Back home again from Missoula, Montana, where I spent the weekend as GOH at Miscon 26.

'twas my first trip to Montana, and I can't say I really saw much of it, but Missoula was a pleasant little city, and the con itself was great. They drew 1300 people, I'm told, a record for Miscon, and I think all of them had a great time. I know I did. Miscon fen party like we did in the old days, and the hotel -- Ruby's, a small indy with local ownership -- was really great. None of the nonsense with noise complaints and shutting down parties and elevators that has plagued so many cons of late. In fact, some of the hotel management partied with us.

So a tip of the hat to Justin, Cthulhu Bob, Clay, and the rest of the Miscon Miscreants, and to Tim, Dustan, and Vicky from Ruby's. You were great.

is now up.

monday's is up too. 

STEAMPUNK NEWS

TIN SWIFT is coming out in just FIVE weeks!  I am SO excited!

I have some very cool giveaways and extras planned, starting (hopefully) in mid-June and lasting all the way through mid-July.  As soon as I nail down the details, I’ll tell you where and how you can score some fabulous one-of-a-kind goodies and prizes.

Oh, and I just posted an excerpt from TIN SWIFT here on the blog: click for excerpt.

I’ll have more steampunk news soon, so stay tuned!!

 

URBAN FANTASY NEWS

Copy edits for MAGIC FOR A PRICE have landed with a thunk on my desk.  After a quick scan of the copy editor’s comments, I seem to have littered the manuscript with obscene amounts of: “strode” and “something” and a fair share of unclear sentences.  As far as copy edits go, this one seems pretty light.  I’ll dig into it today, and should have it turned in by early next week.

After copy edits, I’ll  begin my next project…..

What?  I haven’t mentioned my next project yet?  Well, I have news about THAT I can share soon too!!

 

Mirrored from Devon Monk.

Last night as I was trying to go to sleep—I'm a slow-sleep insomniac, which means that it can sometimes take me upwards of an hour to power all the way down—I found myself wondering, in that half-place that only exists when you're caught between consciousness and Neverland, whether I'm so reluctant to sleep right now because I'm half-convinced that I'm in the middle of the longest, most detailed linear dream I've ever experienced. And that one day, I'm going to open my eyes and it will be December of 2008 all over again, when I was lonely and scared and had no idea what I was going to do about my future.

Anxiety and mild "my series is over, what do I do now" depression aside, I sometimes look at my life and I'm just staggered by the unlikeliness of it all. I had a book come out on Tuesday. Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Disneyland with my mother, my sister, and my best friend. I have cats that can be charitably called large, and uncharitably called props from a horror movie. I have a movie option. I'm reprinting my fourth album, because it's almost sold out. I have some of the most amazing, interesting, articulate friends and fans and readers in the world. I have an agent who, frankly, could not be more perfect for me if I had been allowed to design my own agent in a lab.

Even the little details are too good to be true. There's an immensely popular line of fashion dolls modeled on famous monsters; Fringe got renewed; Doctor Who is back on the air; the X-Men are awesome again; James Gunn has a video game about a chainsaw-wielding blonde cheerleader who fights zombies with high kicks and snark. Basically, it's like the universe has been rearranging itself to suit my deepest desires, and if not everything is perfect, that's because too much perfection is unbelievable. The world is trying to add veracity to my dream.

This is why I don't like to sleep very much.

I'm too afraid of waking up.

Winners

The big non-US giveaway of five sets of five signed Allie Beckstrom books (the *lovely* UK release)  is done!  If I don’t hear from the winners in a week, I will be drawing new names. Winners, please contact me via the little envelope button on the corner of my blog Here.

Winners are:

 SURI, who said: WOW WOW WEEEEEE……I love it! Signed give away, YAY! Thank you

SARAH WEST, who said: I really love your books! I have read all of them! It would be amazing to get signed copies!

ANNABELLE H., who said: Argh, This is so awesome! Thank you so much! I would love to enter. I’m fron the UK!

CASSANDRA FAITH who said: I would literally cry if I won even a glance :’) Been hooked on the series for a few years now, so happy you’re doing this competition as I’m from Australia and am lucky to see a celebrities’ finger. You’ve got the magic in you, good luck to everyone x

IAN who said: OK, only just found out about the books. Gonna buy the first Allie Beckstrom book on Kobo. Would be great to get the whole shebang signed and in print!

Bookcat

Things have been pretty busy lately, but I managed to fit in a little knitting time. What did I come up with?

Well…my best friend told me she needed a weight to hold books open while she cooks or eats. She went on to list an alarming array of things she has employed to keep those pages open, including knives, bananas, and staplers.

My solution? Cheshire Bookcat:

Cheshire Bookcat is really the “Cat bookmark” pattern by Twins.  You can find that here.

But instead of making a flat bookmark, I filled him with decorative beads. Um…these:

That makes him plenty heavy enough to keep those pesky pages open.

He really is just a test knit, to see if weighting and size works.  Next time I will make him with smaller needles so his body doesn’t cover up quite so much text (especially with paperbacks).  And if I can find it….I think I’ll try some glow-in-the-dark yarn for his stripes and smile.

Details: Red Heart acrylic yarn in stash. Size 4 (US) needles. Knit flat.

Mirrored from Devon Monk.

Hey, listen up, true believers.

GAME OF THRONES won the Stan Lee Award for Best Television Program.

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/05/scott-snyder-and-sara-pichelli-dominate-stan-lee-awards/

It's not a No-Prize, but it's pretty cool.

'Nuff said.

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

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

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

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

Have fun!

I don't know much about social media. I don't have a facebook or twitter account. But I've been told a few people have them, and that some of those people like to play social media games. I'm told the biggest social media game involves running a farm.

Surely, I thought, there must be something one could do on social media that would be more fun that growing turnips and feeding chickens. Like, say, scheming and plotting, murders and marriages, contesting for power.

HBO shared the feeling, and together we have granted the license for a social media game based on GAME OF THRONES to a great new start-up company called Disruptor Beam ((http://disruptorbeam.com/ )) Game development is already well under way.

Jon Radoff, CEO of Disruptor Beam, says:

"This will be the first Facebook game based on the TV series and books and, trust me, this game isn’t just going to be another Farmville! George RR Martin is working very closely with Disruptor Beam to ensure the game will deliver an authentic experience. I can tell you that it will not only be highly story and character-driven, but Game of Thrones Ascent will give you the chance to experience the world from your own perspective and with your own friends."

"Sounds fun, right!? Want to know more? Well, additional information about the game will be released in the coming months, including details about how to participate in a pre-release beta program. To follow its progress, be sure to “like” Game of Thrones Ascent on Facebook (http://facebook.com/gameofthronesascent) or follow on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/GoTAscent)."



I saw several early versions of the game demonstrated, and Jon and his designers took great pains to make sure the flavor of the novels is here. I saw alliance building, treachery, marriages, murders, and most of all the constant struggle to be the greatest house in Westeros.

So create a character, pick a liege lord to swear to, and start playing the game the way Tyrion would, because in this game you win or you die.

(No turnips will be involved).

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

Ahem. From today's announcement at Publishers Weekly:

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

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

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

How's that for a book-day present?

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