Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls

It is with great pleasure that I remind you all that the latest iteration of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show will be assembling this Saturday at San Francisco's own Borderlands Books. We'll be getting underway at 6pm, and rocking the roof until closing time comes and they kick us all out! Why are we partying?

To celebrate the release of Half-Off Ragnarok, naturally.

There will be cupcakes! There will be music and a raffle and reading and some Q&A, and it will be a hootenanny of a good time, with a whole lotta hoot AND a whole lotta nanny! Bring your kids! Bring your siblings! Bring your slime monsters! We totally hope to see you there.

Since this book does contain snakes, I will probably talk about snakes at some point during the evening. So while I would love to have you there, if you're deathly afraid of snakes, it might be a good idea to skip this one. (On the plus side, I'm pretty funny when I talk about snakes.)

Remember that Borderlands does take telephone and email orders, and would be happy to send you signed books (and they do have Letters to the Pumpkin King in stock). Get a book already touched by pure awesome. Or, you know. Ink. The party starts Saturday at 6pm!

Cheese! And! Cake!

Hey, people of Earth (and parts beyond)! Remember that this coming weekend I will be the Author Guest of Honor at SFContario, appearing with such luminaries as David Kyle and Chandler Davis. I alone lack that essential "davi" construction: come to shore me up, lest I be destroyed.

I'll be doing an awesome concert Friday night, and there will be awesome things throughout the weekend; if you're in the Toronto area, please consider swinging by to get a little awesome on your shoes.

Hey, happy people! In less than twelve hours, I will be boarding a giant metal sky-bird to fly to Denver, Colorado, home of very little oxygen, very impressive floods, and Mile Hi Con, where you'll have the rare opportunity to see me and Cat Valente together on stage! (Okay. Not that rare. We do this whenever people let us. But still.)

You can see me at...

Friday.

7:00PM: Opening ceremonies.
9:00PM: The Return of Kitty and the Midnight Hour. Hosted by Carrie Vaughn! With me and Cat as awesome guests!
10:00PM: Run, Run, The End of All Flesh Is Upon Us: Cat Valente and Seanan McGuire in Conversation. It's like an Evening with Kevin Smith, but a lot boobier, and sometimes even swearier.

Saturday.

11:00AM: Mad Scientists in Fiction, Film, and Filk.
2:00PM: Autographing! With Carrie! I love Carrie.
4:00PM: An Hour With Author GoH, Seanan McGuire.

Sunday.

9:00AM: Kaffeeklatch.
11:00AM: GoH Remarks and Awards.
1:00PM: Write On!
3:00PM: Conquering Sexism in Geek Culture.
5:00PM: Closing ceremonies.

I hope to see you all there! Or at least all of you for whom it is vaguely physically possible. Yay, Colorado!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

Tomorrow's Party Schedule!

The Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show is returning to our home of homes at Borderlands Books, and we couldn't be happier about it. SEE! The Amazing Mary, imported all the way from Alabama to enchant you with her wicked ways! HEAR! The Incredible Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff, masters of the rocking arts! GAZE IN AWE! At Paul and Beckett, guitar and harmonica, as they ensnare your senses! And I'll be there, of course.

Our evening...

4:00 PM: Setup, sound check, and final details. You can show up, but we may ignore you if you do. Sorry about that.
5:00 PM: Welcome to our party. We're done ignoring you now. Would you like some music?
5:30 PM: Perhaps you would like to win things.
5:40 PM: Now there will be cupcakes and autographing.
6:00 PM: More music?
6:30 PM: More prizes?
6:40 PM: Q&A and book discussion.
7:10 PM: Last music of the night.
7:40 PM: Let's raffle some more stuff off.
7:50 PM: Thanks and final questions before we close the evening.

This iteration of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show will be in the cafe; the bookstore will be open throughout the evening. The cafe will also be open, and they've promised to have plenty of bread and delicious pastry this time. Raffle tickets will be available through the two standard methods: show up, or buy something from the bookstore.

All performing musicians will have CDs for sale, because we're predictable like that. There may also be T-shirts. There will be cupcakes provided in the bookstore as part of the party, and a whole cafe full of delicious things to purchase and enjoy.

It's gonna be a good night. Hope to see you there.

...I swear that is the last terrible Muse pun I will make today. Ahem. It's time for Musecon 3! Do you want to know where I'm going to be?

Friday.

Why Fanfic is Awesome and You Should Feel Good About Writing It. All modern literature is fanfic, from Shakespeare and Milton all the way to the fairy tale retellings and remixes of today. Let's talk about why fanfic is a glorious, time-honored tradition that can help you improve as a writer, enriches your life as a reader, and pushes the envelope of the narrative story. 4:30pm.

