Uncategorized

Since I'm going to WorldCon this year, that makes me eligible to vote for the Hugos. I'm doing my best to take this as a responsibility, especially since it drives me crazy that influential awards like this are often decided by a really small percentage of the community. So I got my reader packet and set to, despite the fact that I'm promoting one book and working on two more. Nah, I didn't really need that social life anyway! I started with the shortest main category I could, since I figured I could just sit down and read the three nominated short stories at bedtime, chew them over, and come up with a winner in my head. Of course, it's a bit more difficult than that, as always. The first story I picked up was "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard. I've read a few of her novels and short stories, mostly contained in the Obsidian and Blood books. Seriously, a fantasy novel about Aztecs? How could I not at least try them? The research was clearly really in-depth and the writing was very good, but for some reason they failed to become favorites. As a result, I wasn't sure what I was going to think. Especially since the story started out in second person present tense, which immediately set my teeth on edge. Summed up quickly, the story was heart-wrenchingly good. You should read it - the link takes you to a free online copy. Once I got the main conceit, that people in this universe fit in by wearing "avatars" that not only showed the world the most acceptable physical face in terms of race, social status, etc., but also changed your actual thought patterns [...]

CONvergence was a new sort of experience for me this year. I stayed with a group of people I hadn't met before, and while it was for the most part fine, I'm getting a room of my own for next year. Being an introvert, I think I need my own space closer to people I know. From a business standpoint, the con was fantastic. Tons of networking, meeting authors and fans and friends, not to mention the reading was well-attended! I can't wait to have physical copies to sell. I got several requests. The entire weekend was exceedingly supportive. I can't even remember how many people were genuinely happy to hear that my first book was coming out soon, including other authors, like Pete Haupman and guest of honor Melinda Snodgrass (what an awesome name!) and Michael Merriam. My cat Beatrice hasn't left my lap voluntarily since then. The bunnies are happy and relaxed. Back to the grind, writing the next novels. It sounds like Michelle Graber, the editor I used on Eye of the Storm, is interested in editing the second, and I'm really excited to work with her again! She has some great insights. Now back to writing and getting reading for the next convention!

The mother of my army This is a note for the Polish-language spammers that have been "commenting" on my blog.  At you, I laugh with roar.  My last name might look and sound Polish, but my ancestry is mostly German.  Both of my grandfathers spoke German, and I believe my maternal grandmother is the only one with even a little bit of non-German in her, and it's all Western European.  So there. (Not that I expect the spam to stop, but at least I get to tell them off here.) The news of the day:  This is the last day of my Kickstarter, and it's pretty obvious I'm not going to hit goal.  That's fine.  No really, I mean that.  If I give up at the first sign of difficulty, I should just give up and resign myself to writing dry technical manuals for the rest of my life.  To that, I say a resounding NO.  Bite me, world.  I'm going to do this one way or another, and if the only way is a hostile takeover of the publishing industry armed with rattan sticks and backed by an army of rabbits, then let the warrior bunny breeding program commence. I've already got the sticks.

Hi folks!  I've got a lovely treat for you - the first section of my soon-to-be-published novel, PRISONER OF WAR. Prisoner of War teaser - PDF It's in PDF format as a small form of protection for me - at least it won't be quite as easy to copy and paste. I hope you all enjoy!  If you like what you read and would like more, please consider pledging to my Kickstarter for this novel.

My Kickstarter broke $2500!  And you all know what that means, right? STUPID DANCE TIME The Dance of the First Quarter I wish WordPress would let me embed it, but I'm tired and hot and I want to post it NOW. You will get a new, even stupider dance at $5000.  And $7500.  And at $10k, I may have a coronary on "film" for you all.  I don't know.  I do know it will be dorky and involve lots of giggles on my part. Maybe I can pull out the remnants of my belly dance for you.  Or a carenza (turning eskrima into a dance piece). As long as it's dorky. ALSO.  I am considering adding bits of text from the book and the supporting materials I've come up with as stretch goals.  Let me know if you'd be interested in such things.  And tell your friends to pledge!

