...contact information for Sarah Hubbard?

Sarah Hubbard, if you see this, please email me via my website contact form. I believe you did not receive your T-shirts, mostly because I just found the envelope, returned for incorrect address information, and I would like to get them to you.

Whee, cleaning.

PA the First (Kate) informs me that she has sent over all the mail submitted via the contact form.

I am missing the shipping info for several tank tops.

Y'all, if you have purchased a tank top from me, I really, truly, genuinely need you to go to my contact form, located here:

http://seananmcguire.com/contact.php

...and use it to send me a) your mailing address, and b) the handle associated with your request, as noted on my reply to your initial comment. I can't reliably get address info from PayPal, on account of not being a store and not using a graphic browser for that email address. Please. I can't send your stuff until you tell me where to send it, and I want these shirts to go away.

Please.

Next Saturday, May 10th, will be the book release party for Sparrow Hill Road. We're doing things a little differently this time: because this is the first book in what may or may not ever be a series, and stands alone nicely, I'm going to do a reading, and because we just had a Circus in March, I'm giving the band a break. Instead, we'll have some discussion of ghost stories, and some Q&A, and some readings, and some other fun stuff, and as always, the raffle.

And the cupcakes. Which is where you come in.

If you have a dietary restriction (dairy or gluten allergies, vegetarian, vegan, etc.) and will be attending the release party, please comment here and let me know. Please don't email me; this is where I'll be collecting data. I'm placing the cupcake order tomorrow afternoon. Please don't post here with flavor preferences, unless a) it's an allergy, or b) it's connected to one (example: "I am gluten-free, and I hate strawberries, but it seems like the gluten-free option is always strawberry," or "I have an egg allergy and I never get to have chocolate anymore, if there's any way it could be egg-free chocolate, I would die of joy").

Thanks, everybody! I'll see you super soon!

I will post happy cheery reminders about today being the release of Parasite very soon, but I just woke up after staggering home way too late last night (delayed flights in Orange County, whee), and wanted to drop a few admin notes before I forgot:

1. If you want to send me a private message, please, please use my website contact form rather than using LJ or Facebook messenger services. I have trouble replying within those forms, which often translates to "I won't reply within those forms." (I don't have a no-reply policy for LJ, but I do for Facebook.) My website contact form goes to my PA, who answers really simple questions like "where can I buy this?" and forwards everything else along to me. I answer as quickly as I can.

2. This LJ has an open friend/unfriend policy. Yes, it makes me sad when people I know IRL unfriend me, because I am a human being living in a human world, but I won't hunt you down with torches and pitchforks to demand to know why. At the same time, if you remove me from your friend list, I will remove you. Please don't unfriend me and then get mad when I do the same to you.

3. And while I'm asking for unreasonable things, please wait until I get the official Parasite discussion post up to start commenting about the book. I want to keep the various threads safe for the spoiler-averse for as long as possible.

And now I nap.

Hello, world!

The book tour for Parasite will be launching soon. As most of the events are outside my "home territory," they will not feature cupcakes, but because I do not stray from tradition when I don't have to, the Borderlands event will feature cupcakes. And I have a request.

If you know for sure that you will be attending (or making a good faith effort to attend; I understand that life happens), and you have one of the following dietary restrictions...

* Vegan
* Gluten-free
* Egg or dairy allergy

...please comment here to let me know. I only order "specialty" cupcakes when I expect someone with that particular restriction to be at the event, as there is additional cost/prep time. Not so much that I'm unwilling to do it; just enough that I don't if I don't have to.

Hope to see you there!

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!

So here's the thing:

I am writing a lot of stories set in the history of the Price-Healy family, slowly pushing my way toward the modern day. There are also stories set in the present day, such as the Antimony-centric novella, "Bad Dream Girl," which is going to appear in the anthology Glitter and Mayhem. A lot of these get given away for free on my website, in a variety of formats, with covers and everything. I like keeping the canon centralized.

That said, unless an anthology is commissioning something, it can be hard to carve out the time for what is essentially unpaid work. I need to prioritize my time according to what I'm getting paid for (which is why, for example, the rate of "Velveteen vs." stories went up so sharply when I got a print contract). So...

How would people feel if I opened a "tip jar," with the understanding that for every X amount of dollars, I would add a story in one of my universes to the master list of Paid For Things? Those stories would still have to fit around everything else, but it would make them easier to schedule, and would also make my lights easier to keep on. The stories themselves would remain free on my website, so if you didn't want to donate, you could just stand back and wait for nature to take its course.

Thoughts?

This has been coming up a lot lately, and in the interests of my not snapping inappropriately at anyone, I figured it was time to make this post again. So...

Please. Please, I am begging you, please don't ask "when can we read X" or "does this mean you'll be writing more about Y." If I haven't told you, I can't tell you.

My schedule for the next six months is tight enough that I've been cancelling dinner dates and social outings left and right, and I didn't have that many of them to start with. And that doesn't include more Velveteen, more Rose, or more anything else that I haven't already announced publicly, on this blog.

I love having an involved, active community here that I can talk to, learn from, and listen to. And I do appreciate knowing what you want to see more of. But if something is happening, confirmed, and at a point where I can say "this is happening," then I will say it without prompting. Asking about it over and over again in comments and email just makes me tired and sad and grumpy, and unfortunately, I'm only human: the 200th time I'm asked something, I will snap, which especially sucks if this was your first entry into the conversation.

So please. Don't ask me these questions. I can't answer them, so you won't get any satisfaction, but you will make me sad.

And that sucks.

I'm working on an InCryptid-universe novella called "Bad Dream Girl," about Antimony and roller derby. And I need derby names!

So here's your chance. Suggest your best, wildest roller derby names, following these simple rules. The best derby names will appear in the story, giving you bragging rights. The rules:

1. Avoid profanity.
2. Sexual and violent innuendo is cool, "kill them all" is not.
3. Do not intentionally use the name of an existing derby girl.

