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Virtual Book Tour: Alma Alexander at the Astraldome
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Mar. 1st, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
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Today the Astraldome welcomes bestselling author of the Jin Shei series, Alma Alexander.
So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Alma to a place very close to your computer screen. Warning: there is an 'r' in the month so there will be ectoplasm.
Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading, the mediums are entering a trance like state - possibly Belgium. Now, concentrate on Alma's picture below. Will her across the astral plane. And hold that image. The astral plane is a slippery place and she may snap back.
Can you see it? Alma's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...
Q1 I hear that Jin Shei has sold over 30,000 copies in hardcover in Spain in only six months. Just how large is the Spanish branch of your family?
Someone I met at one of my many schools, back when I was fifteen or so, grew up to be a Spanish teacher - she lives in Wales and holidays in Spain regularly. Believe it or not, that is my only connection with Spain. The only thing I can say in it with any degree of conviction is "Que?" (you have to imagine the other upside down question mark, my keyboard doesn't do exotics *grin*). The success of this book in Spain was completely unlooked for, utterly confounding, and still hard to believe...
Q2. Has living in a large number of countries and travelling extensively seeped into your writing? Do you find it easier to write about outsiders and 'the other?'
That's cheating, that's two questions.
What can I say? It's two for one night on the astral plane.
Okay, part the first: I would recommend travel as a way of learning people. I make it a point to try and "mingle"; when I was living in New Zealand the opportunity arose to visit Tahiti and I grabbed it - and by the end of my ten days there I could speak a couple of dozen words in the local language, I had engaged in conversations with a local young security guard at my hotel in the only language we had in common (French) although they were peppered with lots of "how do you say" prefixes as I tried to remember the rusty schoolgirl French I'd not touched for years, and I had learned a bunch of traditions and ghost stories and tales of mystery and magic many of which WILL find their way into my writing sooner or later. I've still got my entire African life experience to write about, practically untouched. Travel is wonderful.
Part the second: oh, yes. There's nothing like coming in from outside the circle for clarity of vision of the way things are INSIDE the circle. The things that the insiders don't, will NEVER be able to, see. And will sometimes hate you, the outsider, for pointing out.
Q3. You receive a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be for your new book, Gift of the Unmage?
"Thea Winthrop is a Double Seventh - seventh child of two seventh children - the most magical of the magical, the flowering of her potential eagerly awaited by her family, by her world. There's just one problem - she can't do any magic at all. Before giving up completely and sending her to the Last Ditch School for the Incurably Incompetent, where children of a magical world who are incapable of magic are sent for a decent education while being kept out of harm's way, Thea's desperate parents whisk her back in time into the care of an Anasazi tribal elder for a last attempt at waking the dormant Double Seventh potential. What Thea learns in the shadow of the red mesas of the Southwest will make her realise that she and a handful of other misfit kids from the Last Ditch School are the only ones who can save their world from a hungry evil called simply The Nothing - and that Thea's co-called magical powerlessness is the most potent weapon of all."
How is the serial killer counting the words?
Very scarily using other people's fingers.
A glance towards the silhouetted serial killer. He's deep in thought ... and other peoples' fingers. What's he going to decide? It's ... it's a thumbs up - several thumbs up - for Alma and Thea.
Q4. In Gift for an Unmage Thea attends the Last Ditch School for the Incurably Incompetent. Would you have liked to have gone to that school? Did you?
I didn't go to that school, no, but funnily enough a few of its teachers taught at schools I DID go to. I will (ahem) particularly draw your attention to the Mathematics teacher, Mr Siffer - and later, in the second book (coming next year) the Biology teacher, Mr Crow. (My husband recently bought me a T-shirt that says, "Careful or you'll end up in my novel". He thinks he was kidding.)
It's a nice enough school, as schools go, if it weren't for that moniker and its reputation as a dead-end place for useless misfits - but then, my books redeem the place, and how, so I guess that having gone there will come to be regarded as a plus rather than something to try and hide on your resume...
