Whoops! Wednesday

I keep being surprised by Wednesdays. You'd think I would get used to them rolling around once a week, but the Day Job's schedule has been crazily erratic lately, which kind of throws me off, sometimes, when it comes to getting routine tasks completed. Like remembering when to take the trash bins to the curb, or when I'm supposed to do my walk-around checks on safety equipment at the Day Job... or when I'm supposed to post to my writing blog.

(I keep worrying that I'm going to lose track of the custody schedule and forget to pick up my kids, but that seems a little more solidly embedded. I guess even my scatterbrain has a priority system in place.)

But here we are: Wednesday again!

What shall I talk about...? Oh! News!

I almost forgot about this in the excitement of Human Aspect's release, but Foxfur was accepted by Torquere! It's currently (tentatively) scheduled for a mid-November release. I'm very excited -- this will be my first actual novel release! When we get a little closer, I'm sure I'll be offering up some more excerpts, and maybe even a contest!

I've also had some whispered words from little birds about my shorts that are out for consideration, "The Dancing Princess" and "Squrk Squee". In both cases, the news is promising but unsubstantiated and unofficial, so I'm not announcing anything yet -- but I'm still pretty pleased with what I've heard! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

So that's the current news.

If you happened to pick up Human Aspect (or any of my other books) and enjoyed it, please, please, please consider hopping over to Amazon.Com or Goodreads and taking thirty seconds to rate/review it, or even share a link on your favorite social media page. Word-of-mouth does more to sell books than any other advertising and promotion method. I'm tempted to say more than all other methods, combined, even, though I don't have specific numbers to back that up. But I do know that even a mediocre review is better than none at all. Thanks!

Release Day for Human Aspect!

Human Aspect is finally out!

Dauch has never doubted his clan's wisdom: Humans are fit only as prey and slaves to the shapechanging lochmari. Nor has he ever doubted his place in his clan: As the Warleader's son and heir, his only true rival is his despised cousin, Afel. But when, on the very cusp of manhood, he spies human lovers in the lochmari forest, he is suddenly faced with questions he had never thought to ask -- and a dangerous new infatuation. Dauch hopes to find a way to embarrass his rival and gain the woman he wants, but his anger and obsession will only pave the path to his doom unless he can learn something no lochmar has ever known before: how to love.

It's a novelette-length high fantasy coming-of-age story with shapeshifters and swords, magic and murder, romance (m/f) and rivalry. All that for only $2.99!  An excerpt from the beginning of the story can be found at: http://www.prizmbooks.com/samples/humanaspect.html

I'm incredibly happy to see this release. I love this story. Love it. I love protagonists who are deeply flawed but struggle to better themselves. I love magic and I love non-standard shapeshifters and I love digging into the psyche of the bad guy and I love feisty, fiery women. I love turning expectation on its ear.

And I love backstories. And that's how this one started -- Lynn wrote a novel (yet to be published, or I'd be shoving you in its direction as hard as I could). And there was a scene where the main character met his grandmother for the first time -- a fiesty ex-redhead with an eyepatch and the tantalizing hint of a story about his long-deceased, nonhuman grandfather. I wanted the rest of that story. Of her story. I demanded that Lynn give it to me, and she confessed that she really didn't know any more than what she'd already written.

So I wrote it. That was the first draft of Human Aspect. It's changed quite a bit since that first draft -- for one thing, I had to lift it out of Lynn's world and into another one in order to avoid the legal quagmires of copyright and fanfiction. That changed things sufficiently to necessitate rewriting several scenes entirely, and some heavy edits to others. But at its core, it's still a backstory about a feisty redhead and the monster she loved.

Pick it up today at: http://www.prizmbooks.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=66

(I haven't seen it show up on the distributor sites yet, but I'll edit this to include those links when I do, or you can check the sidebar.)

Edited to add: Amazon link - http://www.amazon.com/Human-Aspect-ebook/dp/B00DHNA8CC/

Newsy

I know I haven't posted for a while. Bad author; no cookie!

But! But but but! This week, there is news!