I'm looking for terrible puns and bad jokes in name form. There is a database of roller derby names; I'm not using it both because it's extensive enough to have become extremely tortured, and because I'd like some believable variety. So come on. Help a girl out, and take to the track with Antimony and her team.

Game on!

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!

Ladies and gentlemen of the 2012 World Science Fiction Convention membership...have you remembered to cast your vote for this year's Hugo Awards? Because if you haven't, you're sort of running out of time; July 31st is your last day to vote.

I am reasonably sure that each and every person on that ballot wants to win. I am no different. But almost as much as I want to win, I want to know that if I lose, it will be because every possible voter looked at the works up for consideration, looked at their ballot, and made their choice fairly and well. I want you all to vote. I want to lose because I lost, not because there was a sale at Ben and Jerry's and we all got rightfully distracted because dude, ice cream.

Please. If you are eligible to vote, it has never been easier to get a clear view of the entire ballot. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Hugo committee, we have an electronic voting package that is a bibliophile's dream; you can read and consider absolutely everything that's asking for your vote. And if you're not a member yet, but were thinking about it, you can still register with full voting rights if you do it soon.

And because I really love this quote, I am once again quoting Cat Valente. Specifically: "A final note: you do not have to go to Worldcon to nominate and vote for the Hugos. You can buy a supporting membership for $50 and get that perk. I realize $50 is a lot to express an opinion, but every year we hear complaints about the ballot and every year I hope that my generation will vote a little more, because the Hugos are kind of a bellwether for the field, and I want new crackly risktaking goodness in there, too. Since I have no control over the price of the supporting membership all I can say is—give it a thought, if you have the scratch."

Make this year's Hugo winners the ones you think deserve those shiny rocket ships.

Vote.

Dear Great Pumpkin;

I hope you have been well since the last time I wrote you, and that you have enjoyed both the harvest and the planting which follows. You have never been far from my thoughts, and I have not wavered in my faith. Since our last correspondence, I have not started any fights for the sake of fighting, or allowed myself to be swayed from my beliefs for the sake of keeping the peace. I have loved my friends and tolerated my enemies. I have shared my baked goods freely and without resentment. I have not brought about the end of all flesh, nor have I lured the unwary into a corn maze and left them there to feed the crops. I have continued to make all my deadlines, even the ones I most wanted to avoid. I have not talked about parasites at the dinner table. Much. So obviously, I have been quite well-behaved, especially considering my nature.

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

* A smooth and successful release for Blackout, with books shipping when they're meant to ship, stores putting them out when they're supposed to put them out, and reviews that are accurate, insightful, and capable of steering people who will enjoy my book to read it, while warning those who will not enjoy my book gently away. Please, Great Pumpkin, show mercy on your loving Pumpkin Princess of the West, and let it all be wonderful. I'm not asking you to make it easy, Great Pumpkin, but I'm asking you to make it good. This is the end of the trilogy, and the end of an era I have loved very much. Let it be good.

* Please let me finish the current draft of Parasitology in time, and with a minimum of eleventh-hour plot twists and unexpected complications. I'm not asking for none—I've met me—but I'm asking that they remain controllable and manageable, especially as I move into the third act and start blowing shit up with wanton abandon. I am so very nervous about this book, because it will be the first non-Newsflesh Mira Grant project, and I want it to be amazing.

* And when that is done, o Prince of Patches, I ask that you help me to find my way into the depths of The Chimes at Midnight without that changing-genres stumble; let Toby and her world open their arms and welcome me home, that I might transcribe the story that is already making my fingertips ache. There is so much that I want to do in this book, and only so many pages for me to do it in. Please help me find my way, and help me tell this story. It needs telling.

* I thank you once again for my cats, Great Pumpkin, who are everything I could ever ask for in feline companions. Alice is huge, puffy, and utterly without dignity. Lilly is sleek, smug, and satisfied with herself. Thomas is playful, expanding rapidly, and too smart for his own good. I have never been happier with the cats who share my life than I am with this trio, who delight me in all ways. Please, Great Pumpkin, keep them healthy, keep them happy, and keep them exactly as they are.

* I guess you probably know what I really want this year, Great Pumpkin; what the ultimate tricky treat would be. I have been nominated for four Hugo Awards, and while I am not greedy, and will not ask you for all of them, it would mean so much to me if I could win just one. If I could come home with a shiny rocket in my bag. Okay, maybe I am a little greedy: if you could see fit to shine your holy candle on both the Best Novel and Best Related Works categories, those would mean the world. I came very close to winning last year. This year, not only will I be sitting in the audience hoping so hard, I'll be doing it with Amy and Vixy and Cat and oh so many people I love oh so very much in attendance. Please, Great Pumpkin, please. And should you see fit to grant my prayers, I will thank you in any speeches I have to give (you know I'm good for it, I did it last time).

I remain your faithful Halloween girl,
Seanan.

PS: While you're at it, can you please turn your graces on Echo? I think I'm finally ready to write this story. I just need to find the door...

First, the cool thing: I received my author's copies of Chicks Dig Comics last night, and they are genuinely gorgeous. Every essay in this book, even the ones that relate to properties I'm not emotionally invested in, makes me go "oh, my people, oh, we are growing every day." I have a copy in my bag to take to my comic book store tonight, and I will give it to Joe, the owner, and say thank you. And he will understand, because he is awesome, and also, he is used to me.

You can order Chicks Dig Comics on Amazon.com; it will be released, retail-wise, on April 10th. If you love comics, this is the book for you, regardless of gender. It says, very clearly, "you are not alone," both to men wondering what the female experience is like, and to women wondering if anyone else has ever had that female experience. I am so pleased to be a part of it. (Also, I am mentioned on the back cover. Great yayness.)

Now, the favor: I'm preparing for the second batch of "Wicked Girls" shirts, and I realized that I no longer need to use the mock-up from the original post, because there are actual shirts in the world now. So please, if you have a shirt from batch one, and you don't mind being shown as an example of a wicked girl, snap a picture and leave it here for me to maybe link in the shirt post. I'm hoping to put the post up within the next week, so time is of the essence, but I'd really love to see all of your awesomeness.

