...a copy of When Will You Rise, by Mira Grant.

Welcome to the eighth of the Twelve Days of Hogswatch. I am starting a new giveaway every day between now and my birthday. Each giveaway has different rules, and a different deadline, although all prizes will be mailed on January 9th, because I am bad at going to the post office.

The eighth giveaway is for a copy of When Will You Rise. This is going to be a random number drawing. So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate a willingness to pay postage.
3. That's it.

Please remember that all giveaway rules are non-negotiable. Failure to follow the rules of a giveaway will mean that you cannot win, even if the RNG picks you.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Tuesday, January 7th.

Game on!

...the German editions of Deadline and Blackout, by Mira Grant.

Welcome to the seventh of the Twelve Days of Hogswatch. I am starting a new giveaway every day between now and my birthday. Each giveaway has different rules, and a different deadline, although all prizes will be mailed on January 9th, because I am bad at going to the post office.

The seventh giveaway is for the German mass-market paperbacks of Deadline and Blackout. This is going to be a random number drawing. So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate a willingness to pay postage.
3. That's it.

Please remember that all giveaway rules are non-negotiable. Failure to follow the rules of a giveaway will mean that you cannot win, even if the RNG picks you.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Tuesday, January 7th.

Game on!

To (somewhat belatedly) celebrate the release of Parasite, here. Have an open thread to discuss the book.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Seriously. If anyone comments here at all, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So please don't read and then yell at me because you encountered spoilers. You were warned. (I will not reply to every comment; I call partial comment amnesty. But I may well join some of the discussion, or answer questions or whatnot.)

You can also start a book discussion at my website forums, with less need to be concerned that I will see everything you say! In case you wanted, you know, discussion free of authorial influence, since I always wind up getting involved in these things.

Have fun!

Hey, folks! Sorry I'm so quiet right now—I'm still trying to dig myself out from under the epic flood of crap relating to my book tour—but I thought you might like to know what I'm doing tomorrow night. Namely...

Writers With Drinks! Come out, drink booze, meet awesome authors, and hear me read something (assuming I don't start drinking early and dip into my stand-up act, which would be funny but dangerous).

If you're in the Bay Area, come out and get your drink on! If you're not, I will be dropping by Borderlands Books before the event, and can sign and personalize anything that's waiting for me there. I cringe saying this, but: holiday shopping takes time, and you can skim a little off the top by contacting Borderlands, who will shove things in front of me and then mail them to you, no fuss, no muss.

Well. Maybe a little muss. But only a little.

See you tomorrow night!

The Newsflesh universe is a pretty big place. If I continue writing novellas set there, who would you like to see take the starring role? NOTE: Shaun and Georgia are not eligible. Writing them in will just annoy me, and actually make it less likely that I'll ever write about them again. They're having their vacation. Leave them alone. But there are a lot of other options.

Game on!

Links blah blah oh sweet Great Pumpkin SAVE ME FROM THE LINKS. Anyway...

The Telegraph has posted a review of Deadline, and says, "Intelligent and exciting, Deadline raises the bar for the genre." Short, sweet, perfect.

SFFWorld has posted a review of Feed, and says, "Feed is a brilliant novel that embraces the tropes of the zombie story, expands the zombie mythos, speaks to modern fears, plausibly renders a political landscape, and forces the reader to turn the pages to see what happens next." Yay!

Romance Reviews Today has posted a review of One Salt Sea, and says, "If you love fantasy, and particularly urban fantasy, do not miss this series. The author possesses great depth in her vision." Awesome.

Mervi's Book Reviews has posted a review of Late Eclipses, and says, "Once again, McGuire blends action, humor, and pretty dark themes excellently. However, there's again an air of tragedy on the story." Toby is the fairy godmother of tragedy, it's true.

Old Firehouse Books has posted a review of Feed that is deeply personal and very well-balanced. I have no pull quotes from this one, but you should definitely check it out.

This is also where I want to take a moment to note that while I am still cleaning out the old reviews in my link file—I thought they were important enough to save, I'm not going to just delete them—I have gotten a lot less likely to add new reviews, because I am a lot less twitchy on a day-by-day level. This is why there are fewer reviews of newer books. This will change, I'm sure, as I launch new universes, since I'll still be deeply insecure about them.

Reviews!

I have been asked to create an open thread for discussion of "How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea." As it has been out for a week now (gasp! so soon!), this seems reasonable to me. So here you go: here is an open thread.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Seriously. If anyone comments here at all, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So please don't read and then yell at me because you encountered spoilers. You were warned. (I will not reply to every comment; I call partial comment amnesty. But I may well join some of the discussion, or answer questions or whatnot.) I will be DELETING all comments containing spoilers which have been left on other posts. No one gets to spoil people here without a label.

You can also start a discussion at my website forums, with less need to be concerned that I will see everything you say! In case you wanted, you know, discussion free of authorial influence, since I always wind up getting involved in these things.

Have fun, and try not to bleed on the carpet.

I'm going to San Diego! I'm going to my favorite con! I'm going...to be in a wheelchair for most of the week, on account of my left foot stops being in any way useful after I walk about about an hour, and San Diego is all about the walking. So if you're trying to find me, look for the faintly disgruntled looking blonde girl being pushed by the equally disgruntled looking blue-haired girl. Or follow this handy guide.

Wednesday.
It's Preview Night. I'm going to be in lines. Lots of lines. Unpredictable, never-ending lines. Do not try to find me. Save yourself.

Thursday.
No scheduled events. Naturally, this is also the only day with no panels I give a damn about. What is my life.

Friday.
I will be signing as Mira Grant at the Orbit Booth from 4:30 to 5:30pm. There will be some limited free books and other fun surprises.

Saturday.
I will be signing books for the California Browncoats from 2:00 to 2:45pm. Show up, meet fun people, and support an awesome charity. Then, at 3:00pm, I will be signing for Carniepunk at the Simon and Schuster Booth. This will last until 4:00pm, or until the line dies down completely.

I have not given booth numbers because I don't know them off the top of my head, but your program guide will know them. Trust the program guide. It is your only hope. The program guide will never lie to you. The program guide will not tell you to set people on fire.

Sunday.
This is my busy day. At 12:00pm, I will be in room 24ABC for the panel Science Fiction and the Future with lots of other lovely people. As I am the only biofuturist on this panel (with the possible exception of David Wellington, whom I will be meeting for the first time), I fully expect to either be very quiet or make people turn very green. Either way, what fun! Come for the science, stay for the creepy pie. Signing to follow immediately afterward, which I will be leaving early, because...

At 2:00pm, I will be in room 24ABC for the panel Witches and Fey, Monsters and Mortals. DO NOT READ THE PANEL DESCRIPTION. There is no possible way in which this panel description is not a sexist sack of eels. There are two urban fantasy panels at this con: one is serious and almost entirely male, and then there is this one. That being said, the panel lineup includes Rachel Caine and Amber Benson, who are two of my best ladies, and we are going to make this the panel to remember for this year's SDCC. Assuming anyone shows up, since we're up against the Doctor Who panel. Bleah. Again, signing to follow.

This year's schedule means I will be missing the X-Men panel, so anyone who does get to go, I'd like a full report.

And that's my San Diego. See you on the floor!

It's July, and you know what that means: a new Newsflesh novella! This year's release is "How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea," in which Mahir Gowda travels to Australia and tries to come to terms with the fact that people are people everywhere in the world.

If you've been missing the world of Feed, and have $2.99 to spare, this is the adventure for you! (I know, I know, "if you have three bucks, this is awesome" isn't the best marketing slogan in the world, but it's what I can come up with before eight o'clock in the morning. Work with me.)

Mahir! Air travel! Zombie kangaroos! This novella has everything, and it should have you. Available now in the US and Canada, July 17th in the United Kingdom.