So my Kickstarter is nearly at 25% of goal.  HOLY MONKEYS, PEOPLE. On Friday, I told my coworkers that I would do a ridiculous dance if I got to 25% this coming week.  They said they would record it.  And I will post it here, for my dorkiness to be on display for all to see.  I think I'll do this for every 25% of goal.  And they will get dorkier every time, I promise. On other fronts, I had a visit from the parents today, who assure me that I am far less messy than my brother.  Thinking back to his room when we were kidlets, I totally believe this.  We went to local restaurant Brasa for lunch, which appeared to go over well.  Lots of walking and talking, and Dad took a nap while I showed Mom the Kickstarter vid. I also ran an errand, and came back to find the local orange kitty in my driveway.  I of course got out to give him pets, and he immediately flops on the ground to expose his belly and HE LET ME RUB IT OH GOD THE RAPTURE.  Then he followed me to my mailbox, and tried to follow me into my apartment.  I still feel guilty about shutting the door in his little face.  And I know he'll be just fine, and be back in a month or so to do the same thing.  I think he's trying to wear me down. Finally, I want to pump up the volume on a friend's new endeavor.  Kearney Quinn (link is to his Tumblr) is one of the funniest people I know, and he's decided to get off his butt and have a [...]

You can now watch me and listen to me plug my project over at Kickstarter!  The video is live. I've got to say that it's a bit crazy to be doing this, at least in my brain.  It's hard to wrap my brain around finally getting moving on this project.  I am both excited and nail-bitingly nervous. The video was shot and edited by my good friend and eskrima instructor, Chris McWethy.  Despite an overfull schedule and two young children, he managed to drag his semi-pro equipment to my apartment, spend several sweaty hours (I had to turn off the AC, it was too loud) shooting the raw footage, then spend several more hours editing the video into something really cool.  Even if you've already seen the page and/or donated, the video itself is worth a look, I think. I'm 20% funded.  If this keeps up, I may actually dissolve into a puddle of happy.  

My Kickstarter project is live. I can't tell you how excited I am about this.  I have 30 days to raise my funds.  I'll be posting a video by the fantastic Chris McWethy in a week or two, to give people even more information on the book, and about me. To anyone who decides to help fund the project - please pass on the link to friends and help spread the word. In a month, I'll know whether I get to do what I want, how I want it. In the meantime, I'm going to buckle down on editing the manuscript and making it better than ever. - Aimee

I did an impromptu facebook poll yesterday, to solicit ideas for thank-you gifts for Kickstarter donations.  Most of the responses indicated copies of the book in one form or another would be a good prezzie, and one friend named Flombaye (no, really, that's his name) went nuts with ideas for short stories I could turn into a chapbook which could then be another gift.  One person even suggested that for a high enough donation, the donor could have the movie option for one year.  0.0 One thing I hadn't considered, though, was the cover art.  People seem really interested in prints of the artwork, signed or unsigned, as a gift.  I am not opposed to this; in fact, it's a great idea.  It does, however, mean I need to actually *have* cover art picked out. So, a quick switch of gears.  I sent off rate requests to three artists.  One has already turned me down, citing the fact that he doesn't do illustrations.  Sadness, because he was my first choice, but also, likely to be the most expensive.  I hope to hear back from the others soon. I'm also going to be sitting down with my videographer this weekend to talk about the Kickstarter video.  I'm hoping it will be easy to put together and I can get the whole project moving soon.  I'm also planning on linking this blog to my website.  Fingers crossed that it works easily. In other news, I have my new bunny here at work for people to meet.  She's running the Bunny 500 around the desk, and is clearly happy.  Yay.

So I was all set to write a silly little post about my CT scan and playing Sorry! while drinking with friends, when I log into Twitter and it's blowing up about Ray Bradbury.  I don't have details yet, but he appears to have died last night or this morning. Most of my reading of Bradbury's work was done when I was just starting high school.  For me, his work was one of the first that felt truly poetic.  The imagery was strong but not overwrought, and he told fantasies and fairy tales and morality plays that drew pictures in my mind that are still there today.  I remember reading "The Veldt" and getting shivers.  "Something Wicked This Way Comes" still has a place on my pared-down bookshelves, and I pull it out every time I want to bathe in that golden light of a child's summer.  "The Martian Chronicles", "Dandelion Wine" - the list seems endless.  I remember "The Small Assassin" as the first story that really gave me honest chills, especially since he claimed in the forward that he remembered things from when he was just days old, lending veracity to the story. The man was a mountain in the SF/F community, deeply hued and populated with children and adults fair and foul, dark and light.  The man's legacy is astounding and humbling. Time to pull out that slim tattered paperback and dive into summer.