And that, for the moment, is all.

A long, long time ago—literally twenty years ago, when the world was a different place, and I was a different person—I met a man named Mike. Mike would go on to become very important in my life. He told me stories; he listened to me when I told him stories; he was one of the first people to read the adventures of a beat-up half-fae detective girl and say "There's potential here." Mike helped me a lot as a writer, because he listened to me when I wasn't good enough for many people to be listening to.

Also, he and his wife took me to Disney World for the very first time ever, and I'd love him forever for that alone. Dude gave me the Tower of Terror for my birthday. How could I not adore him? Anyway...

Mike is currently running a Kickstarter project to help fund an anthology project that's very dear to him, both as an editor and as a human being, titled Scheherazade's Facade. To quote the Kickstarter page:

"History, literature and mythology are replete with stories of those who, for one reason or another, disguise themselves as the opposite gender, or are transformed into that which they are not. Whether it's for love, ambition, or self-preservation, whether it's to challenge the status quo or simply to embrace their true nature, whether it's done willingly or thrust upon them, there will always be those who cross-dress and blur the lines between genders. Scheherazade's Facade takes its inspiration from those themes. From Bugs Bunny's dress-wearing shenanigans, to Mulan's impersonation of her father, from Tamora Pierce's Alanna of Trebond, to M*A*S*H's Klinger, this collection's antecedents are everywhere."

If you'd like a little more information, his full writeup is here.

I don't normally point people at Kickstarters, because there are just so damn many of them that I think are awesome that you'd be "uh, what?" at me over. I'm even planning one of my own, to reprint Stars Fall Home. But this is a good cause by a good friend, with clear goals and results. It's worth taking a look, and if you think this is a book that should be, maybe you could help a fella out a little.

Thanks for reading.

1. I'm currently running an ARC giveaway for Discount Armageddon, and will be choosing a winner via random number generator tomorrow morning. US addresses only for this particular giveaway. I'm leaving the state very shortly, and I don't have any customs forms, so I have to limit the entries if I want to be sure of mailing out the book.

2. Speaking of mailing things...I sent a massive batch of shirts this weekend, and will be preparing another batch to go out at the end of this week. The "I do not have any customs forms, and neither does my local post office" issue means I'm only sending US orders right now, but hopefully they'll have more customs forms soon. The shirt shop finally sent me the last of the shirts, so if your order was skipped before due to me not having your actual shirt, I should now be able to package it. (Yes, this is taking a long time. I can only send what I can hand-deliver, and that sort of complicates things.)

3. Why am I leaving the state? Because I am going to DISNEY WORLD!!!! More specifically, I'm going with my mother, my youngest sister, and vixyish, who has been drafted into the role of "person who keeps Seanan from killing her family." We're meeting up with hsifyppah and sweetmusic_27 in Florida, along with Amy's friend Patty, and then we're going to spend NINE DAYS enjoying the glories of Orlando. I'm the only person in my group of four that's ever been before, and I can't wait.

4. This does mean, however, that I won't be online for over a week. No email, no LJ, nothing but Twitter from my phone. So please don't email me and then get upset if I don't answer. (I mean really, don't do that anyway, I beg of you. I am unable to promise a swift reply for anything sent in my email. I'm even retooling my website in a vain attempt to reduce the amount of email coming my way. Have mercy.)

5. Which brings us to release dates. All books and stories with confirmed release dates that I can say "yes, it comes out on that day" about are listed on my bibliography page. Please check there before you ask me when something is coming out. It's unfair, I know, but I get asked that question so often that it makes me cranky, and I hate being cranky at people who don't deserve it.

6. I am currently trying to either write or revise ALL THE THINGS, and will be doing another inchworm post shortly, because that has turned out to be a distressingly good way of staying on top of things. Thanks, Bear.

7. So The Agent returned her editorial notes on Ashes of Honor, and as always, has proven to be incredibly good at identifying the major structural flaws that all the rest of us mysteriously missed. I'm currently fourteen chapters in on the editorial rewrite, after which the book can go off to The Editor, and I can forget about it for a little while. And by "forget about it," I really mean "start The Chimes at Midnight." I think there's something wrong with the way my brain works.

8. I am now on season four of Criminal Minds. I'm sorry I started watching so late, because damn. I'm also glad I started watching so late, because it means I've had lots to enjoy. Also, Penelope Garcia for the win.

9. Jean Grey is still dead.

10. Happy holidays! Try not to freak out and bludgeon anyone to death with a fruitcake, okay? Because that would be a horrible way to go.

Hello!

If you are a) Australian, b) reasonably near a Target, and c) willing to do me a small favor in exchange for my sending you some books or something, can you let me know? (Short form: the newest Monster High doll, Torelai Stripes, is only available in Australia. She's an orange werecat. I want her. Help me, Australia, you're my only hope.)

1. I am sick, yes, even unto death. It's this stupid cold. I've been fighting it off since I got home from Conclave, and then yesterday, it just walked up behind me, hit me over the back of the head with a plank, rifled through my pockets, and took all my stuff. I spent all of Sunday on the couch, sniffling, drinking orange juice, and watching Criminal Minds. Oh, and sleeping. I slept a lot. I feel better today, but that's like saying I'm happier now that the lizard has been removed from my ear. Still miserable, just less lizard-y.

2. Yes, I am watching Criminal Minds. But as I have now seen the first three episodes of the first season, please don't ask me if I was crushed when character A died in season three. I haven't been able to be crushed yet, and I'd like the opportunity to mourn when I get there.

3. Assuming this cold backs the hell off, I am still going to be at OVFF this coming weekend. If you're waiting for a shirt from me, and are going to be at the convention, please let me know so that I can package your order for hand-delivery. If you don't tell me, clearly, that you'll be there, your shirt will not be coming with me. I don't have the suitcase space for guesses.

