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.

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.)

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.

I will be appearing at the Pleasant Hill, California Borders Store tomorrow at noon, in my persona as Mira Grant, destroyer of worlds. The store information is:

120 Crescent Drive
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 686-4835

While I'm officially Mira tomorrow, and will be reading Mira-type things, I am happy to sign anything you put in front of me (and I'm sure the store would be more than happy to sell you anything I happen to have been involved with). The weather is gorgeous, and there's a Farmer's Market literally right outside the bookstore, which means that cherry season is totally relevant to the event's interests.

There's no set end time for the event—it's going to run until it isn't running anymore—but I recommend showing up reasonably early if you want to be absolutely sure of catching the fun.

I hope to see you there!

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.

It's time, once again, to clear out my list o' links before something on my computer actually manages to catch fire. Yay! The links have been building up like nobody's business; I attribute this, in part, to the fact that I put out two books in a little over two months, which makes it a miracle that I still speak English, rather than some exotic new language of my own devising. (That, or I've had a full-on psychotic break and only think I still speak English, in which case, dweezle wooblet mugga ze.)

To start today's roundup, here's a lovely record of the Feed book release event at Borderlands, written by TJ at Book Love Affair. There are pictures of the brain cupcakes and the fabulous Ryman for President buttons that Rae made, and it makes me quite happy. Be sure to read the comments, which are very complimentary of my book events. Yay!

Azz has posted a combo-book review and event review, which is fantastic, detailed, spoiler-free, and includes the best "Should I read Feed?" quizlet I've seen yet. Also, to quote two of my favorite bits...

"If you do emphatically do not like reading about the undead, do not read this book. It is not an unending gore porn festival like many forms of zombie fiction, but there are zombies; they are technically still alive, just horribly infected, and they do bite and feed and need killing. If you wanted a gore porn festival with a game of Zombie Survivor where you watch to see which one or two of the party make it back to an uninfected zone alive, this is not what you are getting; this is the civilization of the post-zombie times, not a survivalist picnic. (Ask Shaun how he feels about the military's recommendations on what to do in case of zombie attack sometime.) I would not give this book to my mother. I might leave this book where my father could find it, but I would not tell my father that he should read it. I would (and already have, quite enthusiastically) tell my best friend that he should read it (as soon as possible)."

...and...

"If you are against vaccination, for your personal safety, do not tell this to the author. The author's hobbies include studying disease for fun, not just for research. If you say something stupid like "It's not like anybody's ever died from smallpox! It's a PERSONAL CHOICE!" ... punching you may be the author's PERSONAL CHOICE. I hope you don't mind."

So very, very true. Moving on, I did an author review with The Intelli-Gent, which was fun, creative, and came up with some rockin' new questions, including some very specific state of publishing questions that I don't get asked all that often. Prior to the interview, Bryce reviewed Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation, just to prepare.

About Rosemary, he says, "Rosemary and Rue stacks up very well against all of the urban fantasy I've read in the last couple of years. The characters, setting and plot all come together to make you feel something, and thus it becometh a page turner. If you're a fan of the genre, you're going to want to add this to your list of things to read this year."

About A Local Habitation, he says, "A Local Habitation is a fine sequel. In many ways, it builds on what was already there, and there are really no major drawbacks to the book. It's nice to see an author that's consistent, as so many seem to have that second book slump, where it just doesn't measure up to their first brilliant idea."

Works for me, and big thanks to TJ, Azz, and Bryce for the interview and reviews. Now if I can just get through the rest of these links before my computer explodes...

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!

Saturday was my book launch party for Feed, kindly hosted by the wonderful crew at Borderlands Books. They're very tolerant of my particular brand of crazy, and I appreciate that, since I've been working with this brand for so long that I don't think I could make the switch to generic crazy even if I wanted to.

Brooke arrived Friday from Vancouver, and the plan was that my mother would pick up her, me, and Amy from my house sometime around ten, so that we would have time for a stop in Berkeley before heading into San Francisco. Mom actually arrived around eleven, as she had needed to go pick up the van that we were using to haul everyone around for the day; I allowed that this was, perhaps, an acceptable delay. We encountered more delays, in the form of "picking up Mom's friend Sydney" and "stopping so Brooke could sit on the curb until she stopped feeling like she was going to throw up," and then we were on our way.

First stop: Berkeley, where we visited the Bone Room (lots of exciting dead things for Brooke to coo over!) and collected Kate, who was going to be accompanying us for the rest of the day. Kate, being exceptionally clever, brought her iPad, complete with pre-loaded Plants vs. Zombies. So I played Plants vs. Zombies all the way to San Francisco, and PS, now I want an iPad. All hail Kate.

Second stop: Ghirardelli Square, one of those San Francisco institutions and tourist flytraps that everybody needs to visit at least once, if only to see the fountain with the copper mermaids force-feeding frogs to their horrified babies (no, really). Amy, Kate, and I wound up being the ones to place our order, which meant that we got to choose all the flavors of ice cream for our Earthquake. FEAR OUR POWER. Expert table-sharking netted us a nice table near an epically loud cluster of Girl Scouts, and we settled to await our ice cream.

The thing about the Earthquake is that it's one of those sundaes that comes with eight spoons and really means it. It takes two people to bring it to your table. When the Earthquake arrived, a moment of hushed silence fell, all of us just staring at the enormous mound of dairy goodness in front of us. And then we attacked, like starving hyenas at the waterhole. Only whipped cream and memories remained by the time our spoons dropped from our sugar-numbed fingers, because that is how you start a book release party.

Third stop: Cups and Cakes, to pick up the eight dozen mini cupcakes ordered for the event. The brain cupcakes looked amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I forgot I was supposed to be getting cotton candy cupcakes in the variety pack—whoops. It turned out not to matter, as the cupcakes I did get were utterly destroyed over the course of the evening. All hail sugar, all mourn for my fallen diet.

Fourth stop: Borderlands at last. We got there literally four minutes before we were supposed to arrive, which was cutting it pretty darn close, to find the store teeming with excited party-goers. All attempts to keep people out of the cupcakes failed, as they kept opening the boxes and snitching out cupcakes every time I turned my back, so we eventually just gave up and let the hordes descend. Rae brought RYMAN FOR PRESIDENT buttons, which were even more awesome than the cupcakes, and passed them out to the crowd.

After milling, I read the first chapter of Feed, and we had a fun, fast-paced discussion/Q&A session before another milling-and-cupcakes break. This was followed by my reading "Gimme a 'Z'!", since I didn't want to read chapter two, and we needed something else to amuse the crowd. Jude hadn't realized that I was serious when I said she was the new Squad Leader. Much amusement abounded. After that came another Q&A, and then we broke for the evening, leaving the bookstore in the same condition that we found it in.

Fifth stop: The Phoenix for dinner, before somebody got killed and eaten. I had lamb stew. My diet, so shot for the night.

Sixth stop: The airport, to send Amy back to Wisconsin.

Seventh stop: Kate's house, to return her to GP.

Eighth stop: Home, and bed.

