The 2017 Hugo Awards ballot is now live, and I am stunned and honored and delighted to announce that I am on it not once, but twice.

Every Heart a Doorway has been nominated for Best Novella. This is the book of my heart: this is the one I look at and dare to hope for, because I want it so badly, and I am so touched by its inclusion. Thank you to everyone who has looked at this little book and thought "how far can we help it go?" We have gone so far.

But that's not the stunner.

The stunner is that this year is the first time the Hugos have featured a category for Best Series. It's a trial run, a test, for a way to honor books and settings that work best in the context they create for themselves. Book eleven of something ongoing may not be the best candidate for Best Novel, but it may be part of something that, overall, is just as glorious.

And October Daye is up for Best Series.

I am stunned. I am overjoyed. I am not going to win--but winning isn't always the point. I have been given this honor, and I am not giving it back.

Thank you all so very, very much.

I will do my best not to let you down.

So I am utterly delighted to be returning to Borderlands Books in San Francisco, California this coming Saturday, March 25th, where I will be celebrating the release of Magic For Nothing alongside the fabulous Mishell Baker, who is celebrating the release of Phantom Pains. In my case, that's the new InCryptid; in her case, it's the new Arcadia Project; in both cases, it's guaranteed to be a good time.

With two authors and double the word-y goodness, we're not bringing the full band this event (also, we accidentally scheduled it on top of Consonance, which means most of the band is busy anyway). We will have a raffle, and if the cupcake place gets back to me, we'll have cupcakes (no answer as yet). On the off chance that we don't, remember that the cafe sells delicious baked goods, and would be happy to hook you up with something yummy.

The event will begin at 5pm. If you can't make it, please contact the bookstore ahead of time to place an order for a signed, personalized book: we're happy to hook you up. I'm collecting raffle prizes and packing my bags, and I can't wait to see you all!

TWO NEBULA NOMINEES ENTER. TWO NEBULA NOMINEES LEAVE. IT TURNS OUT THIS IS NOT A DEATH MATCH.

Roll on San Francisco!

Georgia Mason is fighting hard in this year's Unbound Cage Match, and she needs your help.

It's a simple scroll to the bottom and click to vote, and I really want to see Georgia make the finals. Can you imagine the Georgia Mason vs. Harry Dresden snark party? Because I can. Oh, yes, I can.

Please vote if you have a second.

It's almost time: this weekend I will be a guest at the one and only (and sadly final) AnomalyCon in Denver, Colorado. I...keep swearing I'll never go back to Denver, on account of how I get blazingly terrible altitude sickness, and then I keep going back because people ask nicely. But this still could be the last time!

Where will I be?

Friday, catch me at "Reinventing the Wheelchair" at 6pm in Mesa Verde C, or at "Sex in Young Adult Fiction" at 7pm in Windstar A.

Saturday, find me at "Submitting to the Process" at 10am in Wind River B, "Future Accessibility" at 11am in Windstar A, "Writing Villains" at 6pm in Mesa Verde A, or at "Hell Hath No Fury" at 7pm in Wind River A.

There might be additions to my schedule, so check your program book (and don't ask here, as I have no guarantee about how much internet access I'll have). And of course I'll be signing and smiling and looking faintly confused by the lack of oxygen all weekend long.

Come on down!

Finally, I am at liberty to reveal a secret I have been keeping and gnawing on for far too long (and which was, in its own way, the reason the current projects posts had to be put on unannounced hiatus):

The Atargatis was lost with all hands. It's time to go back out to sea.

Into the Drowning Deep is a full-length follow-up to my novella, "Rolling in the Deep." Set seven years later, it follows the crew of the Melusine as they set out to discover, once and for all, what really happened when the sea was filled with light and the wind offered no safety.

I am so excited.

I am excited for a lot of reasons. Mermaids; science; murder. The best things in life.

Into the Drowning Deep will be released in November 2017, and can be pre-ordered now from a major retailer or independent bookseller near you.