First and foremost, we are only one week from the release of Human Aspect from Prizm Books (the YA imprint of Torquere). I'm so excited for this story, I can't even begin to tell you!

What's that, you say? Excerpt? Why, yes, you can have an excerpt! How about something just a little sexy?

[Dauch] woke from a doze with a start at the sound of bodies moving through the underbrush. He sniffed, but caught only the faintest of scents; he was upwind.

It was the same pair, though, he was certain of it. Even in the dark, he could make out the red of the female's hair, and the breadth of the male's shoulders could not be mistaken. Dauch's tail whipped through the air, but he remained still otherwise, watching them.

They had gained some confidence. The male did not plead, but took the female into his embrace quickly. They grappled in near-silence, punctuated only by an occasional grunt or groan. Dauch was amazed and confounded by the things they did with and to each other.

What was the purpose of that caress, or such a position? Was it sanity to allow a female to use her teeth thus? What lochmar would put his mouth there?

When the female cried out, the male petted her hair tenderly, like a mother soothing a child. But she did not whimper as if in pain or fear, and indeed reached for him again. Dauch realized, with startling clarity, that their purpose was not mating, but pleasure alone. He could scarcely believe such a thing -- but though he waited and watched, the male never mounted to plant his seed, letting it spill fruitlessly to the earth instead.

In silence, then, the humans dressed. They clung to each other a moment longer, and despite the wrongturned wind, Dauch could smell the musk of their strange and fruitless passion. His tail lashed in confusion, but when he resumed his natural shape, his body's reaction was painfully intense.

That's about as explicit as the story gets, by the way -- this is not the purchase to make if it's erotica you're after. Because of the maturity of the content, this is being classified as a "New Adult" story, the very "oldest" of Prizm's offerings, but it is still a YA imprint, so there are lines that remain uncrossed in terms of what's shown on-screen, so to speak.

***

And in other news, I finally finished my novel, Foxfur, and submitted it. I don't even want to admit how long that's been in the works. Its initial incarnation, Willow Bough, is some eight years old, and I didn't seriously think about publishing it until at least three years ago -- at which point I ran into this brick wall of, quite honestly, kind of hating the plot.

It had all my least favorite story elements.  The bad guy was bad for no apparent reason. (Or rather, he had perfectly good motives, but no excuse at all for carrying anything to the extent that he did.) There were threads introduced and never used; there were characters and capabilities showcased that later completely disappeared; the climax smacked of deus ex machina, and the denouement was actively depressing. And all of that could have been overlooked if the main character had been especially relatable and on a journey of self-discovery, but he wasn't especially likeable, and worse, he was passive, apparently unable to act on his own behalf. (To be fair, it had started out as an exploration of total power exchange submission, but I didn't realize at the time that's what it was, and so I'd utterly failed on several points, including the understanding that good submission -- by which I mean both enjoyable and readable -- is an active decision rather than a passive one.)

Despite all that, I liked the feel and tone of the story. So I spent a long time trying to fix it before eventually I gave up and shelved it.

A couple of years later, I had an idea of how to revamp the story to make it better. It required, however, starting over, completely from scratch. The only bit of Willow Bough that remains to this story is the main character's name and profession (sort of). Everything else is completely revamped: new bad guy, new plot, new romantic interest, and most of all, a new personality for the main character.

(When Lynn beta-read it for me, she said two things: first, that she'd opened the file when she received it that night just to make sure it hadn't been borked by the email -- and found herself looking up when she got to the end only to discover it was one in the morning. And second, "You really weren't kidding when you said you started over from scratch." Because usually when an author says they completely rewrote a story, what they mean is that they edited extensively. Not, you know, actually rewrote it.)

Anyway, if Torquere accepts it, it'll be my first real novel, which makes me feel pretty excited!

Listen to Me!

I found out yesterday that Duty and Desire, which contains my short story "Dead on Her Feet" (and Lynn's "Snake Dance") has been released as an audio edition, either on CD or digitally from audible.com! (The Kindle edition, by the way, is on sale right at this moment for only $2.99, if you've been on the fence about picking this up!)

