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

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

Anyway, here you go:

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

The Pegasus Awards for Excellence in Filking are given out each year at the Ohio Valley Filk Festival. This the biggest award in the filk world; when trying to explain them to non-filkers (or even new filkers), it's often said that the Pegasus Awards are "the Hugos of filk." This is not inaccurate. It's a major award in the filk world, with a ballot nominated and voted on by the community.

Every year, there are four "standard" categories—Best Song, Best Classic (for songs more than ten years old), Best Performer, and Best Writer/Composer—and two "floating" categories, which change from ballot to ballot. Floating categories can range from general, like "Best Parody" or "Best Love Song," to extremely specific...like this year's floating categories, "Best Magic Song" and "Best Mad Science Song."

I was at the Skin Horse volume two release party when Amy and Vixy both sent me text messages to inform me that "What A Woman's For," my song about the virtues of being Dr. Frankie's little helper when the world just has to be destroyed, had won the Pegasus Award for Mad Science. Yes. I got an award for Mad Science, at least in song form.

TREMBLE, PUNY MORTALS! TREMBLE, FOR SOON I AND MY GENETICALLY-ALTERED ARMY OF FLESH-RENDING PEGASI WILL COME FOR YOU IN THE NIGHT! THOSE FOOLS LAUGHED AT ME AT THE ACADEMY, BUT THEY'LL PAY! THEY'LL PAY! OH, HOW THEY'LL PAY!

...ahem. And also, thank you to everyone who voted, and squee! Pegasus! Congratulations to all the 2010 ballot winners, especially my frequent musical partner in crime, Paul Kwinn, who won the Pegasus for Best Magic Song. Life is good.

I'm so happy.

We're almost at the end of the pre-order period for my third studio album, Wicked Girls. Yay! Only 88 pre-order slots remain out of a possible 300, which, I must admit, is not bad at all. For details on the album itself, please check out my albums page, where you can find the track listing, several of our featured performers, and the truly kick-ass cover art. Pre-orders are being sold to pay for duplication and mastering, and the album will not go to press until they have closed. Which is also why you keep seeing status updates.

To place your order, go to:

https://seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Pre-orders follow this price scale:

* $18.00 USD: First domestic pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second domestic pre-order.

* $20.00 USD: International pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second international pre-order.

This is because of the way the mailing costs work. A third CD would cost the same as a first; this assumes that the CDs are being shipped together. So two CDs to the same US address would be $34.00, but two CDs to two different US addresses would be $18.00 each. Hope that's not too confusing.

(Basically, all pre-orders are a base cost of $15.00, plus shipping.)

Since we also need to pay mixing costs, we're taking album sponsors; you can submit sponsorships through the order form. This is the last week to get listed in the liner notes as an album sponsor. 212 pre-orders have been sold, out of a possible 300, meaning that 88 pre-orders remain. Don't miss your chance to pre-order! All pre-order CDs will be signed and numbered.

Questions? Comments? Glee!

Here is your weekly status on the pre-orders for Wicked Girls, my third studio album (and the official follow-up to Stars Fall Home). For details on the album itself, please check out my albums page, where you can find the track listing, several of our featured performers, and the truly kick-ass cover art. Pre-orders are being sold to pay for duplication and mastering, and the album will not go to press until they have closed. Which is also why you keep seeing status updates.

To place your order, go to:

https://seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Pre-orders follow this price scale:

* $18.00 USD: First domestic pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second domestic pre-order.

* $20.00 USD: International pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second international pre-order.

This is because of the way the mailing costs work. A third CD would cost the same as a first; this assumes that the CDs are being shipped together. So two CDs to the same US address would be $34.00, but two CDs to two different US addresses would be $18.00 each. Hope that's not too confusing.

(Basically, all pre-orders are a base cost of $15.00, plus shipping.)

Since we also need to pay mixing costs, we're taking album sponsors; you can submit sponsorships through the order form. We'll do our best to include all sponsors in the liner notes, although late sponsorships may not be included.

We have sold 193 pre-orders out of a possible 300, meaning that 107 pre-orders remain. Don't miss your chance to pre-order! All pre-order CDs will be signed and numbered.

Questions? Comments? Glee!

Saturday continued the "early comes the dawn" trend, with Jeanne and I both out of bed by seven. Jennifer and Jeff didn't murder us for our sins against the sleeping, and that's probably a sign that they're in line for sainthood. (Then again, we didn't murder them for snoring, so maybe the scales are just nicely balanced.) This was already shaping up to be my busy day, and just got busier once we got to the convention center and discovered that my three o'clock panel had been moved to noon. Yay for the fluidity of time!

(Footnote: Originally, I was supposed to be on the eleven o'clock panel about female superheroes. For some reason, it wasn't printed on my badge, and I wound up not attending, since once the convention starts, my back-of-badge panel list is about the only thing that can make me change directions. While this was deeply disappointing at the time, all recountings of the panel have made me glad to have missed it, as I might have killed someone. Hint: telling me that there is no sexism in comics is a good way to get your head bitten off. I am a vermicious knid when provoked.)

The time-shifted panel was that glorious old standby, "What Is Filk?", and consisted of me, Bill Sutton, Kathleen Sloan, and Terence Chua. If you want a bunch of people to talk about filk and the definitions of same for an hour, well, you could do one hell of a lot worse. It was a lot of fun, watching all the local filkers realize that no, really, They Are Not Alone. We are filk. We are legion, yo.

I went literally straight from my panel-on-filk into an hour-long two-person panel with Paul Cornell, titled "Fringe: Paranormal Investigations in SF Television." I adore Paul. I adore geeking madly with Paul. And I adore paranormal investigations in science-fiction television. This panel was like the delicious chocolate bonbon of my weekend, and the only way it could have been better is if Jeanne had delivered a ham, cheese, and tomato croissant to me at the panel's end.

Oh. Wait. BEST PANEL EVER.

My signing was scheduled for four, right after Cat's signing. I went over and kept her company for a while, until her line began to form and she was occupied by her fans. Ah, the trials of stardom. Or something. Her signing ended, mine began, and I signed a bunch of stuff (as one does), while inking during pauses between people. Someday, this damn mermaid will be finished.

The AussieCon V filk concert was arranged a lot like the UK Filkcon Main Concert: everyone piled into a single room and performed two or three songs during the multi-hour slot. Kathleen Sloan was my stunt guitarist, and we went on after (among other people) the Suttons, Terence, and Nan Freeman. NO PRESSURE. I performed my own "Wicked Girls," and Vixy and Tony's "Burn It Down," both of which went over very well, before running to get changed for dinner.

Dinner! It was me, Jay and Shannon, Daniel and Kelly, and two people whose names sadly escape me right now (I'm sorry!). We went to a very nice place attached to the casino attached to the hotels attached to the mall, where we spent several hours chatting, enjoying decadently good food, and, in my case, eating a big bowl of bugs. Bay lobster! It's delicious! And looks like a horrible cross between a lobster and a trilobite, which made it EXTRA DELICIOUS.

There was some unpleasantness about the service, but Daniel was able to resolve it with a minimum of fuss, and we all decamped back to the Hilton to resume Barcon. While there, I got to meet Ellen Kushner, and tell her that she's a big part of why I write urban fantasy now. Also, there were cocktails. Which made it easier for me to actually fall asleep when I finally made it back to my hotel, since, well...

Saturday night. That meant it was almost time for the Hugos.

I did not sleep through the night.

Here is your weekly status on the pre-orders for Wicked Girls, my third studio album (and the official follow-up to Stars Fall Home). For details on the album itself, please check out my albums page, where you can find the track listing, several of our featured performers, and the truly kick-ass cover art. Pre-orders are being sold to pay for duplication and mastering, and the album will not go to press until they have closed.

To place your order, go to:

https://seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Pre-orders follow this price scale:

* $18.00 USD: First domestic pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second domestic pre-order.

* $20.00 USD: International pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second international pre-order.

This is because of the way the mailing costs work. A third CD would cost the same as a first; this assumes that the CDs are being shipped together. So two CDs to the same US address would be $34.00, but two CDs to two different US addresses would be $18.00 each. Hope that's not too confusing.

(Basically, all pre-orders are a base cost of $15.00, plus shipping.)

Since we also need to pay mixing costs, we're taking album sponsors; you can submit sponsorships through the order form. We'll do our best to include all sponsors in the liner notes, although late sponsorships may not be included.

We have sold 186 pre-orders out of a possible 300, meaning that 114 pre-orders remain. Don't miss your chance to pre-order! All pre-order CDs will be signed and numbered.