To celebrate the release of Magic For Nothing, here. Have an open thread to discuss the book. Judging by the comments I'm seeing, some of you have had time, and I'd really, really rather book discussion (sometimes including spoilers) didn't crop up on other posts.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

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

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

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

As of today, Magic For Nothing is officially available from bookstores all over North America, and from import stores all over the world. It's been spotted in the wild from California to New York, with several points between also chiming in to let me know that they've got copies. Hooray!

Since it's release week, I figured it was time to once again answer the wonderful people asking how they can help. So here are a few dos and don'ts for making this book launch awesome.

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 later this month, get it at my book release party. Whatever works for you. Brick-and-mortar store purchases are best, as they encourage reordering. If you've already bought the book, consider buying the book again during release week, 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, and I have never forgotten it. 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 Barnes and Noble, the odds are 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 believe 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 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 pressure 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 and talking mice. 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 things. 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 a new book on shelves and final edits due on an unnamed project, a lot of things are falling by the wayside. Like sleep.

If you're in the Bay Area, I hope to see you March 25th at Borderlands Books, where I will be reading, signing, and running a raffle for your enjoyment, along with Mishell Baker!

Whee!

This weekend (by which we mean "Thursday through Sunday," because the weekend is a negotiable time period, and doesn't Thursday look fetching in that tiara?) you can catch me at Emerald City Comic-Con in scenic Seattle, Washington! Join me for thrills, chills, and a smashing good time!

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.

Thursday night, come catch me a Shipwreck, where six great authors destroy one great work of literature. We're doing The Sandman. And I do mean doing. This is not an all-ages event. This is porn. I am a porn lord. Endless help me.

Friday, I'll be signing at the University Books booth (2pm) and the Penguin Random House booth (5pm), and then it's off to Worldbuilders for a fun night of gaming and merriment. Seats are limited but still available as I'm typing this!

Saturday, it's Geek Geek Revolution at 1:30pm and the Death of Belief at 4pm, both followed by signings.

Sunday, come see me at the University Books booth (1pm), and then at the Orbit Books panel (2:30pm). And then watch me run for freedom and the comforts of my own bed, because I expect to be exhausted.

I will have prizes with me every day of the con for folks who find me and answer the trivia questions I will be posting on Twitter. First-come, first-served.

See you there!

Our latest round of ARC winners are...

l_o_lostshadows
anna_sinistra
ladypembroke

Please send your mailing addresses, along with your LJ handles (so I know it's you claiming your prize) via my website contact form by Wednesday March 1st.

It's almost book day!

It's almost time for Magic for Nothing, and I have three more ARCs to give away! So if you'd like to win one, just...

1. Comment here.
2. Tell the RNG why you should win.
3. Indicate if you are international, and if so,
4. Indicate your willingness to pay postage.

That's all!

Three winners will be chosen on Monday, February 27th, two by the random number generator, and one according to my whim.

Game on!

Last Thursday, while in a car on the way to Half-Price Books, my phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number, and so I answered warily, all too aware of the various scams people are currently conducting. "Hello," said a woman. "I'm looking for Seanan McGuire?"

"May I ask who's calling?"

She identified herself as from SFWA (the Science Fiction Writers of America). I identified myself as Seanan. Lots of identification happened, all while I was going "no, this can't be what I want it to be, because that doesn't happen."

She said, "I am pleased to let you know that your novella, Every Heart a Doorway, has been nominated for a Nebula Award."

I made a noise that only bats could hear. The driver did not run us off the road. The woman laughed. I said the right, polite things. I hung up.

I cried.

This is the first time I have ever been nominated for a Nebula Award (if you don't know what that is, details are here). I have wanted one for as long as I could remember, since I was a little girl and reading anthologies and authors with that amazing word on the cover. And now I'm nominated.

I am so happy.

Title: Velveteen vs. Recovery.
Summary: What happens to a child superhero who finds that after everything she has done, everything she has endured...life goes on?

( As a rule, life at the Crystal Glitter Unicorn Cloud Castle followed a fairly strict set of guidelines...Collapse )

My apologies for the delay: we had a fairly heavy snowfall yesterday, which would have been fine if we hadn't needed to collect my sister from the airport. All is well, and as several of you squeaked in last-minute entries, I figure we're good. Now, the winners!

