Date:	2008-05-11 17:38
Subject:	Coming up in June!
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative
Music:	"Larger Than Life" - The Feelers

In addition to the release of FEAST OF FOOLS (otherwise known as Morganville Vampires, Book 4), June's also going to see the release of this lovely thing:



So what is it? It's the second release from a new collaboration between BenBella Books and Borders, called Teen Libris, and it's a collection of essays -- from the funny to the serious -- about Stephenie Meyer's brilliant book TWILIGHT.

Lovely, no? I was so lucky to be asked to contribute.

( The full press release, after the jump! )

Wicked cool, man.

... Sorry for the silence, I've actually been drawn back into my former employer as a contractor for a limited period of time. BUT! Stay tuned, there's a cool contest a-coming to celebrate the release of both FEAST OF FOOLS and A NEW DAWN.

I will just say one word as a hint: iPod.

Okay, two words: custom iPod.

And signed books, too. Obv.

Last but not least: Please go and donate to the Red Cross -- so many people need help right now, in the wake of the disaster in Burma and the recent deadly tornadic storms that have ripped through the U.S.

Charity begins at home. Or, in my case, at PayPal ...

-- Rachel

Date:	2008-04-28 18:36
Subject:	Taking up John Scalzi's 1-star challenge!
Security:	Public
Mood:	bouncy
Music:	"Enjoy the Ride" - Morcheeba

If you haven't read it, John Scalzi posted some one-star reviews from Amazon, and challenged the rest of us to do the same. And I thought, hey! I'VE got 1-star reviews! I CAN SUCK TOO!

I am not immune from sucking, even though I try very hard to write the best books I can. Sometimes, you choke up on the bat, and hit a foul ball to left field, no matter how hard you work at batting practice. And then you have to COWBOY UP and hit the next one hard and straight to center field or the talking heads on ESPN will chew you up and spit you out ... and rerun your failures ... every fifteen minutes ... in slo-mo ....

I forgot: I hate sports metaphors. Let us not speak of this again. So sorry.

Back to the subject, ahem. I've never had an Amazon review removed, and I won't. People are perfectly free to say bad things about the books if they feel the need -- they paid for the right. Or at least, I hope they did. It's really gonna suck for me if they bummed it off of a friend.

Reader reviews are not personal, they're just brutally honest. I try to look at it in a businesslike way, and after I cry hysterically into my pillow, cuddle my teddy bear, scream, fling darts at a printout of the review, and rant to my husband about how unfair life is ... I have some hot cocoa and think hard about what I can learn from this review that will make my work better.

That dart thing, though: very therapeutic. Highly recommended.

( So ... with no further adieu, meet my bad reviews -- cut-tag not because I'm ashamed of them, but because there's, sadly, kind of a lot, and I only did four books .... )

... Okay, this could go on a long, long, LONG time, because damn, I have lots more. But I'll save the rest of the Weather Warden series for another post.

For a funny approach to dealing with bad reviews, check out Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child's Rogues Gallery, in which they celebrate (and cheerfully mock) their detractors.

Back to you, John!

-- Rachel

Date:	2008-04-22 18:31
Subject:	No UK this year ...
Security:	Public
Mood:	crazy
Music:	Nothing ....

Arrrrrgh. Well, unfortunately, the financial fairy has not arrived to drop a tidy sum in my lap, and I will not be making the much-anticipated (by me, anyway) trip to the UK in May. Instead, I am fixing laptops and stuff. Also, new car.

So. UK friends, please forgive me ... I would LOVE to come and see you guys. I will try to work it out for later in the year!

... also, someone reminded me that I need to update my website. Am working on it this evening. Woot! I have working laptop! Happy!

-- R.

Date:	2008-04-22 16:59
Subject:	BACK IN BLACK, BABY!
Security:	Public
Mood:	bouncy
Music:	Something very loud, by Queen

Yeah, the Black Monster (aka, the laptop) is back in business, thanks to Geek Squad and replacement of the screen, frame, and hinges. :headslap: While I was at it, though, I loaded it up with all the RAM it could eat, so yay. Back in business!

NEWS! ... I'm very pleased to announce that LINE OF SIGHT, the Athena Force novel that I wrote for 2007, has been recognized with an RT Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Continuity Novel! WOOOOOOOT! I belive this is the first professional award I've ever won, and I'm pretty darned excited.

In case you're saying, "Darn it, I should have picked that up!" ... well, you can get it here on Amazon's used book listings, or on their Kindle page, if you're into that kind of swanky stuff.

Next ... well, I know that I posted the new British Morganville covers, which were amazing (and GLOW IN THE DARK! Fer serious.)

