lagilman | Entries tagged with books

Hey, reader-types, here's something for you!

First, Fran Wilde's CLOUDBOUND is out this week! This sequel to her multiple-award-winning UPDRAFT is classic SF adventure updated to 21st century science and sensibility. And it's great fun, so you should lay hand on it ASAP. (also: UPDRAFT is now out in trade paper!)

Second, although it's not coming out until October 25th, I've been following the evolution of this book on Tumblr, and trust me, you want it (mine's already pre-ordered). It's called REJECTED PRINCESSES.

"Illustrated in a contemporary animation style, Rejected Princesses turns the ubiquitous "pretty pink princess" stereotype portrayed in movies, and on endless toys, books, and tutus on its head, paying homage instead to an awesome collection of strong, fierce, and yes, sometimes weird, women: warrior queens, soldiers, villains, spies, revolutionaries, and more who refused to behave and meekly accept their place.

An entertaining mix of biography, imagery, and humor written in a fresh, young, and riotous voice, this thoroughly researched exploration salutes these awesome women drawn from both historical and fantastical realms, including real life, literature, mythology, and folklore. Each profile features an eye-catching image of both heroic and villainous women in command from across history and around the world, from a princess-cum-pirate in fifth century Denmark, to a rebel preacher in 1630s Boston, to a bloodthirsty Hungarian countess, and a former prostitute who commanded a fleet of more than 70,000 men on China’s seas."

(I get no financial renumeration for this promo; I just think the books are cool and are hopefully Of Interest to many of you)

The 4th Gin & Tonic mystery,CLAWED, is out today!

Which means all 4 Gin & Tonic mysteries are now available for your binging pleasure.

Read Responsibily!

(ah, screw that. Read irresponsibly! Read wildly, flagrantly, with mad abandon. Wallow in words!)

And lo, after much waiting... okay, it's been eight months since FIXED, I'm hoping you've been waiting! It's here!

When Ginny Mallard and her sometimes-partner Teddy Tonica are asked to look into the situation of an old man about to be evicted, the part-time investigators think it’s just a matter of sorting out misunderstandings. But this is no simple landlord-tenant spat, bringing them headfirst – and nose-deep in trouble – into the world of back-room fights and animal rights…

And this time, Ginny’s shar-pei, Georgie, and the bar cat Penny are the only ones who can get the truth out of their sole witness: a puppy named Parsifal!

Normally, I don't mind much if you buy a book the day-of-release, or if you buy it a week later, or even a month later, when it comes up in your budget rotation. But right now, with this book? Really good week-of-release sales could be important. So, yanno, if you're planning to pick it up, you might want to do it now.

The kittens and the time-share puppy would really appreciate it.

Here're some places you can buy it.

B&N * Simon & Schuster * iTunes * Mysterious Galaxy * Seattle Mystery Bookshop * Amazon * S&S Australia * Chapters/Indigo * Foyles * Powells * Better Read Than Dead (AUS)

And here. Have an excerpt.

( Read more... )

Author copies! (Plus a curious Kitten)

doghouse copies

And this time, Ginny’s shar-pei, Georgie, and the bar cat Penny are the only ones who can get the truth out of their sole witness: a puppy named Parsifal!

DOGHOUSE will be in stores July 22nd. But I am running out of shelf space, so I need to find good homes for some of these. Want one? Two randomly-chosen commenters will win!

Today is Valentine's Day (a silly holiday but one I personally like, in small doses). If you're so inclined, take 5 minutes out of your day to send a valentine to a writer you like, in the form of an online review (Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc - wherever you frequent).

Hell, send two, or three, or a dozen. Writers are happy to share the love. And trust me, they WILL feel the love.

(naturally I'd be thrilled if you did this for one of my titles, but embrace it as you will...)

(image via The Reader Organization/ Poems By Heart)

Cat of Size went in to the vet yesterday, to have his blood glucose levels checked (and a few other things while he was on the lift). Huh. I've already paid more in vet bills this year than I did in human and feline medical bills in 2013. S'pose I should shill the books some more...?

