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Silver Borne is Finished!

By: Mike Jan 4, 2010

It's finally done. Patty's been working insane hours, but she finally finished Silver Borne, the fifth Mercy Thompson novel. She thought she was almost done a couple of weeks ago, but after finishing it the first time she wasn't happy with the ending, and decided to re-write the last hundred-plus pages virtually completely. She'd been sending chapters to her editor and copy-editors, so when she finally finished the book, she got it back with a four-day turnaround time for revisions and edits. She finished it this morning at about 8:00, after staying up all night working on it.

Update from Patty

By: Patty Jan 28, 2010

Welcome Dear Reader, to my home on the Internet. Herein you can find where I'm doing book signings or convention appearances. A bit about writing and more on my books. And make sure to check out the Forums where a lot of really cool people hang out.

So -- my newest release is the paperback version of Bone Crossed (1/26/2010, Mercy Thompson #4), and that awesome cover is as terrific on the paperback as it was on the hardback. Subterranean Press released a collectible version of Alpha and Omega (the novella that began the Alpha and Omega series) in a hardback illustrated by Maurizio Manzieri. It is scrumptious. Last August saw the release of Hunting Ground in paperback (an Alpha and Omega novel) and the graphic novel Homecoming (which tells the story of how Mercy came to the Tri Cities approximately a decade before Moon Called). The graphic novel is the hardcover collection of the first four Mercy Thompson comics, written by David Lawrence (based on a rough novella I sent him) with art by Francis Tsai and Amelia Woo.

For a while it was up in the air whether there would be more comics -- but the Dabel Brothers have teamed up with Dynamite which seems to have cleared up most of the problems. The result is that there will indeed be comics based on Cry Wolf and Moon Called appearing shortly. Those comics will, eventually, become graphic novels. We have hung onto David Lawrence to write the adaptations (Yippee) for both series of comics. We also are keeping Amelia Woo for the Mercy comics. The Alpha and Omega comics artist is Jordan Gunderson, with whom I am well pleased . As soon as I have hard dates, I'll put 'em here.

Upcoming releases:

The next book, Silver Borne, is Mercedes Thompson #5 and it will be out March 30^th 2010. This is Samuel's book and also deals with the terrible things that can happen when you are late returning a borrowed book.

What I'm working on now:

Currently I am revising Masques and its unpublished sequel Wolfsbane. Masques was my first book and it has been out of print for about fifteen years. Both books belong to the loosely tied together Sianim series which also includes Steal the Dragon and When Demons Walk. I am ecstatic to get the chance to revise my first book -- and get it back into print. They will be release winter of 2010. After that it will be back to the next Mercy book. Hopefully Mercy Book Six will be released Feb 2011. After Mercy Six, it is back to Anna and Charles for the third Alpha and Omega novel. I am also writing a short story for the anthology Down These Strange Streets edited by the terrific Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin and published by Ace. The anthology is a cross of the hardboiled private eye yarn with fantasy, horror, and paranormal romance. Fantasy noir. It should be great fun.

Silver Borne Almost Here

By: Patty March 18, 2010

Silver Borne will be on store shelves on March 30th, just a few days from now. I've been writing for . . . * starts counting on fingers, then gives up * . . .quite a few years now. You'd think getting a book published would be old hat, but I always end up as giddy as a little kid at Christmas. All those hours of typing away in solitude, and suddenly the finished book is going to be in the hands of readers. Will they like it? Did I get it right? (What stupid typos didn't I catch in time?) It's a rush.

You can find a few of my thoughts on the book, and a sample chapter on my books page. I'm also giving away a few copies on the forum.

So now I sit back, and try to concentrate on something else, while the calandar creeps slowly closer to release date. I hope some of you are as excited as I am!

By the way, I'll be traveling around a little bit, doing some signings and talking about my books. You can also find this information on my appearances page. Hmmm. Is it just me or does having "appearances" make me sound like a little white rabbit in a magic show? Sigh -- just don't grab me by my ears, I guess!. Here's where I'll be appearing, Ta Da!!!!

