Stacia Kane

Can you believe it? I can’t; it’s been a hell of a week or so. First I was ill last week from the stress and all, which we’ll discuss more in a minute. Then just as I started to feel better I had to drive to Orlando to hang out at the RWA convention for a couple of days, which we will also discuss in a minute. I got so little sleep and drank so much vodka that I wasn’t sure I was going to make the drive home on Sunday (not because I was drunk, but because I was hungover and exhausted). But I did finally, and I’ve gotten a bit of sleep now, and that’s good.

However, I won’t be around much next week. On Friday we’re heading down to Miami to spend Birthday Week with my BFF. (It’s Birthday Week not because I think my birthday is so damn special it needs a whole week, but because it is in fact a week of birthdays; my Princess is the 8th, I’m the 11th, and BFF’s son is the 16th, although we’ll be back before then.) So I may show up to do my annual birthday Delurk post, but I may not, and really, you guys don’t care that much about that post, I don’t think. It doesn’t really entertain anyone but me.

But speaking of Delurking (for those who are new to the blog–and I know there’s a LOT of you–usually on my birthday I ask my blog lurkers to say hi, even if they never post another word), if you have recently sent me an email or Facebook message, or have joined the Downside Army, I *will* be replying. I just haven’t had a chance yet with all of the illness and travel and fun stuff like that.

Which brings me to the stress thing. Someone tweeted to me a link to their review of CITY OF GHOSTS last night and said something like “I’m sure it’s no surprise, I loved it.” Which is of course lovely to hear, but the thing is, it’s always a surprise. Always. I never expect people to like my work. I certainly don’t expect them to love it. I’ve been completely overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response the series has gotten, and by the emails and comments and messages and everything else. And I know I keep saying this, but I keep saying it because you guys keep talking about the books! It bowls me over every single goddamn time. Seriously. Read the rest of this entry »

But before we get to why and how and all of that, a few links!

Today I’m doing a guest blog post at The Witchy Chicks and talking about the magic system in the Downside books and what inspired it. Which is actually a subject I haven’t covered anywhere else, so if you’re at all interested in that, head on over there!

And, we have some new reviews. First is this embarrassingly glowing review from Barnes & Noble’s Paul Goat Allen, on the B&N Explorations blog. Paul’s been a professional book reviewer and heavily involved in genre fiction–especially sf/f–for over twenty years, so he really knows what he’s talking about when it comes to UF. Which is why this made me all blushy and shy:

This is an ambitious novel, a novel that shuns the formulaic pitfalls and conventionality of other bestselling paranormal fantasy sagas. This is Stacia Kane at the top of her game—it is a writer evolved, a storyteller matured, an imagination fully unleashed upon the world…Dark, stylish, and wildly original…

Then there’s this one from the Fiction Vixen, which contains one of my absolute favorite lines:

I think most people will say they like it when an author takes risks, goes for something different and writes outside the box. After reading Unholy Ghosts, I have to wonder if Stacia Kane is aware there is a box. Really, Unholy Ghosts pushes the limits in what we’re seeing in Urban Fantasy today…[it's] one of the best Urban Fantasy stories I’ve read this year. It’s rich with details, the suspense is heart stopping at times, and the world building is fabulously unique. Don’t let my rant about the drug use deter you from reading this book, you would be missing out if you did… Stacia Kane has taken some risks with smashing results.

Also, my friends Caitlin Kittredge and Jackie Kessler have a new book coming out very soon, and they’re having a huge super-special pre-order contest for it! Go check it out, and pre-order SHADES OF GREY today!

I’ll be back Monday or Tuesday–since I don’t usually blog on Mondays anymore–with my superspiffy idea that I had that I think would be bunches of fun for readers and am really hoping someone tries. Plus whatever other stuff I can think of to talk about. And as always, if there’s something you want to know, or want me to blog about, let me know, either in comments or through email!

Oops! There was one more thing I wanted to mention. I’m considering entering a the Blogathon at the end of July; it would entail blogging every half hour for 24 hours to raise money for charity (in my case I’d be blogging for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, which is the US’s biggest anti-sexual assault organizations.

Anyway, you collect sponsors to raise money, so I’m wondering, would anyone be interested in sponsoring me if I do it? I’m waiting to hear back from them as to whether I’d be able to blog here or not; you’re not supposed to use Blogathon to promote yourself in any way, and because my blog is connected to my website which is of course designed to promote my work, I’m just waiting for the okay from them. I know it’s probably okay but I don’t want to assume, you know? So if you’d be interested let me know.

Have a great weekend!

