stillsostrange

Behold! Shadow Unit ebooks are now available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon. With sexy Kyle Cassidy covers!

In other news, I just scrapped the beginning of the story that will not be called "Needlepoint" in favor of one with actual action and protagging. Crazy, I know. Now this new actionyness needs to action its way toward and ending.

It's a draft! "Spell 81A" is finished, until such time as it's read and critted by others. It's almost like finishing a short story.

To celebrate the death of a deadline, (and to procrastinate cleaning all the things) I'm embarking on one of those 30-day writing memes, courtesy of la_marquise_de_.

1) Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you've worked with and why.

As fond as I am of the Necromancer Chronicles, my Cthulhuverse is definitely my favorite. Contemporary fantasy has been my favorite for a long time--the intersection of the mundane and the numinous, the familiar and the horrific, twisting everything just a few degrees sideways. I'll be pitching one of these as my option novel when Kingdoms is done, so if you've liked any of my short stories, keep your appendages crossed.

If you can think of a sexy series title for the universe containing stories like "Smoke & Mirrors", "Dogtown", and "Ebb", I'll give you a dollar and a book dedication.

Good morning, LiveJournal. By some freak occurrence I woke up before 8 AM this morning, and will probably be out of bed before 9. Today and tomorrow I have to deathmarch through a Shadow Unit story I'm writing with matociquala, and then I'll be done with all the things distracting me from Kingdoms. All the distractions that aren't self-inflicted, at least.

My dreams were in fact uneasy. What started as a Call of Cthulhu game where the GM summoned real zombies quickly grew a sprawling set of sub-plots, the thread of most I lost when I woke up. The baby who ate all her infant siblings was pretty gruesome, but she grew into a beautiful lizard monster who dreamed of being a naga, and went searching for a naga mate to dance with. The dancing snake people were lovely, and I wish I was left with a clearer image than the echo of sinuous green grace.

I am unnaturally perky today. Last night as I was falling asleep I realized how I can get the POVs I want to use in Kingdoms to fill all my story needs. The Drowning City and The Bone Palace both fell out in the same three-way split: Isyllt; a native to the setting, who's thematically relevant and conflicted; and someone hanging out with the antags. I have Isyllt and my thematic person ready to go, but my last POV--who I'm totally in love with--wasn't helping me with the antags. And now I know how he can do that, which in turn gives him enough personal conflict to carry his story arc. Win!

And then I woke up to the boy making bacon and eggs, and an email from My Fabulous Agent about a foreign rights sale. More win!

Now I will do some Shadow Unit stuff, and then go back to Kingdoms, where Our Intrepid Heroes are about to get in a fight.

All this makes up for the dueling earworms currently plaguing me. "Young Ned of the Hill" and "Desert Rose". The cognitive dissonance is going to make my head explode.

A new Shadow Unit episode airs tonight. And now that that's done, I'll be in my bunk with several issues of Cable & Deadpool. Oh, Marvel, I wish I could quit you.

Another Shadow Land update tonight. I encourage you to find the easter egg, and listen to it all the way through. You can't bill me for emotional trauma, though.

Now that that won't be eating my head for a while, we'll return tomorrow with the usual bitching-about-stories posts.

I remember when stories used to dress up pretty and compete for my affections. Now they just sit in front of the TV and say "not tonight, dear, I have a headache." When did the spark die?

If you happen to have come here from The Not Very Sekrit Project, let me assure you that I am not a fictional character. That I am aware. And since matociquala lets me sleep on her couch sometimes, she must be real too. Or else I'm making a lot of soap.