4. I am about 4,000 words from the end of Ashes of Honor, which is good, since I expect to receive my Blackout page proofs any day, and need to be able to focus on going through and writing STET a lot. ("STET" is editorial for "no, do not make this change." I use it to argue against people who don't believe in the Oxford comma, and people who try to standardize my use of "Miss" to "Ms.")

5. I am too sick for a list of ten. Now is when I fall on my face and die.

Catch you when I wake up.

Well, here we are. One Salt Sea comes out in one week, exactly. If past trends hold true*, people will begin reporting sightings in the wild any day now. This will either cause me to clap my hands, cry, hyperventilate, or all of the above. Safe money is, as always, on "all of the above." And so here are seven things you can do to help with this book release!

7. Talk about the book. Are you excited that it's coming? Awesome. Are you excited about the series as a whole? Awesome. Do you plan to use One Salt Sea to fuel your world-buster cannon? Rock on. Word-of-mouth is the best advertising there is.

6. Review the book. Do it on your blog, on Amazon, on Goodreads, wherever you feel comfortable. Reviews help more than almost anything else. (But please, please, do not send me copies of your Amazon reviews. I try to avoid that particular pitcher plant of pain.)

5. Loan copies of Rosemary and Rue to people you think might be interested. The first hit's free!

4. Do not poke at me with sharp, sharp sticks. I am a very thinly-stretched blonde right now, on account of book release and all, and I am neither fast to respond nor particularly well-suited to being jabbed at. Please, be gentle, and understand that right now, you're looking at a longer than normal response time.

3. I love fan mail, and I respond to everything I get, although it can sometimes take a while. Please don't get upset if I don't answer right away.

2. Also? Please don't ask for kitten pictures. Seriously.

1. And the number-one thing you can do to help One Salt Sea have a successful launch is...buy the book. Please, please, buy the book. During the first on-sale week if you possibly can (September 6th through 12th), because that's the week that counts against all the bestseller lists. Making those lists is a long shot, but a girl's gotta dream, right? So if you're planning to buy the book, please, go out and do it. Let's see if we can hit the NYT.

If we do, I promise to faint.

(*Past trends may not hold true. Traditionally, early copies have been spotted at Borders, and Borders is gone. I actually dare to hope that my on-sale date may be accurate this time. That said, I've heard unconfirmed reports of early copies found at Books-A-Million.)

So here's the deal. I have two websites, and I maintain them both myself, manually. That means nothing changes unless I go in and change it. The sites are here:

http://www.seananmcguire.com/
http://miragrant.com/

Parts of these sites are quite out of date, because I have been a busy little bee. We are thus going to play a little game.

Step 1: Go to my website. Either one.
Step 2: Poke around until you see something that could use improvement. A typo, a missing link, an unclear question on the FAQ, even a missing question on the FAQ. (Pages that aren't linked at all, like the Field Guide, or don't exist, don't count. Those are future improvements, not current issues.
Step 3: Post here, suggesting a correction/update.
Step 4: Step away from the website.

I will be making updates and corrections, partially based on this post, for the next week. On Friday, I will use our friend, random number generator, to choose a winner of an ARC of One Salt Sea (US-only, unless you can help with postage). No matter what, everybody benefits, since the end result should be an easier-to-use website.

Game on!

Remember when Feed was named one of NPR's Top 100 Killer Thrillers? So do I. Good times, my friends, good times.

Now NPR is looking for the Top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy Titles. And the Newsflesh trilogy, by Mira Grant, is on the list.

To be fair, this is a popularity contest. Some amazing books are missing. There's a heavy bias toward titles published in the last five years. But still. Wouldn't it be nice to make the list?

Go ye forth, and vote!

Ladies and gentlemen of the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention membership...have you remembered to cast your vote for this year's Hugo Awards? Because if you haven't, you're sort of running out of time; July 31st is your last day to vote.

I am reasonably sure that each and every person on that ballot wants to win. I am no different. But almost as much as I want to win, I want to know that if I lose, it will be because every possible voter looked at the works up for consideration, looked at their ballot, and made their choice fairly and well. I want you all to vote. I want to lose because I lost, not because there was a sale at Ben and Jerry's and we all got rightfully distracted because dude, ice cream.

Please. If you are eligible to vote, it has never been easier to get a clear view of the entire ballot. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Hugo committee, we have an electronic voting package that is a bibliophile's dream; you can read and consider absolutely everything that's asking for your vote. And if you're not a member yet, but were thinking about it, you can still register with full voting rights if you do it soon.

Make this year's Hugo winners the ones you think deserve those shiny rocket ships.

Vote.

Now that you've had about a week to read and enjoy Deadline (and to jump in over on the spoiler thread, which is rocking and rolling like whoa), it's time for a party! Specifically, it's time for a Borderlands Books party, which are some of the best parties in the world.

Since this is a Mira Grant party, it's going to be somewhat more low-key than a Toby release. We'll have readings, signings, Q&A, and, of course, cupcakes. The festivities will begin at 5:00 PM, and continue until 8:00 PM, with cupcakes served at 6:30, to divide the evening. Which brings me to...

The first Q&A will be held from 6:00-6:30 PM, and it will be a spoiler-free session. I'll repeat that before we start. Some people still haven't read Feed, and I'd like them to have the chance to get in, say hello, grab books, get a cupcake, and run without having the ending of the book spoiled for them.

If you can't make it, remember that the bookstore does take internet and phone orders, and I'd be happy to sign and personalize anything they have on hand. You can find contact details on the bookstore website.

Hope to see you there!

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support leading up to the release of Deadline, the second book in the Newsflesh trilogy. I'm both excited and terrified about the idea of this book hitting shelves. I'm also about to go mostly offline—yes, even more than I have been since I left for New York—as I attend Wiscon, in Madison, Wisconsin. So here is the obligatory "ways you can help this be awesome, or at least non-traumatic."