Questions? Comments? Glee!

Here is your weekly status on the pre-orders for Wicked Girls, my third studio album (and the official follow-up to Stars Fall Home). For details on the album itself, please check out my albums page, where you can find the track listing, several of our featured performers, and the truly kick-ass cover art. Pre-orders are being sold to pay for duplication and mastering, and the album will not go to press until they have closed.

To place your order, go to:

https://seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Pre-orders follow this price scale:

* $18.00 USD: First domestic pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second domestic pre-order.

* $20.00 USD: International pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second international pre-order.

This is because of the way the mailing costs work. A third CD would cost the same as a first; this assumes that the CDs are being shipped together. So two CDs to the same US address would be $34.00, but two CDs to two different US addresses would be $18.00 each. Hope that's not too confusing.

(Basically, all pre-orders are a base cost of $15.00, plus shipping.)

Since we also need to pay mixing costs, we're taking album sponsors; you can submit sponsorships through the order form. We'll do our best to include all sponsors in the liner notes, although late sponsorships may not be included.

We have sold 168 pre-orders out of a possible 300, meaning that 132 pre-orders remain. Don't miss your chance to pre-order! All pre-order CDs will be signed and numbered.

Questions? Comments? Glee!

Here is your weekly status on the pre-orders for Wicked Girls, my third studio album (and the official follow-up to Stars Fall Home). For details on the album itself, please check out my albums page, where you can find the track listing, several of our featured performers, and the truly kick-ass cover art. Pre-orders are being sold to pay for duplication and mastering, and the album will not go to press until they have closed.

To place your order, go to:

https://seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Pre-orders follow this price scale:

* $18.00 USD: First domestic pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second domestic pre-order.

* $20.00 USD: International pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second international pre-order.

This is because of the way the mailing costs work. A third CD would cost the same as a first; this assumes that the CDs are being shipped together. So two CDs to the same US address would be $34.00, but two CDs to two different US addresses would be $18.00 each. Hope that's not too confusing.

(Basically, all pre-orders are a base cost of $15.00, plus shipping.)

Since we also need to pay mixing costs, we're taking album sponsors; you can submit sponsorships through the order form. We'll do our best to include all sponsors in the liner notes, although late sponsorships may not be included.

We have sold 145 pre-orders out of a possible 300, meaning that 155 pre-orders remain. Don't miss your chance to pre-order!

Questions? Comments? Glee!

I am in Australia, and I am making a wonderful announcement, thus solidifying this as the best week ever. To be precise:

Pre-orders for Wicked Girls, my third studio album (and the official follow-up to Stars Fall Home), are now officially open! Pardon my squealing, and with big, big thanks to porpentine, who has made the magic go once again. Featuring performances by Kristoph Klover, Michelle Dockrey, Amy McNally, SJ Tucker, Betsy Tinney, and probably several other people that I've managed to temporarily forget, this is probably my favorite album to date. Seriously, I think I'm finally figuring out what it is I'm doing. It brings the good. It brings the sweet. And it brings the AWESOME.

To place your order, go to:

https://seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Pre-orders follow this price scale:

* $18.00 USD: First domestic pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second domestic pre-order.

* $20.00 USD: International pre-order.
* $16.00 USD: Second international pre-order.

This is because of the way the mailing costs work. A third CD would cost the same as a first; this assumes that the CDs are being shipped together. So two CDs to the same US address would be $34.00, but two CDs to two different US addresses would be $18.00 each. Hope that's not too confusing.

(Basically, all pre-orders are a base cost of $15.00, plus shipping.)

We're taking three hundred total pre-orders, then closing it down; depending on how fast they come, and when we hit three hundred, there may be a small overage, but not much. Since we also need to pay mixing costs, we're taking album sponsors; you can submit sponsorships through the order form. We'll do our best to include all sponsors in the liner notes, although late sponsorships may not be included.

You can view the track list here:

http://seananmcguire.com/albums.php

The track order is by no means finalized, but it's almost there. I'll keep you posted as pre-orders progress, and will be posting weekly with the "where we are in the process" updates.

Questions? Comments? Glee!

Item the first: I have updated my website appearances. Go, view, and learn where I'm going to be. I have confirmed appearances in Australia, New York, California, and Oregon. Which brings me to...

Item the second: I am delighted and honored to announce that I have been selected as the Friends of Filk Guest for OryCon 32. This year's theme is "the Darker Side of Fantasy," which is something I feel I can work with quite well. I'll be appearing with Vixy and Tony, which always makes me happy, and maybe I'll even have a brand new album by then! The convention will be held in Portland, Oregon, from November 12th through the 14th. I hope you can make it, if it's even remotely local to you.

Item the third: If you ever feel the need to quit your job, this is pretty much the way to do it. Style, a sense of humor, and a great way of making your point. (I do wonder what kind of reference she's going to get, but...) Just don't read the comments. The sexism can get a little scary at certain points. But the facial expressions are twenty miles beyond awesome.

Item the fourth: This is what you've all been waiting for, which is a large part of why I've been keeping you in suspense. I'd say that I was sorry, but you'd all know that I was lying through my teeth. So instead, I shall say LOOK! SHINY! Much more effective.

Icons and Wallpapers for An Artificial Night have been posted on my site.

Tara has really outdone herself with this latest batch, and I am absolutely enthralled by her graphic awesome. Some will make more sense after you've read the book, but they're all fantastic now. Go, look, take, have, and join the flailing excitement as you realize...book three is ALMOST HERE.

Gleh.

My concert at Spocon was just incredible, due, largely, to my amazing assortment of backing musicians. With Brooke Lunderville on banjola, Mike Briggs on guitar, Desiree on violin, and Char MacKay on backing vocals, there was no chance of failure. I am so very grateful to have been their Music Guest of Honor. As is the standing tradition around here, I now present my concert set list, including annotation and lyric links, because that's what makes it useful.

The Spocon set list, with arrangement notes, was as follows:

1. "Counting Crows." (Seanan, vocals; Mike Briggs, guitar; Brooke Lunderville, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char MacKay, backing vocals.)
2. "Modern Mystic." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
3. "Last Call." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
4. "Cartography." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
5. "Oh, Michelle." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
6. "The Black Death." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
7. "Dear Gina." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
8. "Silent Hill." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
9. "Washington Rose." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
10. "Evil Laugh." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)
11. "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves." (Seanan, vocals; Mike, guitar; Brooke, banjola; Desiree, violin; Char, backing vocals.)

The bridge for "Wicked Girls" was...

"Now Susan's a pirate, and Vixy's run off with the fairies,
And Tanya keeps careful account of the treasure she buries,
Char poses riddles, and Patty plays tricks,
While Brooke conjures music from wires and sticks,
And the rules that we live by are simple and clear..."

As always: "Modern Mystic" is on Pretty Little Dead Girl. "Counting Crows," "Cartography," and "Wicked Girls" will be on Wicked Girls. "Oh, Michelle," "The Black Death," "Dear Gina," and "Silent Hill" are on Red Roses and Dead Things. "Evil Laugh" is on Stars Fall Home.

Two quick CD notes: I am sending my last restock of Stars Fall Home to CD Baby. If you don't order it from them, you'll need to track down a friendly local filk dealer. If you don't have a friendly local filk dealer, you'll probably want to order a copy before they're all gone. Barring sudden discovery of a mis-shelved box, this is it.

I have the final cover art for Wicked Girls, and will be opening pre-orders soon. Because of postage costs, pre-order CDs will be $18 each; I'll see if there's a way for us to combine postage on multiple CD orders, but I don't yet know. International costs TBA. Watch this space for details.

See you next con!

Last night, in the process of unpacking from Westercon/Conchord, I had cause to return some unsold CDs to the CD storage shelf. I've been shuffling things around recently, preparing for the arrival of Wicked Girls, which means that my stock is about as consolidated as it's ever been. Everything is, within a variance margin of maybe twenty disks, in the same place. Bearing this in mind...

...I now have sixty-seven copies remaining of Stars Fall Home.

Stars Fall Home was my first studio project. I joke that the theme of the album was "holy crap, I'm making an album," but that's not too far from the truth. Songs were being added and dropped right up until the last minute; tracks were recorded everywhere from the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom; for a while there, I really seemed to be doing my best to get everyone I'd ever met onto a single disk. I learned a lot about the recording process from this album. And I learned that I am incredibly blessed in the people who share my life.

