THE DAY
ZOMG it’s here! The Clockwork Dagger is out! There is much rejoicing!
I’m over on Reddit today for an Ask Me Anything. Log in, post me a question! I might hop in during the day to answer some, but I’ll definitely be on at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific Time to hang out and answer stuff live. Or semi-dead, depending on how I feel at that point.
Another option to the links below: HarperCollins is now directly selling books, and they have a special deal for The Clockwork Dagger. Through 9/22, you can buy the trade paperback for 15% off and free shipping, and 20% off the ebook.
Happy links! I AM LIKE CAT HAIR ON THE INTERNET. I AM EVERYWHERE.
I’m Cooking the Books with Fran Wilde today! Listen to a podcast where I talk about ice blocks and cheese (firm and hard varieties preferred), and you have a chance to win an ARC of The Clockwork Dagger!
Holy moley, I have an article on the Huffington Post: “The Genre Jumble of Steampunk and Why It Works.”
I’m interviewed at the Qwillery.
Over at Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog, I discuss how My Favorite Bit in The Clockwork Dagger happens to be map geekery.
The Clockwork Dagger is prominently featured in an article at Entertainment Weekly. Oh boy.
At Spec Fiction Hub, I talk about how gremlins took over the book.
Beyond Historical Fiction: How I Came to Steampunk is posted at SFSignal.
“Why Beth Cato Made Her Fantasy Heroine a Healer” can be read at Bookish.
A list of 10 Things to Know About The Clockwork Dagger is at Niteblade.
Book book BOOK BOOOOOOOOK! Buy it everywhere!
Amazon Barnes & Noble Powell’s Books-A-Million Poisoned Pen Changing Hands Mysterious Galaxy
Me, Everywhere
In non-Clockwork Dagger news, my story “213 Myrtle Street” is featured on this week’s Toasted Cake Podcast. Tina Connolly does a lovely job of reading one of my favorite stories.
Now, to the big thing for the week. Hey, did you know my book comes out tomorrow?
The Clockwork Cookie tour wraps up with Dawn Bonanno, with an interview and Chewy Cardamom Cookies!
There are nifty book reviews over at Fanboy Comics and Relentless Reading.
I visit Lawrence Schoen blog to talk about nostalgic and yummy pizza in his Eating Authors.
Another interview at Under the Covers.
And hey, you up to listening to my dorky voice? I’m over at the Kingdoms of Evil podcast! I talk about healers, old school RPGs, and The Clockwork Dagger.
The Big Blog Tour continues! Win a book and a parasol!
- The Schedule
- 9/8 – YA Bibliophile, post
- 9/9 – Irish Banana, promo post
- 9/10 – Mundie Moms, excerpt
- 9/11- Reads All The Books, review
- 9/12 – YA Sisterhood, guest post
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- 9/15 – My, My Shelf & I, excerpt
- 9/16 – Curling Up With A Good Book, guest post
- 9/17 – Fictitious Delicious, Q&A
- 9/18 – Page Turners Blog, review
- 9/19 – Fangirlish, promo post
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- 9/22 – Novel Novice, guest post
- 9/23 – Reading Teen, promo post
- 9/24 – Chapter by Chapter, author interview
- 9/25 – Jenuine Cupcakes, promo post
- 9/26 – Good Choice Reading, excerpt
I’m strutting my stuff all over the internet!
Sunday Quote goes to breathe into a paper bag
Read More“A book finished, published, read–is always an anticlimax to me. The joy comes in the words going down and the rhythms crowding in the chest and pulsing to get out.” ~John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel
Memories of B. Dalton and the Booksigning that Won’t Be
[In a week, I hold my first booksigning at Changing Hands in nearby Tempe, Arizona. This got me thinking about how I always imagined things would be…]
I grew up in small-town agricultural California. My local bookstore was a B. Dalton in the Kings Mall. My early memories of that store have my head below the level of the counter. It was a place of countless books and dark woods and garish 1970s orange. Tall ladders stretched to storage crannies high above. Craning my head, I felt like Jack looking up the beanstalk. There were treasures up there.
My mom would scold me to not even touch the ladders in passing. “You have to work here to use them,” she said.