Buy the book.
For bonus points, buy the book on or after Tuesday, when it is officially in stores. Any copies purchased before the release date don't count against my first week numbers, and those are the numbers that get a person onto the New York Times list. I would like to make the print list. I would have it framed, and then carry a picture of the framed list to show to anyone who says that girls don't like zombies. It would be brilliant. So please, buy the book, and if you can make yourself hold out, buy it once it's actually supposed to be on that shelf.

Write a review.
Amazon, Good Reads, your own personal blog, wherever. Word of mouth counts for a lot, especially during release week, and having reviews reminds people that a thing is worth reviewing, if that makes sense. I'm not saying "only post good reviews," because dude. But any review would be awesome.

Check your local library.
Most library systems allow you to request that they carry books. This is one of them.

Rise up while you can.
We only fail if we're afraid.

I try to remain as accessible as possible, because it seems polite, and because I genuinely like hearing what people think. There is, however, only one of me, and that means it's time for a few notes.

1) My response time is generally measured in weeks, not hours. Sometimes it's measured in days, and those are the scary times, because those are the times when I have somehow managed to make my inbox disappear. Fire may have been involved. I try to answer time-sensitive things first, and sometimes I succeed. If you email me three times in three days, going "WHY HAVEN'T YOU ANSWERED ME YET?!" the answer will change from "Because I was busy" to "Because I have started deleting your email for fun."

2) Okay, so everyone is afraid of spammers and having their email address harvested. I get that, I really do. But I don't have a mailing list, I don't automatically subscribe you to my newsletter when I get an actual email address in my hands, and I don't have the magical capability to beam my response to your thoughtful and impassioned email directly into your brain. Honestly, I don't! I know, that was a shocker to me, too. So when you intentionally withhold part of your email address from my "contact us" form in order to keep it safe, you also keep yourself safe from my ever answering you. And if I notice the missing address after composing a thoughtful and impassioned email of my own, you have annoyed me deeply. Which makes me sad, because I hate to be annoyed.

3) Mira Grant and I have our own inboxes. I check them both, since I'm both people, but email submitted through her website goes to a different place. One which I check less often. If you actually have something time-sensitive, it's best to send it through my main website, just for the sake of hearing back before the sun turns cold.

And those are your memos for the morning.

Toby has managed to navigate the wilds of the Kingdom of Prestor John, smacking down The Habitation of the Blessed in round three of the BSC Book Tournament and proceeding to the quarterfinals, where it's An Artificial Night against Elizabeth Bear's Chill. Bear and I have been enthusiastically attacking each other on Twitter in anticipation of this match (I have predatory dinosaurs, she has balrogs and the forces of logic), and now it's finally here!

You have what you have to do.

Go ye forth, get thee funky, and vote like your life depended on it! Which, given the number of monsters we have merrily marching around here, it just might. Toby has smacked the crap out of three challengers in three different bouts. This is your chance to help her smack the crap out of challenger number four, and proceed to the semifinals, where she can begin to merrily swing her sock full of butter* at challengers from different brackets.

(*Sock full of butter: makes a great bludgeoning weapon, and when you're done, you have a sock full of nicely softened butter, ready to be turned into cookies. Everybody wins! Except maybe the people you hit with the sock full of butter.)

LJ appears to be vaguely stable again, which is a nice change. I missed you, LJ! I know that blogging is dead, and it's the age of Farmville or the Tweet or whatever, and I'm on Facebook (technically) and Twitter (avidly), but my heart's true home is here, in Blogland, where I can write full sentences and punctuate them properly without worrying about the number of commas I use. I LOVE YOU, OXFORD COMMA.

Ahem. Anyway...

We're in a vague lull right now, which is nice, since it's letting me catch up on my word counts. I knocked out 2,000 words of Blackout last night, and then turned around and wrote almost as much on "Crystal Halloway, Girl Wonder, and the Truth Fairy's Curse," which sounds like a fluffy cross between Nancy Drew and every Harry Potter knock-off ever, but is, no shit, the most depressingly nihilistic thing I've written in years. Possibly ever. I made a giant spider cry. I have no regrets.

I do have a book event at the Borders in Roseville, California scheduled for next Saturday, and if you're local, it would be awesome if you could drop by. Borders events are much more low-key than the Traveling Circus, and sometimes it winds up just me, sitting at my little "in-store author" table, working on art cards and pretending that I'm not lonely. Help me not be lonely!

Speaking of being lonely, there's been, like, a hugenormous influx of people recently, and I honestly can't tell why. There was a little bump last week, when I posted about my decision to withdraw from Wicked Pretty Things, but since then, it's just been like, WHOA HOLY CRAP I DON'T HAVE THIS MANY PLATES. So if you're new here, hello! Welcome! Can you please tell me who you are and how you got here? I'm totally thrilled to have you, I just like to have some vague idea of what's going on. (Yeah, right. Like that's ever going to happen.)

In other news, water is wet, zombies are love, Jean Grey is still dead, and Thomas is rapidly approaching an improbable size.

What's new with you?

Remember last week, when I was all "let's get ready to rumble," because the BSC Book Tournament was getting underway, and Toby needed help to stay in the game? Well, your help totally helped, because Toby CRUSHED her competition, taking 93% of the vote. Wowie!

That means she's moving on to Round Two in the competition, where she's going up against Imager's Intrigue by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Again, I haven't read the book she's pitted against, but I'm sure it's awesome if it managed to win its previous round.

So here is my plea: please, go, vote! Keep Toby from getting her ass kicked on the literary playground as things get ugly! Victory is just a (whole bunch of...) click away.

GO TOBY GO!

It's that time again: that time when the air is sweet, the daffodils are blooming, and a young girl's fancy turns to thoughts of BLOODY INTERNET SMACKDOWNS. Specifically, it's time once again for the BSC Review Book Tournament, wherein books published during the last year BEAT THE HOLY CRAP OUT OF EACH OTHER for your amusement. See how much we love you?

Currently, An Artificial Night is up in the first round of the Westeros Bracket, and Toby needs your help! She's up against Wizard Squared by K. E. Mills (which I have not read, but which I am sure is a fabulous book in its own right), and if you don't step in, she could get schooled.