I love book release night. Go Pumpkins!

Here's your friendly neighborhood Disney Halloweentown Princess with a cheerful reminder that tomorrow, I'll be appearing at Borderlands Books in San Francisco from five to nine PM in my role as Mira Grant, Destroyer of Worlds. As I have ordered eight dozen mini cupcakes for this event, leaving me to my own devices may result in some actual destroying of man, as I will get all hopped-up on sugar and then people will die. Save the world. Come to my party and eat a cupcake.

More seriously, this is to celebrate my first book as Mira, Feed (Newsflesh I), which came out on April 27th. It's been getting really awesome reviews, and has caused several of my friends to threaten to hit me (that's how you know it's good). It's dystopian science fiction with zombies in—sort of a cross between The West Wing, Night of the Living Dead, and Transmetropolitan—and I'm really, really proud of it.

There will be cupcakes. Naked cats. Discussion. Readings (yes, possibly plural; I'm planning to read the first chapter of Feed, and I'm bringing some of my dead-stuff themed short stories to read later in the evening). Plus, awesome bookstore full of awesome books. And I will be happy to sign books published under my own name, as well as under Mira's, so anything you want to buy and shove in front of me will be awesome.

If you can't make it, remember that you can contact the bookstore and request a signed or personalized book of your very own. They make excellent gifts, doorstops, and base materials for the manufacture of paper-mache masks, in addition to making me do a little dance when the pile of things-to-sign is placed in front of me. Support local bookstores (no one said who they had to be local to...).

I hope I'll see you there! As a special added bonus, if you let me know that you're planning to show up, I'll try to make sure that we save you a cupcake.

Zombies rule!

Look! I was the Big Idea on John Scalzi's blog! I'm pretty delighted. Also, his introduction is awesome:

"Oh Noes! It’s the Zombie Apocalypse™! It’s the end of the world! Yes, yes, Mira Grant said, zombies, end of the world, blah blah blah. Been there. Done that. Got the bloody t-shirt. But what comes after the end of the world, when the world actually is still there? One answer: Feed, which takes a couple decades beyond the zombie apocalypse to a world which has, in its way, adjusted to the undead. And Grant (the pen name for current Campbell Award nominee Seanan McGuire) does a pretty good job with it, according to a starred review in Publishers Weekly: 'Shunning misogynistic horror tropes in favor of genuine drama and pure creepiness, McGuire has crafted a masterpiece of suspense with engaging, appealing characters.' Well, then."

Thank you, Mr. Scalzi.

Also in Feed-related news, Indigo has posted her review, and says "I have read everything Seanan has published to date. And while I like and enjoy the October Daye series quite well, my feeling is that Newsflesh: Feed is the beginning of something truly phenomenal." Glee! (She also put up a TV Tropes page for the book. Now that's love. Be careful; there are spoilers.)

ash_of_roses has posted a review of Feed, and says "This is the kind of book you fall in love with. You fall fast enough you don't realize what's even happening until it's much too late. You fall so fast and so hard that you almost forget what the book has promised you it is going to be. When those promises come true you want it to be a betrayal, but it isn't. This book doesn't lie about what it is; from the blood-smeared front cover to the very last page, this book never pretends to be gentle, or kind, or have a happy ending This book does not lie, and it does not apologize—nor should it."

That may be one of the nicest things anybody's ever said about my work. Again, cross-stitch, on my wall, oh, yes.

In case you missed it, check out this utterly bad-ass website that Orbit put together to promote the book, complete with more bells and whistles than a Chuck E. Cheese. Also check out the awesome new wallpaper they've posted (and remember, there's more awesome wallpaper at MiraGrant.com).

That's all for right now. Whee!

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.

The finished copies of Feed landed on my doorstep yesterday afternoon, where they were promptly rescued from the rain by my mother, who was over at the house doing basic kitchen maintenance (oh, how the cats hate her and her sloshy, sloshy mop). They are...I mean, they're even prettier than the ARC, which I didn't think was possible. The covers are done in this amazing combination of matte and semi-gloss that makes the blood really pop, and they're eye-catching and utterly bleak at the same time. Orbit did a really incredible job with them. I am awed.

Time between opening the box and my mother stealing a copy: Under five minutes. At least she's consistent...

In honor of the arrival of the finished copies, and the oncoming release of the book itself (the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train, it's a flamethrower), I've been making updates to MiraGrant.com. In addition to moving the Horror Movie FAQ to its new home (it was replaced on my main site by the Fairy Tale Survival FAQ), I've added some very important facts about Mira Grant that you should know. Not convinced of the raw danger that you face when you taunt my evil alter-ego? Take a gander at the full list of warnings. These were taken from your suggestions, and they should hopefully do a little to prepare the public for the danger that's to come.

In slightly less silly news, the first batch of icons and desktop wallpapers has been added to the site for you to use and enjoy! Tara really knocked herself out on these, and was aided by Lauren at Orbit, who was awesome enough to let her work from the original cover graphic source. I couldn't be more pleased. Check it out—I bet you'll be pretty pleased, too.

When will you rise?

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?

Final reminder: Tomorrow morning, I'll be choosing one winner of an ARC of Feed by random selection. Throw in your lot, and see what happens!

Now, on to the show!

Renee, at Renee's Book Addiction, has posted her review of the A Local Habitation audiobook. Yes, you read that right—she reviewed the audio edition. My first audio review! She says "About halfway through, I thought I had figured out “whodunit”. I was in a state of suspense through the second half of the story wondering if I was right or not. In the end, I was only partially correct, but it was such fun trying to look at the mystery from different angles. The mystery-lover in me really enjoyed this." Also, she loves Mary Robinette Kowal as the narrator. Thank you, Mary!

A Working Title has posted a review of A Local Habitation, and says "A Local Habitation is a great sequel to Rosemary and Rue," and "The blending of technology and magic in the story is fascinating." (She also found January a little flat, something that will hopefully be addressed by the short stories I'm working on. Yay for back story!)

Chrissa at Supernatural Fairy Tales has posted a review of A Local Habitation, and says "Toby's world gives me the shivers as she's wandering down dark roads and flashes of delight as she tells stories about the creatures she's encountered. Following her down just one of those of dark roads makes for an exciting and entertaining read." Oh, I like that.

Finally for tonight, Erika at Jawas Read Too has posted a lovely review of Feed. She says "With Feed, Mira Grant proves she’s an author to be reckoned with. The book may be lengthy (almost 600 pages), but we have to remember it’s the first in a self-contained trilogy. There’s such a large and complex story to tell—a lesser book would not be this involved. If readers haven’t already started paying attention to Seanan McGuire because of her October Daye books, Feed will do the trick."

That's it for right now. Phew.

(As a quick introductory aside: remember that you have until Sunday night to enter to win an ARC of Feed. This drawing is open to everyone located on the actual planet Earth. If you want to enter from Mars, or from a parallel dimension, you have to pay me for postage.)

