the theater more than three times, both Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse would be in the top ten. My cube at work is decorated in RE movie posters. I carry an Umbrella Corporation umbrella. For years, I basically lived in my zip-up S.T.A.R.S. sweatshirts, and only stopped because a) they died horrible, gruesome deaths and b) Hot Topic no longer carries them. At the same time, if you made me make a list of my most hated movies of all time, the movies I have tried to delete from my memory, Resident Evil: Extinction would also make the top ten. There are a lot of reasons for this. They comprise a rant that takes about twenty minutes to fully deliver. Suffice to say, in my world, it didn't happen. So...

Sunday, my housemate and I went to see Jonah Hex (I had promised him Toy Story 3, I couldn't deliver, he got to pick the replacement movie). I found it decent. It wasn't a waste of two hours of my life, and sometimes that and air conditioning are all I can ask from a summer movie. Anyway, as we settled into the all-encompassing seats of Barney-colored love with our popcorn and our drinks, the trailers started to roll. I love trailers. I am a simple soul in some regards.

Establishing shot: a dark intersection full of people. Very film noir, very black and white. Zoom in on a woman's high heeled shoes. Her blue and red piped high heeled shoes.

Her Umbrella Corporation-colored high heeled shoes.

I was sitting up in my seat, practically panting, even before the voice over started telling us exactly how the infection began. As the trailer went on, I got more and more excited, despite the fact that my brain was chanting "no no no no no" very, very loudly. The brain was not under consultation. The brain was not invited. By the end of the trailer, I was ready to run out, buy my tickets, and invest in a whole new assortment of Umbrella co-branded merchandise.

I have been subliminally conditioned into brand loyalty to the Umbrella Corporation.

Does anybody else see a problem with this?

The links are once again threatening to completely take over my rolling file*, which is sub-optimal, since I keep other things in that file which I need to be able to locate. So it's time for a mixed review roundup! Yay! Fun for the whole family, or at least, fun for me, since I enjoy review roundups. I'm weird like that. Anyway...

To begin with today, Larissa at Aphelion has posted a review of Feed. She opens with the now-ritual "You got your zombies in my politics!" chant, which makes me giggle, and goes on to say "If you want a simple, standard zombie story where you know who’s going to live and who’s going to die, and why, then this is not the book for you. If you want a political potboiler without humor or surprises, this is not the book for you." So who is it for? "If you want a vividly written science-fiction novel in a painstakingly detailed dystopian world about strong, snarky characters who will make you care desperately about them and keep you from putting the damn book down when your lunch break is over, well, then I can tell you from experience that this is the book for you."

Awesome!

Jawas Read, Too has posted a guest review of Feed, written by Pete, who says "I love zombies, but rarely see them executed well. Feed makes every attempt to buck the tropes of bad horror and says 'What-if' on a scale that will make nerds quiver with joy. What if humanity wasn’t full of idiots that run upstairs and remove their ability to safely egress the house? What if people were armed to protect themselves? What if loved ones were a secondary concern over self preservation? All of these scenarios and more come together to paint a world where humanity has survived the global epidemic of zombie infestation, and it bleeds into every corner of the book." I like making nerds quiver with joy. It's fun!

Tina Matanguihan at The Philippine Online Chronicles has posted a lengthy review of Feed, and says "Feed was actually quite...well, awesome. It's a political thriller written over a horror backdrop, where the presence of the zombies was used to compare how the living can still do more damage than the undead. There were only a handful of zombie encounters in the entire novel, but each of the situations felt so real, that it gave the impression that the zombies were everywhere. Mira Grant allows the readers to think that everything is going fine...and then throws a huge curve ball that changes the game. It's a thrill ride in 600 pages: I was intrigued, elated, shocked, horrified and most of all heartbroken all throughout the story, and...for me, that's what makes a story awesome."

Kain, at Zombies Are Coming, has posted a very long, well-considered review of Feed, and says "Feed is one of the few book, as of late, which I have picked up and gotten truly excited about once I started reading it. Not only is it a story that is immersive and captivating, but it is written by an author that is not afraid to take risks to tell the story." I got two out of two stumps! That's...disgustingly delightful.

Professor Beej does pop culture commentary with an academic slant, and has posted a review of Feed. The academic slant says "If there are two things I love, they’re blogging and zombies. And although I thought that my life would be nearly incomplete without the combination of these two relatively unrelated things, I am pleased to announce that because of reading Mira Grant's Feed, I can die a happy man." Victory! And...um...more seriously: "Feed does something with a topic that many seen worn out and trite that few authors can do. It creates a world that is based solidly in our own and tries to answer a few fundamental questions. Not about zombies or about how we would survive (Romero already taught us that, anyway), but about where we, as a people, act and react in the face of a truly unthinkable catastrophe, and just what part will this newfangled piece of technology we call the Internet play in it?"

