Scarlet Letters

Jon Gibbs has an interesting poll/discussion comparing self-publishing to a demo tape. As in, it's a perfectly legitimate way to put yourself out there. I think I side with the folks who say the real "demo tape" of a novel is the ms that goes to the agent or editor, not something released to the general public. I've had my ear tugged about six times by now from people swearing that I need to self-pub on the iPad right now because that's the wave of the future. And as I've tried to explain, it very well may be. I couldn't say otherwise when none of us in traditional or new media can say what the state of our industries will be tomorrow. But as long as the publishing world considers self-publishing just this side of selling yourself on a street corner, I won't be doing it. Oh, I'll sell PDFs of short stories I'm not subbing to raise money for Relay. But I'm not self-pubbing a novel just to give myself something to sell, because it's hard...

The L.A. Times has discovered that the multi-city luxury-hotel book tour is pretty much gone. Okay, if you're King, Patterson, Rowling or Grisham, they'll pick up your hotel tab. But then, if you're one of those guys, you're a) not reading this blog, and b) you actually don't need the tour to sell four bazillion copies. For the rest of us groundlings, "tour" is a fairly malleable term. Brian Keene got a corporate sponsor to send him and his bodyguard/assistant across the country in a van. The folks cited in the linked article couch-surfed their way across the country on four new tires and a pile of McDonald's and Starbucks gift cards. Those of us with day jobs *waves hand* have a tougher deal: how do you do a book tour when you only have X number of days off work? The solution I choose is to piggyback on conventions. Cons are an efficient way to meet science fiction and horror readers, because they're already there and in the mood to hear about the...

to Joseph: I never did find the actual Center for Southern Folklore. But in my wanderings I found several historical markers and boards from them, and they were all about Memphis' rich music history. This is, of course, really great stuff and the primary reason normal people come to Memphis. I, however, was hoping for traditional folklore, for myths and legends, ghosts and river spectres… you know, the stuff I use for inspiration. :) to CelestineAngel: No room parties because there was a stated $150 fee, which means no room parties. Now, I hear there were room parties, but you had to know which door to knock on. I guess I'm not one of the cool kids, because I never heard. :) I don't mean to rip the hotel too much - the room was nice, and while they were less than accommodating for policies, it's a funky-cool Escher layout. That said, as an author I need room parties for promotional purposes… and I'd much rather relax in a room party with a drink in my hand than stan...

Sunday This is turning into the Magna Carta. I didn't really intend that. Sunday was pretty exhausting. We had to hustle out the door because the hotel absolutely refused to do extended checkout for anyone - have I mentioned I don't mind that we're leaving them next year? So I had six people to shove out the door or I got stuck with another ninety-dollar night. We packed out without too much trouble. Sara, I dressed down on the last day - I wore my black harem pants again with the red salamh kameez, because the red pants ripped. So did my hip scarf, which is pretty much DOA. We sold like gangbusters on our last day, moving the books fast. I haven't done the math yet, but I'd say we were about double what we did the year before, and on a par with our best shows of all last year. Portents are good for 2010, folks. I picked up a new author, too - Nick Valentino, with his debut steampunk novel THOMAS RILEY. It'll be added to the Literary Underworld soon, along with ...

Saturday Seriously, I was going to be on a panel or seven. For some reason, none of them were on Friday. You know how I always say I'd like to go to panels I'm not on and I never get the chance? I broke my streak at MSC. Angel took the first shift on Saturday, which enabled me to be a lump. Not much of a lump, though, since I had to get the boy going. I then took over the booth for a while, and marveled at our sales. In 2009, MSC was my worst show for sales per capita. This year it was easily double, and I haven't even done the math yet. I heard the same from other vendors - it's becoming a writers' show, a book show, and sales were strong for just about everyone. It was terrific. My first panel was supposed to be Allan Gilbreath of Kerlak Publishing, Sara Harvey and myself, talking about mutilation vs. mind-play in horror. Sara, of course, could not attend the show due to illness. So it was just me and Allan yukking it up for a respectable crowd of writers busily t...

Friday David Tyler joined me on Friday morning to lead me out to Whispering Woods, the northern-Mississippi conference center where the show has been held the last two years. Nothing against the place, but it was really too small - particularly in terms of parking - and the amenities just weren't that great. I won't miss it next year, even though its funky layout was designed by Escher. Jimmy Gillentine was already on site, so he and David helped me unload the books and set up the booth. You know what's wonderful about having an all-male crew of flunkies? They never criticize my decorations or the color of my draperies or the strings of skulls... it's just, "You want it this way? Got it." And they do it. Of course, they kept going "Yes mistress" because they think they're funny. But they also gerryrigged straps to keep the button cases in place on a table that was really too small for my setup, enabling me to sell the buttons that really pay for ...

