Scarlet Letters

Because y'all said you wanted it… an informal Meet The Authors Kaffeeklatsch has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday on the atrium level of the Marriott! Since we can't exactly reserve space, look around for the sign and a handful of ink-stained wretches gulping Starbucks. Definitely joining me will be author Angelia Sparrow and Kerlak Publishing editor/author Allan Gilbreath. Tentatively we will also be joined by John Everson and Van Allen Plexico, pending scheduling changes. I've invited a few others still checking their schedules. We will probably pick up some more once the show gets going; follow my Twitter (@edonald) for updates and changes. EDIT: Adding nonfiction author Fiona Broome! EDIT: Tentatively adding author M.B. Weston! Anyone and everyone is welcome. Very informal. We're just going to sit and talk and answer your questions if you have any. Don't bring anything for us to read; we're brain-dead by Saturday morning at Dragoncon. But we're ...

This was written while rewriting the original NU novella into the book Nocturnal Urges. Isabel was a voice born to make me write about emotions and true love and sex and all sorts of things that don't have a caliber attached to them. She tries, at least. -Mgmt. Jan. 27, 2004 ME: Fuck. ISABEL: Yes? ME: Not you. This sucks. ISABEL: Well, it is a vampire story. ME: God, you're dumb. We're heading full-tilt toward the Most Predictable Ending in Mystery History. ISABEL: Hey, that rhymes. ME: You know what this means. ISABEL: Uh, no. I'm new here. ME: Shower. (I hop into the shower) ISABEL: Why are you doing this? ME: It's how I solve blocks. Nothing to distract me. I stay in the damn water until I figure out the problem. ISABEL: You must have a great water heater. ME: Now I do. When I lived in the apartment, I damn near got pneumonia solving some of the problems in "The Polaris Passage." MUSE: Hey. ME: Jesus! You scared the shit out of me. M...

Many years ago, I began writing stories of the Muse. She lives in my head, and she's the source of my work. She used to be the only source, but after a while she got some companions. She's not all that happy about it. Because I thought it might entertain you, I think I shall reprint some Chronicles of the Muse in this journal. And maybe it'll entice her to come back and visit me.  These entries were written when I was writing Nocturnal Urges. The book to which she refers, Absence of Light, is the third book in the Sanctuary series, as yet unwritten. - Mgmt. ------ Oct. 28, 2003 My mental picture of The Muse looks a lot like Aurora Crawford. She's darker than I am, with long hair she keeps in a braid so it'll stay the fuck out of her face. She's got a Sarah Connor physique, a nasty scar on her arm* and chain-smokes, although I've never smoked. She wears a black tank top, black jeans and black combat boots, plus a black leather jacket when I l...

Nobody gets into this business for fame and fortune. In fact, if you throw that cliche at a journalist, you will get a sarcastic quip and possibly a pica pole thrown at you, since there's no other practical purpose for a pica pole anymore beyond backscratcher and self-defense implement. There's a great moment in Ron Howard's movie THE PAPER, in which Robert Duvall tells Glenn Close, "If you try to make this job about the money you'll be nothing but miserable, because we don't get the money. Never have, never will." This is more true now than ever, as newspapers everywhere are trimming budgets, laying off staff and even making the paper smaller. There is a tendency among us all to cut out what we consider to be superfluous: training, and professional organizations like SPJ. But now is when SPJ is the most useful, when we need intelligent programming and thoughtful discussion among our peers. Over the last year and a half, I've had a crash course i...

If I was to arrange an unofficial kaffeeklatsch at Dragoncon, would anyone be at all interested? I see the other authors arranging a time to sit and chat with readers, and wonder if that's something I should be doing, if I have fans that want to talk to me without the formality of a panel. Nothing as organized as a Q&A, just a comfortable place to talk and answer questions like "When the hell are you going to publish Sanctuary " and "how long before I get my next Nocturnal Urges fix," which are the two questions I get the most this year. :) On the other hand, if I just end up alone with a latte, I will feel really fucking stupid. Thoughts?

Keep in mind this will likely change, as there are always tweaks to the schedule between the time I get it and the time I show up at the con. I will be live-Twittering as much as I can remember throughout the show at @edonald, so check there for last-minute changes. Dragoncon! • "Under the Skin: Body Horror and Deformation in Horror Fiction," 5:30 p.m. Friday, Cairo-Hyatt • Art Reception, time TBA Friday, Marriott • Maybe finally after six years see the dang parade on Saturday. • "Oil Disasters: Human-Made Apocalypses," 2:30 p.m. Saturday, L508-Marriott • "Love Rots: Zombies in Erotica," 10 p.m. Saturday, Montreal/Vancouver-Hyatt • Autograph session, 10 a.m. Sunday, M301-304-Marriott • Reading, 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Roswell-Marriott • "2012: Are We Doomed?" 4 p.m. Sunday, L508 - Marriott • Atlanta Radio Theater Company's performance of "At the Mountains of Madness," if I can get to it Sunday night. Who's with me? • ...

The publishing world went nuts over the weekend when Dorchester Publishing announced they would stop publishing all mass-market paperbacks in favor of ebooks. There will still be trade paperback releases for the ebooks that do well. This affects not only Dorchester's romance line, which is what the wider publishing world i focusing on, but Leisure Books, the horror imprint. Leisure is arguably the biggest horror publisher in the U.S. - anyone know somebody printing more monsters than Leisure? There are authors with books coming out in a few weeks who are suddenly being told their books will be ebooks instead. Yikes. It's an entirely different marketing strategy, and I really feel for them. It is apparently a "stay in business" move, as retail sales for Dorchester fell 25 percent last year. As of a few weeks ago, mass-market was still the plan. God knows I wouldn't want Leisure to crash and burn. Half my bookshelf is Leisure mass-markets, and a good number of ...

Y'all know my Relay for Life team finished up about $500 short of our goal. That's not so bad, considering we lost a few team members and were pushed indoors by a monsoon. But I have until the end of August to make our goal and by God.... Since the Relay in June, my team has raised another $295. Because my team rocks. Special thanks to Macie Boyd, who came up with the bulk of that. Go Macie! That leaves us $205 to raise by the end of the month. I know I've asked before, and next year I'll be asking again. But this is important. This is cancer. We all know someone fighting cancer. Most of us know someone who died of cancer. It respects no boundaries. It kills our friends and family and loved ones, but it can be beaten. Help us fight it. Even if all you can spare is the five bucks rattling around in your Paypal account. If you haven't had the chance or thought it was too late... help us out now. I know we can do it. Click the link below to donate via my Rela...

In the final few moments of the library author fair last Sunday, a woman was rushing from author to author to pick up books before we packed up. Bless her, she was buying book after book. She came to my table, looked at my array of horror and grief and misery, smiled and said, "I'm going to take a pass on you, if that's okay." I laughed and said that was fine. And it is. Really. People largely seem to feel guilty when they just don't care for horror. I'm sure it's just politeness, because clearly I wallow in the death and pain because it gives me sadistic glee. But my work isn't for everyone. It isn't for children, it isn't for those who are prone to nightmares, it isn't for those who are squeamish about the Bad Death or emotional trauma. I wish I could write The Bridges of Madison County , because it would make a better Christmas present and my grandmother would be thrilled. But alas, my work is that of things that go chomp in the night....