So come on! Let's indulge in some good, old-fashioned schoolyard brawling. Because it's fun.

I am so easily pleased sometimes.

With Late Eclipses approaching fast, I am naturally spending a lot of time thinking about Toby's world, and blogging about Toby's world, since I want everyone to be as excited as I am. So here is your invitation:

Ask me a question.

This has no connection to the current ARC giveaway, which asks you to ask simple, FAQ-style questions that don't require extensive spoilers or flowcharts. What this is connected to is, well, the big questions. Like when I posted about the rules governing fae marriage. The ones that require serious thought, and a genuine desire to know.

How does fae marriage work? Where did the Changeling's Choice begin? What happened to the Roane? Questions too big, and too complicated, to answer in the FAQ. Now, because I apparently wasn't clear enough the first time, I WILL NOT GIVE SPOILERS. Please don't ask me where someone is, or whether someone else is coming back, or whether you're ever going to see Gillian again (a question which has started to make me clench my teeth). Ask me about laws and rules and universe, about etiquette and speciation and trends in fashion.

The five best questions will get full blog posts about them, explaining whatever facet or facets of Faerie they touch on. I get to determine "best," although you're all welcome to weigh in or ask secondary questions.

With two books coming out soon (and one of them being the sequel to Feed), I'm getting a lot of contacts, in a lot of forums. So here's the periodic reminder about reaching me:

1) My website has a "contact" form. Actually, both of them do. You can contact Seanan-me or Mira-me, and both of them go straight to me. I answer Seanan-mail a little faster, because it dumps into my main inbox, but either one will do the job.

2) My LJ is paid! Which means you can email me @livejournal.com. It's true! That, too, will drop you into my main inbox, which is a warm, comfortable place to be. You should try it.

3) Sending me messages through the LJ inbox, on the other hand, makes me sad inside. I'm serious. If I could block it without screwing up my comment notifications, I would. As it stands, I make absolutely no guarantees about answering you. Ever. Messages sent to inboxes I've asked not be used are the only ones I don't feel obligated to reply to.

4) The same goes for Facebook. I use Facebook to play stupid clicky games and occasionally check on my friends. I do not use it for mail. So if you send me messages there? I may never get back to you.

So seriously, if you need me? Email. Email is the ONLY WAY I can guarantee a reply. Even there, please be aware that I am about twenty feet underwater at all times right now; it may take several days, or even weeks, before I reply, unless your message is somehow time sensitive (like "Please come over here and eat this cupcake").

Thank you!

A year has passed, and that means that once again, my big list o' holidays* has landed on a holiday that is very important to me on a deep, meaningful level. Maybe not as deep as Virus Appreciation Day (October 3rd), which I celebrate every year by not unleashing the pandemic, or Cuckoo Warning Day (June 21st), which is best celebrated by evolving parasitic wasps into telepathic humanoids, but still, it's important to me.

Today is Australia Day.

Today we celebrate the existence of Australia, the continent which proves that evolution did a lot of drugs when it was young. Today we celebrate the fact that Australia is full of things that want to make us all die, the fact that Australia is frequently on fire, and the fact that Australia essentially hates humanity. Specific things to celebrate about Australia include venomous snakes, spiders the size of dinner plates, marsupials, really interesting money, the koala (which will totally rip your face off if you poke it), and the cone snail, which is the size of a man's thumb and can kill you extremely dead. This is why you do not fuck around with the native wildlife of Australia.

On a more serious note...Australia is having some serious issues right now, with the flooding in Queensland verging on Biblical proportions. The government of Queensland is organizing flood relief. It's rare that I post this sort of thing, but today is Australia Day, and I'm their Princess, so I felt that it was appropriate. That is one hell of a lot of water, and they're going to need one hell of a lot of buckets to clean it all up.

So thank you for existing, Australia. Today is your day. Your venomous, deadly, kicking-your-ass, being eaten by koalas day.

Hooray Australia!

(*I have a list containing a holiday for every single day of the year. Some days have more than one holiday listed. The world needs more excuses for a party.)

Point the first: the winner of our random drawing "picture of your pet with one of my books" contest is...the_liz666! Please contact me via my website contact link within the next twenty-four hours to claim your prize. If you don't, I will choose another winner. Also, can I just say, I am SO VERY GLAD this was an explicitly random number-based contest? If I had to choose from the awesome, awesome entries, my head would have exploded. There was Perry the Platypus! And cats! And videos! And fish! AND A FRIKKIN' TIGER! I have the best fans in the whole world.

Point the second: I recently received some old ARCs from my publisher, found during one of the rare but vital "let's clean all the things" sessions. Is anyone out there doing cool art projects with books right now? I have two copies of A Local Habitation and three of An Artificial Night, and I'd love to see them turned into something awesome. Let me know if you have any ideas about where these books could go. (Donating them to a women's shelter doesn't work very well, because they're ARCs; they don't stand up well to repeat reading. Turning them into art, on the other hand, is both awesome and forever. Everybody wins!)

Point the third: I need to do a few more contests, naturally, before finished copies of Late Eclipses start showing up. Does anybody have any cool suggestions? And no, "Just give it to me" doesn't could, and may get you swatted at.

With the actual pressing of the physical Wicked Girls CDs rapidly approaching, I'm trying to take care of all pending poster requests. I'm going to put up a new post in the next day or two, with information on shipping times and international postage. For the moment...

If you have indicated that you would like a "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves" poster, I have emailed you. If you have not seen an email from me, it was probably eaten by your spam folder. Look for a message from "Xocolatl.com." If you can't find it, comment here with your name and email address, and I'll try contacting you through another avenue. I have nine requests set as "pending" right now, and I'd love to track them all down.

Thanks!

We're about to enter the month of December, and I figure, what the heck, let's be festive! So I'm going to be doing two things throughout the month, namely...

