in which the meerkat is pleased and proud and inspired....

[lagilman]

It has been a very long day, and I am too wiped out to do more than skim e-mail, but a wee note caught my eye, and I thought "this is worth blogging about."

Bear with me, first, while I take you on a quick history recap.

The year is 1991. I am a baby Assistant at Ace/Berkley, dutifully skimming the slush pile. And a manuscript catches my eye. SF, Heinleinish adventure with a female protag. It's not brilliant, but I think it's pretty damn good. So I take it to my boss, and make the pitch why I think we should buy it. She reads some of the manuscript, looks at the schedule, looks at the budget, and tells me to go make an offer. Baby Editor's First Phone Call!

The book got solid reviews and meh sales. The second book did pretty much the same. But the author and I got along well, and I knew she had a lot of talent, not to mention stubborn determination.

About this time, the female-featured mystery series was really starting to heat up, and we were told "look for more of this." So when the author mentioned that she had a mystery she'd written sitting on her hard drive (this was after hard drives, but only just) I told her to send it.

She did. We bought it, and two others ("I don't know if I can write two more," she said. "Shut up and take the deal," I said. "We'll worry about that later.")

That book was A COLD DAY FOR MURDER. The author was Dana Stabenow. It won the Edgar for best paperback original mystery, and cemented a damn good author/editor relationship, if I do say so myself. Leaving her to another editor when I went to NAL was one of the hardest parts of the job change. Dana parted ways with Berkley a few years later, and went to St. Martin's, who has published her since then.

And now, with WHISPER TO THE BLOOD, the 16th Kate Shugak book, she is a New York Times* bestseller.

16 books into a series. Two publishers, two agents, and several editors later.

Talent. And a stubborn determination.


*raises glass* Mazel tov, my friend. I may have set you on this path, but you're the one who walked it. Well done. Well done indeed.

Let this be a lesson and an inspiration to all of us who are looking down that road, and wondering if there's anything worth walking to....






*okay, extended list. NYT, baby!

Comments

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

That's a fantastic story. I confess I prefer the Liam books to the Kates, but she is a damn fine writer either way. Woot to both of you!

[lagilman]

heh. I was the editor who got her to do the Liam books, so we could work together when I was at NAL, too. That was a fun series -- all the atmosphere of the Shugak books, half the emotional trauma....

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

I don't mind trauma. I live for trauma. I just like Liam as person, better than I like Kate. *g*

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

Extended list counts! Good for her, and for the slush reader who found her ;-)

Very good story, especially for anyone expecting overnight success...

[lagilman]

Yeah. It was a lesson I was in need of this week, too.

(yes, even the meerkat has moments of self-doubnt. That noise you just heard in the wind was Certain Friends Laughing *sticks tongue out at Certain Friends*)

[lagringa.livejournal.com]

W0000t!

I heart Dana Stabenow, not just for her excellent storytelling but for also turning me onto Kaladi Brothers Coffee, the best coffee on the planet!!!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, *man*, I miss Kaladi...

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I don't think I realized you knew Dana personally. I've met her a couple times (she wouldn't remember) but I often get asked if I know her, 'cause we're both Alaskans. :) Well done to her!

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

(And, as we all know, everyone in Alaska knows one another! *GRIN*)

Had to comment on that one, because my friend who is from Lithuania once was at our house working on our plumbing with my husband (we were getting a new disposal or some such nightmare) and the carpenter who was repairing the garage door opener walked in for a glass of water. When he heard Marius speak, he said, "Hey, where are you from?"

"Lithuania."

"OH, I know a guy from there! Do you know [name]?"

Marius winced. "No, but of course everyone in Lithuania knows one another. . . ." (It's a country, not a town the size of Fink, Texas. . . .)

Alaska IS larger than Lithuania, I think, so it's even funnier with Alaska in there. ;)

[lagilman]

*laughs* She was Baby's First Acquisition. I think that qualifies as knowing her...

(we've had a long, weird working friendship since then, up to and including the anthologies POWERS OF DETECTION and UNUSUAL SUSPECTS)

[editrx.livejournal.com]

Wow, small world. (But then we knew it was, eh?) I used to proofread Dana's books for St. Martin's when they were still sending work to me and Elric. I miss working on those; they were a kick to read, and entirely enjoyable to work on.

[chickwriter.livejournal.com]

Wow, my worlds collide! I didn't realize you were Dana's first editor. :)

She's a friend, via mystery community and a Buffy discussion list I started for mystery writers during season six.

Small, small world.

And such fabulous news for Dana. I've been in love with her writing since that first book.

[lagilman]

Check the dedication on Killing Grounds.

And yeah, even when I don't have time to read One More Thing, her books still go on my shelf. She may be the reason I finally buy an e-reader, so i can go somewhere on vacation and actually catch up! (not just on the Kates but the suspense novels, too).

[havocthecat]

I'm not a big mystery fan, but, hey, I loved those Heinleinish books with the female protagonist. So I'm actually really glad for the first two books for me, but glad for the author for the rest of them.

[lagilman]

You know there were three SF books published, right?

[havocthecat]

Probably I've read all of them, but it's been a while. I'll have to double-check.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Well done the both of you!

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

This is very cool. Dana Stabenow has been on my autobuy list forever (and I may have first heard about her from you, come to think of it).

I have her latest near the top of my TBR pile. There's a lot to be said for stubborn determination.