Did you miss the latest iteration of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show? Do you like your events a little more low-key? Do you want to hang out and get things signed? Well, you're in luck on all three counts, because I will be at the Other Change of Hobbit in Berkeley, California this Saturday, from five to seven PM.

Yes, I will read; yes, I will sign; yes, I will answer silly questions. Yes, there may well be music, because I am me, and it is borderline inevitable that there will be music when I go around being me in a public place. Yes, I hope to see you there.

Book events are fun!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you tomorrow's...

PARTY SCHEDULE!

4:00 PM: Setup, sound check, and final details. You can show up, but we may ignore you if you do. Sorry about that.
5:00 PM: Welcome to our party. We're done ignoring you now.
5:40 PM: Perhaps you would like some music.
6:00 PM: Perhaps you would like to win things.
6:30 PM: Now there will be cake.
7:00 PM: More music?
7:30 PM: More prizes?
7:45 PM: Assuming people are not too busy buying books and drinking coffee, I'll read something. No, really.
8:30 PM: Last music of the night.
8:50 PM: Last chance to give the bookstore and cafe money before we say goodnight.
9:00 PM: Last raffle drawing of the night and we close the evening.

This iteration of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show will be in the bookstore proper; the cafe will be open throughout the evening, and they've promised to get more bread and delicious pastry this time. Raffle tickets will be available through the three standard methods: show up, buy something from the bookstore, or buy something from the cafe.

All performing musicians will have CDs for sale, because we're predictable like that. Mia will be there with pendants for sale, and they are gorgeous. There will be cake, and candy, provided as part of the party, and a whole cafe full of delicious things to purchase and enjoy.

It's gonna be a good night. Hope to see you there.

Have you always wanted to attend one of my book events? Well, here's your chance!

The Traveling Circus will be reuniting this Saturday, September 18th, for a gala bash at Borderlands Books in San Francisco, California! Festivities will commence at five, and continue until nine, by which point the bookstore will have had more than enough of us, and will doubtless shovel us all out into the street.

Will there be music? Yes, there will be music. With Amy McNally, Michelle Dockrey, Betsy Tinney, SJ Tucker, and Brooke Lunderville in attendance, music has become unavoidable. The musicians will be back in the bookstore this time, leaving the cafe open for the consumption of delicious, delicious beverages, and even more delicious food.

Will there be a raffle? Yes, there will be a raffle. Awesome prizes are being prepared as we speak, tucked into their box with care as we get ready for the big night. All attendees will get a raffle ticket automatically; get another ticket by making a purchase at either the bookstore or the cafe (three tickets per person, maximum).

Will there be cake? Yes, there will be cake. It's Toby's one-year publication "birthday," and cake makes every birthday better.

Will there be pendants? Yes, there will be pendants. chimera_fancies will be in attendance, with a never-before-seen batch of pendants created from an ARC of An Artificial Night. They're some of her best work to date, and will be available for sale throughout the evening. Seriously, you don't want to miss these.

Remember that, if you can't attend, Borderlands is happy to take requests for signed and personalized books, and I'd be thrilled to sign a book to be mailed to you. They have all three Toby books, Feed, The Living Dead 2, and—the last time I checked—one of the last remaining retail copies of Ravens in the Library. So show up if you can, and consider placing an order if you can't!

This message bought and paid for by The Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show, LLC.

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.

Looking for something to do tomorrow? Wondering what mischief you could possibly get up to? Longing for spooky stories, creepy environs, naked cats, and cupcakes? Well, your potentially haunted ship is sailing into harbor, because tomorrow (July 17th) is the second, and final, stop on the Murder and Mayhem Tour.

Jennifer Brozek (Murder) and I (Mayhem) will be appearing at Borderlands Books from 3:00 PM until we get bored and wander away. Jennifer will be reading selections from her new book, In A Gilded Light, while I'll be reading from "Sparrow Hill Road." To quote Jennifer:

"Together, Murder and Mayhem will read excerpts from their fiction, tell tales out of school and generally have a good time."

Also, there will be cupcakes.

Seriously, though, we'll be signing books, answering questions, and generally having a lovely time, and we'd love to have you. There's also a chance that I'll have copies of Mischief (the new SJ Tucker album), if they reach me in time.

See you there!

July.
Okay, so, like, who authorized it being July already? Who said "golly, 2010's been fun and all, but let's go ahead and shift things around so that it'll be closer to being 2011"? Because whoever that is, I am not okay with them. Anyway:

There are five weekends in July, and I have five appearances in July. Funny how that works out. Three of them are conventions, and the other two are book tour events. We begin with Westercon/ConChord over 4th of July weekend. I'm ConChord's Guest of Honor and Westercon's Music Guest, which a) makes this my first Westercon guest appearance, and b) makes this convention sort of a big deal. Paul Kwinn is their Toastmaster, and between the two of us, there's going to be a whole lot of hoot and a whole lot of nanny. Plus it's in Pasadena, land of Disney, where a good time can easily be had by all.

I'll be spending the second weekend of July in Seattle for the Murder and Mayhem Tour with Jennifer Brozek. We'll be reading at Third Place Books, and then heading to the Wayward Coffeehouse for the Serenity Shindig. Will I be joining Vixy and company on stage? Only one way to know for sure, and that's to be there. Jennifer and I will be getting together again in the third weekend of July, when she comes down to the Bay Area for the second stop on the Murder and Mayhem Tour. We'll be at Borderlands Books, home of all good things, and there will probably be cupcakes.

The weekend after that, it's back to Southern California for the San Diego International Comic Convention. Last year when I was there, I didn't have any books in print, and this year, I have three, along with ARCs for the fourth. I'm on amazing panels, and will be posting my schedule soon. I may hyperventilate and die. Only not, because at the end of the month, I have Spocon! In Spokane, Washington, where I'll be the Filk Guest, along with Author Guest Tanya Huff! Ladies of DAW, unite!

August.
Australia awaits. I am so nervous, and so excited.

September.
The release of An Artificial Night! The return of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show!

October.
In October, I will be flying to New York for the New York City Comic Convention (my first one!), to Ohio for the Ohio Valley Filk Festival (not my first one!), and to Alabama for my annual pilgrimage to the haunted corn maze (mmmmmmmm, corn). It's a good thing I can sleep on planes, right? Also, I may be releasing my fourth album...

November.
Sleep.

December.
Seattle, and sleep.

January.
Gafilk! I am the Guest of Honor at Georgia's own filk convention, and I'm bringing my Vixy, and we are going to BLOW THE ROOF OFF, YO. Details to come.

The year is filling up fast, and more things are bound to appear as the months draw closer—look at how detailed the next few months are compared to the later ones. If you want me, book early, book often, and bribe.

Whee!

So this Saturday is going to be my very first SF in SF (Science Fiction in San Francisco), and I am both elated and terrified. This is a combination that only remains fun for short periods of time, so I'm calling on all local people to please, please come and help. How can you help? By attending.

I'll be appearing with the fantastic Deborah Grabien. There's going to be a reading, followed by a question and answer session/interview moderated by Terry Bisson. So that should be a lot of fun. The doors open at six, and there will be book sales (courtesy of Borderlands Books), as well as refreshment sales (because boozy authors are more fun than the sober kind).

The event is going to take place at The Variety Preview Room, at 582 Market Street, in the first floor of The Hobart Building. It's literally right next to the Montgomery Street BART Station, so it's totally accessible and awesome. There will be audience participation for the Q&A, and time for hanging out and signing books in the lounge before the event ends at nine-thirty.

Proceeds from the events go to the Variety Children’s Charity.

And while we're on the topic...what do you think I should read? Seanan-style writings only, please; anything by Mira Grant is off the table for this specific event.

Hope to see you there!

Today was my signing event at the Pleasant Hill Borders. I woke bright and early (too bright, and too early; after waking up at 6:20 AM, I went back to bed for another hour and a half), walked to the grocery store for a fresh fruit breakfast, and came back to the house to shower and watch The West Wing while I prepared myself for the day ahead. Wonder of wonders, Mom wasn't just on time, she was early, and we got on the road with time to spare.

After stopping at a yard sale en route, we reached the Borders, parked, hit the Farmer's Market for several pounds of cherries, and went into the bookstore, where I had a small table dedicated to my use, thoughtfully outfitted with some Sharpies and a few bottles of water. People showed up. I signed things. We chatted. It was very nice, although the sheer size of the stack of books made me feel rather like I was letting down the team, and should have been sneaking ninja-like around the store, sliding paperbacks into purses and making people pay to avoid shoplifting fines.

