"Spinning a web of words, ...

... pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see" (Grendel by John Gardner).

I had an absolute blast at ConCarolinas last weekend. The folks put on a wonderful con filled with great panels and a super line-up of guests. I really enjoyed myself.

I've been working on interview questions. My rock star agent has set up a hopping one question blog tour with some vibrant bloggers, and I'll be posting the details about that soon.

During the blog tour, I will be talking more about Miserere. While I don't want to give you too many spoilers, I can say that a few questions revolve around why I chose to portray real religions and the research I did while writing Miserere. So I won't talk about those things until the one question blog tour begins.

The Garden has taken off and I'm really pleased with the way the story is moving now.

Details on the book launch for Miserere will be coming soon too.

Don't forget! You have until June 10, 2011 to register for a free AUTOGRAPHED copy of Miserere! Just head over to Weronika's blog for details (in other words CLICK HERE FOR CONTEST RULES).

Meanwhile, I'm off to spin more words ...

an interview at Layers of Thought

Normally, I'm more timely about getting these things online, but I'm at ConCarolinas this weekend and have just had time to sit down and catch up online.

I have an interview posted by Shellie over at Layers of Thought, an eclectic blog with an affinity for the speculative. While you're there, check out some of her book reviews and interviews. Shellie is the kind of interviewer that makes the interview fun.

Go on, see you for yourself ...

LEC Book Reviews calls Miserere "a fine ... debut"

He said some other very nice things about Miserere, but I can only get so much in that title line.

Truth be told, I've been scared to death, waiting on reviews for Miserere.

(OCD about the whole thing is more like it--checking, checking, checking, worriedworriedworried--which is perfectly normal or so other debut authors have assured me.)

So I'm very pleased with the review I've garnered from LEC Book Reivews. I have to be away today, but I did want to pop in long enough to share this: LEC Book Reviews: Miserere: An Autumn Tale.

voices in my head, sequels, and ConCarolinas coming along

I've finally made it into The Garden with my boys. I think it's so funny that when I was young, all the stories I wrote had female protagonists. The Garden's cast is primarily male because of the time period (and other things I'm not at liberty to discuss), but while I'm writing The Garden, Dolorosa is beginning to form in the back of my mind.

Dolorosa is the sequel to Miserere and is the second novel in my Katharoi series. Dolorosa will be Rachael's story and oh, what story she has. There will be ladies aplenty in Dolorosa and they are wicked women one and all.

I've started jotting down notes and thinking what fun it shall be to go to Hell ...

I'll be at ConCarolinas this weekend and if you're near the Charlotte area, you should stop in too!

Have a great weekend and don't forget, you have until June 10, 2011 to enter Weronika's contest where we are giving away another signed copy of Miserere: An Autumn Tale.

Another chance to win an autographed copy of Miserere is here!

My author's copies of Miserere: An Autumn Tale arrived yesterday and to celebrate, my awesome agent Weronika Janczuk is hosting a contest at her blog!

There are two ways to win, and so no one gets confused about where to link, I'm sending you to Weronika's page now.

Click here for your chance to win an autographed copy of Miserere!

Go on, you know you want it ...

in remembrance

of those who have fallen

and those who have served

of those who serve

and those who have returned

broken in body but not in spirit

we honor you.

Memorial Day 2011

we have a winner for an ARC of Miserere

LynetteMountainCloud, who hails from the lovely New England area of the U.S., is the winner of my Goodreads contest for a signed ARC of Miserere: An Autumn Tale.

Since the post offices in the U.S. will be closed for Memorial Day, I'll be getting her copy in the mail to her on Tuesday.

Thanks to all 989 of you who put your name in the hat for the Goodreads drawing! I hope to have some more giveaways in the future, so keep watching!

slipping into someone's skin

I've been kind of quiet lately. There have been some shifts in The Garden, and I've been enjoying working on the story now that the characters have come alive for me. This is what always takes me so long on a brand new novel--learning to feel the characters so I can immediately slip into their skins when I write the scenes.

So now I have my Guillermo, a man who only wants to be valued for who he is, but he is drowning in memories not his own.

And Diago is a man who will not cry, who believes his bitter heart can never love again.

As I write their story, I have a line from one of Federico García Lorca's poems run through my head. It's from "Romance sonámbulo:"

Pero yo ya no soy yo ... / But I am no longer I ...

I am no longer I.

I am not myself.

My true self.

Listen:

You can still register to win one signed ARC of my novel Miserere: An Autumn Tale at Goodreads, but you have to hurry.

Next weekend (June 3-5) I will be hanging out at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, NC as a fan. It looks like they've got a super convention planned, so if you're in the area, stop by and check it out. If you see me, say hi, I'd love to meet you.

That's it for now.

Be safe and have a happy Memorial Day weekend.

Guest post at SF Signal

I'm over at SF Signal today with a guest post. I'm talking about what Guillermo del Toro taught me about writing child characters.

I was really nervous about writing this one, because SF Signal is a really great blog. I hope you'll join there.

I have an interview posted at OWW

Click here to read my interview over at the Online Writing Workshop's Newletter. You don't have to be a member to read the Newsletter.

If you haven't checked out the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, maybe you should! It's a great place to connect with other writers and get some super feedback for your work.