Newsflesh novella, yay!

A few months ago, I got an email from a reader who had a question she wanted me to answer. I like questions. If they're not spoilery for things that haven't been published yet, I'm generally willing to give them a go. This question, however, stumped me for a little while:

"what is the purpose of Dr. Kellis being gay? It neither adds or subtracts to the story line but is distracting."

Dr. Kellis was gay because Dr. Kellis was gay. I "met" the character in the same scene that everyone else did, when his husband showed up to try and convince him to leave the lab for a little while. He was a man, he had a husband, he was at minimum bisexual, and for the purposes of the story, he was gay. He was a gay scientist. Since he wasn't working on gay science (I'm not even sure what that phrase means), it mattered purely in the sense that when he talked about going home, it was to a husband, and not a wife. I honestly never thought about changing it. While everyone in the world is at least somewhat defined by their sexuality—it shapes us throughout our lives, both in the exercising of it and in the existence of it—I've never felt like it was the be-all and end-all of human experience.

What weirded me out a little, and still does, is that no one has ever asked me "What is the purpose of Character X being straight?" No one has ever called it "distracting" when Velma has naughty thoughts about Tad, or when Toby blushes because Tybalt is commenting on her clothing. Men and women, women and men, it's totally normal and invisible, like using "said" in dialog instead of some other, more descriptive word. It's invisible. But gay people are distracting. (Bisexual people are apparently even more distracting. I've had several people write to tell me that a piece of text in Blackout can be read to imply that Buffy and Maggie had sex, and some of them have been less than thrilled when I replied that there was no implication intended: Buffy and Maggie had sex. Repeatedly. Lots of sex. Lovely sex. They enjoyed it a lot, but Maggie took it more seriously than Buffy did, and Buffy wanted to keep things casual, so they broke up. But before they broke up? They had so much sex.)

For the most part, I let my characters tell me what their sexuality is, once it starts to have an impact on their characterization. I don't write Bob as a gay man and Tom as a straight man and Suzie as a lesbian: I write Bob as a zookeeper and Tom as a ballet teacher and Suzie as a ninja, right up until the moment where they have to interact with someone they'd be attracted to. Sometimes, that's when they tell me what they're into. Since this is all in first draft, I can go back later and clean things up, clarify things to add any additional detail that needs to be there, but I almost never tell them "Oh, no, you can't be gay, it would be distracting. It's not allowed."

(The one exception is with characters who are here to go—the ones created to be slaughtered in fifteen pages or less. They're not all straight, but I have to stop and think long and hard about how I would have felt, as a bisexual teenager, if I had finally, finally encountered an awesome bisexual woman in fiction, only to see her die before she got to be amazing. Sometimes this does result in my reexamining their relationships, as it's also difficult to really form strong character portraits in fifteen pages or less. Anyone who's sticking around for more than fifteen pages is fair game.)

Gay people don't walk around saying "I'd like to have an urban fantasy adventure, I'm gay, I like men/women, let's go fight a dragon" any more than straight people walk around saying "I'd like to go to space, I'm straight, I like men/women, let's go steal a rocket." People is the word that matters here. And yes, being anything other than heterosexual and cis in this world means that you're going to experience different things, and have some different perspectives, but it doesn't inform one hundred percent of what you do. I eat pizza the same way my straight friends eat pizza. I watch TV the same way my straight friends watch TV. I chase lizards...well, I chase lizards in a uniquely singleminded and slightly disturbing fashion, but as I'm not a lizardsexual, it has nothing to do with who I do or do not choose to form romantic relationships with.

Dr. Kellis is gay because Dr. Kellis is gay.

He doesn't need any reason beyond that.

So you may have noticed that review roundups are getting more and more out of date. This is largely because my link file is getting more and more out of date, to the point that I actually forgot to set alerts for a few books. I wish this spoke to a growing serenity, but it really sort of speaks to the opposite, so...whoops. Anyway, here: have some reviews.

Bookshelf Bombshells has posted a review of Feed, and says, "You wouldn't expect a book that’s laden with so many technological details (the genesis of the virus, the virus’s after-effects, biological scanning equipment, and the various gadgets that the bloggers use) to be a gripping, fast read, but it really is." Aw, yay.

Ranting Dragon has posted a review of One Salt Sea, and says, "Read this book for the action. Read this book for the worldbuilding. But most of all, read this book for the characters and the story. McGuire truly hits her stride in this novel, and it shows, both in pacing as well as her character work." Glee.

Persephone Magazine has posted a review of Deadline, and says, "I was pretty critical of the first book in Mira Grant's zombie-tastic Newsflesh trilogy, Feed. The second book, Deadline, was everything I wanted Feed to be. It was a tighter story, it relied less on clever tricks and more on great storytelling, the characters were richer and deeper, and the whole book was cleaner and felt more intentional." Hooray!

Galavanting Girl Books has taken a slightly different approach, posting, not a review, but a breakdown of October Daye herself as a heroine. It's a really well-done review of Toby's growth over the first five books, without spoilers, and ends with, "Toby Daye I really hope faerie isn't done screwing with you. I love you, but I'm not ready to let you go yet." How much love? All the love.

Rescue Fins has posted a review of Feed, and says, "It's common enough for zombie literature to be used as a medium for discussion of social issues and underlying societal fears, and Grant's book does that brilliantly, taking on not just government control and the trade-off between freedom and security, but tackling the sociology of fear itself." I love it when people catch that, I really do.

So that's five reviews, which makes for a roundup. I'm getting my link file under control, and while I don't know how long I'll continue posting reviews in this format—it's time-consuming, which is bad, but it's also a great way to point out thoughtful, interesting book blogs, which is good—but at least I've started my day by getting something done.

I have appeared in two limited edition books from Subterranean Press: A Fantasy Medley 2, which featured my Tybalt-centric novella, "Rat-Catcher," and When Will You Rise?: Stories to End the World, which features "Countdown" and "Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box." ("Apocalypse Scenario" is not set in the Newsflesh universe, by the way; it's part of my mad science triptych, along with "The Tolling of Pavlov's Bells" and "Laughter at the Academy.")

A Fantasy Medley 2 is now out of print. Very, very out of print. "The signed edition is selling for upwards of a thousand dollars on Amazon" out of print. I do not have copies for sale. I don't generally sell author's copies of anything, because I am not a store, but in this case especially, I didn't receive enough copies to do anything like that. There is no ebook edition, and right now, because I am still under contract for the physical book, I don't have the option to post the story as a free download. Eventually, it will either be reprinted or posted to my short fiction page, depending on how things go, but for the moment, I just don't have the authority. (Most short fiction contracts come with an "exclusivity" clause which guarantees an author won't sell the same thing to thirty markets at once.)

There are some copies of the basic, non-signed edition of A Fantasy Medley 2 currently available on Amazon, starting at about $15. If you're really, really desperate to read "Rat-Catcher" without buying from Amazon, you might want to consider getting a supporting membership to this year's Worldcon. Yes, $60 for one novella is a lot, but you don't just get one novella: you get the entire Hugo Voter's Packet, which is way awesome and packed with goodness.

When Will You Rise?: Stories to End the World is not out of print...yet. But it is a limited edition of 1,000 copies, and I know that a lot of those have been sold. You can find details on the book here. It's a really gorgeous piece of work, with incredible illustrations throughout. And, speaking candidly...I really enjoyed doing this book, and I'd love it if the sales supported Subterranean doing another. So I'm very much in favor of people buying copies for their very own. Both stories included in When Will You Rise? are available through the Orbit Short Fiction Program, so you won't have the same issues getting your hands on them (at least for right now), but this is currently your only option for seeing those stories in physical form.

Hope this clears things up a bit!