Opening Ceremonies and Ask Seanan Anything. Welcome to MuseCon! Come meet our Guests of Honor and find out what we've got in store for you over the weekend. And once the official festivities are kicked off we'll be hosting the lastest installment in Seanan Shows Why She Has a Hugo for Not Shutting Up (also known as "Ask Seanan Anything, although she may not answer, and would really prefer you not ask anything about potential future changes to living conditions/locations"). 7:30pm.

Saturday.

Street Pennies. There's too much negativity in the world, and sometimes it can be hard to remember why we keep trying. That's where street pennies come in. Let's talk about the little things that make you happy, and how to find more of them in the world. 10:30am.

Gender Balance, Inclusiveness, and Diversity. Humanity is not a one-gender, one-race, one-creed entity. We're all different, and we're all deserving of our turn on the stage. Come join our discussion on how to bring more balance, inclusiveness, and diversity to your work. 1:30pm.

Velveteen vs. the Multiverse Book Launch. We don't have books but we will have cake! And signed book plates, and order forms. 3:00pm.

Concert. Music. Bring your ears and listen to Guest of Honor Seanan McGuire and her Biohazard Backing Band light up our stage with her unique mix of fairy tale folk, humorous horror, mad science, and just plain fun. BONUS! The dancing hands of Elise Matthesen will be hard at work during Seanan's concert! Elise has created hundreds of unique, breath-taking pieces, some based on the works of Neil Gaimen and others, some inspiring works by Mr. Gaimen, Elizabeth Bear, and others. Now she’ll be putting that same unique style into each piece that she is inspired to bring to life during Seanan’s show. Immediately after the concert these just-created pieces will be auctioned off! So come enjoy the show, and then see what’s been inspirited along the way! You never know, one might just inspire you. 7:30pm.

Sunday.

Disney Didn't Start the Fire. Snow White ate an apple--or did she use a poisoned comb? The little mermaid lived--or did she? Let's talk about the folkloric and fairy tale roots of some of our favorite stories, and how they've changed right up to the modern day. 12:00pm.

Working Through the World. Constructing a world that works can be difficult, but it's one of the most rewarding things a creator can do. Join us for a discussion of worldbuilding, its logic, and its dangers. 1:30pm.

Closing Ceremonies. We're going home! WE'RE GOING HOME! 3:00pm.

I am pleased to announce what some of you already know: that the 2015 Westercon will be held in scenic San Diego, California, and that I will be attending as their Fan Guest of Honor, thus checking off one of the only two slots remaining on my con guest bingo card! (The other, "Artist Guest," is unlikely to happen unless I start painting again, so I feel that I have now completed my duties.) The full lineup is:

Author Guest of Honor: Spider Robinson
Artist Guest of Honor: John Picacio
Special Guest: William F. Nolan

Westercon 68 will be held over the July 4th weekend in 2015 (July 2nd to 5th), and I very much hope to see you all there!

Westercon!

It's time once again to descend upon San Francisco once again, bringing music, chaos, and the excitement of a book release party with us! This time, we're actually not going to be at my beloved Borderlands Books, although they will be selling books at the event: thanks to an opening in the Variety Preview Room Theatre, we're going to be trashing someone else's house for a change! The party begins this coming Saturday at 6:00 PM, at...

The Variety Preview Room Theatre
Hobart Bldg., 1st Floor (use the entrance next to Citibank on Market St.)
582 Market Street @ 2nd and Montgomery
San Francisco, CA 94104

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.

Delicious cupcakes! Free popcorn, for that circus feeling! A cash bar, including a signature cocktail designed just for us, The Snakehandler! Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff rocking the house! And this time, I'm not the only author who's going to be taking her turn in the ring. That's right: I have guests. Sarah Kuhn, awesome author of the geek rom-com One Con Glory, will be joining the fray, as will Amber Benson, whose latest Calliope Reaper-Jones adventure, The Golden Age of Death, dropped just two weeks ago.

Three authors. A lot of music. Plenty of sugar. Accessible booze. NOW HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY?

I thought so.

Seating at the Preview Room is limited, so please show up early. We are a kid-friendly circus, although there will probably be swearing (I'm planning to show up, I swear a lot). The doors will open at 6:00 PM to allow for getting drinks and books, meeting people, and generally relaxing into the night; the Circus takes the stage at 7:00 PM. A full schedule for the evening will be posted Friday.

One note from the management:

"Don’t Drive—Seriously. Parking sucks in this area. Take BART or MUNI downtown, as we are directly adjacent to the Montgomery Street BART/MUNI station! Street parking ($3.50 per hour/coins or meter card, no charge cards) is metered 7 days a week til 6PM. If you have to drive, we suggest parking at the Folsom St. Garage at 3rd & Folsom (cheapest), across from Moscone Center."

See you Saturday!