First up for today is...well, not exactly a review, per se, but a very well-considered endorsement of sorts for Feed, from the awesomeness that is Book Banter. This was written in response to my receiving an entertainingly bad review, and says "Feed is not just a book about zombies, running from zombies, being afraid of zombies, killing zombies, and all that zombie jazz. It’s about a changed world that has had to deal with a zombie invasion, and how life for every living person on the planet is now totally foreign to the reader." Very accurate, and very awesome.

A fun review of both Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation has been posted over at Book Sexy. The reviewer says "The endings of these stories aren’t always happy and the successes all come with high costs attached. McGuire has created a damaged heroine torn between two worlds and unable to find peace in either. Add a supporting cast of characters with motivations as mixed as Toby’s and you have a winning formula." Also: "It all makes for surprisingly good pleasure reading on beaches and buses. And while these books are imperfect—Toby sometimes misses the obvious clues and has a bizarre habit of underestimating her powers—they are steadily improving." Let's hope that trend continues, shall we?

Lesley W. has posted a review of Rosemary and Rue, and says "I've been looking at a few reviews of this story and I've come to the conclusion that whether you hate it or love it will largely depend on your opinion of the heroine. I loved her." Also: "I think I'd almost despaired of finding something new and original in UF—preferably ferret free—and yet here it is. October is a melancholy heroine, so if you prefer something jolly, this one probably isn't going to be for you. But she has lost so much, she has a right to be withdrawn." I'm not sure what's up with the ferrets, but I agree with the assessment of Toby.

Marianna at Strictly Antisocial has posted a nice, critical review of A Local Habitation, and says "I liked the book, a lot. It is not a perfect book. But it is entertaining and a slightly different fare than what I have been immersing myself in (vamps and weres!). McGuire, it is obvious, does her homework. It feels like the faeries in Toby's world are real, with a rich and detailed past, that we, as the reader, have yet to uncover." Yay!

Amy at A Room of One's Own has posted a short, sweet review of A Local Habitation. No pull quotes, but I like it.

Karissa's Reading Review has posted a review of A Local Habitation, and says "This is the second book in the October Daye series. Last I heard there were eight books* planned for this series; the third book An Artificial Night is due to come out September 2010. I thought this book was much better than the first book in the series; I really enjoyed it." Also: "I thought this book was much more well put together than the first one. The plot was more engaging and really propelled the reader forward; Toby develops into a much more likable heroine (she was not as whiny as in the first book)." She whines even less from here, promise.

We close this roundup with the obligate Livejournal review, this time from silvertwi, who has posted a lovely review of A Local Habitation, and says "A Local Habitation is the second October Daye novel. If the first, Seanan's debut, was good (and it was, I loved it) this was even better." Also: "Some mysteries of Faerie (like the night-haunts and the murders) are solved, but there's clearly a lot more to come. What's going on with Toby's mother? What will happen between Toby and Tybalt? ... And so much more. I can't wait for September and the sequel, An Artificial Night."

That's it for right now. More soon, as my link file is getting out of control!

(*This footnote is mine, not the reviewer's, so's you know. Anyway, there are currently five books sold, two books published, and somewhere between nine and eleven books planned, depending on how you count the prequel. I clearly need more hobbies.)

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.

It's time for today's TOTALLY SILLY CONTEST!

So I'm doing the web content for MiraGrant.com. Those of you familiar with my main website may have noticed that I have multiple bios, some of them deeply, deeply silly in nature, posted on the site. Since Mira doesn't have quite the history I do, and I haven't had the chance to solicit bios for her from my friends, I need something to guarantee the depth of content to which my readers have become accustomed (OCD cat is OCD). So!

You know Chuck Norris?

That.

I'm looking for UTTERLY INSANE statements about Mira Grant. Things like "Mira Grant isn't afraid of the thing under your bed. Mira Grant is the thing under your bed." Or "Mira Grant goes down to the quarry any time she damn well wants to."

Leave your suggestions as comments on this post. I will collect the best (and weirdest) for posting on Mira's website, because I have no hobbies that don't involve utter insanity. There will be prizes! I don't know what those prizes will be, but they, too, will probably be a little odd. (Sadly, I can't promise a copy of Feed until I've done some local accounting, but there will be something.)

Come on. You know you want to.

The one problem with being immediately post-release for one book and pre-release for another—and believe me, I know, as problems go, this is possibly one of the best ones to have—is the speed with which links build up in my little pile o' things I need to post here. Since I need to get to work on the content for MiraGrant.com, I'm doing a roundup a little closer to the last one than I normally do, just to get them out of the way and free up a few tabs.

(I do these for reference sake, for archive's sake, and because my publisher actually does track reviews through my blog. In case you were wondering.)

First up, Sunil, who will be rooming with me at the San Diego International Comic Convention, has posted his LJ review of A Local Habitation. He had some issues with the book, which I found totally fair, but it was a generally positive review. There were no good pull quotes from this one; you'll just need to read it. Also, if you're in the Bay Area, Sunil is currently appearing in DeathPlay in San Francisco, and I highly recommend it for a night's entertainment. He's a funny guy!

My friend Will recommended the Toby books to stormfeather, who read and reviewed Rosemary and Rue. Yay! She says "The stories are intricate enough and involving, and I basically just enjoyed most of the things about these books." (She also wants to see more of the San Francisco crew, which I can guarantee in An Artificial Night. Yay!)

Harriet has posted a review of Feed over at Genre-Go-Round, and says "Feed is a profound action-packed paranormal political thriller that extrapolates from modern trends including epidemiology research, political buying, handling and spins, and blogging superseding mains stream media, but in a way that the audience would not expect." Woo-hoo! That makes me very happy. And not just because she said "politics" a lot.

There's a new interview with me up over at Dirty Sexy Books! I love this site, and this interview included some really fun questions for me to answer. (Actually, I just love interviews, period, as long as they don't ask where I get my ideas or make nasty comments about the amount of soda I consume.)

jawastew has posted a lovely review of Rosemary and Rue, and says "Rosemary and Rue is one of those novels I love and had so much fun with, I almost don’t want to screw those super fantastic feelings of glee with a review." But the review is there, and absolutely lovely. Give it a read.

bookblather has posted a review of A Local Habitation that is essentially pure comedy gold. She says "I promised myself I would be calm and coherent in this review. But I think we can all agree that that's not happening." Seriously, just...just read it (if you've read the book, she freely admits to the presence of spoilers). The laughing out loud, I does it.

That's it for right now; more to come!

(Yes, that is a quote from Spinal Tap. No, I am not ashamed.)

We begin with a fabulous essay about a worst-case scenario that I have yet to encounter, but probably will someday, that being the way the publishing world seems to work: My Horrible New York Times Review. It's funny, it's well-written and well-considered, and it's made me want to read the author's books (Ronlyn Domingue, this random mention in a blog you've never heard of is for you). To quote a bit that seemed particularly true to me...

"My novel is, in fact, one of the worst books some people have ever read. An insipid waste of paper. Readers writhed in agony at florid prose, gnashed teeth at familiar characters, fumed at confusing shifts of time and place, and grimaced at the triteness of it all. There are unsubstantiated reports of eyes bleeding.

