I just got a call from my editor and apparently, the Den of Shadows Omnibus is doing well enough that Random House has decided to do another "big book" for the Kiesha'ra Series. At long last, fans of the Kiesha'ra can have a 900+ page book dedicated to all five books, including perhaps something at the end - reader's guide? Note from the author? Who knows?
We're still working on art, title, formatting, and release date. Tentatively, the release date would be January 2010, but that's subject to change.
[edit] It looks like Random House is going to use cover-art from the same artist who did the Den of Shadows Omnibus. I was very happy with that art, and I think I may like the picture they're using for this one even more. You can find it on her Deviant Art account, here.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Harvest
It's early Fall now. Not summer any more. The trees aren't changing yet, but the farmers' markets and grocery stores make the change of season clear. There's apple cider, and a dozen different colors of tomato. Not many pumpkins yet, but there are two growing in my parents' garden, and they're getting orange-- so I know the time is soon.
I love autumn. I love the crispness of the air, and I love the harvest-times.
I spent a fall down in Texas once, and in my English class we discussed in reaction to a story (I don't remember which one) how people don't really have harvest celebrations and a deep connection to the seasons any more. I had to interject with a "speak for yourself."
We may have modern conveniences, but you can't be in New England in the fall and not feel a little bit like the clock has rolled back. In the weeks between the first apple-picking, and Thanksgiving, New England is awake and alive in a way it isn't in any other time of year.
I love autumn. I love the crispness of the air, and I love the harvest-times.
I spent a fall down in Texas once, and in my English class we discussed in reaction to a story (I don't remember which one) how people don't really have harvest celebrations and a deep connection to the seasons any more. I had to interject with a "speak for yourself."
We may have modern conveniences, but you can't be in New England in the fall and not feel a little bit like the clock has rolled back. In the weeks between the first apple-picking, and Thanksgiving, New England is awake and alive in a way it isn't in any other time of year.
Friday, September 11, 2009
8:46 am (9/11/2001)
My fiancee and I went out to get coffee this morning before she and I had to go to work at 9am. As a result, we were in the car, listening to the Kiss 108 radio station, at 8:46 am. I heard all the words, but my mind didn't process yet. It was too big.
Eight years ago, I also happened to be listening to Kiss 108 at 8:46 am. Actually, I was listening between about 8:45 and 9:15. I was in the parking lot of the Concord-Carlisle High School, waiting to pick a friend up, because we were working on her senior project together. She was writing a musical.
At about 9:40, we were at the piano, working on notation, when my oldest sister, Gretchen, called to see if my dad was okay. You see, my father travels a lot for work. Specifically, he flies a lot for work, and often he works at DC, and sometimes he works at the Pentagon.
I assured Gretchen he was all right, and told my father, to which his immediate reaction was movement and the words, "Why didn't you tell me?"
He turned on the television, and that's when I saw the first pictures, and that's when it was suddenly real.
Between then and about 2pm when school let out, I was mostly alone, watching those images on the television again, and again, and again. I had graduated a year early, so I was the only one of my friends not in school. I did call Random House, because I didn't know how close they were to the towers, and I wanted to make sure everyone there was okay.
At 2:05pm I picked up my friends Jesse and David from school. We were all still very much in shock. They had been watching the footage in school all day. I remember driving David home, and his making a comment asking me to take stops more smoothly, and my stopping the car and offering to let him out right there if he had a complaint about how I drove.
Later, Jesse and I sat on the front steps of the Concord house and sang Christmas carols with inappropriate lyrics, because that's the kind of completely inappropriate humor we both use to cope with this kind of thing.
Kiss 108 (the pop music station, for those of you not familiar with our radio stations) played no music, but only covered the event, for 24 hours. The next day, the first song they played was Sarah McLachlan's "Angel."
Years later, my capstone psychology class on trauma would discuss the "new" notion of national trauma, and events that could in fact cause trauma memories (which are stored and encoded differently than regular memories, and thus cause different reactions, such as flashbacks and high anxiety reactions) in thousands or hundreds of thousands of people. Trauma is a new concept in a new field (post-Vietnam, mostly, when PTSD began to be studied seriously), and the concept of national trauma is thus a post-9/11 study.
And eight years later, the same voices who just said, "We don't know exactly what happened yet. There's been some kind of terrible accident. News is reporting that..." would say, "It's 8:46 am," and my mind would put me right back there again.
Eight years ago, I also happened to be listening to Kiss 108 at 8:46 am. Actually, I was listening between about 8:45 and 9:15. I was in the parking lot of the Concord-Carlisle High School, waiting to pick a friend up, because we were working on her senior project together. She was writing a musical.
At about 9:40, we were at the piano, working on notation, when my oldest sister, Gretchen, called to see if my dad was okay. You see, my father travels a lot for work. Specifically, he flies a lot for work, and often he works at DC, and sometimes he works at the Pentagon.
I assured Gretchen he was all right, and told my father, to which his immediate reaction was movement and the words, "Why didn't you tell me?"
He turned on the television, and that's when I saw the first pictures, and that's when it was suddenly real.