Anyway, this is all sort of by way of saying that if you want to own the studio version of "Pretty Little Dead Girl" or "This Is My Town," my cover of "Still Catch the Tide," or any version of "Evil Laugh" or "Earthquake Weather," now is the time on Sprockets when you should probably consider ordering an album. I'm not planning to re-print for some time, if ever, so when they're gone, they're gone. And their shelf space will be given over to other albums, while the remaining copies of Pretty Little Dead Girl mutter about their neighbor who moved away.

It is so weird to realize that I'm almost out of an album. So weird.

I have finally managed to stagger home from Marcon, where I had a wonderful time as their Music Guest of Honor, only to get stranded overnight in Chicago (more on this later). As is the standing tradition around here, I now present my concert set list, including annotation and lyric links, because that's what makes it useful.

The Marcon list, with arrangement notes, was as follows:

1. "Counting Crows." (Seanan, vocals; Tom Smith, guitar; Amy McNally, fiddle.)
2. "The Ghost of Lilly Kane." (Seanan, vocals; Dr. Mary Crowell, piano.)
3. "Another Mad Science Love Song." (Seanan, Tom, vocals; Tom, guitar; Mary, Amy, minions.)
4. "What A Woman's For." (Seanan, Mary, Amy, vocals; Mary, piano.)
5. "Missing Part." (Seanan, vocals; Tom, guitar; Amy, fiddle.)
6. "The Black Death." (Seanan, vocals; Tom, guitar; Amy, Mary, eager students.)
7. "Silent Hill." (Seanan, vocals; Mary, piano.)
8. "Dear Gina." (Seanan, Mary, vocals; Mary, piano.)
9. "In the Foam." (Seanan, vocals.)
10. "Mother of the Crows." (Seanan, vocals; Mary, piano; Amy, fiddle.)
11. "Still Catch the Tide." (Seanan, Judi Miller, vocals; Mary, piano; Amy, fiddle.) Talis Kimberley cover.
12. "My Story Is Not Done." (Seanan, vocals; Mary, piano; Amy, fiddle; everybody, last chorus vocals.)
13. "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves." (Seanan, vocals; Mary, piano; Amy, fiddle.)

The bridge for "Wicked Girls" was...

"Now Debbie's a pirate, and Vixy's run off with the fairies.
Diana keeps careful account of the treasure she buries,
Kate poses riddles, and Mary plays tricks,
While Amy calls music from wires and sticks,
And the rules that we live by are simple and clear..."

This was the first time I was able to perform with Tom Smith on stage, and I was honored and delighted by Mary's willingness to pitch in and do rather more piano than she had originally agreed to. This was also the first time I got to sing with Judi, and have an entire concert set signed by her. The way she signs "Wicked Girls" is...magic. It's just magic.

As always: "Still Catch the Tide" is on Stars Fall Home. "The Black Death," "What A Woman's For," "Another Mad Science Love Song," "Dear Gina," and "Silent Hill" are on Red Roses and Dead Things. "Counting Crows," "The Ghost of Lilly Kane," "Mother of the Crows," "My Story Is Not Done," and "Wicked Girls" will be on Wicked Girls.

This was a great set; thanks to everyone who was there, to Marcon for having me, and to Kate, for running the merchandise table with grace and aplomb.

See you next con!

It's time to lock down my set list for MarCon, so as to get chords to Tom Smith and lyrics to Judi Miller. So...

Any requests?

I am currently in studio for my fourth album, titled Wicked Girls. It's my second album recorded at Flowinglass Music, with Kristoph Klover acting as my recording engineer and musical guru. There are going to be sixteen tracks, fourteen original and two covers (one by Dave Carter, one by Brian Gunderson—see if you can guess what they are). Michelle Dockrey appears on thirteen songs. SJ Tucker appears on two. Betsy Tinney appears on three. Amy McNally appears all over the damn place, burning up the floor with her fiddle. And it's going to be...

It's going to be damn amazing.

Vixy was down this past weekend to record her parts for the album, a process that required two days in the studio, and meant I needed to record my lead vocal lines for two songs, to give her something to work against ("Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves" and "How Much Salt?"). Working with her is a joy beyond belief, because we genuinely improve each other. I am a better lyricist for knowing that she's going to play a part in making my work come to life. Several of my better songs—"Wicked Girls," "Missing Part," even "Sycamore Tree"—were written, at least in part, with her voice in mind, either as a lead or backing vocal. I am a better vocalist because I know I have to live up to what she does.

It doesn't hurt that she's, y'know, one of my best friends in the world, and also a good sport about the amount of crazy that Kristoph and I can generate when left to our own devices. We just point her at a microphone and tell her that she's good to go, and wow...wow, does she go. I sit in the booth and I listen, and I rejoice that I have such amazing people in my life.

We listened to the rough playback of "Wicked Girls," totally unmixed, totally raw. Just voices, guitar, cello, fiddle, and djembe wrestling for control. And even without the polish that Kristoph is going to use to turn it into something real, it was...heartbreaking. We both just cried.

I love my recording engineer, and I love my Vixy, and I am going to love this album. I can't wait for you to hear it.

Let me tell you about my friend Tom Smith.

Tom is one of the sweetest, most generous, most giving men I have ever known. He makes music, because he's one of those people who can't not make music, and he shares it, making the lives of others better. He's called "the world's fastest filker," and he's one of the few people who actually filks professionally, which is damned impressive. He appears on my album, Red Roses and Dead Things, as the male lead on "Another Mad Science Love Song." He was one of the first people to welcome me to the filk community, and I love him dearly. When I've needed help, he's been there to help me. When I've needed hugs, he's been there to hug me. He's a class act, is Tom Smith.

Like so many people right now, Tom is running into a patch of trouble. Thanks to slow damage of his bathroom floor, he's about to be hit with, yes, a bill he can't afford. This song sucks, and we hear it way too often these days. So here's a chance to help him out.

If you've been curious about filk music, visit Tom's page and take a look at the albums he has available for sale. He's even taking donations, and offering pre-orders of his upcoming album, Herbert West: The Musical. You can hear sound clips, you can get an idea of what he has to offer, and hey, maybe you can help this iteration of the suck-suck song be a little shorter than it might be otherwise.

It's worth a try, right?

I am pleased and delighted to announce that I will be the Guest of Honor at GaFilk 13 (dun dun DUUUUNNNN) in Atlanta, Georgia. The convention will be held the weekend of January 7th to 9th, 2011, and includes the following exciting guest selection:

Guest of Honor, Seanan McGuire
Toastmaster, Matt Leger
Interfilk Guest, Howard Scrimgeour

This is Georgia's very own filk convention, and I've never been before, so I am like, super excited. It's also going to be the first convention I've attended in Georgia since DragonCon like, ten years ago, and I'm really looking forward to the chance to spend more time in a kick-ass state. Hope to see you there!

As is the tradition around here, I present the set list for my latest concert appearance (Wayward Coffeehouse, December 2009). The set list includes annotation and lyric links, because otherwise, it's not so helpful.

The Wayward list, with arrangement notes, was as follows:

1. "Counting Crows." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony Fabris, guitar; Betsy Tinney, cello.)
2. "Mama Said." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
3. "Take Advantage (of Me)." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
4. "Carnival Glass." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
5. "Paper Moon." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
6. "Dorothy." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
7. "Evil Laugh." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
8. "Still Catch the Tide." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.) Talis Kimberley cover.

There was a break here. During the break, I read from chapter four of A Local Habitation. It seemed to go over well. Yay!

9. "In the Foam." (Seanan, vocals.)
10. "Fox Hunt." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
11. "Oh, Michelle." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
12. "Dear Gina." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)
13. "Tanglewood Tree." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.) Dave Carter cover.
14. "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.)

Encore: "Archetype Cafe." (Seanan, Vixy, vocals; Tony, guitar; Betsy, cello.) Talis Kimberley cover.

These are some of my favorite people to perform with, and we were performing in a venue that's warm and welcoming in every possible way. The only thing that could have made this show any better would have been adding an Amy (the experience of hearing her play with Betsy was one that I won't get over with any time soon), and maybe a wading pool filled with autumn mix and lizards. I'm a fan of both autumn mix and lizards.

As always: "Take Advantage of Me," "Paper Moon," "Dorothy," and "Evil Laugh" are on Stars Fall Home (studio). "Oh, Michelle" and "Dear Gina" are on Red Roses and Dead Things. A distressing number of the other songs in the set will be on Wicked Girls (good luck guessing which ones).

Closing with "Wicked Girls" followed by "Archetype Cafe" was just...it was amazing. Vixy and I finished "Wicked Girls" hand-in-hand, and I basically wanted to either conquer the world or go home and hug for approximately a thousand years. It was a beautiful night, and it was made all the more amazing by the people who were there.