"My novel is, in fact, one of the most amazing books some people have ever read. A soulful work of beauty. Readers found peace while grieving lost friends and family, bonded more deeply with people they care about, and enjoyed the story long past their bedtimes because they couldn’t put it down. This book changed lives.

"I'm a horrible writer, and I'm a brilliant writer. Next time, I won't need reviews to reveal this. Lesson learned."

I may print this out and hang it on my wall. Or ask Erin to do it in calligraphy so I can hang it on my wall. Or design a cross-stitch pattern, make a sampler, and hang it on my wall. Or...

You get the picture. Everyone knows, intellectually, that they won't be the first author in history to be universally loved and praised by all that they encounter. There are people who hate Shakespeare. I mean, I could give a whole list of famous people, but let's be serious, here: there are people who hate Shakespeare. If he can't be universally loved, no one can. At the same time, emotionally, every author I've ever known has been quietly hoping that maybe, just maybe, they'll be the exception that proves the rule. I am not leaving myself out, here! No matter how much I say "no, no, not everyone will like my work, I'm braced for that," I'm secretly going "please love me please love me please love me." That's how the human mind works.

Michael Melcher wrote an excellent article on what to do when your friend writes a book, which I also sort of want to hang on my wall. It includes such gems as "Do you think your birthdays are important? Well, to a writer, writing a book is like ten birthdays, maybe twenty." Also, "When things touch our soul, they are beyond logic and practicality. If you have a friend, relative, or distant acquaintance who writes a book, I can guarantee what they want: for you to share their joy. That's it. End of story. Share. The. Joy." Read the article. It's a good one, and very helpful, whether you're a writer or just trying to survive in close proximity with one.

Which brings us around, at last, to the original point: bad reviews. Bad reviews can be useful. They tell me what I did wrong, what I did right but not quite right enough, what people were hoping for, and what I need to improve. I can use bad reviews to become a better writer. Bad reviews can be hurtful. They tell me I'm terrible, I'm talentless, I'm insane for thinking I could write in the first place. I can use bad reviews to justify drinking a lot of cheap port and passing out on the couch while Dinoshark vs. Mega-Croc plays on SyFy. Bad reviews can be hysterical. I had someone write me to ask whether I was aware that my publisher had badly revised my film noir detective story to insert—drumroll, please—icky girly fairies.

Yes. Apparently, DAW rewrote Rosemary and Rue to insert the fae. Good to know, right?

Today's round of contemplation was brought about by a bad review for Feed, which was posted at Fatally Yours, and which falls into the fourth category for me: reviews which are either funny or frustrating, depending, because they are reviewing me on the basis of what I didn't actually write. Sort of like the people who pan Evernight for not being Twilight, or get cranky at Rosemary and Rue because it isn't paranormal romance. (I have a much longer post on the urban fantasy/paranormal romance divide brewing, but it needs a little more time to come together). You know what? A Local Habitation is bad erotica...because it isn't erotica. Discount Armageddon is bad horror...because it isn't horror. And now, to quote this review of Feed:

"To be honest, when the book started reading as an adolescent version of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail with a dash of zombies my interest dwindled. I didn’t want to read about a bunch of politicians having tense meetings in board rooms. I wanted to read about zombies. And if you think that you’re going to offer me zombies and then try to bait and switch me with a bunch of unbelievable and boring political drama and still walk away with a good review, then you’ve got another thing coming.

"So it’s not really a book about zombies.

"It’s a book about politics."

Yes! That is correct. It's a book about politics. It's also a book about zombies, virology, Internet culture, wireless technology, bad beer, brand loyalty, sunglasses, the CDC, and horses. But mostly, it's a book about politics. Politics, zombies, blogging, and how George Romero accidentally saved the world, which is why I tell people it's "The West Wing meets Transmetropolitan meets Night of the Living Dead."

If you're looking for full-scale zombie gore, you probably won't like Feed, and I'm sorry. The zombies are the way they are because that's what they are in this universe. I may someday write a book called The Rising, and set it during the Rising, and that will be full-scale zombie gore, but Feed? No, and if I've somehow given you that idea, I'm sorry.

Bad reviews. Just one more part of this balanced breakfast.

Mindy Klasky has been talking about "author branding" lately. Is it a bad thing that my brand is "slightly maniacal but easily distracted Disney Halloweentown Princess on a never-ending quest to dominate your puny planet"? I mean, it doesn't fit very easily on a T-shirt...

Anyway, today is a day for awesome news that is awesome. Those of you who follow dianafox will have already seen the first part of this: the Newsflesh trilogy (Feed, Deadline, Blackout) has sold to Egmont in Germany. Egmont is also the German publisher of the Toby Daye books. Because of this (and some questionable black marks on Mira's legal record, but that's beside the point), they'll be publishing the Newsflesh trilogy under the name "Seanan McGuire." I like being confusing!

Meanwhile, rights to the first three Toby books (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, and An Artificial Night) have sold to Azbooka in Russia. Vixy is very excited, because she actually speaks Russian, and will thus be able to read my books in a whole new language. I'm very excited because dude, Russia.

Soon, my conquest of your world will be complete, and my collection of foreign language editions will require its own shelf.

Yay!

Behold! My first ever starred review! I clipped one sentence for spoilers, but it's otherwise completely intact, as printed by Publisher's Weekly. Look:

Feed, Mira Grant. Orbit, $9.99 (608p) ISBN 978-0-316-08105-4

Urban fantasist Seanan McGuire (Rosemary and Rue) picks up a new pen name for this gripping, thrilling, and brutal depiction of a postapocalyptic 2039. Twin bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason and their colleague Buffy are thrilled when Senator Peter Ryman, the first presidential candidate to come of age since social media saved the world from a virus that reanimates the dead, invites them to cover his campaign. ... As the bloggers wield the newfound power of new media, they tangle with the CDC, a scheming vice presidential candidate, and mysterious conspirators who want more than the Oval Office. Shunning misogynistic horror tropes in favor of genuine drama and pure creepiness, McGuire has crafted a masterpiece of suspense with engaging, appealing characters who conduct a soul-shredding examination of what’s true and what’s reported. (May)

I just want to go around telling people "I shun misogynistic horror tropes in favor of genuine drama and pure creepiness." Hell, I want that on a shirt.

Win. Win and dinosaurs and pandemics and pie.

We are now fifty days out from the release of Feed [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], book one of the Newsflesh trilogy, and my first book writing as Mira Grant. It's my third novel, but thanks to the fact that it's a new genre, a new series, and a new pseudonym, it's managing to feel like my first. Because I needed an extra dose of crazy around here, right?

More seriously, I am, in order, excited, elated, and scared out of my tiny blonde head. I have a better idea of how this game works than I did when I was preparing for the release of Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], but in some ways, that just makes it more paralyzing—I know what can go right, and I also know what can go wrong. "Mira Grant" may be an open pseudonym, but the genre jump means I'm going to be getting placed in front of an awful lot of new readers, and I wind up praying they'll like me all over again.

