2008 News Archive
Jan 12, 2008 [Mike]
Book News
The third book in the Mercy Thompson series Iron Kissed is out on shelves. Sales have been stronger than we'd dared hope for, and early reviews have been largely favorable. We just got news that Iron Kissed is now a #1 New York Times Bestseller! Patty has been walking on air ever since she got the news last week. A huge and sincere "Thank You" to everyone reading her books. An author's fondest wish is that people will enjoy reading what they write, and you've made Patty's dreams come true.
On Silver Bullets
Last week I mentioned that, in an effort to get the details right, I was working on actually casting and testing some silver bullets. This has become a mild obsession, and a bit of a pet project. You can read more about it on the newly-created silver bullet page. I'll add more information there periodically for those who are interested. Also, in the "kitch" department, we found a company selling some very nice chocolate bullets packaged in a metal ammunition box. We're thinking of ordering a bunch of them, adding some silver foil candy wrappers and selling "Mercy's do-it-yourself silver bullet kits". Hah!
Signings and Chats
Patty did a couple of signings in Portland and Seattle last week, and she had a blast. Most author signings are kind of tragic affairs, in which the bookstore provides a strategically-placed table and a pile of books. At the appointed time, the author takes up "the position" behind the table, peering at customers from behind the cover of piles of books.
At this point, the hunt is on, and the ensuing action would make footage worthy of the most discriminating wildlife shows. The wary customers browse the aisles, keeping an ever-watchful eye on the author. Then tend to browse in pairs - one browsing, the other alert for any sign of movement on the part of the author. Eventually, one of the customers, less wary than others or tempted by the recent releases just out of reach behind the table, will pass too close to the author. It's over in an instant. Eye contact is made, and the hapless victim is ensnared in conversation. Eventually, a book will be sold, the victim beats a hasty retreat, and the other customers move back further into the aisles, temporarily safe.
OK, it's not always that bad -- but signings can be, um. . . lonely times for an author. Since Patty is actually pretty shy (she's terrible at 'poaching' customers) she's gotten used to sitting alone at a table until the buzzer sounds, er rather, the signing is over. These signings were well attended by very friendly and enthusiastic readers, several of whom were even wearing Mercy's Garage shirts. Hooray! Patty's publisher (ACE) took care of travel and lodging, which were much more posh than the low-rent dives we usually occupy when traveling. The readers were wonderful and the bookstore owners friendly and accomodating (even when she fell on her, er, rump). I hope those that attended has as much fun as Patty did!
There was supposed to be a "chat" on her website on Saturday night. Unfortunately, mechanical problems delayed her flight from Seattle. Since Butte (the cradle of civilization) has only two incoming flights each day, she came in eight hours later than expected, and we had to postpone the chat at the last minute. Our apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced. On the plus side, she was able to get some sleep, and Sunday had a very engaging chat with a large number of participants. For those who missed it, the transcript has been posted.
Ebooks
The world is changing. Patty has long decried electronic readers. A paperback book is wonderfully designed for reading, and very hard to improve upon. Most electronic readers have been plagued with high cost, small screens that strain the eyes to read, short battery life, limited selection of materials and the dreaded DRM (digital rights management) which can render your expensive library electronic junk . Why would anyone abandon the traditonal paperback?
There are a couple of recently-released electronic readers that are, quite frankly, impressive enough to warrent serious consideration. Patty got a Sony ereader for Christmas, and has been favorably impressed. It's small, elegantly-crafted, opens like a paperback, and uses the new Electronic Ink technology that displays a credible facimile of ink and paper. This display technology also allows the unit to run for an extended period without recharging. It's not perfect; it's expensive and the selection of available books is thinner than we'd like. It does support some open formats in addition to Sony's DRM-enabled proprietary format, but only a pirate could figure out how to convert books into those open formats . . . harrr!
If Sony's offering isn't to your liking, Amazon has released a unit with the same display technology, built in wireless, and a few other features. I'm sure other companies will also offer competing products in the coming months. It's not my intention to plug any particular product, but to express my excitement over the first products I've seen that are viable alternatives to paperback books.