Sometimes I feel so blessed.

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.

***

Welcome!

As has become the tradition around here, I present the set list for my latest concert (Montreal WorldCon, 2009). Complete with annotation and lyric links. Because I'm kind like that.

The WorldCon set list, with arrangement notes, was as follows:

1. "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves." (Seanan, vocals; Dave Weingart, guitar.)
2. "Carnival Glass." (Seanan, vocals; Dave, guitar.)
3. "Missing Part." (Seanan, vocals; Dave, guitar.)
4. "Mama Said." (Seanan, vocals; Dave, guitar.)
5. "This Is My Town." (Seanan, vocals; Dave, guitar.)
6. "The Black Death." (Seanan, epidemiology; Dave, guitar.)
7. "Last Call." (Seanan, vocals; Dave, guitar.)
12. "My Story Is Not Done." (Seanan, vocals; Dave, guitar.)

This was a very stripped-back set: just me and a guitarist that I don't perform with very often. Dave was a superstar, and really busted his ass (and his fingertips) dealing with my crazy-train idea of "reasonable" musical arrangements. "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves" was chorded by Kristoph Klover. "Carnival Glass" was chorded by Debbie Gates. "Missing Part," "Mama Said," "This Is My Town," "Last Call," and "My Story Is Not Done" were chorded by Paul Kwinn. "The Black Death" was chorded by Paul Kwinn, and adjusted by Jeff Bohnhoff.

As always: "This Is My Town" is on Stars Fall Home (studio) and Pretty Little Dead Girl (live). "The Black Death" is on Red Roses and Dead Things.

"Wicked Girls" was originally going to be the closing number, but I was asked to shift it forward by some folks who had a panel conflict but really wanted to hear it done live. I try to be agreeable, when I can. The modified bridge for WorldCon was...

"Mandy's a pirate, and Vixy's run off with the fairies,
While Sheila keeps careful account of the treasure she buries...
Michelle poses riddles and Marsha plays tricks,
While Judith calls music from wires and sticks,
And the rules that we live by are simple and clear:
Be wicked and lovely, and don't live in fear."

All told, it was a good show, and I was only slightly intimidated by the fact that what seemed like half of DAW was in the audience.

If you like things which are free, you should consider dropping by this urban fantasy book giveaway and tossing your name into the ring. There are two prize packages, one of which contains an autographed ARC of Rosemary and Rue. (Since I couldn't personalize the book without knowing who it was going to go to, I drew a pumpkin instead. All hail the orange Sharpie, which makes such things possible.) The contest is open through August 13th, at which point the winners will be chosen.

(When you sign up, you have to indicate which prize package you'd like to win. I promise that I won't make sad faces at you if you choose Prize Pack A. The number of people already choosing Prize Pack B continues to delight me.)

If you like things which are not free, I just want to remind you that today is the last day to order Red Roses and Dead Things through my website. I'll be setting it up with CDBaby tomorrow, and the order form will be coming down. There will be a six to ten day delay before the album becomes available again. I doubt this is breaking anybody's heart, but I believe that a vague disclaimer is nobody's friend.

Whee!

So here's the thing.

I have three albums currently available. You can read about all three of them on my website's albums page. I'm very fond of all three. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, they each represent something different in my musical growth, and they each make me happy. Right now, only Red Roses and Dead Things is available through my website; the other two are available through CDBaby.com.

As of August 1st, Red Roses and Dead Things will be transitioning to CDBaby.com, and will no longer be available through my website.

There are a lot of reasons for this, and most of them have to do with time. I just don't have the time to monitor the order database, and people keep trying to order the other two albums, which requires even more time to unsnarl. So everything's being out-sourced, as part of an effort to save my sanity. Why am I announcing this? Well, because I'd rather not flood CDBaby right off the bat, thus forcing me to do still more mailing. So:

If you have been waiting to order Red Roses and Dead Things, now would be a good time. I commit to shipping all paid, pending orders during the first week of August, after which I will be contacting any unpaid pending orders, directing them to CDBaby, and deleting them from the system. The ordering system will then go down until we have to take pre-orders again.

So there's the thing. If you want to order Red Roses and Dead Things, now is a good time; it will be unavailable for the first week of August, while the transition is going on. Thank you for understanding.

So the "Wicked Girls" party game—in which I let people suggest fictional girls, and wrote them apocryphal verses to the tune of "Wicked Girls"—is finally finished. I didn't write every request, but wow did I write a lot of them! You can view all the verses by clicking the link to the post; the girls involved, with source material, were...

( Click here, 'cause it's longer than I thought it was.Collapse )

...that's a lot more than I thought it was. Um. Wow. Anyway, done now; thanks to everyone who played, whether I met your request or not.

I was just on YouTube (I admit, watching videos from the current season of So You Think You Can Dance, because I am a weak blonde in some ways), and did the fairly random "let's see if any of my key words pops up on this site." And, well, some of my words did.

So here is the video recording of "Wicked Girls," as performed at DucKon 2009 (this particular performance will also be on the official DVD being released by the convention, although probably not this specific video). Featuring SJ Tucker on the djembe and backing vocals infinitely more amazing than I realized until I watched the playback; Vixy on lead vocals; me on lead vocals (I'm the blonde one in the middle); Tony Fabris on guitar; and Amy McNally on the invisible violin, as she is totally blocked by Tony. There's some clipping, especially on the louder parts of the song, but overall, I'm stunned by how well it went.

See:



This specific stream's version of "Still Catch the Tide" (by Talis Kimberley) is also gorgeous.

Hey, folks, are you planning to attend DucKon, aka, "Seanan and company rock it down in Illinois"? Were you wishing for a little slice of awesome to have and to hold forever and evermore? Well, it seems that I may be able to help you out with that.

Please visit the DucKon Filk Fund Page for details about the concert recordings which are currently available through the DucKon store. These are currently Schrodinger's recordings, as we're asking you to order something that doesn't exist yet. In an attempt to make this not so surreal, I'm offering a little sweetness: if you place your order before June 8th, and if you comment here to confirm that you have done so, on the 8th, I will select one commenter to choose a song from a special list*. This song will be guaranteed a place in the concert, barring rain of frogs or other amphibious mayhem.

(*By "special list" I mean "something we already know." I live in California. None of my partners in crime live in California. I enjoy Tony not beating me to death with an amplifier.)

Comments received after June 8th will be ignored. Comments going "oh, I know Bob ordered one" will be ignored. Demands that we play "Freebird" will be ignored.

Game on!

Well, the cat's out of the bag, and I can now gleefully announce that next Memorial Day Weekend, I'll be in Columbus, Ohio, serving as the Music Guest of Honor at Marcon! (I was waiting to say anything until it was public knowledge. As it was printed on the back of the program books, it's public knowledge.) The full guest slate is as follows:

Author Guest of Honor: Wen Spencer.
Artist Guest of Honor: Billy Tackett.
Science Guest of Honor: Central Ohio Paranormal Society.
Costuming Guest of Honor: Tom Saveny.
Music Guest of Honor: Seanan McGuire.

So...Billy Tackett, who draws some of the best zombies in the business, the Central Ohio Paranormal Society, and me. I'm not familiar with the works of Wen Spencer or Tom Saveny, but I can already tell that we're going to have a pretty high "dead things" level at this convention. Somehow, this fails to bother me in any meaningful way.

Marcon!

It's gonna be a party.

So as most of you hopefully know by now (or will be delighted to discover), I'm about to be the Music Guest of Honor at DucKon 18. The convention is legal this year! It can now vote, get drafted, and buy cigarettes for my mother. DucKon will be happening in Naperville, Illinois, from June 12th through June 14th, and you should totally come. Why? Well, it's gonna be awesome, for one thing. I'm updating my appearances page as details are confirmed, but here are the things I can promise you:

1. I will be there.
2. My fantastic agent, Diana Fox, will be there, as the Agent Guest of Honor. Meet my personal superhero!
3. Tara O'Shea, who does my website's graphic design, will be there.
4. My concert will be OFF THE SCALE in AWESOME. Why? Why do I say this egotistical thing?

Because the DucKon Filk Fund allows their Music Guest of Honor to invite a guest of their very own, to help them with their concert. And I, just like the girl on America's Next Top Model who chooses to share her prize with the people who can help her look amazing, have selected Vixy and Tony. Yeah. ME AND VIXY AND TONY, LIVE IN CONCERT, IN THE MIDWEST, FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!

Oh, and did I mention that Amy "The Fiddler" McNally will be there, too?