Thursday We arrived late Wednesday night to sad news: Jesse's father had just died. Mr. Morris Sr. had struggled with cancer and other illnesses for several years, but there is no way to be prepared for such a thing. My heart goes out to Jesse and his mother, as they continue to deal with their loss. Thursday was Research Day. Being an author, research is a variable term. In the morning, the boy and I went to the Memphis Botanical Gardens and wandered about. The Memphis gardens are considerably smaller than ours back home, but the boy loved their children's garden and I caught several pictures of a lovely swan. I told the boy the story of the Ugly Duckling, and to my surprise, he had never heard it before. Lunch was La Baguette, because I cannot pass through Memphis without visiting my old employer. No one in the continental U.S. makes chicken salad like La Baguette. We nommed much French bread and I introduced the boy to chocolate napoleans. We also picked up a boxful of pastr...

We'll be gathering at Memphis Pizza Cafe 7-9ish p.m. Thursday, March 11! Join us. Sigma Alphas, spice, friends and kids all welcome! Tip back a few and tell tall tales of college, as long as no one brings the yearbook photos this time. The more the merrier! I will have books in the trunk in case anyone wants them but doesn't plan to come to Midsouthcon. Should be a blast! Oh, and if you're in the area, you should come to MSC! The Literary Underworld will be in the dealer's room, and I'll be doing a handful of panels. I'm supposed to get a reading, though I haven't seen one on the schedule yet. If I do, I just might read from the sequel to THE COLD ONES, which is the first time I'll have read from a work in progress. What, me nervous? Also: reader chat is set for 7 p.m. CST March 16 in the Wilderness Chat Room. I'll have just gotten back from Midsouthcon so I should be nice and loopy. We'll give out some prizes, chat about upcoming projects, a tri...

I got in a few hours of work and finished the opening sequence. Then I had a cigarette. Okay, I don't smoke. But if I did, I would totally have busted out a cigarette after finishing that chapter. Of course, then the smoking police would have hauled me away for lighting up in a coffeehouse - we don't allow such things here in sunny Illinois. But I'm getting away from the point. The point is that Sara's back. There's a bit of melancholy to the opening. While THE COLD ONES started with a scream, BLACKFIRE is a bit more atmospheric. Sara is different now. She had to be, no human being could go through what I did to her in THE COLD ONES and emerge untouched. And the place where Sara hides is important, to her character and to the story. I've done the best I could to capture Nantucket considering I've never been there. As much as I'd love to expense a Nantucket research trip, barring corporate sponsorship that ain't happening. So far I'm pleased. It...

It took a long time to come up with BLACKFIRE, and right away someone pointed out that there is a 1987 Star Trek tie-in titled BLACK FIRE. That teaches me not to Google. Sure, but it's two words, not one. And there's also an anthology of African-American writing titled BLACK FIRE and novels by James Kidman, Steve Brown and Maggie Bonilla-Thompson. All two words, which makes it a different Amazon search. Want one word? There's plenty: • A Native American music group focused on public activism; • A DC supervillain (only seen in the New Teen Titans); • A line of car care products; • A Canadian mining company; • A erotic magazine for black men (they got the dot-com); • A clamping flashlight; • A web and software development company; and probably more. Here's the thing: I've been mulling it all morning, and I find I don't really care. I mean, I survived having THE COLD ONES unintentionally named the same as those damn sparkly vampires in TWILIGHT. Every morning my Go...

There's a method to my madness. I didn't stop SANCTUARY just because it's an endless behemoth with no hope of publication or being, y'know, good. I stopped because I had a new book to write. Temporary title: BLACKFIRE. And we had a good start. Not bad for a first day, though we're nearly 2,000 words in and we're just getting to the first monster. But I think I'm doing okay at capturing a place I've never been. I've been obsessed with Nantucket Island to an unhealthy degree for many years, and though I can never afford to actually visit it, I knew when Sara Harvey ran away, Nantucket is where she went. Plus I really love my opening line. "Sara Harvey thought she was doing pretty well until the corpse started in with the puns." Watch this space. I'm hopeful this one might not suck. P.S. Thanks to Cole Gibsen and Rebekah Shelton for putting up with my endless questions. NO THANKS to the smartasses on Twitter. I ask a simple question about ...

Claire Light writes about women and people of color not submitting to top magazines and anthologies. She's taking a lot of flack for a poorly phrased statement that such subs are "disproportionately sucky," but the rest of the article gave me a lot of food for thought. Specifically, she writes that women and people of color tend to stay in their comfort zone of their own community. And while I never thought of it that way, I think she's right. It takes a leap of faith and bravery, she says, to go from the subculture in which a writer first finds his or her voice into mainstream acceptance. Most never take that leap, she says, not because they aren't good enough, but because they never develop the skills/guts/knowledge to learn the rules and then jump off the cliff. You have to know the rules, even if you intend to break them. I'm about halfway on her side. I see so many writers - most of them women, people of color or GLBT individuals - who are simply content...