( But if you click this link, you'll see the British covers for ILL WIND and HEAT STROKE, plus a bonus: the Russian covers of ILL WIND/HEAT STROKE and CHILL FACTOR! )

Aren't you glad you clicked that? I knew you would be.

Okay. Tomorrow, it's back to work, I swear! Look, my computer even opens and closes without cracking into pieces. It's auspicious, and suchly.

Cheers,

Rachel

Date:	2008-04-17 21:23
Subject:	Sorry ... computers hate me.
Security:	Public
Mood:	apathetic
Music:	The random crash of electrons.

Yes, it's true. Computers hate me. Well, they do this week ... my new (year old, actually) HP laptop suddenly developed cracks in the case and hinges and began breaking apart. It's in the computer hospital as we speak. So ... I've been offline, sorry all.

Lovely Ms. p_n_elrod lent me the laptop I gave her when I got the new one (thanks, Pat!). Cool-o ... I needed to pull some data off of it anyway.

I had it up and running approximately 30 minutes when BOOM, the hard drive suddenly made frying-egg sounds and the whole thing shut down. When I restarted, it said WINDOWS NOT FOUND.

Safe mode? HA! There is no safe mode, sucker, because the hard drive lost its little itty bitty mind. The only rescue available was to reinstall Windows from scratch ... but all the data was gone, gone, gone. Bye bye, data. It was nice knowing you. I'll never forget that time we had together.

So. After two days of reinstalling everything from scratch, I (and more importantly, Ms. Pat!) once again have a sorta working computer. My new-new computer will be back early-ish next week, for a total repair cost of somewhere around $500. Um ... yay? I am attempting positive energy, here, work with me.

Nothing else to report right now. I am about to start on rewrites for OUTCAST SEASON, though!

As soon as I get myself sorted out and back on the proper machine, I will be sending out FEAST OF FOOLS review copies and doing a giveaway as well, so stay tuned ...!

R.

ETA: Sorry, I wasn't clear. Yes, I lost some data, but it was relatively little overall, because I do indeed back up my writing. The problem is that when you have 145 gigabytes of data, well. Backing up is kind of a very big pain it the rear, and takes forever, no matter how you slice it. I am transferring out pictures and video files to individual USB hard drives, but even so, backups are just plain ol' time consuming. I always back up my *writing* daily, though. It's all the other stuff that tends to fall through the cracks ... kind of like, "I'll back up that video footage later." Uh-huh.

Date:	2008-04-09 09:50
Subject:	HOORAY! Morganville 5 ... delivered.
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful
Music:	The audiobook of WHEEL OF DARKNESS

So. Because of some unavoidable delays, I wasn't able to seriously start on the last section of Morganville 5: Lord of Misrule until last Thursday. It's been a tough few days, but I turned in the manuscript on Monday afternoon, woo hoo!

Yesterday was consumed with reviewing final proofs for Weather Warden 7: Gale Force, and refreshing the synopsis for Morganville 6: Carpe Corpus.

I am taking a couple of luxurious vacation days before I start on rewrites for Outcast Season: Undone, and tackling a couple of smaller projects.

On to the better things.

( Like my new Smart Car! )

Now then. I'm going to go vegetate for a while. Ahhhhhhhh ....

Rachel

Date:	2008-03-31 09:07
Subject:	Drive-by post!
Security:	Public
Mood:	anxious
Music:	"On and On" - Nikka Costa

Back from AggieCon 39. Had a great time. Didn't get much done toward finishing LORD OF MISRULE.

Now entering the pirate seas in earnest:



In the turret, no one can hear you scream ...

Great and awesome things about AggieCon: The people! Thanks to Alysha for the reading support, to Paul Ortega for the heads up on the manuscript goof, and to Kari and Joya and David for making my Saturday totally fun. :)

Not-so-awesome things about AggieCon: a post to come, but it involves blue tape and body parts.

My Smart Car is here! I'm picking it up today:



Expect squeeage.

Argh, off to repel the boarders and pile up the wordcount ....!

-- R.

Date:	2008-03-22 11:24
Subject:	Quarterly review of the state of the Rachel
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful
Music:	Children - Robert Miles

So. I feel I've done pretty well for the first three months of my new full-time writing thing. I did a 100,000(ish) word novel (OUTCAST SEASON: UNDONE) from mid-January to the end of February, took a one-day mini-vacation, and started and finished "Dead Man Stalking" for the upcoming Borders YA vampire anthology. Then I took a five-minute mini-vacation and started working on Morganville #5, LORD OF MISRULE.

