...a signed copy of Indexing! Win this awesome tome for yourself, for a friend, or for a local library!

Welcome to the sixth of the Thirteen Days of Hogswatch. I will be starting a new giveaway every day between now and December 13th. Each giveaway will have different rules and a different deadline, although all prizes will be mailed on December 30th, because I am bad at going to the post office (and also, I am avoiding the post office as much as possible until that other winter holiday is over).

The sixth giveaway is for a signed copy of Indexing. This is going to be a random number drawing, because as you may have noticed, I am running a bit behind. So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate both this and your willingness to pay postage.
3. Name your favorite fairy tale.
4. That's it.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Tuesday, December 13th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

If you've been following the serial from the start, episode #12, "Never After," is available today! If you've been waiting for the whole story to drop, then you're in luck, because the serial is complete and the full season is available for purchase now, in either e-book or physical form!

This is your talkpost and discussion zone for the full serial, including episode #12. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Never After" takes us home. Thank you for making this journey with me.

Once upon a time...

The penultimate episode of Indexing: Reflections is available today! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Mirror's Face" takes us back to familiar places and familiar faces, as the inevitable continues to unspool all around them. Only one episode remains in this season. Shit is getting vicious, and there are no more second chances.

Once upon a time...

The random number generator has spoken, and the winner of a copy of Indexing: Reflections is...

kimuro!

Instructions for the winner: Please comment on this post letting me know that you're claiming your prize and send me an email via my website (www.seananmcguire.com) with your mailing information. Both comment and email must be received by Monday, December 21th to be considered valid.

One more day to go!

The tenth episode of Indexing: Reflections is available today! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Untold Truths" is hard to talk about in an unspoilery way, but wow, is it bringing us closer to the end. Only two episodes remain in this season. Shit's about to get vicious.

Once upon a time...

...a copy of Indexing: Reflections.

Welcome to the twelfth of the Thirteen Days of Hogswatch. I will be starting a new giveaway every day between now and December 13th (tomorrow). Each giveaway will have different rules, and a different deadline, although all prizes will be mailed on December 30th, because I am bad at going to the post office (and also, avoiding the post office until that other winter holiday is over).

The twelfth giveaway is for a copy of Indexing: Reflections, the second outing for the ATI Management Bureau. This is going to be a random number drawing, because why mess with something that's working? So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate both this and your willingness to pay postage.
3. Tell me who your favorite member of the team is.
4. That's it.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Saturday, December 19th.

Game on!

The random number generator has spoken, and the winner of a copy of Indexing is...

runiechica!

Instructions for the winner: Please comment on this post letting me know that you're claiming your prize and send me an email via my website (www.seananmcguire.com) with your mailing information. Both comment and email must be received by Sunday, December 13th to be considered valid.

Nine more days to go!

...a copy of Indexing!

Welcome to the fourth of the Thirteen Days of Hogswatch. I will be starting a new giveaway every day between now and December 13th. Each giveaway will have different rules, and a different deadline, although all prizes will be mailed on December 30th, because I am bad at going to the post office (and also, avoiding the post office until that other winter holiday is over).

The third giveaway is for a copy of Indexing (the first one). This is going to be a random number drawing, because I just got home from the East Coast two days ago, and I'm still tired. So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate both this and your willingness to pay postage.
3. Name your fairy tale.
4. That's it.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Friday, December 11th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

The ninth episode of Indexing: Reflections is available today! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Feline Cobbling" brings us one step closer to the end of this volume, and one step deeper into the shadows that surround the path. No cats were harmed in the writing of this installment.

Once upon a time...

The eighth episode of Indexing: Reflections is available today! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Holly Tree" is important. I've been keeping mum about a lot of things while I waited for us to get here. Oh, Amity...

( Do not click until you have read this week's episode. I'm serious. Do not.Collapse )

Once upon a time...

The seventh episode of Indexing: Reflections is available today*! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

(*I usually wait until the episode has actually posted before opening the talkpost, but today is "Seanan goes to the salon for a full highlight and color retouch preparatory to heading for New York" day, and that means four hours away from my computer. Sometimes being a girl is both awful and expensive.)

"False Love's Kiss" is one of those episodes that was a delight to write from beginning to end. I got to play with a few stories that don't come to the party all that often, and since we're in the second half of the serial now, shit's starting to accelerate and darken. All in all, it was a good time for me. I hope it'll be one for you as well.

