Keeping up with the Hallaways

A very brief interview with me appeared on the Oshkosh Word Nerd blog: http://bkwriter.blogspot.com/2006/06/author-answers-with-tate-hallaway.html.

And, if you’ve ever wanted to ask yourself deep and meaningful questions about Tall, Dark & Dead, we’re having such a conversation at Coffee Time Romance (you have to register to join, but it’s free) http://coffeetimeromance.com/Boards/. Sample question (just in case you think I'm kidding): "After discovering what she/Lilith did, Garnet panics and decides to hide the bodies (with the help of her vampire ex-boyfriend Parrish) and flee the scene. What do you think might have happened if she had decided to go to the police instead? What would you have done?" Questions like this one will be asked an answered for the entire month of June!

Did I mention that I'll be at Dreamhaven Books & Comics on Tuesday, June 27 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm? This reading is sponsored by SASE: The Write Place and is free and open to the public. Dreamhaven is located at 912 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN. For directions/information call (612) 823-6161 or check out their website at http://www.dreamhavenbooks.com/. There is free parking available behind the building. Come see me do my thang in full regalia.

Opposite of a Ghost Vortex?

As I watched a scruffy-looking doppelganger of "New Kitty/All Ball" slip into our garage, I suddenly had a thought. In the book GRAVE'S END the author talks about a "ghost vortex" which, I gather, is a kind of dead thing magnet on the spiritual plain. Anyway, given the number of stray cats who seem to find our backyard especially comfortable, I asked myself, "Do you suppose there’s some kind of thing like a ghost vortex, only in reverse -- a hey-this-is-a-great-spot-to-hang-out-you-living-thing vibe?"

Or do I just have some funky past life cat karma to deal with?

Grave's End

Have you ever seen a ghost?

I think I have. When I was going to school at Augsburg, the college bought up a number of houses in the neighborhood and had them demolished to make way for a parking lot. However, one of them was picked up and moved to a new location by its owners. One early morning during this elaborate house-moving process, as Shawn and I were headed off to our respective classes, we both saw a figure of a woman in the upstairs window. It was just a flash, and she was gone. When we asked each other about it, we both described her looking sad, and I thought that by the way she had her hand on her belly she was pregnant. Shawn said she hadn't wanted to say anything, but she’d gotten that impression too. Was she a ghost? Someone living saying a final good-bye to the house? Who knows?

Then there was that Halloween visitor to our house who passed through the kitchen and up the stairs that are no longer there. That one was a fast-moving ball of light about the size of a quarter, but three of us saw it.

While up at the cabin this past weekend, I read a friend's copy of Elaine Mercado's GRAVE'S END, which is billed as a true life story of a haunted house. It's a very compelling story. What makes this particular account so engaging, I think, is the fact that Elaine, the author, begins very much as a skeptic and stays one quite a long way into the memoir. She and her husband are constantly trying to come up with rational reasons for the paranormal events. Also, she talks about how the family got used to a lot of the phenomenon and how, since it wasn't a constant every day occurrence (outside of the feeling of being watched), they tended to forget about it in between episodes. It took her something like fifteen years to finally admit her house was haunted and to pursue having it "cleansed."

Throughout the book, she is just a regular person who happens to have all this weird crap happening in her house.

I think GRAVE'S END would be a good book for someone who is curious and open to the idea of ghosts, but who doesn't already believe. I guess my feeling about ghosts can be summed up this way: while at Augsburg an English professor asked us if any of us believed in the possibility of witchcraft (or something like that), and I said, "Hell, yes. I believe in the POSSIBILITY of anything."

What about you? Any ghost stories out there?

Full Moon at the Lake Cabin

I have to confess something. Despite practicing Wicca for nearly a decade, I have only rarely done rituals outside. I suppose that's like saying I’m a Catholic who never goes to Mass, but there you have it.

I understand the appeal now. Despite chilly weather (it was in the Fifties, if not colder,) having a fire going in the fire pit, the moon rising through the tall pine trees was amazing. Plus, when we talked about being between the worlds, it was true – we did our ritual at twilight, a time between day and night, and while standing on land that was between land and water.

Generally, the cabin was amazingly relaxing. It's owned by a friend of ours and is located in a small lake town in northern Wisconsin about two hours from the Twin Cities. It's one of those resort type communities, where, despite the pine trees and lake view, you can see your neighbors and still hear the hiss of the highway from across the lake. Yet, it's surprisingly peaceful. I don't know what it is about having water on your property, but it does seem to change the dynamic. It's like all those other people kind of disappear and all you focus on is that View, on the sound of waves crashing on the shore, and the haunting sound of a loon's call.