• Seattle, WA: March 30 at the University Book Store, at 7:00 pm.
• Portland, OR: March 31 at the Cedar Hills Powell's, 7:00 pm.
• Los Angeles, CA: April 6 at the Huntington Beach B&N, 7:00 pm.
• San Diego, CA: April 7 at Mysterious Galaxy, 7:00 pm.
• Houston, TX: April 9 at Murder By the Book, 6:30 pm.
• Minneapolis, MN: April 10 at Uncle Hugo's, 1:00 pm.
• Kennewick, WA April 17 at the Kennewick Bookworm 11:00 am.
• Richland, WA April 17 at the Richland Bookworm 2:00 pm.
• Kennewick, WAMay 1 at Barnes and Noble, 6:00 pm.

The Write Space

By: Mike Feb 28, 2010

Where does a writer write? This question or some variant thereof, is a perennial favorite on interviews and convention panels. The creative process doesn't just happen, it has to happen somewhere. The mythical lair, the sanctum secura, the fortress of solitude. Fans and aspiring writers often conjure up mythical visions of vaulted ceilings and burbling marble fountains. . .

For most authors, reality is far more humble. For many years Patty's office was a little computer desk jammed into the bedroom. Speaking of which, my office is still a desk shoehorned into the bedroom. Someday, I have a dream of owning a house large enough for a real office. . . but that's a topic for another time. The good news is that authors don't generally need chandeliers dripping with crystal or cucumber sandwiches served on silver platters by English butlers.

We're in the process of changing Patty's office, so we're trying to figure out what would make the perfect office space. The answer largely depends on the author. Some authors thrive in a busy coffee shop -- watching the various people come and go provides some grist for the mill. Others prefer basements, or back yards, or garret rooms with a stunning view of Paris. Every author is different, and is inspired and bothered by different things. So, if you're building a workspace, you'll need to evaluate your needs carefully.

While our long-term plan is to build an addition to the house which includes a nice home-office for both of us, the short term plan is far more modest. Patty needs a small space that is warm, dry, and relatively free from interruption. Her current office no longer has any climate control (she's been huddling over a small space heater trying to stay warm), and has become a very busy and noisy location. We just purchased a small office trailer which we plan to install next to our house. It's not elegant, and it's anything but luxurious, but it should be warm and dry. It gives Patty a short commute to work (walk across the lawn), and the location should be quiet and relatively free from interruptions. The trailer is also divided into two small rooms so I can get all the web-store inventory out of her office!

So, tomorrow I've got an engineer from the power company coming to help figure out how we're going to get power to the little trailer. I'll be heading into town for carpet and paint to make it a little more presentable. I'll also need to figure out if it's possible to get internet access to her office, and build a few more book shelves. When it's done, hopefully she'll have a nice place to work for a year or two -- until we win the lottery and get the house remodeled!

Silver Borne #1 NYT

By: MikeApril 28, 2010

Silver Borne's sales managed to surpass our wildest expectations. It not only made it to the New York Times Bestseller's list, it was the #1 hardback the week it came out. Thank you to all the readers out there who made this possible, Patty has been positively giddy!.

Book Tour

While we're thanking readers, it would remiss of me not to thank everyone who helped make Patty's recent book-signing tour a success. Everywhere she went she had folks to show her around, and friendly bookstore staff and wonderful readers to talk with. She came home exhausted, but absolutely effervescent with all the good times. So, thank you once again to everyone!

Signing tours are kind of a mixed blessing. I can remember, some years ago, when we were barely making ends meet and Patty would read about bestselling author X jetting around the country that there was a note of jealousy. While her books sat, apparently invisible, on the stores of the handful of bookstores that carried them, other authors were getting steak dinners and fancy hotels. It's easy to be jealous. And now, we're seeing the other side of the coin, and realizing that for every blessing there is a cost.