(The Velveteen vs. books are also limited printings, although in this case, the publisher has the option to print more if the first print run sells out. So it's not as much of an immediate concern, although naturally, I think everyone should own these books in their own homes, to avoid them somehow magically ending up in mine.)

ETA: Updated some availability notes, as Amazon once again has the basic A Fantasy Medley 2 available for order. Hooray!

The 2013 Hugo Awards ballot has been announced, and is as follows:

Best Novel.

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
Blackout by Mira Grant (Orbit)
Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi (Tor)
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (DAW)

Best Novella.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant (Orbit)
The Stars Do Not Lie by Jay Lake (Asimov’s, Oct-Nov 2012)

Best Novelette.

“The Boy Who Cast No Shadow” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Postscripts: Unfit For Eden, PS Publications)
“Fade To White” by Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
“The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi” by Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)
“In Sea-Salt Tears” by Seanan McGuire (Self-published)
“Rat-Catcher” by Seanan McGuire (A Fantasy Medley 2, Subterranean)

Best Short Story.

“Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld, June 2012)
“Mantis Wives” by Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
“Mono no Aware” by Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, VIZ Media LLC)

Note: category has 3 nominees due to a 5% requirement under Section 3.8.5 of the WSFS constitution.

Best Related Work.

The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature Edited by Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn (Cambridge UP)
Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love Them Edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Sigrid Ellis (Mad Norwegian Press)
Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who Edited by Deborah Stanish & L.M. Myles (Mad Norwegian Press)
I Have an Idea for a Book... The Bibliography of Martin H. Greenberg Compiled by Martin H. Greenberg, edited by John Helfers (The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box)
Writing Excuses Season Seven by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler and Jordan Sanderson

Best Graphic Story.

Grandville Bête Noire written and illustrated by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse Comics, Jonathan Cape)
Locke & Key Volume 5: Clockworks written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
Saga, Volume One written by Brian K. Vaughn, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (Hypernode Media)
Saucer Country, Volume 1: Run written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Ryan Kelly, Jimmy Broxton and Goran Sudžuka (Vertigo)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form).

The Avengers
The Cabin in the Woods
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hunger Games
Looper

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form).

Doctor Who: “The Angels Take Manhattan”
Doctor Who: “Asylum of the Daleks”
Doctor Who: “The Snowmen”
Fringe: “Letters of Transit"
Game of Thrones :“Blackwater”

Best Editor (Short Form).

John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Sheila Williams

Best Editor (Long Form).

Lou Anders
Sheila Gilbert
Liz Gorinsky
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist.

Vincent Chong
Julie Dillon
Dan Dos Santos
Chris McGrath
John Picacio

Best Semiprozine.

Apex Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore and Michael Damian Thomas
Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Jason Heller, Sean Wallace and Kate Baker
Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams and Stefan Rudnicki
Strange Horizons edited by Niall Harrison, Jed Hartman, Brit Mandelo, An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Abigail Nussbaum, Sonya Taaffe, Dave Nagdeman and Rebecca Cross

Best Fanzine.

Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
The Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia and James Bacon
Elitist Book Reviews edited by Steven Diamond
Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Emma J. King, Helen J. Montgomery and Pete Young
SF Signal edited by John DeNardo, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester

Best Fancast.

The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Presenters) and Andrew Finch (Producer)
SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester, John DeNardo, and JP Frantz
SF Squeecast, Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, Catherynne M. Valente (Presenters) and David McHone-Chase (Technical Producer)
StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

Best Fan Writer.

James Bacon
Christopher J Garcia
Mark Oshiro
Tansy Rayner Roberts
Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist.

Galen Dara
Brad W. Foster
Spring Schoenhuth
Maurine Starkey
Steve Stiles

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2011 or 2012, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).

Zen Cho
Max Gladstone
Mur Lafferty
Stina Leicht
Chuck Wendig

Those of you with keen eyes may have noticed my name a time or two. So here are my firsts for this year:

First woman to appear on the ballot four times in fiction categories alone.
First person to appear on the ballot five times in a single year.
First person to appear on the ballot with a purely self-published work ("In Sea-Salt Tears," Best Novelette nominee).

Here are some other fun facts: this is the first time Sheila Gilbert, my editor at DAW, or Chris McGrath, who is responsible for the October Daye covers (as well as many, many more) have appeared on the Hugo ballot. As of this year's ballot, every novella or novel-length work in the Newsflesh series has appeared on the Hugo ballot. I have essays in two of the works in Best Related Work. Urban fantasy in any form rarely makes award ballots, and I have two October Daye-universe novellas on this ballot.

Fringe is on the ballot for the first time ever this year. So is Mark Oshiro of Mark Reads, which is just amazing. The whole ballot is amazing.

I have eaten nothing but ice cream today. I have cried a lot.

I am grateful and honored and terrified and fragile and amazed, because this ballot represents the best of 2012 in a very concrete way. I see so many works there that blew my mind, and I look forward to experiencing the rest.

Thank you so much. I will try very hard not to let you down.

Having been sick even unto death on January 15th, this is the first current projects post of the new year. Whoops. I'd say I was sorry, but again, sick even unto death; the coughing and throwing up and passing out sort of obviate my natural desire to apologize for everything under the sun.

Anyway, this is the post in which I tell you what I'm working on, and you finally understand why I don't have time for tea. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Midnight Blue-Light Special, Parasite). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

Not everything on this list has been sold. I will not discuss the sale status of anything which has not been publicly announced. If you can't remember whether I've announced something, check the relevant tag. Please don't ask why project X is no longer on the list.

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

My foot's giving me trouble again, which means I'm hopped up on painkillers and not the best judge of what does and does not make sense. To celebrate this legally altered state, here. Have a review roundup.

Well, this is sort of a review and sort of an ongoing game of verbal volleyball, but here: have the long-belated link to the Babel Clash I did with Devon Monk. I really miss the Borders Blog. It was a great community, and they rustled up some excellent postage. Plus they let me talk about the cold dead eyes of Care Bears.

Random Reads posted a review of Feed and Deadline, and says, "Grant constructs a very detailed and well researched world with wonderful, sympathetic characters. The action starts immediately and once it hooks you in, it doesn't let go. The pace is unrelenting, climaxing in a tragic denouement, with a scenario that I've never before seen an author attempt. I could not put this book down." Awesome.

Russ Allbery has posted a review of Feed, and says, " I utterly fell in love with this book; the world is a better place because it exists." Awwww. (The review also contains some absolutely fair criticisms, and I salute the reviewer for offering them.)

Blogcritics has posted a review of Deadline, and says, "Grant takes the political intrigue of Feed and ratchets it up to 11 to a stunning conclusion in Deadline." Victory!

And now for something completely different: Reflections on Reading Romance has reviewed Home Improvement: Undead Edition, and says, of my story, "Despite the absence of my favorite, hottie Cait Sidhe king Tybalt, the story is a delight and a great example of McGuire’s style. Definitely recommend this one!" Also: "For me the Patricia Briggs, Melissa Marr, and Seanan McGuire stories were definite highlights of the collection and more than made the purchase worth the price." Win.

I am well-pleased.

So in the November post I mentioned that it was weird to be coming on Christmas and not planning for Disney World. Then I realized I could fix that, and so we're going to Disneyland for my birthday in January. (January 5th. I like birthdays.) PROBLEM SOLVED!

Anyway, this is the post in which I tell you what I'm working on, and you finally understand why I don't have time for tea. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Midnight Blue-Light Special, Parasite). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

Not everything on this list has been sold. I will not discuss the sale status of anything which has not been publicly announced. If you can't remember whether I've announced something, check the relevant tag. Please don't ask why project X is no longer on the list.

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

My darlingest dearest Paul Cornell asked me to write a post about one of the twelve days of Christmas for his blog, and because he has a newborn son and thus gets to ask me for free content without being looked at sadly, I wrote a post about the hidden blackbirds that come on the fourth day. Four colly birds for all of you!