So here are two requests from me, if you would be so kind. First, take a look at the DucKon Filk Fund website, and see if there's anything there that catches your eye. They have some pretty spiffy stuff for sale, and some of it is totally not available anywhere else. Tell your friends. Help replenish the fund after they have so generously and wonderfully allowed me to bring two of my favorite people (and favorite performers) along for the ride.

Secondly, if you would be interested in being able to purchase a DVD of my DucKon concert, please take this DucKon survey indicating your willingness to acquire such a thing. The Filk Fund is willing to set up a pre-order system if there's enough interest, and just to make things a little more tempting, if...

...there is sufficient interest that they make pre-orders available...
...you pre-order...
...you comment on a post I will set up for this very purpose, telling me you've pre-ordered...

...I will include your name in a random drawing. The winner of this drawing will be emailed with the list of songs that we have prepared to play together, and allowed to pick a song. That song WILL be in the set list. So not only do you get the DVD, you know for sure that your favorite will be on there.

Thank you buckets.

Chainsaws and killers and creatures that slaughter,
Signs that suggest you stay out of the water.
Killer bees bred to have flesh-eating stings.
These are a few of my favorite things.

Rust colored padlocks and barbed wire fences,
Horrible things tearing down your defenses.
Black bats that fly with the moon on their wings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Scientists laughing and playing with lightning,
Movies designed to be nasty and frightening.
Martian invaders that swallow prom kings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the sun shines,
When the bird sings,
When they've all gone mad,
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad!

Well, let's see. So far today, I've...

...processed buckets of edits for Discount Armageddon, which I'm planning to get back to work on real soon now. I spent a few hours last night picking stealthcello's brain about competition-level ballroom and tango dancing (hint: it's complicated stuff), and I now feel much more equipped to write the next chapter, which involves an Argentine tango competition, Verity in a very skimpy dress, and, yes, knives. Almost any chapter that involves Verity involves knives. She's comfortably predictable that way.

...received a new blurb for Rosemary and Rue, resulting in squealing and jubilation. I am so seriously stoked about the blurbs I've managed to collect so far, all of which are wonderful and perfect and totally different. It's like kittens. No two kittens are alike, but as soon as they're your kittens, they become the most magical, wonderful things ever to wander across the face of the planet. I like kittens.

...also received the second icon and first wallpaper for the Rosemary and Rue promo set. All icons and wallpapers in this set are being designed by the ineffable taraoshea, who is really a goddess of graphic design. I am totally ecstatic, and can't wait to make them public for your enjoyment and (hopeful) use. Remember, nothing says 'love' like a blood-drenched San Francisco skyline!

...packed all pending pre-orders through 190, and signed and numbered through 200. So there's a max of 100 CDs left to go (I'm still taking increasingly mis-named 'pre-orders' via the website, because it's all about paying my engineer). If I finish the list before hitting 300, we'll just close out the pre-order run early, thus making the numbers even more surreal in future years. (Also creating the opportunity for funny, funny hoaxes on the part of inventive people with pens and copies of my CD.)

...watched two more episodes of my crazy Australian mermaid show.

What's up with you?

Last week, before I left for Conflikt, I stopped in at Flying Colors to pick up my comics for the week. Mmmmm, delicious comic-y goodness. I had a copy of Red Roses and Dead Things in my purse, so I pulled it out to show around, with the accompanying squeals of "My new album came!"

Andy -- one of the counter monkeys -- asked, "Is this for us?"

Being a sensible girl who loves her comic book store, I promptly replied with "Sure!" I left the album, picked up my comics, and went on my merry way home, hence to head for the airport, fly to Seattle, and basically forget the entire thing.

Wednesday, I went to the comic book store again, since, well, Wednesday is new comic day, and I'm basically a fixture. Joe (the owner) told me how much he'd enjoyed my CD, and how pleasantly surprised* he was to discover that it was awesome. I thanked him, and went back to seeking comics...only to have Brian stop me to do the same thing, and Andy, and Jasmine, and basically, the entire staff of Flying Colors. (Andy described it as 'totally cornball and campy, but in the good way.' High praise for a girl who grew up worshipping at the shrines of Marilyn Munster and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.)

And then Joe asked if I might want him to carry a few for me on consignment.

My comic book store -- the comic book store I've been going to almost my entire life, the comic book store I wish I could put in my pocket and just take with me to Seattle -- is going to carry my CD. In my comic book store. My CD. Later, possibly, my books (Joe's considering it).

I am a real girl.

(*Let's face it -- nothing's more awkward than having someone you like and respect hand you something they've made, and then finding out that the whatever it was sucks rocks. What are you supposed to say to them? 'Gosh, your CD sure was shiny?' 'Gee, there were a lot of words in that book?' It's an awesome surprise when awesome people make awesome things. I'm using the word 'awesome' a lot today. Maybe I should stop watching so many back-to-back episodes of Chuck.)

Here's a final reminder, my Pacific Northwest-ian darlings, that this weekend is Conflikt II, the second ever Washington/Pacific Northwest filk convention! It starts today at the Holiday Inn Seattle-Renton, located in scenic Renton, Washington, and I've been imported solely to serve as their Guest of Honor. I even brought an earthquake, for that true California touch. (I then proceeded to sleep through it. Thus proving that I have lived in California for too long.)

This weekend promises chills, thrills, spills, shrills (when the sporanos hit a note from the wrong angle), shills (when the Interfilk auction really gets rolling), trills (from all and sundry), and hopefully a minimum of ills, as I have not scheduled the global pandemic to coincide with the convention. Also, in a rare real-life sighting, my mother is going to be showing up for the con. Bring cameras, and move slowly, she's shy.

If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, or can't afford the entire weekend, I recommend swinging down for the Saturday night extravaganza. My concert is at nine o'clock, and evening memberships are available. Saturday night will also include appearances by Frank Hayes and Marian Call, thus making the entire experience MADE OF PURE WIN. So even if you can't come and share our entire madcap adventure, you should at least swing by for a few hours.

Copies of all three of my albums are available at the con, as are many more truly awesome and spectacular recordings. (I can make recommendations. Usually while bouncing and squeaking. It's fun, and, I am told, slightly unnerving.)

Hope to see you there!

After an exciting evening chasing around San Francisco, visiting the freaky alien demon suede kittyfaces at Borderlands Books, and helping Kate get her glasses to fit right, I returned to the safety of the East Bay...where my mother promptly abducted me off to meet up with my baby sister, the trucker, in Brentwood. In the parking lot of an Office Max.

Did I mention that it was after nine o'clock by that point, and that I hadn't really eaten anything besides a McDonalds ice cream cone since lunch? Oh, and that my new CD finally arrived today -- at least according to the UPS website, as I hadn't yet had visual confirmation?

Yeah, it was a night.

But now I'm home, and I've confirmed the existence of the CDs. Yes! One thousand copies of Red Roses and Dead Things have joined the general clutter of my home. Actually, right now, they're increasing the specific clutter of my bedroom. Not precisely what I'd call optimal, but as it allows me to sign and number the pre-orders (to the degree that I can manage before a formal shipping party), I suppose I'll cope.

It's a damn pretty CD, too. It came out even better looking than I was hoping it would.

So that's my Friday night. Having signed and numbered the first ten CDs, I will now proceed to my bed, where I will probably dream of being crushed to death beneath a hail of disks. Because that's how this works. Good-night, world.

10. I appear to have started doing art cards. (Because, as Brooke said, I need something to do with all that spare time that I had just lying around.) For those of you who are unfamiliar with the art card 'concept,' they're little pieces of original artwork, done on 2.5"x3.5" cards. Mine are Micron and Prismacolor on bristol paper. I've done three so far, one to go with Grants Pass, one to go with Ravens in the Library, and one of Velveteen and Sparkle Bright during their first year with the JSP. I figure I'll use them as book giveaways. Right now, they're just being colorful and soothing; two things that I need more of in my life.

9. My reboot on Late Eclipses of the Sun appears to have done exactly what I was hoping it would do; the new first chapter is about ten times stronger, faster, better, and generally bionic in all possible regards. Now I'm working on the revisions to chapter two, just to really lock down the changes to the continuity, and once that's done, I can start processing my editor's notes on An Artificial Night. I'm spending so much time with Toby these days that we should really start charging her rent, I swear.

8. I write more poetry than is strictly healthy, sometimes in batches of two to five hundred poems at a time. (These batches are called 'Iron Poet' rounds, and are a variation on a standard writer's workshop exercise. They make me happy. I may be crazy.) I managed to write five poems yesterday, including a counted devan (although I skipped the internal rhymes on the zipper, because I didn't feel like giving myself a migraine) and a counted technical terza rima. Take that, everyone who said there was no use for structured poetry in the modern world!

