This is going to be a monster of a post, so let’s just dive right into it. I hemmed and hawed and ended up deciding that a straight up ‘top five’ or ‘top ten’ really wasn’t going to do it this year. How could I rate some of these darlings over the others? It’s impossible!

I’m going to start with books by authors I’ve already read, because you have to start somewhere. With absolutely no segway. I read three books by C.E. Murphy last year, and I wanted to give all three a shout out – Demon Hunts for the best, most unexpected, yet it totally fits, cameo, Spirit Dances for being one of those rare books that doesn’t utterly suck at depicting canines, and Truthseeker for having fae that don’t bore me or have me rolling my eyes. It might seem like scant praise, but I’m considering this a highlights reel of sorts – trying to come up with the bulletpoints that would have sold me on the books if I hadn’t already read them. All of C.E. Murphy’s books are fabulous, featuring done-right tough heroines, colorful casts, and fantastic magic building.

Deadline, the sequel to Feed by Mira Grant, came out in 2011. Feed is a hard book to live up to, but I think Deadline more then passed with flying colors. It was fast paced, mindblowing, jenga-tower plot of rage-at-the-book-yet-can’t-put-it-down. There is precious little I can say about it without spoiling it. When I finished it about killed me to wait a whole year for Blackout. In conclusion, teacup bulldogs!

Lady Pain is the final book in a trilogy that I’ve been struggling to finish for awhile. It just took me time to move past the abrupt point of view change. I’m glad I did because it brought the story to a good conclusion. I debated about including it here, but I felt like it took me so long to come around to it that it deserves a shout out.

The Hedgewitch Queen(Lilith Saintcrow) is a more or less a traditional fantasy story with some of my favorite tropes – hidden royal bastards, conspiracies, assassinations galore, and a bodyguard crush which turns quite complicated. It’s set in Not-Europe, which leads to a lot of amusement of the ‘I see what you did there’ variety.

Hat tip to Rage(Jackie Morse Kessler) for going into some dark places and bringing a light.

Now on to the new authors I’ve found. Hm, authors I’ve found, authors I’ve lost – funny how we talk about these things isn’t it? Anyway, first up is Dan Wells! I somehow managed to read all three of the John Cleaver books(I Am Not A Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don’t Want To Kill You - just try going into a bookstore and asking for those books with a straight face) in one year. They are like Dexter, except better. There’s no decline in story quality, no super rough writing, and the books aren’t afraid to dive into  the darkest parts of its subject matter, and it also doesn’t shy away from its supernatural element.

Keeping with a death theme, I also found Death Most Definite and Managing Death by Trent Jamieson. The first book is about grim reapers in Australia dealing with the worst sort of corporate take over – the kind that leaves everyone dead. The second book deals with the fallout, including the main character being put in charge, and dangles an elderich entity of approaching apocalypse over the story. I really want to buy the third book, but an omnibus? Really?

More death! This time with zombies! I’m officially declaring ‘vampire in a zombie apocalypse’ one of my favorite setups. If you dig zombies, vampires, and/or Chuck Wendig, I can’t recommend Double Dead enough. There might be a few cuss words, but at least nobody sparkles.

God’s War by Kameron Hurley showed up on my radar like a stealth bomber, on moment I run across a contest on a blog and the next it’s in my hands.  It’s ‘bugpunk’ if we want to give it a ‘punk’ label – set in the far future on a wartorn planet, where all the technology and magic is based on instincts. Add in a downright brutally tough heroine, her meditative magician partner, and plenty of interrstellar, world-changing conspiracy.

Did I meantion there were a lot of good books in 2011? There were. The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells was another surprise. Picked it up from the library, fell in love and bought my own copy. A fantastic and well build alien world, a main character with a dark past and a hidden heritage, who finds a home and possibly love. I’m currently cursing Amazon for their delay of two months on the sequel. *shakes fist*

The Black Prism(Breek Weeks) is a bit of an epic book. It took me a month and a half to read. It features a world built realistically around it’s magic system, which itself is built around the colors spectrum, including the ones we can’t normally see! The characters include the world’s magic/religious leader, that leader’s newly discovered bastard son, the leader’s  ’evil’ brother, and an ex-damsel-in-distress. It gets delightfully complicated though, with lots of political maneuvering and looming war.

Spellwright, and it’s sequel Spellbound, by Blake Charlton brought to the table some of the most ingenious wordplay I’ve ever read. The books have their rough patches, but I think the language-based magic system and a few excellent story twists make them more than worth it overlooking the flaws. A dyslexic wizard sets out to save the world, what more can I say?