Jen over at My Book Addiction has posted a review of A Local Habitation, and says "I loved pretty much everything about this book. It had another freaky mystery for Toby to solve. We get to see even more Fae (I wish I could get Elliot to make a bi-weekly visit to my house)." Also, "We get more of Toby's wonderful sense of humor, especially when she interacts with Quentin, her knight-in-training assistant Boy Wonder." I love that people love Quentin. It really makes my day, because I love him so, and this way I don't feel so bad about the fact that I keep including him in things. Victory is mine!

Kyle Brady has posted a review of A Local Habitation, and says "It's too early to yet tell whether the series will be one of the rare instances in the genre of fantasy where the main character learns, adapts, and matures throughout the various episodes, but it is easy to imagine October Daye becoming more powerful, more prominent, and ultimately more sinister in the coming years." Sinister Toby! That would be awesome! And...uh...sort of terrifying. I'll be over here...

An at A Writer's Block has included her thoughts on both Toby books to date in an awesome thumbnail review batch. Take a look!

The Book Pushers had me back for an interview, because they are wonderful people. I got to answer a question with "Look, a bunny," which always makes me a happy girl. I like bunnies. Bunnies are good.

Look! A zombie bunny with a chainsaw!

Glee.

(*My rolling file contains, among other things, notes on The Brightest Fell, pendant prompts, essay topics, blog post outlines for things I keep meaning to write, notes on the Jan stories, my set list for Westercon, and the outlines of the next "Thoughts On Writing" entry. So I really do need it to continue making something vaguely resembling linear sense, lest my head should explode.)

1. Only four hours remain to enter my random drawing for an ARC of An Artificial Night! It's probably the simplest contest I'm going to have, so what have you got to lose, right? Besides, they're pretty. I like pretty things. I am a simple soul.

2. Speaking of pretty things, remember that the ALH pendant sale will be starting today at Chimera Fancies. I cannot possibly overstate how much I love Mia's pendants. If I were a wealthy woman, I'd just pay her to sit around and make them all day, and keep the bulk of her output for myself. Again, simple soul. Also, occasional magpie.

3. Leverage comes back this weekend! So You Think You Can Dance is back on the air! Cartoon Network has Unnatural History and Total Drama World Tour! Oh, I love you, summertime television. I love you so much, forever.

4. Tomorrow is my last pre-Westercon rehearsal with the fabulous Paul Kwinn, renowned in song and story, master of the meaningful look while wearing a gaudily-patterned shirt, husband of Beckett, whom I love beyond all reason. I'm very excited, despite the fact that I'm still occasionally coughing like I'm on the verge of actual death. It's gonna be awesome.

5. I have my editorial notes for Late Eclipses, and I'm busily incorporating them into the finished manuscript...while, possibly, fixing a few little language issues at the same time. It's been long enough since I touched this book that it appears to have been written by an alien, which is the best time for doing editorial. It's still my baby. It's just my weird alien baby, and that makes it more fun to autopsy.

6. Zombies are still love.

7. It's June already. That means we're getting closer and closer every day to my departure for Australia, LAND OF POISON AND FLAME, which I have only been dreaming about for most of my life. I'm so excited it's scary, and not just because I'm on the ballot for the Campbell (although that remains a constant GOTO loop at the back of my brain). I get to go to Australia! I get to breathe Australian air! My life is awesome sometimes.

8. We've entered the final stages of recording Wicked Girls, and it should, I hope, I pray, be able to make the October release date that I so optimistically set for myself. I'll be announcing the pre-orders soon, since that's how I finance mixing and mastering, and I'm really, really happy with this album, as a whole. It's just...it's what I wanted. And that's incredible.

9. I think the cats are stealing my will to leave the house. I just want to sleep.

10. I need more ARC contests! Suggest something. Be silly, be serious, request that I do your favorite all over again, whatever. I need ideas, and so I turn to you, the glorious Internet, to give them to me.

It's Friday!

Yesterday afternoon, at the request of my/Mira Grant's publisher, I took my little FlipVideo camera and my little clicky-flashy digital camera down to Cups and Cakes Bakery to document the process of making the famous BRAIN CUPCAKES. Because, well, it seemed like a good way to kill an hour or two. The bakery is closed on Tuesdays, so Tuesday was the best time to have a slightly off-kilter author come in and point cameras at things. It was fun!

