Scarlet Letters

This is my favorite kind of book tour: the kind where I don't have to pack anything. Courtesy of the fine folks at Seventh Star Press and Tomorrow Comes Media, I'm doing a blog tour and interview blitz this week. Today's post is below: • The Eroticism of the Vampire , hosted by Beauty in Ruins So be prepared to see much of this information posted and re-posted all week, with my apologies, except not really. It's all part of my evil plan for world domination. Muahahahaha. The entire blog tour plan is linked and coordinated at Tomorrow Comes Media . I will repost this list each evening with the links to the various content, and additional content on this blog as well. At 8 p.m. CST Wednesday, I will be in the Literary Underworld Tavern chatroom to talk about the book, take your questions and maybe give away some prizes! Links will be posted here Wednesday morning. Naturally, the whole thing is intended to promote Nocturne Infernum.  What's that? Good...

Two time zones, three airports, four hours' sleep and five cabs in a 27-hour marathon brought me home today. Yesterday. I think. I no longer remember what time zone I'm in or where I'm supposed to be, and this is posting tomorrow morning anyway. I stepped off the plane and went right back to work, and I am so tired I'm surprised this afternoon's story is in English. For those who followed my misadventures on Twitter, I am going to hold off on narrating the insanity that was my return from Florida until I know how the story ends. Suffice to say it was the worst transportation mess I've ever been in, and hopefully ever will be. My brain is still trapped at baggage claim in Chicago and my energy is stuck in a kiosk in Orlando, so I will hold off on anything more substantive until they catch up. I will report on the amazing Excellence in Journalism conference, which I cannot recommend more highly to any journalist in our field; on the delights of seeing Florid...

Home again, for slightly more than 48 hours this time. Dragoncon was a pile of fun with very few sour notes, and despite the utter insanity of trying to get in and out of Hotlanta with 85,000 of my closest friends, I had a wonderful time. I am not going to try to list all the people who were awesome this weekend, because I will inevitably leave someone out. I will note that Keith, Wrenn, Meredith and Heather were the best of roomies; it was always a party in our room. It was delightful to see old friends, meet new ones, and share the good words with all the terrific people in the panels. I am always grateful and honored to be among Dragoncon's guests, and the show never disappoints. (Boy enjoyed all the cosplay pictures, by the way. And he is squeeing all over his vintage-style Captain America poster. It's possible I raised a geek.) In case you missed it: The Daily Dragon  did an interview with me , and I also participated in an author roundtable discussion on tradit...

Suppose George Washington was a werewolf? Even better: suppose his affliction caused him to delay crossing the Delaware River, and thus the patriots lost the Revolutionary War? That moment spurs Silver Tongue , a wildly creative and enjoyable young-adult adventure following three young people in an alternate universe where three nations exist in what we would call America: New Britannia, Nouvelle France and Nueva Espana.  Claire is a half-Native woman living in Nouvelle France, a bright and adventurous young woman with special powers and two best friends: Sam, the brooding werewolf who hid his secret curse inherited from his disgraced great-grandfather, General Washington; and Phileas, a young gay man fascinated by science.  After mysterious men in red coats murder Sam’s family, the three set off on a journey across the three nations to find the killers. We come along for the ride, exploring a quasi-steampunk 1839 world with one foot in our history and one ...

Actually, you stand a pretty good chance of finding me this year. Due to postal shenanigans, my name didn't go out in time for me to snag panels, so I'm a late addition. My panel schedule is pretty light. Does that mean I might actually get to attend a panel I'm not on? Shush with the crazytalk. Thursday: Traveling to Nashville. Hi, y'all. Friday: Traveling to Atlanta. - Panel: "And That's the Truth!" on building a career with nonfiction. 2:30 p.m. Hyatt Embassy. Saturday: Atlanta. - Panel: "For Survival: Four Days Later" on basic survival techniques once you've lived past the initial Big Whatever. 4 p.m. Westin Chastain. Sunday: Atlanta. - Panel: "Developing Characters Who Come Alive," and I'm the moderator. Eeeek. Someone gimme questions! 2:30 p.m. Hyatt Embassy. - Reading: Whatever I decide. Any suggestions? Offering a free limited-edition chapbook of Gethsemane  while supplies last. 5:30 p.m. Hyatt Vinings, to be...