Some authors are extroverts who thrive on attention, adore travel, and can't wait to jump on the next airplane. Patty, I suspect, is part hobbit. She likes the quiet spaces of our desert home, the solitude of her office, and if invisibility cloaks were available she'd buy one in a heartbeat. It's not that she doesn't love her readers, they're absolutely delightful people who generally say the nicest things. It's just that people are exhausting to be around. She worries about her appearance, she's afraid she'll say the wrong thing, she stresses over minutia long after the signing is over. . .

So, while some authors love the travel, Patty finds that after a few days she's exhausted and ready to come back to our little hobbit hole. Did I mention that most of our house is literally buried in a hill? (A hill that, currently, desperately needs mowing, weeding and watering. I've been a bad hobbit!). Some authors are happy touring the world, doing weeks or even months of daily engagements. Now, when we read about those authors, instead of envy there's a little bit of trepidation. I don't think Patty will ever be comfortable doing that . . . and since I miss her when she's gone, I'm not unhappy!

The Write Place: Of Rules and Regulations

By: MikeApril 28, 2010

We bought a little trailer for Patty to write in. It's supposed to be temporary, but since any plans for an addition to our house are subject to various obstacles, temporary may end up being longer than expected. Placing the trailer on our property has proven to be far more interesting than I had originally anticipated.

I've built a number of structures, and I'm moderately familiar with building departments and construction codes. When I bought the trailer, I was told that one of its primary advantages over a permanent structure was that no permits were required. When I contacted the building department to ask about getting the electrical permit, I was told that in this county an office trailer needed to be fully permitted unless it was deployed on an actual construction site. Furthermore, although the state had certified the structure as a mobile office, its use as a home office might well require a complete re-evaluation of the structure and re-certification by an appropriately-licensed engineering firm.

Only a bit of unabashed begging on my part prevented the trailer from becoming an outrageously expensive bonfire (though doubtless the clean-air commission and the environmental protection board would have levied heavy fines against me for burning the structure without appropriate permits). The building department eventually sold me a permit allowing me to park my little trailer on my land for a mere $400.00, subject to their approval of its location. What can I say? I'm Irish, we're blessed with good luck.

Next, I needed to run power to the little trailer. The Rural Electric Association (REA) was very helpful, and sent a representative over to help plan the installation. The site we had selected for the trailer was just barely too far away from the current service to run a sub-panel, and besides, if we upgraded our service to accommodate the additional load, every circuit in the house would be need to be brought fully into compliance with current codes, and thoroughly re-inspected. The projected costs were dizzying. The other option, adding an additional meter-base, was estimated to cost right at $5000.00, not including the secondary power run from the meter base to the trailer.

So, after some hand-wringing and late-night budget wrangling, we've installed a second meter base, set the trailer, dug trenches and laid conduit. The little trailer finally has power. The project took far longer than expected, and was vastly more expensive than we'd planned for, but it's finally done.

You know there's a punchline coming, right?

Today I got a notice from the building department stating that the permit I purchased had not included the right to actually connect the electricity. They have generously deigned to grant me a very limited time to plead my case, beg forgiveness, and purchase yet another permit before they begin assessing fines. They also regret to inform me that, in order to properly inspect the connections, I'll need to dig up a hundred feet or so of buried conduit. Hey, it's all about my safety, I should be grateful.

Chat with Patty

By: MikeMay 10, 2010

So, Penguin is running Silver Borne as their featured book this month. They've posted two sample chapters, as well as a very nice interview on their Reading Room. They've also arranged to host a live chat with Patty. We've tried live chats several times, but they always seemed to blow up when more than twenty people or so show up. We eventually gave up, but Penguin apparently has better hosting than we did, and isn't expecting any trouble. So, Wednesday May 12 at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, please drop by Penguin's Water Cooler and chat with Patty for a couple of hours. See you there!

The Write Place: Home at Last

By: MikeMay 27, 2010

It's finally all put together. The various officials have been paid, and all of the inspections completed, and the ratty little trailer squats in shabby grandeur a short distance from our house. The heat and AC works, it's clean and quiet, and Patty is loving having a nice quiet office to work in. She often prefers to work late hours, and having a quiet place very close to our home works out very nicely for her. I installed a point-to-point wireless link to the trailer, and once I get a router installed she should have all the comforts of home (well, except for a bathroom).