I am aware that this thread is useless without pics. Pics will be coming soon, although the odds are reasonably high that they will be posted, not here, but on the Orbit website. Why? Because dude, brain cupcakes. Also, that way Orbit has to do the video hosting, not me. I like things that lead to other people doing the video hosting. Things that lead to other people doing the video hosting are keen.

It turns out, by the way, that people are a lot less willing to accept random cupcakes from a random stranger when those random cupcakes look like tiny frosting brains. This is more of a sign of a survival instinct than I usually see from the human race these days, so I'm going to take it as a good thing. It probably didn't help that I looked bone-tired while offering the tiny brains to people, which created an overall air of "zombie pastry chef" that can't possibly have appealed to the public at large. Many of my friends, sure, but the public at large, not so amazingly much.

I love the simplicity of these tiny sugary treats, their iconic awesomeness, the way that they just say, very straightforwardly, "this is what I am, I am a brain, you can cope." I find myself pondering other ways to make cupcakes relevant to my various projects (although with some projects, this requires no effort at all—Velveteen gets red velvet cupcakes with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles, for superficial childishness atop adult complexity; Clady just gets whatever you're not eating...), because dude, cupcakes.

Everybody loves baked goods.

Marcon was very long, and very tiring, and totally cut me off from all Internet access, resulting in a whole lot of links building up while I was wandering through the wilds of Ohio. So here's our first review roundup for the month of June! Fun for the whole family.

I want to take a moment, before moving on to the meat of the post, to note that I do not link to every review. No, really, I don't! I don't link to reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. I don't link to reviews, either positive or negative, that contain major spoilers. I don't link to reviews where the reviewer seems to be being intentionally mean, rather than just being negative, because I don't want to cause them to get spammed by people trying to defend my honor. And I don't always link to reviews that are very short, or happen to come in at the same time as eighteen other reviews of the same thing. I love reviews, I want you all to write them (or not, as the fancy strikes you). If I don't link to yours in specific, I promise, it's not personal. Anyway...

First up, I was interviewed by the Innsmouth Free Press, which was totally awesome, since I spent the entire process picturing my interviewer as a Deep One. Anything that allows me to picture people as Deep Ones is a-okay by me. There are some fun questions in this one, and I, of course, am reasonably fond of my answers. Give it a peek.

Paul Allen has posted a fantastic review of Feed at the Barnes and Noble book club, and says "A cool fusion of campy post-apocalyptic zombie horror (George Romero is referred to as “one of the accidental saviors of the human race”) and highly intelligent political thriller a la Richard Condon’s The Manchurian Candidate, Feed—the first installment of Grant’s Newsflesh trilogy—is a surprisingly well-constructed and deeply themed novel." Also "Plain and simple, zombie fiction fans should definitely seek out and read this ingenious (and deeply thought-provoking) novel. I'd even recommend this novel to mainstream fiction readers looking for something new—if they don't mind a little rotting flesh in their literary escapism, that is..."

Awesome!

Strange Ink has posted a very sweet Feed review that opens with the admission "I almost didn't buy Feed." Since one of my best friends almost didn't read Feed due to zombie issues, I find this admission very sweet, and the faith that it represents very touching. She goes on to say, "Feed is not just another book about zombies. Feed is about politics and terrorism and truth. Feed is about fear, and how that is just as much of a weapon as a bomb, or a syringe full of virus. It is the kind of book that I want to buy extra copies of so I can stuff it into the hands of all my friends. (Seriously, I raved about it for a good five minutes at the party for my Goddaughter's baptism this weekend.)" Feed is all these things, and this is the kind of review statement I sort of want to write in Sharpie on my bedroom ceiling.

Eric at Flames Rising has posted a review of Feed, and says, "Here we have the ultimate pursuit of truth slipstreamed through both science fiction and horror. Here we have a book that broaches a subject that seems to be more in line with what most critics would call 'literary fiction.' But Feed has it in spades, not only is it a book that I believe will be something of a jumping on point for the zombie fiction of the twenty first century, it completely lapses itself back and forth from the pursuit of truth to the pursuit of survival against government conspiracies, to survival against hordes of the undead. I can not tell you dear readers just how much I have enjoyed this book, and at a whopping 590 pages in paperback format which was released by Orbit books, it is a fantastically fast read." Also: "Georgia Mason is possibly one of the strongest female characters I have read in a very long time." Um. Squee.

Our last review for today comes from Bookalicious, where a lovely Feed review has been posted. The review says, "The characters were written fantastically, the different viruses how they reacted, the different ways people reanimated. The fanatic religious element, betrayals, the mystery and the story line had me hooked. I am dying to get my hands on the next book. I need to know what happens next, and in a good way not in a 'ARGH open ending way.'" Rockin'!

