Those are all of my submissions for August. All–and there are only six. Not, as the terms of the bet stipulate, ten.

My humiliation is complete, your superiority is assured, and what you see before you is a groveling, apologetic husk of a writer. This, my friends, is abject mortification.

Please, forgive me!

So I sat on it. For like 5-6 months, I sat on it. Only when 10 By Then was declared did I finally open it up again, do some last minute tightening up, and ship it off. And so now I can proudly present to you my (only slightly anachronistic*), fluffy-for-all-its-darkness, historical fantasy:

“The Peacock and the Raven”

Which actually went up on Wednesday, but, well, I was exclusively flogging RPP at the time. Priorities!

If you need convincing: this one has witches, lots of pretty feathers, an unconventional courtship, and a certain–hopefully charming–disregard for human life. I hope it will amuse you this weekend!

And so thank you, 10 By Then, for helping me finally put this little story out there. Happy ending!

*Slightly anachronistic, for anyone who minds, because I was inspired by Darwin’s quote about the peacock feather making him sick to his stomach. He said it because he couldn’t explain the adaptation to himself, as he had not yet come up with The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, not for the reason it’s used in the story–though I saw it misquoted that way once and it made me giggle. (People LOVE to misuse that one. I’m looking at you, anti-evolution types…) And, of course, all that happened 43 years after “Peacock” takes place.

But I can assure you that the stuff relating to the vicious Adams/Jackson election is accurate, anyhow, thanks to Lyn Parsons The Birth of American Politics: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and the Election of 1828. Which is an awesome book.

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Now playing: The National – Conversation 16
via FoxyTunes

So here we go, more 30 Days of Books, chock full o’ nerdery:

Day 11 – A book that disappointed you
My dad and brother really liked the Runelords series by David Farland–so do I, in theory. But the writing (or perhaps I mean the editing–why the hell are fantasy novels NEVER EDITED anymore? Oh wait, because publishers are in the shit, right) is hard for me to deal with, so I can’t read more than a little bit of it at a time before I get too irritated. I know you all have trouble with this too. One of the downsides to editing a lot: it’s nigh impossible to turn off completely. I find that extra frustrating and disappointing with this series because the concept is so very, very cool.

Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve watched more than five times
The Lord of the Rings . Have I mentioned that I have a tattoo in Quenya? (Elvish–one version of it, anyhow.) Because I do.

Weirdly enough, when people at the beach ask what it is and I tell them, they seem to think it’s really fucking cool, which boggles my mind. But I probably have Peter Jackson to thank for that.

I need more book tattoos, though. Seriously.

Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
I think I read Little Women about 300 times between the ages of 8 and 16. Jo March FTW.

Day 14 – Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
I have to go with Anne Shirley. I think little girls everywhere are much, much happier since LM Montgomery introduced us to her.

Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Maybe Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Can never read it too many times, and always makes me happy.

The last con I went to, I’d made maybe a handful of short story sales–no book upcoming, etc, so not so much of a reason to blab about me me me. This one taught me that I have a larger problem talking about myself than I realized. Not about writing, I’ll blabber all day about that, but about the stuff I’ve actually written. Apart from the obvious newbie self-consciousness, I already know all that crap, so I’m easily sidetracked by new shiny things. So here I am talking to folks whose names I’ve admired on book covers many, many times (oh, what, me overawed?) trying to list the awesome people lined up at Belfire Press and I get through two and my brain stalls, and the conversation jumps tracks.

I mean, that’s cool for now, but probably something to watch out for when I’m trying to promote a whole book next year. Maybe I need a script. Ah well, like GI Joe says, knowing is half the battle. I’ll get this!

But seriously, it was great, and everyone was so nice. I wish y’all had come with me! (Next year? Pretty please?) And I got tons of books I’ve wanted for ages but just haven’t gotten to yet, and got them signed, at that. Which is cool because I always read a ton when I’m doing rewrites, and guess what September is all about?

Good thing I took Diana Botsford’s awesome rewrites workshop, huh? Oh yeah.

(Dude, she wrote for Star Trek: TNG. And she writes Stargate Books! How I avoided a fangirl freakout on everyone there, I do not know, but I was very demure, thanks. Er, at least, for me.)

So yay!

I sold another weird little tale too, but I suppose it would be best to wait for contracts and all to say anything. Yes, that seems rational. I can be rational, sure.