Once upon a time...

The sixth episode of Indexing: Reflections is available now! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Frostbite" marks the end of the first half of this serial, and the beginning of the second (funny how that works). Time is strange, in the whiteout wood. Hurry, and you may catch up.

Once upon a time...

The fifth episode of Indexing: Reflections is available now! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Sleeping Beauty" is a first for the Indexing series, if not for my work as a whole: it's a POV change, as our original narrator is unavailable. I hope you'll like our new one.

Once upon a time...

The fourth episode of Indexing: Reflections is available now! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Split Ends" is where we really start rolling into the central plot of this season, and when we start to get a better look at the workings of the whiteout wood. Always Henry's favorite thing.

Once upon a time...

The third episode of Indexing: Reflections is available now! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Brotherly Love" marks the return of a fan favorite from season one who is, alas, not easy to integrate with the rest of the cast on a regular basis. Hopefully this is enough of a glimpse to satisfy.

Game on!

Okay, folks:

I am not Amazon.

I do not control what Amazon does, or when they do it.

Please do not tell me when Amazon fails to push an episode of Indexing: Reflections: tell Amazon. They are in a position to help you. I am not.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but...I had literally thirty people tell me when the episode pushed late today, and there was nothing I could do. I have no power here. You, as customers, honestly have more. So please, tell the people who can fix things, and let me live in my candy wonderland where nothing goes wrong.

The second episode of Indexing: Reflections is available now! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Broken Glass" was originally blocked as the first episode of the season, before I realized that things would flow better if it came after the episode with internal affairs. It also sets up one of the big themes for this season: the idea that when the stories can't get you in their "pure" forms, there's always a chance that they'll take a step back and try another, equally deadly, way.

Fairy tales are flexible.

Game on!

The first episode of Indexing: Reflections is available now! This is your talkpost and discussion zone. There will be spoilers in the comments here. As always on talkposts, I have partial comment amnesty, and will not be responding to everything.

"Forbidden Doors" was a fun episode to write. It's sort of our season premiere, and I framed it like an episode of Law & Order: SVU involving internal affairs. Ciara Bloomfield is manifest story adjacent; in her original tale, she would never even have gotten a name. I appreciate that. With all these princesses running around, it can be easy to forget just how big the fairy tale world is.

It never forgets.

Game on!

Tomorrow.

Indexing was almost a whim. 47 North, Amazon's publishing arm, contacted me and asked if I had anything that I felt would work well as part of the new Amazon Serials Program. I had a short story called "Indexing," set in a world I very much wanted to explore further. I sent them that, along with a pitch for a full season. They took it, and for twelve episodes--six glorious months--I lived in a vision of twisted fairy tales and dangerous ever afters. We met Henry, and Sloane, and Jeff, and Andy. We faced down a power-hungry Mother Goose, and more princesses than you can shake a stick at. And when it was done, it was done, and I walked away content.

Until people said they wanted to know more. Until 47 North said they wanted to know more. (I write plenty for free, but the Velveteen and InCryptid short fiction universes pretty much fill the "unpaid work" slot, so I did need a publisher to show interest.)

Until I started really thinking about the princesses.

Indexing: Reflections begins tomorrow. Like the original Indexing, it is twelve episodes long, releasing every other week until it is complete. Because Amazon serials are available only in the US, Indexing: Reflections is only available in the US until it is complete; the finished ebook and collected print edition will both be available globally.

If you enjoyed the first volume, I think this one is going to make you really happy. Pre-order now to get episode one at midnight, and join the party already in process. (If you haven't read Indexing yet, I strongly recommend it.)

Whee!

Every month I make a post to tell folks what I'm working on, a) because it seems polite, b) because it keeps me accountable, if only to myself, and c) so you will understand why I do not have a social life. This is the September 2014 post.

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 bizarre 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." I missed the August post, because I was in Ireland at the time, but we're back to normal now.

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Symbiont and Pocket Apocalypse). A Red-Rose Chain and Chimera are off the list because they're finished and in revisions with the Machete Squad. 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, or go to my website, at www.seananmcguire.com. Please do not ask why project X is no longer on the list. I will not answer you.

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

Psst.