Jennifer Brozek had a lovely dream and I was in it and it was wonderful, and now you can see it in illustrated, murderous form. Happiness and joy.

This Etsy store has the best handmade catnip eyeballs in the world. There is no joy like watching a cat gleefully maul a giant human eye. NO JOY IN THIS WORLD. Plus we've sold out their stock like, twice since I discovered them. Let's do it again.

I have a Tumblr now. Tumblrs are cool. And while this won't be true for long, if you go there right now, you'll actually get a lovely graphic illustration of how many fucks I have left to give. Hint: not many.

In limited edition news, A Fantasy Medley 2 and When Will You Rise remain available from Subterranean Press, and Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots remains available from ISFIC Press. Velveteen is available in hardcover and ebook formats, the others are hardcover only.

Now, this is important: all three of the books listed above are limited edition, and the print runs are really small. So while they're available now, they won't be available forever. Please keep that in mind, because I will just look sad and shake my head if asked in six months whether I have any for sale. Also, you can get When Will You Rise and Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots signed and personalized for the holidays by contacting Borderlands Books.

And that's the news.

I'm still sick (but getting better), and so, in order to keep myself from dwelling on the frailty of the flesh, here is a review roundup. Yay.

Yeti Stomper has put me on notice with great aplomb. I am honored and afraid. And also amused.

Broad Universe has posted a review of Late Eclipses, and says, "This is an exciting book for fans of Seanan McGuire and the October Daye series. It hints at so much more to come and I can't wait to find out what's next." There's an interview with me attached to the review. Bonus!

The Word Zombie has posted a review of Deadline, and says, "With Feed, Mira Grant established herself as a major new voice in zombie fiction. With Deadline, she proves that 'zombie' is a superfluous addition to that accolade. Without the subtlety of her storytelling, the layers of conspiracy at the heart of this book would have ripped apart like so many sheets of rice paper. Instead, she parceled out the story with the literary timing of Stephen King at his best, while managing to do what King has suffered with so much in recent years—tying the story together in the end and leaving the reader with an emotional punch akin to being hit in the chest with a Taser." ...wow.

Apex has posted a review of One Salt Sea, and says, "This seamless expansion of the fae world in and around the story being told is one of my favorite things about McGuire's writings. She is a master at informing the reader without the dreaded info dump. One Salt Sea is a worthy addition to the marvelous October Daye series and one I will happily reread again." There's also an interview after the review. Yay!

Rie has posted a review of Rosemary and Rue, and says, "I really enjoyed Rosemary and Rue, though it took me a bit to get a handle on the new style after reading some of Seanan's other work first. It was an entirely new pacing and flow, and the switch was not an automatic one. I don't want to imply that the plot is slow moving—it isn't, it's a rich, complex plot that has an appropriate pace for its style and genre—it just wasn't as non-stop action as Mira's Feed." Since this is something I worry about a lot, this is reassuring to hear.

...and that is all for today. I'm tired, and need a nap.

I have been doing stuff! On the internet! With people!

Have you ever wondered whether I had guilty pleasures? Well, I don't actually believe in being guilty about the things that bring me joy, but that didn't stop me from appearing on My Countless Lives to talk about my not-so-guilty pleasures. Looking at this list, I believe I can say, without reservations, that I'm a little weird. But I'm also super-fun to go to Disneyland with, so it all balances out.

Orbit asked me to write a thing about fictional politicians. So I wrote a thing about fictional politicians. Being as I am me, it's a pretty eclectic list. I kept it short by leaving off people who inherited their titles and became kick-ass royals, because yes, Neo-Queen Serenity is awesome, but that would have been the point at which things got completely out of control.

Oh, hey, I did an interview (as Mira Grant) for the Examiner. So that's a thing and you should totally read it.

Oh! Also! I did a sort of micro-interview with Romantic Times, also as Mira Grant. Not many questions, but the ones they asked were fun, so that works out.

Also, this one time, at band camp, I interviewed Mira Grant, and things quickly got really weird. So that's a thing which I have done on the internet.

And those are things and stuff what I have done on the internet.

Doobie-doo.

The random number generator has spoken, and the random number generator has selected...

corbeau

Please use my website contact form to submit your contact information within the next twenty-four hours, or I will have to pick another winner.

Thanks to everyone who played, and watch for additional giveaways coming soon!

I have received my author's copies of When Will You Rise, and they are gorgeous. So it's time for one more giveaway. (Not saying this is definitely the last, just that it might be.) To enter...

1. Leave a comment on this entry.
2. Identify your country.
3. If you are international, state that you are willing to pay postage.

...and that's it! I'll select a winner Friday morning at 9am PST.

PLEASE NOTE: Because these are author's copies, they are signed, but are not numbered. So you will not be receiving one of the 1,000 "real" copies of the book.

Game on!

It's...kind of bad around here right now, guys. As in "the links are taking over." So here are some reviews from the files, as I struggle to conquer Link Mountain before it develops a healthy ski industry.

Geek Girls Rule has posted a review of Deadline, and says, "I cannot stress this enough, if you like fast-paced, gripping psychological fiction with a horror bent, do yourself a favor and pick up these books. Right now, after reading the ending, I'm unsure whether I want to punch Ms. Grant/McGuire or kiss her or shake her hand." When I inspire the threat of punching, I know I'm doing it right.

One More Page has posted a review of Deadline, and says, "Deadline by Mira Grant definitely exceeded all my expectations. I love it when a book does that. Even if I have to wait for a whole year for the conclusion of this wonderfully terrifying, expletive-inducing trilogy, I have a good feeling the third book will shoot straight up the ceiling with its awesomeness." Look, I said that these were older reviews...

The Outhousers have posted a review of Deadline, and say, "I would highly recommend this book not only to fans of Urban Fantasy or zombie novels, but to anyone looking for a good series to read. Mira Grant is the pseudonym for author Seanan McGuire, so fans of hers should jump on this series as well. It's out now in paperback." I love it when Mira's fans remember me.

Aliverse has posted a review of Feed and Deadline, and says, "These are two action-packed zombie novels with heart and intelligence. More importantly, they are well-written and have characters you fall in love with. You will care about them. You will root for them. You will cry for them. (seriously, not hyperbole)" I know I cried, so hey, it doesn't read like hyperbole to me!

Necroscope, the Australian Zombie Review Blog, has posted a review of Deadline, and says, "I'm not going to ask you to go out and buy a copy of Deadline. I'm telling you. Do it, and do it now. And pick up a copy of Feed also, if by some miracle you've not done so already. This is not negotiable." Okay, I like this reviewer.

And that's it for right now. Look for a Toby-centric review roundup, coming soon.

I have just received confirmation that both When Will You Rise and Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots are now shipping! These books represent my first solo hardcovers, one under each of my names, and like so many good things, they are here for a limit time.

When Will You Rise: Stories to End the World is published by Subterranean Press, and is limited to 1,000 signed and numbered copies. This gorgeously illustrated collection contains "Countdown" and "Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box." If you place an order within the next few days, it should reach you in time for the holidays. Oh, and did I mention that we got a starred review from Publishers Weekly? Because yeah. We totally did.

Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots is published by ISFIC Press, and is also limited to 1,000 copies. You can obtain signed copies directly from the publisher, or by contacting Borderlands Books. If you place an order within the next few days, it should reach you in time for the holidays. This volume contains the Velveteen stories through "Velveteen vs. The Blind Date," along with all-new supplemental material, an introduction by Jim Hines, and a valediction by Carrie Vaughn. I'm really happy with it.

So those are my new hardcovers, and they're beautiful, and I'm totally excited about them. Glee!