The audiobook has different cover art from the original book; an interesting change. The book is aimed at a primarily female audience, so I wouldn't have thought a naked woman would be a selling point, but maybe more men listen to audiobooks? (Something about the woman gives me an Uncanny Valley twitch in any case; the hair, maybe?)

Whatever; I'm not a marketer or a cover artist, so maybe they know something I don't. And anyway: audio version; the cover probably doesn't matter as much as it would for a physical book.

As far as I know, this is my first audio release, so that's worth noting, right? It's pretty exciting! If you like audiobooks, check it out!

Cover: Human Aspect

Human Aspect will be coming out from Prizm Books (Torquere's YA imprint) in about a month, on June 19 -- and I just got the cover!

I am squee! Human Aspect is one of my favorite stories I've ever written, for many different reasons, and I'm thrilled for it to see the light. Here's the blurb I've written for it (though it may change somewhat before publication):

Dauch has never doubted his clan's wisdom: humans are fit only as prey and slaves to the shapechanging lochmari. Nor has he ever doubted his place in his clan: as the Warleader's son and heir, his only true rival is his despised cousin, Afel. But when, on the very cusp of manhood, he spies human lovers in the lochmari forest, he is suddenly faced with questions he had never thought to ask -- and a dangerous new infatuation. Dauch hopes to find a way to embarrass his rival and gain the woman he wants, but his anger and obsession will only pave the path to his doom unless he can learn something no lochmar has ever known before: how to love.

For my followers here who aren't actually regular readers, this is a good one to grab -- it's a fantasy coming-of-age story with a (m/f) romance element, but there's no explicit "on-screen" sex.

I'll be posting some excerpts and possibly running a contest in June, so be on the lookout!

I'm So Sexy

I do a thing, and I'd bet cash money that you do it, too.

Here's the thing: when I'm hanging around with friends, and I happen -- for whatever reason -- to end up looking especially dorky, or doing or saying something especially graceless, I'll say something like, "Oh, yeah, I am so sexy right now." Sarcastically, of course.

You do it, too, right? It's a pretty common thing to do. You recognize that you're doing something generally considered unattractive, and you tag yourself on it (with a hint of humor) to let others present know that yeah, you're aware.

Now lately, I've been reading through Emily Nagoski's blog (http://www.thedirtynormal.com/) archives, and recently, I hit this entry: http://www.thedirtynormal.com/2011/10/28/this-is-what-sexy-looks-like/

But since I know you probably won't read it, here's the summary: She got up one morning to take the dog running, and because it was cold, she put on a bunch of really kind of ugly clothes, and then as soon as she stepped out the door, she fell on her ass. And she thought to herself, "This is what sexy looks like."

When I got to that point in reading it, I thought: yep, I'd've made some snarky comment at myself at that point, too.

But then she goes on: getting up in the dark and cold to take care of the dog? That's proof that she's a nice, responsible person. It makes her sexier to her significant other. (And how adorable is it that she calls her boyfriend her romantic euphemism?) And then the blog entry goes on: she went to work, and this, too, is what sexy looks like. And then she gets home late and her boyfriend is waiting for her, covered with dog hair because he's been petting the dog, and smelling of curry because he made dinner, and that is also what sexy looks like.

And it was worth taking a minute to appreciate that.

It was worth taking a deep breath.

She wasn't being sarcastic.

And maybe, just maybe, I should stop being sarcastic with myself, too, sometimes. Is it not ironically but actually sexy if I wear a shirt that exposes my muffin-top? Or if I laugh when I'm eating and slop spaghetti sauce down my shirt? Yeah, maybe it is, because it means I love and trust the people I'm with not to laugh at me... not to mind... not to even care. That's a lot of love and trust, right there. It's the kind of thing that says, "I want you to know all of me."

That is kind of sexy, actually.

And it's the kind of sexy that I need to remember to write into my stories once in a while -- not just the magical, falling-in-love, everything-is-perfect-and-beautiful sexy, but also the other kinds of sexy.