The random number generator has spoken, and our three winners of ARCs of Magic For Nothing are...

snippy
carlamlee
kdsorceress

If your name is on this list, please contact me via my website contact form within the next 24 hours. Include your mailing address, your LJ handle, and the nature of the prize you are claiming.

Whee!

Are you a gamer? Do you like things that are fun? Are you planning to attend Emerald City Comic-Con?

I am anchoring a table for this year's Worldbuilder's Charity Party, and there are four seats left for the adventurous.

Come play with me! It'll be a good time. We all need a good time about now.

Yes. Play.

Good.

It's time for some free fiction, and for the second story of the Alice and Thomas era. The year is 1954. Thomas Price is new in town, and Alice is just trying to be hospitable. Honestly, that's all she's doing at the house.

With "The Lay of the Land," we begin the slow dance between Thomas Price, Covenant researcher, and Alice Healy, too young, too untrained, and too foolhardy by half. It's going to be a long one. Best that we get started.

You can download the new story now from the InCryptid short fiction page.

This also serves as your discussion post.

We need something good right now, and that means it's time to GIVE STUFF AWAY. Specifically, it's time to give away a couple of ARCs of Magic For Nothing.

You in?

To ease us back into the normal swing of things, today we're going with a random number generator drawing. US-only unless you are able to pay postage. I'm really sorry about that, but having just paid a ridiculous amount in vet bills, I am really not in a position to pay to mail things internationally right now. To enter...

1. Comment on this entry.
2. Specify whether you are US or international and, if international, indicate willingness to pay postage.
3. Name one thing you're hoping to see in an upcoming InCryptid book.

I will draw three winners via random number generator on Monday, February 6th. Game on!

Entries which do not include all three components, and which do not specifically relate to the InCryptid series, are ineligible to win.

Title: Velveteen Presents Jacqueline Claus vs. The Lost and the Found.
Summary: And now for something completely different! Santa’s daughter must find her place in the world...whether she wants to or not.

( Jacqueline Claus, adopted daughter of Santa Claus, one day to inherit his place as toymaker and guardian of the dreams of children...Collapse )

Sometimes I look back at my own teenage years, tangled and tempestuous as they were, and wonder if I knew how lucky I was, musically speaking. The Counting Crows still played at the U.C. Berkeley on-campus club; Heather Alexander was both local and frequently touring; Celtic rock was having a resurgence, with Avalon Rising and Four Shillings Short playing somewhere almost every weekend.

And there was Annwn.

They were weirdos. They were wonderful. They were everything I wanted to be when I grew up. The idea of making Elton or Leigh Anne proud of me was enough to motivate me to do almost anything. I got to have a relationship with them, to know them as humans and artists and creators and people who let their freak flags fly proudly and without fear. I am the adult I am because they were there to be an example for the confused child I was.

Leigh Anne died in 2006. I still miss her. I will always miss her. Annwn died with her. Even if the band had wanted to continue, there was no replacing Leigh Anne. She was absolutely one of a kind.

For a long time, their music has been unavailable. Now, that's changing, and one of their best albums, Come Away to the Hills has been made available for purchase, as has the one album she recorded with Daoine Sidhe, Now and Then, which you can access here.

If you love Celtic rock and folk music, please give a listen.

This is one of the voices that made me.

So here's what happened:

I keep a long list of links to things that interest me. I take it as a good thing that I've moved more and more away from reviews, and more and more toward think pieces and interviews and the like, not because the reviews aren't important--they absolutely are--but as my confidence has grown, I've had less need of them for me, and as my readership has grown, the chances of my needing to send an apology to some blogger because "sorry I dropped a wasp nest on your head, I didn't mean to" have increased. Which sounds, you know, a little hollow when it's my fifth nest in a week. But when I see a link I want to write about, or that I think is relevant, I'll grab it and save it for later.

When I still had a day job (you know, the one I left in January 2015), I would usually do my link-related posts on my lunch hour. The links came in faster than the posts went out, but hey, I was doing my best. Then I got really depressed, because the day job was slowly killing me. Then I quit my day job, and had to carve new routines out of a shapeless mass of time. And a lot of things dropped by the wayside, including dealing with the links I had so carefully curated.