So here, for those of you playing the home game, betting the line in Vegas, etc., is my progress so far:

36,000 / 70,000 (51.4%)

Due date is April 1, and of course I have AggieCon next weekend, to complicate matters. But still. I'm thinking it's do-able.

Then I take a breather for about, oh, ten seconds and start on the next Weather Warden book.

BTW, I *also* intend to do a free short story for the website this month. It will, of necessity, be kinda short, but I'll have it up by the end of March!

( One of those strange WTF medical moments ... )

... in other news, well, I did my taxes. :runs screaming:

-- Rachel

Date:	2008-03-17 12:08
Subject:	Quick question for my London friends (or those who know the place)
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper
Music:	"Electrofog" - Le Charme

So. I'm strongly considering taking a trip to London in May, because Ill Wind is coming out through the fantastic British publishers Allison & Busby for its first official UK release. And Waterstones is apparently doing a promotion for it.

So I'm considering taking a week in London, doing some book signings, dinner with editors (I have several in the area) and film/TV people I'm working with, and of course FRIENDS!

So ... two requests. If you're in the London area, could you please tell me the following:

1) What would be the best Waterstones for me to pick to hold a signing, if they'll have me of course?

2) You guys probably know the cool hotels, too. Suggest away!

3) If you'd like to have a meal, hoist a pint, etc. while I'm in London, let me know that too. I'd love to meet up with people.

( Behind the cut, for your delight, is the British cover for ILL WIND, to be released in May 2008 ... )

Also, fear not, they're already working on Heat Stroke and Chill Factor.

Also: Glass Houses is ALSO on A&B's release schedule for later in the year. I'll share that with you when it's closer!

Cool, eh?

All this forward planning is subject to budget disasters or me not being able to find my stupid passport, which is not where I left it, I swear.

-- R.

Date:	2008-03-16 16:01
Subject:	FOR REVIEWERS ONLY
Security:	Public
Mood:	blank
Music:	2 Wicky - Hooverphonic

Okay -- I'm updating my list of reviewers. Official, established reviewers only, please -- you must have an established review website, or be a regular contributor to a print magazine. I mean, if it was up to me, I'd send out copies hither and yon to anybody who wanted to blog about it, but, er, I only have about 10 ARCs, and I need to be sure they go to official outlets.

So, reviewers: represent in the comments! :)

(If you aren't a reviewer, but want to recommend a site or magazine, let me know that too!)

-- Rachel

Date:	2008-03-15 17:01
Subject:	Updates and Puzzlements
Security:	Public
Mood:	busy
Music:	"Peter Gunn" - Max Sedgeley Remix

Okay -- sorry, I'm caught in the slipstream again, which is both good (for the writing) and bad (for the blogging). However, I've finished a Morganville short story, for an anthology that will be coming out for Borders sometime this year (more on that when I have details), and it's an all-Morganville March, as I'm midway through LORD OF MISRULE (aka, Book Five).

Other than that ...? Hmmm. I got my clarinet fixed up and started playing again -- sucked at first, of course, but I'm getting my tone back. Technique will be a little slower. Tonguing and note attack is going to be an uphill battle, armed with a wet twig, but I'll try.

( Which brings me to the puzzlement section of this post ... cut for boring musical minutae that approaches musical technobabble .... )

Okay, I'm done technobabbling. Off to do something semi-fruitful, like, I dunno, laundry.

Cheers!

-- R.

ETA: Wow, I posted the question about the clarinet on the bulletin board at http://www.clarinet.org, and got an immediate response from a Swedish clarinet player. I had the brand name slightly wrong, it's Eric Petterson (I think my brain just kept sticking the extra "e" in there!) and evidently, his small company produced some very high quality instruments from the 1950s to the mid-70s. I would guess this to be pretty early in his run. Apparently, these instruments have a very good reputation and hardly ever come up for sale! WOOT! Mystery solved, kinda.

Date:	2008-02-29 09:32
Subject:	SURRENDER THE MANUSCRIPT, PART DEUX
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful
Music:	Grace - Miss Kittin

Okay, so, I'm finishing up the book today. On time, yay. And I feel cautiously good about it, but you know, that probably will only last until I start reading it over. Eeek.

Anyway. I just wanted to report a dangerous and disturbing phenomenon:

I LIKE MILEY CYRUS.

I just have to say, seriously, WTF? Because although I do write for that age group, I am genuinely NOT FOURTEEN.

Yet, I have been waking up every morning with Miley Cyrus's "See You Again" running through my head. FOR DAYS. And it's somehow ended up on my playlist.

I feel sullied and unusual, as Captain Jack S. would say.