I have the 10 By Then bet to thank for this recent glut of good fortune. I won’t win it, as I only have 5 subs taken care of and only one more day to go to magically produce 5 more. But between these lovely acceptances and the knowledge that I have somehow produced 4 completely new works of short fiction (not counting 2 flashes meant for a particular market that isn’t open now–foiled again!) and edited another this month–well, that removes some of the sting. Hell, I’m usually lucky if I turn out that much short stuff in a year. Mercedes, you and your bets rock.

And in closing, there’s still one more day left in Australia before the Ditmar votes are finalized. For voting rights, you just have to be a member of Dudcon. They make it really easy, so have at it!

(And thank you for all the kind wishes before I left. Yes, I am 30 now. Almost a real human being. Plus, my family gave me Absolute Sandman Vol II. Mwahahaha, no grown-up gifts for me!)

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Now playing: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion
via FoxyTunes

S’okay. Where there are books, I cannot feel out of place for long.

A few notes of interest before I go:

1. Pete Kempshall, one of my favorite writers and an all around excellent kind of guy, is up for a Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. He’s done a lot of awesome things, but I’ve made his acquaintance thanks to shared ToCs from Morrigan Books, both in Grants Pass and Voices. (We have another upcoming, too!) Pete’s work is stunning, and so if you’re voting–well, did I say he’s awesome? Because he is.

2. If you missed it, the link to the ToC for the first issue of The Red Penny Papers is up. The issue is entirely too much fun–and I can say that as it’s absolutely no credit to me at all and a lot of credit to the clever, wonderful authors who agreed to contribute. Also, the cover is cool.

3. … I’m pretty sure there was a #3, but I guess not. Huh. Well, I like things in threes, dammit.

And now, to our section of the 30 Days of Books meme for the week.

Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Mm, let’s say The Great Gatsby. I love Fitzgerald and his hateful characters so much–but in Jay Gatsby there’s actually a lot to love, and that’s why this one is my favorite. (In truth, The Picture of Dorian Gray is my “desert island book”, but that’s the answer to a later question!)

Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Male MC. Female character falls in love with him–or so our narrator keeps telling us. It’s never explained why or how, nor is it shown, but since he’s The Hero, we are supposed to take their word for it, I guess. This of course makes her sacrifice all kinds of shit for him over the course of the novel, because as you know, that is a woman’s function. Because she loves him. Really. Did we mention that she loves him? Because she does!

I like stories of sacrifice for love, so don’t get me wrong there. I’d just like to actually believe there is love involved. For examples of this phenomenon, see The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (which I keep hoping just lost something in the translation, because it’s cool otherwise) and the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (which has awesome aspects, but I gave up after book 8). Those are big offenders, but a lot of things do it to a degree.

Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Day 09 – Best scene ever
“The Paths of the Dead” from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien. I was so pissed when they cut most of it out of the movie–but the extended edition saved the day. It’s not perfect, but it’s still pretty damn cool.

Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis. I love non-fiction in a general way, but business and finance bores my face off. Michael Lewis is my husband’s favorite author, though, so he insisted that I would love this one. You’d think I’d learn to stop doubting him when he says this, but no. (Not my fault, really. I can never get over him liking Tom Clancy. If you saw the comments on the last post, you now see the sense of humor I live with daily. God help us both.)

And that’s it for me. See you Monday-ish!

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Now playing: Arnold Schoenberg – Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4: I. Grave
via FoxyTunes

Amanda Pillar has been doing this awesome 30 Days of Books one, and I’ve been sort of messing with it for a while now. So let’s pretend I started it on the 15th or so, and am now going to do it five days at a time. I spam enough as it is. Here’s the deal, for anyone else who wants to have a bash:

30 Days of Books
Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 – A book or series you hate
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 – Best scene ever
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 – A book that disappointed you
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve watched more than five times
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 – Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 – Favorite kiss
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever
Day 24 – Best quote from a novel
Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now?

So here goes!

Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Call me super predictable, but I’m ready for about 7 more Harry Potter books. I know, I know, best to leave the party while you’re having fun, but I miss them something fierce. JK Rowling is a great writer, a brilliant worldbuilder, and so good with character. (Except when it comes to Draco Malfoy, who as it turned out was just a foil for Harry all along after all. *sadface*)

Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Vanity Fair. I don’t get why Thackeray isn’t more popular nowadays. When I’m reading him, I think I like him better than Dickens. (Then I stop and think, no, that’s not possible. Then I read more Thackeray and realize that yes, it is.) It’s got to be the birth of the modern novel as we know it. After all, it’s called: “Vanity Fair: A Novel Without A Hero”.

Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months
Drood by Dan Simmons. Speaking of Dickens and Thackeray, who are both characters therein, though the former far, far more than the latter for obvious reasons. In truth, I think it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

This is also an example of exactly the sort of book I want to write when I grow up. I don’t honestly believe myself capable in my heart of hearts, but the mere fact of its existence makes me want to work–hm, I already want to work my ass off for it. Well it makes the desire that much more intense, let’s say.

Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever
My favorite story ever is the one related by Sir Thomas Malory in Le Morte D’Arthur. It’s this incredibly deft amalgam of scattered and varied French, German, English, Irish, and of course Welsh mythologies into a single beautiful whole. Perfect, no, of course not–but as near as an Arthurian Legend can come, to my eyes.

Day 05 – A book or series you hate
I really dislike Tom Clancy. That Jack Ryan stuff bores me to tears. Can I get a character, please?

*Quoting one of my favorite characters from television, Yes, Prime Minister’s Sir Humphrey Appleby. I love him because he embodies yet another excellent quote, this time from Ben Franklin in HBO’s John Adams: “The English love a good insult, Mr. Adams. It’s their only measure of a man’s sincerity.”

How’s that for a convoluted attribution?

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Now playing: The Charlatans – Feeling Holy
via FoxyTunes

What I was trying to get out was that I’ll miss talking about his family and imagination, and his cheerful, supportive presence as a fellow writer on a long, long journey. That kind of thing leaves a vacuum when it disappears, and there’s no ignoring it.

Even more than that, I’ll miss all those stories, the ones he didn’t get to tell, and remember him by the ones he did.

My family is thinking of his now, as I’m sure you all are. But since I finally found the words, I thought I’d use them.

Chris Fletcher of M-Brane Sci-Fi has collected a lot of the memorial posts gone around these past few days. There are links in those posts to the memorial fund set up for their children, and efforts by a lot of our Venn Diagram (as Alan so aptly put it–with Aaron’s help) writing communities to the same end, and to honor their memory. There can’t really be a bright spot, but it does warm the heart a little to be reminded that people are awesome.

So as I was saying last time, this trip to Phila. was in search of three pretty specific things that I couldn’t find in books or the net–at least not to this degree of time, place, and personal specificity. So here’s what I did for them:

First-hand sources like letters and journals, from which I could glean both language information… and a general look at the concerns of the class of people on which I was focusing.
For this, I browsed the online catalogs of both the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Athenaeum. The latter had been recommended in the notes to a series of books I’m very much enjoying right now (Cordelia Frances Biddle’s Martha Beale Mysteries–Victorian Philadelphia fun!). Their collections of primary source material are so extensive that it took me a couple of hours to figure out how to effectively use the finding aids, but my education didn’t fail me! (Well, not completely.)

I found a few very likely ladies of similar age, class, and interest to my girls in The Resurrectionists, and located the numbers of the boxes in which their correspondence, journals, albums and such could be found in the HSP. So I’m walking in there thinking maybe they’ll let me see photocopies–or transcriptions. There’s no way some librarian-curator is going to dig in the vaults and bring me up some fragile 184 year old letters just so I can write some silly novel. I’ll need academic credentials at least–and I haven’t had those for ages.

But the lovely librarians at the HSP did just that. Follow a few simple rules, and all the information in the world is yours, huh? And this is some research I’ve been wanting to do since Neuronaut Reenie told me that’s how Georgette Heyer found some of the more clever phrases she used in her lovely Regency romances, so– well, that’s totally squee-worthy. Yeah, okay, I felt a little weird reading letters from husbands and wives, friends, mothers, and sons… but it was too cool for the discomfort to last.

What went on at UPENN’s medical school on a day-to-day basis.
I didn’t have much hope for this one, honestly. Finding out in a general way what would’ve been a popular lecture topic is easy enough, but I thought something this specific would be lost to time.