Some of them, I've just deleted. Others have broken or been taken down, becoming irrelevant. Others, though, fall into the "nice people saying nice things about me, and it's a jerk move not to say thank you" category. So...thank you.

Kenda wrote a long and lovely piece about how she doesn't care for books about Faerie, but has learned to love Toby. Kenda has always been an awesome, fair reviewer and a deeply engaged reader, and I really sympathize with her "no, you cannot tell me a book is awesome when you profit from its sales" approach to reading the first book. I'm so glad to have won her over!

Pamela from The Discriminating Fangirl also had some fabulous things to say, and I am so sorry it has taken me this long to say thank you.

Thank you.

So I have literally been sitting on this link for more than a year. It's been public that whole time: this isn't me doing the ultimate procrastination tango. It's just that I kept getting distracted, and I haven't been as awesome about non-checklist blogging as I've wanted to be. It feels like it's one of those things that has fallen by the wayside, and for that I am sorry.

Anyway.

If you click the above, you will come to one of the most beautifully impassioned "why you should read the October Daye books" posts ever written by someone who is not me and does not depend on them to pay her electrical bill. I am still, a year after first reading it (a year, time is ridiculous and I do not approve) stunned and touched and delighted.

One of the big things it touches on is the lack of sexual violence in the series, and how much of a relief that can be for readers. It's not that Toby's life is sunshine and roses--a chapter will tell you how much it isn't--it's that something that's become almost a casual signpost for evil in our media is intentionally missing. I admit, I made that choice out of exhaustion and pique. I never expected it to resonate the way it has. But I hear, quite regularly, from readers who feel like the series is safe for them, because they don't have to worry about HA HA SURPRISE DRAMATIC SEXUAL ASSAULT. And I am so glad I can provide that.

I also want to note that there's a discussion in the comments of the kind that becomes increasingly frequent as a series goes on: "When will this be over? I don't want to start until it's over." I really wish you would. The first three books are a decent barometer of whether you'll like it. At this point, Rosemary and Rue seems very rough to me in contrast with what I'm producing now, but you can get a feel for how I handle language, and by the time you reach An Artificial Night, you'll probably know whether the series is for you. That starter kit won't change if the series stops at fifteen or at fifty. I've never missed a deadline; the September 2017 book is finished and turned in, and I'll be starting the September 2018 book as soon as I get my editorial notes. I am about as close to a safe bet as you can get on this sort of thing. And, well. The electric bill.

Anyway. I just wanted to share this with you. And finally close that tab.

It's the little things.

Title: Velveteen vs. The Retroactive Continuity.
Summary: What happens when a former child superhero returns from her travels in the seasonal lands, only to discover that things have changed, possibly forever? Velveteen is home. Home is not the same.

( The four women were locked in an uneasy standoff, none of them willing to be the first to move and hence kick off the fight...Collapse )

The nomination period for the 2017 Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer is now open, and that means it's time to go over the list of what I published in 2016. Please keep in mind that you must have been a member of last year's Worldcon, OR be a member of this year's Worldcon, OR be a member of next year's Worldcon to be eligible to either nominate or vote.

A lot of people have put up their eligibility posts, and you can check the eligibility of your favorite authors by hitting their personal blogs. Here is mine.

Novels.

Indexing: Reflections
Chaos Choreography
Velveteen vs. The Seasons
Once Broken Faith
Feedback (as Mira Grant)

Novellas.

"Every Heart a Doorway"
"All the Pretty Little Horses" (as Mira Grant)
"Coming to You Live" (as Mira Grant)
"Dreams and Slumbers"

Novelettes.

"Swamp Bromeliad"
"Waking Up In Vegas"
"Stage of Fools"
"In Little Stars"
"Full of Briars"
"The Voice of Lions"

Short stories.