First and foremost:

The Kickstarter: we're trying to fund two more novellas featuring Danny Hendrickson, a half-faun ex-cop PI who specializes in helping those who get caught in the dangerous cracks between the magical world and the Nulls. He works/trains a young human Talent named Ellen, who spent most of her life being told magic wasn't real/she was insane. If you like urban fantasy, if you like PI fantasy, if you want to see more minority characters in fantasy, you might want to check it out. But quickly - there are only 7 days left to make this happen!

Sylvan Investigations: The first two novellas introducing Danny and Ellen. You can get them in DRM-free digital (or with DRM from Amazon, B&N or Kobo), the omnibus print edition, or audio.

Dragon Virus: interconnected stories following the path of humanity as it - slowly, often painfully, sometimes beautifully - evolves. Not my first foray into SF, but the one I'm most proud of. You can find it in DRM-free digital, limited edition hardcover, or audio.

“Stunningly successful…(DRAGON VIRUS is) a potent ride through a changing future, exploring themes and ideas that resonate as much in the modern day as in her darkly evolving future.” - SF Signal

The Portals Duology: what happens when I'm challenged to write urban fantasy without a mystery. You get nasty elves, easily-irritated werewolves, self-aware homicidal kelpies, and two mortals in over their heads and doing their damndest to learn how to swim before they drown.... oh, and me once agin subverting the romance tropes. Because apparently that's what I do...

“[Readers] will be seduced and enthralled by Gilman’s metaphysical thriller about wicked elves, shape-shifting supernaturals and portals to another dimension….melds magic with mayhem for a tale of bravery, friendship and devotion.” – Publishers Weekly

The Cosa Nostradamus backlist, including the entire Retrievers series (6 books) and the Paranormal Scene Investigations (4 books).

The Vineart War: My Nebula-nominated epic fantasy trilogy, with (no false modesty) a particularly unique magic system, a multinational cast of characters, and an epic battle without armies. Oh, and a dragon. Because dragons.

and if you're in the mood for something different, check out L.A. Kornetsky's mystery series, set in Seattle, featuring two hapless humans and their slightly more with-it companions...

As mentioned in a previous post, Catie Murphy put forth her plan to Read the Goddamned Books on My Goddamned Shelf in 2014 (my words, not hers) and I thought "okay, yeah."

I've excluded the books currently residing on my e-reader because those get read on a weirdly random but regular basis, as opposed to the must-be-at-home-curled-up physical books, and not counting anything that no longer fits my reading tastes. As follows, in no particular order.

DARK MATTER, Peter Straub
LOWTOWN, Daniel Polansky
CARNIVAL FOR THE DEAD, David Hewson
INK, Amanda Sun
PRECIOUS DRAGON, Liz Williams
THUNDER ROAD, Chadwick Ginther
CONJURED, Sarah Beth Durst
CHINA MOUNTAIN ZHAN, Maureen McHugh (no I don't know how I never got around to reading this either, shut up no shaming allowed here)
WHO FEARS DEATH, Nnedi Okorafor
DARK OF THE MOON, John Sandford
STAMPING BUTTERFLIES, Jon Courtney Grimwood
THE GLASS RAINBOW, James Lee Burke
CITY OF CAIN, Kate Wilhelm
EIFELHEIM, Michael Flynn
THE SILENT LAND, Graham Joyce
ENCHANTED, Alethea Kontis
LIBRIOMANCER, Jim Hines
THE GOD OF THE HIVE, Laurie King

That's...not too bad, right? I can do that, even though I read fewer than 20 books (published, not-in-mss-form) novels in 2013?

And I'm not going to promise not to buy any new books until I finish, either. I know myself far too well for that....

Huzzah to the UPS guy, for he did bring me my author copies of HEART OF BRIAR!