Remember the ATI Management Bureau, and the brave, foolish, overworked people who tried to protect the world from fairy tale mischief? Henrietta Marchen, Snow White and field team leader; Sloane Winters, Wicked Stepsister and unlikely defender of mankind; Demi Santos, Pied Piper and new recruit; Jeff Davis, Shoemaker's Elf and Archivist; Andrew Robinson, whose brother died in a fairy tale gone wrong. They did their best to save us. They told their story. They walked away from season one battered but breathing.

Let's see if they can survive season two.

I am pleased to announce that Indexing: Reflections will be coming from 47North and the Kindle Serials Program in 2015. As with the first Indexing, the book will be serialized in bi-weekly installments, and collected in print and eBook form at the end of the season. (Also as with the first serial, the eBooks will be available for Kindle only. I'm sorry about that.)

All your old friends, and some of your old enemies, will be coming back to active duty, along with some surprising new faces on both sides of the fence. It's going to be a fairy tale catastrophe, and it's going to take some serious scrambling for the good guys to come out on top. There's no guarantee, when you go into the whiteout wood.

Now come on. Say it with me.

Once upon a time...

So io9 has named Indexing one of their books you can't afford to miss in January. Not too bad for the little serial that could, huh? I love how much support this wacky experiment in being very, very serious about very, very ridiculous things has been able to garner, and while I haven't seen the print edition yet, I have other books from 47North which lead me to believe that it's going to be gorgeous.

(Also, for those of you who have not yet read this particular universe, I note that right now, it's closed: volume one is complete, in and of itself. I left it open for a season two, but there's no commitment involved in buying the book. There is, however, the awesome potential to pay my power bill, which weighs heavy on my mind just now. Once upon a times! Ever afters of all sorts! Magic and bureaucracy! Which I still can't spell! What have you got to lose?)

Meanwhile, over at Ranting Dragon, the editor named Chimes at Midnight AND Midnight Blue-Light Special as two of the best books of 2013. This delights me down to the bottom of my bones. I love both my urban fantasy worlds, and sometimes I worry about favoring one over the other. This tells me that I'm doing it right, and that makes me so happy. So, so happy.

Glee.

...do not let it grieve you. No one leaves for good. You are not alone. No one is alone.

Well, here we are: the first season of Indexing is over and done, and the book has been closed on Henrietta Marchen and her friends, at least for a time. I can't tell you yet whether there will be a second season: that decision is in the hands of greater minds than mine. I can tell you that the best way to help that second season happen is to either buy the now-complete Kindle serial (available internationally), or to pick up the print book when it comes out in December (I know that I'm looking forward to having a copy on my shelf, where I can brag about it).

A lot of people have asked me about my experience with 47North and the Amazon Kindle Serials Program, and why I chose to do it. Now that the season has ended, I thought this would be a good time to talk about those questions.

First, and easiest, is "why did you do it?" I mean, in some ways, doing a Kindle Serial goes against a lot of what I've said about the digital divide, and my unending desire to have print editions available for everything, always. I never want anyone to be left in the position of "cannot possibly get a book." At the same time, the print edition was always a part of the plan, built into my contract; it was just going to come after the ebook editions. While that certainly isn't ideal, it was about the only way something like this could happen, since a week-by-week physical serial would have been way too cost-prohibitive for any book publisher to commit to. As for why I went with the Kindle program, well...they asked me. They also offered to pay me. I am very, very fond of getting paid, as it allows me to feed my cats and keep my lights on and all those other silly things. So when someone contacts my agent and says "we want to pay you to do something cool," my attention is assured.

But the main reason I agreed was because I hadn't done anything like this before. I was a universe author for The Edge of Propinquity in 2010 (when the original Rose Marshall stories were written), but that was very different than having a tight "once every two weeks" schedule, and this was a much bigger challenge. I like challenges. I like finding out whether I can meet them. In this case, I definitely did.

In terms of "what was good about this project," well, there was a lot. I got to write a serial novel in a setting I never thought I would get to expand upon (the ATI Management Bureau began in a short story I wrote years ago); I got to see a lot of people try my work because of the low price point and the easy entry point; I got to have fun with fairy tales. Fun with fairy tales is a huge draw for me.