Tara has finished the graphic design for MiraGrant.com, and Chris is hard at work getting the CSS we use for my regular site re-skinned to work with the new design. Because I am me, the content will start going live about ten minutes after he gives me the login information. My publisher is one hundred percent behind me, and early reviews are looking good. I still live in fear...but then, fear seems to be my primary motivator, so why change what works?

Fifty days until I destroy the world.

When will you rise?

You may have heard me raving about an anthology called The Living Dead [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], a collection of some of the finest zombie fiction I've ever seen. I read it, I loved it, I told everyone I know who likes zombies that they should join me in buying, reading, and loving it.

Skip to the present, where John Joseph Adams—the original anthologist—has been putting together a sequel, The Living Dead 2, featuring still more of the finest zombie fiction around. The official announcement of the book's table of contents is here, along with the book's truly awesome cover art. The preliminary cover copy:

"Two years ago, readers eagerly devoured The Living Dead. Publisher's Weekly named it one of the Best Books of the Year, and Barnes & Noble.com called it 'The best zombie fiction collection ever.' Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams is back for another bite at the apple—the Adam's apple, that is—with forty-three more of the best, most chilling, most thrilling zombie stories anywhere, including virtuoso performances by zombie fiction legends Max Brooks (World War Z, The Zombie Survival Guide), Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), and David Wellington (Monster Island)."

Pretty exciting, huh? But maybe my excitement seems a little odd. After all, I love David Wellington ("Good People" in this volume), Robert Kirkman ("Alone, Together"), and Jonathan Maberry ("Zero Tolerance"). And yes, there's a new Kelley Armstrong story in this book ("Last Stand"). So why am I so thrilled?

Because Mira Grant's new short story, "Everglades," will be making its debut in this volume. Oh, yeah. Not only am I going to be in the sequel to the best zombie anthology ever, I'm going to do it on a table of contents with Kelley Armstrong.

I win at universe.

The Living Dead 2 will be out in September, or you can pre-order your copy now.

Zombies!

Words: 14,029
Total words: 138,737.
Estimated to go: 6,063.
Reason for stopping: This is actually from last night. It was time to stop writing and get some sleep.
Music: Lady GaGa, Glee, the Counting Crows, and the cats complaining about being ignored.
Lilly and Alice: probably asleep right now, the little feline traitors.

So despite my somewhat belated realization that the book was 20,000 words longer than I originally thought it was going to be, things are chugging right along, and I'm on target to finish the first draft this weekend. Luckily, I have Sooj and K showing back up at my place on Monday, thus giving me an excuse to celebrate successful completion with cupcakes. My current estimates say that I'm a chapter and a half and the coda away from being done done done-y mcdonecakes. Whee!

(I also have a list of elements/themes to look for during the revision, and things that either need to be tightened up, redacted for being unnecessary, or reworded to make sense to people who don't think reading about the life-cycle of Ebola is fun. But that's what the second draft is for.)

I feel both insanely accomplished and very sort of shell-shocked, like this is the beginning of the ending. I've grown to really love this world and these characters. I've been a horror girl all my life, and Feed was my first horror novel, and Newsflesh my first horror series. But now book two is ending, and book three will only last a year, and then...

Well, then, I guess it's back to the drawing board to find something else to scare me. Six thousand words to go.

We're almost there.

Dear Great Pumpkin;

In the days since I last wrote to you, I have continued to be reasonably well-behaved, within the limits of my circumstances. I have comforted those who needed comfort, and refrained from feeding those who caused them to need comfort into any wood-chippers that happened to be sitting around. I have listened to the troubles of others. I have shared my ice cream, willingly, without being blackmailed. I have not summoned the slumbering Old Ones from their beds beneath the Pacific, or commanded them to destroy all humans. I have continued to make all my deadlines, even the ones I most wanted to avoid. I have not talked about pandemics at the dinner table. Much. So obviously, I have been quite well-behaved, especially considering my nature.

Today, Great Pumpkin, I am asking for the following gifts:

* A smooth and successful release for A Local Habitation, with books shipping when they're meant to ship, stores putting them out when they're supposed to put them out, and reviews that are accurate, insightful, and capable of steering people who will enjoy my book to read it. Please, Great Pumpkin, show mercy on your loving Pumpkin Princess of the West, and let it all be wonderful. I'm not asking you to make it easy, Great Pumpkin, but I'm asking you to make it good.

* Please help me finish Deadline in a satisfying, explosive, timely way, hopefully including lots of zombies and horrible perversions of medical science. I'm about twenty thousand words from the end of this book, which is both not nearly enough, and way too many for me to be happy about it. I want to bring this book to a close, so I can get back to work on the fifth Toby book and start working on the third Newsflesh book. What I have is good. Please let the rest be amazing.

* While I'm asking for miracles, please let the rest of The Brightest Fell suddenly come clear to me, so that I can begin working at my usual disturbingly rapid speed. I was hoping to have this book finished before A Local Habitation hits shelves. That's obviously not going to happen, which means I've already been punished for my hubris, and deserve to have things start moving again. Right, Great Pumpkin? The more time I have to spend stressing out over this book, the less time I spend preaching your gospel to the unenlightened, or lurking in corn mazes scaring the living crap out of tourists. You like it when I scare the crap out of tourists, don't you, Great Pumpkin?

* My cats are fantastic, Great Pumpkin, and I'm so very grateful. Alice is huge now, and has truly grown into her birthright as your spiritual, if not literal, daughter. When she runs through the house, it's like watching a burning cornfield through thick smoke. Lilly is smug and satisfied, as is only right and proper for a Siamese, and watches her sister with easy disdain. Please let them stay healthy, Great Pumpkin, and please let them stay exactly as they are. I couldn't be more appreciative of their glory.

* Well-staggered and easily-managed deadlines for my various anthology and short story projects through the next six months—and while I'm making requests, please let me keep getting anthology invitations, as they are sort of the ultimate literary trick-or-treat adventure. I have written you two of the three short stories with the Fighting Pumpkins cheerleading squad that I originally promised, and I'm planning the origin stories for Hailey and Scaredy for this Halloween. I keep my promises. Now please keep giving me reason to promise you things.

* A successful launch for Mira Grant, my evil twin, Lady of the Haunted Cornfield, Halloween Trick to my Halloween Treat. The books I will be publishing under her name are incredibly dear to me, and I hope and pray that they become equally dear to the rest of the world. I am an old-school horror girl, Great Pumpkin, and these are my offerings to the holy genre. Let others love them as I do, and let Mira be welcomed by the readers with open, eager arms. I want to conquer the world in your name, and this is a very important step.

I remain your faithful Halloween girl,
Seanan.

PS: While you're at it, can you please turn your graces on InCryptid? I really love these books. I want to be able to write more of them.

Words: 21,383.
Total words: 124,708.
Estimated to go: 20,292.
Reason for stopping: ...I appear to have just finished Book IV. I think that makes it time to stop for the night.
Music: random shuffle, heavy on the Rob Zombie. It seems appropriate.
Lilly and Alice: bed and cat tree, respectively.

Holy crap.