Wow, I can’t believe how long this post has been so far. I hope it isn’t too boring to read! You know what isn’t boring to read? The adventures of an immortal druid and his smart talkin’ irish wolfhound. How’s THAT for a segway! Hounded and Hexed by Kevin Hearn remind me of the early Dresden Files books, though I feel like they are slightly lighter in tone.  The main attraction is a well balanced Kitchen Sink urban fantasy world, and a sharp wit. Heck, they’re worth reading just for the dog!

And now that I’ve finally cover almost all the books I wanted to, it’s time for an extra special mention – my friend and writing buddy Heather has had a ton of short stories come out this year, and they are all fabulous. The special nod here goes to Bordello Secrets, because it’s a longer standalone. Also, fabulous.

You’d think I’d learn by now that I’m not nearly an accomplished enough blogger to keep posting throughout November. Actually I think I did a fairly good job of it, all things considering. You would also think that I’d learn by now that, even outside of NaNoWriMo, November is never not insane. The shit always hits the fan in November. Last year it was chemo and a busted car window, this year it was a malware attack,  crippled right hand, and chronic scheduling changes.

I made it. Another 50k in the can! A complete, very rough first draft. Over all I’m quite happy with it. I can tell it’s going to fundamentally change a lot before it ever reaches the light of day, and that I don’t see myself returning to it anytime soon. But it’s out of my head and in a file, where it can properly… ferment. Hm, I like that comparison. Ferment. Like cheese.

This book taught me a bit about reader expectation, and how to manipulate it. Among the many possible endings I found several that I had to dismiss simply because no matter how clever they were the reader would have finished the book feeling cheated, and that’s something I don’t want. A lot of this story hinges on the readers’ expectations, and there will be a need for careful balance between foreshadowing and misdirecting for the Big Twist. I’m going to start revising my pitch for it, so as not to spoil that twist. Or maybe I won’t, because the whole story would octopus the opposite direction and the story could be about something else entirely, and the current Big Twist could be a minor element of the greater whole.

Ah, first drafts – got to love ‘em. Duologies too – I’m finding that they are quite fun to plot. I’m sure that’s going to come back to bite me some day. They seem to be a hard sell, but then again I’m seeing more and more of them so maybe they are coming into fashion? I wouldn’t be surprised.

Typical me, I’m already ponder next NaNoWriMo’s story. It’s an addictive process. I’ve got an Urban Fantasy detective story with a shapeshifter that more or less strode in the front door with a chesshire grin, and several opportunities to try my hand at a sequel.

50808 / 50000 words. 102% done!

The first ‘grownup’ book I ever read was Acorna. I remember pulling it from the shelves at the then newly opened Barnes & Noble – Sci-Fi/Fantasy backed Children’s in those days, and I was just barely able to see the book, and lay on my fingers tips on it to work it from the shelf. Work it loose I did, and for a moment I stood mesmerized by the cover – I was a bit of a unicorn fanatic in those days. If something had unicorns in it I was all over it. Acorna was an easy sale.

I was barely out of Dr. Seuss at the time, so the first time I read it I didn’t understand a good half of the words. But I got enough to follow the story – I was hooked. It didn’t take me long to find the Dragonrider books. I’ll admit I never ventured much farther then the World of Pern and that I didn’t much care for her other books, or some of her later books in the series, but I cannot deny the influence she has had over me, and my writing. For years she was my first stop at the library.

Even beyond books – because of her I got to met with so many wonderful people online. I’ve spent the last day reading tributes, many of which bring tears to my eyes. Hearing the stories I wish I had gotten a chance to meet her. I truly hope that she rests in piece, and when she is reincarnated her books will be around for her to experience them as we have.

It figure my site would go down this week, because it’s release week! Sword & Sorceress 26, which includes my story The Girl Who Folded Dragons was released this Wednesday – it’s currently available at Amazon(hardcopy AND on the Kindle) and at Barnes & Noble! And last week my (very first!) interview went up on Jonathan Moeller’s website. It’s been an exciting/busy week!

I’ve managed to push through the soggy middle of my NaNo, at least I hope I’m on the other side of the worst of it, and have reached 32k! Skyward Sword is coming out this Sunday, and for the moment all is well. So I will leave you with this awesome video from the Zelda Symphony.

32450 / 50000 words. 65% done!

I’m still in that early part of the draft before I’ve connected with the characters and where I realize that I haven’t thought about POV at all. Nothing much of note has happened – I’m in the middle of establishing the ‘Ordinary World’ and have just shoved the inciting incident at the main character. So for lack of anything else to talk about I thought I’d share my starting playlist for this NaNo. It will undoubtably change a lot during the month, so maybe I’ll share it again at the end for comparison. I find I need high energy songs with strong beats to write, and that I zone out when songs don’t have lyrics. I’m a bit of an odd duck among writers for that.