"Heaps of Pearl"
"The Jaws That Bite, the Claws That Catch"
"Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands"
"Regulation"
"Long Way Down"
"Threnody for Little Girl, With Tuna, At the End of the World"
"Tailed"
"The Levee Was Dry"
"In the Desert Like a Bone"
"In the Before, When Legends Were True"
"Sleepover"
"Forbidden Texts"
"Falls Like Snow"

The things I am probably proudest of from this year would have to be "Every Heart a Doorway," "In the Desert Like a Bone," and Feedback. The 2017 Hugo Awards will have a special category for Best Series, and because of the release of Feedback and RISE during the 2016 calendar year, Newsflesh is eligible. Feed was my first Hugo nomination, and it would be sort of amazing to have a second shot at a rocket for one of my first and best beloved books. "Every Heart a Doorway," on the other hand, is...

If that had been the only thing I ever published, I would still have had something to be proud of.

Turning away from me, I would ask you to consider Sheila Gilbert for Best Editor, Long Form; John Joseph Adams and Ellen Datlow for Best Editor, Short Form; Chris McGrath and Aly Fell for Best Artist; and Moana for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long.

What do you think people should be considering for this year's awards?

To thank you all for your help and forbearance during Thomas's entry, it's time for some free fiction, and for checking in on Verity and Dominic as they continue their trip from New York to Oregon, with plenty of stops along the way. They've finally reached Oregon...which means it's time to deal with the parents.

This concludes the Verity and Dominic road trip cycle, and I am absolutely thrilled to have made it all the way across the country. I hope you've enjoyed the trip as much as I have.

You can download the new story now from the InCryptid short fiction page. Please download and save to read locally, rather than trying to read on my poor server.

This also serves as your discussion post.

The night before New Year's Eve, Thomas stopped eating or drinking. He was listless, and had no interest in being snuggled or engaging in favorite activities, like playing with the water. The morning of New Year's Eve, we called around until we found an open vet who could see him right away. They diagnosed him with constipation and a mild obstruction, gave him laxatives and anti-nausea drugs, and sent him home.

He got worse.

New Year's Day, we went to a vet closer to home, where he received an enema, more anti-nausea medication, and a second examination. By this point, he had lost quite a bit of weight, and was visibly unwell. Still, he rallied after treatment, and was sent home.

He got worse.

Yesterday, we were finally referred to the emergency vet, where an ultrasound revealed a mass obstructing his small intestine. Surgery happened that night. There was no necrosis, and the mass (a congealed, compressed hairball) was successfully removed. He ran a fever for some time afterward, but this responded well to antibiotics, and went down. He was not sent home.

Thomas is currently hospitalized for recovery. His digestive system is not working properly; he has not had any food in four days, although he is able to receive subcutaneous fluids. He is not out of the woods. The woods are dark and deep and full of wolves, and I am so scared, and he is so sick. My baby boy is so sick. I don't have children: I have my cats. They are the world to me, and I am so afraid right now. So please. If I am quiet, if I am slow, if I am a little off from what you expect, be kind to me.

I am waiting for the sky to fall.

The random number generator has spoken, and the winners are:

Of a copy of Rolling in the Deep...vincentursus!
Of a dazzling MYSTERY PRIZE...alienpenguin!

Please contact me via my website contact form, including your user name and the prize you won, by Friday, December 30th, to claim your prizes.

See you all next Hogswatch!

...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.

Things got a little bit away from me, as things so often do, but now I am here to give you great gifts, or at least predictable prizes! And so...

Our day four winner, receiving a copy of RISE, is...lady_ravenlocke!
Our day five winner, receiving a copy of The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, is...anna_sinistra!
Our day six winner, receiving a copy of Indexing, is...wintersolstyce!
Our day seven winner, receiving copies of Stars Fall Home and Wicked Girls, is...wenhaver!
Our day eight winner, receiving a copy of When Will You Rise, is...vorel_laraek!
Our day nine winner, receiving the audio book of Once Broken Faith, is...dryadtea!
Our day ten winner, receiving a copy of Sparrow Hill Road, is...whimsyblue42!
Our day eleven winner, receiving a copy of Feedback, is...silvergryphyn!