We move around far too often, and each time we move I get to lug about two hundred very heavy boxes packed with what my fair bride considers "essential reading". That many books takes up a lot of storage space, and storage space is expensive. A book, even with some basic formatting information, usually takes up about a megabyte of storage. A megabyte. I'm a computer professional, I work with terabytes of storage. Let me put this in perspective. A gigabyte can hold a thousand books (let's not argue the definition of Gigabyte -- the nerds and hard drive manufactures have filled volumes with that discussion). Even a modest personal computer has a 500 gig drive these days, which would store a half-million full-length novels. Even the little reader we bought, with the addition of a four-gig memory stick, can hold over four thousand novels. No wasted paper, no heavy boxes to move, no additional storage units or industrial shelving units. The current offerings are not perfect. I find the DRM to be particularly galling, but I believe I have seen the future of reading, and my aching back is excited!
Jan 28, 2008 [Mike]
New Site Design
The most obvious news is that we're trying out a new look for the website. We'd used the old design for several years, but it was starting to look a little dated. Patty is no longer writing straight fantasy, and we wanted something that reflected her current efforts. We went out looking for an image of a wolf shapeshifter, preferably a bit anthropomorphic, and ideally with a slight native americal feel. We found a perfect image in Dark Natasha's Moon Song, and she graciously agreed to let us use it on the site. There's a link to her site in the credits, and you might take a minute to look at her other artwork -- she's done some amazing work, and she's an artist that had apparently been flying 'under our radar'.
Someday I'm going to break down and hire a professional designer, but we're not quite there yet. I can write some very solid code, and have been a computer professional for years. Yet every time I try web-design I'm reminded of how much I still have to learn. On commercial projects they usually hire a graphics artist, a web-design guru and some guy like me to write the back end. I've been forcibly reminded, yet again, of what those artistically-talented folks do to earn their money. I fight through every little step of layout and CSS, and in the end what I'm left with doesn't look much like what I'd hoped for. So, bear with me, and let me know what problems you run into, and over the next month or two we'll try to beat this layout into submission.
Book News
Patty was up 'till about 5:00 am finishing yet another round of edits on Cry Wolf, a book I'm rapidly coming to hate. It's a zombie book. No, not a book about zombies (it's about werewolves and witches) but one that simply refuses to die. Patty has finished it and sent it away several times. All manuscripts come back for a few rounds of edits -- and usually edits are kind of fun. Polish a few things, add a few witty remarks, maybe correct a minor detail or two and send it off to the next bunch of editors. Not this one . . . it crawls home bearing the futile scratchings of the editing team and moans, "Heellllppp Meeee!" It's done that twice.
Patty took what was supposed to be a minor polish, and virtually re-wrote the book in a marathon series of twelve to sixteen hour days. She's looking pretty ragged, but the book finally worked like it was supposed to. It should come back for the usual rounds of edits, but it's officially been laid to rest. Her editor may wonder about receiving a manuscript with a stake driven through its center, damp with holy water and wrapped with braids of garlic . . . Sometimes, drastic measures are required.
Feb 13, 2008 [Mike]
Book News
Having finally laid "Cry Wolf" to rest, Patty has been working on two projects. The first priority is the next "Mercy Thompson" novel, which starts right on the heels of Iron Kissed. She's not very far into it yet, but it's a been a relief to have the words come smoothly and the characters behave themselves. It's like settling into that big easy chair in the living room, everything is comfortable.
She's also working on the first of the "Mercy Thompson" graphic novels with the Dabel Brothers. Holy stick figures Batman, watch out. Her version looked like a crude attempt at primitive art, until she gave up and started just writing a text description of each frame. Fortunately, the Dabel brothers keep a very talented group of artists on hand. I suspect they're going to be working very hard!
Website News
The website re-design seems to be working well. I did a little bit of cleanup trying to insure that all the pages will validate as strict XML. We still have some problems with a few of the map pages, but for the most part its now valid XML. I tweaked the style sheets just a little trying to make it easier to read.
Book Contest
Want to win all three Mercy books? Step right up and try your luck! Fantasy Book Critic is running giving away three sets of the "Mercy Thompson" books. That's right, giving them away. Free. Gratis. Libre. The contest details can be found here. Good Luck!
Radcon
We're going to be in the Tri-Cities area for the next few days for Radcon, a wonderful convention in the area. Over the past few years, Radcon has drawn an increasing number of authors and publishers, and is now one of the most writer-friendly cons in the northwest. Of course, they've not neglected their roots as a gaming convention, and the gamers room will be full to overflowing as well. The guest of honor this year is Harry Turtledove, who we're dying to meet in person. There's also a host of regular attendees that we meet there every year and are anxious to talk to once again.