That's a good place to stop for right now. Lots more review links to come, and then, possibly? A nice long nap.

Okay, wow, the links are building up like lightning these days. It's a little daunting, especially since I keep losing links I wanted to talk about in the midst of the jumble of review links. This means it's time for another roundup. Fun for the whole family!

First up today, my beloved Rae (creator of the "Ryman for President" buttons we had at the book release) has posted her party report and book recommendation for Feed. She says, "I love this book. And I want all of you to read it. Except, if you hate it, I kinda don't want to know. That's horrible, right? But that's how much I love it. I don't want to hear people ragging on it. Every time I see a review of it posted somewhere, I hesitate before clicking on the link, fearful that it'll be bad and I won't be able to deal. I may have issues."

She may have issues, but this is seriously the sweetest thing anyone's said about my work in a long time. I love Rae so.

Reads From the Field has posted a lovely review of Feed. This is the Plainsfield Public Library District book blog, and it says "This compelling and suspenseful story gives an interesting and intriguing look at our world after the zombie takeover, and even gives a reasonable explanation for the virus spreading. The book isn't super gory, and the story line is great, so even if you're not a super zombie freak like me, I think you'll enjoy the book as much as I did." Glee.

fullcontactmuse has posted a very nice review of Feed, and says "Feed was an excellent and fascinating read for me and I highly recommend it. This is her book that I like most so far and it will live on my bookshelf next to Stephen King and Clive Barker when I finally get it back from the friends I've lent it to. I'll be coming back and reading this story again." So I'm keeping good company, at least in that household.

antigoneschase has also posted a lovely review of Feed, and says "When I say this book is a roller coaster ride, I'm not kidding. Between relief when people escape death, to sadness when they don't; with every testing kit they do to see if the virus amplification has started in their own bodies; with every lighthearted comment (that is completely serious) from Georgia to her brother that she's eventually going to be an only child, you are ripped from one emotion to the next until you feel almost raw with it. You want these people to survive. You want the story to continue. You want it to stop, so everyone's safe. But no one is safe in a world full of Kellis-Amberlee, and you're a fool if you think they are." Nice!

I will close this roundup with unadulterated love and happiness from a total stranger, because it made me giggle. B.E. Sanderson says "It's that good. The story is smart and funny and poignant and if it wasn't a total sacrilege, I'd pull all the pages out, just to roll around in them. (Better writing through osmosis, doncha know.)" I share this temptation from time to time; it's just never been aimed at me before. It's been a good night. Also...

DINO DANCE PARTY!

That's a full lid for tonight. See you at the morning briefing.

The mail at my house tends to arrive in the late afternoon. Once I judged that the mailman would have had sufficient time to navigate the horrifying suburban wasteland in which I live, I opened the door...and stopped.

Even around here, it's not every day that a big blue biohazard bag hits my porch. I'm just saying.

I picked up the bag, checking the tags in the vague hope that it had been mis-delivered to my house, and was actually intended for the mad scientist down the way. Nope; there was my name and address, along with the ominous routing tag for Sweden. Yes, Sweden, land of chocolates and, quite possibly, human organs and anthrax. I mean, why else would it have been secured with two heavy plastic zip-ties?

Lacking anything better to do with the bag, I took it inside, cleared the cutting board, and put it down. Then, after a quick check of my time zone-based options, I called Cat. "I have a big international biohazard shipping bag in my kitchen," I informed her, without preamble.

"What?" She was laughing. This is because humor is the best defense against me sometimes.

"Big international biohazard bag. I need you to call the CDC if I start screaming and drop the phone."

"Um...okay."

It took several minutes with the industrial-grade scissors to work my way into the bag, which kept producing more and more ominous routing stickers as I ripped my way inside. Finally, I ripped away the last layer, and shrieked happily.

Cat did not hang up and call the CDC. All those of you not currently trapped in the blasted quarantine zone that used to be California, you can thank her.

"It's the British edition of Feed!" I told her exultantly.

"Oh, good."

I have the UK copies of Feed! They're so pretty! They're only subtly different from the American edition—redder blood, because presumably the Rising is still fresher in England's memory; the word "bloggers" is actually on the back cover; no number "one" on the spine; a quote from Publishers Weekly on the front—but having them fills me with deep, atavistic satisfaction. This is the first British edition of one of my books. I am PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, yo. The cast of Doctor Who could wander into a Waterstone's and just pick up one of my books, without worrying about the import sticker. I'm global. And stuff.

This is even better than illegal human organ trafficking. I'm just saying.