(One fascinating facet of being a "visiting author" in a bookstore: no one wants to meet your eye, for fear that they'll be forced by guilt to buy your book. Much like a Venus flytrap, I had to adopt a strategy of "ignore them until they're too close to escape." Also, once the bookstore employees stop looking you in the face, it's time to leave.)

We eventually took a break for lunch and errands, running to the Best Buy for a new camera* and then to the Texas BBQ for tasty, tasty lunch. I had BBQ chicken, and we split a blackberry cobbler, to which I can only say HOLY CRAP NOM. After that, it was back to the bookstore for a pleasant hour of reading all their comic books while not actually signing anything. Oh, well.

And then the fun started.

See, when we left the bookstore, the car wouldn't start. Several people ignored Mom's pleas for a jump, leading her to call a friend to come jump us. The battery was essentially a zombie at this point, obeying our commands only so long as we didn't feed it salt...so it was off to Pep Boys to buy a battery. Um, yay? I was so tired I was yawning the whole time, and read several old Women's World magazines, which taught me that a) desserts are good, but b) I shouldn't eat them ever, or I'll be fat and no one will love me, and c) men like sex, presumably after a good dessert that I'm not allowed to eat. Again, um, yay?

Having purchased a new battery, Mom drove me to the comic book store, and I salved my wounded soul with graphic novels. Which I will now read. So if you're wondering where I am? I'm in the back of my house, reading the new X-Babies.

Snikt.

(*Yes, this means kitty pictures soon. You're welcome.)

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!

First up, I'm going to be speaking at CoyoteCon this coming Saturday night; schedule details are here. I'm appearing as part of an author conversation, alongside Lucy Snyder, and I'm very excited. Best of all, since this is a virtual conference, I can do it while wearing my jack-o-lantern sleep pants and snuggling my kitties. It's much easier to be professional and authorial when I get to wear pumpkin pants and get kitty snuggles. I'm just saying.

Next weekend, I'm going a bit further afield, and while I could probably do it in my pajamas if I really wanted to, kitty snuggles are not an option. I'm Filk Guest of Honor at Marcon in scenic Columbus, Ohio. I'll be performing in concert with Tom Smith, Dr. Mary Crowell, and the ever-fabulous Amy McNally, and Judi Miller will be signing (so if you've ever wanted to see her do "Wicked Girls," you should really show up). The convention is Friday, May 28th through Sunday, May 30th, and I'm super excited.

I'll post my schedule for the con sometime next week. And oh! I'm bringing Kate as my official handler, so if you've been dying to meet her, again, you should really show up. I have no scheduled bookstore events while in Ohio, but I've met me, and I'm likely to sign any stock that presents itself; I'll try to put up a list of which stores I visit, just in case you can't make the convention, but can make the drive.

This is my first Marcon, and I'd really like to make it amazing. Yes, it does mean I'll be missing BayCon; I'm planning to miss BayCon next year, too, as I'm probably attending Wiscon. The times, they are a'changing.

Marcon!

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!

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.

Hey, guys—

I'm currently answering questions and chatting with people over at Bitten By Books. Here's the link:

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=21204

Please drop by, so I don't feel like I'm talking to my stuffed animal collection about how honored I am to be considered for enrollment in the Starfleet Academy?

I'll post a writeup of last night's party...later. When I'm actually awake, and not simply faking it really, really well. (Right now, y'all are lucky I'm writing in English, and not in some sublime language of my own creation, which would involve neither capitalization nor punctuation.) For right now, if you missed the Circus coming to town, there are still a few places where you can catch me. Namely...

I'll be appearing at the San Bruno Barnes and Noble on Friday, March 12th, from 7 to 9 PM. I'll be reading, answering questions, and signing books, which you can even buy right there. Total convenience! I'll also be essentially jetlagged, which could make me really, really entertaining. The bookstore is located at...

1150 El Camino Real
Space 227
San Bruno, Ca 94066

My dear friend Chaz Brenchley will be appearing at Borderlands Books on Saturday, March 13th, at 3:00 PM. I'm planning to attend, to show my support. This means that if you had wanted to order a book inscribed (not just signed), you can contact Borderlands now, and I'll be able to personalize the book for you on Saturday. (Please also remember that, for signed books through the mail, Borderlands remains your absolute best of all possible options. Largely because there aren't any other options.)

Rounding out a weekend during which sleep is not an option, I'll be appearing at the Belmont Library in Belmont, California (near San Francisco) on Sunday, March 14th, at 2:00 PM. There will be a reading and a Q&A session. I will also be signing things, although I won't be selling things myself, so if you want something signed, please bring it with you. I will not sign checks, binding contracts, or children that don't belong to you. This is my first library appearance, and I'd really love to see you there.

And that's my weekend. It's like I'm a professional author or something...

Well, here we go again: I will be descending on San Francisco's own Borderlands Books, accompanied by Amy McNally, Tricky Pixie, and my usual entourage of deep weirdness. The event starts at five and runs until nine (they've extended the bookstore's hours JUST FOR US), and will include a whole lot of awesome packed into a reasonably small span of time.

The schedule for the evening:

5:00 PM: Welcome to our party.
5:40 PM: Perhaps you would like some music.
6:00 PM: Perhaps you would like to win things.
7:00 PM: More music?
7:30 PM: More prizes?
7:45 PM: Assuming people are not too busy buying books and drinking coffee, Seanan will read something.
8:30 PM: Last music of the night.
8:50 PM: Last chance to give the bookstore and cafe money before we say goodnight.
9:00 PM: Last raffle drawing of the night and we close the evening.

Raffle prizes this time include pendants by Mia of chimera_fancies (and they are insanely gorgeous, seriously), signed books, albums, games, the German edition of Rosemary and Rue, and more. Remember that Borderlands will take requests for signed books, so if you can't make it, you can contact the store to request a copy signed for you. I do hope we'll see you there, and if you can't be there in the flesh, the store is astral projection-friendly.

Book release party!

Did you want to hang out with cool people, hear cool music, get things signed, and maybe win cool prizes? Well, tomorrow's your chance, since the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show will be rolling into San Francisco's Borderlands Books at five, and staying until they kick us out.

The schedule for the event:

5:00 PM: Welcome to our party.
5:40 PM: Perhaps you would like some music.
6:00 PM: Perhaps you would like to win things.
7:00 PM: More music?
7:30 PM: More prizes?
7:45 PM: Assuming people are not too busy buying books and drinking coffee, Seanan will read something.
8:30 PM: Last music of the night.
8:50 PM: Last chance to give the bookstore and cafe money before we say goodnight.
9:00 PM: Last raffle drawing of the night and we close the evening.

Remember that Borderlands will take requests for signed books, so if you can't make it, you can contact the store to request a copy signed for you. I do hope we'll see you there, and I'll post a more detailed reminder tomorrow.

Book release party!

My beloved Amy, savior of tired blondes, fiddler to the very gods themselves, arrived last night on a plane from Alabama, where she'd been visiting her sister and staying with my Halloween Family (the Crowells). Amy is key to my survival during Release Week Madness, being a very focused and centered individual whose primary purpose in life sometimes seems to be keeping the various members of her extended campana from self-destructing in a variety of exciting ways. I love Amy very much.

In preparation for her visit, I placed an order with my favorite cupcakery, Cups and Cakes, which is located conveniently close to my office. Specifically, I ordered an assorted dozen cupcakes, to please please please include the Mudslide (slightly bitter dark chocolate cake with Bailey's and Kahlua buttercream icing). After a long day spent dreaming of cupcakes and fiddlers, I left the office and went to make the pickup, only to learn to my delight that my personal favorite flavor, the Peanut Butter and Jelly, had also been included in the assortment. (Sweet grape cake with peanut butter buttercream. Basically, these cupcakes are felony-level delicious.) Victory!

As Amy's flight was not for several hours, I also grabbed a couple of spare Mudslide cupcakes with which to bribe Jude, who was on-duty at Borderlands Books, where I intended to kill some time. Borderlands is an excellent place to sit and work, at least if you're me, and find the smells and sounds of a well-maintained bookstore endlessly soothing.

The cupcakes and I reached the bookstore without incident, and I promptly plied Jude with her delicious cupcake-y treats, thus convincing her to allow me to sit and work. (It didn't take much convincing, or really, any convincing; Borderlands is very pro-authors actually finishing books, providing we're not breaking anything while we do it.) Alas, it turned out that Ripley and Ash, the store's hairless cats, were less well-inclined toward my literary aspirations. The afternoon went something like this...

