Three Things, All Good

[dr_pretentious]

My friend annathepiper does NOT have cancer! While it still looked like she might, she put her awesome book is on sale for $2.99, and the sale's good through the end of January. If you like paranormal romance, stories with faerie lore, unusual collisions of fae and African-American cultures, and stories with gloriously geeky software-tester kickass heroines, you will like Faerie Blood. Plus, the naming magic starts out deceptively conventional, only to take a movingly quirky twist later on.

The Rugosa book is still on track to go out to its publisher by Saturday. Sunday, I'm bringing a completely new short story nobody else has seen at all to a meeting of my critique group. It's possible to finish things. Nice to know.

I wrote a longish post for Black Gate about Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. (No, Pagan readers, not that capital-C Craft.) It's a delightful book, which surprised me the first time I picked it up, because I'm usually allergic to horror. There's a nice comment thread going over there with suggestions for Stephen King books that show King at his Kingliest, but that aren't actually horror. Go weigh in, if you like.

Comments

[kistha.livejournal.com]

I love King. My favorites are The Stand, IT (which always seemed like a prophetic telling of my youth and I'm still waiting for a phone call dragging me back) Carrie and Firestarter.

Interestingly his book Bag of Bones that came out after the car crash seemed like a way of telling his fans goodbye and why he was leaving. I'm glad he's still writing, though I haven't picked up anything lately.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

And that wasn't the last time he said goodbye only to come back, if I remember right. Well, long may he wave.

The Stand and Different Seasons seem to be the front runners in the essay's comment thread.

[violet-moon25.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Faerie Blood. I'd have called it Urban Fantasy if asked but either way it's a great read.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

It's hard sometimes to see the line between Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. I figure, since Anna's also sold a fantasy series to Harlequin's ebook imprint, her best odds of getting readers to follow her from press to press and from self-pub to Harlequin might be to embrace the romance side of her stories.

On the other hand, one way to tell Urban Fantasy from Paranormal Romance may be to see which books I like enough to keep reading past page 3. Because I have a bunch of friends and friendly acquaintances who write romance at the pro level, I've tried to read things that make it to the romance shelves at B&N. Never have I made it past page 3, and often I don't make it past page 3 in Paranormal Romances on the SF/F shelves, either. Since Faerie Blood pleased me from start to finish, either its a total outlier, or it's Urban Fantasy.

[violet-moon25.livejournal.com]

I see your point about trying to have her readers of other books follow her. I also tend to agree with you--romance with little other plot isn't my kind of thing. But I have found a few books shelved as Paranormal Romance that were enjoyable and had a bit more plot than just romance.

[annathepiper]

Thank you so much for the shoutout! :) And thanks to folks who've bought the book!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to shout on behalf of Faerie Blood at any reasonable opportunity. And again, I'm so glad for your good news.

[annathepiper]

So am I and Dara and Paul, that's for sure!