Last week was a big, big week for me, at least if you categorize "Seanan is running around in circles screaming like an idiot" as "big week." How big? Well, for starters, The Onion A.V. Club reviewed Feed. YES. I AM IN THE ONION. FUCK YEAH, SEAKING. Ahem. The reviewer says:

"Set more than two decades after an uprising of the living dead, Feed uses meticulous world-building to shape a narrative that's believable, thrilling, and instantly clear. From examining the political consequences of a world constantly under siege to detailing how blogging and Internet news feeds would develop in the face of the threat, Grant's creativity and thoroughness give her narrative an unshakable credibility."

...if you'll excuse me a minute, I'll be in my bunk.

Not that I'll be staying there for long, because io9 also posted a review of Feed. Holy cats. They call Feed "perfect summer apocalypse reading," and say "This fast-paced undead thriller will be great for people who enjoy their zombie slaughtering with a hearty slice of social commentary." The whole review is worth reading, but those were the quotes that really buttered my biscuits. (io9 also did a fun and awesome post on the book website. Check it out.)

The Book Smugglers are frequent reviewers of my material, and I was thrilled when Thea gave Feed a review. She says "More than anything else, I loved the amount of thought Ms. Grant put into writing this book. Feed is INCREDIBLY detailed; George's world is fleshed out, from the genesis of the deadly pathogen to the constant vigilance required living with this airborne virus. Ms. Grant's vision of a future American ravaged by KA is grimly complete." Yay!

I also did what's called an "Inspirations and Influences" post for the Book Smugglers, talking about what inspires me, what drives me to write, and where the Newsflesh trilogy came from. The giveaway is over, but the interview remains.

Jenn Brozek has posted a combined review and interview at the Apex blog, and says "Feed is the best zombie book I have ever read. It is smart, fast paced, and intriguing. What could have been a run-of-the-mill zombie farce is, instead, a near future political thriller with twists and turns that you can see coming but only in retrospect." Glee.

Anna has entered Feed in her book log, and says "I’m not sure what impressed me more, and there’s a lot to impress here: the backstory of the Kellis-Amberlee virus; the various complex social and political changes that happen in America as a result of the Rising; the fact that in this world, George Romero is considered a national hero; or the upsurge of bloggers as a source of organized journalism. Either way, it makes me very much want to up the ante on my own writing efforts. Take note, my fellow writers. This is how worldbuilding is done."

Victory is mine, victory is mine, joy in the morning, victory is mine. I have drunk deep from the keg of glory.

Glee.

Okay, folks, I've been asked for it, and here it is: the spoiler party for Feed. Anything goes in the comments on this post only. If you haven't read the book, I ask that you not click. If you have, feel free to jump in, ask questions, discuss, or just yell at me. I'm cool either way.

Game on!

This Saturday, May 8th 2010, I will be appearing at San Francisco's own Borderlands Books in my guise as Mira Grant to celebrate the release of Mira's first novel, Feed [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy]. Feed is a science fiction dystopian novel of political zombie terror, best described as "Night of the Living Dead meets The West Wing and Transmetropolitan." If that sounds a little weird, well...it is. But if it sounds a little awesome, you should totally swing by.

This is going to be a more traditional event than most of my parties, because Mira's a traditional kind of girl...especially if by "traditional" you mean "fond of machetes, the undead, and things that go bump in the night." We'll be in the bookstore starting at five, and we'll be staying there until nine, providing plenty of time for undead awesomeness. There will be readings, discussion, time for wandering around the bookstore, and, yes, the world's best cupcakes. Some of my best friends from out of town will be attending, so this is your chance to finally check off "Rae" on your Seanan bingo card.

I really hope you can make it, and if you can't, remember that you can contact Borderlands to request a signed/personalized book be set aside for you.

Whee!

ETA: Festivities will begin at 5:00 PM, and continue until 9:00.

Point the first: If you're on Twitter, and either don't watch my Twitter feed or haven't checked in yet this morning, do a search for the #FEEDFriday hashtag. Seriously, this is hammered awesome, in addition to being your opportunity to win some free copies of Feed. Which is pretty cool. They make great gifts! Also great doorstops.

Point the second: While you're enjoying your zombie adventure, maybe you should stop off and take a look at http://www.thefeedbook.com/. Don't worry. I'll wait here for your shrieks of ecstatic glee at how insanely awesome that website is. I'm doing the flaily Muppet arms again. Now with an undead flair. Which...is a little disturbing, really.

Point the third: Yes, I have seen today's XKCD. Sometimes I think the cartoonist is peeking through the windows of me and my friends. And then I realize that no, we're just a type. Scared yet?