Somebody stop me before I go to the Hannah Montana movie or something.

... a public service announcement ...

IF YOU ARE IN TEXAS, TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF EARLY VOTING. You can vote at any open polling place, you don't have to go to your usual precinct, and you DON'T have to vote your regular party if you want to cast a vote in the opposing party's primary. March 4 is going to be crazy, y'all, so don't leave it until the last moment. It takes about 15 minutes out of your day. GO VOTE. I don't care about your political affiliation, this is the first time in a long time that we've had a real awareness and energy to the political process.

If you don't vote today, you must go to your USUAL polling place on TUESDAY. AND although it's not required, you can (and should) go to the caucus at 7 pm on TUESDAY -- you must have already voted to caucus. Remember: 1/3 of the delegates get awarded through the caucus process!

It's your government. Go tell it what you want it to do. I did!

-- R.

Date:	2008-02-27 08:13
Subject:	SURRENDER THE MANUSCRIPT!
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused
Music:	Hate To Say I Told You So - The Hives

And it's that time again, to fly the pirate flag o' marauding deadlines:



I need Mr. Depp right now. NEED. There's a number for a local Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator in my cell phone. I am not kidding, I saw him at a kid's party at the mall and grabbed his card, because he was OMG WONDERFUL.

I won't call it, but it tickles me to have it there.

Anyway. Back to the subject. OUTCAST SEASON: UNDONE is almost, er, not undone. Or done, however you want to look at it. Witnesseth:



Is that done? Nope. Is it due? Yes. On Saturday.

So. Back to work for me, chilluns, and three people who signed up earlier in the year for beta reading for "Other" will shortly be receiving the electronic manuscript for review.

In other news: Oooooooh, for whatever reason, we got ARC! Advance Reading Copies of FEAST OF FOOLS! Sa-weet! Yes, I will give away a couple.

No, not today.

One final thing: I apologize to those who saw me at ConDFW this weekend. Not my Best Weekend Ever. I felt like crap, I was disconnected, and all I wanted to do was crawl in bed most of the time. This does not make for a sparkly Rachel presentation, and I am so sorry for that. Between the migraines and the food poisoning, well. You know. But at least I brought Pleo! He was a hit.

Okay, off to make wordcount, as usual. Hugs!

-- R.

Date:	2008-02-22 09:18
Subject:	ConDFW!
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper
Music:	2 Wicky - Hooverphonic

Dallas-area folks, don't forget that ConDFW is this weekend! Website ... Writer guest of honor: Peter S. Beagle ... and a ton of other great people, including Artist GoH Donato Giancola, and Special Guest Tom Monteleone.

I'll be there all weekend. Well, from about 3 pm Friday to 4 pm Sunday, to make it more precise, but you get the idea. It's going to be a fantastic show, so please drop in if you're in the area!

Meanwhile, I'm cranking away on UNDONE ... working this morning, as I will be working early each morning of the con.



I should be farther along, but I had one of those infamous brainstorms, and had to backtrack. So it'll be an exciting race to the finish, yet again. :sigh:

Going well, though. All in all, I'm cautiously pleased.

That's pretty much my news of the day. Here's hoping you guys are doing well out there!

-- Rachel

P.S. -- Special plug, because it amused me in a big way this morning: check out Michael Stusser, Dead Guy Interviewer. You go, Michael. I'm still caught between awe and giggles.

Date:	2008-02-18 07:30
Subject:	Some days, it pays to get up.
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful
Music:	2 Wicky - Hooverphonic

Here's my morning so far:

1) Wake up and think, "Why the hell am I awake? I DON'T HAVE TO GO TO WORK! ... oh yeah. Writing."
2) Get up.
3) Turn on the shiny new Keurig one-cup coffee maker (first cup: hazelnut).
4) Brew coffee.
5) Shower.
6) Turn on cool new electric fireplace/heater because the turret is cold, yo.
7) Sit in comfy chair with blanket, lap desk, laptop.
8) Drink coffee.
9) Check emails and nag myself about how I'm already procrastinating.
10) Find this in my Myspace inbox:



p_n_elrod and macgyvergal will understand the palpitations. If you're a Stargate fan, seeing General Jack's picture in your inbox will give you a better rush than caffeine. I KNOW HE'S NOT REAL. Still.

Anyway, the long and short of this is that I'm going to be guest-blogging out at the Supergate later today (after I finish my word count, I swear!) to talk about my first Stargate novel (SACRIFICE MOON), what I'm planning to do this year, and answer questions.

Thank you, sir. :salutes: Reporting for duty!