"Mow."
"No, Ripley, you can't have my lap. I'm working."
"Wow."
"Okay, you can have half my lap. But I'm still working."
"Yow."
"Just let me shut down my laptop, and I'll pet you."
"Now."
"...stop speaking English, it's creepy."

Ash, meanwhile, rode the Kitty Crazytrain around the store until it became time to groom herself, at which point she perched on my arm and licked her naked arms with blithe abandon. I think, perhaps, that I spend too much time at Borderlands, as the cats have now started to regard me as furniture.

In the "spending too much time at Borderlands" category, local folks please remember that I'll be at the store on March 9th for the A Local Habitation release party. We'll have live music from SJ Tucker, Betsy Tinney, Amy McNally, and potentially more; a raffle with some awesome, awesome prizes; a reading from A Local Habitation; and the Great Pumpkin only knows what else. It's gonna be an awesome time, and I'd love to see lots and lots of you there.

Borderlands Books. Because sometimes, we like our cats with a side-order of Nair.

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!

Last night I was the featured author at the Clayton Books monthly book club, in Clayton, California. The bookstore is literally two doors down from my dentist, so it's sort of a miracle I agreed to go anywhere near it without an armed guard; perhaps my phobia is getting better. Or maybe I was just really excited to have been asked. Whatever the reason for my attendance, it was agreed upon several months ago. When I was invited, I asked what was expected of me. The bookstore owner said, jokingly, that I should bring cupcakes.

More fool he.

At three, I convinced a co-worker to drive me to the Cups and Cakes Bakery, which I am rapidly coming to believe is the best cupcake bakery (cupcakery?) in the universe. I had placed an order for three dozen cupcakes, which were waiting for me in their pretty pink boxes, ready to go off and be consumed. In total, there were a dozen grasshopper cupcakes (dark chocolate cake with peppermint frosting—think a cakey, delicious version of the Thin Mint), a dozen pretty pretty princess cupcakes (strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream frosting and edible silver pearls), and a variety pack containing two deep dark chocolate, two vanilla (which are possibly the Ur-Vanilla cupcakes, intended to be honored in song and in story), two red velvet, two cloud nine (angel food cake with seven-minute frosting), two root beer float, and two banana with salted caramel frosting. Because when I bring cupcakes to my own party, I don't screw around.

Getting into the BART system, during a major storm, while carrying three dozen cupcakes: not the easiest thing I have ever done. But funny. Especially as people tried to wheedle me into giving them cupcakes (and then inevitably said "No, no, I was just kidding" and looked alarmed when I shrugged and said "Yeah, sure"). My mother picked me up on the Walnut Creek side, where we placed the cupcakes reverently in her backseat and proceeded to the normal Wednesday errands, including the obligate stop at the comic book store. Flying Colors, how I adore you.

After a stop at the house to brush the cat, change my clothes, brush the cat, comb my hair, brush the cat, pack a bag for the evening, and brush the cat, we were off to dinner (at Applebee's) and then the bookstore. We arrived around seven, and walked in, toting cupcakes. They had my picture up in several places. Feeling thus boldly recognizable, I approached the woman at the counter.

"Where should I put these?"

She looked at me blankly. I began to worry that they had some other fluffy blonde urban fantasy author coming, and I was in the wrong place.

"I think I'm tonight's author?"

"Oh!" She beamed. "I didn't expect you to bring snacks!"

People never take me seriously.

Mom and I wandered around the bookstore looking at things while we waited for the event to begin. Eventually, people began to trickle in, including Joel, the owner of the store, and X., my housemate (who belongs to the book club). Only one other member of the actual book club showed up, thanks to the UNENDING RAIN: the rest of the audience consisted of my friend Shawn, his wife, Elsa (who braved the cold with a cold to attend), Andy from the comic book store, and my mother. Still, we sat and talked for two hours, mostly about Toby, and everybody ate cupcakes with great alacrity, so I'm calling it a win. Also, I still have cupcakes.

Yum.

If you're in the Seattle area, come to the Wayward Coffeehouse tonight at eight for HEAPING PILES OF AWESOME.

Dude, I dressed Mel like Captain Tightpants for you people. That counts for something, right? And our set list is made of win. And what Betsy does on "Mama Said" will break your heart.

See you there.

Just a reminder: I'll be appearing at Writers With Drinks tomorrow night. The details:

When: Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009, 7:30 to 9:30 PM, doors open at 6:30 PM
Who: Dan Fante, Joshua Mohr, Mark Coggins, Mollena Williams, Meliza Banales and Seanan McGuire
Where: The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd. St. between Mission and Valencia, San Francisco
How much: $3 to $5 sliding scale, all proceeds benefit the Center for Sex & Culture

I'll be reading from something (either the first chapter of Feed, "Dying With Her Cheer Pants On," or "A Citizen In Childhood's Country," depending on the mood by the time it gets to me), and generally being happy to see everybody who drags themselves out to enjoy the show. It would be awesome if I could see you there!

I'm going to be appearing at Writers With Drinks this Saturday, and I need some help deciding what I should read. So—as is my wont—I turn to you. What do you think I should read?



I need to decide by Friday, so as to have time to prepare my reading (or recitation). Sound off, and save me from my own wishy-washy tendencies!

1. I'm taking entries for the pet photography ARC giveaway through the end of the weekend. No horses, snakes, or hermit crabs yet, but I'm holding out hope!

2. There's a shiny new interview with me over at Book Love Affair, discussing the next two Toby books, the first of my books as Mira Grant (Feed), how I keep myself from spontaneously combusting, and various other topics of interest. I'm answering questions throughout the day, so please, swing by, and see if anything sparks your curiosity!

3. I'm going to be appearing December 12th in San Francisco as part of the Writers With Drinks series. To quote the website, "Writers With Drinks combines erotica with literature, stand-up comedy with science fiction and poetry with essays." The show is at The Make-Out Room (3225 22nd. St., San Francisco), from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM. The doors open at 7 PM. I don't know yet just how many drinks this writer will have, but if I have enough, my piece for the evening will probably be the full stand-up version of The Microwave Story. Be there!

4. In case that's not good for you (and it may not be, as not everyone is local to me), I'm also going to be doing a book reading/concert at the Wayward Coffeehouse in Seattle, on December 26th. Vixy and Tony are going to be there to help me blow the roof off, and there will be lots of other exciting goodies throughout the night. It's gonna be awesome.

5. I'm going to go finish Discount Armageddon now.

Tomorrow night, I will be participating in the fifth annual LitQuake LitCrawl, as one of the featured authors on the second stage of the Crawl. For the full schedule, and details on who else you can catch reading tomorrow, check out the website here:

http://www.litquake.org/category/schedule/

My stage of the crawl will run from 7:15 to 8:15 PM; I'll be showing up at my assigned venue, the lovely and ever-popular Borderlands Books, at around 6:00 PM (6:30 at the latest), so feel free to wander by, get things signed, and get yourself well-positioned for the readings to come. There are three authors reading during our assigned one-hour time frame: myself, John Levitt, and Loren Rhoads. I'm the second author up, but can't tell you exactly when I'm going to start, and I'll be reading a story you have Probably Never Encountered Before (dun-dun-DUUUUUUUUN).

This is a great opportunity to support local authors, support local literature events, and best of all, support your local bookstore. And, on a personal note, not only would I love it if you could come out, but Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] was the best-selling mass-market paperback at Borderlands for the month of September, and it would be awesome if we could finish out October at least in the top five. So if you've been considering nabbing another copy (they make great trick-or-treat prizes!), this would be an excellent time to swing by and snag it. I'll even sign it for you. Or for anybody else you want me to sign it to.

Hope to see you there!

October.
So it turns out that October is, well, pretty damn busy. First up, I'm signing books at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show on Saturday, October 10th. I've never been to one of these shows before, so it should be really interesting. One week after that, on October 17th, I'll be one of the featured readers at Borderlands Books during the annual LitCrawl! I get a reading slot, followed by signing and socializing. You should totally come. You should also totally buy an extra copy of Rosemary and Rue and tell the bookstore owners that I'm awesome. Just saying.

One week after that, I'll be flying to Ohio for the Ohio Valley Filk Festival, where we will be having an at-con book release party! Unfortunately for my haunted corn maze in Alabama aspirations, World Fantasy 2009 has been shifted to Halloween weekend, so I'm going to be flying back to California immediately after the convention to spend a weekend in San Jose, making friends and influencing people. Or at least staying upright. My editor from DAW is flying out, and I'm hoping to get the chance to introduce her to Lilly, Alice, and Kate. Not necessarily in that order.