In terms of "what was bad," there were a few things. The nature of the project meant that I didn't have time to write all twelve segments before things started going live, and that meant that if I wanted to change something after the fact, I really couldn't. I don't think any major contradictions or errors got past us and into the published chapters, but it made the whole experience a little more nerve-wracking than it otherwise might have been. The short, fixed schedule also meant that if there were any unexpected delays on either my part or the publisher's part, I could wind up with a much shorter turn-around period for copy edits and changes. Also not so easy on my nerves, given how tightly I tend to schedule myself. And of course, there was the fact that the Kindle Serial program is currently US-only, and my audience is international, which I know was frustrating for a lot of people. (Now that the serial part is over, the finished ebook is available wherever there is Amazon.)

On the whole, this was an overwhelmingly positive experience, and I would be open to doing a second season if the stars were right (and the holes in my schedule lined up, since again, I am very tightly booked). To any authors considering the program, I can definitely recommend it, as long as you work well under pressure and don't mind sometimes needing to turn things around with little to no notice. I hope to see you all again at the next once upon a time.

Now rest, my dear, and be at ease; there’s a fire in the hearth and a wind in the eaves, and the night is so dark, and the dark is so deep, and it’s time that all good little stars go to sleep.

Once upon a time, I began a story. Today, with the twelfth episode of Indexing, I complete it. Episode twelve, "Bad Apple," is ready for you to enjoy.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread. Reminder that this is your last chance to get the whole serial at the special Kindle Serials price; the cost will be going up by $1.00 in the very near future.

Now rest, my dear, and be at ease; there’s a fire in the hearth and a wind in the eaves, and the night is so dark, and the dark is so deep, and it’s time that all good little stars go to sleep.

It's here! It's here! The eleventh episode of Indexing is now live!

With only one episode left to go, things are moving faster than ever. Episode eleven, "Scarlet Flowers," is ready for you to enjoy.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread. In addition, there is one episode remaining (in two weeks), so now's the time to hop on board: remember that a purchase now saves you a dollar. Not too shabby! (Please do not comment to complain about Indexing not being available in your region. I am so very sorry that it isn't everywhere, but I have no power over that. You'll only make me sad.)

Once upon a time...

...that I have already answered the majority of the questions about Indexing in this entry, and will not answer them again.

The only question I've received multiple times which is not addressed in that entry is "Will there be a season two?" The answer to that is "I still don't know." It'll be influenced by a lot of things, including how well season one sells, so...tell your friends, I guess, if you want to see more adventures of the ATI Management Bureau.

That is all.

It's here! It's here! The tenth episode of Indexing is now live!

Everything is different now. Episode ten, "Not Sincere," is ready for you to enjoy.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

It's here! It's here! The ninth episode of Indexing is now live!

Things ended badly with our last episode. Now, the single greatest choice of Henrietta Marchen's life stands before her. Can she risk it all to save the people she loves? Episode nine, "Whiteout," is ready for you to enjoy.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

It's here! It's here! The eighth episode of Indexing is now live!

With one team member lost and another now missing, it seems like time is running out. Either the ATI Management Bureau team will thwart the narrative before sunrise...or it will devour them. And right now, devouring seems pretty damn likely. Episode eight, "Empty Nest," is ready for you to enjoy.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

It's here! It's here! The seventh episode of Indexing is now live!

All hell is breaking loose, and the good men and women of the ATI Management Bureau are right in the middle of things. When multiple stories go active on the same night, there's no way to research and resolve them one by one: it's a full-on fray, and there's no way to keep the team together. But will there be consequences for splitting the party? With this many ever afters looming, it seems impossible to get away unscathed. Episode seven, "Bread Crumbs," is ready for you to enjoy.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

It's here! It's here! The sixth episode of Indexing is now live!

Sloane Winters needs help, and Henry Marchen is going to help her if it kills both of them (which is always possible, given their line of work). Dr. Reynard is a therapist specializing in ATI issues, and it seems like he's the perfect one to help Sloane. It's really a pity that he's dead. Now, with a murder on their hands and no help in sight, the ATI Management Bureau team needs to figure out what's going on...before it's too late. Episode six, "Fox's Tongue," is ready for you to enjoy.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

It's here! It's here! The fifth episode of Indexing is now live!

Sometimes stories deviate from their predictable paths, turning darker than anyone ever expected them to be. Sloane Winters is still struggling to keep her own narrative difficulties hidden, and Henry Marchen is dealing with a team that doesn't seem to work together the way it used to. All this comes to a head in "Cruel Sister" as a Cinderella story gone awry threatens to reveal the narrative to the world...with deadly consequences.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

It's here! It's here! The fourth episode of Indexing is now live!

