I will be signing books and swag and otherwise promoting the LADY LAZARUS series (including book #2, DARK VICTORY) at the Tor booth this Sunday, October 16th at 3 p.m.

This year, the Tor booth is # 945 — if you’re at the Javits this Sunday, please stop by!

I’m emerging from the hidden recesses of my writing cave (in major deadline overdrive for Book #3 of LADY LAZARUS) to visit with the SF Association of Bergen County on Saturday, October 15th at 7:30 p.m. at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center.

You don’t have to be a member of the SFABC to attend so please stop by if you are local — I’ll be making some exciting announcements and will have some goodies for everybody who attends

I hope that everybody reading this is doing well.  I’ve been silent as the grave for awhile now, but have a lot planned for the end of the year.  Coming soon!

So psyched to be heading up to Hartford this weekend!  Here’s my tentative schedule as a ConnectiCon Guest of Honor:

Friday, 1 p.m.: How We Got Into It

reading/signing 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Friday 6 p.m.: Researching Historical Fantasy

Friday 7:15 p.m.: Copyright and Creation

Saturday 10:45 a.m.: So You Want to Publish

Saturday 7 p.m.: What If

Sunday 10:30 a.m.: Story Mapping

In addition, on Saturday night I’ll be participating in a charity story-a-thon called the Outrageous Tales of Baron von Lahey, at 7:30 p.m. in Panel Two.  Come on down, encourage me in my outlandish tale-telling, and donate to charity.

I spent a lot of time in Connecticut, and I’m really looking forward to coming back for this con. Connecticut peeps, hope you can come out to celebrate with me!

Dean Wesley Smith’s website is a treasure trove for writers — he’s got two or three books about the publishing industry going up there, he constantly puts up free fiction, and has his fingers on the pulse of both indy and trad publishing.

If you head over there, though, make sure you read the comments.  The veins of pure gold are down in comments – Dean’s offhand comments are often mini-writing workshops, full of hard-earned wisdom about the writing process.

For example, check out this nugget of wisdom about so called writer’s block:

Michele, writer’s block is a myth, but project block sure exists. It’s often when you write yourself down a path and somehow your conscious brain gets a handhold and veers you in a direction. Then your writing brain, your subconscious says, “Nope.” And you just grind to a halt. Or, sometimes your subconscious just hasn’t figured out the next line yet. Which is why I often sleep in the middle of a story. When I wake up I can type again. (grin)

One big aspect of project block is not trusting your subconscious. This comes from the conscious/critical mind’s driving need to know where the story is going. As long as you just trust that the story is going somewhere and type, this aspect stays silent. But when you find yourself NEEDING to know where the story is going and not knowing, like a junky needing a fix, more than likely the project will stop cold.

Switch projects and go again. No such thing as writer’s block. But project block for many reasons is real.

YES.  This, a thousand times.

I first learned this from my writing buddy Charlene Teglia — we were chatting about working on multiple projects, and she emerged with a similar gem, that you can have different projects at different stages, and when you are stuck on one, move to another.

And the mighty Kevin J. Anderson says something very similar as well:

Each writing project has many phases: research, plotting, writing the first draft, doing the rough edit, polishing the final edit, copyediting, proofreading, and the marketing and business.  Since some of these tasks are more onerous than others, I keep several different projects on the creative burner at all times at different stages.  Personally, I love the creative explosion of plotting the story from scratch and writing the first draft, but the first major edit or the last proofread both seem like a lot of drudgery to me.

However, if I have several novels or stories at different stages of completion, I can switch from one process to another, while charging along at full-steam.  The variety also makes the tedious parts more palatable. 

 I can research a new novel for an hour, then write a draft chapter of a different story, then proofread galleys of another novel, answer questions in an interview for yet another novel, then maybe go back to tweak an outline, or do some more research.

So there you have it…a writing secret it took me years to understand and start to implement.  The best part about this job is that you never ever stop learning.

The long-awaited sequel to MS. PENDRAGON is now available on Kindle, Smashwords, and Nook…

Be careful what you wish for…

Vivianne, High Priestess of New York City, once dreamed of a world ruled by magic. But when King Arthur returns, bringing enchantment with him, the Big Apple goes straight to hell.

Now Viv must battle demonic forces intent on destroying time itself — even Merlin, great Mage of Britain, can’t stop an ancient prophecy from unfolding in the present day. Viv may have the power to save New York, but she can’t resist the dark seductions of Arthur’s bastard son – Mordred.