7. My story in Ravens In the Library is getting an accompanying illustration. This is...this is amazing. Not just because the illustration itself is amazing -- I saw the sketch, and it is -- but because I didn't expect an illustration at all. It made me cry. More and more, I begin to believe that 2009 is the universe giving me one big incredible birthday present.

6. It's not entirely visible to the naked eye, but my website continues to creep closer and closer to being entirely done. We should be getting the first few essays up there soon, and Chris is working on the functionality that will allow me to update and edit the front page all on my lonesome. Meanwhile, Tara works secretly behind the scenes on Wonderful Surprises that only a golden graphics girl could possibly provide. Prepare to be amazed.

5. I get to spend the weekend working on Discount Armageddon! (Quoth Dan: "I don't know anybody who gets as excited about being told what to work on as you do.") I love deadlines, I love directions, and I love Verity. She's so happy to see you. And so happy to kick you in the head. Pleasantly, I just put together my Verity playlist last night, consisting almost entirely of dance music and things with a BPM of over 120. Because Verity just looooooves the beat, yo.

4. It's new comic book day! Always the most wonderful day of the week. At least in theory -- other days are sometimes surprisingly awesome.

3. All my television is coming back on the air. I'm a huge TV freak. It's what lets me decompress after a hard day of working and writing and worrying about working and writing; it's also what I do with the other half of my concentration when I'm inking. (Most of the shows I watch are more verbal than visual, and have clear cues when I actually need to be paying attention to the screen.) I really appreciate the fact that the things I watch are staggered enough to make sure I almost always have something new.

2. This time next week, I will be heading for the airport, heading for the sky, and heading for Seattle, baby.

...and the number one good thing about today...

1. Oasis just called me, and THE CDS ARE DONE!!!!! They're mailing them out from the Oasis warehouse today, and they should supposedly hit my doorstep on Friday. This gives me time to actually arrange for CDs to reach Seattle, prep the first batch of pre-orders to mail out (probably the first twenty or so, more if I can possibly swing it), and generally get my hysteria out of the way. It also gives me time to use the CD boxes to build myself a little fort and crawl inside it to hide from the universe.

What's new and awesome in the world of you?

Ever have one of those nights that you just want to tell everyone about, usually following the recounting with 'but really, you had to be there'? I love those nights. They're the ones that live forever, gradually sloughing off anything that went wrong -- because there's always so little of it -- until they become perfect little bits of time that last inside you forever.

I had one of those recently.

The concert at Erosong was a sort of last-minute* addition to my Seattle holiday plans; they'd been planning to have Vixy and Tony, and as I happened to be in the area, I got drafted to come and help out, along with Betsy 'I play the cello like I expect the Devil to be moving on to a different stringed instrument any day now, and I plan to be ready' Tinney. Ah, serendipity. Sometimes it just decides that life needs to be awesome.

I'd never really had much opportunity to hang out with Betsy before we went to rehearse at her place, which is large, gorgeous, and filled with Maine Coons. (One of them, Alligator, is officially my new best friend. Sorry.) I now regret this lack in my life, because she's a smart, funny, positively amazing lady, and getting to know her definitely stands as one of the highlights of my trip. Along with, y'know, Voodoo Doughnut. So she's in good company. PS, adding spooky cello to 'Dear Gina' makes it a weapon of massively creepy destruction. Brrr.

There really isn't a linear accounting of the actual concert in my head, because there isn't room. Getting ready in the upstairs bathroom with Vixy and Betsy, the three of us becoming a unified flock of purple, black, and orange with feathers in our hair-o. Meeting Phil for the first time after knowing him for fourteen years (oh, you splendid satyr, you). The doleful spontaneous sing-along of 'Science-Fiction Double Feature' in the dining room. And the concert, oh, yes, the concert. Two sets, as follows:

First set:

'Girl That's Never Been.' (Dockrey)
'Thirteen.' (Dockrey/Fabris)
'Skullcrusher Mountain.' (Coulton)
'Tanglewood Tree.' (Carter)
'Apprentice.' (Dockrey/Fabris)
'Evil Laugh.' (McGuire)
'Ravens in the Library.' (Tucker)
'Burn It Down.' (Dockrey/Fabris)
'Mal's Song.' (Dockrey/Whedon)

Second set:

'Paper Moon.' (McGuire)
'Dear Gina.' (McGuire)
'Santa Baby.' (Javits/Springer, made famous by Eartha Kitt)
'Strange Messenger.' (Dockrey/Fabris)
'Companion.' (Dockrey/Fabris)
'Goddess.' (Tucker)
'Emerald Green.' (Dockrey/Fabris)
'Oh, Michelle Dockrey.' (My parody of 'David Duchovny' by Bree Sharp)
'Dorothy.' (McGuire)
'Wicked Girls.' (McGuire)

When we hit the bridge of 'Wicked Girls' -- the line 'the rules that we live by are simple and clear/Be wicked and lovely, and don't live in fear' -- and changed into a major key, the room literally SHOUTED its approval. Just this solid wall of 'YEAH.' I...we...it is a miracle I didn't trainwreck the song out of sheer amazement, I swear.

They demanded an encore. We gave them 'Alligator in the House,' by Betsy Tinney and SJ Tucker. The night was...

The night was...

It was perfect. You should have been there.

Hello, and welcome to my journal! I'm pretty sure you know who I am, my name being in the URL and all, but just in case, I'm Seanan McGuire, and you're probably not on Candid Camera. This post exists to answer a few of the questions that I get asked on a semi-hemi-demi-regular basis. It may look familiar; that's because it gets reposted roughly every two months, to let new people know how we roll around here. (I will make no more Clueless references in this post, I promise.) Also, sometimes I change the questions. Because I can.

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

Anyway, here you go:

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

Hey, folks! Remember, I'm appearing live and in concert tonight in the Seattle area, performing as a part of the latest fantastic Vixy & Tony house concert!

Not only are Vixy and Tony incredible musicians, they are incredibly close and beloved friends of mine. Vixy was the first one I called when my trilogy sold to DAW Books. Vixy is the one I choose to shower in scorpions on a regular basis. And Tony is just a rock. A slightly crazy, zombie killing, flying monkey rock. I am honored, privileged, and delighted to be performing with them. I always am. If I wanted proof that my life is a wonderful thing, I'd only need to look to my friends.

More, we're going to be performing with Betsy Tinney, the cellist from Tricky Pixie, who adds a dimension of PURE AWESOME to every song that comes out of our mouths. I mean, rehearsal last night? Rehearsal last night was sort of like a preview glimpse of Wonderland. I have put my silver slippers on. I am ready to go home.

Maybe most importantly -- and you're going to be hearing more about this from me very soon -- all proceeds from tonight's show are being donated to help a dear, dear, wonderful friend with some major and unexpected medical bills. SJ Tucker was recently hospitalized, and, being a traveling musician in the modern United States, does not have medical insurance. Tonight's music is in her honor, tonight's magic is towards her healing, and tonight's money is towards her hospital costs. We want her well, and every little bit helps. Even if it's just clapping to show that you believe in fairies.

I hope I'll see you there. If not, well. I hope you'll clap a little anyway. Because I'm just a big sap that way.

Yesterday, I...

...did a lot of fussing about, did a lot of reasonably important (if not entirely time-sensitive) email inbox cleanup, did some work on The Brightest Fell, and finally, attended a multi-hour rehearsal to get ready for my Guest of Honor concert at Conflikt II, as well as the house concert that I'm going to be performing in tomorrow night. If you're even remotely local, and have been considering attending either event, I highly recommend it. If you've never seen me live before, here's a nice quote from one of the conventions I've been featured at:

"Seanan wraps together deep, poetic lyrics and complex melodies, a soaring voice, and an exhilarating hold-nothing-back performance style."

See? Isn't that sweet? The house concert is actually a Vixy & Tony gig to which I have kindly been invited, and we're going to be doing some awesome stuff. We finally hit 'Tanglewood Tree' (a Dave Carter cover) at exactly the right angle last night. When I have tears in my eyes at the end of a rehearsal, that's when you know that you're doin' it right. And the convention, of course, is going to be one of my usual 'but what if we threw a concert and everybody came extravaganzas. I'm even packing the prom dress. Just in case.

Today, I...

...got out of bed, sat down, and wrote the first song of 2009 ('My Story Is Not Done'). To quote the lyrics:

I was born into a fairy tale,
Cinderella's dust-bin daughter.
Seemed like I was meant to fail,
Turning wine back into water,

Mama's slippers shattered when
She turned around to run,
But I never thought that mattered and
My story is not done.