Wrong again, Kate. College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the lovely people who run the famous (or is it infamous, considering?) Mütter Museum, have an extensive library on the history of medicine. Seeing as it’s in Philadelphia, home of the first ever medical school in the US (UPENN– oh hey, my little proto-doctors attend UPENN!), I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised to find what I did in their catalog:

“Lecture notes from the University of Pennsylvania,1826; 1852./Fowler”
“Notes on Dr. Coxe’s lectures on materia medica and pharmacy delivered in the University of Pennsylvania,1826-1827 /by W.W.G.”

etc. etc. And these aren’t just notes typed up and printed, these are the actual notebooks in which these eager young medical men scribbled down, often word for word, the lectures of their professors. People like Dr. Philip Syng Physick (dubbed the “Father of American Surgery”) and co. And precisely the lectures my boys would’ve been attending over the course of The Resurrectionists.

And now I know exactly what Dart would do for Tom’s gunshot wound, and exactly who would’ve told him to do it. Among other exciting and extremely nerdy things!

Newspapers! … Obviously, the papers had the pulse of the people, and I needed to know how it was flowing during the months in question.
I think this day ended up being my favorite, because I spent it at the lovely Library Company of Philadelphia. I’d been in touch with a wonderful librarian beforehand, since the periodicals aren’t quite cataloged online like some of the other materials they have, and when I got there she helped me sort out exactly how to find the precise periodicals I required. I spent the day taking snapshots of The National Gazette and Literary Register and The Aurora and Franklin Gazette, those being the two that had popped up in my earlier research as important rags of the time.

From the "National Gazette and Literary Register", Apr 19, 1826 courtesy of The Library Company of Philadelphia

So I have reviews of theater events, art shows, international gossip, philanthropic societies, neighborhood emergencies, political scandals, and all other sorts of things that will inform the general tone and color of my characters’ days. That and of course a wander around the chosen neighborhood, a tour of Dr. Physick’s house with some excellent tour guides, and all that sort of thing so it’ll be fresh in my mind when I go back to it in–two weeks and counting, now. I’m so excited!

Can’t wait for the next chance I get to do it all over again. But for all this lovely research, it’s weird how so very, very little of it will be directly referenced. It’s more a question of me understanding what their days were really like, of making the setting sit more easily for everyone involved.

And maybe a question of me just being carried away by my own historical obsessions. Now the idea is to make something entertaining out of them!

And my parting words, as a solemnly promise to stop talking about this now: Librarians are rad. Love them. I know you don’t need me to tell you, but it’s worth saying all the same.

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Now playing: Aaron Copland – Appalachian Spring
via FoxyTunes

I don’t know how many people who see this blog are interested in writing historicals, but I know one or two of you have done it already, and several others have more than a passing interest in the subject. So I figured I’d put up the story of my research for The Resurrectionists, my first novel-length historical (historical-paranormal-romance-medical… somethingorother?) and see if y’all wanted to compare notes or give suggestions. And hell, it’s about the most interesting thing I’ll ever have to talk about here anyhow, so why not?

Brief background on this plot: boys go to medical school, girls have their scholarly reading circle. Ambitious boys entangle girls in dubious experiments (not to mention dubious lifestyle choices), clever girls complicate said experiments with their own concerns (and some dubious lifestyle choices of their own). Experiment ends in gaping face wounds, insanity, suicide, terrifying medical breakthrough, and severe guilt complexes for all. Also some broken hearts, though by that time it seems incidental.

I knew this much when I started prep reading. My research shelf at GoodReads gives some indication of just what I was looking at, but there are also a lot of articles and documentaries I dug up on the relevant subjects. I also read a lot of historical fiction to the same end, but there are two problems with that:

1. Fiction involving early modern medical types is generally Victorian, whether British or Colonial, which makes it too late to be useful; what doctors talked about then would not be what my doctors should be talking about. Also, fiction involving grave-robbers and resurrection men is almost always British, in spite of the fact that we imported the trend, not to mention a few actual grave robbers, late in the 18th c. Alas, fictional period grave robbery seems to be the province of the country that gave us the very real Burke and Hare*. Admittedly, this was part of the impetus for writing about some American resurrectionists, so at least I saw that one coming.

2. American historical fiction usually clusters around the Revolutionary or Civil War eras– and I’m landing squarely between those. (War of 1812? What was that? Yeah, we hate talking about wars wherein American ass got kicked, don’t we? None of it happened but the Battle of New Orleans!) So that means a lot of Brit-centric Regency fiction, which is of course my favorite historical sub-genre, but worried me in terms of day-to-day life and how people spoke.

So then I did my first Philadelphia trip to learn the lay of the land, choose an appropriate neighborhood, and just get a general education on How Things Worked. By the time that was accomplished these characters were bouncing around in my head like mad, and I thought well, I’m comfortable enough with this whole concept to at least hammer out a rough draft.