November.
I'm spending the second week of November in New York, visiting my publishers. I'll probably try to arrange a group "if you show up here at this time, I'll totally be happy to see you" outing of some sort, if not a full-on book signing or whatnot. After that, I intend to spend the month of November sleeping, petting my cats, and powering through roughly 20,000 words of Blackout, which I'm aiming to finish by end of January.

December.
I'll be appearing at the Writers With Drinks event on December 12th; more information will be provided as it becomes available to me. I'll also be heading to Seattle for my now-annual "harass Vixy and Tony over the holidays" extravaganza. No one knows, as yet, whether this will include any extracurricular activities. I'll keep you posted.

January.
In January, I'm definitely intending to head up to Seattle for Conflikt III, the Pacific Northwest's very own filk convention. Tom Smith will be the Guest of Honor, which is going to be awesome, and I may be able to make my stay long enough to allow for a side-trip to Powells, the CITY OF BOOKS. Everybody wins!

February.
It's looking more and more likely that February will include a trip to the UK, to attend the UK filk convention (where my beloved Vixy and Tony will be the Guests of Honor), meet my UK publisher for the Mason books, and possibly take a side-jaunt over to Germany. Because sleep is for the weak and sickly, my darlings, sleep is for the weak and sickly.

February will also be Wondercon, but exact dates have not yet been announced.

March.
Again, nothing major. Just, I don't know, THE RELEASE OF THE SECOND TOBY BOOK. A Local Habitation will be coming out in the first week of March. Expect flailing, hysterical, and awesome stuff. How awesome? "I've done this before and know what I'm doing now" awesome. Be there. (Just to make things more exciting, the release of A Local Habitation coincides with Consonance, the Bay Area's own filk convention, where Tricky Pixie will be appearing as Guests of Honor. Because I needed my head to explode if at all possible.)

April.
This month is currently completely free. I expect this to change any day now. I have learned my lesson about expecting free time.

May.
In May, the first of the Mira Grant books, Feed, will be hitting shelves. I cannot express how excited I am by this book. I love the world, I love the characters, and sort of like the softer side of Sears, this is a whole different side of my work. Only for "softer," substitute "gory, merciless, scientific, political, and horrific." I really can't wait. I'm trying to pretend that I won't explode.

Also in May, I'll be attending Marcon in Columbus, Ohio as their Music Guest of Honor. The theme is "Necropolis," and the timing couldn't be better (nor the theme closer to my heart). Watch for thrills, chills, and possibly 1940s couture made from horrible zombie-print Halloween fabrics. Also, this is your chance to get up to three of my books signed. WHOA!

The year is filling up fast, and more things are bound to appear as the months draw closer—look at how detailed the next few months are compared to the later ones. If you want me, book early, book often, and bribe.

Whee!

Let's go back in time, to Friday, September 4th. (Feel free to make Wayne and Garth time-travel hands. They're like jazz hands, only awesome.) Rosemary and Rue has been available for purchase for less than a week. My house has been thoroughly invaded by book preparation, and also by Amy, who arrived while I had Martian Death Flu and didn't run screaming. My sanity is at a record ebb, since there's so much that needs to be done.

What a perfect time to have a party.

My first book release party was scheduled to happen at Illusive Comics, a comic book store in Santa Clara, California, owned and operated by my friend Anna. It was nepotism that got me the gig, I make no bones about that, but I really wanted a South Bay appearance, and she really wanted an excuse for a party, so hey, nothing wrong here. (My book release was Anna's first-ever non-comic book event. To say that we were both a little nervous is like saying that millipedes are a little over-equipped in the "legs" department.

While I spent the day at my day job, slogging away and trying not to chew through my fingers, the invasion began. Members of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show poured in from all over the place. Vixy, Tony, and Betsy came from the Seattle area; Brooke came from Vancouver, Canada; Sooj and K came via car from their ongoing magical musical road trip; Mia and Ryan came from Portland, Oregon. (Mia and Ryan, in fact, came at 5:27 AM. Because driving from Oregon to California is awesome.) They slowly filled my house to capacity, frightening the cats and waiting to pounce.

Amy spent the day at Kristoph's, doing awesome fiddle things, and when I called to ask her for an ETA, said that Kristoph would be delivering her to the house. Score! Everything's better with Kristoph.

Mom collected me from the train station, and we arrived home to find it occupied by a Mia, a Ryan, a Brooke, and an Amy. Hugs happened, followed by rapid-fire gathering of the things we'd need for the evening, and then we were off to the hotel where Vixy, Tony, Sooj, and K were staying, to collect the four of them (plus Betsy, who'd initially gone to the hotel when she arrived) and all their musical instruments. Mom had wisely borrowed a van from a friend for the weekend, and we filled that thing to capacity. More hugs were exchanged, and we took off in three vehicles, after a short stop at the 7-11 for provisions. (This is where I mention that my little sister, Rachel, and her girlfriend, Chris, were also in the van.)

We were off! We were running! We were on fire! We were...lost in very short order, leading to my mother stopping at a gas station for directions, while I went into the bathroom to throw up from sheer panic. I don't handle being late very well.

Still, wrong turns and panic attacks aside, we got there only fifteen minutes after the official start, and were met at the curb by the first of what would be many, many bags of candy corn. Inside, the joint was jumpin', and Anna was doing a brisk business in copies of Rosemary and Rue, as well as a few precious copies of Ravens in the Library. (We rapidly sold out of Rosemary and Rue.) The musicians gathered at the back of the store to tune and prepare; I went behind the counter to start signing things and eating candy corn. Blonde does not live by candy corn alone, and Ryan II was dispatched to bring me back delicious samosas. Mmmmmmm, samosas.

I signed more books. Anna looked increasingly wide-eyed as we packed more and more (and more and more) people into her little store. The Magic: the Gathering players set up between us and the bathroom looked more and more concerned that we were going to eat them. My food arrived. I ate my food. Time for music!

Much of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show had never actually shared a stage before that night, although all of us had played with some combination of the others. We opened with "Wicked Girls," and more than half the room was singing along. I nearly cried. From there, the music was a selection of offerings from each of our musicians—Vixy and Tony's "Thirteen," Betsy's "Wildlife," Sooj's version of "Tam Lin," Brooke's "Rosemary and Rue," and Amy doing mad reels like she thought the night might actually catch flame. Paul Kwinn even joined us for one number, and we did "This Is My Town" live for the first time in years. "Dorothy" was added to the set at the last minute—it turns out Anna, who used to publish the comic that inspired the song, wanted to hear it! Who knew? (This is by no means a complete set list.)

We closed the night with "Alligator In the House," with hugs, with laughter, and without an unclaimed copy of Rosemary and Rue in sight. The Circus was officially underway—and what a magical beginning! Could it get any better?

Actually, yes. It could. Next up, Saturday, San Francisco, slinky Sphynx, and serious sirens seriously invading one of the Bay Area's best independent bookstores. It's time for the Circus to hit Borderlands like a meteorite hitting a cornfield in a horror movie! Yay!

So—as you all probably know by now—last weekend was the first-ever assembly of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show, an amazing conglomeration of incredibly talented people who came together, as if by magic, to help make the book release parties for Rosemary and Rue even more awesome than they might otherwise have been. Seriously, it was incredible. It was like I made a wish-list of everything and everyone I could possibly have wanted to be there, and while I didn't get everything I asked for, I got so much of it that it would be insanely greedy to go "but wah, where's my pony?" I felt loved and honored and truly blessed to be surrounded by so much pure hammered awesome.

Actual, physical attendees who traveled more than a hundred miles to run away with the circus included...

* Amy McNally, from the depths of Wisconsin.
* Vixy and Tony, from Seattle, Washington.
* Betsy "Alice's breeder" Tinney, also from Seattle.
* Brooke Lunderville, from Vancouver, Canada.
* Mia and Ryan, from Portland, Oregon.
* SJ Tucker and K, from here, there, and everywhere.

Our parties were confirmed for Borderlands Books, in San Francisco, and Illusive Comics, in Santa Clara. (The third event, at Other Change of Hobbit in Berkeley, was unfortunately cancelled due to staffing conflicts.) Jude and Alan at Borderlands, and Anna at Illusive, were wonderful at helping to set up timing and guidelines before the events, and without their amazing support, our kitchen party wouldn't have been half as good.

But that's not the half of it.

