Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls

The 2017 Hugo Awards ballot is now live, and I am stunned and honored and delighted to announce that I am on it not once, but twice.

Every Heart a Doorway has been nominated for Best Novella. This is the book of my heart: this is the one I look at and dare to hope for, because I want it so badly, and I am so touched by its inclusion. Thank you to everyone who has looked at this little book and thought "how far can we help it go?" We have gone so far.

But that's not the stunner.

The stunner is that this year is the first time the Hugos have featured a category for Best Series. It's a trial run, a test, for a way to honor books and settings that work best in the context they create for themselves. Book eleven of something ongoing may not be the best candidate for Best Novel, but it may be part of something that, overall, is just as glorious.

And October Daye is up for Best Series.

I am stunned. I am overjoyed. I am not going to win--but winning isn't always the point. I have been given this honor, and I am not giving it back.

Thank you all so very, very much.

I will do my best not to let you down.

Georgia Mason is fighting hard in this year's Unbound Cage Match, and she needs your help.

It's a simple scroll to the bottom and click to vote, and I really want to see Georgia make the finals. Can you imagine the Georgia Mason vs. Harry Dresden snark party? Because I can. Oh, yes, I can.

Please vote if you have a second.

As of today, Magic For Nothing is officially available from bookstores all over North America, and from import stores all over the world. It's been spotted in the wild from California to New York, with several points between also chiming in to let me know that they've got copies. Hooray!

Since it's release week, I figured it was time to once again answer the wonderful people asking how they can help. So here are a few dos and don'ts for making this book launch awesome.

DO buy the book as soon as you can. Sales during the first week are very important—think of it as "opening weekend" for a movie—but they're not the end-all be-all. If you can get the book tomorrow, get the book; if you can get it at my book release party later this month, get it at my book release party. Whatever works for you. Brick-and-mortar store purchases are best, as they encourage reordering. If you've already bought the book, consider buying the book again during release week, as a single copy might get lonely. They make great gifts!

DON'T yell at other people who haven't bought the book yet. I know, that's sort of a "why are you saying this?" statement, but I got a very sad email from a teenager who'd been yelled at for not buying A Local Habitation the week that it came out, and I have never forgotten it. So just be chill. Unless you want to buy books for people who don't have them, in which case, don't yell, just buy.

DO ask your local bookstore if they have it on order. If your local store is part of a large chain, such as Barnes and Noble, the odds are good that the answer will be "yes," and that they'll be more than happy to hold one for you. If your local store is small, and does not focus specifically on science fiction/fantasy, they may have been waiting to see signs of interest before placing an order. Get interested! Interest is awesome!

DON'T berate your local bookseller if they say "no." Telling people they're overlooking something awesome doesn't make them go "gosh, I see the error of my ways." It makes them go "well, I guess it can be awesome without me." Suggest. Ask if you can special-order a copy. But don't be nasty to people just because their shelves can't hold every book ever written.

DO post reviews on your blog or on Amazon.com. Reviews are fantastic! Reviews make everything better! Please, write and post a review, even if it's just "I liked it." Honestly, even if it's just "this wasn't really my thing." As long as you're being fair and reasoned in your commentary, I'm thrilled. (I like to believe you won't all race right out to post one-star reviews, but if that's what you really think, I promise that I won't be mad.)

DON'T get nasty at people who post negative reviews. You are all people. You all have a right to the ball. That includes people who don't like my work. Please don't argue with negative reviewers on my behalf. It just makes everybody sad. If you really think someone's being unfair, why don't you post your own review, to present an alternate perspective? (Also, please don't email me my Amazon reviews. I don't read them, I don't want to read them, and I definitely don't want to be surprised with them. Please have mercy.)

DO feel free to get multiple copies. No, you probably don't need eight copies for your permanent collection, but remember that libraries, school libraries, and shelters are always in need of books. I'm donating a few of my author's copies to a local women's shelter, because they get a lot of women there who really need the escape. There are also people who just can't afford their own copies, and would be delighted. I wouldn't have had half the library I did as a teenager if it weren't for the kindness of the people around me.

DON'T feel obligated to get multiple copies, or pressure other people to do so. Seriously, we're all on budgets, and too much aggressive press can actually turn people off on a good thing. Let people make their own choices. Have faith.

DO check with your local library to be sure they have a copy of on order. If they don't, you can fill out a library request form. Spread the paperback love!

DON'T forget that libraries need books. Many libraries, especially on the high school level, are really strapped for cash right now, and book donations are frequently tax deductible. If you have a few bucks to spare, you can improve the world on multiple levels by donating books to your local public and high school libraries.

DO suggest the book to bookstore employees who like urban fantasy and talking mice. Nothing boosts sales like having people in the stores who really like a project. If your Cousin Danny (or Dani) works at a bookstore, say "Hey, why don't you give this a try?" It just might help.

DON'T rearrange bookstore displays. If the staff of my local bookstore is constantly being forced to deal with fixing the shelves after someone "helpfully" rearranged things to give their chosen favorites a better position, they're unlikely to feel well inclined toward that book—or author. It's not a good thing to piss off the bookstores. Let's just not.

So those are some things. I'm sure there are lots of other things to consider; this is, at least, a start. Finally, a few things that don't help the book, but do help the me:

Please don't expect immediate email response from me for anything short of "you promised us this interview, it runs tomorrow, where are your answers?" I normally make an effort to be a semi-competent correspondent, but with a new book on shelves and final edits due on an unnamed project, a lot of things are falling by the wayside. Like sleep.

If you're in the Bay Area, I hope to see you March 25th at Borderlands Books, where I will be reading, signing, and running a raffle for your enjoyment, along with Mishell Baker!