Although this trailer is intended to be temporary, I had install skirting between the ground and the trailer frame. Naturally, there's a plethora of regulations on the type, material and installation of said skirting. I ended up calling the building department for clarification of one detail or another, and while talking with one of their experts I asked what purpose was served by installing the skirting.

It turns out that is all about vortices, or vortexes as they're apparently called locally! During a tornado, there are swirling, cyclonic winds that sneak underneath structures and tear 'em right off their foundations. These vortexes can sneak through gaps or improperly fit siding, and that's why it's important to make sure all the skirting is properly fitted and secured.

Now, when I hear about a tornado shredding a trailer park somewhere, I'll to nod knowingly and remark that they should have just installed better skirting, then those nasty tornados would just bounce off. We're not exactly in tornado ally, but I sure wouldn't want an errant vortex to sneak in and explode my trailer, so I fitted everything together extra snugly, just to be safe!

Now that I'd been alterted to the danger, I was wondering if there were any vortexes lurking about, and did a quick google search. Sure enough, there's a Vortex in Oregon that's been lurking there for years. My suspicion is that it's waiting for some fool to build a trailer nearby without proper skirting!

Meet David Lawrence

By: MikeJune 2, 2010

A while ago, Patty released the first few Mercy Thompson comic books through Dabel Brothers comics. Patty is (if I do say so myself) a gifted storyteller, but graphic novels are whole different kettle of fish. Telling a story visually is, in many ways, harder than painting with words. Patty tried to do the first edition on her own, and after spending countless hours pulling her hair out, she was introduced to David Lawrence.

David is an author with the uncommon ability to realize other people's visions. He works an intricate web anchored by the author, publisher and artist. Patty's name is in big letter at the top of the comic, but making a text-only story splash across the graphic page is David's specialty. Knowing that we're working on more graphic novels, some of the "Leading Ladies" on the forums contacted him for an interview. Please take a minute and read the Dave Lawrence Interview.

Miscon Recap

By: MikeJune 2, 2010

We're back from Miscon, and we had a ball. Miscon is special, because it's always basically a big family reunion. This time we got to meet (however briefly) with Jean and Clyde, Patty's actual siblings. However, Miscon is really a family in and of itself; a family of crazy, nerdish, very cool people who share a love of the same things.

We spent most of our time hanging out with the writers. There were quite a few excellent panels on everything from Pirates to Zombies, as well as all aspects of writing and publishing. One of the highlights of the convention, for me, was a "spontaneous panel" that happend when C.J Cherryh, Jane Fancher and MJ Engh came up to our room for pizza. I'm not a writer, so I was mostly doing my "lounge guitarist" act in the corner, but there was a lot of discussion about the state of the publishing industry, and where the market may be heading. It's getting to be a tough nut to crack — even tougher than it used to be. CJ and Jane are doing some very interesting marketing and direct sales over at Closed-Circle.net, and I wonder if that's where the future lies.

By the way, among the various costumes was a young lady we've spoken with a couple of times who came dressed as a very convincing Mercy. Oh, and filker Eban Brooks was back this year. He's an awesome entertainer, hilariously funny on stage, with a serious determination to right the world in person. Well worth a listen, he's got quite a bit of his material up on YouTube for free.

Packing for Miscon

By: MikeMay 27, 2010

We're heading out for Miscon this afternoon. Patty was up 'till about 2:00 am trying to finish a short story, and apparently accidentally closed her word processor without saving the last couple of hours worth of edits. She's up this morning trying to finish it before we leave for Missoula. We're not packed, the car's a mess, and I need to finish fixing a bit of pasture fence before we leave. The lawns should be mowed, and I need to pick up a few things in town (that's an hour trip). So we're still as hopelessly behind and as disorganized as ever. I feel, sometimes, like this poster.

So wish us luck, in a few hours a frazzled and bedraggled bunch of Briggs' will be arriving in Missoula for Miscon. We'd love to see you there.