Mia Nutick (copperwise) is the proprietor and creative force behind chimera_fancies, where she recycles old fairy tale books into works of wearable art. Her pendants are incredible, unique, and highly coveted by those of us who know about her—she's like the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab of jewelry, only everything she makes is a Limited Edition, and that edition is limited to one. Her sale days are sort of like watching piranha go for a cow. A pretty, sparkly, amazingly collectable cow.

Because I love Mia, I asked her if she'd be willing to recycle her review ARC (she does book reviews for Green Man) into pendantry for my book release party. Because she loves me, she said yes. And because she loves everyone, she made more than forty pendants from a single ARC, bringing them all with her down the coast to California. Five were selected to be put into the raffle at our Saturday night event. Various others were claimed by members of the Traveling Circus, because we wouldn't have time to peruse the sale table during the event itself. And all of them were signed by me, making them even more amazingly special. Pendants, handmade made from an ARC of Rosemary and Rue, signed by the author? Pardon me while I flail.

Here are a few of the glorious goodies:



Naturally, not many of them went home with Mia. If you're going all wide-eyed and "want," fear not; I sent her home with a slightly battered ARC that had been sent back to me by a reviewer, and she's going to be making a second batch, this one for Internet distribution. You can check the sale rules and price ranges at chimera_fancies; she's going to be shipping me the pendants when they're done, so that they can all be signed prior to the sale, and expects the batch to be available sometime in the next month or so. I'll post sales announcements here. If batch two is anything like batch one, they're going to be gorgeous.

Mia wasn't the only one contributing to making the event incredible. I contacted Dawn, proprietor of Polidori Chocolates, and asked if she might be interested in doing a line of truffles based around the book. Yeah. Toby-themed chocolates. We went there. We went there like it was a gold-star vacation destination with the possible added bonus of a volcano that we could toss people into for fun. And the results were incredible.

Dawn provided four flavors of truffle that were, quite simply, divine. Our truffle-tasting party on Friday night was an exercise in pure decadence. To quote one of the attendees (Book Love Affair) of Saturday's event: "Take careful note of the box of Polidori truffles, because apparently they were made by God himself. Or that's how they tasted anyway. Polidori must mean 'God of Sweet Things' somewhere."

The flavors, themed after characters, were...

Toby. Espresso ganache with cocoa nibs, enrobed in sweet milk chocolate, and tasting of paradise.
Tybalt. Dark chocolate with a mint ganache, topped with a sharp, surprising ripple of lemon.
Lily. White chocolate ganache flavored with green tea, enrobed in chocolate, topped with a whisper of ginger.
Devin. Chocolate enrobed vanilla ganache with a bite of black pepper, warm, spicy, and wicked-tasting.

There are not words for the incredible awesomeness of these chocolates. Polidori's Etsy shop has been closed for the summer, due to the issues inherent in shipping chocolates when you're a small operation, but should be re-opening soon, and will have the Toby truffles available for your decadent enjoyments. Imagine eating a box of these while re-reading your favorite chapter...yum.

Honestly, I won at event prep right out the gate, and I cannot thank the people involved nearly enough.

Next up...Friday, getting lost in Santa Clara, herding cats, and too much candy corn!

Hey, folks! Just a friendly reminder that tonight is the Rosemary and Rue event at San Francisco's very own Borderlands Books! Featuring live music by Kitten Sundae, Brooke Lunderville, and Amy McNally, an awesome raffle of awesomeness, Pollidori Chocolates original truffles, naked cats, and so much more, we're planning to blow the doors off the place.

Tonight's schedule:

5:00 PM: Welcome to our party.
5:40 PM: Perhaps you would like some music.
6:00 PM: Perhaps you would like to win things.
7:00 PM: More music?
7:30 PM: More prizes?
7:45 PM: Assuming people are not too busy eating cookies, Seanan will read something.
8:30 PM: Last music of the night.
8:50 PM: Last chance to give the bookstore money before we say goodnight.
9:00 PM: Last raffle drawing of the night and we close the evening.

You do not have to be present to win, but you do need to have someone holding your ticket and ready to claim a prize for you. Prizes will be on the table, and can be claimed as winners are called.

I hope you can come!

Hey, guys, remember, tonight is the first Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies] book release party. We'll be at Illusive Comics in Santa Clara, California, starting at 7:00 PM Pacific Time.

Illusive Comics is an awesome mix of comic books, games, and genre fiction, run by the intrepid and delightful Anna Warren, who is presently enormously pregnant. We'll have cake, snakes, and a rare California appearance by Kitten Sundae, one of the most kickin'-cool bands to hail from the Pacific Northwest. Come for the book, stay for the live music, the cool company, and the opportunity to walk away with a "no shit, there I was" story of your very own.

Mia of chimera_fancies will also be in attendance, and the shinies she has with her are the sort you have to see to believe. Plus you can meet my mom, and see just how serious I really am (very).

Hope you can be there!

1) A lot of new folks have been wandering in over the past few days, probably because of this wacky thing I did called "releasing a book." Hi, new people! If you're wondering just what the hell you've gone and gotten yourself into, I recommend either hitting the "welcome post" tag, which leads to my semi-regular welcome posts, or wait until next Wednesday, when I'll be putting up the September welcome post. Yes, I really am that organized. The alternative is hysterical flailing, and that thread is useless without pictures.

2) Tangentially related, I have my 2010 Franklin-Covey planner pages! There was very nearly hysteria in the Franklin-Covey store, as the clerk who was helping me responded to my request for the Simplicity 2010 daily pages with "Oh, that's been discontinued." When I started to hyperventilate, he mysteriously located my pages in the stockroom. Perhaps he should consider that when you take a job in the OCD porn store, it's not nice to taunt the people who shop there. We're likely to flip out and beat someone to death with a hole punch.

3) The invasion has begun! Amy has been at my house since last week. Over the next few days, Brooke, Vixy and Tony, Betsy, Sooj and K, Rebecca, and Mia and Ryan will all be arriving. (No, they're not all staying with me. I have insufficient house for that sort of invasion.) Alice and Lilly have handled things well so far, what with the pre-invasion cleaning and the imported fiddler. Alice is especially fond of the imported fiddler, and has abandoned me heartlessly to hang out with Amy.

4) When looking for details on upcoming appearances, please remember that all confirmed appearances are listed in great detail on my website Appearances Page. I don't mind answering questions, but especially right now, there can be a pretty lengthy delay between you saying "hey, are you going to be...?" and my actually getting a chance to answer you. Since appearance questions are innately time-sensitive, please, please check the website first. It may save you missing a really awesome party.

5) Again tangentially related, since it's been asked several times: the raffle is Saturday night, at Borderlands. There isn't a raffle scheduled for Friday night, because it wasn't arranged ahead of time (we weren't aware of how many raffle prizes we'd actually have available to us until very recently). So if you want to participate in the raffle, you need to come to the Saturday book party.

6) If you're planning to come to the Saturday book party, remember that you can get an extra raffle ticket by bringing delicious baked goods to share with the rest of the class! Mmmmm, delicious baked goods.

7) Yes, I'll be at OVFF and World Fantasy. No, I won't be at ConChord or Orycon. I have no conventions in 2009 after World Fantasy, and that's a wonderful thing, because I'm intending to take a nap. I miss sleep. My cats miss me sleeping, since they don't have an electric blanket, and without a warm human, they're forced to rely on sunbeams and each other for warmth. Think of the kitties. (Even if Alice is the feline equivalent of a down comforter, she still likes snuggles.)

8) Here's some fun news for you short story and Velveteen fans. First off, I'll have new pieces appearing at the Book View Cafe soon (I had to take a week off, due to book release crazy), including more horror, and maybe even a look at the little town of Rush's Bend, Minnesota. Secondly, "Velveteen vs. the Blind Date" is finally almost finished, and your regularly scheduled dose of superhero strangeness will be rolling into town any day now. I just need to work the last of the bugs (and bears) out before I release it.

9) The turtle couldn't help us.

10) September is only three days old, and already it's been awesome and exhausting and exhilarating and generally terrifying in ways that I've been dreaming of for my entire life. Thank you all for being here, and for not shooting me for all the flailing I've been doing lately. I promise we'll return to normal levels of flail soon.

Now we must rinse.

First up, the bad news: due to circumstances beyond reasonable control, the release party at the Other Change of Hobbit (originally scheduled for this coming Sunday) has been postponed until sometime in October. There are a bunch of factors that went into this, but at the end of the day, it comes down to "no one will be there to run the store" (sort of an issue). I went by yesterday and signed stock, so if you really want a signed copy, but can't make any of the other events, you can get one there. I'll announce as soon as we reschedule.

Now, in somewhat happier news...