*cheers, pets the pretty new shiny*

And while I was considering what to do with them, I realized, to my horror, that... there was no room on the shelves to PUT the new copies! Time to shift the older books into the author copy storage closet... but the closet is full!

*woes*

And so it is time, once again, to throw open the closet doors and offer up backlist titles for a steal.... (and some newer book bargains).

( offers below the cut... )

Books will be inscribed/personalized or not, as the buyer desires. Limited availability, first buy-first serve. All orders not inclusive of shipping (you pay actual costs, although I will happily make deals on larger orders)

http://www.lauraannegilman.net/heart-of-briar-is-up-for-pre-order/

You know, if you have a desire for such a thing.

He has been taken. And you are his only chance."

That wasn't something Jan expected to hear-especially from strangers who'd just rescued her from some mysterious and ferocious creatures. And she really hadn't expected her rescuers to be shape-shifters....

Now it turns out her boyfriend, Tyler, hasn't gone missing, he's been stolen-and Jan's the only one who might be able to get him back.

From Elfland.

Yeah, Jan's pretty sure the entire world's gone crazy. Even if the shifters claim that the naturals (like her) and the supernaturals (like them) belong in this world...but the preternaturals, what humans call elves, don't. And the preters have found a portal into our world. A doorway they can use to infiltrate, to take, to conquer.

Jan's not just Ty's only hope - she's got to rescue humanity, as well....

Heart of Briar

July 30, 2013

$7.99 paper/digital

"Do you believe in magic? You will when Gilman's done with you." -- New York Times bestselling author Dana Stabenow

At Amazon

At Barnes & Noble

At Powell's

At Mysterious Galaxy

Via IndieBound

Those of you who are sharp-eyed will have noted the price, and the format. That's right: HEART OF BRIAR is a paperback original.

I know that for a lot of writers, trade or - better yet - hardcover is where it's at. And yeah, the more expensive, more durable format is nice. But I remember being a teenager and going into a bookstore with my allowance -and later, my wee teenaged summer camp counselor paycheck - and trying to buy as many books as I could with the money I had. Paperbacks - the lower price point - allowed me to do that.

As much as I love trade paperbacks and hardcovers, I flinch when I see the prices, and think about the books I wouldn't be able to buy. So yeah, when Harlequin said "we're thinking about publishing this duology in paperback first..." I leapt on it with both hands and some unabashed glee.

I hope y'all feel the same. :-)

Current Mood: indescribable

There's nothing like the panic of waking up and thinking OMG NEW BOOK TODAY! If I ever get blasé about that, please hit me. Because EEEEEEEEE! *manages to hop in excitement and shudder in concern, all at once* And yes, launching a new identity AND a new series kind of cranks both sides of that up to 11.

Because yes, today is the day L.A. Kornetsky officially "lands" in bookstores (and the ebook should be available to download). Excuse me while I go have a celebratory and essential double espresso and chocolate for breakfast. And you can help celebrate by buying the book!

And this also means that it is time to trot out the Sundry Sillies, and "Written On the Occasion of a Book-Birthday (with Apologies to Master Shakespeare")

“To brace or not to brace; that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The inevitability of that Klausner review,
Or to take refuge against a poor store display,
And by ignoring deny them? To work: to weep;
No more; and by weeping to say we endure
The heart-ache and the thousand returned books
An author is prone to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To work, to weep;
To weep: perchance to go out of stock: aye, there’s the rub;
For in that work of bookstores what fears may come
When we have shuffled off this contractual coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of too little backlist;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of Locus,
The reviewers’s wrong, the disappointed reader’s spite,
The pangs of despised love, the payment’s delay,
The insolence of wannabes and the spurns
That patient merit of the unpublished takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a delete button? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of there being nothing after,
The remainder’d country from whose bourn
No author returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus publishing doth make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And manuscripts of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the pacing of action. – Soft you now!
The fair New York Times list! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my words remember’d.”