Feb 19, 2008 [Mike]
Radcon Report
We got back from Radcon last night. In theory, there's no such thing as a perfect convention. In practice, this came very close. There were approximately 2000 rabid fans of science fiction, fantasy, and gaming filling the hotel past capacity. Numerous tracks of programming, combat demos and all the usual trappings of a big convention all ran like well-oiled machinery. For the guests, it all looked effortless.
Conventions are a bit like the ancient galley ships. To a distant observer they seem to glide effortlessly over the sea. The distant observer never sees the ranks of slaves straining at on the oars below decks. Those of us who have spent time chained to an oar are no longer fooled by the illusion of effortless progress. A convention as big as Radcon requires a lot of galley slaves volunteers below decks. We'd like to offer a huge thank you to the concom and minions who obviously put in a tremendous number of hours.
Radcon has become a mecca for authors of all levels of expertise. They gather in hallways, in the dining rooms, and cluster in alcoves. Who's buying what? Did you hear that so-and-so sold a new trilogy? Is it true that publisher-X is having financial difficulties? How is what's his name as an agent? Little whispers of information are passed mouth-to-mouth with fevered intensity. It's a chance to associate with kindred spirits. We see old friends, exchange news and wishes for future success. We tell stories, enthuse over the good news of sales or awards, and offer words of encouragement to those whose fortunes have been rocky. Kind of a huge group-hug from those who know the long and lonely hours that writing entails.
We spent most of the convention in the panel discussions (as usual). This year, there were some excellent panels, and more importantly, some wonderful panelists. We met a number of new-to-us authors, and I have to say I was extremely impressed with how confident and articulate they were on panels. We came away with a notebook full of new thoughts and ideas, and a couple of neat story ideas sparked by the panel discussions.
Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch are two of the most knowledgeable and articulate authors in the world. They've worked as both authors and editors, and know the publishing world intimately. They took an hour for a panel most people refer to as the "Kris and Dean Show" -- a chance to get updates on what's new in the world of publishing and ask questions. For once, Patty didn't have a panel scheduled opposite them, so we were able to attend. Wow. This was worth the price of the convention, including meals, gas and gratuities. The problem with being an author is that is possible to write books, and even gain some measure of success, without knowing much about the publishing industry. We learned more in an hour than we would have otherwise picked up in a year. Dean sometimes calls a spade a spade, and doesn't necessarily sugar-coat things. It's not all fuzzy bunnies and dancing unicorns, but overall the picture is much brighter than I had expected.
Feb 29, 2008 [Mike]
An Unprofessional Entry
One of the first rules of maintaining a "professional" website is to keep it professional. So, this site should be all about the Urban Fantasy Author Patricia Briggs. I've tried not to include photos of the family dog or the obligatory author's cats, or a significant amount of "Dear Diary" type entries, while still updating the web site on a regular basis so it doesn't look abandoned. However, it's hard. Writing books is a slow process, and there's quite often nothing new to report. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm not sure how to make slogging through the writing process sound exiting.
Maybe I should adopt the tactics of a sports announcer: "It's been a doozy of a day at the keyboard races, folks. Patty's just coming around chapter three; the introductions are over and it's time to get serious. Her delete key is still smoking from that little burnout in chapter two, but she's got it back under control and is really leaning on it -- thirty pages so far this week! It's not over yet, ladies and gentlemen, not by a long shot. There's the possibility of a dangerous slowdown in chapter four, and the mid-book doldrums of chapter six are always a challenge. The deadlines are tight, and it's anybody's race. You know what they say folks, it's not over 'till the fat lady sings, and all we've got so far is a skinny gal at a Burger King. . ."
I'm going to just go ahead and indulge myself, and be a little unprofessional. While we were in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state for Radcon, the temperatures were a balmy 50° to 60° and the sun was shining relentlessly. The first spring flowers were beginning to appear, and the trees were budding out. Several of our friends asked us how the weather was in Montana. So, I thought I'd post a couple of photos.