(*No snakes will be present at the event, which is a shame, because I like snakes. They're our huggy friends.)

WEIRD SCIENCE!

(Duh dum bum bum da dum.)

Or, really, MAD SCIENCE, because that is where my heart of hearts makes its forever home. The new anthology, The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, is hitting shelves now, and includes my short story, "Laughter at the Academy: A Study in the Development of Schizotypal Creative Genius Personality Disorder (SCGPD)." Fans of my music will recognize the basic plot of the story as matching that of my Pegasus Award-winning song, "What A Woman's For." Yes. It is a story based on a song about using womanly wiles to cause perfectly reasonable researchers to embrace grave-robbing and storm-chasing as a means of advancing their careers. My mother is so proud.

Anyway, it's a fantastic book that I'm going to talk about a bit more in a little while, and I'm happy as hell to be a part of it. And if you're in the Bay Area, this weekend will bring you the opportunity to see the editor, John Joseph Adams, appearing with yours truly at San Francisco's own Borderlands Books. The event begins at 3:00 pm, and will undoubtedly be a rocking good time. It's always a rocking good time when John and I get together.

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination is available now at a bookstore or internet retailer near you. Published by Tor Books, you can get it in either hardcover ($25.99) or trade paperback ($14.99), and honestly, it's worth it at either price point.

Hope to see you Saturday!

...to the bottom of the river.

December! It is December! It is December 4th, which means we're exactly one month away from my birthday trip to Disneyland SHUT UP DISNEY MAKES EVERYTHING OKAY. And I've needed a lot of okay this winter.

This is the current shape of my 2012/2013, with travel dates and everything. Beautiful travel dates. Hope to see you sometime in the months to come.

Publications

2012:
"Rat-Catcher," December 2012.

2013:
"Laughter at the Academy: A Study in the Development of Schizotypal Creative Genius Personality Disorder (SCGPD)," February 2013.
"Emeralds to Emeralds, Dust to Dust," February 2013.
Midnight Blue-Light Special, March 2013.
"Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely Sea," July 2013.
Velveteen vs. The Multi-verse, August 2013.
Chimes at Midnight, September 2013.
"Train Yard Blues," October 2013.

Parasite, unknown.
"A Dry Death," unknown.

Conventions/Appearances/Travel

2013:
Vericon, March 22-24, Boston MA.
JordanCon, April 19-21, Roswell GA.
Disney World, May 17-23, Orlando FL.
OASIS, May 24-26, Orlando FL.
Musecon, August 2-4, Itasca IL.
Lone Star Con (Worldcon 2013), August 28-September 2, San Antonio, TX.
SFContario, November 29-December 1, Toronto Canada.

No fixed deadline/being written/unsold:

"Bad Dream Girl"
"Fiber"
"Carry Me Home"
"These Antique Fables"
"Pixie Season"
"Velveteen vs. The Robot Armies of Dr. Walter Creelman, DDS"
"Velveteen vs. The Fright Night Sorority House Massacre Sleepover Camp"
"Velveteen vs. Vegas" (extended remix)
"Velveteen Presents Victory Anna vs. The Difficulty With Pan-Dimensional Courtships"
"Velveteen Presents Jackie Frost vs. Four Conversations and a Funeral"
"The Happiest Place..."
"Frontier ABCs: The Life and Times of Charity Smith, Schoolteacher"
"Loch and Key"
Half-Off Ragnarok
Echo
"How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea"

...just looking at that makes me tired.

I need a nap.

At last it is October, the month I spend the rest of the year yearning for. When it's October, everything is wonderful, even when it's not. When it's not October, I'm wishing that it were October again. There's a reason that Marnie Piper and the Cromwell witches are some of my favorite Disney (semi) icons.

After a weird two-day heatwave, we've settled into sweet fall, with foggy skies and color-changing leaves and everything. The Maine Coons are growing their winter coats, and thumping around the house like the tiny yeti that they secretly are. (Okay, local definition of "tiny." Thomas has hit the size where even I can't pretend that he's anything but massive. It's just that he still has kitten-face, and I fear what this says about his next growth spurt. He's going to eat me.)

The season's first treat has already been mentioned: Feed is still $1.99, and will be for the next two weeks. Yay! We're currently hovering in the Kindle 600s, which isn't bad for a book that's been out for two years. More treats will be forthcoming, once I know what they are. And of course, at the end of the month, When Will You Rise comes out from Subterranean, and that's sort of the ultimate treat. I cannot wait to see this book with my own eyes!

I'm hosting the SFWA Pacific Northwest Readings for this month, and I'm going to Disneyland with my fairy tale girls immediately afterward, so it's going to be a busy October, and that's just fine. I have a lot of work to do and a lot of experience at doing it, so I'm going to rock it.

Welcome to the month of my heart!