Congrats to all our winners, and now, the details:

If you have won, please contact me via my website contact form by 1PM PST on Wednesday, December 20th, to claim your prize. Please include your name, LJ handle, mailing address, and which prize you are claiming in the message, so that I will know it is you.

Only two to go!

...a MYSTERY!

Welcome to the last of the Thirteen Days of Hogswatch. Each giveaway has 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 final giveaway is for a mystery prize. Everybody loves a mystery. This is going to be a random number drawing, because honestly, that is all I am managing to keep up with. 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 how good you've been this year, and why the RNG should favor you.
4. That's it.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Tuesday, December 20th.

Game on!

...a signed copy of Rolling in the Deep!

Welcome to the twelfth 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 twelfth giveaway is for a signed copy of Rolling in the Deep, now totally out of print. This is going to be a random number drawing, because honestly, that is all I am managing to keep up with. So...

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

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

Game on!

...a signed copy of Feedback!

Welcome to the tenth 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 eleventh giveaway is for a signed copy of Feedback. This is going to be a random number drawing, because honestly, that is all I am managing to keep up with. So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate both this and your willingness to pay postage.
3. Indicate that you have read the rest of the series. Because this is an inversion of Feed, I am only comfortable awarding this specific prize to someone who has read the original trilogy.
4. That's it.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Sunday, December 18th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

The random number generator has spoken, and the winner of copies of Alien Artifacts and Were- is...

memoryanddream!

Please contact me via my website contact form by 1PM PST on Monday, December 12th, to claim your prize. Please include your name, LJ handle, and mailing address in the message, so that I will know it is you.

Ten more days to go!

...a signed copy of Sparrow Hill Road!

Welcome to the tenth 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 tenth giveaway is for a signed copy of Sparrow Hill Road. This is going to be a random number drawing, because honestly, that is all I am managing to keep up with. So...

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

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Saturday, December 17th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED!

The random number generator has spoken, and the winner of copies of Rosemary and Rue and Discount Armageddon is...

ccliving!

Please contact me via my website contact form by 1PM PST on Saturday, December 10th, to claim your prize. Please include your name, LJ handle, and mailing address in the message, so that I will know it is you.

Twelve more days to go!

...a copy of the audio book of Once Broken Faith!

Welcome to the ninth 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 eighth giveaway is for a copy of the audio book of Once Broken Faith, on CD (so physical media, gasp). This is going to be a random number drawing, because I am not feeling creative right now. So...

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

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Friday, December 16th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

The random number generator has spoken, and the winner of a copy of Every Heart A Doorway is...

roseclaw!

Please contact me via my website contact form by 1PM PST on Saturday, December 10th, to claim your prize. Please include your name, LJ handle, and mailing address in the message, so that I will know it is you.

Twelve more days to go!

...a copy of When Will You Rise!

Welcome to the eighth 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 eighth giveaway is for a copy of When Will You Rise, the first Mira Grant book released by Subterranean Press. (As an FYI, this is also the one that you can still order directly from the publisher, and it makes a lovely holiday gift.) This is going to be a random number drawing, because I am not feeling creative right now. So...

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

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Thursday, December 15th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

...copies of Stars Fall Home and Wicked Girls! Start your CD collection right!

Welcome to the seventh 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 seventh giveaway is for copies of Stars Fall Home and Wicked Girls. This is going to be a random number drawing, because I am not feeling creative right now. So...

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

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Wednesday, December 14th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

...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.

...a signed copy of The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination! Win this awesome tome for yourself, for a friend, or for a local library!

Welcome to the fifth 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 fifth giveaway is for a signed copy of The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, in hardcover, including some truly awesome stories. This is going to be a random number drawing, because I am not feeling creative right now. So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate both this and your willingness to pay postage. Please be aware that this is a LARGE hardcover: the cost of mailing this internationally will be considerably more than the value of the book.
3. That's it.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Monday, December 12th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

...a signed copy of Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Short Fiction! Win this awesome tome for yourself, for a friend, or for a local library!

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, I am avoiding the post office as much as possible until that other winter holiday is over).