Mason loved it. Every moment was, "Can we go down to the lake? Can we go kayaking?" (Yes, my three year old LOVED the kayak and he learned how to say it.) Plus, our little city kid got to see purple martins, tree frogs (we briefly caught one), and a multitude of insect life (like daddy longlegs, water striders, crickets, and, of course, the Minnesota state bird, the mosquito.) We have most of those beasties in our own backyard, but, like cooking outdoors, somehow seeing them up at the cabin made them seem more wild, more Natural.

The whole weekend was a kind of Sabbath, a time out of time, where the focus was on family, friends, and leaving work at home. Shawn, in fact, insisted that I leave my laptop at home, and though now I feel terribly behind on finishing the book, I think she was right. It was good to take a true break and stand between the worlds.

Do you ever have times when you really, really feel like reading, but you can't decide what exactly you're in the mood for?

I read in a lot of genres. In order of preference, they are: science fiction, romance, fantasy, mystery and nonfiction (which, I know, isn't really a genre, but I occasionally get the craving for the odd book about nano-technology or the history of grave robbing). Anyway, I just finished a book I really enjoyed, Karin Lowachee's BURNDIVE (science fiction) and I'm looking through my enormous "to-be read" pile and not finding anything that's tripping my trigger. Part of it, is that I can't decide what kind of book I'm in the mood for. I think maybe something light and airy, like a romance. Shawn gave me a couple that I’m considering, but when I settle in to read, I pick them up and put them right back down. I end up reading nothing instead, or worse yet, I reread the "in depth" articles in InTouch Magazine (trust me, nothing good comes of re-reading anything in InTouch.)

I suspect this weird inability to read has a lot to do with the stresses of my life right now. If I have any free time (including that which I use to blog) I think, my God(dess!) I should be finishing up Dead Sexy! What am I doing sitting still for five minutes??!! Plus, I've taken on child care duties for a friend of mine to fill the gap between his paternal leave and when school is out for the summer when he's off again. So, during the day, I suddenly have TWO bundles of joy to take care of. (Mason, BTW, is adapting marvelously. He loves to help out with the bottle warmer, and only occasionally begs to ride in the snugglie along with the three month old.) But, what this means is, my free time is suddenly shrunk (unless, like today, they are miraculously napping at the same time). I'd agreed to take on this extra charge when I thought I'd be done with the new book by the end of May. Well, it looks now like it will be in by the mid- or end of June (still two months ahead of schedule! Go me!).

The point is, I totally de-stress by reading. So, I'm extremely bummed that I can't seem to get into it right now. But, hey, ask me anything about the Paris Hilton/Nichole Richie feud and I'm on it.

Is Paris Hilton a freak or what? And you know, even her name sounds fake. She sounds like a romance hero from a bad 1983 romance. Who names their girl-child Paris, anyway? I mean, Paris is an awesome name, but not for a girl. Don't the Hiltons know their Greek mythology?

More about MOI...

John Scalzi did a Wednesday interview with me on his By The Way site, which you can read here: http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway.

I continue to be a best seller. My editor informed me this morning, "For the week ending 6/4/06, TALL, DARK & DEAD is #6 on Bookscan's Fantasy trade paperback bestseller list and #10 on B&N's romance trade paperback list."

Which is why I haven't posted much about life, the universe, and everything. For the first time in my writing life, my editor is asking *me* when the next book will be done.

Ursula K. LeGuin's Throne

My big fan grrl moment at WisCON 30...

In between panels I desperately had to go to the bathroom, so I stopped at the second floor women's and, no surprise, all the stalls were busy. I waited and waited and did the little I-have-go-potty dance. I finally hear the telltale flush. Someone is done! Out of the stall comes Ursula K. LeGuin. We pass each other without comment, only I'm thinking, "Holy Mother! I’m going to piss in the same pot as Ursula K. LeGuin."

I sat there, doing my business, thinking alternately how cool and how sad it was that I was so excited to be getting butt-cooties from Ursula K. LeGuin.

So... do I seem any smarter? More literary? Do I, huh?

This Just In...

I came home from WisCON to discover that my alter-ego had a horror short story of hers accepted at Dark Wisdom: The Magazine of Dark Fiction. I'm expecting it to be the feature story in the Fall/Winter issue of 2007.

Go me... er, her.

Why TV is Evil...