As of now, my paltry offerings have been joined by: • A copy of INTO DARK WATERS by Angelia Sparrow and Naomi Brooks; • A complete set of Shane Moore's ABYSS WALKER series, autographed by the author; • An original CD from folk musician Tom Atwood; • A copy of M.B. Weston's ELYSIAN CHRONICLES, first edition. I have also received this: I'm a professional photographer and am willing to donate gallery quality prints of anything on my website (or other extensive catalog, upon request) to anyone who donates $50 or more to the trust up to 50 prints. They will shipped within 2-4 weeks of "McCall sale close", date to be negotiated. Forwarding me a copy of PayPal confirmation will serve as proof of donation, and if "gift" or "other" is marked in the PayPal designation they do NOT charge a service charge. Well Wishes and Peace to all touched by this, Roberta Mander Maghouin SomewhatBent Images www.somewhatbent.com Please donate via the web site as direct...

Friends, I want to tell you about the McCall family. Bud and Dawn were a St. Louis couple with four children, struggling as many of us do - Bud had been laid off from his job, a very common occurrence here in the sunny Midwest. Unfortunately, their load became much heavier last weekend. Today they bury their 10-year-old daughter. A housefire struck last Saturday, burning their home to the ground and killing little Tegan. Bud sustained serious injuries, both smoke inhalation and burns, from trying three times to get back into the house and rescue her. Several members of the family were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Meet them. My heart breaks for them as they endure the worst pain that can strike a family. As a mother, I cannot imagine anything worse - something I cannot imagine surviving myself. They're close friends of my dear friend Geoffrey, and he has been there holding their hands through this tragedy. And like so many of us, I wish there was something I could do. Actually...

My birthday present arrived today. It's a glorious toy. My darling stepmother came up with the idea on New Year's Day: an early boon for my writing career and bookselling business in the form of a new MacBook Pro. My mother and stepfather, my grandmother and my dear friend Andy all joined in, and I get a new computer to replace my five-year-old iBook that has needed several hundred dollars' worth of repair in the last eighteen months. In case I haven't said it enough yet.... thank you, family. Without your support, I'd never have written any of my books. (I leave it to you, Dear Readers, to decide if that's a good thing.) Given how I usually use things until they're worn down to nubs... for example, my fourteen-year-old microwave, my hand-me-down television that snows over if I plug my computer into the same power strip, the ripped-up remnant of my mother's old fruits-and-vegetables couch, the surviving battalion of bookshelves dating back to my first co...

Okay, so I haven't updated my Flickr in six months. Time to catch up. MOBOT, by the way, is short for "Missouri Botanical Gardens," to which I am addicted. Mobot Summer 2009 (Smaller than usual because my membership expired and I had to wait several months to afford the renewal.) Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis. ArsonFest 2009 Chain of Rocks hike/Six Flags (My family's Grandkids Week) Fall Foliage (with bonus Kiddo) Indianapolis War Memorial Mobot Train Show 2009 Mobot Winter 2010

I don't need to summarize it; if you care about this particular fracas, you already know. My sympathies are mostly with Macmillan, as they have the right to overprice their ebooks if they choose, and while I think the graduated pricing plan is a poor idea, Amazon's bully tactics and bad faith make me disinclined to champion their cause. That said, there are a lot of people screaming about boycotts and protests, and frankly, that's not helpful. While Mom and Dad fight, the authors for Macmillan's imprints suffer. That includes a good percentage of the science fiction genre, as Tor Books is part of Macmillan. Look, we authors have no control over 90 percent of what happens to our books after they leave our hands. We accept this fate because we have no choice. But despite Amazon's cute little blog post that they will "have to capitulate" to the price set by Macmillan for Macmillan's own product, they have not restored the books - including print books - ...

The hits just keep on coming for poor Borders. I've been waiting to see the bookseller go under for ages, not with anticipation, but with dread. We all know they are closing a zillion Waldenbooks , and while at first they intended to pulp the unsold books, apparently they are now donating them , so bravo there. But now CEO Ron Marshall is leaving (to head up the A&P? really?) after only one year on the job. His chief merchandising officer is the interim CEO. Meanwhile, Borders' holiday sales were dismal , even extending the definition of "holiday" from Nov. 1 to Jan. 16. Sales were nearly 15 percent below last year. Worse, they have been accused of delaying payments to small publishers , because small press has more shallow pockets and doesn't have the wherewithal to sue the hell out of them like Random House or Harper Collins. I might point out they still owe me a check for a signing I did in 2008, so clearly something is wrong here. This attitude toward sma...

So, if I were to write another story set in the world of THE COLD ONES, which would you prefer? A sequel, with the surviving character(s) facing new challenges? A prequel, with the original team before they met up with It? Not saying I'm gonna do what you say, but I am curious which would be of greater interest. If you delve into COLD ONES spoilers in the comments, please tag! Not everyone's read it yet, despite my best efforts. :)

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Ottawa booksigning has been postponed. We're talking about late February or early March - the Facebook event has been altered to March 20, but that is NOT set yet, it's just that Facebook doesn't have a "maybe" button. :) My apologies for any inconvenience. I do intend to wend up Chicago way at some point this year!