Michele Lang

Thanks so much to the folks who visited at the Romance Junkies blog the other day.  We had fun talking about books we love…it got me thinking about so many things.  Watch out when I start thinking too much — it’s dangerous! LOL

Here is a great quote from one of my favorite authors, Madeleine L’Engle, about how important readers are to the creative process:  “The reader, viewer, listener, usually grossly underestimates his importance.  If a reader cannot create a book along with the writer, the book will never come to life.”  I always say that a book isn’t finished until someone reads it, completes that connection. 

Thank you for reading…I always thought a writer’s job was isolated and lonely, but in reality it is anything but.  Even when I’m curled up on my favorite old sofa, reading a big fat fantasy or a frothy romantic comedy, I am in the company of other readers and the writer.  We meet in the rich, alternate world we create together with the power of our imaginations.  Don’t you love that magic, that word alchemy?  I”m addicted to it.

What are you all reading these days?  I’m reading Truman, a presidential biography by David McCullough.  He’s the guy who wrote John Adams — HBO’s new miniseries is based on it.  

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  If you haven’t yet signed up for my Sightings contest, please enter now!  I’ll be picking a winner by the end of the week.

 Michele

Please stop by at the Romance Junkies blog today if you get a chance — we’re talking Madeleine L’Engle and what makes a book great.  You could win prizes, too LOL

Michele

Recently got the tentative itinerary for I-Con, and I’m doing the newbie writer happy dance…these panels look fabulous!  If you plan on coming, please find me and say hello — or drop me a line in advance so we can meet up!

For those of you who don’t know about I-Con, it’s one of the largest SF cons in the Northeast, and it’s happening at the State University at Stony Brook, NY April 4-6.  I am really looking forward to it — I went last year, and had a wonderful time.

Are There Alternatives to Mainstream Publishing?            
D’Arc, Lang, Lau, Gorinsky, Williams(M)
Fri, 7 S 309
 

Urban Fantasy: Vampires, Werewolves and Sex, Oh My! An exploration of one of the most popular genres in SF
Harris(M), Lang, D’Arc                                         
Fri, 8  S 302

Gender Bending: SF is the ideal medium for exploring changing ideas about sexuality and challenging accepted gender roles

Calvin(M), Bear, Spinrad, Lang
Sat, 3   S309

I Am Not My Character… or Am I? How much of the writer’s life, experiences and opinions turn up in characters?
Collins(M), Castro, Parris, Freedman, Lang
Sat, 2  S309

Sunday
Noon-1  Sign

For all of you who have been waiting for review copies of NETHERWOOD, or who won copies in contests, I finally wrapped them up and sent them out!  There is a second, smaller batch of them still to go, but the bulk of them are making their way to you.  If you have any questions, please contact me via email.

Christine, if you are reading this, you won The Midnight Hour’s drawing for a copy of my book…please contact me with your mailing information. 

 And for those of you who still have not yet won a copy and would like to try, NETHERWOOD is going to be featured on Alison Kent’s blog this Saturday — visit there and comment to win!

Hope you are having a great week,

Michele

Whew! A lot of running around this weekend!

 I had the pleasure of going to Lunacon this weekend.  The highlight of it for me program-wise was speaking on the Madeleine L’Engle tribute panel — her work is a huge inspiration, and it was such a pleasure to talk about her awesomeness in a room full of other fans.

 I also met wonderful people, like artist and writer Linda Champanier, and the charming and effervescent Sarah Beth Durst, who has a wonderful YA fantasy out from Razor, INTO THE WILD.  I also had the pleasure of talking e-books with Sarah Avery, a new fantasy author with an upcoming release from Drollerie.  It was a joy to meet so many other readers and enthusiasts of all things fantastical — if you ever get the chance, go to Lunacon!