JIM: You're evil! ME: Am not! How am I evil this time? JIm: "Kill her, kill the main character." Even my editor said if I did that my readers would hate me. ME: So? Screw em. JIM : Evil! Just because you always kill everyone... ME: Do not! JIM: Do too! ME: Sometimes they live! Dale* lived, and he will go on to have many other adventures! JIM: *mutters* He just won't want to live after what you did... ME: I don't believe in happy endings. JIM You're living one but you don't believe in them. ME: All love stories end sadly. They either break up or one of them dies. JIM: Evil! ----- JIM: I guess two of my classes won't be on Blackboard, since I don't see them yet. ME: You can always do what we did when I went to college. JIM: What's that? ME: Find out what your grade was at the next class. JIM: No. I want to know now. ME: You kids and your technology. JIM: I'm not going to college in the days of stone knives a...

I have really got to stop doing this to myself. I am too old to run around the country like this. First, I must offer my regrets to the fine folks at River City Comic Expo in Little Rock. There will be many fine guests there this weekend, so please show up and visit with them! So that kicks me off at Dragoncon , where some postal shenanigans unfortunately delayed my official confirmation and thus my panel schedule is pretty light. At the moment, all I know about are panels on the Writers Track at 2:30 pm. Friday and Sunday, an Apocalypse Rising panel at 4 pm. Saturday, and my reading will be at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. More panels may be added in the future, and I will offer chocolate and a free limited-edition chapbook to attendees at the reading on Sunday. Naturally, a limited presence means less opportunity to sell books, especially in a zoo like Dragoncon among 65,000 of my closest friends. But I will be there, and I'm bringing the new book as well as some older titles and out...

Those of you who follow our family on Facebook know we were hit with some rough times this past month. Jim's mother passed away, and while it was not wholly unexpected given her health and age, it was a heartbreaking loss that has affected us all deeply, especially Jim. It's hard to know what to write, because her story really isn't mine to tell. What I know of Pauline Adams came largely from stories told by others. I know she was a stalwart mother of twelve children, ten of whom survived infancy, nine who lived to mourn her. I know she had the bravery to stand on her own as a divorced woman in the early 1970s, which can't have been easy, especially since (I think) at least seven of her children were still at home. And I know how much she loved Dick Adams, Jim's stepfather. They married when Jim was very young, and Papa Dick, as they called him, must have been one hell of a man. There's hardly a person in Jim's very extended family whose voice doesn'...

I have not said much publicly because, frankly, just about everyone who knows us is on Jim's Facebook feed as well as mine. So most of you know that his mother has been in the hospital and is not doing well. Tonight we got word that they have to stop dialysis for her, as her heart simply can't take the strain. That ends most of the lifesaving options, and all that is left now is to make her as comfortable and pain-free as possible. Jim is catching a bus to Memphis tomorrow night (tonight, when you're reading this). He and his brother will drive down to Jackson, Miss. on Thursday, so Jim can say his goodbyes. From there we play it by ear, as it is all in God's good graces now. I don't have the words for what Jim and his family is going through, or anything like coherent words to write about Pauline and what she means to us. I hope those words will come, because it's all I know how to do.  In the meantime, I ask your prayers, good thoughts and heal...

