Was away this weekend and the dog took a turn for the worse, but recovered partially. We nearly euthanized her as she wasn't eating even human-grade food while I was gone, but my return and her "farewell trip" to a local nature park perked her up so much that we're just switching medications. She was spry yesterday and today, though is pretty incontinent now. Maybe she'll see the summer?
Opie didn't quite master the Greek Easter egg-cracking game of tsougrisma yesterday, but he had fun. Next year!
Part of why I was away was to quickly attend the Edgar Awards in NYC on Thursday night—now it can be revealed, I suppose, that I was a juror in the YA category. These five really stood out from the pack—there were perhaps another five that could have gone on a long list. I'll just say that if I never read a YA novel with one corpse parent and one drunk parent again, it'll be too soon. I did want to briefly hype each of the nominees though:
Endangered by Lamar Giles: fun, contemporary mystery about an anxious mixed-race kid (with an intact family!) whose interest in photography and being a jerk to everyone gets her into a lot of trouble. Loved that the protagonist wasn't so squeaky clean; loved the look at the post-flickr digital photography underground, so much fun. This one reads a bit younger than the others in the category, so get it for a kid!
A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis: The winner! Super-dark historical; brilliant little sleuth pair. If YA wasn't so huge, it probably would have had one more explicit scene and been published as adult fiction. Mental hospitals, incest, fuck-the-law, rich assholes, undiagnosed Spectrum disorders! Read it!
The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury: Extremely daring. It looks like a fantasy novel. The characters believe their imaginary kingdom to be a magical land where the gods are close. And yet...it's crime novel. This is a mystery novel. I was so pleased in these days of cookie-cutter categories to see a real leap between categories in a way utterly hidden by the marketing information and production. (The sequel, which I picked up as an ARC, changes things yet again, so it's even more daring!)
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma: Innovative story of crime, punishment, and prison life. Loved the POV mixing—first-person plural for an opening riot; other POVs and perspectives shifting and sliding throughout—the close examination of sexual and class anxiety among girls; and the brutal fucking murders. Yeah!
Ask the Dark by Henry Turner: Great anti-hero, great voice, rural working-class community devastated by the last decades of the economy, good mystery, very creepy, lots of dark fun.
Any of these books could have won; it really is an honor to be nominated sometimes. I also found that I have a taste for jury work, and would be eager to try it again.
I was pleased to wake up to a nice review of The Last Weekend over at Strange Horizons. Lots of quotes from the text, which is SH style these days, and extensive discussion of the plot, including the ending. It reads, in part, Nick Mamatas is at his best here, questioning authority and dishing out severe criticism to everyone from derivative horror writers via the U.S. bureaucracy and its policies, to your common, everyday sheeple—while providing dark, noir-ish entertainment. Hope you all find it persuasive.
And speaking of persuasion, it is three months till street date for I Am Providence.
As mentioned previously, perhaps to the point of exhaustion, I Am Providence has an escalator clause. If 5000 copies of the book ship in the first thirty days of release, I get an extra $2000.
I want an extra $2000.
So if you were planning on buying a paper copy, please pre-order it now from a place very very likely to actually fulfill that order (Amazon, bn.com, or Powells.com) immediately upon publication on August 2nd. After all, my publisher, Skyhorse, wants to sell a lot of copies too, but their margins would be much better if they shipped 4999 copies in the first thirty days, and then one on September 4th. So pre-ordering from an online venue with guaranteed ship and price dates is a good way to help me bridge any gaps the publisher may wish to try to create.
Also, the more pre-orders, the more likely amazon will increase the discount and bn.com will follow suit, so you're helping yourself out too. These big etailers don't charge one's account until the book ships.
Thanks!
Opie didn't quite master the Greek Easter egg-cracking game of tsougrisma yesterday, but he had fun. Next year!
Part of why I was away was to quickly attend the Edgar Awards in NYC on Thursday night—now it can be revealed, I suppose, that I was a juror in the YA category. These five really stood out from the pack—there were perhaps another five that could have gone on a long list. I'll just say that if I never read a YA novel with one corpse parent and one drunk parent again, it'll be too soon. I did want to briefly hype each of the nominees though:
Endangered by Lamar Giles: fun, contemporary mystery about an anxious mixed-race kid (with an intact family!) whose interest in photography and being a jerk to everyone gets her into a lot of trouble. Loved that the protagonist wasn't so squeaky clean; loved the look at the post-flickr digital photography underground, so much fun. This one reads a bit younger than the others in the category, so get it for a kid!
A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis: The winner! Super-dark historical; brilliant little sleuth pair. If YA wasn't so huge, it probably would have had one more explicit scene and been published as adult fiction. Mental hospitals, incest, fuck-the-law, rich assholes, undiagnosed Spectrum disorders! Read it!
The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury: Extremely daring. It looks like a fantasy novel. The characters believe their imaginary kingdom to be a magical land where the gods are close. And yet...it's crime novel. This is a mystery novel. I was so pleased in these days of cookie-cutter categories to see a real leap between categories in a way utterly hidden by the marketing information and production. (The sequel, which I picked up as an ARC, changes things yet again, so it's even more daring!)
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma: Innovative story of crime, punishment, and prison life. Loved the POV mixing—first-person plural for an opening riot; other POVs and perspectives shifting and sliding throughout—the close examination of sexual and class anxiety among girls; and the brutal fucking murders. Yeah!
Ask the Dark by Henry Turner: Great anti-hero, great voice, rural working-class community devastated by the last decades of the economy, good mystery, very creepy, lots of dark fun.
Any of these books could have won; it really is an honor to be nominated sometimes. I also found that I have a taste for jury work, and would be eager to try it again.
I was pleased to wake up to a nice review of The Last Weekend over at Strange Horizons. Lots of quotes from the text, which is SH style these days, and extensive discussion of the plot, including the ending. It reads, in part, Nick Mamatas is at his best here, questioning authority and dishing out severe criticism to everyone from derivative horror writers via the U.S. bureaucracy and its policies, to your common, everyday sheeple—while providing dark, noir-ish entertainment. Hope you all find it persuasive.
And speaking of persuasion, it is three months till street date for I Am Providence.
As mentioned previously, perhaps to the point of exhaustion, I Am Providence has an escalator clause. If 5000 copies of the book ship in the first thirty days of release, I get an extra $2000.
I want an extra $2000.
So if you were planning on buying a paper copy, please pre-order it now from a place very very likely to actually fulfill that order (Amazon, bn.com, or Powells.com) immediately upon publication on August 2nd. After all, my publisher, Skyhorse, wants to sell a lot of copies too, but their margins would be much better if they shipped 4999 copies in the first thirty days, and then one on September 4th. So pre-ordering from an online venue with guaranteed ship and price dates is a good way to help me bridge any gaps the publisher may wish to try to create.
Also, the more pre-orders, the more likely amazon will increase the discount and bn.com will follow suit, so you're helping yourself out too. These big etailers don't charge one's account until the book ships.
Thanks!