Those of you who are long-time sufferers of this blog will recall a series of WIP Wednesday posts involving pistol duels, grave robberies, medical experiments, ladies’ charitable societies, Madeira wine, early feminism, and of course, cravats. Naturally the whole thing was about 20k too long when I was done, but so’s everything I write.

Then and only then did I know precisely when the action in the book took place. I had chosen a year that seemed interesting (1826) and decided the seasons (spring-summer) based wholly on what sort of weather and activities the plot required. Ah, I realized, now comes the time for the real research. I started a new round of reading (also on the GoodReads shelf) and wondered how the hell I was going to get my hands on:

• First-hand sources like letters and journals, from which I could glean both language information– despite reassurances that Philadelphians sounded very like their cosmopolitan English cousins, there are obvious turns of expression that were different– and a general look at the concerns of the class of people on which I was focusing.
• Newspapers! American men were infamous for their attachment to newspapers, in all walks and classes of life, in everything I read about them. American woman not much less. Obviously, the papers had the pulse of the people, and I needed to know how it was flowing during the months in question. What were they doing on May 23, what criminal activity or stock prices were they discussing on street corners, and what was running at the New Theater on Chestnut?
• What went on at UPENN’s medical school on a day-to-day basis. This one was the hardest for me to fathom. There are plenty of excellent medical history books out there, America-centric ones abound, but specifics like this are neglected. Even just finding a listing of the faculty at this time is difficult, let alone finding out what they said in their lectures.

And that takes me to this week. But I’ll come back to that in a day or two, as this is already longwinded even for me.

ETA: Just got the okay to post this image I took this week. Eeee! Cravat Stiffeners!

From "The Philadelphia Directory and Annual Advertiser", 1825, courtesy of The Library Company of Philadelphia

*Oh my god, Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis are playing them in a movie this year?! Tim Curry. Christopher Lee. Tom Wilkinson?! How did I not know about this?!

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Now playing: Kasabian – Underdog
via FoxyTunes

But for the moment, I’m the fox. So much is going on, and I loooooove it.

Yeah, the extra “o”s were necessary. Absolutely.

1. Vampire Awareness Month is, sadly, over. Mark Deniz posted a really wonderful recap of the posts and events, plus his own excellent mini-reviews of the films, and a great article about Dracula and the Liminal Zone to cap it off. And then came the announcements…

2. Which involved the lovely Beyond Fiction. This is all reviews and interviews, all the time, with a strong focus on the “stars of speculative fiction” series. I’ve somehow scored a spot as a reviewer there, so– yay!

But wait, there’s more. What with the somewhat unexpected success of VAM, the brains behind the scene have decided it’s time for Ghost Appreciation Month. Or, I should say, that October should be time for Ghost Appreciation Month. It’s going to be huge, and hosted over at the Beyond Fiction site, so check it out. (And never fear, I have no ghost characters with which to torment you this time around.)

3. Oh my gosh, how beautiful is Cate’s Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits? (Hey nice segue, right? She was just featured over at BF’s Stars of Speculative Fiction yesterday with a cracking interview.)

She’s running a fabulous contest, and I was given the Strange Person award by the marvelously strange Michael Stone! And so, since I really want to win the amazing prizes, I’m now going to present the award to seven strange folk myself:

N.K. Kingston
Corinne Duyvis
Meghan Brunner
Amanda Pillar
Mercedes Yardley
Danielle Ferries
Mary Rajotte

Hm, that’s the Strange Women in Pinstripe Suits award, apparently. Well, there are a lot of those around, and it’s best not to argue with them, I think.

I’d encourage you to enter too, but the thing is that I want to win. Ah well, I encourage you anyhow. See, I can be unselfish!

And as for me, I’m heading to Philadelphia tomorrow morning to do some primary source type research for The Resurrectionists. Yes, that early 19th c America meets Frankenstein meets ill-fated romance novel from last year is coming back to life now that I have enough perspective. But before the edit can begin, I’m going to be digging through Philadelphia journals, letters, and– of all awesome things– lecture notes from UPENN’s medical college in 1826 until Friday evening. Welcome to my summer vacation of incomparable coolness.

Also, The Red Penny Papers goes live and opens for submissions in mere weeks. More on that soon, but things are looking great from where I stand.

So, yes. Fox drunk on honey. This is the life.

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Now playing: The Clash – Death or Glory
via FoxyTunes