Whee!

Sometimes I look back at my own teenage years, tangled and tempestuous as they were, and wonder if I knew how lucky I was, musically speaking. The Counting Crows still played at the U.C. Berkeley on-campus club; Heather Alexander was both local and frequently touring; Celtic rock was having a resurgence, with Avalon Rising and Four Shillings Short playing somewhere almost every weekend.

And there was Annwn.

They were weirdos. They were wonderful. They were everything I wanted to be when I grew up. The idea of making Elton or Leigh Anne proud of me was enough to motivate me to do almost anything. I got to have a relationship with them, to know them as humans and artists and creators and people who let their freak flags fly proudly and without fear. I am the adult I am because they were there to be an example for the confused child I was.

Leigh Anne died in 2006. I still miss her. I will always miss her. Annwn died with her. Even if the band had wanted to continue, there was no replacing Leigh Anne. She was absolutely one of a kind.

For a long time, their music has been unavailable. Now, that's changing, and one of their best albums, Come Away to the Hills has been made available for purchase, as has the one album she recorded with Daoine Sidhe, Now and Then, which you can access here.

If you love Celtic rock and folk music, please give a listen.

This is one of the voices that made me.

So I have literally been sitting on this link for more than a year. It's been public that whole time: this isn't me doing the ultimate procrastination tango. It's just that I kept getting distracted, and I haven't been as awesome about non-checklist blogging as I've wanted to be. It feels like it's one of those things that has fallen by the wayside, and for that I am sorry.

Anyway.

If you click the above, you will come to one of the most beautifully impassioned "why you should read the October Daye books" posts ever written by someone who is not me and does not depend on them to pay her electrical bill. I am still, a year after first reading it (a year, time is ridiculous and I do not approve) stunned and touched and delighted.

One of the big things it touches on is the lack of sexual violence in the series, and how much of a relief that can be for readers. It's not that Toby's life is sunshine and roses--a chapter will tell you how much it isn't--it's that something that's become almost a casual signpost for evil in our media is intentionally missing. I admit, I made that choice out of exhaustion and pique. I never expected it to resonate the way it has. But I hear, quite regularly, from readers who feel like the series is safe for them, because they don't have to worry about HA HA SURPRISE DRAMATIC SEXUAL ASSAULT. And I am so glad I can provide that.

I also want to note that there's a discussion in the comments of the kind that becomes increasingly frequent as a series goes on: "When will this be over? I don't want to start until it's over." I really wish you would. The first three books are a decent barometer of whether you'll like it. At this point, Rosemary and Rue seems very rough to me in contrast with what I'm producing now, but you can get a feel for how I handle language, and by the time you reach An Artificial Night, you'll probably know whether the series is for you. That starter kit won't change if the series stops at fifteen or at fifty. I've never missed a deadline; the September 2017 book is finished and turned in, and I'll be starting the September 2018 book as soon as I get my editorial notes. I am about as close to a safe bet as you can get on this sort of thing. And, well. The electric bill.

Anyway. I just wanted to share this with you. And finally close that tab.

It's the little things.

I usually start these posts with "I am pleased...". I'm not pleased right now. I'm not sure I'll ever be pleased again. Like so many of us, I am sick and scared and sad. I'm wishing I weren't getting so many random apologies from people who found the villain in Feed cartoony and unrealistic, but now find him horrifyingly plausible. I'm wishing a lot of things.

But time passes; the Turtle moves; the work goes on, and my fear and my sadness do not mean I can let y'all miss things you might want to know about. So:

It is my privilege to announce that I (as Mira Grant) am doing another novella with Subterranean Press. Final Girls is a story about virtual reality, psychotherapy, corporate espionage, and figuring out exactly who you are. According to the website...

What if you could fix the worst parts of yourself by confronting your worst fears?

Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they've been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But...can real change come so easily?

Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father’s life. She's determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb’s budding company. Dr. Webb’s willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther's not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other's only hope of survival.

Limited to 1,250 signed, numbered copies, Final Girls is available for pre-order now, and will be shipping in April. This is going to be a gorgeous book. Julie Dillon, who did the cover for Rolling in the Deep, is doing the cover for this one too, and I am so excited. Remember that Rolling in the Deep sold out fast, and is now virtually unattainable unless you're lucky or have a book budget I really envy, and order yours today!

Check out this Barnes & Noble blog about the October Daye series.

Specifically, about seven awesome things about the October Daye series. I think there are many awesome things about the October Daye series, including the way it helps me keep the brain squirrels from eating me alive, but it's always super fun to see what someone else thinks of as the highlights.

What highlights do you think they missed?

It's time for bullet-point updates! Hooray!

* Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 21st) marks the release of RISE, the complete Newsflesh short fiction collection. This book gathers everything from "Everglades" through Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus, along with two never-before-published pieces, All the Pretty Little Horses and Coming to You Live. It's not intended as an introduction to the world--at least four of the novellas are post-the original trilogy, which makes them great whopping slices of spoiler--but I'm incredibly proud of this material, and over the moon about finally having a short fiction collection of my very own. I feel like Stephen King. It's pretty awesome.

* Today is the last day of the Unicorn Empire T-shirt pre-sale for their gorgeous Toby Daye design. Don't miss out!

* CrossingsCon is this weekend! The first ever Young Wizards fan convention, and I'm one of their guests of honor! I keep closing my eyes and remembering standing in my middle school library with So You Want to Be a Wizard in my hand, and I'll be honest: I feel like a wizard right now. In Life's name, and for Life's sake, I feel like a wizard. Because somehow, I have willed the adulthood I wanted into being, and for all that it's not perfect, it's the imperfection that makes it all seem real.

Everything is amazing.