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HUGO NOM (to go with my NEBULA NOM OMGWTFTOFU)

Ya’ll, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is a Hugo nominee as well as a Nebula nominee this year. And you know what that means. That’s right. It’s Sparkly Pink Text time. HELL TO THE YEAH. I have to admit, I half-expected the Nebula. Enough people had the book on their proto-awards lists that I felt I had a fighting chance. But given the Hugos’ noted bias in favor of science fiction (and against fantasy), more notable embrace of well-known names (vs unknown n00bs), and most notablest aversion to girl cooties or any hint thereof, I didn’t think I had a chance […]

HUGO NOM (to go with my NEBULA NOM OMGWTFTOFU) KEEP READING

It’s official: Nebula Nom!

So I can finally let the cat out of the bag on some great news I got last week: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has been nominated for a 2010 Nebula Award! I’m thrilled, of course — dancing in the streets, figuratively — but I’ve actually known about this since last week, so had some time to squee and calm down. It helps that I’ve been through this before; last year was my first time on the Nebula ballot, in the short story category. Didn’t win then, but I was OK with that because a) it really is an honor to

It’s official: Nebula Nom! KEEP READING

FAQ you, you FAQing FAQ!

As some of you may know, I started a new full time job recently. Yay, regular income and cheap health insurance! And the job itself is great so far, but since I’m still kind of a full time writer, time has just become my most valuable commodity. So to maximize my free time — so I can use it on writing, natch — I’ve decided to put together a Frequently Asked Questions. Much of the FAQ will refer back to questions I’ve already answered here, in posts and comments. I’m also going to tackle a few questions that I seem

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Character Study: Itempas

OK, this got prematurely posted a few days ago thanks to the unmiracle of scheduled blog post publishing; I clicked “OK” when I should’ve clicked “Save for later”, basically. Took it down a few minutes later, but those of you on the RSS feed might’ve seen it already. Sorry ’bout the confusion. Anyway: I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether it was safe to do a Character Study for the big guy yet, given that his role in the trilogy isn’t yet over. (Not a spoiler; if a god’s not dead, s/he’s not done.) Spoilers for both

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Award Strategizing

So now that 2010 is done and other authors are starting to put out their not-quite-solicitations for Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy award nominations, I suppose I’ll jump on the bandwagon. Sorta. Because I’ve got an odd request. See, I’ve got two eligible short stories (“The Effluent Engine” and “On the Banks of the River Lex”) and two eligible novels this year. I’ve actually published three shorts, not two, but the third, “Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters,” is ineligible for a Hugo or Neb due to being published in the UK rather than

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DO WANT

I’m not even gonna lie, ya’ll. I want to win the Goodreads Choice Award for fantasy. I feel like I should maybe feel bad about wanting this, because I’m competing against such good writers; I’ve enjoyed and admired so many of the books on this list. And some of those writers are even friends! But my friends know full well how competitive I am, so… buds? Compadres? O Best Beloveds? Bring it, bitches. Of course, there’s a reason I’m full of pepper at the moment: a week of fantasmical reviews for The Broken Kingdoms, and even a few for the

DO WANT KEEP READING

The Inheritance Trilogy That Could’ve Been*

Trilogy: A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. Per Wikipedia, page last modified 23 October 2010 at 11:14. I note this because I’ve gotten some questions lately about my choice to make the Inheritance Trilogy three individual stories as opposed to the usual epic fantasy trilogy structure of a single story stretched over three books. First, a clarification: the Inheritance Trilogy is a single story. It’s just not the single story of any human character. Spoilers love you very

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A Few Points of Clarification

…on some things I’ve been asked about, privately and in interviews, re the Inheritance Trilogy lately. I’m a big believer in the idea that a book’s text is fundamentally interactive. It means both what the author intended it to mean and what the reader interprets it to mean, with the actual value falling somewhere in between. The two cannot be separated, and a good author tries to anticipate what her readers will bring to the table. She can’t always succeed, of course; different readers bring different things. But she can try, so here’s what I was trying to do. Huge

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What Fantasy Writers Do On Vacation

Apologies for not yet getting my London pics online; between Launch Week and life stuff I haven’t had time to edit and optimize. I’m not much of a picture taker, to be honest, and I tend to not do much with photos when I do take them. The visual fascinates me far less than the textual or auditory, for whatever reason. But I have two visual treats to share nevertheless: First, when I was in London, I did a signing of The Broken Kingdoms at the Forbidden Planet bookstore there, which is kind of like the sexily accented big brother

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