We're halfway through November, and I have to say, it's weird reaching this point in the year and not being in the process of getting ready to head for Disney World. Like, every morning I wake up going "is it Disney o'clock yet?", and then every morning I have to realize that Disney o'clock isn't coming back until May. Boo.

Anyway, this is the post in which I tell you what I'm working on, and you finally understand why I don't have time for tea. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Midnight Blue-Light Special, Parasite). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

Not everything on this list has been sold. I will not discuss the sale status of anything which has not been publicly announced. If you can't remember whether I've announced something, check the relevant tag. Please don't ask why project X is no longer on the list.

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

So Friday night, I will be appearing at The Booksmith in damp, drizzly San Francisco, California, as part of their Read Until the World Ends Halloween Bookswap. I've never done one of these before, so I turn to their website for details:

"$25 gets you dinner and an open bar, a bookstore all to yourself and forty of your new best friends, discounts and swag, a chance to rub elbows with amazing authors, and tons of surprises. Amy Stephenson hosts."

$25 to share a room with me and an open bar. Oh, the drinks that we'll drink! Oh, the thinks that we'll think! Oh, the giggling as I slowly list gently onto my side and go to sleep! I...okay, that last part wouldn't be very professional of me. So I won't do that. But if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area and looking for a fun way to spend a Friday night, come and spend it it with me in my guise as Mira Grant, and with all the boozimohol the bookstore can provide.

Whee!

I'm still recovering from Disneyland, which means I'm slow-moving and easily confused, sort of like the last dinosaur standing at the Cambrian border and going "Huh, I wonder if that comet wants to be friends with me." Here. Have some reviews. This is what my brain can handle.

Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus has posted a conversational review of the overall Newsflesh trilogy. This is a really nifty format for reviewing! I like it a lot, although it sort of prevents pull quotes. Spoilers abound, naturally, as they're discussing the series as a whole.

Geek Girls Rule has posted a review of Ashes of Honor, and says, "I enjoyed this book immensely. It was everything I want and expect from a Toby Daye novel: A fast read, an emotional roller coaster, with a fairly intricate plot." Spiffy! Also, she refers to "the Simon Torquill Traveling Show of Evil Bullshit." I would like tickets to this midway, please and thank you.

Kathy Takes On Books has posted a review of Ashes of Honor, and says, "McGuire is colorful and describes people, scenes, and battles beautifully. She does an incredible job of blending the supernatural wonders of the fae with the down home qualities of Toby and overlaying it all with very human values." I am colorful because I am secretly a Disney princess.

Jonathan Crowe has posted a review of the overall Newsflesh trilogy, and says, "The devil is in the details, which McGuire just nails: the testing and decontamination protocols, and how people's lives are distorted and diminished by them. The books say quite a bit about fear and security theatre that is certainly applicable to contemporary events, but McGuire isn't beating you about the head with an agenda here. The books' focus is first and foremost on the characters, their cares and their wants, and McGuire imbues them with life and affection, and she makes you care about them." Spoilers abound.

Calico Reaction has posted a review of "San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats," and says, "The overall story, a documentary of sorts, was so sad. And yet, weirdly cathartic. I can't describe it any other way. There were so many fantastic little moments where my heart ached for these people, especially as the story reached the end." I so want to write Space Crime Continuum fanfic, I can't even.

Finally for today, CC2K has posted a review of Ashes of Honor. Um. An advance review, originally, which says something about how behind I am on these. Anyway, she says, "If you dig urban fantasy, this is one of the best out there. If you're looking to try the genre for the first time, this series could be the place to start." Dude.

That's all for today. Catch you when I'm less prehistoric.

Welcome to October, season of mists, mellow fruitfulness, and occasional accounting. I'm prepping for the winter, and that means paperwork. So here, then, is the October 2012 current projects post. The snows are coming, and we're almost ready to put a freeze on the year.

Anyway, this is the post in which I tell you what I'm working on, and you finally understand why I don't have time for tea. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Midnight Blue-Light Special, Parasite). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

Not everything on this list has been sold. I will not discuss the sale status of anything which has not been publicly announced. Please don't ask.

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

The battle to reclaim my link file rages on! Today, some Feed reviews.

Lady Business has some thoughts on the treatment of female characters in Feed. They assume you have some idea of what happens in the book, but they're really interesting, and they reflect some of the issues that I, personally, had with the narrative when it was done. I don't regret any of the characters I chose to include. I sometimes wish I'd handled the non-central females a little better. This is a great exploration/review.

The Monitor has posted a review of Feed, and says, "Feed was a mesmerizing read." Works for me.

Working for the MANdroid has posted a review of Feed, and says, "Feed is an awesome and unusual zombie book, and it actually has a great conclusion that feels like the story is completely wrapped up." Awesome.

.Xpresso Reads has posted a review of Feed, and says, "The very first thing I noticed going into this book was the exquisiteness of the writing. The narration being notably mature and quick-witted makes it an exceptionally smart novel that is just a breath of fresh air." I like it when people think I'm smart!

Inspired Quill has posted a review of Feed, and says, "Even if you aren't a fan of zombies, this is one zombie book that you shouldn't run from." I won't lie: I kinda want this on a T-shirt.

Charles Tan has posted a review of Feed, and says, " I once read a blog entry stating that Neil Gaiman's Sandman was porn for lit majors while Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan was porn for journalists. If that's the case, then Feed is porn for bloggers."

...you know what?

That works for me.

I...appear to have missed a month. Which is a little terrifying, given how careful I have reliably been about making these posts. There you go: that is how fried I was over the Hugos. Here, then, is the September 2012 current projects post. Most of the year is gone. Like, we are in the final color block of my planner, and it's terrible.

Anyway, this is the post in which I tell you what I'm working on, and you finally understand why I don't have time for tea. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Midnight Blue-Light Special, Parasite). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

Not everything on this list has been sold. I will not discuss the sale status of anything which has not been publicly announced. Please don't ask.

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, there's some news about When Will You Rise?. Most specifically, Publishers Weekly has given When Will You Rise? a starred review!

Here's a link to the actual review.

Here's a quote from the actual review:

"Grant excels in humanizing her characters and surrounding them with believable science and circumstances. The surefooted storytelling is mesmerizing as all-too-plausible dilemmas snowball into desperation and catastrophe."

I AM THE DESTROYER OF ALL HAPPINESS AND JOY! TREMBLE BEFORE ME! I mean...ahem. Isn't that a nice review? Isn't it nice to get a starred review for a nice book like that one? If you haven't ordered your copy yet, you totally should.

I am happy.

You know the drill by now. This is me, trying in vain to clean up the file a little bit before the Ashes of Honor reviews start to appear in earnest. I will fail, but still, I will strive.

Carrie S. has posted a guest review of Discount Armageddon at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and says, "There's nothing particularly new here. Thanks to my beloved Joss Whedon, the idea that a petite girl in cute clothes can take down monsters is pretty standard stuff. However, what the story lacks in originality it makes up for with wit, great descriptions, engaging characters, fast pace, and a whole lot of energy." Joss comparisons also aren't new, where this series is concerned. Great review, and I love the amount of "wait and see" that it allows me.

Dark Faerie Tales has also posted a review of Discount Armageddon, and says, "Overall, Discount Armageddon is a fascinating take on a whole new Urban Fantasy series. If you don’t like books with quite a bit of info dumping and long expositions then you may not care for this book but if you like sarcastic women, sexy men and interesting creatures then I would say give this book a try. I can’t wait to see what is next for Verity Price and Dominic De Luca." Fortunately, I love books with quite a bit of info dumping.

Let's mix it up a little: The Midnight Garden has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout seamlessly combines medical thriller, political intrigue, and pulse-pounding action sequences with unforgettable human drama." Happiness, joy, and fluffy kittens for all! (Well. Not for Grignar, devourer of all flesh. He knows what he did.)