My brain, ladies and gentlemen. Studies are even now underway. That done, I wrote three poems, updated my 'Velveteen vs.' continuity guide, and processed some edits to The Brightest Fell, which I'll get back to just as soon as I finish this entry. Once Fishy wakes up (allowing me access to my suitcase), I'll be getting dressed and going out for lunch with the wonderful folks from Team Seattle. And tonight, of course, we're rehearsing one more time for tomorrow's concert, in a setting which I have been promised will provide both ice cream and kittens. My life, so hard.

Tomorrow, I...

...will be appearing in the house concert I've been nattering on about so much above. Because love means never having to listen to me talk about one thing for all that long.

Hope everything is awesome in the worlds of you -- what's going on?

Since I'm feeling better* today, I'm taking care of all those things which were permitted to slip over the past several days. Specifically...

* I've gone through and checked checks against orders in my ordering database, so that I could correctly mark off those people I don't need to harass into paying me. I'm a very polite harasser, really, but the major down-side of doing CDs the way I do -- IE, 'the pre-orders pay for the production costs' -- is that when people don't pay me, I have real trouble making the albums actually exist. In other news, I now have 212 pre-orders in the system. I feel special.

* I've reviewed the final mastered tracks for Red Roses and Dead Things, confirming that they are MADE OF AWESOME. I am, of course, hyper-critical of my own performances, but that's my nature, and everything I can be objective about on the album is fantastic. Michelle Dockrey, Maya Bohnhoff, and Tom Smith are all super-cool in their appearances, and Tony Fabris just blows me out of the water with his mournful Dave Davenport. I'm so glad this album is about to exist.

* I've also written the back page for the liner notes, which is sort of like the acknowledgments page in a book, only with a lot more references to James Gunn and his pressing need to call me. And yes, I will be sending him a copy of the album. He's on the extremely short 'freebie' list. (It consists of James Gunn, Stephen King, and Eric Kripke, for this album. Because I am a good little horror girl.)

* Since I like not being clubbed to death by The Agent for getting nothing done**, I've also been plugging away on The Brightest Fell. The goal du jour is hitting three hundred pages, and then breaking to hammer on The Mourning Edition for a little while. I find it hysterical -- and also annoying -- that I have, like, two books in my entire 'write this' list that start with the word 'the,' and I'm working on them both at once. Bah.

* Also, I keep stopping to poke at Facebook, and its addictive little clicky-clicky vampire game. You know you're hooked when you consider soliciting total strangers to join your clan. Again, bah.

More to come, after I find my desk under this pile o' crap.

(*Local values of 'better' include 'capable of moving around under own power without feeling the intense need to stop and yark up everything consumed in the past hour' and 'capable of stringing six coherent words together in a line.' We've lowered our standards, now up yours.)

(**My definition of 'getting nothing done' is a very specialized one. I know this thing.)

I was comfortably seated in my cotton-candy wonderland of zombie ponies, global pandemics, and not enough Diet Dr Pepper when I received a ping from my dearest darling Deborah, and the following conversation came to pass:

Deborah: "Have you seen you're on Colleen Mondor's blog?"
Me: "No. Who's Colleen Mondor?"

Enlightenment followed, as did a link to the post in question. Here go:

http://www.chasingray.com/archives/2008/12/8th_day_holiday_recs_for_all_t.html

(Oh, and in case you're also wondering who Colleen Mondor is, here's the brief blurb: "Colleen Mondor is a reviewer for Booklist, Bookslut, Eclectica Magazine and the Voices of New Orleans. I also write fiction and listen to great music." I am assured that her linking to me is awesome, because she is awesome. The world needs more awesome, so hey! Go team awesome!)

I'm not sure I've ever actually directly linked to the lyrics for 'Wicked Girls.' They're in my online songbook, but that doesn't necessarily help. So here's a hook-up:

'Wicked Girls' song lyrics.

Oh, and in case you want to do all your clicking in one place, here is the post containing the only existing recording of 'Wicked Girls.' It's a very rough recording, but it's good enough to let you hear what's going on.

I am amused.

So there’s more news from the arena of my website. First off, if you drop by the front page, here...

http://seananmcguire.com/index.php

Well, you’re going to see that the appearances have been updated to include the January 3rd house concert in which I will be performing with Vixy and Tony and oh, right, rocking some socks clean off the stage. It’s extremely rare for me to give concerts outside of a convention setting, so if you’re anywhere near Seattle, you may want to consider dropping by. Especially since, dude, this is a bit too much awesome for one stage.

Further browsing will show that the songbook is live again -- now with updated browsing and display action, to make it easier to get through the YOU WROTE HOW MANY SONGS?! vastness of it all -- as is the main albums page. (You access it by clicking ‘Music’ at the top of the drop-down. We’re going to fix that later, since it’s sort of less intuitive than we’d thought, but it’s there.) Now you can view the details of both my extant albums, as well as the forthcoming one. Yippee!

The disclaimer and contact links are also live; we’ll be making some small adjustments to the disclaimer page (and I know about the typo in the ‘adult content’ warning section, promise), but for the most part, they’re good to go.

Hooray!

Hey, folks, just dropping a quick note to let you know that pre-orders for Red Roses and Dead Things, my first themed studio album, are still open. It's impossible to get an exact number on how many we've received right this second (the website is still being rebuilt), but we're closing rapidly in on 200 of the 300 available CDs being sold. The album is slated for release at Conflikt II, in late January, and makes an awesome late holiday gift.

Featuring performances by Paul Kwinn, Tony Fabris, Michelle Dockrey, Amy McNally, Jeff Bohnhoff, Maya Bohnhoff, Tom Smith, and probably several other people that I've managed to temporarily forget, this is a solid star-studded adventure in the worlds of mad science and horror. It brings the creepy. It brings the silly. And it brings the AWESOME. To place your order, go to:

https://seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Pre-orders follow this price scale:

* $17.00 USD: Domestic pre-order (US and Canada)
* $22.00 USD: International pre-order.

(Basically, all pre-orders are a base cost of $15.00, plus shipping.)

All pre-orders will be given access to an exclusive download version of 'What A Woman's For' (which may or may not be released more widely into the wild after the album is released). Since we also need to pay mixing costs, we're taking album sponsors; to donate for sponsorship, click here:

All sponsors will be included in the liner notes, and will receive my eternal gratitude. Which tastes like candy corn.

Questions? Comments? Glee!

So I'm heading up to Seattle for the second half of December, partially to spend the holidays with Vixy and Tony (because who wouldn't want to spend the holidays with some of their bestest friends?), but mostly to rehearse for Conflikt II, which is going to be an absolute blast. For serious, my concert is going to include Vixy, Tony, Amy McNally, three-quarters of Puzzlebox -- I have KEYBOARDS and DRUMS and PAUL playing GUITAR!!!! I win at everything -- and and and. So that's going to rule.

But since they have me, they might as well exploit me, right? I enjoy being exploited. I am a grindhouse special, and I am ready to be your midnight movie. With all that in mind, I'm going to be joining them on January 3rd for a special house concert hosted by Erosong. For serious! Also for glee. There's gonna be thrills. There's gonna be chills. There may even be some mild mass hysteria, if we totally strut our stuff. ("What are you going to do?" "I'm gonna do the best I can.")

The concert is going to be happening in scenic Kenmore, Washington, and RSVPs are requested, for the sake of everybody's sanity. It's a potluck, which means there will be lots of yummy food, and there's no fixed admission cost, just a suggested donation. Check the event link for more details, and if you're at all local, I hope I'll see you there.

Hello, and welcome to my journal! I'm pretty sure you know who I am, my name being in the URL and all, but just in case, I'm Seanan McGuire, and you're probably not on Candid Camera. This post exists to answer a few of the questions that I get asked on a semi-hemi-demi-regular basis. It may look familiar; that's because it gets reposted roughly every two months, to let new people know how we roll around here. (I will make no more Clueless references in this post, I promise.) Also, sometimes I change the questions. Because I can.

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

Anyway, here you go:

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

This past weekend, I attended the Ohio Valley Filk Festival, a three-day convention focusing on the filk music genre. ('Filk' is the music of science fiction and fantasy. Its precise definition has been debated for years, mostly by people with nothing better to do with their time. This includes me. It's a fun, fun argument.) Lots of fun, lots of friendship, and lots of time spent in the Columbus, Ohio Whole Foods Market. Mmmmm, pumpkin parfait.

