Archive for the ‘anthologies’ Category

THE PHANTOM QUEEN AWAKES pre-order

Love, death and war…

The Morrigan goddess represented all three to the ancient Celts. Journey with our authors as they tell stories of love, war, hatred, revenge and mortality – each featuring the Morrigan in her many guises.

Re-visit the world of Deverry, and of Nevyn, with a previously unpublished tale by Katharine Kerr, watch the Norse gods meet their Celtic counterparts with Elaine Cunningham, meet a druid who dances for the dead with C.E. Murphy and follow the path of a Roman centurion with Anya Bast.

These are but a few offerings from the stories collection in The Phantom Queen Awakes. If you are searching for a rich blend of dark fantasy, then this is a collection perfect for you.

The Phantom Queen Awakes stories:
Rising Tide: Ruth Shelton
Kiss of the Morrigan: Anya Bast
I Guard Your Death: Lynne Lumsden Green
Gifts of the Morrigan: Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
Cairn Dancer: C. E. Murphy
Washerwoman: Jennifer Lawrence
The Raven’s Curse: Sharon Kae Reamer
Ravens: Mari Ness
The Lass from Far Away: Katharine Kerr
The Trinket: Peter Bell
The Dying Gaul: Michael Bailey
The Children of Badb Catha: James Lecky
The Plain of Pillars: L. J. Hayward
The Silver Branch: Linda Donahue
The Good and Faithful Servant: Martyn Taylor
The White Heifer of Fearchair: T. A. Moore
She Who is Becoming: Elaine Cunningham

N.B.: The Phantom Queen Awakes will be released 14th February 2010 in the US.

UK, Australian and European release dates to follow.

US: $20 + shipping

Welcome to 2010!

Happy New Year!

I’m guest blogging over at Temple Library Reviews about some of the differences between writing comics and novels. Thanks very much to Harry for inviting me to come play at his review site!

As reminded by several persons, THE PRETENDER’S CROWN has been nominated for the 2009 David Gemmell LEGEND Award for Fantasy. It’s on the long list, which is incredibly flattering, and it would be even more flattering to make it to the short list. My understanding is that voting between now and March will winnow the list down, so if you’ve any inclination, here’s the voting page.

And here’s this year’s publication schedule:

February: THE PHANTOM QUEEN AWAKES (anthology with a story of the Morrigan)


May: DRAGON LURE (anthology with a post-Negotiator-trilogy Janx story)


May 29: RUNNING WITH THE PACK (anthology with a Regency werewolf story)


June 1: DEMON HUNTS (book 5 of the Walker Papers. Birthday release date!)


August 31: TRUTHSEEKER (book 1 of the Worldwalker Duology)

DEMON HUNTS cover preview!

My email box this morning contained two things: a notification from Romance Junkies that THE QUEEN’S BASTARD had received their blue ribbon award for one of the best books reviewers had read recently (the review, which is very nice, is here), and a positively glowing fanmail from someone who picked up WINTER MOON and had enjoyed “Banshee Cries” enormously.

That’s certainly a nice way to start the day. :) In celebration, I shall give you a sneak peak at the cover for DEMON HUNTS, book five of the Walker Papers, coming in June 2010, and currently my Favorite Cover EVAR. :)

Read the rest of this entry »

A Closet Full of Books

The closet in my office is full of books I wrote. It’s ridiculous. The new mass market releases are the ones on top, but they got put back in their boxes after the picture was taken, so I could use the closet space a little more efficiently. What you can’t really tell from this photo is that all three shelves are stacked double-deep and the top is triple-deep…

WALKING DEAD rumors!

Rumor has it that Amazon is shipping pre-ordered copies of WALKING DEAD this very week! Let me know if you get your copy!

As WALKING DEAD’s release is imminent, let me once more point toward Rabbit Tricks, a Walker Papers short story that fits between COYOTE DREAMS and WALKING DEAD. Enjoy, if you haven’t read it!

In non-Walker Paper news, there’s notification at Scooper Speaks that RUNNING WITH THE PACK, a werewolf anthology featuring stories by myself and fellow Luna author Laura Anne Gilman, as well as many others, will be out in June 2010. (Coincidentally, that’s the same time DEMON HUNTS, book five of the Walker Papers will be out! You’ll be able to buy them both at once! Oops, that made it Walker Papers news, didn’t it?)

THE PHANTOM QUEEN AWAKES anthology has been delayed two months, and will now be out in December 2009 instead of October.

More details as they develop. :)

A FANTASY MEDLEY winner

I have to say this was a great deal of fun for me. Some of the story suggestions were perfectly wonderful, things I wouldn’t have thought of myself but which were terribly obvious as soon as they were suggested. Obviously not everybody can win the anthology, but *many* of these ideas will, I think, end up as the root idea for stories. Thank you all!

The winner is /blythe025, who said I would love to see a story told from the point of view of a priest.

For some reason this idea really caught me. Possibly because I like the priest in the Negotiator trilogy so much, but somehow there’s just a real romanticism to that idea for me. I actually feel like I could build a book around the idea of a priest dealing with the Old Races, though I’m already terribly torn on *when* I would set that story. Or whether it would have to be a longer story, a series of its own, just trying to deal with the religious and spiritual connotations of the Old Races’ existence, from a Western theology’s point of view. I’m just utterly enamored of this idea!