1. Giveaways! I have lots of things to give, including books, CDs, other people's books, and things I find under my bed. Some of the giveaways will be random, some may require effort on your part, but watch this space for news. First up will be a random drawing for Rosemary and Rue, opening tomorrow.

2. Shopping lists! It's the most shopping-oriented time of the year, so I figure I should offer some awesome ideas for your holiday gifting purposes. But! I am not the all-seeing, all-knowing Wizard of Oz. If you have any suggestions, be they books, obscure movies, or Etsy stores full of awesome, please email them to me via my website contact form. I repeat, email. Don't comment on my journal, please. If I can fit your suggestions into a list, you may see them here!

December is upon us. Let's send this calendar year out with a bang.

Paging Virginia Stoll; paging Virginia Stoll. You appear to have sent me a check, which is very sweet of you, but I have no idea what it's for. Please email me through my website and let me know...

Thanks!

Well, this is it: my plane for Australia leaves tonight, which means I am officially going to be out of the country when An Artificial Night [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] starts landing on store shelves. This is a little scary, since I don't know whether I'll have any Internet access at all during the days of my release, but hey, nothing in this world comes without cost, right? Australia or release day, pick one...and I picked the Kingdom of Poison and Flame. I have no regrets. Still, the book has to come out, so I've made a list of things you can do to help, if you are so inclined.

DO buy the book as soon as you can. Sales during the first week are very important—think of it as "opening weekend" for a movie—but they're not the end-all be-all. If you can get the book tomorrow, get the book; if you can get it at my book release party, get it at my book release party. Whatever works for you. Brick-and-mortar store purchases are best, as they encourage reordering. After that, Amazon or mail order purchases, and after that, e-book purchases (which do not count the same way against my sell-through). If you've already bought the book, consider buying the book again, as a single copy might get lonely. They make great gifts!

DON'T yell at other people who haven't bought the book yet. I know, that's sort of a "why are you saying this?" statement, but I got a very sad email from a teenager who'd been yelled at for not buying A Local Habitation the week that it came out. So just be chill. Unless you want to buy books for people who don't have them, in which case, don't yell, just buy.

DO ask your local bookstore if they have it on order. If your local store is part of a large chain, such as Borders or Barnes and Noble, the odds are very good that the answer will be "yes," and that they'll be more than happy to hold one for you. If your local store is small, and does not focus specifically on science fiction/fantasy, they may have been waiting to see signs of interest before placing an order. Get interested! Interest is awesome!

DON'T berate your local bookseller if they say "no." Telling people they're overlooking something awesome doesn't make them go "gosh, I see the error of my ways." It makes them go "well, I guess it can be awesome without me." Suggest. Ask if you can special-order a copy. But don't be nasty to people just because their shelves can't hold every book ever written.

DO post reviews on your blog or on Amazon.com. Reviews are fantastic! Reviews make everything better! Please, write and post a review, even if it's just "I liked it." Honestly, even if it's just "this wasn't really my thing." As long as you're being fair and reasoned in your commentary, I'm thrilled. (I like to think you won't all race right out to post one-star reviews, but if that's what you really think, I promise that I won't be mad.)

DON'T get nasty at people who post negative reviews. You are all people. You all have a right to the ball. That includes people who don't like my work. Please don't argue with negative reviewers on my behalf. It just makes everybody sad. If you really think someone's being unfair, why don't you post your own review, to present an alternate perspective? (Also, please don't email me my Amazon reviews. I don't read them, I don't want to read them, and I definitely don't want to be surprised with them. Please have mercy.)

DO feel free to get multiple copies. No, you probably don't need eight copies of An Artificial Night for your permanent collection, but remember that libraries, school libraries, and shelters are always in need of books. I'm donating a few of my author's copies to a local women's shelter, because they get a lot of women there who really need the escape. There are also people who just can't afford their own copies, and would be delighted. I wouldn't have had half the library I did as a teenager if it weren't for the kindness of the people around me.

DON'T feel obligated to get multiple copies, or nag other people to do so. Seriously, we're all on budgets, and too much aggressive press can actually turn people off on a good thing. Let people make their own choices. Have faith.

DO check with your local library to be sure they have a copy of on order. If they don't, you can fill out a library request form. Spread the paperback love!

DON'T forget that libraries need books. Many libraries, especially on the high school level, are really strapped for cash right now, and book donations are frequently tax deductible. If you have a few bucks to spare, you can improve the world on multiple levels by donating books to your local public and high school libraries.

DO suggest the book to bookstore employees who like urban fantasy. Nothing boosts sales like having people in the stores who really like a project. If your Cousin Danny (or Dani) works at a bookstore, say "Hey, why don't you give this a try?" It just might help.

DON'T rearrange bookstore displays. If the staff of my local bookstore is constantly being forced to deal with fixing the shelves after someone "helpfully" rearranged things to give their chosen favorites a better position, they're unlikely to feel well inclined toward that book—or author. It's not a good thing to piss off the bookstores. Let's just not.

So those are some do's and don't's. I'm sure there are lots of other things to consider; this is, at least, a start. Finally, a few things that don't help the book, but do help the me:

Please don't expect immediate email response from me for anything short of "you promised us this interview, it runs tomorrow, where are your answers?" I normally make an effort to be a semi-competent correspondent, but with the book dropping in eleven days and my flight leaving tonight, I've hit the stage where I flail around and scream "ICE WORMS!" a lot, which doesn't help me answer email. (Also, remember that I can't guarantee my Internet access while in Australia, so this wouldn't work anyway.)

Please don't ask me when book four is coming out. I may cry. Plus, the answer is March 2011.

Whee!

catvalente and I will be appearing "in conversation" at the upcoming WorldCon. While we have a few topics of our own to cover, we thought it might be nice to see what other people want us to talk about. We're going to try to get this videotaped, thus giving y'all a much greater stake in the discussion than you might otherwise have. So...

Have a topic you'd like to see discussed by me and Cat, probably while under the influence of a lot of sugar? Drop it here! We'll copy out our favorites and put them into a hat (or hat-shaped object), to be drawn during our conversation whenever we need a subject change.

