Posted a little early, because I’m going to be busy tomorrow and won’t have time to update. In which chapter 2’s cliffhanger is resolved… sort of… Oh, and note the change to the website’s main page header! Preorder pages have been confirmed at all the usual retail suspects (except Borders, unsurprisingly). So preorder at will, preorder at will, preorder at will.
Sample Chapter 3 of KoG KEEP READING
I’m having a party at World Fantasy this year, because The Kingdom of Gods launches that very weekend. Got a suite already reserved, planning a theme — a slumber/pajama party, since that’s something Sieh would love — and ordering party favors. I’m going to have badge ribbons, among other things, so that people who come to the party can add it to their con badges. (If you’ll be at WFC, come! And bring your jammies!) So what should go on the badge ribbons? (Or other marketing swag I might do?) [poll id=”2″] ETA: ARGH. The poll isn’t working. Sorry folks;
Previous Snippets posts can be found here. The Kingdom of Gods was hard to write! It was the first time I’ve ever started a book without a clearly-established plan in mind — I knew where I wanted to go, but not how to get there — and under deadline pressure. So I wrote several starter versions of the book before I found the right voice and direction for it. Some of these got quite long; I probably wrote an entire novel’s worth of material in order to find the right way of telling this story. But that’s OK, because I
Snippets 3: Kingdom of Gods outtakes KEEP READING
Forgot to mention this here, though I did on Twitter — famous fan James Davis Nicoll did an interview with me in Publishers Weekly earlier this week, to coincide with their review of The Kingdom of Gods. (Spoilers for the third sample chapter, which goes up next week!) Some excerpts from the interview, which is published in their print edition but also here at the Genreville blog: JDN: One of the defining elements in the Inheritance Trilogy was obsessive and often destructive love. Another was a political structure notable for its brutality and authoritarian aspects. The two elements are linked
Publishers Weekly! KEEP READING
I get asked a lot how I concocted the worldbuilding of the Inheritance Trilogy — the politics, that is, as much as the mythos. People ask me how on earth I came up with a society in which the law is whatever the hell the people in charge decide to enforce, for whomever they deem worthy of justice; in which the right to kill is not a moral question or a quest for righteousness, but merely a cherished privilege of power; in which the wanton destruction of entire peoples and landscapes is constantly obfuscated by revised history; in which a
Where it comes from KEEP READING
Folks on Twitter and FB knew this, but it occurred to me I hadn’t mentioned the b-day here on the homeblog. D’oh, Web 2.0fail. Anyway, I partly forgot to mention it because it wasn’t a big deal. Like anyone who works in education, I generally write off the month of September for stuff like, oh, a social life, complex thought, or a full night’s sleep. So I generally celebrate my birthday in October sometime. And given that this October will see the publication of The Kingdom of Gods… well, there’s just all kinds of stuff I can do with that.
Belated Happy Birthday to me! KEEP READING
This has been a rough week, and it’s not over yet — just a lot of personal and day job stuff going on. But also a little bit of professional stuff, which I’ve caught only the narrowest edge of since, hey, rough week. Not much time for internets. Still, I’ve been trying to follow the whole controversy that’s been going down the past few days regarding gay characters in YA. If you weren’t aware or haven’t been following it — here’s a good roundup — it’s basically the same kind of discussion we periodically have in SFF about the presence
Catching up with myself on gay YA KEEP READING
Just got the final table of contents for the Datlow & Windling forthcoming YA dystopian anthology, After. Introduction The Segment by Genevieve Valentine After the Cure by Carrie Ryan Valedictorian by N.K. Jemisin Visiting Nelson by Katherine Langrish All I Know of Freedom by Carol Emshwiller The Other Elder by Beth Revis The Great Game at the End of the World by Matthew Kressel Reunion by Susan Beth Pfeffer Faint Heart by Sarah Rees Brennan Blood Drive by Jeffrey Ford Reality Girl by Richard Bowes Hw th’Irth Wint Wrong by Hapless Joey @ homeskool.guv by Gregory Maguire Rust With Wings
“After” Table of Contents, and Imposter Syndrome KEEP READING
Consider this a thought experiment. Awhile back, I wrote about change theory, and the notion that the only way to unfreeze a stable system is to heat it up in some way. This isn’t exactly a new or unique ideology; it’s one held by radicals of whatever stripe, and to a degree it’s been proven by history. Every fallen empire, every long-lasting regime that’s been overturned, every stagnant system that’s undergone a sudden and drastic change, has shown that change is always possible, no matter how ingrained or set-in-stone the pre-change status quo seemed to be. But systems operate on
How much status do you quo? KEEP READING
Happy post-Labor-Day, for you Americans out there. I spent the weekend relaxing with friends, eating peaches and drinking peach-flavored wine, and writing — blissfully writing. ::happy sigh:: It’s been awhile since I could write as much as I wanted. Felt really good. Anyway. Earlier this weekend (starting September 3), I inadvertently provoked a sprawling discussion on Twitter by wondering out loud, “Does fantasy have to be set in the past, or use bygone technology?” It was a good convo — included reviewers like Niall Harrison and Rose Fox, as well as fellow writers Justine Larbalestier and Nnedi Okorafor. Go check
Must Epic Fantasy Be Set in the Past? KEEP READING