In Defense of Publishers

By: MikeJune 27, 2010

It seems that everywhere I turn, I see people clamoring for the death of traditional publishing. They're old, fossilized, moribund and getting in the way. The dinosaurs are clinging to an outdated business model, let them die! The vitriol comes from many quarters. Readers upset with prices, geographic restrictions and the spotty availability of digital books, particularly for older content. Small publishers eager to discredit the competition, and hopefully loot the carcass for market share. And, of course, writers frustrated with the current gatekeepers, who had the gall to reject their brilliant opus.

A few days ago, I read a very interesting article by Laura Miller at Salon, When Anyone Can Be a Published Author. Actually, the original title was "The Democratization of Slush", which proved to be surprisingly politically-charged. The fact that the title and even the content of an article can change virtually invisibly after publication is, I suppose, both an advantage and a potential danger of electronic media. It's lovely to be able to fix typos and correct grammatical blunders, but it makes me squeamish to think of our news and history being silently re-written to fit current social or political ideology. But I digress . . .

In my opinion, Ms Miller's article did an excellent job of analyzing a complex situation, and documenting the role of the current gatekeepers as well as the potential problems for readers when those gatekeepers are removed. In simplest terms, publishers winnow through a lot a chaff and try to find the occasional kernel of wheat for their readers. They're not perfect. They are commercial entities, and they often pass up otherwise excellent books if they don't feel they can profitably market the resultant product. They occasionally overlook good books, and have published some stinkers. However, on the whole, the stream of products coming out of the big houses is vastly better than the flood of raw material being submitted to them. If self-publishing, print on demand and technologies-yet-to-be-invented render the major presses irrelevant, someone is going to have to take over the role of reading/evaluating/judging the flood of material. The article was well written and cogent, but the comments were scathing -- how dare she ascribe any value to traditional publishing? Didn't she know that the court of public opinion has condemned them, and that the new world would be all fluffy bunnies and rainbows?

In another blog, a week or so ago, I found a bunch of people complaining that the publishing industry was asinine due to geographic restrictions on ebooks. After all, it's pretty silly that someone in the USA can purchase an ebook, but a potential client overseas can't do so. Oh, and the same thing goes for the back-list: why can't the publishers release all our favorite books from the 80's and 90's for a few cents a pop as ebooks? Stupid publishers!

Most publishers can't afford to pay the author a fair price for worldwide rights, and instead pay only for the right to publish and sell in a certain geographic area. Authors are then free to sell the rights to publish in other countries to local publishers. It's worked fine with print books, but is admittedly annoying with ebooks. Also, most publishers didn't acquire the digital rights to books twenty or thirty years ago, and so have no legal right to publish them in electronic form. Publishers are getting branded as inept or unadaptable, when really their hands are tied. Contractually, they don't have the right to do what the public demands, and if they try to make the public happy by ignoring their contracts and selling whatever they feel like, the authors will sue them into oblivion. It's going to take some time to adjust to the realities of a digital world, and an industry that depends on individual contracts with the creators of each piece of their catalog simply can't turn on a dime. Meanwhile, of course, the pirate sites which have no contracts, pay no royalties, and could care less about legality, are having no trouble giving people what they want.

We've been working with traditional publishing for about fifteen years now. The honeymoon is long over, and I'm not saying they're perfect. They're slow. They make mistakes. They don't always pander to the fragile ego's of hopeful authors. They don't always get the perfect cover on a book, or market it the way the author thinks they should have. I've even grumbled about them now and again. But when I hear all the people crying out for the downfall of traditional publishing, I get defensive. The editors I know love books. They love readers. They work long hours to try to find the very best of what's being written, and then work even more hours to try to make it better. If they can't respond to changing demands as quickly as the pirate sites, it's because they're actually interested in both upholding the law and making sure that all the creative folks involved in their products actually get paid. I find it hard to fault them for that, because the best way to guarantee your favorite author, copy-editor and cover artist are available for the next endeavor is to make sure they get paid for the current one.