Meanwhile, you can check out a Day in the Life of Mistress Penny, and enter for the chance to win a copy of COLLARED...

(as is now-traditional, and with apologies and the offer of a drink to Master Shakespeare, who would have understood)

Last week's winner:

KF_Johnson

The Fine Print, in normal-sized print:

Summer, everyone knows, is for reading. Well, so are Winter, Autumn and Spring, but especially Summer.

So every week, from here through the end of August, I'm going to be giving away a book*. Some of them may be mine, some of them may be by other people. They may be just-out, or entry-points to an on-going series. It will be a totally random and whimsical choice, to keep things interesting.

How do you get in on this? Simple: you comment here on why you need something new to read. Vacation? Stuck in bed with a bad cold? Totally out of book-buying funds? Captured by aliens who insist on a new story every night or they'll eat you?

Tell me.

(you can enter every week, but only once every week. And you MUST identify yourself in your post, either via log-in or a name and contact point. I'm not going to choose anyone who doesn't identify**.)

Ready? Go.

Second Book: Fledgling by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

Theo Waitley has lived all her young life on Delgado, a Safe World that is home to one of the galaxy's premier institutions of higher learning. Suddenly, though, the quiet pace of life is shaken by her mother being sent off-world on an impossible and disruptive assignment - and Theo is expected to go with her. And off-world is, definitely, not 'Safe.'"

This isn't brand new, but an easy introduction to the entire Liaden series. And speaking as someone who has fangrrled Lee and Miller over the Liaden series, I freely admit I want to hook new folk in...

(but Friends of Liaden are welcome to try their luck, too!)

*yes, a real, actual, PAPER book.
**the post will 'open' on Monday, and 'close' on Friday. Winners will be chosen over the weekend, and informed the following Monday

Current Mood: awake

Summer, everyone knows, is for reading. Well, so are Winter, Autumn and Spring, but especially Summer.

So every week, from here through the end of August, I'm going to be giving away a book*. Some of them may be mine, some of them may be by other people. They may be just-out, or entry-points to an on-going series. It will be a totally random and whimsical choice, to keep things interesting.

How do you get in on this? Simple: you comment here on why you need something new to read. Vacation? Stuck in bed with a bad cold? Totally out of book-buying funds? Captured by aliens who insist on a new story every night or they'll eat you?

Tell me.

(you can enter every week, but only once every week. And you MUST identify yourself in your post, either via log-in or a name and contact point. I'm not going to choose anyone who doesn't identify**.)

Ready? Go.

First book: DON'T READ THIS BOOK, edited by Chuck Wendig

Down a lonely alleyway, under a starless sky, lies a city that never was, yet is: the Mad City, where nightmares walk the streets, and a good night's sleep can get you killed.

Here, then, is a book from that place. Within these recovered pages are the tales of the Awake, insomniacs who've walked those perilous streets, bringing a bit of the power of dream with them to fight back the night—always at a terrible cost.

For many, it will not end well. For a few, they might just become heroes—or at least find their way back home.

For you, a choice. Turn away. Don't read this book. And maybe you'll continue to rest easy. Or open the cover and enter a world unlike any you've ever dared to imagine...

*yes, a real, actual, PAPER book.
**the post will 'open' on Monday, and 'close' on Friday. Winners will be chosen over the weekend, and informed the following Monday

Current Mood: amused

I came home from an Afternoon Out to find boxes at my door.

Boxes of Bookses!

bookses

It's both a hellooooo sailor moment, and a bittersweet farewell with this, the tenth Cosa Nostradamus novel (and the last - for now - to be published by Luna, as Yer Host moves on to other series)

Wanna see the dedication?