That is all.

If you go browsing around my blog today, you may find yourself faced with a few...surreal...changes. For one thing, the tag labeled "deadline" suddenly points to a lot of entries (as opposed to the tag labeled "deadlines," which mostly points to panic attacks). For another, clicking on that tag will take you to a lot of current project and word count posts, going back quite some time.

No, you haven't slipped into a parallel universe. The second book in the Newsflesh trilogy has changed titles, going from Blackout to Deadline, which was originally the title of the third book. The third book is now titled Blackout, bringing us full circle in our ride on the Ferris wheel of what-the-fuck.

No, I didn't do this just to be confusing. While I, personally, wouldn't put that sort of thing past me if I got bored enough, The Other Editor would never let me do it. So why the title change? Several reasons, really. Let me explain.

When I got the new issue of Locus, I saw that Connie Willis had a new book coming out. Now, Connie Willis is an author I very much respect and admire, and I was very excited. She wrote some of my favorite books, like Promised Land and Bellwether. So I looked up the name of her exciting upcoming release...and saw that it was a hardcover titled Blackout. Whoops.

The normal life-cycle for hardcovers has them coming out in paperback six months to a year after the original hardcover release. This seemed to me to be uncomfortably close to the release of the second Newsflesh book, and so I contacted The Other Editor to flail a bit. I'm good at flailing. Once I was finished flailing, we took a critical look at all three titles, and realized that they were wrong anyway. Book two is about racing a deadline you can't see or stop, and book three, well...book three makes a much better Blackout.

Trust me.

Now, I might have been a little more unhappy about the title changes, if I weren't so busy doing the dance of joy. It's pretty common knowledge that deadlines make me crazy. I was thus reasonably concerned about what would happen when I spent an entire year writing a book that was actually titled that. "I have to make the deadline on Deadline" just seems like the sort of statement that's designed to make me start biting people at random. Switching the names means that I just spent an entire year working on a book called Deadline, only I didn't realize it, and hence didn't freak out. Score one for weird psychology.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Newsflesh trilogy:

* Feed, May 2010.
* Deadline, May 2011.
* Blackout, May 2012.

When will you rise?

...lostwind! You have until noon on Sunday to email me your address through my website contact link, at which point I will happily pop an ARC of Feed in the mail for you.

More giveaways to come!

In honor of George Romero's birthday, I am giving away an ARC of Feed to one lucky commenter. This is a random draw giveaway. At noon Pacific tomorrow, I will use my magical random number generator and select a winner. They will then have until noon Pacific on Sunday to send me their mailing information (through my website), or I will pick another winner.

So please! Comment! Tell me your favorite thing about zombies, or why you want to read Feed, or what you'll do if you win, or whatever. (I mean, a comment beyond just "comment" is nice, but not strictly required.)

George Romero gave the world zombies. In honor of his birthday, so do I. Because zombies are love.

When will you rise?

So I'm hammering away on the sequel to Feed (which is potentially going to be going through a name change before much longer; watch this space for news), and I have about 13,000 words to go before the book is over. It's a little weird to realize that I'm so close to being finished with the first draft. Feed took me the better part of two years to write...but then, Feed required me to front-load a lot of the research, reading, and world construction that this book is cheerfully benefiting from. Half the work is done for me already.

I guess this means book three will be a cake-walk, huh? Or something like that.

(I find myself planning another trilogy after this one is finished, involving genetically-engineered parasites, mind-control, symbiotic evolution, and lots of other lovely things. The books are called Parasite, Symbiont, and Predator, at least for right now. Because I really needed to be working on more books, right?)

The German editions of Rosemary and Rue showed up today, and they are absolutely gorgeous. The book is called Winterfluch in German, and wow, do they have nice standard paperbacks over there. My mother promptly stole a copy, because that's what my mother does, and I've placed one ceremonially on my expanding shelf o' Things What I Wrote. I'm sure it's semi-cheating to have multiple editions of the same book, but if it has a different cover, I really don't care. It's increasingly amazing to look at the shelf. Stunning, and amazing. I can't wait to add Feed in the US and UK editions.

I'm catching up on NCIS before I head off to bed, to dream of zombies and parasites and cupcakes and blue cats and all those other wonderful things that keep me busy through my days. Hope your week is going wonderfully, and remember, Locus says you need a copy of Rosemary and Rue.

Words: 3,086.
Total words: 103,325.
Estimated to go: 21,675.
Reason for stopping: I fly to Seattle tomorrow, it's time to stop.
Music: the Midnight Blue-Light Special playlist, oddly enough.
Lilly and Alice: cat tree and cardboard box, respectively.

I have reached the irritating and fiddly bit of setting things up before blowing them up. I hate this bit. It's difficult and irritating and also, yes, fiddly. I have also reached the fascinating bit where I can literally see the ending, it's right there, and the book will pay off soon. Hopefully it will pay off big time, and then there can be the finest muffins and bagels in the land. Until then, I shall scowl at the keg of victory, and pack my socks for tomorrow's long-distance voyage.

Whee.

Words: 8,232.
Total words: 100,239.
Estimated to go: 24,761.
Reason for stopping: end of chapter eighteen; hit 100,000 words.
Music: the Midnight Blue-Light Special playlist, oddly enough.
Lilly and Alice: cat tree and bed, respectively.

In case you ever wondered, jumping around punching the air and whooping is a much better idea when you're not recovering from a nasty head cold which has turned into a chest cold (complete with horrifyingly unpleasant-sounding cough). I sound like death under normal circumstances right now, and the circumstances following sudden calisthenics were...unusual. On the plus side, I didn't die, and the cats have calmed down, although things were a little touchy here for a few minutes, on account of my choking and their freaking out.

So I am now 100,000 words into Deadline, and have hit the point where it's about to become all boom, all the time. I have some plans in the next week (movies on Friday, the Burns Supper on Saturday), but I expect that by this time in two weeks, I'll be done with the first draft. I'm on-target for my end-of-January goal. That gives me five months, maximum, to go through revisions and redrafts before my editor would really, really like to see proof that I actually wrote a book, rather than, I don't know, going to Disneyworld for the year. And then, Deadline, the book where I put paid to everything. Everything.

This has been exhilarating and terrifying and amazing and a whole bunch of other things. This is my first trilogy, for all that we sold three Toby books in the first contract; it's the first set of stories that are really just all steps along the road to the same story, pieces of a greater whole, and I couldn't be more excited.

Alive or dead, the truth won't rest. When will you rise?

Words: 6,064.
Total words: 87,401.
Reason for stopping: end of chapter sixteen.
Music: Girlyman and Glee.
Lilly and Alice: sleeping in my backpack.

As of this evening, I have managed to break three hundred manuscript pages. Exactly. (To be fair, I cheated juuuuuuust a little, and went ahead and wrote the blog post that opens chapter seventeen. Come on, it was that or walk away at two hundred and ninety-nine pages. That's the kind of choice that leads to getting up at three in the morning to start writing again, and that's just no good for anybody.) I'll probably break 90,000 words by the time I get to Seattle, what with that whole "airplane ride" that I have to take to get there. Great Pumpkin bless my Netbook, that's really all I have to say about that.