I'm not against self-publishing, or even publishing through a vanity press for certain applications. There are many reasons for publishing, and many potential markets to reach, some of which are are not well served by traditional publishing. Besides, a little healthy competition is a good thing, and I think both authors and readers will ultimately benefit from the additional options being pioneered. But the current wave of hatred directed at traditional publishing seems ill-deserved and churlish to me.

Writing Stuff

By: Mike July 28, 2010

Every so often we get a letter from an aspiring author worried about sending their precious manuscript out into the cold cruel world. What if a publisher, or even an agent, reads it, and decides to steal it for themselves? We've tried to assuage these concerns, but recently I stumbled onto an article that does a far better job of it. If you, or someone is losing sleep, read Moira Allen's Will an Editor Steal Your Ideas?.

Also, Tor.com did a really nice interview with artist Dan Dos Santos and the cover movel, Jaime, called Embodying Mery Thompson in Person and In Paint.

Of Fences and Shortcuts

By: Mike July 28, 2010

Once again it's high summer, which in the desert means hot. I had carefully planned to have my outdoor projects completed several weeks ago, so that I could do indoor projects during the hottest weeks. Naturally, it didn't work, and I'm still working on the yard irrigation, which should have been done months ago. There's fourteen different lines, each with six or seven sprinkers, covering about three quarters of an acre of yard. Or at least it used be a yard before I started excavating with heavy equipment; now it looks like a war-zone. The grass is flattened, the ground ripped and shredded, ditches that were originally backfilled to level are now slumping as the ground settles. At least it's wet, and we can work on planting things this fall. I need to learn that things always take longer than expected around here. For example, my estimates for excavating several thousand feet of trenches, laying the pipe, and covering it over were stupidly optimistic to begin with. I hadn't factored the need to chip through rock, sand-bed the pipe, and rebuild the manifold from the water pump. Also, the pump-house wall needed repair, which led to re-wiring the building, which in turn revealed a dangerous underground feed to another building which had to be brought up to code. And all I wanted was a few sprinklers!

When we bought this place, it was littered with many "decorative" piles of rock. Most of them I hauled off, but we also built a nice dry-stacked rock wall around the front yard. It looked pretty good last year, until I realized our mistake. This is a desert, and the rock wall provided a perfect spider habitat. The deep recesses provide shade, and the yard provides moisture: it's spidertopia. Soon, every nook and cranny was harboring a spider (mostly wolf and hobo spiders), with webs covering much of the rock face. It's not as pretty as it was, and Patty's not a big fan of spiders, so the rock wall has to go.

This spring, I saw a beautiful wall made from native stone at our horse trainer's place. It's spider free. It turns out that, without the interior spaces provided by dry-stacking, the wall becomes too hot for the spiders to survive on. We got the name of the builder, and contacted him about building a nice mortared stone wall to replace our spider habitat. I winced a little at the price, but we decided to go ahead with the project.

I was anxious to see how he built the wall. After all, I'd worn myself to a frazzle simply dry stacking a wall, and he was going to be using cement and steel bars as well. I expected some sort of trick or gimmick. Maybe he'd use a slip form, and treat the cement with a retardant, kind of like exposed aggregate concrete. I was wrong. There's no trick. The cement is mixed in small batches on a big metal sheet, which allows him to adjust the consistency to his liking on a stone-by-stone basis. The rocks are individually fitted into place, the mortar is placed, and the excess concrete, spills and drips are cleaned by hand. It's a hundred degrees out there, and most days we have a very patient mason quietly fitting one stone against another in the shade of a portable carport. Suddenly, the price doesn't seem so bad!

I was so sure there was an "easy way", I even asked the mason about it. He said that brick and block are easy to lay, and you don't have to wait for once course to dry before starting on the next. It's much faster to build a block wall, then cover it with one of the many fake rock products on the market. But for a real stone wall there are no shortcuts, just lots of hard, hot, heavy work. There's a lesson in there somewhere!

© 2005-2010 Patricia Briggs. Content may be freely copied with attribution.