...and we're back to Discount Armageddon with The Book Bundle's lovely review of the book, which says, "Discount Armageddon is a really fun read. I was very quickly pulled into Verity's world, and I loved each new cryptid she met. I can't wait to see more of the world in the following books." I like it when people are excited about sequels.

Book Banter has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout is the perfect, satiating finish to the trilogy, making the three-book series feel like one long, epic story. No reader will be disappointed, with a worthwhile ending that will leave him or her sad that the wonderful journey is now over...but just like when the end of Harry Potter was reached, or the final page of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, how many of us turned back to the first book and started reading that first page once again. Having reread the first two books, this trilogy will be one I will continue to reread constantly throughout my lifetime." ...wow.

Finally for today, Reading After Midnight has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "You know what?...If you want to know how this all ends you’ll just have to read the story and find on your own. What you’re reading now is my heart bleeding all over my keyboard, because this is how it feels letting this story go." That may be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my work. Thank you.

Thank you all.

But first, a note:

I wasn't able to draw the winners when I originally said that I would, because planning and prep for Spocon got away from me. I apologize for that. At the same time, if something happens to prevent my posting winners immediately—and we live in a chaotic environment; things happen—please don't start emailing, Facebook messaging, and Tweeting me asking whether I've drawn the winners. When I draw the winners, I post them here. All you do by following me to other forums to ask why I'm late is make my stubborn kick in, and then I wind up even later.

Selecting winners takes time. I need to feed the data into the RNG, and then count, by hand, to be sure that ineligible comments (followups on original comments, comments which do not follow the stated rules) aren't selected as the winners. It can take up to half an hour, with something like this, where there are multiple factors involved. My having time to tweet from the airport doesn't mean I have time to sit and count.

Thank you for understanding.

And now...

Winning an ARC of A Fantasy Medley 2, georgiamagnolia!
Winning an ARC of When Will You Rise?, apocalypticbob!

You each have twenty-four hours to send me a mailing address, and thank you for playing! More giveaways to come!

...merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

Today's first review comes from libris_leonis, who has posted a review of "Countdown", and says, "This is a grim, compact little story that works really well, but also really grimly; not uplifting, but certainly excellent, although it does require knowledge of the Newsflesh world to really work to its full effect." Yay!

You know, that review was so nice, let's visit the reviewer twice. libris_leonis has also posted a review of "San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats", and says, "Overall, "San Diego 2014" showcases Grant's best talents; emotionally resonant and effective work, drawing out similarities between characters and readers, and the occasional (more common here than across the rest of the Newsflesh cycle) reference to modern geek culture. A very nice novella." Hooray!

Sadly, one reviewer does not a full roundup make, and so we move on. The Mad Reviewer has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Funny, dark, suspenseful and full of plot twists, Blackout was no disappointment. And it even had a satisfying, if not entirely happy, ending. What else could I really ask for?" A pony. You can always, always ask for a pony.

Persephone Reads has posted a review of Late Eclipses, and says, "For every knock she takes—and this installment’s knocks would make a heavyweight prizefighter proud—Toby finds a way to get back on her feet. She’s not invincible; she sways and stumbles, but she stands when others might fall. In these pages, Toby’s brand of strength and vulnerability found its sweet spot. It’s no great shock that I continue to be a pom-pom wielding, card carrying member of her cheer squad." Go Fighting Pumpkins!

The Family Addiction has posted a fun, and funny, review of Discount Armageddon. There are no really good pull quotes this time, but it's definitely worth clicking through.

A Modern Hypatia (love the name) has posted a review of Deadline, and says, "Deadline is also an amazingly strong second book—often the weakness of trilogies. There are some places that's obvious (especially the end), but the beginning does a great job of easing you back into the world and reminding you how things work before the story accelerates (which it does quite rapidly.) And then there's a solid plot that both serves this book, but is clearly laying down foundation for a powerful conclusion." Victory is mine!

Finally for today's extremely random review roundup, Monsters and Critics has posted a review of Home Improvement: Undead Edition, and says, "This collection is a treat; the stories are strong and most reward the reader with a pleasing plot twist. The paranormal element added to the mundane yet trying experience of home or business renovation was an inspired theme certain to strike a cord with anyone who has lived the experience. Just the thing to enjoy on a languid summer day with a tall glass of cold lemonade." Works for me.

So that's me purging a little more of the link file. Look for more of these in the next few weeks, as I struggle to get things under control before Ashes of Honor hits shelves.

In addition to the much-vaunted (and very pretty) Ashes of Honor ARCs, I currently have ARCs for two, yes two different Subterranean Press books. One, A Fantasy Medley 2, contains the first-ever Tybalt-centric novella, "Rat-Catcher," which explains how he first came to be a King of Cats, the origins of his name, and why, when pressed, he sometimes introduces himself to humans as "Rand Stratford." The other, When Will You Rise?, is a collection of two Mira Grant short pieces that have not previously been published in physical form. Both will be coming out this fall, as gorgeous, limited edition volumes.

Understandably, these are even more limited than normal ARCs. But they're worth the read (and the finished books...hoo, nelly). So what's a girl to do?

Give some stuff away, naturally. Specifically, one copy of each Subterranean Press ARC.

This particular giveaway is open to US residents or to non-US residents who feel like paying postage. I'm very sorry about the restriction, there, but I'm in the middle of convention season, and I don't have the spare dollars right now. To enter...

1. Comment with which book you'd like to win, and why.
2. Give your best plea to the Random Number Generator.
3. If you're a non-US resident, indicate both this and your willingness to pay postage.

I will use the RNG to choose three potential winners for each book, and then choose the plea I like best. Yes, that makes it a little arbitrary, but only a little. Winners will be selected on Wednesday, August 8th, at noon PST. The usual twenty-four hour window will then apply.

Game on!

ETA: Guys, don't tell me why you want to win/why you should win; tell the RNG why you, above all others, are the predestined owner of the book. I want you to bribe the random number generator like a corrupt politician. Have fun! Don't just tell me "because I want it." If you didn't, you wouldn't be here!

Evil pie!

We open today with Paul Goat Allen's review of the entire Newflesh trilogy, which he calls "an instant classic." He also says, "The narrative supremacy of this trilogy is unquestionable: both Feed and Deadline were nominated for the Hugo Award (in 2011 and 2012, respectively)—and Blackout is arguably the strongest of the three!"

I do not have words for how happy this review makes me. It...if just one person feels this way, I did it right. And that's amazing.

Meanwhile, Calliope's Domain has posted a review of Discount Armageddon, and says, "The writing of this book definitely had a lighter, funner tone than Ms. McGuire's October Daye series that, in my opinion, really let stand out. Heck, if not for her name on the cover, I never would have guessed the same author wrote both series; a true accomplishment, I think, for any author writing multiple series." That is a huge compliment. Thank you so much.

MiB Reviews has reviewed Blackout, and says, "One of the great assets that the Newsflesh trilogy has is the way that every book is a different type of story. Atop the overused backdrop of the zombie apocalypse, we have a novel about a conspiracy to sabotage a political campaign by a fanatic from the point of view of a calm, seasoned journalist; an action-packed romp against impossible odds where the villains just can't help but to blow everything up; and now we have a story where simply surviving and living in peace requires helping genetic experiments escape from labs and uncovering the biggest government conspiracy in US history. There might be another author who's blended zombies and one of these genres together so seamlessly, but I doubt that anyone else has done so as well, or done so three times." This is what winning looks like!

Sigrid Ellis has posted a review of Wicked Girls that calls the album "Hugo-Award-worthy" and says "This is the engagement that makes our beloved fantasy and science fiction world bigger, braver, and stronger for the future. And it’s a good album, besides. Making comparisons to other artists is tricky, because not everyone likes the same things I like. But I found—and this is high compliment—that the lyrics reminded me of a sort of cross between the poetry of John M. Ford and the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. Bleak and cynical and stupid-stubbornly hopeful, my favorite kind of thing." I...oh my sweet Great Pumpkin. I am so touched.