Sloane Winters has been with the ATI Management Bureau longer than anybody else on her field team, and she keeps to herself. That means that when her story starts getting pushy, she has nowhere to turn. In "Blended Family" Sloane must face what it means to be a Wicked Stepsister, and figure out how to keep her story from overwhelming her, which would have deadly consequences for everyone she cares about.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

It's here! It's here! The third episode of Indexing is now live!

Eventually the excitement of getting a new team member must die down and let things get back to normal, which means dealing with memetic incursions into the real world. In "Honey Do," Henry and the field team have a serious problem to deal with, and not much time to do it...unless they feel like being eaten by bears.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

This is the June 2013 post. I have used up half the year. I am not okay with this.

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 (Parasite, Chimes at Midnight). 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, or go to my website, at www.seananmcguire.com. Please do not ask why project X is no longer on the list. I will not answer you.

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

It's here! It's here! The second episode of Indexing is now live!

Demi Santos had a pretty good life before the ATI Management Bureau came along and shattered everything she thought she knew about reality. Now, in "Musical Patchwork," our newest team member must adjust to a world in which fairy tales are real...and she's one of them.

This post serves as both your reminder and discussion thread.

Once upon a time...

Let's talk about fairy tales.

Yesterday, Mattel—the company that makes my beloved Monster High Dolls, literally dozens of which occupy multiple rooms in my house—announced the launch of a new toy line: Ever After High, where the children of famous fairy tale figures go to school as they prepare to take the Legacy Pledge and relive the stories of their parents. Hundreds of generations of Wicked Queens and whiteout girls passing poison apples back and forth between them like Valentines.

One of my favorite TV miniseries of all time, The 10th Kingdom, is about a world where fairy tales are true, and where the descendants of the stories we know here, today, in our world still live, trying to eke out a chance at happily ever after. The main character, Virginia, is both Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood, just one more girl in danger (and falling in love with) a wolf. The novelization of the miniseries is one of my first choices for comfort reading.

Once Upon A Time, currently airing on ABC, is basically someone filming the playtime of a group of very inventive children (I'd say about age twelve) who have between them a complete set of the Disney Princess Collection dolls, a Peter Pan playset, and whatever other toys they've been able to scrounge from the rooms of their siblings. I keep expecting a T-Rex to show up, just before all the other kids start shouting at Crystal about how they let her make Red a werewolf, why does she keep ruining everything.

Fables and its spin-offs—especially Cinderella, which is deconstruction of both her story and of the modern myth of the super-spy assassin who never dies—are some of the best things happening in comics today. The worst issue of Fables is better than the best issue of a great many other things (none of which I will name here, because that's rude). It's a glorious fairy tale stew, and it tastes so very sweet when we put it in our mouths.

I could go on for quite some time (and eventually I may, because these are all things that are very much worth experiencing, for their similarities, for their differences). There have been Marvel Fairy Tales, recasting X-Men and Avengers into classic roles. There have been movies like Sydney White, recasting Snow White into a college-age modern woman and the seven dwarves into her socially outcast friends. Fairy tales are everywhere. Fairy tales are older than you think. They were the first form of urban fantasy, and I fully expect them to be the last. They are urban legend mellowed and fermented from vinegar into fine wine (and yes, sometimes, turned sour by the passage of time and changing cultural standards).

And here's the exciting thing. Each and every work I've cited above is, at its core, transformative fan fiction. Snow White is a really common figure in modern retellings: something about that whiteout girl with the bloody lips and the murderous mother figure appeals to us. Don't know why, although I know why she appeals to me. Don't much care. I'm having too much fun writing and reading and watching and loving fanfic about her, and I'll leave the deep contemplation to other people. We're all bringing our own touches to the reimagining, and that's the most fun part of all: is Snow White a politician? A gunslinger? A witch? A government agent? Does she have a wicked stepmother, or just a rival? Is she going to eat the apple? Can she escape her story? Does she want to?