Friday night, I'll be at Illusive Comics in Santa Clara (see store website for address and directions). The party starts at seven, and will definitely feature live music and cake, in an awesome, family-friendly comic book store setting. Kitten Sundae will be there, as will Amy McNally, and Mia Nutick of Chimera Fancies (possibly with something AWESOME that you just have to see). There isn't a hard cut-off point, but I recommend coming early, before I've eaten my body-weight in frosting and started climbing the walls.

Saturday, we'll be at Borderlands Books in San Francisco, starting at five in the afternoon (again, check store website for address and directions). As an important note, the Bay Bridge will be CLOSED. If you're not starting in the City, you'll either need to plan to take BART, or find another means of getting there. The bookstore is right between two BART stations, and there's very limited parking anyway, so this actually isn't that big a deal.

Saturday is going to run from five to approximately nine, and will feature live music, readings, and AN AWESOME RAFFLE! Drawings will be held at six, seven-thirty, and nine, and you must be present (or have given your ticket to someone else when you left) to win. The prizes must be seen to be believed. You can get a ticket one of three ways:

1. Show up.
2. Buy something from the bookstore (anything).
3. Bring baked goods (or rum balls, if your name is Joey).

More information to come!

I'm thrilled to make sure everybody knows that this weekend is the first-ever Grants Pass signing and event. Yes! Grants Pass, live and in person! The event details:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22nd
2:00 to 4:00 PM

http://www.soulfoodbooks.com/OldRoot/
Soulfood Books and Cafe
15748 Redmond Way
Redmond, Washington 98052

...so if you're not going to be in Washington, this may not be the most helpful thing ever, but if you are, wow did you just win the jackpot!



Attending authors include me, Jay Lake, Shannon Page, James Sullivan, and the incomparable Jennifer Brozek, our fearless editor, who first said "what if we threw a plague and everybody came?" We'll be signing books (and bookplates), hanging out, and there will be cake. Also, because I am me, and I always travel with at least fifteen ways to distract myself, there will probably also be at least one copy of Rosemary and Rue to fondle and gaze upon with love in your heart.

This is really exciting. Grants Pass is the first anthology I was ever asked to be a part of, and the first anthology I ever successfully sold a story to (not necessarily the same thing, more's the pity). And Jennifer is a dear friend. So seeing both of them succeeding together is just, well...cake. And cake is good. We like cake. The cake is not a lie.

I hope to see you there!

Hey, San Diego-bound lovelies!

This Saturday night at 8:00PM, I'm going to be participating in a panel discussion and book signing at the Borders right by the convention center in the Gaslamp District. Specifically, I'm going to be participating in a panel discussion and book signing with Patrick Rothfuss, Amber Benson, Rob Thurman, Thomas Sniegoski, Jeanne C. Stein, and Kat Richardson.

1. Dude, that's awesome!
2. Holy cats.
3. Come out and boost my numbers!

Seriously, I am, like, hugely outnumbered by awesome panelists of awesome (and our awesome moderator of awesome, Morgan Burns, who bought my love with beercan chicken). This is your chance to hear cool things, get your questions answered, learn about cool authors you may not already know, and oh, right, potentially learn more about that "Rosemary and Rue" thing I keep talking about. There's even a chance that you could score some free stuff...

The Borders is located at 668 6th Avenue, between Market and G, and we're starting at 8:00PM, which means you may want to get there a little early. This is a Babel Clash live event, and you can learn more at http://bordersblog.com/scifi/

I really hope I'll see you there!

July.
Oh sweet, sweet San Diego ComiCon, how I've missed you. How I've longed for you. And how happy I am that I get to come back to you this year. I promise I'll never leave you again. There are rumors of some exciting Rosemary and Rue-related happenings at the convention—happenings which may rock you all the way down to the tips of your toes. I recommend stopping by the Penguin Books booth to learn the whole story...where again, you can see me in Halloweentown Disney Princess mode. Always scary, always amusing. Plus, I'm almost certainly going to have convention-exclusive art cards again, because That's Just What I Do. I'm on the Escapist Fantasy panel on Thursday morning at 11:00 AM, and I'll be signing afterward. Please come by!

July will also see the release of Grants Pass, a post-apocalyptic anthology from Morrigan Books. It includes my short story, "Animal Husbandry," written specifically for the project and never seen anywhere else. This was my first anthology sale. Words can't begin to express how thrilled I am.

August.
It's blonde vs. Canada as I make my way to the Montreal WorldCon. Who will win? Probably the fries with gravy. I'm going to be appearing on panels at the convention, and will be giving a concert, with the fabulous Dave Weingart as my stunt guitarist du jour. I should have copies of all three albums with me, but they'll be limited by my suitcase space.

Later in August, I'll be flying up to Seattle for a special Grants Pass appearance on the 22nd. It's your chance to have the anthology signed by more of the authors than is technically legal!

September.
Nothing major. Just, I don't know, the OFFICIAL RELEASE of MY VERY FIRST FULL-LENGTH NOVEL, Rosemary and Rue. I've been living with October "Toby" Daye as an invisible roommate for so long that I barely remember life without her, and now the whole world gets to be properly introduced. I'm excited beyond words. I've actually been crying, I'm so happy. I think you're gonna like her, and the reviews we've had so far support that.

We're starting to confirm the dates for my various Bay Area signings and events; trust me when I say that you absolutely, positively, CANNOT MISS my book release party at Borderlands Books in San Francisco. How awesome is it going to be? So awesome that the Earth may shake. Trust me. There are also events scheduled at the Other Change of Hobbit (Berkeley) and Illusive Arts (Santa Clara).

October.
I will be participating in the annual LitCrawl! at Borderlands Books on October 17th. I get a reading slot, followed by signing and socializing. You should totally come. You should also totally buy an extra copy of Rosemary and Rue and tell the bookstore owners that I'm awesome. Just saying.

October is also home of the Ohio Valley Filk Festival, where we will be having an at-con book release party! Unfortunately for my haunted corn maze aspirations, World Fantasy 2009 has been shifted to Halloween weekend, so I'm going to be flying back to California immediately after the convention to spend a weekend in San Jose, making friends and influencing people. Or at least staying upright.

November.
I like sleep. I understand people do it sometimes. Also, I understand that cats appreciate it when their owners sit still. So I'm going to try these things, and see if they keep me alive a little longer.

December.
I'll be appearing at the Writers With Drinks event on December 12th; more information will be provided as it becomes available to me.

January.
In January, I'm definitely intending to head up to Seattle for Conflikt III, the Pacific Northwest's very own filk convention. Tom Smith will be the Guest of Honor, which is going to be awesome, and I may be able to make my stay long enough to allow for a side-trip to Powells, the CITY OF BOOKS. Everybody wins!

February.
It's looking more and more likely that February will include a trip to the UK, to attend the UK filk convention (where my beloved Vixy and Tony will be the Guests of Honor), meet my UK publisher for the Mason books, and possibly take a side-jaunt over to Germany. Because sleep is for the weak and sickly, my darlings, sleep is for the weak and sickly.

February will also be Wondercon, but exact dates have not yet been announced.

March.
Again, nothing major. Just, I don't know, THE RELEASE OF THE SECOND TOBY BOOK. A Local Habitation will be coming out in the first week of March. Expect flailing, hysterical, and awesome stuff. How awesome? "I've done this before and know what I'm doing now" awesome. Be there.

The year is filling up fast, and more things are bound to appear as the months draw closer—look at how detailed the next few months are compared to the later ones. If you want me, book early, book often, and bribe.

Whee!

Item the first: remember that tomorrow is going to be the drawing for the final ARC giveaway for the month of June. All you have to do to enter is go to the entry and leave a comment. That's it. Nothing more complex than that. Tomorrow, I'll be flicking on the random number generator and letting it tell me who our lucky winner will be. So take a chance! All it'll cost you is thirty seconds and a couple of clicks!

Item the second: the Book Zombie—and isn't that just about the best name ever? It makes me want to adopt her and cover her in puffy blue cats—is working on her review of Rosemary and Rue. You can see a little sneak peek of what's coming over at her blog. I'm all excited and jumpy and stuff. I love seeing new reviews come out. (This probably won't last, once we get into wider reviews and I become totally overwhelmed and start hiding under my desk. But right now, I love them like I love pumpkin pie. Sweet, sweet pumpkin pie.)