I’m going to be all over the tri-state area this weekend, partying hearty over NETHERWOOD:

 *March 15th at 1 p.m. — As part of my local chapter’s spring book signing, I’ll be talking about technology in storytelling – why people turn to stories to cope with the pace of change in our society, and how writers can use technology to strengthen worldbuilding, conflict, and character.  The talk is being held at Barnes & Noble on Walt Whitman Road/Rte 110, Huntington Station, NY

*FUTURE LOVE — I will be joining fellow Shomi authors MARIANNE MANCUSI and LIZ MAVERICK at their latest fabulous party, Future Love, in NYC. Hopefully I will have some pictures to share…it will be great to party with my Shomi sisters!

 UPDATED to add:  Marianne Mancusi has more about the Future Love party up at her blog:

http://mariannem.blogspot.com/2008/03/future-love-2108.html

*LUNACON — I will be reading, signing and speaking at two panels at Lunacon on Sunday.  I am excited to be part of the Madeleine L’Engle tribute panel, and will also be speaking about e-publishing:  the good, the bad and the ugly;  a topic I am qualified to address…

 Hope to see you out and about!  I will be doing more of this over the next month, and will keep you posted on my appearances…

have a great weekend!

Michele

Hi folks!

 I am running around on a Manic Monday tear…Lt. Kovner, my wonderful NETHERWOOD hero, has offered to hijack my blog today! LOL

Here’s a letter he wrote recently for people who subscribe to Romance Designs.  Have a great Monday!

 Michele

Dear Reader,

I have hacked into your computer to send you this message at great personal risk.  Time is short.  The Singularity is near….I know it is hard to believe, but computers are on the verge of becoming more intelligent than any human being.  And this advent of sentient computers is not the utopia that your best and brightest thinkers would have you believe.

My name is Lt. Robert Kovner.  I’m a veteran of the Glass Desert wars, and now I’m posted to Fresh Havens, a corporate colony of intergalactic FortuneCorp.  But I have a secret identity, a secret life.  In cyberspace, I’m known as the Avenger.  And I seek the destruction of an evil supermind determined to destroy all of humankind.

I want you to know that you have a soul. 

How do I convince you of the dangers?  I know from where you’re reading my letter, I sound crazy.  But prophets usually sound crazy until events prove their visions true.  Have you ever had a dream?  Lived a secret life of the mind?  Imagine that dream place, more real than your daily life.  Imagine that you can escape to that other world with the click of a mouse, with a slow intake of your breath.

My secret world has a name: NETHERWOOD.  And in that place, I have found true love.  Now I have come to you, across time and space, to implore you to heed your own dreams, your own life of the mind.  Your soul is precious, you are so much more than your surface self.  We lose ourselves in the small moments of our lives, the corporate postings, the tests and examinations made from outside.  But take a moment, find yourself again.

We need you.           

In my world, the soul is against the law.  True love something outmoded, impractical, useless.  But love is the most powerful force in the universe.  I know it, and you do too.  So when you are done with my letter, and your ordinary day clamors for you, remember the secret place where your soul finds safe haven, and remember, somewhere love waits for you.  Needs you.  Recognizes your perfection, the implicit beauty of your soul.           

When you tire of your surface life, meet me in that secret place, venture into Netherwood.  And you and I, our friends and lovers, will join together and rediscover paradise. 

Until we meet there stay strong,

Kovner

Hello folks…I am at The Midnight Hour, guest blogging!

Hello everybody –

I have heard reports of NETHERWOOD appearing in book stores across the United States….and I thought I would celebrate the book’s release by tracking where you, dear readers, have found it.

 To win a $50 Amazon gift card, please leave a comment in the comments section letting me know where you saw the book — book store name, town, country, and where in the book store — and I will put your name in the magic hat.  Another way to enter the contest is to join my announcement/newsletter loop:

 Michele_Lang_Book_Talk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

 Happy Hunting, and good luck!

Michele

UPDATED to add:  a winner has been selected…thanks so much for reporting your sightings!

 M