First of all, the ZOMG link of the week: an amazing review of The Clockwork Dagger over on NPR.org. Yes, THE NPR.
This means I’ve now had features in Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, NPR.org, and the Arizona Republic in the past week and a half, and I wasn’t even arrested!
I am still blog touring and popping up here and there and everywhere.
– My story “Post-Apocalyptic Conversations with a Sidewalk” was just published in Nature! This is one of my favorite works for the whole year.
– I’m interviewed at The Nameless Zine.
– At Write 1 Sub 1 I tell all about “The Horror of Revision Letters.”
– Rhonda Parrish interviewed me at her blog.
– The second half of my podcast is up at Kingdoms of Evil!
The blog tour for the book and parasol ENDS TODAY. Check it out and spread the word, please!
Let’s finish off Cake Month with a cake of chocolate wonder, shall we?
I made this while visiting my parents’ house for the 4th of July. My brother’s birthday was in June and I let him pick the recipe for me to try. I prepared all of the dry ingredients beforehand and toted them to California.
I think he chose pretty well. This actually reminded me of how our local Savemart bakery used to make their Oreo Cake back in the late ’80s. This is heavy duty chocolate with the frosting and all, though the cake layers had a light crumb. It may not be as dense as some cakes, but it’s still a chocolate fist to the face.
I was a little disappointed in the filling layer, though–it wasn’t even visible in the cut cake! Therefore, I modified the ingredients to double the cream and sugar there.
Since I was in my hometown, it was only right that I use local ingredients. I used Rosa Brothers milk–it comes in a glass bottle and everything! Then I had to serve the cake with Superior Dairy chocolate chip ice cream, the best ice cream anywhere. I’ve lived all over the country. I know.
Like most chocolate cakes, this one improved after a day in the fridge.
Yet another reason why chocolate cake is awesome.
Modified from version here.
This has been one weird, crazy week. Things have started to calm down, which is good. I’ve been working on a lot of promo guest blogs and interviews over the past while, and it’s nice to return to some short stories.
I did have one big surprise this weekend. Last week I had a guest post over on Bookish. Well, through some shares on Twitter, I found this post was also published on USA Today. Like, whoa.
Another piece of good news: I survived my first booksigning! Mind you, I’ve signed lots of books before, but always at home and most of them for family and friends back in California. Never in front of a crowd, for strangers, in a store.
Changing Hands had a whole table set up with stacks of my books. I had to do the Vanna White thing.
I ended up with a fabulous number of people there–fifteen or so. Pretty awesome for a debut author like me! In speaking with people afterward, some found me through the Arizona Republic article, my guest blog at Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds, by simply stopping to hear me speak in the store, plus several are good friends and friends of friends.
I spoke about the dream of becoming an author, then took questions, and capped things off with an excerpt.
It was so strange to see a full line of people waiting to have their book signed. I’ve stood in lines like that sooooooo many times; this time it was for me!
When everything was done, we cleaned up and I was heading out of the store. A man stopped me to compliment me on my steampunk outfit, and a minute later he returned with his wife. I ended up walking with them back to my table, where I signed a book for them! BEHOLD THE POWER OF THE CORSET.
Changing Hands had a big poster of my book cover up at the front of the store. I asked what they were going to do with it, and they happily handed it over to me. This is destined for a wall somewhere in my house.
I want to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone at Changing Hands Tempe for being so kind and welcoming. There’s no getting away from the cliche, because it’s the truth: this was a dream come true.
Read MoreRead More“It turns out that the perfect state of mind to edit your novel is two years after it’s published, ten minutes before you go onstage at a literary festival.” ~Zadie Smith