The Pegasus Awards were created to recognize excellence in filking. Awards are given for individual songs -- two floating categories every year, as well as Best Filk Song and Best Classic Filk Song (a song more than ten years in age). Awards are also given for the Best Performer and Best Writer/Composer. In 2007, I won the Best Performer category in a tie vote with Dr. Mary Crowell (the nice lady in whose kitchen I am typing this entry). This year, I was up for Best Writer/Composer, and my song 'The Black Death' was up for Best Song of Tragedy.

I won Best Writer/Composer. According to those around me, it was one of those rare moments in which I could be seen struck speechless.

Ahem: SQUEE!

Other winners for this year include 'Black Davy's Ride' for Best Song of Tragedy, 'Close Your Eyes' for Best Song of Comedy, 'Archetype Cafe' for Best Classic Song, and 'Uplift' for Best Song. Truly awesome winners all. Best Performer was won by Vixy and Tony, which was neat, since they were sitting at my table. (To be honest, I find most anything good which happens to Vixy neat. I like it when good things happen to Vixy.)

But yes. I won. And I am...really quite over the moon about it.

Glee.

So it turns out that some people have been slightly confused by my insistence that the Black Death was not the bubonic plague. I can understand the confusion. This isn't a topic that most people spend a lot of time or energy thinking about. In fact, it's a topic that most people put a lot of energy into not thinking about. And, perhaps as a consequence, it's a topic that I can talk about for hours, all while giggling gleefully and waving my hands about over my head.

If you wonder why I don't think the Black Death was the source of the bubonic plague, I recommend checking out a book called The Return of the Black Death: the World's Greatest Serial Killer, by Susan Scott and Christopher Duncan. It's a gripping scientific and archeological case for questioning the origins of the greatest plague Europe has ever known.

Of course, it's possible that you don't really want to spend that much time reading about disease. I can understand that. Or maybe you just don't want to wait for the book to get to you. I can understand that, too. And so, in the grand tradition of Schoolhouse Rock, I have written a lovely song to teach you all about the Black Death.

You can thank me later.

( Click here for lyrics. You may be sorry if you don't. You may also be sorry if you do. But aren't you curious?Collapse )

How better to begin celebrating my favorite month -- the month that contains Halloween -- than with this announcement:

Pre-orders for Red Roses and Dead Things, my first themed studio album, are now officially open! Pardon my squealing, and with big, big thanks to porpentine, who has made the magic go once again. Featuring performances by Paul Kwinn, Tony Fabris, Michelle Dockrey, Amy McNally, Jeff Bohnhoff, Maya Bohnhoff, Tom Smith, and probably several other people that I've managed to temporarily forget, this is a solid star-studded adventure in the worlds of mad science and horror. It brings the creepy. It brings the silly. And it brings the AWESOME.

To place your order, go to:

https://seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Pre-orders follow this price scale:

* $17.00 USD: Domestic pre-order (US and Canada)
* $22.00 USD: International pre-order.

(Basically, all pre-orders are a base cost of $15.00, plus shipping.)

We're taking three hundred total pre-orders, then closing it down; depending on how fast they come, and when we hit three hundred, there may be a small overage, but not much. All pre-orders will be given access to an exclusive download version of 'What A Woman's For' (which may or may not be released more widely into the wild after the album is released). Since we also need to pay mixing costs, we're taking album sponsors; to donate for sponsorship, click here:

All sponsors will be included in the liner notes. You can view the potential track list here:

http://seananmcguire.com/albums.php

The track order is by no means finalized, and I'll probably be doing some canvassing soon, to get an idea of other people's opinions on what should come first, last, where, and when. We may have to cut a song, depending on final track lengths; we don't know yet.

Questions? Comments? Glee!

Hello, and welcome to my journal! I'm pretty sure you know who I am, my name being in the URL and all, but just in case, I'm Seanan McGuire, and you're probably not on Candid Camera. This post exists to answer a few of the questions that I get asked on a semi-hemi-demi-regular basis (currently, approximately every two months). It may look familiar; that's because it gets reposted every time the answers change, and to let new people know how we roll around here. (I will make no more Clueless references in this post, I promise.) Also, sometimes I change the questions. Because I can.

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

Anyway, here you go:

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

Periodically, I mention recording or doing musical projects or make excuses about my word counts. 'Sorry, couldn't finish that chapter, I was recording.' 'Oops, didn't process edits, I was recording.' Well, it being a sort of doleful Tuesday, and much of my weekend having been devoured by recording, I decided that I should provide an example of exactly what that means. So here you go, world:

'Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves.'

This is a very rough take, and I know that I pop the mic a few times (among other things). Basically, we recorded vocals and guitar on the same track to give people something to rehearse from, and Kristoph retreated to perform acts of strange alchemy resulting in a truly awesome guitar part being unleashed upon the world. At that point, I'll go back in and record a real vocal line, one sans unpleasant popping. But for now, that's the song, and I am glad of it.

Life is good.

(For purposes of this post, 'post-weekend' means 'Thursday night to now.')

Well, things continue to be hectic around here, which is exactly how I like them, so I really can't complain. Since Thursday, I have...

* Finished the initial revisions on Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues. This was draft one-and-a-half, to let me fix all the continuity glitches and authorial stupid that had managed to creep in around the edges; now I'm ready to kick off draft two, during which I'll lose 10% of my hard-earned word count and hit all my characters repeatedly with a hammer. Because that's social. I'm feeling super-good about this book, and I love, love, love the fact that it's finally, blessedly finished.

* Purchased tickets to head for Seattle for my first pre-Conflikt rehearsal. Conflikt is the Pacific Northwest's own filk convention, and I'm going to be their Guest of Honor in 2009 (it's a January convention). I'm super-excited, but I'm also super-nervous. Rehearsal will make the nervousness become less while the excitement becomes more. It's a match made in heaven. Plus I get to hang out with all my awesome Seattle area friends, and that never fails to make me happy.

* Processed a bucketload of edits on Late Eclipses of the Sun, aka, 'Toby Daye book four,' aka, 'Seanan, if you just sold the first three, what the hell is wrong with you that you're working on the fourth one already?!' OCD cat is working marginally ahead of the curve, yo. OCD cat is also endlessly amazed by the editing process, because, well...I'm a pretty good author. I think I can say that without bragging, since, y'know, sold the trilogy and all. But give me a bunch of good proofreaders with machetes, and things become amazing. I'm watching this book just get better and better, and it's incredible.

* Finished the third chapter of The Mourning Edition, bringing me one step closer to world domination through zombies. I like world domination through zombies. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

* Entered about ten pages of data into my Toby Continuity Wiki, where it gleams in hyperlinked, clickable glory, thrilling my OCD heart to no end. It's gorgeous. I'm trying not to think about the part where it's the beginning of several hundred cumulative hours of work, because it really is going to make my life infinitely easier, and just dwell on the part where it's gorgeous.

* Started Discount Armageddon, book one of the Price series. Because I know you're gonna say it anyway, say it with me now: CHEESE! AND! CAKE! Also, ballroom dancing, snarky chameleon girls in fancy hotels, apartments sublet from Yeti, and La Parkour. It's good at be this kind of crazy.

My weekend was awesome. How was yours?

Having been asked several times recently, I thought I'd give a quick CD FAQ. The short form: yes, I have recorded and released two CDs, and am currently in the middle of recording a third. My first two CDs remain currently available, although supplies are falling fast. When they're gone, they're gone; I'm not planning to re-release either of them any time soon.

The first CD, Pretty Little Dead Girl: Seanan McGuire and Friends Live at OVFF 2005, was recorded live at, yes, OVFF 2005. Eleven tracks of totally live performance goodness, including the explosion of cheers from the audience when I started taking off my clothes (during 'Maybe It's Crazy,' track five on the album). Several of the songs on this CD exist only on this CD, and probably won't ever be recorded elsewhere.

The second CD, Stars Fall Home, was recorded primarily by Kristoph Klover at Flowinglass Music, with additional tracks recorded everywhere from England to Seattle, Washington. This album features performances by some of my very favorite people, and an incredible amount of raw musical talent. It's a great big sampler box of a CD, with songs ranging from the very, very serious, to the very, very silly. I love it so.

You can listen to samples from both CDs at: http://seananmcguire.com/albums.php

You can order either or both at: https://www.seananmcguire.com/secure_order.php

Both CDs are $17.00 (USD) -- that includes shipping and handling. (That cost is per CD, just to clarify.) International orders are available for an additional $5.00, to cover additional shipping costs.

If you have questions about any of my albums, including the one that's yet to be released, please let me know!