Q5. If you had the power to select any book, delete its existence from the time line, then give that concept to another writer, what would be that book and who do you think should have written it?
Oof. No fair. These days such books might well be written by my own peer group, by people I consider friends - and quite often the people who I might nominate as replacement-writers will ALSO be people I consider friends. Doing this would not be kind to either. But might I put forward the screenplay for the LOTR movies (as done by Peter Jackson et al) and suggest that they would have been better off giving the job to, well, *me*...? (okay, everyone, put the rocks down. I know the Jackson movies have LOTS of fans. I, however, don't think he did the book justice, he messed with the storyline (leaving out important stuff which WAS in the books and inserting irrelevant nonsense of his own making), and he COMPLETELY failed to get either Aragorn or the Elves. There IS a way of filming these books. I could have written that screenplay, kept the sweep and the drama of the movie and still kept true to the spirit of the book.
Thank you, Alma. The mediums power down, Peter Jackson's lawyers reach for their ouija boards and Alma's ghostly presence returns to whence it came.
Meanwhile, The Gift of the Unmage can be bought from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK
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Updates: Rams and Ectoplasm
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Feb. 16th, 2007 @ 03:24 pm
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Well we finished the ram shelter just as the rain was starting. It was touch and go, frenetic, tiring and, when it was over, satisfying. And pretty impressive seeing as we were using a minimum of bought-in lumber - using things to hand instead like old railway sleepers (cut down for the four corner posts) leftover joists, lathes and old slates from our last roofing project.
And Harmon seemed grateful - in a shruggy 'I'm an important ram with far more important things on my mind' kind of way. At least he used it. Though 14 hours of torrential rain might have had something to do with its popularity.
Other news: I'll be hosing down the Astraldome on March 1st for the spectral appearance of bestselling author (and anyone who sells 30,000 copies of a hardback - in Spanish - in five months is doing something right) Alma Alexander. Her YA book, Gift of the Unmage is the first of the Worldweavers trilogy and billed as a serious rival for a certain H. Potter esq.
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Virtual Book Tour: Chris Roberson at the Astraldome
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Jan. 30th, 2007 @ 10:58 am
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Today the Astraldome welcomes award winning author and publisher of Monkey Brain Books, Chris Roberson.
So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Chris to a place very close to your computer screen. Warning: there may be ectoplasm.
Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading. Concentrate on Chris's picture below. Will him across the astral plane. And hold that image. The astral plane is a time-slippery place and he may snap back.
Can you see it? Chris's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...
Q1. Who is your favourite X-men character?
It’s sad, but if I’m honest my favorite X-Man is none of the cool ones. No Wolverine for me, with his cigar-chomping machismo and hairy chest. And that strange glowing-eyed Cajun who throws playing cards didn’t come along until after my time, so I don’t even have an opinion about him. No, my favorite characters are the staid, the boring, the blatant reader-identification figures for nerdy teenage boys. It’s a toss-up between Cyclops, who seems to have no identifiable personality traits of note, and Cypher, the teenaged New Mutant whose only super-power is the ability to translate things into and from foreign languages (only very, very fast). It’s certainly no accident that I just wrote an X-Men novel for Pocket Books in which the ability to translate things was of vital importance to the plot...
Q2. If a genie from the Justice League of America offered to make you into a superhero, what powers/mutations would you choose? And what name would you take?
Does the JLA have a genie on staff? Sheesh, they’ll take *anybody* these days. (If you ask me, when they lowered the standards far enough to let Firestorm on the team, the salad days were over.)
But powers? At the moment, I’d like the mutant ability to jump ahead in time to a point just after I’ve finished writing whatever book I happen to be writing at the time, to save the muss and fuss. Wouldn’t it be so much easier that way? I always enjoy the moments leading up to writing a book, and I love the warm afterglow of having finished one, but the time in between is muddied up with all of this damned *work*.
As for names, I’ve always been partial to God Emperor. It has nothing to do with my requested superpowers. I just like the sound of it.
Q3. The God Emperor receives a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be for Paragaea?