1. You all know my pal Jackie Kessler, right? Remember her excellent Jezebel books, the HELL series? Which were total sexy fun. Anyway, Jackie’s releasing a NEW Jezzie story on her blog, in installments! FREE SUCCUBUS STORY! It starts here. You don’t want to miss it!

2. I am guest blogging today over at Marta Acosta’s Vampire Wire, about how I created Chess Putnam and giving a little more insight into what kind of character she is and yes, into her addiction. Come read it and comment! One lucky commenter wins a copy of UNHOLY GHOSTS! (But you’re still going to go buy it, right?)

I actually find I’m discussing the drug use in the book quite a bit these days, and there’s a reason for that, same as the reason why I uploaded the first five chapters of the book here.

Yes, of course I want you to read it and decide you can’t wait to read more, and rush to buy the book on Tuesday or pre-order it now, which you are of course perfectly welcome to do. But I also want to make it clear exactly what the book is, and what you’ll find inside. I don’t want there to be any surprises. The back cover copy tells you very clearly that the book is about a drug addict. That is true. She is. Drugs are used in the book(s), quite a bit. If that’s a problem for you don’t buy the book, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. I don’t want you to buy a book you’re not going to like, or that will upset you or make you uncomfortable! I want you to be happy with it, and enjoy it. So please do be aware. The back cover copy isn’t lying to you. It’s there to tell you what you’ll find inside the book. You should pay attention to it, and that goes for all books, really.

One more thing. Remember how I was going to do a little thank-you giveaway, where if you buy UG I’ll send you the first three chapters of UNHOLY MAGIC? Yeah, I figured what the heck. Why go through all that trouble, for both you and me? Instead I’m just going to go ahead and load those first three chapters onto the site, probably next Friday or Saturday. If you are absolutely dying to get the chapters earlier, go ahead and email me anyway, with your overflowing heartwarming praise for UNHOLY GHOSTS, and I’ll send you the chapters. But it’s not necessary. I want to give you guys a sneak peek, so that’s what I’m going to do.

So come hang out with me at Marta’s!

Oh, and tomorrow I’ll be doing an interview at Wicked Lil Pixie’s blog, so make sure you come by and say hello, because I’m giving away a book there too!

Well, okay, not show you because I have no pictures. But I can tell you about it, in quick little bites.

First, though, some news! I got word yesterday morning that UNHOLY GHOSTS has already gone for a second printing!! Hopefully this means people are preordering it and hearing about it and getting excited about it–well, yeah, obviously it does but you know what I mean–which is extremely exciting. So have you preordered your copy yet? Because, you know, you wouldn’t want to get to the store and not be able to take one home, would you? Especially not when next week I’m going to talk about some special giftie thingies we’re doing for those who buy the book, either preorder or at the store. You don’t want to miss out! (Um, at least I hope you don’t.)

I’m going to be posting a lot of excerpts here, and I’ll be all over the internet with interviews and all that good stuff. Can you believe we only have three weeks until release day?

Anyway. As you all know I’ve been all over the Northeast in the last week and a half, starting here in GA and heading up to MA to see Caitlin. I rented a car for the drive, and I have to give huge credit to Hertz, because that car was awesome. It was one of those Chevy XXRs, the ones that look kinda like PT Cruisers? Really fun to drive and I got the satellite radio with it, which was awesome. They have stand-up comedy stations; I listened to those a LOT and had a blast. (See, I’d reserved the cheapest economy car, but my location didn’t have one, so I got the XXR and the satellite for free. Plus, they were great when I turned the car back in just a tad later than I was supposed to. Anyway. Go Hertz!)
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First, I found out the other day that UNHOLY GHOSTS is a Reviewer Top Pick! in the June issue of Romantic Times magazine. The review says, in part:

Fans of urban fantasy will find themselves sleep deprived after they start this new series. It’s that hard to put down. Characters with larger-than-life personalities rule against a dark and dangerous backdrop. This is an exciting world you’ll want to escape into again and again. Don’t worry, the next will be out in July!

I also have some VERY IMPORTANT NEWS. Due to some seekrit behind-the-scenes-y bookstore-and-publisher stuff, the release date for UNHOLY MAGIC, the second Downside book, has been delayed by two weeks to JULY 6TH. (Unless something changes, this means you Australia/New Zealand folks will get the book one week before the US, Canada, and the UK/Ireland. Yay you, you get to be the first ones finally, how cool!) Anyway. I apologize to everyone but about the delay but I swear it’s for a good reason and we just might have some stuff here to at least make the waiting easier. So make sure you check back!