It'll be fun!

People of the Internet, please, please, please, when you use my website contact form to get in touch with me, please include an address so I can respond to you? Sending me messages with blank "from" lines just means...

a) I can't answer, even if you ask direct questions, and
b) I get really frustrated, because I at least try to answer all my mail.

So please, please provide me with an email address so I can answer you. It makes things a lot more stressy when you don't.

Thanks.

First up, for those of you who've wondered what it's like to live with my cats, here's a video link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2P0QVvqHys

Now don't say I never gave you anything.

Second up, I have just actually mapped out the remainder of my year, so as to see where the holes are. The holes are...nowhere. I'm booked. Like, until December. And that doesn't count the various things I need to be working on, since they're not so much "events" as they are "endemic conditions." You know, like mono, rather than strep throat. So if I turn down an invitation to come out and be social, it's nothing personal, it's just that I can't afford to catch anything else until I've received some mental medical care, and maybe a nice, long nap.

Third up, I should have the ARCs for An Artificial Night any day now, at which point it will once again be time for our summer giveaways. Get your thinking caps on; I want to have truly awesome contests this time, earth-shaking, world-shattering contests. Or, y'know, at least contests that don't bore me. You know, whichever way turns out to work for folks. Let me know if you have suggestions.

Fourth up, I am most of the way through the Sparrow Hill Road story for August, which may need a different title, since it's turned out to be rather more...antic...than was originally expected (it's currently called "Dead Man's Curve"). This seems to be the obligate humorous episode before things get really, really unpleasant, moving up to the December season finale, "Last Kiss," wherein everything becomes, well. Unpleasant for Rose and company. I've got a little time to work it out before things get really urgent.

Fifth up, today I get to go to my favorite bakery with a camera and a Flip video, where I will thoroughly document the process of Jennifer (the owner) making awesome, awesome brain cupcakes. I then get to walk away with the cupcakes. My life is awesome sometimes.

Sixth up, a request: if you speak any language other than English fluently enough to translate, please reply to this post with the following sentences in whatever languages you can, identifying them clearly:

"The dead are rising/walking! Run for your life!"
"I have been infected. Please shoot me."
"I am not infected. Please do not shoot me."

Thank you!

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

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

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

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

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

Hope to see you there!

YOU: Sent me a copy of A Local Habitation, along with return postage and copies of your own books. Said books have since vanished into my bedroom, victim of very large, very irritated blue cats.

ME: Confused urban fantasy author baffled by the lack of a return address on the envelope containing said return postage, and really hoping that you'll see this and email me with your information, so that I can send your book away before one of the cats eats it.

EVERYONE ELSE: When sending me a book to be signed (which you should never do without asking me first, as I am sometimes really, really bad about getting to the post office, and I refuse to be yelled at if I didn't commit to a timeline), please be sure to include a piece of paper including the proper spelling of your name and your full mailing address, along with any return postage we may have agreed upon. This will really speed up the process of getting your book back to you. Unless, of course, you're just sending me spare copies of my own books, in which case, gee, thanks! I can always use more books.

ALICE: Lurks in wait, hungry for your envelopes.

Let me tell you about my friend Tom Smith.

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

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

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

It's worth a try, right?

I need to do some .PDF conversion for the Hugo/Campbell Voting Packet. Does anybody out there have the capacity and want to help me out? I can look endearing with the best of them, and may even be able to rustle up some sort of prize, assuming you don't mind risking receipt of, y'know, a bat-shaped hair clip or something.

Also, I'm just about done inputting the receipts for the "save a receipt, win a book" Toby contest, and should have a winner Monday. Tuesday is the official release date of Feed, so if you buy the book on or after this date, remember to save your receipt; I'll be having another contest, this one, hopefully, with less confusion on my end.

Keeping this short—Vixy and I are heading back to Kristoph's for a long, hard, glorious day of recording awesomeocity. So I'll catch you soon!

The Hugo voting packet is being assembled, and they want items from the Campbell nominees to allow voters to make a more informed choice. Since I want the tiara, I naturally want to put my best foot (and chainsaw) forward. We're submitting the first four chapters of Rosemary and Rue—what else should go in?

My bibliography is here, and up to date. It contains everything but the "Velveteen vs." series, which is archived elsewhere.

So...suggest. What should I send in? Justify your choices.

Help?

This one comes in two parts. Part the first: The Toby Daye FAQ is looking a little thin on the ground, with very few questions directly relating to the books themselves. Please give the FAQ a glance, if you get the chance, and propose new questions? I want to get things cleaned up and updated. In, y'know, my copious spare time.

Part the second: The Horror Movie Survival FAQ is going to be moving to MiraGrant.com with the launch of the new site. I know, I know, it's a sad day. But it'll fit in better there, and I'll have a lot of really awesome opportunities to update and expand.

This means I need a new "silly" FAQ for my main site...and that's where today comes in. I'm going to do a Fairy Tale and Ballad Survival FAQ. Please propose questions, offer survival tips, whatever comes to mind, and I'll get started from there! Help protect a new generation of children from evil stepmothers, wicked witches, inexplicable beanstalks, and the dangers of gingerbread houses.

Sometimes my life is awesome.

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

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

You know Chuck Norris?

That.

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

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

Come on. You know you want to.

Hey, guys—

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

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

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

Dear Great Pumpkin;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I remain your faithful Halloween girl,
Seanan.

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

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



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

Well, Rosemary and Rue has been on bookstore shelves for a month, and that means it's time for me to split off the Toby Daye FAQ into its own page. What questions would you like to see answered? I'm dividing them roughly, for now, into "series" (IE, publication dates, number of books, typos), "world" (Toby's world), and per-book, but this could change.

Please expect mild spoilers in the comments on this thread, with the stress being on mild. I won't answer FAQ questions that read like "on page 189 you say, but on page 317...," since that's way too much of a spoiler for a publicly-accessible website.

Game on!