[Me at age 5 with a B. Dalton bag on the far right and new bounty before me.]
I can’t even say how many hours I spent there. During my brief time in high school (brief, due to the saving grace of an early graduation that allowed me to escape the toxic environment) I would often walk to the mall after school. I was the obsessive-compulsive customer who would place the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms books in proper series sequence.
I wanted to publish a fantasy novel of my own. I wistfully stared at the spot where DAVIS would be shelved. The thing is, publishing a fantasy novel involves writing one. I wrote a few pages here and there, character biographies, sketches, maps, but never made a genuine effort. I was too afraid it would be awful. A few times, I saw authors hold signings at my B. Dalton. They set up a table for them right at the front with full visibility of the mall traffic.
I wanted to sit there, proudly, my books stacked on the table before me.
At age eighteen, I was hired as a seasonal employee at B. Dalton. It was my dream job. I quickly found that I was awkward at handling anything on the phone, and working with the cash drawer made me very nervous. But shelving–oh, I could shelve books and work stock for endless hours. One of my happiest days was when I spent my entire shift placing 50% stickers on all the calendars.
A few years later, I married my Navy sailor husband and moved away. The B. Dalton was in danger of closing at one point but Borders stepped in to save the store. It was odd, on a rare visit home, to see all the B. Dalton signing gone.
And then, of course, came the demise of Borders.
My hometown has no bookstore now. The next nearest big city, Visalia, does not even have a bookstore beyond one for college textbooks. To find a Barnes & Noble, a person has to brave traffic and drive 45 minutes to Fresno.
When I walk through the Hanford Mall, I can still see the B. Dalton there, like a ghost. I can see the younger me, so pudgy and wounded by the world, sitting criss-cross with my backpack against my thigh, a fantasy book in my hands. That store enabled me to escape. It helped to keep me alive. All those childhood fantasies of “I’m going to be an author when I grow up and I’m going to hold my signing here…”
Now my book is a reality, and I can’t. Sure, I could hold a signing elsewhere in my hometown, but it’s not the same. A lot of things in Hanford aren’t the same–there are many wonderful new things there in recent years. But there’s no bookstore. No place for kids to visit and stare up the ladders, and wonder at the new books hidden in the heavens above.
Weekly Round-Up
A few folks have asked, “How are you holding up? What’s it like in the week before the book comes out?”
I’m not feeling particularly stressed right now. I have moments–like when I wake up to a bunch of emails or get frustrated with a blog post–but I wouldn’t say I’m freaking out. I am having trouble with sleep after about 3am but that doesn’t seem to be messing me up during the day, though a nap at some point might be kinda nice. One thing that is bothering me is that my attention is very scattered. I’m trying to work on a new story and I’m not doing my usual output at all because I’m constantly checking my mail or social media. That’s always a temptation, anyway, but now it’s become a complete nervous habit.
It’s a sort of relief to have errands outside the house, things that utterly distract me from the computer and checking all the things. Also, I’ve been reading Ha’penny and now Half a Crown by Jo Walton and those have been awesome and immersive.
On to the link round-up!
I was interviewed by the witty and awesome Tex Thompson! She’s the author of the luscious fantasy western novel One Night in Sixes.
The Big Blog Tour continues! Win a book and a parasol!
- The Schedule
- 9/8 – YA Bibliophile, post
- 9/9 – Irish Banana, promo post
- 9/10 – Mundie Moms, excerpt
- 9/11- Reads All The Books, review
- 9/12 – YA Sisterhood, guest post
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- 9/15 – My, My Shelf & I, excerpt
- 9/16 – Curling Up With A Good Book, guest post
- 9/17 – Fictitious Delicious, Q&A
- 9/18 – Page Turners Blog, review
- 9/19 – Fangirlish, promo post
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- 9/22 – Novel Novice, guest post
- 9/23 – Reading Teen, promo post
- 9/24 – Chapter by Chapter, author interview
- 9/25 – Jenuine Cupcakes, promo post
- 9/26 – Good Choice Reading, excerpt
The Clockwork Cookie Tour continues with more sweet goodies to stuff in your face:
– Rebecca Roland with Cookies and Cream Cookies
– J. Kathleen Cheney with Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread
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