Also, I have the listing and blurb for the Polish edition, which will be released by Amber Publishing in, you guessed it, Poland. Check this out: Read the rest of this entry »

First of all, oops. Remember how Ann Aguirre came and did that awesome guest post, with a contest? Well, see, I thought Ann was going to pick the winners, and Ann (quite reasonably) thought I would. So she emailed me the other day to ask who her winner was, and I of course felt stupid. Anyway. Again using my tried-and-tested-very-scientific-method of having my child pick a random number, I have now selected a winner, and I apologize to Ann and to all of you for the delay. The winner is: Commenter #26, Caitlin U!!

Caitlin, please email me your info, and I’ll forward it on to Ann ASAP.

Now, do I have something cool to show you guys!! HarperVoyager, who are publishing the Downside books in the UK and Australia, have put together a promotional video to celebrate their fifteen years of publishing the best fantasy/urban fantasy/all things kickass. (And seriously, they do; I have shelves of Voyager books from when we lived there.)

This video is AWESOME, guys. Seriously. I was all excited and giggly when I saw it, especially the bit with My Books. So check it out; it’s not superlong but it is supercool:

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, it’s been a while, huh?

Sorry. I was, in the words of Bill Murray in Caddyshack, unavoidably detained.

Christmas shopping. Christmas cooking. Having family here for Christmas–my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces came for a visit. Good Christmas, in all. I got some cool books and a nice big Le Creuset pot to add to my collection (I am obsessed with Le Creuset, if you’re unaware of that).

Also, moving. In a nutshell, our landlord wanted us to buy the house, whereas as time went on we started thinking we did not in fact want to buy the house. But he really wants to sell the house, so we have moved out of the house. So now we’re in an apartment my mom owns, basically. Much cheaper, much smaller, but fine, and frankly we’re happy to be done with the house. The only problem is, we had no one to help us move, really, so spent from New year’s Day until the 5th hauling bags and boxes of stuff around. It was tiring and made me achy, and I’m glad to be done with it.

Also Faerie got her hair cut, which is adorable, but was weird for me as it was her first haircut ever. All that baby hair, gone! It went from butt-length to shoulder-length. The good news is I think the ponytail is just about long enough to donate to Locks of Love, and even better than that is that Princess now wants her hair cut as well, and her ponytail will definitely be long enough to donate. And her hair is very thick. So I’m pleased about that.

And yes it has been very cold here, and we had a little snow.

But enough with the domestic blah blah blahs. (Unless you want to tell me about your holidays, in which case please do!) Let’s talk about fun stuff!

First, I’m debating whether or not to keep the blog on a Monday/Thursday schedule, or if I should just blog when the mood strikes me. Thoughts? (And yes, I know, I haven’t exactly been regular of late, but I’m trying to get back into the swing of things.)

Second, ARCs for UNHOLY GHOSTS went out last month, and I’m already seeing some feedback online. I’ve got a couple of reviews, which sadly I can’t share yet but am very excited about, but here’s some Goodreads updates from one fabulous, charming, and delightful reviewer, if you’d like to take a look.

Third, got my Guest status approval from Dragon*Con for 2010 a week or so ago, so as of now I plan to be there with bells on. (Probably not literally, no. I’m not really a bell kind of a girl. But I’ll be there anyway!)

And I’m working. I have three open projects at the moment and am shuffling my way through them, which is fun. Also have had thoughts on a number of writing-related topics we’ll be covering here on the blog.

Which brings me to an apology. It’s an apology for something you guys didn’t know about, but an apology just the same. I’d intended to use the days before Xmas to convert the Strumpet series to PDF and expand it as a gift to all of you; unfortunately because of the family and everything else, I didn’t have the time. I barely had time to open the computer at all, in fact. So it didn’t get done. I do still really want to do it, and am still working on it in drips and drabs. So do look for it soonish, and if you’re one of those who has asked me about it or who got use out of it, and have any comments on it or anything you feel you’d like to see expanded or gone deeper into (heh heh), please let me know, either by commenting here or by emailing.

I’m also considering, once that’s done, uploading it onto Lulu so y’all can get print copies if you so desire. Does anyone have any experience with that? Because given how bad I am at that sort of thing, I have a feeling I’ll need help when the time comes.

And I guess that’s about it for the moment. I certainly hope you all had wonderful holidays, and that you’re all keeping warm!!

I came in here before with a big cheery post about how I would totally be around, and then I wasn’t. Here’s what happened (sort of):

Found out while in Baltimore that I am going to LA next week, leaving Monday. No, it’s not big Film Deal stuff or anything like that, so don’t get excited. I’ll tell you about it after I return.

Tried to upload photos of Baltimore–the few I took (I’m terrible at taking pictures, or rather, I never remember to take pictures)–and couldn’t get the camera to work with the Mac. So I needed to go to the old laptop, where the camera software is installed, and it’s just slow and frustrating and blah blah blah. I wanted to do a nifty photo post but it will have to wait. Also, the Poe body was indeed a wax effigy, which frankly pissed me off. Also, Baltimore is a cool city.

