Date Night for the Vampire Princess

I won't tell you with who Ana is going on a date (because it's kind of a spoiler for Book #3), but they're headed out to Kurdish food. So I'm writing about Babani's Restaurant in downtown St. Paul:

Hmmm, now all of a sudden I'm hungry for lunch!

Uh... WHATever...

Sorry to be all about my alter-ego lately, but I (as her) am the featured "Big Idea" over at John Scalzi's enormously popular Whatever Blog. Ironically, I so deeply nervous about this post that I kind of hope no one reads it -- though that kind of defeats the whole point....

I am hoping to continue to blog (with pictures!) about the places around St. Paul that are featured in my Ana books. Just last night I wrote a brief scene that happened outside of this St. Paul landmark:

Places I'm Writing About -- Ax Man and Porky's

One of my seekrit agendas when I proposed the vampire princess of St. Paul books, was to feature various cool locations around St. Paul. Minneapolis has been written about extensively. When I was in college, I devoured Emma Bull's WAR FOR THE OAKS. The book was especially cool because I could drive past places where events in the novel took place. I've always wanted to do that with much much less celebrated St. Paul.

I live not far from Ax Man on University Avenue. Despite what my friend Ember used to think, they don't sell axes there -- not the wood chopping kind nor the musical variety. They just sell... weird stuff. It's actually very difficult to explain what you might find inside Ax Man. The University Avenue store, for instance has an iron lung and paper clips and tires and... weird stuff. It's whatever they get that's been remaindered or "surplus." In other words cool junk.

Unfortunately, Ana doesn't go IN to Ax Man in the current novel. It makes an appearance as a landmark to another University Avenue destination.... Porky's.

Stuff I'm Up To

First of all, Happy St. Patrick's day for those of you who celebrate it!

I thought I'd drop a quick note to remind all y'all of the various places you can catch me doing my publicity thing.

This weekend, Saturday, March 19 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm, I'll be teaching my "Mars Needs Writers" workshop at the Bloomington Art Fair's "Writer's Workshop."

On Tuedsay, March 22, in my guise as Lyda Morehouse, I will be the featured "Big Idea" author at John Scalzi's Whatever Blog.

Saturday, March 26 from 1:00 - 2:00 pm, again as Lyda, I'll be signing the newly released Resurrection Code at Uncle Hugo's. Uncle's is located at 2864 Chicago Avenue South in Minneapolis, but, even if you're not local, it's not too late to put in a mail order with Don for a personalized, signed copy from me! Check out details about Uncles at: http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/!

Then in a bit of multiple personality shuffling, I will be both Lyda and Tate during an interview on KFAI's "Write On Radio" show on Tuesday, April 5 from 7:00 - 8:00 pm CDT. KFAI broadcasts at 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM in St. Paul. If you want to listen in even though you are in another time zone, you can check out http://www.kfai.org/ for live, streaming options and/or their archives which are usually updated the very next day.

In case you can't make ANY of those other dates, I as Tate will also have a signing at Uncles on Saturday, May 7 from 1:00-2:00 pm.

Free Words Tuesday!

Mouse fiction over at my alternate personality's LJ: Mouse 6

Mouse Tuesday

I'm committing fiction over on my LJ.

As I'm one of those people who takes great comfort in working during stressful periods, I actually wrote this little section while waiting for the cardiologist to tell us what was going on with my partner's "failed" stress test.*

I was thinking about this as I wrote it, because mood affects writing. I suspect this scene would have be a lot scarier, if I wasn't already overloaded on that particular emotion. I don't buy into the myth that you have to be in the right "mood" to write, but I *do* think that where you are emotionally creeps into what you write.

See if you agree.

* Everything seems to be okay. We probably got a false positive reading, though we're scheduled to go back and take a "stress echo" today sometime just to make sure.

Kids and Writing (the Plus Side)

Just want to note that, while there are a lot of panels out there in the SF/F community about the struggle of writing with kids, there are some bonuses too. Mason is sitting across from me at the Coffee Grounds reading the advance review copy of ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN giggling. This is his third time through (and he tells me, it's not his favorite. He still likes ALMOST TO DIE FOR better.)