Paragaea is that familiar old story of girl launches in rocket, girl falls through hole in spacetime, girl meets boy, girl meets jaguar man, girl and boy and jaguar man fight monsters and pterosaur-riding pirates, girl meets ancient android, girl falls through another hole in spacetime and loses boy. It’s a planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett, but with an underpinning of real science. A female cosmonaut, a timelost British naval officer, and an outlaw prince of the jaguar men have adventures the length and breadth of the posthistoric world of Paragaea, pausing frequently for suitable alcoholic refreshment. Along the way they encounter a merman, an ancient android, and an Amazonian warrior, take a trip in an airship, go on a sea voyage, walk long distances, ride on horseback, and travel crosscountry by indricothere (look it up). It’s the same old, same old, really.
A glance towards the silhouetted serial killer, he's thinking - or maybe he's looking up indricothere in his serial killer dictionary - and ... yes, the chainsaw can be put away for another day, it's a mass-murdering thumbs up from the Man in the Ironed Skin Mask.
Q4. It's been rumoured for quite some time that the success of Monkey Brain Books is down to the use of small amounts of real monkey brains impregnated into the fabric of each page. Is this true or do you use synthetic monkey brains?
I take deep umbrage at the scandalous suggestion that we would use anything but the finest in free-range farm-fresh monkey brains in our publications. Lies! All lies!
Q5. Was there a moment in your career when you moved from 'I think I can be a writer' to 'I know I can' and if so what, other than alcohol, precipitated that change.
I was foolish enough to “know” that I could be a writer long before I actually should have. I wrote my first novel in college, then finished another before I graduated, and between then and the time that I actually started selling fiction I managed to write another seven novels and a few dozen short stories, none of which anyone will ever see. It was that complete lack of any realistic expectations, I think, that helped me weather those long years in which I completely sucked as a writer, to reach the point where my suckiness dropped to tolerable levels.
Of course, once I reached that point, and started selling novels and short stories, I became immediately convinced that I was a fraud, with no business writing anything at all, and that it was only a matter of time before I was found out. And it’s in this latter state that I persist, to this day.
That said, alcohol certainly didn’t hurt, in either condition.
Thank you, Chris. The mediums power down, Doris falls down, and the God Emperor's ghostly presence returns to whence it came.
Now for feedback - did anyone see any ectoplasm? Did anyone sober see any ectoplasm? Did Chris's astral form billow out and grasp anything? And if so, is it anything you can talk about? Enquiring minds need to know.
Meanwhile, Paragaea can be bought from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK
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Fluffy goes global
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Jan. 29th, 2007 @ 03:41 pm
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It's not every day you get an email from an Emmy award winning comedy writer asking if your kitten could write for his website. But such has been the response to Fluffy's Nigerian Tuna Scam letter that Fluffy is a kitten in demand.
And forthwith will be appearing occasionally here
No one's fridge will be safe.
Meanwhile the Astraldome is being hosed down for the arrival of publisher and award-winning author (not to mention X-Men author) Chris Roberson. The interview is scheduled for tomorrow but I'm having problems with both the quantum computer and Doris the medium. For those unaware, every month or so I strap two mediums to a quantum computer and astrally project an author interview into homes and desktops all over the world. Sometimes this world, sometimes the next. The astral plane is unpredictable at the best of times and now that Doris is back on the bottle...
So watch out for tomorrow. There may be more ectoplasm than usual. Projectile ectoplasm even.
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Virtual Book Tour: Cherie Priest at the Astraldome
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Dec. 1st, 2006 @ 10:49 am
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Well this time the Astraldome leaves its walls unhosed down, its drains blocked and a film of scary ectoplasm moistening its drapes ... because (cue Vincent Price at the organ) it welcomes Cherie Priest - ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cmpriest and Mistress of the Southern Gothic.
So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Cherie from her office in a Seattle graveyard to a place very close to your computer screen. Remember, there may be ectoplasm and if any gets on your keyboard - don't let your cat lick it up.
Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading and the quantum computer has flipped through to its spin cycle. Now concentrate on Cherie's picture below. Will her across the astral plane. And hold that image, even if it takes a scary form. The astral plane is a slippery place and Cherie's spectral image might snap back.
Can you see it? Cherie's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...
Q1. Do you think that you'll continue to set most of your novels in the South? Or has moving to Seattle nudged your writing axis?
Well, I spent most of my life in the south so it's the region I know best -- but I'm already planning to rework one upcoming project to be set in Seattle. It's simply easier to write about a location that I know very well and/or have easy access to.
Q2. If you were given a government grant to design the ultimate scary chimera. What animals would you borrow from and for which parts? And would it start with the face of a sloth?
Hmm .... let's see. Face of sloth, yes. Hands of sloth too -- they look like lobster claws with fur. Maybe mouth of those bitey fish that have the glowing lures on their heads. Legs of kangaroo ... because what could be scarier than a hairy lobster-clawed sloth beast with big teeth LEAPING TOWARDS YOU?
(long pause) ... Interviewer stands back for next question, sneaking worried glances over left shoulder whilst listening for Slobbo, the were-skippy.
Q3. If you had (pauses for another look over shoulder) the opportunity to spend the night in the haunted location of your choice - anywhere in the world - where would it be? Or would you pass?
I wouldn't pass so long as I'm not alone. I wouldn't do it by myself, that's for sure. But with company? Holy crap. So many options! I've always wanted to go to Waverly Hills, in Kentucky. It's an old sanitarium (what IS it about me and old sanitariums? I tell ya ...) , fearsomely haunted, and I think that Ghost Hunters on the SciFi channel even did an episode there. Really, I'd be game to go just about anyplace, so long as I was assured (a). that I wouldn't be alone, (b). some good recording equipment and (c). somebody else would be paying my traveling expenses.
Q4. If a friend with a time machine gave you the chance to go back in time and alter something from your writing past, what would it be? Telling your 15 year-old self to burn that first novel? Or would you say 'forget it' and take the machine back to watch an early Bowie concert?
Bowie. All the way. I've made a lot of mistakes, but I've learned from them -- and it's worked out fairly well so far. So yes. Let's say "Bowie" on that one. Or let's just say "Bowie" a lot anyway. Bowie Bowie Bowie ...
Q5. You receive a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be?
Which book? I've got this stack of them, see ... But okay. Let's take Dreadful Skin (since that's the next one out). Dreadful Skin is a trio of stories about a little Irish nun who hunts werewolves with a silver-bullet-loaded Colt. The first story, "The Wreck of the Mary Byrd," is my werewolf/steamboat/disaster novella; the second one, "Halfway to Holiness," has the nun infiltrating a traveling Pentecostal camp meeting (in search of werewolves); and the third, "Our Lady of the Wasteland," features our nun-hero hunting werewolves in [cue Jack Palance voice] the ooooold west.
Is that less than 150 words? Cripes, I hope so ...
A glance towards the serial killer. He likes the nun, the silver-bullet-loaded Colt brings back memories... But he's not sure about the word count. He's taking off his shoes and socks ... putting down his chainsaw... Oh dear, I knew he should have done that the other way round. But ... here comes the verdict. He raises a thumb - several thumbs, several pieces of thumbs. And it's a many thumbs-up verdict for Dreadful Skin.
Thank you, Cherie. The mediums power down, the serial killer limps off towards a distant alley, and Cherie's ghostly presence returns from whence it came.
Or is it ... BEHIND YOU!
Now, for those still able to read, did anyone see any ectoplasm? Did anyone sober see any ectoplasm? Did Cherie's astral form billow out and grasp a pen? And if it did, did it write anything you can sell on eBay? Enquiring minds need to know.
Meanwhile, Dreadful Skin can be pre-ordered from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK. For those who can't wait,Wings to the Kingdom is out now in the US, the UK and all good bookshops worldwide.