Our awesome bungee trip to visit the folks this weekend came with an extra bonus. Well, besides retrieving the Spawn. It was a bungee trip because I had to work Sunday, so we booked it back in the wee hours of Sunday morning so I'd be back to start my shift. But at least we had 48 hours to hang out with my dad and stepmom at their awesome lake house. Friday was highlighted by parasailing over the Lake of the Ozarks. Boy and I had the most awesome time. It was an amazing experience, with a spectacular view and not at all scary or insecure - hell, the seats on the Sky Screamer at Six Flags sway more than that parasail harness did. Jim did not fly. Jim is a giant chicken-man who stayed on the ground sipping beer with my folks. He still owes me for the hot-air balloon ride that didn't happen the day after we got engaged, and now he owes me parasailing too. Bawk bawk bawk, husband-o-mine. Wahoo! The next day was a ride on their boat, which they still  haven't named,...

Why is it that the massive disasters strike just when it's most inconvenient? And is there any way I can blame Isabel the Ghost for this? Look, we don't have huge amounts of money. We manage to keep our heads above water by dogpaddling really really fast. We put a bit of our paychecks aside each week into two funds: one for Christmas, and one for "vacation." Now, "vacation" is a malleable concept. This year, "vacation" meant the Fourth of July in Memphis, which allowed Boy to see his father and allowed us to pick up Stepson for his summer visit. That put two teenage boys in the house (milk count: nine gallons in six days) and the costs of two outings: a day at the St. Louis Science Center for Jim to do the male bonding thing over the robots exhibit - pout, I had to work - and our annual sojourn to Six Flags. This is why we are both sunburned within an inch of our lives. It was a crazy, loud, fun week, and that our savings were pretty well dep...

So here, have an adorable grandbaby instead. Happy Independence Day!

Word count: 1,891. I've had worse sessions. I have two projects I plan to complete during the month of writing like a madwoman. I know if I don't get them done this month, they won't get done for a long time, because the fall schedule is brutal. However, I'm going to have to dig out my old wrist brace, because Ye Olde Wrist is aching something fierce and it's just the first day. Once those projects are done, I'm kind of at loose ends. There's a number of things I can choose to do, but none that are contracted. I could write the final novel of the Blackfire series and tell y'all how Major Sara Harvey's battles with the zombies end up. That series is out of print and we're down to three copies of The Cold Ones.    If I do write the final part, I might try to repackage it in a compendium edition as we did with the three vampire novels for Nocturne Infernum . I could write the next vampire novel. Outlines for at least three more books exist, ...

While I was pregnant with Boy, I went through the precertification and piles o' paperwork in advance of his birth so the nonsense would be fairly limited when it came time to deliver the baby. As we were filling out the paperwork, I saw that they put my first husband's name down as the responsible party with his Social Security number. "Wait," I said. "I'm the patient, and our insurance is through my employment. Please don't do that." "I'm sorry," she replied. "It's hospital policy. The husband is always the responsible party for medical bills." I begged. I pleaded. I had already fought enough battles with that HMO to know that unless my name was on everything including graven images marked with blood, they would deny the claims. Besides, it was 1998, not 1958. Why in bloody hell did my husband have to be the responsible party? I handled the bills, the insurance was in my name through my employment. But he had the ...

SCENE: The car, making an unscheduled turnaround in a Main Street parking lot. BOY: Mom, what are you doing? ME: I'm going back. BOY: I have to be at Scouts in fifteen minutes. ME: We're like six blocks away. You'll make Scouts. We pull up to the fire station, and I get out with my camera. Commence several pictures of the firefighter candidates doing "the ladder test," as they climb up to the top of the ladder truck at full extension - to see if they can physically do it, and if they'll freak out at the top. ME: Get my iPad. BOY: *eyes camera* Why do you need your iPad? ME: To take notes. BOY: You said it was just a photo! ME: I have to get information for the caption! BOY: *sigh* *teenage eyeroll* *retrieves iPad* ME: Thank you. I got the photo array. It was cool. He made Scouts. He's used to this.