... er, as soon as I get UNDONE moved along the dusty trail. HYAH!

-- Rachel

I'm very pleased to announce that the new Morganville music video, featuring music by Elliot Scott, is now up and running (all over the place).

( Here it is, behind the cut ... )

Elliot's wonderful music can be found at his Myspace page and also at his website, and I am very grateful to him for allowing me the use of this great song (which really is perfectly suited to Morganville, I think).

Okay, now I'm back to work on UNDONE! See ya!

-- Rachel

Okay, so, despite the incredible allure of sleeping and my very fine media room with its huge collection of DVDs, I *have* managed to make progress.

The project: UNDONE, the first novel of the new OUTCAST SEASON series (out in late 2008/early 2009, don't have a release date yet).

The deadline: March 1.

The progress:

I know, I know, it's almost the middle of the month. But I'm hard at work, things are going well, and I feel fairly good about it.

So does Captain Jack.



Apart from that, all's fairly well here. Morganville folks: the February Freebie is almost ready to launch, I'll be posting about that in the next few days!

Arrrrrrr.

-- Rachel

Date:	2008-02-05 18:18
Subject:	After thorough research, I find food poisoning is no fun.
Security:	Public
Mood:	nauseated
Music:	Nothing.

... well, I *think* it's food poisoning, anyway. I started feeling kind of sick (feverish and achy) late Sunday, then felt worse yesterday, and today "worse" was a fond memory.

Yes, I still got up and tried to write. I even made it to the coffee shop, where I drank approximately 1/4 of a cup of mocha and threw it up and went home. To throw up more. Like, ALL DAY.

Urgh. But at least the fever and chills part of this adventure is gone now, along with the crushing headache and the aforementioned up-throwing. Am feeling better, if only by the standards of "not actively ill."

But let's not get too comfortable ... I'm officially sounding the alarm bell for approaching deadline #1:



Still need to do at least 15 pages per day to make my deadline. Which is really not all that bad, but I'm officially committing myself to the cause.

After I stagger off to bed again and get a good night's sleep.

-- Rachel

Date:	2008-02-04 19:18
Subject:	BLACK MAGIC WOMAN giveaway winners!
Security:	Public
Mood:	giggly
Music:	"Celebration"

Attention schmendriksgirl, bigferret, charlesatan, and tezmilleroz ... YOU HAVE WON copies of Justin Gustainis's new book BLACK MAGIC WOMAN! Congratulations ... email me at rachel@rachelcaine.com, including your snail mail address AND your LJ name so I can keep everything straight.

Time to do the dance of joy! :)

-- Rachel

Date:	2008-02-02 08:07
Subject:	Can you help? James Reasoner ...
Security:	Public
Mood:	distressed
Music:	"Hello Again" - The Cars

Hey, everybody ... James Reasoner is a Texas writer I've been in at least one anthology with, and he's suffered a pretty bad loss. Details are below, but if you could, please help James and his family get their lives back together. Any small donations would help -- it adds up!

------------------------------

From the Western Writers of America

Longtime Western writer and WWA member James Reasoner and wife Livia lost their house and studio, and all their belongings, in a fire earlier this week. They're OK, as are their dogs and children, but got out with only their clothes they were wearing. Books, pulps, comics, everything else, gone. "This is totally overwhelming," James says.

To help the family, Western Writers of America and Kensington Books have agreed to make sizable contributions and ask anyone who would also like to contribute to send cash donations to the WWA Executive Director's office in Albuquerque, N.M. Make the check out to Western Writers of America and put in the memo that the money is for the James Reasoner Emergency Fund.

Checks should be mailed to:
WWA
MSC06 3770
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001


Since James and Livia also lost their sizable library, donations are also being sought to help restock their bookcases whenever they have a new home. Kim Lionetti, Livia's agent at BookEnds, has generously agreed to accept any BOOK donations and keep them until the Reasoners have a place to put them.

Books should be sent to:
Kim Lionetti
BookEnds Inc.
136 Long Hill Road
Gillette, NJ 07933


Our thoughts and prayers are with James, Livia and family during this trying time. Thanks for your help.

Johnny D. Boggs
WWA Vice President

--------------------------------

Thanks, guys. I've read the account of James barely escaping the house with his dog and the clothes on his back, and it's pretty terrifying. This was a grass fire that erupted in Azle, Texas, and he got caught right in the path.

In particular, if there are any comic or pulp collectors out there, or folks who have western reference books or literature, I'll bet those kinds of donations would be VERY welcome, as those are some of the hardest things to replace (and the most expensive).

My thoughts (and my own donations) go out to James and his family.

-- Rachel