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| Most of the time, it's absolutely beautiful here. Here's a view of a moonrise from our porch a couple of weeks ago. |
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| Here I am, playing with our youngest horse in the driveway. The snowshoes are not just decorative. This was taken in January. |
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| Just to show our friends in Washington what our weather's like, here's a look out past the round corral taken earlier this week. Gray horses are pretty well camoflauged in Montana, at least until June. |
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| Just to complete the picture, here's the view of the front yard. Tulips won't be along for a while yet, I'd guess. |
March 6, 2008 [Mike]
Book News
The penultimate round of edits for Cry Wolf are nearly complete. After all the trouble it caused, it's shaping up to be an enjoyable read. At this point I think Patty's torn between two emotions, "Heaven help me find all the little niggling problems haunting this manuscript" and "Will somebody please slap a cover on this little ankle-biter and call it done!" I'm not sure which one is winning!
For those who like their books in audio format, there's some good news. Penguin Audio has purchased the rights to both the Mercy Thompson and the Alpha and Omega books, and will be releasing them this summer. Actually, audio books are a bit of a new discovery for us. On a recent road trip, we bought a used copy of one of Janet Evonovich's Stephanie Plum novels on CD. The voice actress was amazing, and the book was hilarious. We laughed ourselves giddy through a fairly long trip, only stopping to rush into convenience stores for restroom breaks and beverages, then running back to car to hear what happened next. Needless to say, when we go on trips now, audio books have become an essential part of our preparations.
Apologies
On the books page, I'd written that Patty was contributing a story to a Christmas anthology,Wolfsbane and Mistletoe. However, I completely failed to mention one of the editors, Toni P. Kelner. Toni wrote to Patty several times over the course of writing and editing the story and was her primary contact with the anthology. She was also unfailingly courteous, even when Patty was very late delivering the promised manuscript. Omitting her was unconscionable. Toni, I'm sorry.
March 12, 2008 [Mike]
Looking over the last several posts, there's something a little strange. Several posts claim that Patty is finishing, or has finished the edits on Cry Wolf. Since editing embodies several steps, I thought I'd present a quick overview of the editing process. Patty's currently finishing up the edits suggested by the copy editor and line editor.
We also got the first cover flats for Cry Wolf. The scan of the cover was pretty, but the cover itself is gorgeous. The art department used the same foil process they've used with the Mercy books. This cover was done in a blue-green foil, and the whole thing shimmers. Hooray for the Art and Marketing folks at ACE! We're beyond happy.
March 26, 2008 [Mike]
ConBust
ConBust is coming up, and Patty's getting excited. ConBust is a lot of fun, but they do something a little weird: They have the same guests back year after year. They put them up at a lovely little bed and breakfast (Patty raves about it every year). One of the interesting consequences of this approach is that the guests get to know one another fairly well. For example:
Jenny Breeden is the author of several comics graphic novels, including the hugely popular The Devil's Panties. She and Patty always have a great time together, and Jenny's family stories are hilarious. Reality can be a hoot!
Lynn Flewelling is another long-standing Conbust veteran. She and Patty usually end up on many of the same panels every year, and have a grand time mugging for the muggles, er, explaining how to lie for fun and profit. Basically, the idea is that if you tell little lies, your doomed to be a fisherman, but if you perfect the art of really telling whoppers, inventing whole realities out of thin air, then you have two choices: politics or fiction writing. . .
Lynn has a wonderful imagination (and kind of a dark side hidden under that cheerful smiling exterior), and Patty and I greatly enjoy her writing. By the way, check out her website, her new Nightrunner novel Shadows Return is coming soon, and the cover art is absolutely scrumptious.
Book News
Cry wolf is off to the publisher again. The last edits were fairly painless, which was a huge relief. Now Patty's back to writing the next Mercy Thompson novel, Bone Crossed. Naturally, it's past due and far from complete. Never fear, she's working hard, and while she won't let me read it yet, she assures me it's coming along nicely.
ACE has decided to "repackage" many of Patty's earlier novels. She's always had the good fortune to have great covers for her books, and as always we're very grateful to the talented artists and the art directors at ACE. However, fashions change, and her early books were looking a little dated (and maybe a little racy by todays standards), so they're being wrapped in bright new covers. We've seen the first of the new covers in bookstores already. Here's quick table showing the changes:
When Demons Walk
The Hob's Bargain
Dragon Bones
All covers are links to larger versions
March 27, 2008 [Patty]
Just dropping in to add that the Smithee Award people will be there, too. The people who watch hundreds of hours of the worst movies ever made to find the ultimate, horrible moment when all you can do is hold your stomach and laugh: last year it was the naked women's volleyball team swimming in a pond where Nazi zombies lurk beneath the surface. I still have nightmares. Fun stuff.