“We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto! Brace yourself for a wild ride through past and present in this amazing sequel to Ms. Pendragon. All the great characters are back to fight off a returning evil including, Gwen, Viv, Merlin & Arthur.” -Dark Angel Reviews

Buy — Kindle/Amazon

Buy — Nook/Barnes & Noble

Buy — Smashwords

Recently, the folks at AISFP podcast released my interview with Brent Bowen, recorded at last year’s World Fantasy con.  They are doing a big giveaway at their site, including a signed copy of LADY LAZARUS. Go forth, listen, and win

In case you didn’t know, one of my many obsessions is World War II, especially the Eastern European theatre, and especially the years leading up to Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939.  It’s a period in which the shadows of totalitarianism slowly but inexorably covered the face of the continent,  a time in which seemingly minor decisions ended up having catastrophic consequences.

It’s also a time of style and grit, sophistication and a weary strength among the good people of Europe.  You have to remember that the world was still recovering from the disaster of World War I, the Great War, and that colored the world view, the dreams, and the fears of the interwar generation.

In short, Europe at that time was totally Noir.  Dark, bitter chocolate, coffee at 2 a.m., a cigarette for breakfast.  I’m obsessed with the period, because I often wonder how I would have survived it myself.  And I wonder about the Europe that could have been, had world events played out in a different way…

One of my other obsessions is reading awesome books   And until recently I didn’t realize there was a sub-genre, Nazi Noir, that categorizes so many books that I love.

The grand-daddy of Nazi Noir is the awesome Alan Furst.  His dangerous, edgy pre-war spy novels are the next best thing to time-travel to the Paris, Warsaw, and Balkans of the 1930s.  Jaded characters who see too clearly where things are going in Europe, and who pay the price for trying to do something about it.  He calls his novels “historical espionage,” but the mood is noir, baby, total noir.

His stories unravel and float away like cigarette smoke in a nightclub, more atmospheric and literary than plot-oriented.  I love these books, though usually I go for books with a stronger, more linear plot.  These books haunt me, in the best, most wonderful way.

Rebecca Cantrell is the author of the marvelous Trace of Smoke, the first book in the Hannah Vogel series.  If you like these kinds of stories, do yourself a favor and read these — they feature a strong, dynamic heroine in the Berlin of the early 1930s.  Again, these books are so atmospheric you’ll hear the click of Hanna’s heels on the pavement as she tries to bring her brother’s killer to justice in 1931 Berlin.  Fantastic writing…elegant storytelling.

My writing teacher  Kris Rusch recently released  Hitler’s Angel, an edgy murder mystery set in both 1970s and 1930s Berlin.  It tells the story of the real-life murder of Hitler’s niece, Geli Raubal, in Berlin in 1931 (truly a pivotal time in German history).  This story has a kicker of a twist at the end, one that puts the story before into a philosophical light.  A taut, intense read. Kris also writes paranormal Nazi Noir, and that, I tell you, has all my reader cookies right there.  Nom, nom, nom.  Read this novella for free online at Subterranean Press Magazine — I just loved it:  it’s called “Show Trial,” and though it’s set in the immediate aftermath of the war, it’s plenty noir.  Intense, morally ambiguous, and really cool.  Check it out!

You realize I could just go on and on, right?

I’ll stop now, and probably do this again soon.  There was an excellent article in Booklist recently that listed more books in the genre, and that’s a great place to start if, like me, you are drawn to the period, and you want more recommendations.

Whee — she’s out in mass market now! Here are some buy links for you:

Amazon (and check it – they lowered the price for the Kindle edition — same low price as the mass market.  Yey, Tor!)

Barnes & Noble (and it’s the same low price in electronic format for Nook! Yey!)

Macmillan (parent publisher of Tor)

I’m having a launch party over on Facebook today — a new free ebook is uploaded there (published on all formats at Smashwords) for your entertainment.  I’ll be posting cool tidbits, interviews, videos, etc, over there…and there may be more prezzies in store for folks who stop by (I’m in a celebratory mood!)

Here’s the link to the free ebook if you don’t have time to swing by the party:

available in all formats at Smashwords

Thanks so much to everybody for the support.  This book was a long time coming, and it is so great to see it in the wild, finding its way into readers’ hands.  Let me know how the nonfic ebook works for you!

Had the most incredible trip to Israel, where I saw many incredible sights and learned so much about a complex and beautiful country.  I will post pictures and a travelogue soon, promise!

Here’s an interview I did with author Michael A. Ventrella, where I talk about endurance, the future of publishing, and lawyers

Have a wonderful weekend — it’s supposed to be lovely in NY/LI (finally) and my copyedits for DARK VICTORY have come in, so I know what I’ll be doing!

EDITED TO ADD:  The link to the interview.  Link didn’t stick before — sorry!