Other ideas, including exceedingly moderate spoilers, are behind the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

A FANTASY MEDLEY give-away

The final tally for my two auction items was $375, not enough for me to write a new Walker Papers or Old Races short story, but *more* than enough to prompt a FANTASY MEDLEY give-away. I’ve got one last ARC (advanced reader’s copy, as opposed to the finished version) I can send to someone, so this is your chance.

THE CONTEST: tell me (in no more than 50 words) what Old Races story you would like to see told. It doesn’t have to be something that comes organically from the books; you can just randomly want “a story about the djinn” or something.

THE CAVEAT: I may make off with one or more idea and turn it into a story at some point. :)

THE OTHER CAVEAT: This contest is also running at my main blog at mizkit.com/mizkit.livejournal.com, so it’s possible the winning entry won’t actually show up in *this* comment thread. I will, however, post the winner’s entry at both locations, so everybody’ll know who won and for what story idea.

THE WARNING: I expect there will be spoilers for the Negotiator trilogy in this thread. If you don’t want to be spoiled, stay out of the comments.

THE WINNER: will be the person whose story idea I like best!

THE DEADLINE: the contest will end on June 9th. :)

THE OTHER CONTEST: My agent, the incomparable Jennifer Jackson (who apparently started agenting at the tender age of nine), is celebrating her 16th year of being an agent by running a contest for ARCs and books written by her clients. Go read her instructions carefully and participate! :)

Free Comic Book Day

Tomorrow, the first Saturday of May, is Free Comic Book Day!

The Dabel Brothers bring you three original, never-before-seen tales for FCBD09, including the Dresden Files “Restoration of Faith”; “The Calm Before,” the prelude story to adaptation of the classic film, The Warriors; and “Previously, on Take A Chance,” which steps back in time to the day a gene-altering virus was released into the world. All this, plus a sneak preview of Del Rey’s forthcoming novel, Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi – Outcast by Aaron Allston, a bold new adventure for Luke, Han, and your favorite Star Wars characters!

A FANTASY MEDLEY winner

You guys came up with some fantastic casting choices for the Negotiator trilogy. I wish I had about fifteen copies of the anthology to send out, because you did *not* make this an easy choice! I’m going to have to do something cool for the people who participated but didn’t win, because you did such a good job. Maybe I’ll write an Old Races short story just for you guys and not try to publish it anywhere for six months or something.

Overall the best cast, I think, came from Liz McClafferty, who suggested the following:

Margrit Knight – Jasika Nicole
Alban Korund – Josh Holloway
Tony Pulcella- Kirk Acevedo
Eliseo Daisani – Robert Downey Jr.
Vanessa Gray – Winona Ryder
Janx – Johnny Depp
Chelsea Huo – Michelle Yeoh
Grace O’Malley – Katie Sackoff
Malik – Skeet Ulrich
Tariq – Gary Dourdan
Kaimana – Pomaika’i Brown
Cara – Dakota Fanning
Biali – Micky Rourke
Hajnal – Faune Chambers
Ausra – Rashida Jones
Russel Lomax – Gary Sinise
Cameron – Jennifer Garner
Cole – Matt Damon
Sarah – Charlize Theron
Ursula – Kristen Stewart
Kate – Emma Watson

Whew. That was *hard*! I gotta make the next contest easier on *me*!

TPC winner/A FANTASY MEDLEY contest

Only three people entered the TPC give-away contest, but they did a bloody fantastic job. In the end, I’ve chosen the one with my favorite suggestion for Belinda, although some of the other casting ideas were inspired. The winner is Thao Nguyen from Facebook, who gave the following cast for THE QUEEN’S BASTARD:

Belinda – Michelle Trachtenberg
Javier – Kyle Schmid
Lorraine Walter – Tilda Swinton
Eliza Beaulieu – Natalie Portman
Lord Drake – Eric Braeden
Marius Poulin – Henry Cavill
Sacha Asselin – Paul Walker
Sandalia – Orla Brady
Irina – Cate Blanchett
Akilina – Shirley Henderson
Rodrigo – Javier Bardem
Dmitri – Clive Owen
Gondola Boy – Jim Sturgess

The most interesting thing about this contest, for me, is that not one of the actors is somebody I’d thought of when I ‘cast’ this book in my mind–and TQB is about the only book I’ve ever cast anybody for. I *love* the choices people made, but it’s fascinating to see the different ideas!

Also:
I have received in the mail a small box of A FANTASY MEDLEY.

Many people said “Gosh, I could cast the Old Races or the Walker Papers”, and so, because there will be no more Negotiator books, I will give you the opportunity to win a copy of A FANTASY MEDLEY, which has a Janx & Daisani story in it, by casting the Negotiator trilogy. My favorite cast list gets a copy of the anthology. Major characters: Margrit Knight, Alban Korund, Grace O’Malley, Janx, Daisani, Kaimana, Cole, Cameron, Tony. Bonus points for casting any of the following: Margrit’s parents, Chelsea, Russell, Cara, Tariq, Biali, Malik, Ausra, Kate, Ursula, Sarah, Hajnal.

It isn’t necessary to cast all of them. It’s not even necessary to cast most of them. Just have fun with it. :) I’ll close the contest a week from now, at about noon Eastern time on Tuesday April 14th.

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