The fourth giveaway is for a signed copy of Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Short Fiction, published under the Mira Grant byline. This is going to be a random number drawing, because I am not feeling creative right now. So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate both this and your willingness to pay postage. Please be aware that this is a LARGE hardcover: the cost of mailing this internationally will be considerably more than the value of the book.
3. That's it.

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

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

...signed copies of two recent anthologies I'm in: Were and Alien Artifacts! Win them for yourself, for a friend, or for a local library!

Welcome to the third 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 third giveaway is for signed copies of Were and Alien Artifacts, two recent anthologies by Zombies Need Brains Press. This is going to be a random number drawing, because I am predictable like that. So...

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

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Saturday, December 10th.

Game on!

...a starter kit for my two longest-running series: signed copies of Rosemary and Rue and Discount Armageddon! Win them for yourself, for a friend, or for a local library!

Welcome to the second 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 second giveaway is for signed copies of Rosemary and Rue and Discount Armageddon, the first books in the Toby Daye and InCryptid series, respectively. This is going to be a random number drawing, because I am sleepy. 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 which series you are more excited to start.
4. That's it.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Friday, December 9th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

...a signed copy of Every Heart a Doorway!

Welcome to the first 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 first giveaway is for a signed copy of Every Heart a Doorway, the first Wayward Children adventure. This is going to be a random number drawing, because I am sleepy. So...

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

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Thursday, December 8th.

Game on!

ETA: This drawing is now CLOSED.

Hello, happy people!

Thursday (December 1st) will be the first of the Thirteen Days of Hogswatch, my now-annual "Seanan gives things away for thirteen days because why not" celebration, and I just wanted to issue a few quick reminders. Namely...

1. Each giveaway will have its own rules. Some will be US-only. (Most will honestly be US-only, because I can't afford to pay international postage at this time. More about this to come.) Others will say things like "your comment must include the word 'banana' to be considered a valid entry." Failure to precisely follow the rules of a giveaway will mean you cannot win. There is no wiggle room here, at all. This is partially for my sanity, and partially because when I give things away, the free stuff blogs tend to signal boost, and insisting that the rules be followed means that there's enough of a barrier to entry that I can be reasonably sure things are going to people who actually want them.

2. No, you do not need to follow this blog to win. That being said, each entry will say something like "the winners will be posted at X time, and will have until Y to contact me." Every time I do a giveaway, I have folks contacting me days after the stated time, wanting to know if they can still claim their prizes. I fully understand that life happens—I've been the late one before—but the timelines are firm. So if you don't follow this blog normally, I recommend checking in daily until all Hogswatch giveaways are over.

3. In the instances where I am willing to deal with the cost and complication of international shipping, I may say "you must pay postage to receive your prize." If you'd like to volunteer to pay international postage for a giveaway winner, please comment on that day's giveaway to indicate this. Make sure it's a first-level comment, and not a reply to a specific person. (If you're only willing to pay for a specific person, tell them in private, and y'all can work it out without me.)

4. All prizes have already been selected, but I will not be revealing them until the day that their drawing begins.

5. You can enter all thirteen days if you want to. Winning day one does not bar you from winning again on day eight.

And that is all. First entry goes up tomorrow!

I have mailed all pending poster orders, and better yet, I have found my supply of poster tubes, which means that I can once again offer posters for sale. These are gorgeous pieces of art, and make great holiday gifts. Also if I sell the last of them, I will get that shelf back, and this is very exciting to me right now.

Behold the poster thumbnail!



You can't really read the text at this size, but it's the full lyrics of "Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves." You can tell that the posters are absolutely gorgeous, thanks to the ever-wonderful graphic skills of my lovely lady Tara. They're 10" by 26", and I couldn't be happier with them.

The posters have a limited run of 500, which sounds like a lot, and yet is shrinking at a truly impressive rate. They aren't programmed into the ordering system on my website, and that's a good thing, since it gives me flow control and allows me to refuse orders when I'm not in a position to take care of mailing. If you wanted to order a poster, here's what to do:

1) Send me an email via my website contact form, telling me how many posters you want. Posters are $20, plus $7 for shipping and handling within the United States ($18 shipping and handling internationally, for which I apologize, but the postage costs are obscene).