I'm off to WisCON tomorrow and my biggest fear is that someone will spoil the second half of the second season of Battlestar Galactica for me. A friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, might have sort of gotten me pirated copies of the final part of season 2, but I can’t get my DVD player to read them... yet. I’m working on the technical problem, but it’s certainly not going to be solved by, say, tomorrow.

What if someone tells me the plot? Will I die? Will my head explode?

(Yes, cry for me Argentina, life is extremely tough when you’re a geek.)

I'm #1!!

From my editor, Anne: "Great news on the bestseller list front--for the week ending 5/21/06, TALL, DARK & DEAD is the #1 trade paperback romance title at Barnes & Noble! (It's also #5 on Bookscan's fantasy trade paperback bestseller list.)"

I'm officially a #1 BEST SELLER.

What Would Lilith Do?

An excellent question. And one I'm suddenly seeing on T-shirts....

Pressure Not To Suck

I've always heard that second books are always more difficult to write. There's a semi-official name for the problem: "second-book-itis" A big part of it is success. You know, fear of it combined with an insane desire to have more of it. And, of course, the overwhelming pressure not to SUCK.

That last one's a bitch.

Because the biggest problem with sucking is that you can be completely unaware of just how much you suck, until it's too late. Stealth sucking.

I live in a lot of fear of sucking without knowing I suck.

Part of this comes with the whole territory of being "once bitten, twice shy" (Now there's a vampire novel title waiting to happen, if it hasn't already – a quick google search turned up this fun item Custom Dental Prosthetics). Anyway, the point is, having been once slapped down by the winds of fate in terms of bookbuyer's whims, I worry that I don't have a very intuitive sense of my own sucking. I mean, I may think I'm writing a best seller, but what if it's only an award-winner?? (Oops, that was a little snarky.)

See, the pressure to be clever is making even this blog suck.

Dressed to Thrill

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Why I love Romance (not a recommendation)

This is part of a blurb for this book ADAM AND E-V-E by Bridget Midway from her publisher's ad in Romantic Times

"...Lieutenant Adam B'Luven wants to protect the last few Earth inhabitants without the aid of a machine like E-V-E that's making the human army obsolete. In order to save the humans, he'll have to drop his prejudices... and his pants.

Yeah, BABY!

On the Shelf and In the Stores

That's ME, on the shelf at my local Border's Books! How cool is that?!

I will say one thing. No matter how many books I get published, I always have the same reaction when I finally see the book actually "in situ." It makes me happy. I do the happy dance. Then, I grab a copy and run up to the clerk behind the register and say, like a two-year old, "I wrote this."

I had an amazing signing at Uncle Hugo's on Saturday. We sold out.

When you're at my stage in the career, booksignings are such a funny thing. I was talking about this on a list of professional science fiction/fantasy writers I belong to http://www.sfnovelists.com, and I think booksignings are the Mona Lisa of the writing world. You know what I mean, right? The Mona Lisa, is hailed as this big, amazing piece of art. Virtually everyone's heard of it, and you always imagine it as full portrait size. When you see it in real life, you discover it's really not all that impressive. It's about half the size you're expecting and under glass (at the time I was at the Louvre, which was the 80s. I guess now traffic is os high it has it's own room, which is a bummer since I discovered the Oath of the Horatii by David, which is truly awesome, because it was in the same hall as Mona.)

Anyway, the point is that we all have our fantasy booksigning. The one where people are lined up around the block, anxious to catch a glimpse of the famous author whose work they adore.

It's so not like that.

Unless the author is willing to do a little work in terms of self-promotion it can be awfully lonely. I've been told that selling six books is considered a success.

A lot of the time you feel like Cinderella waiting to be taken to the ball, only in this version no fairy godmother shows up.

That's why Uncle Hugo's was such a treat. I sold every copy Don, the owner, had ordered (which makes him happy) and all my friends showed up to congratulate me and buy a book. Even a couple of strangers showed up. It was awesome.

Also, for those who know my other life... I wore a DRESS!

Yes, pictures are forthcoming.

New Review!

Here's a great review of TD&D on Romance Reviews Today. Check it out: http://www.romrevtoday.com/Mystery-Suspense/tall_dark_dead

Officially a Best Seller

I just got word a few minutes ago that Tall, Dark & Dead jumped to the #10 spot of BookScan's trade paperback fantasy bestseller list.

I wasn't terribly excited about this until I did a little google research. Salon.com has a very intersting article about how BookScan's figures are tallied. Apparentely BookScan tracks actual books leaving retail stores. Check it out: http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2002/06/25/bestsellers/

There might be champaign in my future.

My Crowded Brain

I have a lot of people sharing my head space.