Hubs left for NY yesterday. He returns Sunday. I leave for LA Monday. Wednesday my MIL arrives and I’ll be back in Atlanta Thursday. So the family time is pretty limited this month and we were trying to do Family Things.

Last month my pal Pepper Espinoza emailed to ask if I’d be interested in contributing a short Halloween story (very short, less than 2k) for her new webmag, The Spooky Elephant. I, being me, said of course, and promptly semi-forgot until I was in Baltimore. I didn’t have time to work on it there so wrote it after I got back. I’m fairly pleased with the result, actually. You all know shorts aren’t my forte at all but this was just a little thing, so go see what you think. The story is called “What’s Below,” and it’s especially notable, for me at least, in that it’s written in (gasp) first person POV and segments of it are present tense. I know! Crazy, man. It’s also pretty much straight horror. And I liked a couple of the elements enough that I may revisit them in another project.

Speaking of short stories, my longtime pal Writtenwyrdd is having , which you should totally check out and enter. First prize is a stuffed Cthulhu, which is just awesome.

Oh, and since I’m linking to stuff, my eye was caught this morning–as I giggled at all the Gawker commenters’ comments about the balloon boy stuff–by a headline there about an advice columnist who pissed off a whole bunch of people. (It’s this story here.) And it occurred to me that I’ve always wanted to have an advice column. And it occurred to me that for quite a while I’ve been planning to do a funny publishing advice column over at the League blog. So. Here’s what I’m suggesting. Ask me advice in comments, anonymously if you like. Any publishing-related questions I will answer humorously at the League in the next few weeks (it may be after Halloween as we are of course doing Big Things there for the holiday); the publishing questions will get stupid and silly answers, just a warning ahead of time!!! Any others I’ll answer here. Just for fun, really, it won’t become a regular blog feature or anything like that, but we’ll give it a go and see.

I may do some answers tonight and tomorrow night (if I get any of course). But again, next week I’ll be on the other side of the country so won’t be blogging much if at all. And since the good juju y’all sent for my Baltimore flights was so good, if you have more I’d appreciate it.

Yeah, I know. I suck.

We still have Good crits to do and a few things I want to discuss about working with critique partners or whatever. But I’m putting the series on hold for the next week or so because I am slammed; with Dragon*Con this weekend my house will be full of people and I have a ton to do here in preparation.

So, right now I have a little news and info to share.

First, I will be liveblogging Dragon*Con for Del Rey’s Suvudu blog!! I’ll do a quick check-in post there Thursday evening and then will update as often as possible throughout the con. Come check it out–I’m a bit nervous about it, so…I’d love to see some familiar names in comments.

Second, according to the HarperVoyager (UK) site, UNHOLY GHOSTS will be released there on March 1st, 2010!

So…come hang with me at Suvudu, and I’ll see you back here ASAP. I have some crits, I have some rants, I have some stuff to talk about.

My official schedule just arrived in my Inbox! So here it is! I will be part of the following panel discussions:

Title: A Writer’s Guide to Goth & Punk
Description: Explores ways that writers can create believable and accurate goth and punk characters.

Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Montreal / Vancouver – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Title: Memento Mori: Ghost Stories
Description: How contemporary writers put a fresh spin on a venerable supernatural tradition.
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Montreal / Vancouver – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Title: City of Dreadful Night
Description: World-building in dark fantasy.
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: Montreal / Vancouver – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Title: Little Deaths
Description: The strange relationship between eroticism and horror.

Time: Fri 10:00 pm Location: Montreal / Vancouver – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Title: Fun With Demonology
Description: Demons in fiction – both as heroes and as villains.
Time: Sat 07:00 pm Location: Montreal / Vancouver – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Title: Strong Female Protagonists
Description: How do you write strong female protagonists who are still vulnerable enough to seem real? The pros tell how to develop believable heroines.
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Manila / Singapore / Hong Kong – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Title: Whatdunnit?
Description: Mixing the supernatural and mystery genres.
Time: Sun 07:00 pm Location: Montreal / Vancouver – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Title: Working the Graveyard Shift
Description: A look at the various jobs available to supernatural investigators and creatures of the night.
Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Montreal / Vancouver – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

I have also let Mark Henry, Kat Richardson, and Yasmine Galenorn talk me into requesting a reading/signing period, so I will be reading out loud on Saturday at one p.m. I’ll give the location as soon as I can, or it should be in the program. I’m very nervous at the idea of it, and afraid no one will show up and I’ll feel like a total ass.

So…who’s coming to see me?