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More Spectral Authors Coming to the Astraldome
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Nov. 11th, 2006 @ 01:26 pm
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The lure of the ectoplasm has proved too great for another couple of authors. Bestselling author, Cherie Priest, of Four and Twenty Blackbirds fame will be boldly going through the final frontier in the next week or so. As will the much acclaimed Chris Roberson.
Now, if only Doris can stay sober...
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Virtual Book Tour: Jim C. Hines at the Astraldome
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Nov. 9th, 2006 @ 08:55 am
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Once more the Astraldome has its walls hosed down, the drains unblocked and ... welcomes Goblin Quest author Jim C. Hines.
So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Jim from his dungeon in Michigan to a place very close to your computer screen. A slight warning: Doris 'internationally renowned medium' Scrote is back on the drink - so there may be some ectoplasm wander. If any gets on your keyboard - don't let your cat lick it up.
Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading and the quantum computer is in a state. Now concentrate on Jim's picture below. Will him across the astral plane. And keep concentrating. Hold that image. The astral plane is a slippery place to cross - especially with Doris back on the bottle - Jim's spectral image might snap back.
Can you see it? Jim's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...
Q1. You sold your first pro story to Writers of the Future in 1998. What do you think was different about that story compared to your earlier ones that didn't sell?
Ah, good question. Unlike my earlier, "failed" stories, this one had a magical dagger shaped like a bunny.
Seriously, this was the first story I really had fun with. Up until that point, I had worked very hard on what I thought my stories should be. This time, I just relaxed and wrote what I wanted. My characters bantered back and forth, they played practical jokes in the middle of their adventure, and I had a blast writing it. I'm told that sense of fun really came through in the story.
Still, a knife that can wiggle its nose and bite a disrespectful owner is a strong selling point in my book.
Q2. Goblin Quest is about a goblin who lives in a dungeon, gets press-ganged, forced to fight hobgoblins, carrion worms, zombies and necromancers, and search for hidden treasure. Is it autobiographical?
Jig the goblin is a nearsighted little runt who gets picked on by all the bigger, stronger, popular goblins. I'd like to say for the record that there is absolutely nothing autobiographical about it. Nope, nothing whatsoever.
Fortunately, Jig is also a clever little guy, and a great deal of fun. He's the underdog, and unlike a lot of fantasy quest adventures, he's not "the chosen one" in any way. No special gifts or powers, nothing but his wits and his pet fire-spider. He absolutely hates this whole quest thing, but as it turns out, he's not half bad at it. Better than the real adventurers, at least.
Of course, the adventurers don't appreciate being shown up by a mere goblin, so even Jig's successes come around to bite him. It's rough being a goblin.
Q3. You receive a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be?
Thank God. I was afraid this would be another political call.
As a serial killer, you'll appreciate the goblin mindset. Goblins just want to stay alive. If that means they smile at you, then stick a knife in your back the moment you let down your guard, so be it. That's what you get for turning your back on a goblin. After all, the closest word for "trust" in the goblin tongue is a word that means "gullible" or "dumb as dung," depending on context.
Jig also comes up with some very creative ways to attack his enemies. You need a flaming spider for at least one of them, but I'm sure a clever fellow like you could find a few useful ideas.
And really, who doesn't appreciate good old-fashioned cannibalism jokes?
To close, Wil Wheaton called the book, "too f***ing cool for words." What else is there to say?
A quick pause for a reaction. He's not too happy about being compared to a goblin. But he does have this strange fixation on Wesley Crusher. So ... yes, it's an ectoplasmic f***ing thumbs-up from our serial killer. On with the next question...
Q4. Looking at Goblin Quest I suspect a D&D past. But which role did you prefer - dungeonmaster or adventurer?
Oh, I go both ways. Um, wait . . . can I rephrase that?
I enjoy the storytelling side of running an adventure, and trying to keep up with both the really clever and the really dumb choices my players make. But it's also a great deal of fun for me to be one of those players, being really clever and defeating a room full of manure-wading, methane-generating stink-monsters with a single fire spell, then leaping into a whirlpool in full plate mail the next.