Point the fourth: I am almost done with my mind-numbingly massive full-sheet comic page explaining the Campbell Awards and expanding on my eligibility. Vixy and Cat Valente play the part of my lovely assistants, thus sparking the statement "The hardest thing I have left to draw is Cat Valente being eaten by zombies." My life, occasionally so difficult.

Point the fifth: I was in the car with my mother yesterday, and commented that I had purchased my tickets to Australia. The following conversation ensued:

Mom: "And you're coming back with a tiara."
Me: "Well, yes, I hope so, but..."
Mom: "You are."
Me: "Okay."
Mom: "I've been praying every night to the tiara gods."
Me: "...there are tiara gods?"
Mom: "There are now."
Me: "What do those even look like?"
Mom: "I don't know. But they're wearing tiaras."

So apparently I have the backing of the tiara gods in the upcoming race for the Campbell. Thanks to my mother for letting me know about this endorsement. Also, and perhaps more importantly, my mother is insane.

Today's fun and excitement begins with an interview with Mira Grant, hosted by Book Banter. There's even a handy list of some of my/Mira's favorite features from the world of zombie fiction. Go forth, and enjoy the gonzo!

Book Banter has also posted an excellent review of Feed [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], which you can read by clicking here. Alex says "Mira Grant is not simply telling a good story about zombies; she is instead telling a fantastic story about a group of young bloggers covering the campaign of a hopeful presidential candidate in a world where there are zombies and fear is a part of everyone's everyday life. And as the book comes to a close, the reader realizes there are things in this world that are worse than zombies. They're humans. If you're going to read a book that has anything to do with zombies at all, read this one." Woo!

Book Bitch has posted a short Feed review, and says "Awesome. Fantastic. A post-outbreak, futuristic zombie tale that feels like it could actually happen. Feed is a totally creepy page-turner and first in the Newsflesh trilogy."

Amy at A Room of One's Own has chosen Feed as her bookstore staff pick, and says "Georgia is the antithesis of the generic blonde scream queen, and between her dry sarcasm and her brother's sharp humor, the dialogue throughout the entire book is snappy and real and riveting." Also: "The plot is diverting, the movement is fast-paced and satisfying. I couldn't put it down and the ending was like a punch in the gut. The second book in the trilogy comes out next May, and I can't wait. Read it!"

This is a command that I can get behind.

First up for today, Stephanie Leary has posted about becoming a fan of my work. This is charming, awesome, and really sweet. I especially appreciate the acknowledgment that my website does not suck. I think she's right in her assessment that we're the same kind of geek, too, which is awesome.

Because it's Feed's bookday, it's also time for some reviews. Unshelved is a web comic about librarians, and, being awesome people, the creators also provide space for book reviews. Well, they've posted a review of Feed, which says "This is smart zombie fiction, a mystery/thriller first and a zombie book second. Add the new media angle and the details of a society as obsessed with tracking infection as governing itself and you have a book that entertains with several different storylines." (They also have a note on who the book is recommended for, which says "Anyone who has discussed what a zombie-proof society would look like with good friends right after a Mountain Dew and Red-Vine fueled zombie movie marathon.") Hee.

Brian at Blog Critics has posted a lengthy review of Feed, and says "These days I am often intrigued by cover blurbs for novels, but rarely surprised by the words within. Mira Grant's novel Feed starts out innocently enough but morphs into a complex, amazingly intelligent, engaging story that kept me reading late into the night a few nights. This is not your average zombie story and easily in the top three books I've read so far in 2010."

Also, and I love this: "The first few chapters serve as an introduction to the Mason siblings' world, innocuously sucking you into liking these quirky characters and the bizarre zombie world they inhabit. It starts slowly as Grant rolls the Trojan Horse through your front gate and sets you up for an emotional thrill ride of politics, espionage, terrorism, and murder. I urge you to let Grant lay her trap. You'll get plenty of zombies, but soon see that the real monsters, just like in our own world, are all too human." Dude, I may need to get that done up in cross-stitch and hang it on my wall. But then, any review that closes with "Honestly, if you only read one book about zombies this year, read Mira Grant's Feed" has my love.

Slamel over at Elitist Book Reviews has posted a review of Feed, and says "Feed was a fun, and unique, ride through the flavor of the year. If we could choose a zombie book to recommend as a final foray into the zombie tropes, it would be Feed." The review is pretty awesome on the whole. I'm pleased.

Finally for right now, Adele over at Unbound tossed me some fantastic interview questions, and has posted her equally fantastic interview. We talk Toby, zombies, filk, and the Black Death, which is always a good way to spend an afternoon. Check it out!

Now we must rinse.