Between then and about 2pm when school let out, I was mostly alone, watching those images on the television again, and again, and again. I had graduated a year early, so I was the only one of my friends not in school. I did call Random House, because I didn't know how close they were to the towers, and I wanted to make sure everyone there was okay.
At 2:05pm I picked up my friends Jesse and David from school. We were all still very much in shock. They had been watching the footage in school all day. I remember driving David home, and his making a comment asking me to take stops more smoothly, and my stopping the car and offering to let him out right there if he had a complaint about how I drove.
Later, Jesse and I sat on the front steps of the Concord house and sang Christmas carols with inappropriate lyrics, because that's the kind of completely inappropriate humor we both use to cope with this kind of thing.
Kiss 108 (the pop music station, for those of you not familiar with our radio stations) played no music, but only covered the event, for 24 hours. The next day, the first song they played was Sarah McLachlan's "Angel."
Years later, my capstone psychology class on trauma would discuss the "new" notion of national trauma, and events that could in fact cause trauma memories (which are stored and encoded differently than regular memories, and thus cause different reactions, such as flashbacks and high anxiety reactions) in thousands or hundreds of thousands of people. Trauma is a new concept in a new field (post-Vietnam, mostly, when PTSD began to be studied seriously), and the concept of national trauma is thus a post-9/11 study.
And eight years later, the same voices who just said, "We don't know exactly what happened yet. There's been some kind of terrible accident. News is reporting that..." would say, "It's 8:46 am," and my mind would put me right back there again.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Big thoughts
I was talking to Mason as she beta-read All Just Glass, and we got to talking about why there were so few Vidas alive these days, and their history with Midnight and the fall of Midnight and the politics... and it occurred to me:
Forests - deals with the last of the Light witches, whether it's explicitly stated or not
Demon - sets up New Mayhem and the modern power-structure of Silver's line
Shattered - deals with the last of the Vida witches
Predator - deals with Midnight and Bruja
Persistence - deals more with shapeshifters, and heavy-hitters like Pandora, Shevaun and Adjila (who were involved in founding the Bruja guilds, and the fall of the original Midnight)
Token - introduces the human sorcerers and human power
Glass - more about the Vida line, the Arun and Marinitch lines, fall-out and politics
Poison - Bruja & SingleEarth
Each book is meant to be stand-alone, and I never thought of the "Den of Shadows Series" as a series leading to any kind of "finale" book (even if it were, I imagine I'd go back to write more, so any kind of finale would be anti-climatic)... but the conversation with Mace made me realize how much of the series is a setting of pieces, and posturing.
You see, in modern day Nyeusigrube, there is in fact a huge political power-struggle going on. Before the 1600s or so, there were no large organizations in Nyeusigrube. But then there was Liadan, and then Midnight. Vieton and Bruja were founded as a response to Midnight. After Midnight fell and Vieton dissolved, there was New Mayhem and then in the late-1800s/early-1900s there came SingleEarth. Midnight laws and culture led to the establishment of circuits, and establishments like Tizoc Theron (the location, obviously named for the person) and Blue-X and Market… and then the new Midnight, the power that started it all.
Jaguar founded it, Jeshickah stepped forward to take over, and then at the end of Midnight Predator… well, you know. Midnight isn’t mentioned in Forests, Demon, Shattered, Persistence, Token, Glass or Poison, but I assure you its influence is felt on each of those stories.
I make no promises and I don't know how it could possibly go, but I’m wondering if maybe it's time to tackle a book about what has to happen next.
Forests - deals with the last of the Light witches, whether it's explicitly stated or not
Demon - sets up New Mayhem and the modern power-structure of Silver's line
Shattered - deals with the last of the Vida witches
Predator - deals with Midnight and Bruja
Persistence - deals more with shapeshifters, and heavy-hitters like Pandora, Shevaun and Adjila (who were involved in founding the Bruja guilds, and the fall of the original Midnight)
Token - introduces the human sorcerers and human power
Glass - more about the Vida line, the Arun and Marinitch lines, fall-out and politics
Poison - Bruja & SingleEarth
Each book is meant to be stand-alone, and I never thought of the "Den of Shadows Series" as a series leading to any kind of "finale" book (even if it were, I imagine I'd go back to write more, so any kind of finale would be anti-climatic)... but the conversation with Mace made me realize how much of the series is a setting of pieces, and posturing.
You see, in modern day Nyeusigrube, there is in fact a huge political power-struggle going on. Before the 1600s or so, there were no large organizations in Nyeusigrube. But then there was Liadan, and then Midnight. Vieton and Bruja were founded as a response to Midnight. After Midnight fell and Vieton dissolved, there was New Mayhem and then in the late-1800s/early-1900s there came SingleEarth. Midnight laws and culture led to the establishment of circuits, and establishments like Tizoc Theron (the location, obviously named for the person) and Blue-X and Market… and then the new Midnight, the power that started it all.
Jaguar founded it, Jeshickah stepped forward to take over, and then at the end of Midnight Predator… well, you know. Midnight isn’t mentioned in Forests, Demon, Shattered, Persistence, Token, Glass or Poison, but I assure you its influence is felt on each of those stories.
I make no promises and I don't know how it could possibly go, but I’m wondering if maybe it's time to tackle a book about what has to happen next.
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