Goblin Quest definitely has its share of gaming humor, for those attuned to catch it. Most of my college friends will recognize a certain dwarf's obsession with mapping, for example. But the story itself and most of the jokes are written for gamers and non-gamers alike.
Q5. I notice on your website it says that you've amassed 500+ rejections. Any really memorable ones? Threats to set the dogs on you if you send any more stories?
My very first rejection letter was from the Clarion Workshop. I applied several times, to both workshops, and never got in. (Though I was an alternate several times.) What makes this one most memorable is the fact that earlier this summer, I was invited to be a guest instructor at Clarion. I've also got a rejection from Marion Zimmer Bradley, asking why I had written this pointless story. I sold her one later, for the very last issue of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine.
Rejection letters can be frustrating, but few things are more satisfying than turning around and blowing that rejection away with a sale to the editor in question. (Or with an invitation to lecture, in the case of Clarion.)
Thank you, Jim. The mediums power down, Doris falls down, and Jim's ghostly presence slithers back along the plane, gnaws at an engine then disappears.
Now for feedback - did anyone see any ectoplasm? Did anyone sober see any ectoplasm? Did Jim's astral form billow out and grasp a pen? And if it did, did it write anything legible? Enquiring minds need to know.
Meanwhile, Goblin Quest can be bought from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK
And details of Jim's book tour across the blogosphere can be found here
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Virtual Book Tour: Sarah Hoyt at the Astraldome
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Nov. 2nd, 2006 @ 10:16 am
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Following the great success of the inaugural astral interview (i.e. no one died. Well, no one important...) the Astraldome has had its walls hosed down, the drains unblocked and ... welcomes fantasy and mystery author Sarah Hoyt.
Sarah has two books coming out this month. Draw One in the Dark - a shape-shifting urban fantasy - and, writing as Sarah D'Almeida, Death of a Musketeer - an historical mystery starring four very famous musketeers.
So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Sarah from her home in Colorado to a place very close to your computer screen. Same warning as before. If there is any ectoplasm leakage - which I'm assured there won't be - don't let your cat lick it up.
Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading, the quantum computer may or may not be on. Now concentrate on Sarah's picture below. Will her across the astral plane. And keep concentrating. Hold that image. The astral plane is a slippery place to cross - her spectral image might snap back. Or shape shift. We are dealing with an author who uses pseudonyms.
Can you see it? Sarah's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...
Q1. I read in an interview that you've had a crush on Athos since the age of eleven. But why Athos? Wasn't Aramis the Musketeer heart throb?
Oh, probably. But one falls in love with characters for different reasons. Besides, quite frankly, if I met Aramis I'd probably think he was too smooth by half.
Athos is different. Perhaps because of his guilt over his wife's death -- though of course, Milady isn't dead but he doesn't know that -- or because of a strict moral fiber with stoic overtones. The thing is, when Athos -- at the beginning of Monsieur Dumas books -- disciplined himself past physical pain and weakness to make his way to Monsieur de Treville's office to defend his friends, I fell headlong in love with him. There is a self-contained darkness there, a discipline and loyalty that transcends mere physical limits. Hard not to fall in love with, in fact.
Q2. In DOITD Kyrie is a werepanther. Which sounds cool but are werepanthers house trained? If I were to visit Kyrie's home would I find a large litter tray in her bathroom?
Um... I have no doubt if Kyrie saw this she would glare at you. Kyrie only shifts when she wants to or needs to. Oh, one or two accidental shifts might happen when she is stressed or in trouble -- but I have no doubt she takes care of the minutia of daily life in the ordinary way. :)
Q3. Given the choice which animal would you like to shape shift into?
One of my cats. This thing about sleeping all day, eating at will and being adored for your troubles HAS to be a good deal. If something more ferocious were desired, probably a tiger. However, my alter ego in Baen's Bar is an ocelot, and I guess that will have to do.
Q4. You receive a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be?
Well, first of all I would yell at the serial killer for being so uninformed. After all, I have TWO books coming out practically one on top of each other.
