So, it seems my books are REAL books

Or, they will be.

I’m peering through my sore-throat, headache-rattled, icky-feeling haze to point to THIS over at Angry Robot Books.

That’s me they’re talking about. And those are my books.

Debris will be published by Angry Robot Books in 2011, with Suited following in 2012. Wanna say WOOT with me? WOOT!

I’ve been calling these books ‘dark-fantasy/steampunk-ish’. Angry Robot are calling them ‘manga-inspired science fantasy’. You know, I think they are all of the above. I am a great fan of Angry Robot and their books precisely because they publish slipstreamy, weird and wonderful titles. I think they are a perfect home for Debris. And for Tanyana — my long-suffering main character.

So there we go. It’s wonderful (and a little nerve-wracking) to be taking this next step on the whole ‘I wanna be a real writer’ journey. 🙂

News as exciting as this is almost enough to sooth the angry sore-throat. Almost. I might need chocolate gelato, the couch, and episodes of Avatar: the Last Airbender to do that…

Excuse #230 for not writing new words this evening

Giant atomic glowing kitty stood on my computer.

True story.

Worldcon and strange noises

Worldcon was SO MUCH FUN. Hows that for a con report? You want details? The con hotel was the Hilton South Wharf and far, far fancier than any I could usually afford. The convention centre was huge and full of sff-loving people… my kinda people.

Caught up with too many people to name. But special waves go out to the Orbiteers *waves* and Tehani and Alisa from Fablecroft and Twelfth Planet Press *waves* Marianne de Pierres *hugs* Kaaron Warren, Donna, Sarah… it goes on.

Special mention goes to Ian Tregillis who I have known over the interwebs for ages and finally got to meet face to face. Hardly surprised to discover he is just as lovely in real life, and enjoyed spruiking his book to all who would listen (that’s Bitter Seeds, and you know you want it too!). That’s two down, mate. I’m slowly getting through you guys 😉

I’m afraid I have no photos – didn’t bother taking the camera this time, knew I wouldn’t use it. I never do. But there are millions of Worldcon photos floating around.

After the con the husband and I had a short holiday in Melbourne. The new hotel was… not so fancy. Although our room did look out over a rundown building which was very creepy at night (I’m a horror writer so I like that kinda thing *evil laugh*) We shopped (I bought boots! They are steampunky! With buckles!) and went to the Tim Burton exhibition. We ate pizza in Lygon street, and walked and walked and walked until out feet ached.

Overall, it was a lovely holiday. Greatly needed and appreciated (although probably not by the bank account…)

In fact, I had such a good time I seem to be making strange, tweeting noises…

Back from Worldcon

Back. Had a great time. Brain = zombified. Can’t do anything more complicated than order Thai food.

Real post tomorrow.

Short stories: more than just filling in the time between novels

So, while I wait for the novel brain to recover, I’m playing with short stories. That sounds like I don’t appreciate my short stories for who they are, but I do, really *pets them and hopes they don’t get offended and walk off in a huff*

I’ve always felt that short story writing and novel writing complement, even feed into each other. It’s like short stories is yoga and novel writing is jogging but they both contribute to a healthy back? (yeah, I have back-health on the brain at the moment). Anyway, at the moment I’m using these short stories to experiment with tenses. I have a story originally written in first person present, but now we’re trying past tense on for size, then comparing the two, and seeing what works. It’s really interesting to see what a difference it makes to the voice, and even the way it seems to change what the story is trying to say.

Yesterday we were playing with POV. And in between we have been writing new words in a story about rain… kinda.

Anyway, I think this post is starting to make me sound a little crazy, so I’m going to go back to my pot of jasmine tea.