My page proofs for Feed have been finished and returned to my publisher. I have cover proofs for the US and UK editions of the book; they keep surprising me when I see them out of the corner of my eye, like "Who wrote that? Who's Mira Grant?" followed by "Oh, yeah. I did. That's me." It's like having a secret identity, only instead of being a superhero, she's a total bad-ass horror movie heroine, ready to kick ass and take names (all while having fabulous hair, naturally).

I estimate I have about another 38,000 words to go on this book, give or take a couple of thousand. That's a lot of wordage...but it's a lot of plot. And then I get to revise, and rewrite, and finally stand on the edge of yet another precipice, looking out over the unexplored country of Blackout. I'm almost there.

When will you rise?

I actually got a Google Alert for Mira Grant that was about, well, me, rather than some random assortment of words that managed to trigger my poor dumb little spider! Damon at BSC posted his thoughts on the 2010 Orbit catalog, including some comments about Feed. Quote, "I think it could make a splash. I normally do not read these types of books, but I am willing to make an exception, I believe, for Mira."

Damon, I am going to do my damnedest not to let you down. And that is a promise from me to you.

Meanwhile, the Warren Public Libraries in Warren, Michigan had some really sweet things to say about Rosemary and Rue, including "It’s a gripping mystery with a lot of urban fantasy thrown in to the mix" and "Fans of any urban fantasy will do well here." There's also a strong recommendation for fans of Jim Butcher's work to give mine a look. From your words to the Great Pumpkin's ears, Warren Public Libraries!

Alice is sopping wet, thanks to my having had a minor bathtub incident, and is now squelching around the house like an animate mop. Attempts to dry her have been met with the cat equivalent of "No, Mom, don't wanna," so I figure I'll let her be wet for a little while longer before I bust out the blow-dryer. It's good when you can satisfy your cats with simple inaction. (Much better than being punched awake at 6:30 AM to provide affection, which was how we started our day. The joy of cats.)

My cheeks have swollen to the point that I really, really look like someone's been beating me, making me super-glad that Chris didn't come to hang out today; I would've been afraid to go out of the house in his company, since I try not to get my friends accused of introducing their fists to my face. If there were a zombie walk today, I would so rule the undead dance floor. As it is, I'm taking lots of painkillers and praying that the swelling goes down before I have to go back to work tomorrow morning. And that's the news from the pumpkin patch. What's new and cool in the world of you?

So here I am, in New York. (Technically, as I write this, here I am, in New Jersey. It seems like I always wind up staying in New Jersey while here, and commuting to New York. This is because the East Coast is made entirely of tiny little postage-stamp states. Postage-stamp states. I realize and understand that this is a California thing, but really, I don't feel that I should be able to casually wander over state lines and not really notice.) Since arriving...

...the motor on the fridge has decided to die, filling the apartment with smoke, covering the kitchen floor with water, and triggering an impromptu dinner party, complete with enormous and only semi-expected mob. One member of the mob, upon encountering certain jet-lagged idiosyncrasies of mine, wailed, "But my Seanan List* didn't include what to do about the liver hat!" Sometimes it's nice to be me.

...visited the GINORMOUS Manhattan Apple Store, in which a charming young man at the Genius Bar was kind enough to inform me that my iPod was, in fact, dead beyond all reasonable repair. He offered to zombie it for a short period of time, but made it clear that this manner of resurrection was counter-recommended, and would probably result in an army of undead Apple products shambling around the city. As I have things to accomplish this week, I declined, and will be getting a new iPod.

...visited FAO Schwartz, home of the giant piano, and many, many, many toys. I did not actually buy any toys, largely due to their tragic dearth of dinosaurs. I judged their stock most harshly. I judged their stock most harshly with the powers of my mind. (I did not, however, judge their MUPPET FACTORY with anything beyond delight and glee. Because dude, MUPPET FACTORY.)

...went to Serendipity 3 with The Agent. We consumed frozen hot chocolate, which was amazing, and had lunch, which was less "amazing" and more "faintly horrifying." My chef's salad contained a pond's-worth of watercress, an orange, a cup of fruit salad, steamed asparagus, and avocado. This is what those of here in the real world like to refer to as "overkill." We split a sundae after eating. This, too, was overkill, but in the good way, since we received roughly enough hot fudge to replace all the mucus in the average human body.

...ate an apple cider doughnut. What the hell is wrong with some people?

...went to visit everybody at Orbit (Mira's editor). I'd already met my editor (at World Fantasy) and my contact in the marketing department (far more pleasant than Vel's Marketing Department), but it was a real treat to meet all the other folks involved in making the book a reality, including the art director who did the cover design (which is, I must admit, fucking fantastic). After our meeting, The Editor2 took The Agent and I out for lunch in Grand Central Station. Sadly, this involved cutlery and bread service, rather than hot dogs of questionable origin and things scraped off of crusty bakery trays, which is what I think of when you say "hey, let's go eat in the train station."

...passed out cold from a migraine and lost approximately sixteen hours. Because sometimes, jetlag hates me.

(*She was actually equipped with a Seanan List to assist her in surviving our encounter. Presumably this list came with a box labeled "In Case of Seanan Break Glass." The contents of the box are left to your imagination.)

How's been by all of you?

There has once again been a massive influx of people, due to the fact that Alice is adorable—welcome, massive influx of people; it's nice to meet you, although I realize half of you will leave again as you realize that this isn't the all-kitten-doing-weird-stuff, all-the-time channel, and that's fine—I have decided to once again do the abbreviated "here are ten things you might want to know" version of the periodic welcome post. So here it is. Ta-da! (As a footnote, Alice is aware of your worship, and was puffy all over my face at 2AM last night.)

***

1. My name is Seanan McGuire; I'm an author, musician, poet, cartoonist, and amiable nutcase, presently living in Northern California, planning to relocate to Washington at some point in the next few years. I am a very chatty person, whether you're talking literally "we're in the same place" chattiness, or more abstract "someone has left Seanan alone with a keyboard, run for the hills" chattiness. This does not, paradoxically, make me terribly good about keeping up with email or answering comments in anything that resembles a reasonable fashion. We all have our flaws. Luckily for my agent's sanity, I am very good about making my deadlines.

2. My name is pronounced "SHAWN-in", although a great many people elect to pronounce it "SHAWN-anne" instead. Either is fine with me. I went to an event where we all got name tags once, and the person making the name tags was a "SHAWN-anne" person, who proceeded to label me as "Shawn Anne McGuire". I choose to believe that Shawn Anne is my alter-ego from a universe where, instead of becoming an author, I chose to become a country superstar. She wears a great many rhinestones, because they're sparkly, and she can get away with it. Just don't call me "See-an-an" and we'll be fine.

3. I write: urban fantasy, horror, young adult, supernatural romance, and straight chick-lit romance. I occasionally threaten to write medical thrillers, but everyone knows that's just so I'd have an excuse to take more epidemiology courses. I love me a good plague. I believe that editing is a full-contact sport, complete with penalty boxes, illegal checking, and team pennants. My editing team is the Fighting Pumpkins. We're going all the way to the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS this year, bay-bee!