I have officially given up on the Boy's generation coming up with good teen dramedies. It really must suck to be a teenager now. To watch a movie with teenage protagonists, they basically have the choice of fantastical worlds like The Hunger Games  (good times, but whoa depressing) or they can go to "old" movies like Harry Potter  (just let that sink in for a minute). Or they can go to movies like The Fault in Our Stars  or The Perks of Being a Wallflower , nicely tragic. Boy is all excited about Paper Towns,  because it actually is about teenagers. My new mission is to find good teen movies for Boy. The movie-teens of the Eighties might have been a little light on parental supervision and plenty heavy on sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, but they were awesome in all the bright-neon gaudiness I remember so fondly. The top themes were breaking through socioeconomic barriers: poor vs. rich was a constant theme, as well as busting through the caste system of the modern Am...

With Hypericon behind us, we enter a two-month lull in touring. I'm going to pretend that means I will be able to catch up the LitUnd inventory and bookkeeping, redesign LiteraryUnderworld.com and port to a new vendor, edit two books in the queue and finish rewriting Banshee's Run as I manage Julnawrimo next month . Pause for laughter. All those things have to be done before Labor Day, however, because I've been accepted at Dragoncon again and thus I will wend my way to Atlanta in September. That kicks off one of the most grueling schedules I've ever set for myself. First it's Dragoncon for the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. I'm a solo act at that one. Then I go back home - for two days. Then it's off to Louisville, Ky. for Imaginarium, the second weekend in September. This will likely be a Literary Underworld event, with the usual cast of characters and the Traveling Bar (of Doom). Then back home, for three days. I fly to Florida that Thursday ...

It does take more than money to make me happy. But the sales from this weekend in Nashville go a long way. I'm not going to disclose numbers. But I will say that the gross sales figures from this weekend are within shouting distance of our gross sales from Midsouthcon, one of our highest-selling conventions.  Why is this shocking? Midsouthcon has more than 2,000 attendees. Hypericon had maybe 200.  Those guys rock. My authors were happy. The staff was happy. And the Literary Underworld Traveling Bar was well-stocked.  (This show's most popular items were an awesome maple bourbon provided by Underlord Stephen Zimmer and the famous apple pie moonshine provided by Michael Farnette. Yum.) It takes more than sales. It takes good friends, colleagues in the small-press trenches and intelligent conversation that goes beyond debates about the Heisenberg Compensator to the reflections of popular culture in the world around us. It's always worth the lost sleep. ...

I've been a loyal TiVo customer since The Leprechauns first sent me one. Waaaaaay back in 2005 or so, a TiVo with a year's service prepaid arrived on my doorstep shortly before my birthday. The card was signed only, "The Leprechauns." I was doing a lot more with CultureGeek back then, since it was part of my day job. When the column was canceled, I relaunched it independently. The upside was that I got to say "piece of shit" in my reviews. The downside was that I couldn't use work time for writing reviews anymore, which is why I go waaaaaay too long between posts. There are only so many hours in the day, and I spin too many plates as it is. I always assumed the Leprechauns were friends who were fond of the column and wanted to assist me in finding stuff to review. I never wanted to know, frankly; some things should stay secret. It was immensely helpful in that regard, and I became a loyal TiVo customer - even converted my long-resistant dad to the wo...

After a long day of medical nonsense, I got to relax with my writer pals at Eville Writers. And a puppy. Here, have a gratuitous puppy picture. Said puppy is a service dog being trained by awesome writer and Literary Underlord Cole Gibsen . I warned her that if she didn't bring me fresh stock to take to Nashville this weekend, I was going to send Jimmy to her house and mug her for books. If you have any fondness for YA fantasy and kickass writing, you should check out Cole. We seriously cannot keep her titles in stock. And we have the new one, which will be up on the LitUnd site before the weekend. She's amazing and her work is really on the upswing. Topics of conversation included the usual: state of the industry, self-pub vs. trad pub, recent signings, upcoming conventions, marketing your book and Julnawrimo. Yeah, I guess I'm going to do Julnawrimo again. I'm doing a rewrite on a previously-written project, because I am still not happy with it and since i...