So, my first talk would be about Draw One In The Dark --
Draw One In The Dark is hip without being illiterate, edgy without being dry and sexy without being sex laden. It does shape changers as you've never seen them before. They are not the cursed creatures of legend, bound to their unwitting fate. No, rather they are humans -- humans whose inner beast is made visible and external and therefore both harder and easier to control. Their battles with themselves are those we all engage in, only magnified. Besides, it's non-stop rollicking adventure with looming danger and a breath-taking payoff.
A quick pause for a reaction ... he's not sure about the word count - he's had to take his shoes and socks off. But he doesn't like the look of that spectral panther ... so, yes, it's an ectoplasmic thumbs-up from our serial killer. So, on with the next question...
Q5. I heard that "Draw One in the Dark" is diner slang for a cup of black coffee. Are you going to continue that theme for the sequel? Will book two be Draw Two in the Dark or maybe A Blonde with Sand Dragged through Georgia?
The second one, which I'm hoping very much will sell is Gentleman Takes a Chance, old diner slang for Hash, the third one Blonde with Sand and the fourth one Bowl of Red. :)
Thank you, Sarah. The mediums power down, the quantum computer's in a state, and Sarah's ghostly presence slithers back along the plane, pauses at the duty free and disappears.
Now for feedback - did everyone see Sarah? Did anyone sober see Sarah? Did Sarah's astral form billow out and grasp a pen? And if it did, did it sign anything? Enquiring minds need to know.
Meanwhile, Draw One in the Dark can be bought from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK
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The Astraldome tomorrow: An interview with fantasy and mystery author, Sarah Hoyt
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Nov. 1st, 2006 @ 05:03 pm
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Yes, last minute touches are being applied to internationally famous medium Doris Scrote. The Salvador Dali Llama is being greased up and Windows ESP is ... displaying a blue screen and blaming everyone else.
But I'm sure all the kinks - and any other sixties supergroups we find lurking in the astral plane - will be ironed out by tomorrow.
So, tomorrow at the Astraldome - be there or be ... somewhere else. It doesn't matter. An astrally projected author can find you wherever you are.
And this one writes about werepanthers.
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Stirrings at the Astraldome
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Oct. 26th, 2006 @ 05:33 pm
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The ectoplasm's been hosed down, the mediums dusted off, Windows ESP debugged and the quantum computer - possibly - reconfigured. Yes, the Astraldome is getting ready for another author. Names have been mentioned, dates have been discussed, ectoplasm booked.
Watch this space. An author may be astrally projecting onto a keyboard near you.
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Virtual Book Tour Premiere: Mindy Klasky at the Astraldome
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Oct. 19th, 2006 @ 08:06 am
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Some of you may be aware of bestselling author Margaret Atwood's virtual book signings. Instead of touring the book shops signing copies for the masses, she stayed at home and used a remote connection to a robot arm. The robot arm did the touring and, thanks to a remote sensor, mimicked every movement that Margaret's arm made back in the comfort of her own living room. A videolink allowed Margaret and her fans to see and talk to each other.
Brilliant ... that is until the wiring became reversed and Margaret spent the next three hours trapped in her living room painting invisible Volkswagens.
But technology has moved on since then. Margaret has a good job with Peugeot and, today, we will be trialling The Virtual Book Tour Mark II. No robotic arm, no Volkswagens. Just the power of the human mind and a couple of mediums hooked up to a supercomputer.
Magic. Over in Washington DC we have bestselling author of the Glasswright series, Mindy Klasky, with her new book, The Girl's Guide to Witchcraft. In Palo Alto we have IBM's new 485000 quantum computer. And in London we have the internationally renowned mediums, Doris Scrote and the Salvador Dali Llama.
And in France we have me - the disembodied voice with a lot of questions.
Okay, the IBM 485000 has been switched on. Windows ESP is booting. Now, gentle reader, concentrate on Mindy's book cover below.