Item the third: I'm currently updating and finalizing my appearances for the next several months. As a reminder, you can always see which conventions I'm planning to attend by hitting my website, and I try to update the information with panel times and details on readings just as soon as I possibly can. I'll be in Seattle on August 22nd for the Grants Pass release party (and yes, some discussion of a house concert has occurred, but there's nothing concrete). There are currently three official Rosemary and Rue release parties scheduled for early September, all of them in the San Francisco Bay Area; I'll keep you posted if we wind up scheduling appearances anywhere else.

(There will be a release party at OVFF, in Columbus, Ohio, in late October. You'll need to be a member of the convention to attend. But there will be cake.)

More to come later, but those are the memos for the morning. In other news, I have sufficient Diet Dr Pepper. You may all live.

Whee.

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.

April.
April will be kicking off with a flight to Seattle, where I will sign many copies of Ravens in the Library -- still available for purchase, at least for right now, although I can't guarantee how long that's going to be the case -- and attend a fabulous Kitten Sundae show. Kitten Sundae is Vixy and Tony (Vixy is the topic of my song 'Oh, Michelle,' as well as being the reason for the Alice verse in 'Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves'), SJ Tucker, and Betsy Tinney, and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to see them live and awesome.

While I'm in Seattle, I'm going to be picking up the latest addition to my feline family from the Pinecoon Maine Coon Cattery. Her name is Alice, she's a blue tabby, and she's incredibly gorgeous. I'm very, very excited. And not just because having somebody else to play with may cause Lilly to start allowing me to sleep through the night again.

May.
May will find me attending BayCon -- my second-ever BayCon as an actual working novelist. I intend to wander around giggling hysterically and looking starry-eyed. It's fun! Also, my friend Jennifer Brozek is the Toastmistress, so there's some exciting wackiness basically guaranteed.

June.
June is Duckon! The convention where you can see me and Jim Butcher duke it out over...well, whatever the programming division tells us to duke it out over. The convention where you can catch me, Vixy, and Tony all on stage at the same time! The convention where you can watch me perplex my handlers by demanding to walk to 7-11 every morning! This is going to be such a blast. The blast radius is just made bigger by the addition of a huge percentage of my posse: The Agent will be in attendance, as the convention's Agent Guest of Honor, and so will Tara O'Shea, my incredibly talented graphic designer and webgrrl. I'm always at my Halloweentown Disney Princess Best when I have my support staff to distract me with shiny things. We're going to rock Illinois so hard.

July.
Oh sweet, sweet San Diego ComiCon, how I've missed you. How I've longed for you. And how happy I am that I get to come back to you this year. I promise I'll never leave you again. There are rumors of some exciting Rosemary and Rue-related happenings at the convention -- happenings which may rock you all the way down to the tips of your toes. I recommend stopping by the Penguin Books booth to learn the whole story...where again, you can see me in Halloweentown Disney Princess mode. Always scary, always amusing. Plus, I'm almost certainly going to have convention-exclusive art cards again, because That's Just What I Do.

July will also see the release of Grants Pass, a post-apocalyptic anthology from Morrigan Books. It includes my short story, 'Animal Husbandry,' written specifically for the project and never seen anywhere else. This was my first anthology sale. Words can't begin to express how thrilled I am.

August.
It's blonde vs. Canada as I make my way to the Montreal WorldCon. Who will win? Probably the fries with gravy.

September.
Nothing major. Just, I don't know, the OFFICIAL RELEASE of MY VERY FIRST FULL-LENGTH NOVEL, Rosemary and Rue. I've been living with October 'Toby' Daye as an invisible roommate for so long that I barely remember life without her, and now the whole world gets to be properly introduced. I'm excited beyond words. I've actually been crying, I'm so happy. I think you're gonna like her. We're starting to confirm the dates for my various Bay Area signings and events; trust me when I say that you absolutely, positively, CANNOT MISS my book release party at Borderlands Books. How awesome is it going to be? So awesome that the Earth may shake.

Trust me.

October.
The Ohio Valley Filk Festival! Unfortunately for my haunted corn maze aspirations, World Fantasy 2009 has been shifted to Halloween weekend, so I'm going to be flying back to California immediately after the convention to spend a weekend in San Jose, making friends and influencing people. Or at least staying upright.

There are no signings or book-related events confirmed for my October visit to the magical Midwest, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them decided to materialize. Just saying.

November.
I like sleep. I understand people do it sometimes. Also, I understand that cats appreciate it when their owners sit still. So I'm going to try these things, and see if they keep me alive a little longer.

December.
Prepare for 2010. How did we get here already?

The year is filling up fast, and more things are bound to appear as the months draw closer -- look at how detailed the first few months are compared to the later ones. If you want me, book early, book often, and bribe.

Whee!

January.
We're pretty solidly into January at this point, but the month's not over yet -- Conflikt II is still to come, and you haven't missed the opportunity to come and marvel at my very first Guest of Honor slot. My build-a-band for the occasion includes Vixy and Tony, Paul Kwinn, Alisa Garcia, and Luis Garcia (whom you may also know as several of the members of Puzzlebox), and the illustrious Amy McNally, fiddler to the stars. The set list is gorgeous, the company is glorious, and we are going to rock. The. House.

February.
February both begins and ends with a convention. Conflikt II starts the month, as the tail-end of the convention catches the beginning of February, and Wondercon ends it. Sometimes being a geek is truly a fantastic thing. Also, Wondercon will be my first 'industry convention' with a publication date and business cards in hand. You may even catch me wearing the Halloweentown Disney Princess super-suit! Truly an opportunity not to be missed.

February will also see the release of Ravens in the Library, which includes my short story, 'Lost,' written specifically for the anthology and never seen anywhere else. It's an all-star lineup for a very good cause. I'm very excited.

March.
March finds me running the music department for Consonance, the San Francisco Bay Area's very own filk convention. Our guests this year are absolutely first rate, and I don't just say that because most of them know where I live. It's going to be fantastic. You should totally come.

April.
It's a gap! In my schedule! During which I might actually do silly little things like sleeping, eating, and writing! Sometimes life is good. Sometimes life allows to actually plan for my nervous breakdowns.

May.
May will find me attending BayCon -- my second-ever BayCon as an actual working novelist. I intend to wander around giggling hysterically and looking starry-eyed. It's fun! Also, my friend Jennifer Brozek is the Toastmistress, so there's some exciting wackiness basically guaranteed.

June.
June is Duckon! The convention where you can see me and Jim Butcher duke it out over...well, whatever the programming division tells us to duke it out over. The convention where you can catch me, Vixy, and Tony all on stage at the same time! The convention where you can watch me perplex my handlers by demanding to walk to 7-11 every morning! This is going to be such a blast.

July.
Oh sweet, sweet San Diego ComiCon, how I've missed you. How I've longed for you. And how happy I am that I get to come back to you this year. I promise I'll never leave you again. There are rumors of some exciting Rosemary and Rue-related happenings at the convention -- happenings which may rock you all the way down to the tips of your toes. I recommend stopping by the Penguin Books booth to learn the whole story...where again, you can see me in Halloweentown Disney Princess mode. Always scary, always amusing.

July will also see the release of Grants Pass, a post-apocalyptic anthology from Morrigan Books. It includes my short story, 'Animal Husbandry,' written specifically for the project and never seen anywhere else. This was my first anthology sale. Words can't begin to express how thrilled I am.

August.
It's blonde vs. Canada as I make my way to the Montreal WorldCon. Who will win? Probably the fries with gravy.

September.
Nothing major. Just, I don't know, the OFFICIAL RELEASE of MY VERY FIRST FULL-LENGTH NOVEL, Rosemary and Rue. I've been living with October 'Toby' Daye as an invisible roommate for so long that I barely remember life without her, and now the whole world gets to be properly introduced. I'm excited beyond words. I've actually been crying, I'm so happy. I think you're gonna like her.

October.
The Ohio Valley Filk Festival! Unfortunately for my haunted corn maze aspirations, World Fantasy 2009 has been shifted to Halloween weekend, so I'm going to be flying back to California immediately after the convention to spend a weekend in San Jose, making friends and influencing people. Or at least staying upright.

November.
I like sleep. I understand people do it sometimes. Also, I understand that cats appreciate it when their owners sit still. So I'm going to try these things, and see if they keep me alive a little longer.

December.
Prepare for 2010. How did we get here already?

The year is filling up fast, and more things are bound to appear as the months draw closer -- look at how detailed the first few months are compared to the later ones. If you want me, book early, book often, and bribe.

Whee!

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.

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?

Hey, folks. So...

