A New Addition to the Family...

It's Friday!

It's Friday and the beautiful book I collaborated with Andrez Bergen on is HERE!

Cover by the amazing Franz Kantor

This book... if you've been following the blog here you know my journey to seeing my name on the cover of a real live novel has not been the most traditional. It's been a strange and winding road, but the book is here now and I couldn't be prouder of this beautiful orange baby.

My shipment of copies is on it's way and I have big plans for the people who order directly from me (and there will be a giveaway or two, of course) but if you're the impatient type - if you've been wondering all this time how the hell we made disco, noir, and Tristan and Isolde fit together beautifully - you can order it on Amazon RIGHT NOW!

This is a purely self promotional post. I'm too excited to think of any slick way to write about something else and slide in the news somewhere in the middle. I'm fucking stoked! This is a novel! A novel with MY NAME on the cover!

WHAT THE HELL, YOU GUYS?!

Side note: at exactly what time of day is it acceptable to break out the bottle of whiskey my lovely friends sent me to celebrate with? Is it 2:11pm? Because it's 2:11pm right now...

The Game is Afoot

Ch-ch-changes...

I've got a lot going on so strap in and listen up! You might care about some of it!

I've been working on a novel for a couple years. This includes the rewrites, the beta reads, the going back for a ground-up reworking because the beta-reads didn't go the way I'd hoped, putting it aside to come back later, and all the things that usually come with a manuscript that takes a couple years of your life.

And as of Tuesday, I've shelved it.

I've been spending a lot of time recently telling myself that all the other ideas I have can wait, because goddamnit, this project will get done! But the truth is, if it were really that urgent, it'd be done. The other truth is, in the couple years I've been writing and publishing my focus has changed and I'm much better equipped to write this story about nymphomaniac bank robbers than I ever was to tackle soft science fiction.

So here it goes, right?

With a new project almost always comes a new approach. I can crank out a short story in an afternoon, but novel writing has always taken a lot more work and concentration for me. I really want to focus my ability to hit a high word count into writing a novel quickly, and it's time for me to admit that being a "pantser" is just not for me.

So, with trepidation, I set out to write an outline for the current WIP. Looking at all the options and explanations just made me feel like I wanted to hold my breath until I passed out and come back to it later, but I did run across Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet from Save the Cat, and it looked doable. After a long Facebook conversation with Jay Stringer and Bryon Quertermous, I had some actionable advice I felt like I could put to use, and immediately set about making my office look like a serial killer's den. 

Two days in and I'm feeling like all those brain storming sessions might actually mean something when I hit the halfway mark and start wallowing in my own self-pity. 

Speaking of self-pity - 

Haha, just kidding. I don't self-deprecate. But the novel I collaborated with Andrez Bergen is available for pre-order now and the release date is creeping closer. 

I had a lot of fun working with Andrez on the Trista & Holt comics that became Black Sails, Disco Inferno, and I'm really looking forward to sharing this baby with the world. You've got a retelling of Tristan & Isolde with crime, disco, and characters I've really come to love (looking at you, Governal). 

And in my ongoing efforts to leave the house and interact with real humans, I'm once again joining the SWILL crew at Beast Crawl this year. Check out our fancy Facebook invite and holla at me from the bar. We're reading at Longitude this year, same as last, and I can tell you they make some amazing bourbon cocktails at that location. Not only that, but one of my favorite Dirge Staffers (they're all my favorite, who am I kidding) promised to bring a sign and cause a scene, so you don't want to miss that.

NOT ONLY THAT, but holy cats, did you see that lineup? You get me, DSD's very own Holly West, David Corbett, Rob Pierce, and Sean Craven. This thing is going to be wild. Come see us!

Black Sails, Disco Inferno

A little over a year ago, I was laying in the guest bedroom at my in-laws' house, browsing Facebook on New Year's Eve. Being eight hours ahead of most of my friends made the activity light, but I saw a post from a friend and writer talking about this idea he was playing with - he wasn't sure if he should go ahead.

The idea was, what if you gender-flipped the Tristan and Isolde myth, modernized it, and made it noir? Holy shit, I was not going to let him talk himself out of that one. I had read (and loved) all of Andrez Bergen's work up to that point, and I couldn't think of a person better suited to that story, so I picked up my pom-poms and started cheerleading.

Fast forward to September of last year and the seventh issue of the resulting comic, Trista & Holt, debuted with my name in the slot for guest-writer. I'm a huge comic book fan, and a huge fan of Andrez, so this was absolutely surreal. When our first review for the issue came in, and it was overwhelmingly positive, I actually cried. I couldn't have been happier with our collaboration - or so I thought.

Because Andrez never sleeps (he says he does, but I don't buy it), once he wrapped up the comic series, he moved right on to the next project: a novelization of the comic series with a different ending.

Completely unexpectedly, it turns out that the first novel with my name on the cover will be Black Sails, Disco Inferno, set to be released this summer.

This is HUGE.

This is AMAZING.

This is INSANE.

I don't even know how to process the turn of events. For my part, I stumbled through my collaboration on the comic with Andrez, held my breath, and hoped for the best. I am so proud of the work I did, and how beautifully the collaboration worked out, but when Andrez sat down to write the novel, he promised I'd be credited for my part, he assured me the story would not have been the same without my work - but to have my name on the cover? To have a dedication to my husband in the front and acknowledgements in the back? To be planning a release party? HOLY SHIT.

This book is amazing, the previews I've seen for the cover are beautiful. This collaboration is absolutely the high point of my (admittedly short) career. I'm a bit stunned, but overall bursting with excitement to share this work with everyone.

I'm sure I'll come to grips with how to fully take the credit for my part (I'm not there yet), after all, it did suddenly feel real when I started writing acknowledgements but for now I'm trying to savor the excitement of seeing something I was a part of come out into the world with my name on it. Andrez is, as always, a wonderful person to work with, and has made sure I feel like this is mine, too, but I've been calling it, "The novel I collaborated on... well, I mean... I didn't write it..." which is a bit of a mouthful. I'm open for suggestions on something a little more succinct.

In the meantime, I bought myself a cool toy and am having a drink to celebrate.