Tom Knapp rounds out today's roundup with a review of When Will You Rise?, about which he says, "Grant, in just over a hundred pages, creates a fully realized disaster, and readers will understand the science behind it. It's a short, punchy book that makes you want to read more." Everybody dies!

That's it for right now. Thank you to all readers, and all reviewers, whether I find and link your review or not. I am so honored.

Life is good.

Forgive me: I was tired, and forgot to select a winner for our casting contest. Today's lucky recipient of a signed copy of Blackout is...

dimestore_romeo!

Please email me via my (not Mira's) website contact form by this time on Sunday, July 22nd, to claim your prize. Also let me know whether you want the US or UK edition. I'll need mailing info and all that, and congratulations! Truly, your geek is strong.

Thanks to everyone for participating, and we'll have Ashes of Honor giveaways shortly.

To celebrate the release of "San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats," here. Have an open thread to discuss the novella. It's been out for a week, I figure you've had time.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Seriously. If anyone comments here at all, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So please don't read and then yell at me because you encountered spoilers. You were warned. (I will not reply to every comment; I call partial comment amnesty. But I may well join some of the discussion, or answer questions or whatnot.)

You can also start a discussion at my website forums, with less need to be concerned that I will see everything you say! In case you wanted, you know, discussion free of authorial influence, since I always wind up getting involved in these things.

Have fun, and you can't stop the signal.

I'm a couple of days late, due to that whole "I was in San Diego on the 15th, trying not to be engulfed by the crowd and cast into the sea," but this is the July 2012 current projects post, because we are using this year up like cheap single-ply toilet paper. It's distressing. Anyway, this is the post in which I tell you what I'm working on, and you finally understand why I don't have time for tea. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Ashes of Honor, Midnight Blue-Light Special, Parasite). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

Not everything on this list has been sold. I will not discuss the sale status of anything which has not been publicly announced. Please don't ask.

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

Oh, the places you'll go, oh, the places I'll be! Here's where to start if you're looking for me...

Thursday, July 12th.

1:15 PM, Room 6A: Not with a Bang, with a Bite.

It's the obligate zombie panel! Because really, that's what I do. Join me-as-Mira, along with Jeyn Roberts (Dark Inside), Michael Spradlin (Blood Riders), Diana Rowland (Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues), Stephen Blackmoore (City of the Lost), Dana Fredsti (Plague Town), Susan Dennard (Something Strange and Deadly), and Max Brooks (World War Z). Let's see if Max and I can get into another argument about his virology, shall we? Also, you will love Stephen. He's the bomb. The panel will be immediately followed by an autographing session, wherein I will sign whatever you bring me.

Friday, July 13th.

5:00 PM, Booth 1116: Mira Grant signing.

Nothing says "Friday the 13th in San Diego" like Mira Grant signing at the Orbit booth! Come for signatures, cool swag, and the chance to have me beam at you like a lunatic while I try to drink enough Diet Dr Pepper to put me in an early grave. It'll be fun!

Saturday, July 14th.

10:30 AM, Room 5AB: Hot Town: Faeries in the City.

Mmmm, 10:30 AM panel on Saturday. On the plus side, you know you'll be able to get a seat. On the double-plus side, you know none of us will be awake enough to be filtering a damn thing that comes out of our mouths. Come for the urban fantasy, stay for the raw humor value of me and Jeff Lewis calling each other cockwaffles. Join me-as-Seanan, along with Benjamin Tate (Leaves of Flame), Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles), Kat Richardson (Seawitch), Jennifer Bosworth (Struck), Anton Strout (Simon Canderous series), Jeanne Stein (Anna Strong Vampire Novels), J.F. Lewis (Void City books), and S. G. Browne (Lucky Bastard). The panel will be immediately followed by an autographing session, wherein Jeff and I will begin chewing on Kat.

Sunday, July 15th.

12:00 PM, Room 32AB: Browncoat reading.

Mira Grant joins the San Diego Browncoats for a reading from "San Diego 2014," and to answer any questions you might have. And yes, we know this is up against Buffy. Stupid late schedule changes.

1:00 PM, Booth A-07: Mira Grant signing.

And then it's off to the Browncoats booth for a signing! Hooray for signings!

...and that is all my official business for the weekend. Unofficial business will include shopping, panels, ice cream, Amy-hugs, Amber-hugs, Sunil-hugs, Kaja-hugs...hugging is going to be a key part of this convention.

Onward, to San Diego!

I am home from the memorial, and I am exhausted. Plus my link file is (still) exploding. So here: have a review roundup, and I'll try to produce some actual content for you soon.

This YouTube video gives five reasons to read the Newsflesh trilogy, and it's brilliant. I salute the guy who made it, even as I quail in fear at what he's willing to do to himself.

The Quiet Voice has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Mira Grant does not lose any steam in this final installment of the Newsflesh trilogy. She continues the story seamlessly from the chilling ending of Deadline, and grabs readers all the way to the gripping finale." Woo!

RA for All has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout, as the conclusion of this well plotted and entertaining trilogy, did not disappoint." Works for me.

The handsome, debonair, and all-around sexy gentleman in charge of Schlock Mercenary, Howard Tayler, has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Mira Grant sticks the landing." That is, as a writer, all I ever wanted. I just wanted to stick the landing.

Mini Love Notes has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Here marks the end to hands-down one of the best series I’ve read since The Hunger Games trilogy." Oh, very nice.

And now for something completely different: Great Books for Horse Lovers has posted a review of Rosemary and Rue, and says, "Half riotously funny, half darkly suspenseful, Rosemary and Rue will beguile and enchant older teen and adult fans of Celtic myth and urban mysteries. With at least six more books in print and to come in the October Daye series, hopefully, more kelpies will follow for horse-lovers, too!" Hee!

Happy, happy day! Because guess what's coming to the United Kingdom? Well, according to Amazon.uk, that would be the Orbit Short Fiction Program. And feast your eyes on this lovely little snippet of internet-y goodness:

An order link for the UK edition of "Countdown."

This is just the Amazon.uk link, not any other platform, but still, this is a huge step forward, and means that soon, it will be a heck of a lot easier for non-US readers to get their hands on my Newsflesh novellas. According to Amazon.uk, the release date is July 2nd.

Hooray!

It's been a while since we've had a good fantasy casting thread, and this promises to be a crazy week at work, so I figure it's time to have a pretty party. This week, we're casting Feed. Feel free to cast other works in the Newsflesh universe as well (so if you want a high-profile actress for Becks, when it's essentially a cameo in the first book, explain how you'll use her in the second). Pictures are a plus!

A few things to keep in mind:

There is absolutely no reason, by the text, that the actors cast for Georgia and Shaun need to be white. George is described as "pale" after she's been inside for a long period of time, but that's it. The only characters that really need to be cast Caucasian are Buffy and the older Masons (Stacy and Michael). Buffy because she's blonde, the Masons because they're a very specific sort of suburban archetype gone horribly wrong.

Your Shaun and Georgia should be similar in age, because they're going to be playing off each other a lot.

Explaining your casting/supplying pictures is a big, big plus.

At the end of the week—well, Thursday; I'm on a plane all day Friday—I'll pick the dream cast I like best and send them a signed copy of Blackout. Because I hate the post office but hate thinking about addresses more, this is open to everyone.

Have fun!

Like, seriously. How else do you explain Blackout being the first of my books to make the print New York Times list (in position #15 on the Mass Market Paperbacks sub-list) and now making NPR's list of the best science fiction and fantasy of the summer?

In other news, HOLY CORN MAZES, YOU GUYS, BLACKOUT IS ON THE NPR LIST OF THE BEST SCI-FI OF THE SUMMER!!!!!!!