1. I am still in Seattle, land of weather that is entirely alien to me.

2. I'm not dead. I'm just experiencing some rather awesome technical difficulties when it comes to accessing Livejournal. Seriously, it's like my data is being delivered by carrier pigeon. I can post -- barely -- but answering comments is a task akin to stumping the Sphinx at Trivial Pursuit. So posting will remain infrequent until a) this problem is resolved, or b) I go home.

3. The house concert on the 3rd is still on, for all you local folks. The set list is smoking, and we're going to be doing a variety of songs that most of you won't have heard before. Including, terrifyingly enough, 'Dear Gina.' (I love this song like burning, it's creepy as hell, and it's always creepier live. That's just how this stuff works.) Be there or be, I don't know, elsewhere.

4. Voodoo Doughnut is quite possibly the place where good pastry gets to go when it dies. I mean, I ate a Captain Crunch doughnut. How often do you get to say things like that, in this world or in any other?

5. I've finished the latest 'Velveteen vs.' story, which will be going up here soon, and have mapped out the next six or so. My poor little superhero, she never gets any breaks. But she does occasionally get broken. Coming soon, 'Velveteen vs. the Eternal Halloween.'

6. I've also finished doing the base inks for the Conflikt II program book cover, and I'll be doing the zip-a-tone over the next few days. It's essentially made of awesome. Awesome, and tentacles. Which are essentially the same thing, so hey.

7. I've finished through chapter twenty of The Brightest Fell, also known as 'Toby Daye, book five.' My 'write far enough ahead that even if you get hit by a bus, the series can continue for years' plan is definitely working. Memo to self: avoid the bus.

8. Interpretive dance of the bacon on John Scalzi's cat = totally fun, and totally funny.

9. I do, however, miss my own cat, and expect her to start trying to destroy Oregon in her maddened rampage any day now. Which, well, would be amusing, if nothing else.

10. I don't really have a tenth thing. The list just looked incomplete and a little bit lonely when I tried to leave it off at nine, so I figured I'd come up with something. What I have come up with is, apparently, the fact that I got nothin'.

How's with all of you?

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.

January.
I'll be starting the month of January in the Pacific Northwest, where I'm staying with Vixy and Tony, both a) because I can, and b) to rehearse for Conflikt II at the end of the month. Remember, I'm this year's Guest of Honor, and we are going to rock. The. House.

After I return to California, I'll be going to see Evil Dead: the Musical in its second run at the Campbell Theater. I may be having my birthday party there. We'll see. Oh, and also? I'm putting out a new album this month.

February.
February both begins and ends with a convention. Conflikt starts the month, as the tail-end of the convention catches the beginning of February, and Wondercon ends it. Sometimes being a geek is truly a fantastic thing.

March.
March finds me running the music department for Consonance, the San Francisco Bay Area's very own filk convention. Our guests this year are absolutely first rate, and I don't just say that because most of them know where I live. It's going to be fantastic. You should totally come.

April.
It's a gap! In my schedule! During which I might actually do silly little things like sleeping, eating, and writing! Sometimes life is good.

May.
May will find me attending BayCon -- my second-ever BayCon as an actual working novelist. I intend to wander around giggling hysterically and looking starry-eyed. It's fun!

June.
June is Duckon! The convention where you can see me and Jim Butcher duke it out over...well, whatever the programming division tells us to duke it out over. The convention where you can catch me, Vixy, and Tony all on stage at the same time! The convention where you can watch me perplex my handlers by demanding to walk to 7-11 every morning! This is going to be such a blast.

July.
Oh sweet, sweet San Diego ComiCon, how I've missed you. How I've longed for you. And how happy I am that I finally get to come back to you this year. I promise I will never leave you again.

August.
It's blonde vs. Canada as I make my way to the Montreal WorldCon. Who will win? Probably the fries with gravy.

September.
Nothing yet. But it's a long way away, and the universe likes to toy with me. Watch this space for developments.

October.
The Ohio Valley Filk Festival! Potentially followed by another trip to Alabama, because dude, haunted corn maze. (And no, this isn't a surprise to Mary, she asked if I wanted to come back.)

November.
World Fantasy is in San Jose in 2009. Pretty sure I'm morally, if not legally, obligated to go. Just sayin'.

December.
Sleep.

The year is filling up fast, and more things are bound to appear as the months draw closer -- look at how detailed the first few months are compared to the later ones. If you want me, book early, book often, and bribe.

Whee!

(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?

Kelley Armstrong, author of the Women of the Otherworld series, will be signing tonight (July 28th, 2008) at Borderlands Books. The signing is to celebrate the release of her first YA novel, and is in conjunction with a signing by Melissa Marr. The signing is at seven.

I'm very much looking forward to this. This is going to be Kelley Armstrong's first American signing appearance, which makes it sort of a big deal, and I've always enjoyed her work. Hopefully, it'll include a talk or a Q&A, as I'm really curious about her recently-announced book, Men of the Otherworld. Hmmmmm, says I...

Hope to see you there!

Hey, look at that! The wonderful folks responsible for throwing the party known as Duckon 2009 have decided that since they were awesome enough to invite me as their Filk Guest of Honor, I should have a profile page to tell people who I am. That was sweet of them, don'cha think? (It probably has something to do with wanting people to come to their convention, but hey, I am not a picky person about anything but food.)

The picture that accompanies the profile is from our Red Roses and Dead Things photoshoot. You can tell because I'm wearing lipstick. All the rest of it could really just be a shot from any day in the life.

Pre-reg prices have gone up at this point, so you should really consider grabbing your slot before they jump again. You know you want to watch me talk folklore with Jim Butcher. You know you also want to see what kind of crazy we're going to cram into the concert. (Hint: I'll have just come out with a mad science-themed album, I own a lab coat, I've been known to do on-stage stripteases...) It's going to be a fun time all around!

Seanan vs. Illinois. Round one, fight.

Now, y'all have heard me do a bit of squealing about this before, but since I have new information to share, and because it is awesome, it's time for me to remind you that I'm going to be appearing at Duckon 2009 as their Filk Guest of Honor. This is a fabulous enough thing that I'm actually planning to spare the Duckon concom when my army of plague-bearing dinosaurs conquers this puny planet in my name. See how simple it is to buy yourself salvation? Some things, money can't buy. For everything else, there's Evil MastermindCard.

Duckon is in Naperville, Illinois, which is approximately twenty-five miles outside of Chicago -- far enough that we're unlikely to get devoured by the radioactive hamsters almost guaranteed to arise when you put me and Author Guest of Honor Jim Butcher in the same place, but might still be able to work in a dinner run at Buddy's, home of the all-you-can-eat fried chicken OF THE GODS. Mmmmmmm. Fried gods. Who else is going to be in that hotel? Who knows?!? I'll be announcing the other guests -- such as Special Guest of Honor Shannon K. Butcher -- as they're announced. Because sometimes I'm just nice that way. Personally, I'm just waiting to hear who the Mad Scientist Guest of Honor will be. Oh, Dr. Brundle...

The convention will be running from June 12th-14th, 2009, and I'll be providing more information as I get it. Today's helpful and informative post is designed to point out that early pre-reg is available now from the Duckon website, but that it won't last much longer. The current pre-reg rate of $30 is available only through June 30th; once we hit July 1st, it jumps to $40. Registering now could save you ten dollars! If you have ten dollars, you can take me to Starbucks! Register now. Beat the rush.

I will definitely have Red Roses and Dead Things by Duckon (we're aiming for a Conflikt release), and there's a chance, depending on how things go, that I will also have Rosemary and Rue. Also, if I have my first novel in hand at a convention where Jim-frikkin'-Butcher is the Author Guest of Honor, I may fall off my incredibly swanky gradient orange and black Mary Jane heels.

Hope to see you there!

So -- as folks have probably heard me burbling about -- I'm going to be the Filk Guest of Honor at next year's Duckon (2009). This is ginormously exciting to me. I mean, I don't get many opportunities to hit that part of the country, and Red Roses and Dead Things will be finished by then, and there's even a chance I'll have put my hands on Rosemary and Rue, and and and and. Squeal! Pardon me while I sit and vibrate.

Also enormously exciting: Jim Butcher is going to be the Literary Guest of Honor. Jim Butcher! Y'know, that dude who writes in my genre and who I keep getting compared to? Him. I've never actually met him before, so this is going to be super-fun. I've never been to a Duckon before, and I'm really looking forward to it. Everybody should come and join the party. (I'll burble about it more as we get closer to the convention, just like I'm going to spend a lot of time burbling about Conflikt as we get closer to the convention. I am a simple soul who loves cons and gets hugely jazzed about being a guest.)

SQUEE.