( make with the clicky )

In a little over a month, it will be ready for you. Will you be ready for it? :-)

From a local independent bookseller:
Dragon Justice

From B&N:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragon-justice-laura-anne-gilman/1108266773?ean=9780373803484

From BooksAMillion:
http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Dragon-Justice/Laura-Anne-Gilman/9780373803484?id=5352698411130

From Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Justice-Laura-Anne-Gilman/dp/0373803486/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335269952&sr=8-1

From Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Justice-Laura-Anne-Gilman/dp/0373803486

From Book Depository:
http://www.bookdepository.com/Dragon-Justice-Laura-Anne-Gilman/9780373803484

From WalMart (yeah, I know, but what the helll):
http://www.walmart.com/ip/19798439

Current Mood: it's complicated

original novels published since 2004 (not including any tie-in work, novellas, or co-written books)

( the counting )

...so yeah, in 2013, my 21st-23rd books will be published (the Portals duology, and Fixed). Um.

And yet, and here's the ironic part, I ran into a UK editor at a World Fantasy a while back, and he commented on the book that was just out - FLESH AND FIRE, I believe - and asked if it was my first book. He was slightly abashed when I told him it was (at the time) my 10th. And most of 'em have gotten solidly good reviews, too.

Hardest working unknown in the genre, hi, that may be me....

(I laugh, because I'm one of those people who look horrible when she cries. Really - pink eyes and quivery nose and pulled-out lower lip. Very nice.)

I got home last night around 9pm. The fact that I didn't unpack/start laundry until now isn't a moral failing, right?
(and if it is, it is hardly my worst...)

The plan HAD been to dive back into work 100%. It seems to be more 70% work and 30% napping on the sofa with cats. A slow start to avoid immediate post-vacation burnout, right? Also, it's ugly-humid out, and that always sucks the energy right out of my bones.

For those who missed it in the previous post, the slowly-being-identified photo record of the trip.

Books read on vacation:

the first chunk of DEATH AND THE MADWOMAN by our own Kari Sperring

la_marquise_de_
MY DEAR JENNY by our own Madeleine Robins

madrobins
"Bubba Ho-Tep" by Joe Lansdale
THE ALCHEMIST OF SOULS by Anne Lyle
SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD by Aliette de Bodard (still reading)

Video watched on vacation:

the two eps of SHERLOCK I missed while away (UK versions)
THE WOMAN IN BLACK

Considering we were Up And Moving pretty much all the time, I call that a decent haul.

Current Mood: lethargic

Part of an ongoing, non-scheduled series, wherein I grab writers I’m reading, and ask them to talk about something related to that book, that they haven’t had a chance to talk about before, or at enough length.

0O0

I read Juliet McKenna’s first book, The Thief’s Gamble, back when it came out, and thought “ooh, nice read!” I then, several years later, met Juliet in person and thought “oooo, nice person!” I didn’t connect the writer-person with the book I’d liked until, oh…a year after that?

Yeah, I know. I’m occasionally slow that way.

She has a new series out - The Hadrumal Crisis - and book 2, Darkening Skies, hits the shelves this week. So I thought it would be fun to ask her about her experiences writing a trilogy, and specifically how it feels to have the dread second-book-of, coming out. What follows is an excerpt from that conversation….

read more

All the (alleged) wit and (dubious) wisdom of Practical Meerkat,
updated, revised, copyedited and ready for your e-reader!

January 31st (or thereabouts). Via BookView Press

(and yes, you will be able to download it from all the Usual Suspects.)

And, finally, THE SHATTERED VINE, Book 3 of The Vineart War trilogy, is out today! Which means... I have to start stressing about the NEXT book to write. But for today, I'm just going to enjoy the conclusion of a 4-year arc in my life....

“[The Shattered Vine is] both compulsively readable and full of
complicated characterization… The story builds to a climax which is both
unexpected and utter perfection. 4.5 stars (out of 4.5) and a Top Pick
- RT Reviews

[A] rewarding and rich experience of high fantasy. This trilogy is a keeper.