Ahem.

I am very, very excited, as is only natural when INCREDIBLY AWESOME THINGS of INCREDIBLE AWESOMENESS decide to happen. This is so amazing. I am so amazed. Also, there have been confirmed sightings of the Newsflesh trilogy at WalMart, and no matter what you think of WalMart, that's a lot of eyes potentially falling on (and maybe even buying) my books. Dear world: please buy my books. I have a lot of cats to feed.

NPR! NYT! OMG!

Squee.

It is now time for the June 2012 current projects post, which holy fuckweasels and little fishes, how is it already June 15th? How have we used up half this year? How?! I do not approve. But whether I approve or not, this is the post in which I tell you what I'm working on, and you finally understand why I don't have time for tea. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Ashes of Honor, Midnight Blue-Light Special). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

Not everything on this list has been sold. I will not discuss the sale status of anything which has not been publicly announced. Please don't ask.

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

Hello, boys and ghouls. It's your friendly internet horror hostess with the most...machetes...coming at you with another update in the zombie roller coaster ride that is my work as Mira Grant. Specifically, I want to let you all know that "San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats," is now available for pre-order.

Click here for all the exciting details!

This stand-alone novella follows the events of the last San Diego International Comic Convention after the Rising, and is framed, narratively, by Mahir Gowda's interview of the only known survivor of the event, Lorelei J. Tutt (USCG, Retired). We already know how it ends; we already know how it began. What matters is what happened in the middle.

"San Diego 2014" is being released via the Orbit Short Fiction program, and will be available in just about all ebook formats on July 11th, 2012. The retail cost is $2.99. While Orbit is working on getting the program up and running in other regions, it is currently US-only. I'm sorry about that, and you should contact Orbit if you have any questions.

Zombies!

It's time a "please help me, I can no longer find anything in my rolling note file" review roundup. Always fun!

As an aside, before I get to the notes, I have learned something about myself with Blackout. Normally, negative reviews are interesting and even a little educational for me. They help me learn what I can still improve in a series, even though I cringe a little whenever says something in Book #2 is an "obvious reaction" to criticism about Book #1. (By the time I see reviews of Book #1, I'm working on Book #3, if not Book #4.) But with Blackout, my experience has been very different, because the series is over. I already know what I need to work on as a matter of improving as an author, and I don't want to hear people criticize this story. It's done; my imaginary friends are gone; they're not coming back. It's made collecting reviews a much more careful process this time, as I get way more upset about even mild negativity.

(Please note that I am not saying "No one gets to negatively review the final book in a series/trilogy." I'm saying "I do not benefit from reading these reviews, and they make me sad, so I'm trying not to do it." Honestly, you can, and should, review anything you want, any way you want.)

And now...reviews:

Bea's Book Nook has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout is a roller coaster ride, with emotion, action, character growth, more action, quirky characters, and not a lot of zombies. I actually would have liked more of them (and I'm not a zombie fan), but when they do appear, watch out!" Hee. She also says that I "take chances," and that makes me happy.

A Reader of Fictions has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout has the humor and intelligence of the prior books (plus a ZOMBIE GRIZZLY), making a pretty satisfying conclusion to the series. I say 'pretty' satisfying because I really want more. Like right now BUT IT'S OVER. Well, except for some novellas." Any review that gives a shout-out to the zombie bear is awesome by me.

Oh, yay! The Guilded Earlobe has reviewed the audiobook edition of Blackout, and says, "Blackout is full of adventure, betrayal, true love, sacrifice, conspiracies revealed, surprise enemies and allies, fascinating science and of course, zombies. It has everything you want in a series finale, leaving you both utterly fulfilled, and desperately wanting more. Blackout is hands down my favorite Audiobook of 2012, and if it doesn’t top my list at year end, then some miracle of audiobook greatness must have taken place to knock it off its perch." Yeah...that works for me.

Gina Rinelli has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Do yourself a favor and read these books. I can't say that enough. A couple times during Blackout I stopped and thought I can't believe a person wrote this. It's a level of storytelling that hasn't been matched for me since J. K. Rowling, the way everything fits together to just blow your mind. I may be fangirling at this point. I don't care. You need to read these books." I'm blushing.

Rob Bedford has posted a review of Blackout, and says, "Blackout is both fine novel and a fine conclusion to the Newflesh Trilogy. I enjoyed the random zombie novel here and there, but when I read Feed I was totally blown away, which set the bar high for Deadline. That bar was met and with Blackout and the whole Newsflesh Trilogy, Mira Grant has completed what should be considered the quintessential zombie narrative for the early 21st Century."

On that note, have a great day, and don't get eaten by dead things.

Here's a reminder for all you Mira Grant fans out there:

I, and by extension, she, will be appearing at Borderlands Books this coming Saturday, June 2nd, at 6:00 PM. Why? To celebrate the release of Blackout, naturally! There will be Q&A, cupcakes, and a reading from "San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats."

As an extra added bonus, if you come early, Mary Robinette Kowal, also known as "the voice of October Daye," will be at the story at 3:00 PM, reading from and promoting her awesome new book, Glamour in Glass.

Borderlands events are free of charge, and the store is more than happy to take orders for signed and inscribed copies, if you can't attend.

I hope to see you there!

To celebrate the release of Blackout, here. Have an open thread to discuss the book.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Seriously. If anyone comments here at all, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So please don't read and then yell at me because you encountered spoilers. You were warned. (I will not reply to every comment; I call partial comment amnesty. But I may well join some of the discussion, or answer questions or whatnot.)

You can also start a book discussion at my website forums, with less need to be concerned that I will see everything you say! In case you wanted, you know, discussion free of authorial influence, since I always wind up getting involved in these things.

Have fun!

And now, the moment I have been quietly waiting for...

Ahem. From today's announcement at Publishers Weekly:

"Film rights: Mira Grant's trilogy, Feed, Deadline, and Blackout, optioned to Rachel Olschan, producer at Electric Entertainment, by Pouya Shahbazian of FinePrint, on behlf of Diana Fox at Fox Literary."

WE OPTIONED THE FILM RIGHTS TO FEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, this doesn't mean this will necessarily be a movie (although I hope there will), but it takes us a huge, huge step closer to that becoming a reality. Everyone I've dealt with has been amazing, supportive, and enthusiastic, and now there's a beautiful chance that maybe, we can see Shaun and Georgia Mason on the big screen.

How's that for a book-day present?

ETA: Belated comment amnesty, because you guys are awesomely enthusiastic, and wow will I never get to all these comments!

Blackout is on store shelves today. After more than six years of work, and after three years of publication dates, the trilogy is over.

I may have seemed a little quiet lately. That's honestly because I'm sort of in shock. I just can't believe it's over. I've been living with these people for so long that knowing that their book is closed is just...it's stunning. It's difficult to wrap my head around.

It's finished.

When I finished Feed, it was the best thing I had ever written, and I truly believe that writing it is what enabled me to grow enough as an author to become publication-ready (the final revision of Rosemary and Rue happened after the first draft of Feed). Each subsequent book has stolen that title from its predecessor. I am proud of these books. I am amazed by them. And no, I am not ashamed to say that. It's my book-day. I get to be proud.

This trilogy has earned me two Hugo nominations (three, if you count "Countdown"), a place on the Publishers Weekly Best Books list, and so much more. It has brought me into contact with amazing people from around the world. It has allowed me to indulge my passion for viruses and pandemic preparedness without freaking people out (too much). It has changed my life forever, and I am so grateful, and I am so pleased that you have all been here with me.

I'll open the discussion thread for Blackout tomorrow or Thursday, after more people have had time to finish the book; please, no spoilers here. But...thank you.

Thank you all so much, forever.

Rise up while you can.