I don't know where other people get their characters, but mine, I swear, have been with me since I was born (like the eggs in my uterus – weird aside, did you know that girls are born with all the ova they will ever have? How strange is that?)

Take Sebastian, for instance. I've known his entire back story since I was, I don't know, maybe twelve. I pick twelve out of a hat because somewhere in there is about when my creative brain really started to mature. I always had imaginary friends, but I started writing about them and developing their stories in my late pre-teen years. One of the first vampire stories I wrote involved a slightly altered version of Sebastian. It was called "The Dark Gift" and I sold it (actually, I gave it away) to a 'zine called Nocturnal Ecstasy Coven.

I made a PDF version of it and uploaded it HERE, if you’re curious to read it.

I also started a couple of stories about Benjamin, his house ghost, which I never finished. I'd actually like to revisit them now and see if any part of them are salvageable. I find it interesting that even my earlier version of Sebastian had a thing for witches, as he’s dating one in both those stories as well.

One thing that has bummed me out is that, like any author, there are things about my vampires which I KNOW, but have never had a literary opportunity to explain or reveal. Like Parrish's back story. I allude to it in TDD, but I've never had a real opportunity to "show" it. This may also have to be fodder for a story for another day. Except I suck at period pieces, which his "making" would have to be, what with him being 200 years old.

Yet, unlike my ova, some characters just show up, uninvited. Matyas, Sebastian's son, did that (which is very in keeping with his character, don’t you think?) But, then again, so did William – although to be fair William is loosely based on people I know. I very rarely "crib" characters from real life, but when I do they're almost always an amalgam of several different people. I never lift someone wholesale from real life, because most people aren’t nearly weird enough to fit into my universe-- well, in my previous authorial life there was one exception. (You know who you are.)

One of my favorite parts of being a writer, actually, is that time just before I fall asleep at night when I get to bring out some of the people I've never written about and just play with them in my head. Only occasionally have I caused myself insomnia hanging out with my imaginary friends, and that was embarrassing because I was, at the time, desperately re-writing the entire prequel Star Wars trilogy. (No, I don't want to talk about it. But, yes, thank you, I'm over it.)

As a writer you never have to give up you imaginary friends. How much does that rule?

Happy Birthday, Garnet!

Today is the first day that Tall, Dark & Dead officially goes on sale.

Whoot.

There was a really wonderful article about MOI, as Ms. Piggy would say, in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press on Sunday. If you're interested, check out: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/entertainment/books.

Can I tell you that I'm completely freaked out by all of this?

I'm trying very, very hard to be excited. There's no reason to think that TDD won't do well, but, I feel a little bit like a formerly abused spouse who's getting married again. This is different, I know that...

BUT. I think I'd be feeling a lot more hopeful if there wasn't a day, five years ago, when I felt so much more exhilaration walking into the nearest Barnes & Noble and finding a copy of my book on the shelves. I was so excited. I took a picture of myself standing next to the aisle like a proud parent.

Today, when I drove out to HarMar Mall with my son in tow, I wasn't at all surprised they didn't have Tall, Dark & Dead in stock. The nice information clerk explained that she figured their shipment had been delayed. "Whatever," I said, and meant it. I mean, I've been through this process enough times to know that no one cares if my books are out ON TIME. Tate Hallaway is not on par with Charlaine Harris, whose fans would have a conniption fit if her newest, which also comes out today, isn't on the shelves.

Also, although my friends are excited about my Amazon.com sales ranking, I keep thinking, "Yes, but for how long?" And, "But, is it enough for what it is – in other words, will NY be disappointed by THE NUMBERS?"

It doesn't help that my agent and I, who are ready to propose more books in the Garnet Lacey universe, were told to wait a few weeks until more sales figures came in. From where I'm sitting, that just smells like doom and gloom.

I wish I could be more optimistic.

The only thing I know for certain is that, if by some chance, this venture should fail, I will keep writing. Last night as I was staying up to write (I wrote an amazing 2,500 words on Dead Sexy, the next Garnet book), my partner turned to me and said, "Hey, I’m really proud of you." And, I knew what she was talking about. It wasn't the fact that I was up writing, or that my book officially came out in an hour (this was at 11 pm), but the fact that when I could have quit, I reinvented myself.

And I’ll do it again if I have to.

Why I LOVE Minnesota

Today, on the way back from the Minnesota Zoo, Mason and I spotted an egret in a drainage ditch. On the way out, we saw a hawk perched on a street light....

Awesome.

Oh, and as a post-script, tomorrow is my big day. Tall, Dark & Dead officially hits the shelves.