• Judas – Lady Gaga
• Iron – Woodkid
• Young Men Dead – The Black Angels
• Crashing Down – Heather Dale
• Smooth Criminal – 2Cello
• Letters From The Sky – Civil Twilight
• The Queen of Argyll – Silly Wizard
• Rox In The Box – The Decemberists
• This Is Why We Fight – The Decemberists
• Dance With The Devil – Breaking Benjamin
• Runs In The Family – Amanda Palmer
• Lose Yourself – Eminem
• Bad Son – Jed Whedon and the Willing
• Wicked Blood – Sea Wolf
• You Are – Splashdown
• Rolling In The Deep – Adele
• Young Blood – Norah Jones
• Varulven – Garmarna
• Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
• What You Want – Evanescence

The steamer for today’s meeting was the special – raspberry, blueberry, and white chocolate. I’m open to suggestions for the next meeting. :)

2416 / 50000 words. 5% done!

This year I’m going back to straight up Fantasy. ‘The Empty Throne’ is the story of what happens twenty-odd years after an Evil Overlord is defeated. It’s based on what I’m calling ‘The Princess Peach Scenario’ – what if the ‘Evil Overlord’ wasn’t that bad? Evil sure, but a gentlemen. ‘The Empty Throne concerns The Hero’s two sons, the return of the empire, and dark family secrets. I also discovered while outlining that it really solidly wants to be a duology – it breaks very neatly in half, with two complete story arcs.

My toolbox this year is more or less the same as last year, with a few notable additions that I wanted to share.

The Necessary Programs -
RoughDraft – for the actual writing. I find it minimalist and non-distracting. The notepad sidebar feature is infinitely useful, from quick notes about character descriptions to quick math after word wars, all without leaving the program.
OneNote – I don’t know how I lived without OneNote. It has all my story bibles in one place.
iTunes – *shrug* That’s where I have all my music loaded and sorted into playlists.
Spotify – Imagine iTunes injected with rocket fuel. Sit through the occasionally add and listen to just about any song you want for free.
Dropbox – There is no excuse for not backing up. Especially during NaNo.
F.lux – A simple little program that adjusts the color of the screen, reducing eyestrain and making sleep sounder. Extremely useful for nightowls like me.
Write Or Die – I’d never read 50,000 without it! The Online EditMinion is equally useful for quick edits.

Also, for the month of November I’ve set myself a mini-challenge. As I’ll be at Kaladi a lot during the month, and steamers are both one of my favorite things and one of the cheapest things there, I’ve decided I will not have the same flavor combination twice during NaNo. Last Saturday at the kickoff I had a blackberry/cinnamon steamer – better than you’d think, though it left an odd aftertaste.

7 days until NaNoWriMo. 27 days until Skyward Sword comes out. We’ll see who wins this November. :3

The cover for Sword & Sorceress 26, which includes my story The Girl Who Folded Dragons. Isn’t it lovely? I have a soft spot for gold covers. :) The release date is November 15.

A year ago I could never imagine that my dad wouldn’t be here to celebrate this birthday with me. At that time he was feeling sick, but we had no idea just how sick – how were we to know that we were mere weeks from the ice-water news, and the beginning of the end?

On April 7th my dad died of esophageal cancer. Exactly one month from his birthday. Exactly one month from the sale of my first story. Now page proofs and the cover are turning up in my inbox and I’m wondering how the time passed. How did this happen? Why did we have so little time?

He would have been 67 this year. I wanted to write a memorial entry, but now that the text is in front of me all the little details seem unimportant. What is important is that he grew up in Nebraska and often told me stories about what it was like growing up on a farm. He served in the military, but rarely spoke of it. He was the sound board for my stories, and let me babble for ages about video games. He made analogies with Star Trek, and went with me to see Revenge of the Sith and The Return of The King. He read to me my first book of Norse mythology. He liked to read National Geographic. He could talk for far too long, and he never noticed when someone got a haircut.

He just wanted to see me get published. He wanted me to make it as a writer.

The wheel is turning. Autumn is beginning the long fade into Winter, and I don’t know how I’m going to face it. Today I don’t feel like celebrating, or acknowledging the time that has past. But I will, because that is what we have to do.

And I’ll keep writing. For my dad.

Late July through August is the rainy season in Alaska. I have a theory that the constant cloud cover helps ease us into the longer nights of winter. The other night I took out the trash and the sky had cleared, and the stars were out, sparkling jewels scattered across the sky. After close to five months without stars I felt like crying. All the time that has past since I last saw the stars, and all the things that have happened suddenly weighted down on me.

Now winter is on the horizon. And NaNoWriMo, which is like having a secret superhero identity. There is just far too much to do. I guess I’ll just have to do my best. That’s what we all do, isn’t it? Just keep moving until the new paradigm reaches equilibrium. Just keep typing until the novel is finished.

Keepers Status -
7,585/80,000. Just started chapter four. Progressing smoothly.