Also, last night as I was trying to write while watching TV (a bad idea, btw,) he poked his head in a couple of times to read over my shoulder. He kept asking me, excitedly, what was happening and what would be coming next.

I know that it's a little like having your mom like your writing, but it's still cool. And some days, it's enormously satisfying to live with one of my greatest fans.

Tuesday Fiction

My alter ego is posting new science fiction over at her LJ, as part of the continuing effort to get people excited about RESURRECTION CODE, which will be coming out from Mad Norwegian Press on March 15, 2011.

Signing Update!

Breaking News: I will now be sharing my March 26th signing at Uncle Hugo's with Neve Maslakovic. I already want to love her book REGARDING DUCKS AND UNIVERSES, for this line in the product description: "On a foggy Monday in 1986, the universe suddenly, without warning, bifurcated."

Lookie-lookie!

It's Tuesday...

...which means my alter ego has some free pre-prequel fiction on offer over on her LJ.

In case you missed the previous installments you can read them in order:

Mouse 1

Mouse 2

Enjoy! In case you are tuning in for the first time, let me explain. I write science fiction under another name. I had four books published in what I called the AngeLINK series. The books take place in a relatively near future where, thanks to a devastating world war, science has fallen out of favor and religions of all stripes have become even more dominant in politics than they are today. My books start in America, but span the entire globe. One of the characters that a lot of people really enjoyed was an Egyptian Sunni Muslim computer hacker named Mouse. The prequel follows his story. But there are also angels, devils, ghosts and mutants called Gorgons in it.

Why Science Fiction is Cool

Ten years ago, my alter ego published a book in which I imagined something not unlike this. Fellow Wyrdsmith, Naomi Kritzer, saw this article and forwarded it to me with the subject line "Egyptians invent mouse.net." Of course, that didn't EXACTLY happen, and certainly no one has a LINK receiver in their head, BUT I love that most of the technology being offered is actually a low-tech solution to a high-tech problem. That's totally the sort of thing I wrote about, and, as Naomi said, "If Mouse had been born yet and, of course, weren't fictional, he's be all over this."

I totally agree.

Go Egypt!

Signing Event(s)

I got a call last night from Don Byly at Uncle Hugo's in Minneapolis and we've arranged not on, but TWO signings for me (and my alter ego) in the upcoming months. Mark your calendars because here they are:

Saturday, March 26, 2011 from 1 - 2 pm at Uncle Hugo's, my alter-ego will be signing RESURRECTION CODE, the long-awaited prequel/sequel to her AngeLINK series.

Saturday, May 7, 2011 from 1 - 2 pm I'll be back again, this time as me, signing ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN, the second book in the vampire princess of St. Paul book.

You can find Uncle's at 2864 Chicago Avenue South, Minneapolis MN 55407. If you would like directions or any other information about the signing or the store, you can call (612) 824-6347. Also, if you are out of town or otherwise can not make the events and would like to still get a PERSONALIZED, signed copy, Uncles will fill mail orders. For information contact Don Byly at UncleHugo@aol.com.

You can also check out Uncle Hugo's website for more info at: http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/

Got that? Good! I expect you there!

Free Words from Alternate Me

Today is Tuesday, which means that I'm posting the continuing saga of Mouse in a series of pre-prequel vingettes over on Lyda's LJ.

Boosting the Signal

Because I'm that person who talks to everyone, I had an interesting conversation with a virtual stranger today at the coffee shop. It came up that I'm a writer and she asked me a question very few people ask. She said, "Is that a good job? Do you like it?"

I told her the truth. My job is the best damn job EVER.

One of the perks that never occurred to me when I was first starting out was the free books. Two good friends of mine have asked if I'd be willing to blurb their babies, and I'm always happy to say yes, even though I'm always baffled that *my* name could actually contribute to any book's success (given what little help it's given my OWN work.) At any rate, I got to read a novel/la by my friend Keith Hartman. It's being published by Pyramid Press and it's called MURDER BENEATH THE BURIED SKY. Here's the Kindle edition. Narf it up. It's cheap (3.99!), and it's AWESOME. I don't want to give too much away, but I found it to be very a engaging science fiction murder mystery. Did you like that section in the HUNGER GAMES series when Gale and Katniss are at District 13, underground? Well, this is like that, only better.