The kind of sexy that gets baby spit on its shoulder.

The kind of sexy that forgets its allergy meds, but skritches your pet's ears anyway.

The kind of sexy that cries on your shoulder at 2am.

The kind of sexy that challenges an 8-year-old to a belching contest, or lets a 4-year-old paint its fingernails.


The kind of sexy that lets you nurse it through a cold.

Sometimes, it's worth taking a breath and remembering... sometimes, the deeply unsexy is profoundly sexy.

Following Directions

All over the web, you can find advice for writers who are looking for their first publication. Some of it is advice about the writing itself, and some of it is advice on how to find a publisher that's a good match with your work, and some of it is advice on how to actually perform that submission so that your work will stand out and be noticed in the slush pile along with all the... well... slush.

In that last category of advice (and often in the other categories as well) you will see this invaluable bit of advice: Check and follow the submission guidelines. ALL OF THEM.

Torquere's submission guidelines are at http://www.torquerepress.com/submissions.html. JMS's guidelines are at http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=page_2. Nearly every publisher -- even the big ones -- have submission guidelines linked to their front pages (even if those guidelines are "we are not accepting submissions at this time" -- don't ignore this, or you may have made a name for yourself as someone who doesn't know how to follow directions by the time they are accepting submissions again).

Now... I've never thrown out a slush manuscript for failing to meet the formatting guidelines, or for using British English instead of American. (I even accepted a story once that was a downright formatting nightmare, because the writing was strong and the story was sweet and hot.) When I reject a story from the slush pile, it's generally because the writing is still too rough for publication, or because Torquere (I don't read slush for JMS) isn't the right audience for the story (straight-up nonromantic erotica, for example, or stories with tragic, non-HFN endings).

But some of those guidelines have more to them than simply making things easier on us to edit.

Recently, an author sent us a whole collection of short stories. The writing was good -- really good -- and so we took them. The plan was to publish each story separately, and if they did reasonably well, to bind them together into a collection. So I started in on the pile. I edited the first story, went through the edits with the author, and then sent the file on to my proofreader...

...who sent it back and said, "Were you aware this is fan-fiction?"

Well, no, I hadn't been aware of that. The show it was based on isn't one I've ever seen. Ditto for the editor who'd first picked the collection out of the slush pile.

Right there in Torquere's guidelines, it says:

...We will also reject stories that are clearly a copyright infringement, including any that have been converted from fan fiction or that are based on TV shows, movies, or literary characters.

JMS has a similar notation. In fact, pretty much every publisher says this. It's one reason Fifty Shades of Grey got such a bad rap, because it was pretty well an open secret that it had started out as a Twilight fan-fic. It had been sufficiently altered so that its origins were no longer obvious, which is how it managed to skate through to publication.

I sent the information and the tags and tells the proofreader had marked on to Torquere's management, who spoke to the author about it. The author admitted that every story in the collection was, in fact, a fan-fic. Now, I can't swear as to the wording of that author's contract, but Torquere uses mostly boilerplate contracts, and my latest contract with them reads, in part:

The Author certifies that this is his/her original work, and that he/she maintains the rights to this material. The Author certifies that this work is not based upon another entity’s copyrighted work.

Standard boilerplate stuff, mind you. Which means that the author was in breach of contract. Sigh. So now there are ten stories that we thought we were going to publish which are now off the schedule.

I don't have anything against fan-fic. Some of it is horrible, of course, but some of it is really good. This story was really good, and I'm both sad and angry that it turned out to have been fan-fic, because it would have made a great addition to Torquere's offerings.

But the author didn't read the submission guidelines carefully enough. Or did and thought that maybe we wouldn't notice. Or that this rule didn't apply to them. Or whatever.

Well, whatever, indeed: Read the damn directions. Especially the stuff that looks like it might have legal implications, folks. Write all the fan fiction you want; there are hundreds, if not thousands, of forums out there in which you can share your writing with thousands, if not millions, of appreciative fans. Go for it. But if you want to get paid for your writing, if you want to be a professional writer? You have to follow the professional rules.