Today is the official North American release date for Feed [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy]. The Kindle edition will be released on May 1st; if you just can't wait, this is a great opportunity for you Kindle-lovers to pick up a physical copy, read it, and give it to your local library. The UK edition will be out sometime in May (exact date not available to me at this specific moment in time).

This is my third book. This is my first book. This is my second series (although this one is actually a trilogy). This is, at least for the moment, my longest book, and in some ways, my most complex. I am terrified and elated, and, because this is What We Do Around Here, I present our resident little dead ghoul, Mel, all dressed up for the occasion. This is the first time I've cut her hair for the purposes of a pin-up. It's also the most elaborate set of lighting effects I've yet used, and I like it, even if it does leave her looking a little gray (only appropriate).

But yes, it is my release day. I have eaten a cotton candy-flavored cupcake, and tonight I will have dinner with Kate. Amy arrives this weekend. I have not shoved anything into my eye. Now help reward my publisher's faith in me by rushing out and bringing the Masons home with you!

Tomorrow, Feed is officially released. That's one. Saturday, Feed is guaranteed to be on sale everywhere. That's five. Numbers, numbers, numbers. I am defined by numbers. Numbers are my bread and my butter, and the things that keep me from going crazy in a bad way.

Both of these are prime. That's something.

I'm a lot mellower about this book release than I expected to be. This may be because I'm getting better at this whole "book release" thing, or it may just be that I'm still completely exhausted following all the crazy surrounding A Local Habitation and finishing Deadline, and simply lack the energy to be insane. I still teared up the first time I saw it on an actual shelf in an actual store (the Borders in Pleasant Hill). Which reminds me, these are the locations where you can buy a signed copy, right now:

* Borders, Pleasant Hill
* Barnes & Noble, San Bruno

Both stores also have signed copies of the Toby Daye books. If you're not local, or want something personalized, remember that I'll be appearing at Borderlands Books on Saturday, May 8th. The store does take requests for personalized books to be mailed basically anywhere on this planet. You can email or call them, and I'd be just tickled to sign a book for you during the event. (Plus, well, if you can't support your local by buying a signed book, be a sport and support my local.)

One day, five days, and my second book release of the year is fully and finally underway, the next grand adventure off and running. I am elated and terrified, and tired.

I need a nap.

When will you rise?

Yes! I have the sign-off, and the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy, Deadline, has been sent safely off to my publisher, where it can be someone else's problem for a little while. (Note that this doesn't actually mean the book is in its final form, since Orbit has the right to request changes and edits—I made changes and edits to Feed after it had been turned in—but I become a much happier bunny after it's slammed down on my editor's virtual desk. That means I made my deadline. I win)

Final book stats:

149,142 words.
513 pages.
Twenty-seven chapters.

I love finishing the process of finishing a book (and yes, that sentence is supposed to look like that; finishing things is hard). It lets me fall in love all over again. I talk about writing books like it's building a house. Revisions are what happen when the house is flawed, and needs to be torn down and built back up again. But finishing is just going through and making it a showplace, ready to be shown off to the world. The heavy lifting is done, and suddenly the book...the book is just amazing all over again. It's a book.

If there's any point during the process where I am totally uncritical of myself, it's this moment, right here. Don't worry, it will pass.

Now I get to settle in and work on the third book in the trilogy, and then...then I'm done. All finished, no more effort, no more struggle, just done. I love these people. I've loved them for years. I hope that when you meet them, you'll love them, too. But for now, I'm turning it in.

Yay.

First order of business for today: the winner of our random ARC drawing! Statistically speaking, all numbers are equally likely when you're talking about random selection, but it's always a little bit surprising when the result is between one and ten. So today was definitely surprising, as the random number generator chose "four." So today's winner is apocalypticbob! Bob, please send me your mailing information via my website contact link. You have twenty-four hours. After that, I'll choose another winner if I haven't heard from you!

Second order of business for today: It is now nineteen days to the official "anywhere you go, you will be able to buy a copy of Feed for your very own, and isn't that terrifying?" release of Mira Grant's first novel. In addition to being hugely important in Stephen King's epic Dark Tower saga (say thankee), nineteen is a pretty awesome number in and of itself. It's the eighth prime number, following seventeen and preceding twenty-three. It actually forms a twin prime with seventeen (I like twin primes). It's the seventh seventh Mersenne prime exponent, and the aliquot sum of two odd discrete semiprimes, sixty-five and seventy-seven. All these things are awesome.

Nineteen days. By the time we finish this countdown, Amy will be here to keep me from flipping out on people, the final touches will be put on party planning, and I will hopefully have been able to pick up my Mira wig from the hair shop (I am so the Hannah Montana of horror). The cupcakes will be ordered. My reading will be chosen (yes, there will be a reading this time). Prizes for the raffle will be arranged. And I will hopefully still be breathing. Nineteen days.