Go read it. I swear you won't be disappointed. Plus, it's going to take you like two hours to read the whole thing. It's that kind of book that pulls you in and you wake up when it's all over and think, "dang, that was great."

Anyway, speaking of writing. I must go do my own. Alas!

Alter Ego Promo

My alter ego has a new book out in March from Mad Norwegian Press, and as part of that she is posting some pre-prequel promo fiction vingettes on her LJ. If you're curious about what I write when I'm not writing Garnet or Ana, check it out. It is not entirely safe for work (there is one instance of the f-word under the LJ cut.) However, it is my intention that you do not need to have read any of the previous books in the AngeLINK series to understand and enjoy these free stories or RESURRECTION CODE when it comes out.

5 Things

K.M. Walton has this to say about 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Queried. Not sure all of it applies to genre writing, but I like what s/he has to say about the power of a good critique group.

Erotica... Sadly, No.

I haven't done much of anything this morning other than sneeze. I don't quite know what happened, but I didn't just have an allergy attack... it was some kind of ambush!!

But my eyes and nose are starting to recover, I think. And, I did manage to get two other things done.

1) The dishes. This was a rather monumental feat, as we had a full-on Sunday dinner yesterday, including a roasted chicken, gravy, fried potatoes, beans, and a salad. I think I pretty much used all the dishes in the house, especially since I'd made scones earlier for breakfast. While I was doing said dishes I got a call from the folks at Mad Norwegian. They had just one more thing for me to look at...

So, I downloaded the file and 2) I went over the final proof of the short story included in RESURRECTION CODE, "Ishtartu." After having re-read that I have to say that there is absolutely NO HOPE of me having a lucrative side-career as an erotica writer. It's actually not a bad short story (which, again, is not one of my stronger suits), but there's not a lot of sizzle. There's sex, and, you know, I spell some of it out, but it's actually quite *sweet.* You could actually read it out loud at a late-night reading, because, while *I* might blush at some of the words, there's actually not that much that even happens on stage. Much of it is left to the imagination.

It's kind of sad, really.

If only because I have this weird notion in my head that some day I'm just going give up on this hard stuff and write fun, "trashy" erotica. Yet, you'd think I'd remember that every time I sit down to write something I think will be fun and "easy," it's still writing, and writing is always hard. And, sadly, writing something good enough to be published still means I need to have character development, plot, etc., which is all that stuff I find "hard" about writing in the first place. And, frankly, writing graphic sex scenes really difficult for me. Oh, I can imagine them, no problem. Write them down? That's a bit harder. I'm easily embarrassed by committing the erotic things I imagine to print, and also, like any description, writing a good, graphic sex scene takes practice that I just don't really have yet... you need to know when to brush stroke and when to stroke stroke, you know? Gah! I just embarrassed myself!

You see the problem.

Anyway, I need to get writing on Ana. My cat, Ms. All Ball, has just curled herself, like a baby, against my chest, so I guess that means I'm stuck at the computer anyway. I might as well be constructive.

NSFW, but...

Kind of rude (NSFW), but kind of funny... at least from this side of the washed out bridge: "No, seriously, I'm not f*cking around, you really don't want to be a writer."

Updatery

It's Thursday, which is my busy day. I just finished the dishes, and pretty soon I'll have to tackle the fish tanks. Then, it will be off to Mason's school to volunteer. After that, if I have any energy, I hope to go work out, as I've had to miss kuk sool wan one night this week. Ah, the glamorous life of a writer, eh?

Speaking of writing work, I finished going through the page proofs for RESURRECTION CODE over the weekend, and I should probably look through ALMOST FINAL CURTAIN before the deadline. Sometimes I have a really hard time looking at my own writing, especially after it's all typeset for printing. There's something so permanent that makes it sort of scary, you know? There's really not a lot you can do at the page proof stage either. There are plenty of opportunities for major change prior to that, but by the time you see page proofs, the publisher really only wants to you to scan for typos.

So, I've been dragging my heels a bit on the last one. RESURRECTION CODE was more fun, actually. There are some scenes in that book that I'm actually quite proud of and are fun to re-read. Even though enjoying my own work also makes me feel weird, but in a completely different way.