- JM Cornwell, Red Room reviews

“If you like a traditionally inspired fantasy story minus faeries,
elves, etc., but with an original, complex magic system; if you like a
smart, well written story with depth and complexity, with characters who
are both realistic and likable; if you appreciate detailed world
building, then you will like this story. ” — Bea’s Book Nook

And remind you that the entire trilogy is Now Available! I kept my promise, I did not make you waaaaaaaait for the story to be finished!

I will be curious to hear peoples' reactions to the ending. I mean, assuming any of you are actually reading it.....

I know, I know, I am full of Book News and then I disappear... it's not because I don't love you, but rather because I've been goofing off (read: not working 10 hour days) and now I'm paying for it. All to bring you MORE stuff to read, so you can't be too mad, right? *hopes*

1. There is - a day late but no less useful - a new Practical Meerkat up, explaining why you really shouldn't listen to me....

2. The setting for the new "Gen & Tonic" mystery has been confirmed. It took me a week of research, and a lot of deep thinking and forward plotting, but I finally decided on Seattle. Portland, you're lovely and weird and have some kickass restaurants, but I just didn't find the neighborhood I needed. But now I know how easy it will be to get Gen and Tony on a train, expect Portland to show up at some point...

3. The marketing folk at Luna rejected my idea for a title for PSI #4, for arcane marketing reasons. The Discussion Continues. As soon as I have something, y'all will know... [meanwhile, you can pre-order November's TRICKS OF THE TRADE from
BN / Amazon / Powells / Mysterious Galaxy /BooksAMillion]

4. The next book for Luna, which will be something... slightly different *insert gleefully evil cackle here* is well underway. I am having far too much fun with this one; that can't be legal.

5. There will be a launch party for THE SHATTERED VINE this month in NYC, wherein we will also be celebrating the entire trilogy. If you're in the area and want to stop by, send me an email at lag(@)lauraannegilman(dot)net and we'll see what we can do.

5a. We will also have a bookseller at the launch - if you're interested in getting a signed copy, drop me a line and we'll see if we can arrange something....!

and now I must flit back to the Desk of Writing...

originally published at Practical Meerkat: A Blog

Current Mood: busy

Profile

Laura Anne Gilman

My Website

September 2018

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Page Summary

Book Pushery
Drink, er, READ up!
Pour yourself some Gin & Tonic and settle down with DOGHOUSE!
Are you in the Doghouse yet?
Send the love...
The Occasional But Useful-to-You Shilling Post
The TBRin2014 List
I have bookses! So YOU can have bookses! (aka "the semi-annual author's closet sale")
Heart of Briar is up for pre-order!
Welcome, welcome, to L.A. Kornetsky!
Written on the Occasion of a Book-Birthday
One Book A Week, Week Two
One Book A Week, Week One
Bookses! (the August release iteration)
Because after yesterday's post, I kept thinking that surely I had miscounted....
various and sundry are slightly lagged from 3 time zones in 3 days....
Guest Post: Juliet McKenna on Thinking about The Trilogy
The next thing to come….
In Case You Somehow Missed It....
Five Things Make a Flyby Post…

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Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...

My life in 8 words: Organized chaos, by preference. Exhausting, but never boring

Entries tagged with books

Book Pushery

Drink, er, READ up!

Pour yourself some Gin & Tonic and settle down with DOGHOUSE!

Are you in the Doghouse yet?

Send the love...

The Occasional But Useful-to-You Shilling Post

The TBRin2014 List

I have bookses! So YOU can have bookses! (aka "the semi-annual author's closet sale")

Heart of Briar is up for pre-order!

Welcome, welcome, to L.A. Kornetsky!

Written on the Occasion of a Book-Birthday

One Book A Week, Week Two

One Book A Week, Week One

Bookses! (the August release iteration)

Because after yesterday's post, I kept thinking that surely I had miscounted....

various and sundry are slightly lagged from 3 time zones in 3 days....

Guest Post: Juliet McKenna on Thinking about The Trilogy

The next thing to come….

In Case You Somehow Missed It....

Five Things Make a Flyby Post…