It's the little things that make all these stories individual, distinct, and worth enjoying. (And before someone says "but if it's fanfic how can any of these things be under copyright, that makes no sense," remember that original characters and plot elements can be copyrighted even when the public domain source material is not. So my ATI Management Bureau, and Bill's Fabletown, are both protected by their recent creation, even as we stuff them full of characters that belong to everyone, forever. Again, this is how we don't all wind up getting sued by Disney.) We're in a period of remaking the fairy tales we grew up with, trying to turn them into something that we feel is still relevant, and will be relevant for generations to come.

Fairy tales are powerful things.

There's always room for one more happy ever after.

The first episode of Indexing (check this link for more details) has now been out for a little over a week. Response has been generally positive, which makes me very happy, but there have been a few recurring questions, so I figured I'd take a moment to answer them.

1. Can I get Indexing for my Nook/in the iBookstore/for any format other than Kindle?

No.

I'm not trying to be harsh: it's just that this particular question has a very simple answer. Indexing was commissioned by 47North for the Kindle Serials Program; "Kindle" is right there in the name. While I am historically opposed to "format exclusives," I am okay with this one for two major reasons. One, the project would not have been possible if not for 47North saying "we want this for the Kindle, we will pay you to write it." Two, there will be a World English print edition in December, meaning that even those of us who don't us Kindles will get the opportunity to read it. It's just going to take a little longer.

2. Isn't this just going to increase piracy?

Probably. But I really do hope that anyone who chooses to pirate the serial because they don't use the Kindle will then buy the finished print edition, because I really, really enjoy feeding my cats.

3. Didn't I read this like, four years ago?

The serial novel Indexing is based on a revised and expanded version of the short story "Indexing," which originally appeared on the Book View Cafe in September 2009. The original story is no longer available online, and has not been collected in any print volumes.

4. Why can't I buy this outside the US?

The Kindle Serial Program is currently US-only, which means that the biweekly installments are only available to United States residents/people who know how to fool their Kindles. The print edition, as noted above, is World English, and will be available wherever there is an Amazon partner site. If you have questions about why this is, please ask Amazon; I cannot help you.

5. Is the Aarne-Thompson Index a real thing?

Yes! I own one. It is my pride and joy and it is enormous and it cost a lot of money and one day Bill Willingham will pay someone to break into my house in the middle of the night so that he can claim it as his own. Sometimes I just sit and pet it for hours. It's a very helpful scholastic tool, for a folklorist, and a really great doorstop for people who don't read indexes for funsies.

6. You know Bill Willingham? Does that mean you know about how there's a Snow White in Fables?

I do, and I do, but our Snows are very different people. Snow White is what's called a "public domain character," which is how there can be so many versions of her without Disney deciding to sue us all for copyright infringement. I love her because she's a fantastic mirror to hold up to other stories. She brings the apples and the glass coffins, we bring everything else. For other awesome Snow Whites, read Catherynne Valente's Six-Gun Snow White, Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples, and Jim C. Hines's The Stepsister Scheme. Archetypes are for everybody!

The next episode will be out this coming Tuesday, and I just finished the first draft of episode nine. I think you're going to like what's coming!

Got any more questions?

So it's May 15th, and I'm two sleeps away from hopping onto a plane bound for Orlando, Florida, which means I'm scrambling a little to get everything positioned, polished, and ready to go. And because it's the middle of the month, it's time for 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 (Parasite, Chimes at Midnight). 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, or go to my website, at www.seananmcguire.com. Please do not ask why project X is no longer on the list. I will not answer you.

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

Fairy tales are not friendly things. They're dangerous wastelands filled with people who would slit your throat for a magic bean...and the idea that they stopped happening just because we grew up and moved out of the deep dark forest is ludicrous. The narrative has been here all along, watching us, waiting for the moments when we give it opportunity to strike.

There's no such thing as "happy ever after." There's only "once upon a time."

I am delighted to announce that, beginning May 21st, my first serial novel will be publishing on the Kindle via 47North. With a new chapter every two weeks, Indexing will follow the brave women and men of the ATI Management Bureau as they try to protect the everyday world from the predatory stories that are lurking just beyond the edge of sight.

You can see the gritty details here.

With hardships and horrors aplenty, Indexing is a fusion of fairy tale and modern police drama, sort of a "Once Upon a Time meets Criminal Minds" elevator pitch of a story. It's been a lot of fun to write, and the price point is excellent for a new story every two weeks. The print edition will be out in December for those of us who don't do Kindle.

I'm very excited to have the opportunity to tell this story. I hope you'll like it as much as I do.