Think 'Mindy' and hold that thought, close your eyes, imagine the letters ... no wait, open your eyes again and finish reading the instructions first. Now imagine the letters growing in size and intensity. M I N D Y. Let the word burn into your consciousness. Think, imagine, concentrate and ... open your eyes. Can you see it? No, it's not smoke from a Sony battery overheating, it's Mindy being astrally projected into your home or office.
And don't worry. If there is any ectoplasm leakage - which I'm assured there won't be - it can't damage your keyboard. And if it does form into an evil entity and hide in your attic - just sell the movie rights and buy a bigger house.
Now, while we have Mindy hovering over our keyboards, let's ask her some questions.
Q1: Mindy, how did you make your breakthrough into becoming a published novelist?
I wrote a brilliant fantasy quest novel (if I do say so myself), which was shopped around by an agent ("Mr. X") for over three years, garnering rejections from every single publishing house in New York. While I was smothering under the accumulated weight of those rejection slips, I managed to reach my computer keyboard to type a new manuscript - the pages that eventually became THE GLASSWRIGHTS' APPRENTICE.
Mr. X and I decided to part ways, and I signed a one-year contract with my current agent, on March 31, 1998. The day after our contract expired, my agent sold APPRENTICE. He sent me email late in the afternoon and said that he'd be available to talk about the deal the next day. It was only that evening that I realized the date - April 1. I did not sleep that night, wondering if I had been made the greatest April Fool in all of New York City. Happily, my agent is not the cruelest man in the world, and my career as a published novelist was launched.
Q2: What advice would you offer an aspiring writer?
It sounds foolish, but: "Write." I know too many aspiring writers who give up the first time that life-balancing intervenes. Or rejection letters. Or temporary-lack-of-ideas. In the alternative, many aspiring writers choose to pound out the second, third, fourth, or one hundredth draft of their Great Novel To End All Novels, rather than moving on to the next project.
If the first thing that you write doesn't sell, write another. And another. And another. Pattern your writing on published authors you know and love. Experiment with new styles. Try different genres. But write. (I have four finished, unsold novels lurking on my computer, all of which were completed before I sold my first book.)
Q3: You receive a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be?
You know those books where the serial killer is brought to justice, dragged down in a hail of bullets or locked forever in a prison cell?
Well, Girl's Guide is nothing like that.
Girl's Guide features Jane Madison, a librarian who discovers that she's a witch. With the help of her familiar (a slinky black cat turned gay fashion consultant who could work wonders for any poor, exhausted, hard-working murderer), her warder (an astral protector who would never dream of harming a hair on the head of a serial killer), and her best friend (a baker and yoga guru who could brew a soothing cup of tea that would ease just about anyone's stress after a hard night's slaying), Jane learns how to balance her newfound powers and her age-old responsibilities to family, friends, and work.
Voted number one by Serial Killers Anonymous! Buy it at your local bookstore today!
A quick pause for a reaction ... and yes, it's an ectoplasmic thumbs-up from our serial killer. So, on with the next question...
Q4: As a writer of kit-lit, I was intrigued to see a Girl's Guide to Witchcraft listed as chick-lit. Are there many chickens in the book?
Alas, none. But there's a healthy serving of Dover sole. And some lamb chops. But they meet a Bad End.
Q5: And finally, the question we've all been pondering, do you see much of Mork these days?
Just to complicate my life, my husband's name is Mark. We go out of our way to introduce ourselves as "Mindy and Mark" to avoid the inevitable comments. We had warned the celebrant at our wedding to avoid the more traditional name order, utterly confusing her because she had never heard of the television show (!) We must have made some impression upon her, though, because halfway through the ceremony, she slipped up and called my beloved "Mork." It only took about five minutes for the laughter to die down, and for us to get back to the wedding vows.
Thank you, Mindy. The mediums power down, the quantum computer may or may not be switched off and Mindy's ghostly presence recedes from our keyboards.
Now for feedback on the experiment - did everyone see Mindy? Did anyone sober see Mindy? Did Mindy's astral form manage to grasp a pen? And if it did, did it sign anything? Enquiring minds need to know.
Meanwhile, The Girl's Guide to Witchcraft can be bought from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and the UK
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