2) I can fit up to three posters in a tube, going to the same place. So three to one location is cost of posters + $7/$18, while three going to three locations would be cost of posters + $21/$54.

3) I will email you to confirm the request, and to provide my PayPal information. We can discuss payment by check.

The posters are printed on sturdy, acid-free, recycled paper, and again, gorgeous. They also frame really, really nicely, as my kitchen wall can attest. I'm not currently planning to reprint this design; when they're gone, they're gone, and will be replaced by something else (probably a poster based on either "Follow Me Down" or "Stars Fall Home").

Yay for pretty things!

I usually start these posts with "I am pleased...". I'm not pleased right now. I'm not sure I'll ever be pleased again. Like so many of us, I am sick and scared and sad. I'm wishing I weren't getting so many random apologies from people who found the villain in Feed cartoony and unrealistic, but now find him horrifyingly plausible. I'm wishing a lot of things.

But time passes; the Turtle moves; the work goes on, and my fear and my sadness do not mean I can let y'all miss things you might want to know about. So:

It is my privilege to announce that I (as Mira Grant) am doing another novella with Subterranean Press. Final Girls is a story about virtual reality, psychotherapy, corporate espionage, and figuring out exactly who you are. According to the website...

What if you could fix the worst parts of yourself by confronting your worst fears?

Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they've been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But...can real change come so easily?

Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father’s life. She's determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb’s budding company. Dr. Webb’s willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther's not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other's only hope of survival.

Limited to 1,250 signed, numbered copies, Final Girls is available for pre-order now, and will be shipping in April. This is going to be a gorgeous book. Julie Dillon, who did the cover for Rolling in the Deep, is doing the cover for this one too, and I am so excited. Remember that Rolling in the Deep sold out fast, and is now virtually unattainable unless you're lucky or have a book budget I really envy, and order yours today!

Title: Velveteen vs. Everything You Ever Wanted.
Summary: What happens when a former child superhero returns from her travels in the seasonal lands, only to discover that things have changed, possibly forever? Velveteen is home. Home is not the same.

( The mirrors stretched out to infinity around them, recognizable as mirrors only while they were at a distance...Collapse )

I am awed, honored, and a little staggered to be able to announce that I will be the Guest of Honor at OVFF 2017, to be held over the weekend of October 20th to 22nd.

For those of you in the filk community, I'm sure you understand what a huge honor this is, and why it means so much to me. For those of you not in the filk community, allow me to endeavor to explain.

Filk--science fiction and fantasy folk music, essentially--is a small slice of fandom that enjoys sitting up and singing songs late into the night. We sing about myths and legends and TV shows and comic books and each other (oh, how we sing about each other). It's not a huge community, with maybe a few thousand people worldwide (at best), but it's a tightly-knit one, and we take care of our own. We have the numbers and the ambition to hold multiple conventions throughout the year, in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Germany.

And the biggest of all these conventions is OVFF, the Ohio Valley Filk Festival, in Columbus, Ohio. It is the Worldcon of filk. It is the brass ring. It is the goal. I was already honored to be their Toastmistress in 2005, and to be asked back is...

Well, it's everything.

I am beyond excited, and I am hoping to see so many of you there. I'm going to try to explain a bit more of what filk is over the course of the next year: let's see if I can't make filkers of all of you yet.

I'm Guest of Honor.

It's a dream come true.

Check out this Barnes & Noble blog about the October Daye series.

Specifically, about seven awesome things about the October Daye series. I think there are many awesome things about the October Daye series, including the way it helps me keep the brain squirrels from eating me alive, but it's always super fun to see what someone else thinks of as the highlights.

What highlights do you think they missed?

Here we go again.

So it's no secret around here that I love, love, love my DAW covers, or that showing them off is one of my true pure joys in life. Aly Fell, the artist who does the art for the InCryptid books, has been hugely involved in setting the look of the series, and he just keeps on getting better. Want proof?

Go ahead. Take a peek.

( Cut-tagged for the protection of your friends' list, which really doesn't need something this huge suddenly showing up without warning. But trust me, you should totally click.Collapse )