When will you rise?

And now the time has come. The time to give away an ARC of Feed via that time-honored tradition, the random draw. So...

1) Comment here.
2) Tell me your favorite thing about zombies, if you like.
3) Or you can tell me you're excited about the book. Whatever.
4) That's all.

I will draw a winner Monday morning (April 12th); entries will be accepted until then. This contest is open to all countries, because postage is spendy, but zombies are love. One entry per person, please.

Game on!

(Since there's some unclarity surrounding the release date for Feed, which Amazon insists is April 27th, and my publisher insists is May 1st, here's my official party line: The book comes out May 1st. It may actually come out earlier than that; it won't come out later. I am reserving my panic for May 1st, that being a good day for freaking out, and fully expect to be hyperventilating by late April regardless. But May 1st is the date that sits at the end of my countdown.)

The little "days until Feed comes out" counter on today's planner page reads "25." If I had a penny for every day between now and book release, I would have...a quarter. Which is still enough to buy a super high-bounce ball from a vending machine, or maybe some cheap generic M&Ms that look kind of like candy-coated bunny turds. Quarters are cool. I like quarters.

This is my third book release and my first book release at the same time, which isn't exactly an experience I was ever anticipating having. I mean, half of me is like "I should be so zen right now," and the other half is going "HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT I AM RELEASING A BOOK WHY IS THE ENTIRE WORLD NOT FREAKING RIGHT THE FUCK OUT?!" Then the zen half is forced to punch the hysterical half in the face, thus increasing the hysteria while reducing the zen, and eventually I just slink away to play with my My Little Ponies until the screaming in my head stops. Also, there is a lot of television involved in this particular healing process. Without cable, the world would be in serious danger right now, that's all I'm saying. Only Fringe and America's Next Top Model stand between you and the death of all mankind.

It's very difficult to yank my brain from fairy tale mode into politics-and-zombies mode, despite the fact that I'm currently ass-deep in edits for Deadline (and sinking deeper every day). It doesn't help that I can't do my normal "carry your netbook and work while commuting" routine, since my back is giving me trouble, and that means I need to minimize what I'm carrying. My netbook is small, yes, but it's dense, and it represents a fairly substantial carrying-capacity commitment, especially when I'm also toting around my purse, my lunch, and reading material for the day. Right now, my writing time is confined to those moments when I am sitting in front of an actual computer. And yes, it's driving me batty. But that's really nothing all that new, now, is it?

It all seems a little break-neck and terrifying, because Feed has been such a fast journey for me. I finished it and sold it inside of six months; the second two books in the trilogy were sold before they were even written. It's a trilogy, which means there's a beginning, a middle, and an end, unlike Toby, where the story gets to go as long as I think it needs to (and I think it needs to go a long, long way). This is the first time I've told a story this big that actually knows where to stop, rather than continuing to spread and grow. I've lived with the Masons for a few years now, but in the grand scope of things, those few years haven't been that long. And now I get to share them. And it's scary. And it's wonderful.

Alive or dead, the truth won't rest.

Rise up while you can.

...quite soon, actually. Like, in a month. Actually, like, in twenty-nine days. (That's twenty-nine days if you believe the date I got from my publisher, IE, "May 1st." Everyone else seems to think the book comes out on April 27th. I am choosing to continue believing May 1st, because at least that's two months after my last book release, not one month after my last book release, and implies that I might have had the opportunity to take a nap in the interim.)

I am terrified, elated, and a whole bunch of other things that are surprisingly difficult to describe. See, Feed was a thought experiment. It was my game of "What if...?" What if the zombie apocalypse happened...and we lived? What if society had to restructure itself around the idea that the dead will always walk? What if this wasn't going to go away? What if?

I walked around for years with a zombie world and no zombie story. I tinkered with the ecology when I got bored, working out dozens of things that will never make it into the novels (as I lack a naturalist protagonist), but which combined to make a deeper, more convincing reality when I finally started really having a party there. I periodically bitched to my more understanding friends about how I had this truly awesome world, all full of zombies and personal firearms and stuff, and no story to tell there.

Then my friend Micheal Ellis said "Well, why don't you write about a Presidential campaign?"

And it all happened from there.

I'm sure I've told this story here before, because I've told this story a lot. But I'm still so grateful, and so overjoyed, that there are no words. I love the Masons, and my weird journalistic world, and everything else about this series, and for all that I am girl, paralyzed by fear, I really am unbelievably excited that you're going to get to meet them all.

One month 'til the Rising. Wow. It's been a long time coming.