4. I find it useful to keep a record of the status of my various projects, both because it warms the little Type-A cockles of my heart, and because it helps people who need to know what's going on know, well, what's going on. So you'll see word counts and editing updates go rolling by if you stick around, as well as more generalized complaining about the behavior of fictional people. I am told this is entertaining. I am also told that this is possibly a sign of madness. I don't know.

5. I currently publish both as myself, and as my own evil twin, Mira Grant. My first book under my own name, Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], came out from DAW in September 2009. The sequel, A Local Habitation [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], is coming out in March 2010, also from DAW. Mira's first book, Feed [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy], will be out from Orbit in May 2010. I don't get very much sleep.

6. I am a musician! More specifically, I'm a filk musician. If you know filk, this statement makes total sense. If you don't know filk, think "the folk music of the science fiction and fantasy community"—or you can check out the music FAQ on my website. I have three CDs available: Pretty Little Dead Girl, Stars Fall Home, and Red Roses and Dead Things. I'm currently recording a fourth CD, Wicked Girls, which will be out sometime in 2010. I write mostly original material, and don't spend much time in ParodyLand. It just doesn't work out for me.

7. Things I find absolutely enthralling: giant squid. Plush dinosaurs. Siamese and Maine Coon cats. Zombies. The plague. Pandemic flu. Horror movies of all quality levels. Horror television. Science Fictional Channel Original Movies. Shopping for used books. Halloween. Marvel comics. Candy corn. Carnivorous plants. Pumpkin cake. Stephen King. The Black Death. Pandemic disease of all types. Learning how to say horrifying things in American Sign Language. Diet Dr Pepper.

8. Things I find absolutely horrifying: slugs. Big spiders dropping down from the ceiling and landing on me because ew. Bell peppers. Rice. Movies that consist largely of car chases and do not contain a satisfying amount of carnage. Animal cruelty. People who go hiking on mountain trails in Northern California and freak out over a little rattlesnake. Most sitcoms. A large percentage of modern advertising. Diet Chocolate Cherry Dr Pepper.

9. I am owned by two cats: a classic bluepoint Siamese named Lillian Kane Moskowitz Munster McGuire, and a blue classic tabby and white Maine Coon named Alice Price-Healy Little Liddel Abernathy McGuire. Yes, I call them that, usually when they've been naughty. The rest of the time, they're respectively "Lilly" or "Lil," and either "Alice" or "Ally." I'm planning to get a Sphynx, eventually, when the time comes to expand to having a third cat.

10. I frequently claim to be either a Disney Halloweentown princess or Marilyn Munster. These claims are more accurate than most people realize. Although I wasn't animated in Pasadena.

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Welcome!

To begin with, here is today's exciting press release of awesome exciting awesomeness:

The cover graphic for Feed has been officially released by my publisher (Orbit).

Click for the artist's commentary, and then come back to join me in squealing, flailing excitement. Feed is the first of three volumes in the Newsflesh trilogy, all of them being released under my pseudonym, Mira Grant. Feed will be on shelves in May 2010 (yes, the same month as my appearance at MarCon in Columbus, Ohio—when they invited me, they got two guests for the price of one). Which brings us to...

...my page proofs for Feed arrived today, and they are intense. Thank the Great Pumpkin that I have some long stints on airplanes coming up, because otherwise I'd worry about my capacity to finish reviewing a manuscript of this length in the time allotted. As it stands, the folks at OVFF may see a lot less of my smiling face than they were expecting, because I have got a lot of work to do. But it will all be worth it, and it will all be completely awesome when it's done.

The end of the world was just the beginning.

When will you rise?

We knew from the day we started shopping the Newsflesh trilogy that they would probably need to be published under an open pseudonym. There are a lot of reasons for that. The easiest to spot is "avoidance of over-saturating the market"—after all, as a relatively untried author, it's probably best if I not compete with myself.* Oddly, this isn't the biggest reason, just the first.

(*Before there's a general hue and cry of "but I'm planning to buy both," I should probably explain. I know that the readership of this journal is highly likely to buy both. This is one of the main reasons that I love you. The Internet readership I already have is a large portion of why we knew it would have to be an open pseudonym. It's the random bookstore browsers we're trying to avoid frightening away, the ones who won't know me from Adam until they get their hands on a copy of Rosemary and Rue or Feed.)

Genre separation is a much larger part of why I was happy to agree to writing under a pseudonym. Rosemary and Rue is fairy tale noir. It's dark, it's gritty, and it's occasionally brutal...but I would still hand it to a savvy teenager without fear that their parents would beat me to death with a baseball bat later. You could adapt the Toby books into PG-13 movies without gutting them. I won't cringe when I see high school students discussing them on my forums. Feed, on the other hand, is distopian political science fiction/horror. It has a high body count. There's gore, there's sex, there's bad language. I love it to death and consider it one of the best things I've ever written, but I so don't want you to buy it for your niece who loved Toby on the basis of my name alone. Putting a different author's name on the cover is a screaming neon sign that maybe the contents are also going to be different.

Do I expect the name to hurt sales? No. My publisher is savvy and good at what they do, and I'm really hoping this book will build a reasonable level of pre-release excitement, since it's going to be incredibly fun to do the viral marketing for. But I do expect it to make people pause and read the back cover before giving in to expectations.

So we knew I'd need a pseudonym, and after the trilogy sold to Orbit, they confirmed it. That meant we needed to pick one.

There are a lot of factors that go into selecting a good pseudonym. First off, it should be pronounceable (thus knocking my real name cheerfully from the running), and it should fall within the first half of the alphabet. That gets you a good spot on the shelf, which is important for catching the eye of the casual browser. People aren't tired of looking for something to read when they get to you. Who is Aaron Aardvark? Probably a best-seller. Your pseudonym shouldn't sound too much like the name of an author already working in your genre. We're not porn stars here. Calling myself "Maya Bone-hoff" or "Jane Hinds" isn't going to increase my sales, although it might get me slapped.

Your pseudonym should also be something you're willing to answer to in public, and don't hate. You should know what it means, since no one wants to choose "Variola Majors," thinking it's pretty, and discover later that they've just named themselves "smallpox." The Agent and I sat down and came up with a list of about twenty options, some mix-and-match, some not, all of which I was willing to live with (and all of which were somehow a complicated horror movie or television joke), and sent them to The Editor II. He gave us his preferences, we winnowed, we argued, and we settled on "Mira Grant."

"Mira" is an interesting name, in that it appears in a great many languages, always with a different meaning. The version I was looking at was from the Romany, meaning "little star." It isn't short for anything, despite its resemblance to "Miranda," and I will answer to it in public. Plus, since my real signature includes both a capital "M" and a capital "G", I shouldn't have issues during signings.

And that's why I am Mira Grant. First person to catch the horror movie in-joke in my pseudonym wins a prize (and if you already know, no hinting!).