Tim Pratt's Blog, page 12

Being a big slacker continues to satisfy. I haven't done much with my evenings but play Alice: Madness Returns, watch the new Avengers cartoon on Netflix, and read the new Charles Stross novel Rule 34 lately. (All recommended.) I am beginning to get a distant itchy urge to write, but so far it hasn't grown overwhelming. I think I needed this time to recharge.

I got some popsicle molds and have become a popsicle fiend. Besides juice pops for the kid, I've also made White Russian popsicles for my wife and myself. (Recipe: make a weak White Russian. Freeze it. EAT.) And I made some mocha coffee popsicles last night; yum. Soon I will experiment with margarita popsicles, cherry cream popsicles, and so on. This is preventing me from eating all the ice cream in the world, which is what I usually want to do in the summer, so it's good. River likes to help me make the popsicles, though he hates waiting for them to freeze. Today we will go to Berkeley Bowl and consider their vast and mighty juice section. I predict pear nectar ice pops in my son's future…

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

So, life is pretty good. While I've started researching the next book, that "research" so far consists mostly of reading a bunch of novels written in and set in the historical time and place where my book will take place. Not exactly hardcore historical work at this point — I'm just trying to soak up flavor and feel for now.

Otherwise, apart from writing a book review (Daniel Polansky's Low Town, a good and bleak noir/fantasy hybrid), I didn't do a lick of work all weekend. Mostly I played Alice: Madness Returns, which is a ridiculously pretty game. Play gets a bit repetitive sometimes, but it's worth it for the scenery, and I love how the NPCs all refuse to provide any of the useful exposition you'd expect from such characters. Mostly they just go off on appropriately Wonderland-ish tangents and rambles.

After months of spending my weekends working as much as possible, I was finally able to do a family outing! I went with my wife and kid and sister-in-law and nephew to a pool on the other side of the Caldecott tunnel. (It's been cool in Berkeley, but was hot over the hill, so we did the drive.) Lots of fun splashing and a bit of lounging and reading. It's always good when the adults outnumber the children. Nephew did a sleepover, and both kids were pretty good, for the most part, though when they got up at 6 a.m. on Sunday I wasn't thrilled. Still, that was a good day, too — did a little shopping with the family in the morning, then took the kid to a playground all afternoon so Heather could get some work done. All very pleasant.

Also: I am experimenting with making alcoholic popsicles.

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

Where I may be found at Worldcon in Reno next month:

Fri 11:30 – 12:00, Reading: Tim Pratt, A14 (RSCC)

[So what should I read from?]

Fri 17:00 – 18:00, KaffeeKlatsch, KK1 (RSCC): Eileen Gunn, Adam-Troy, Castro, Scott Edelman, Tim Pratt

[Maybe it can be a BoozeeKlatsch instead. For me anyway]

Sat 12:00 – 13:00, Giving and Receiving Critiques (Panel), A16 (RSCC): Many writers participate in writers workshops, but it can be difficult, especially for new writers, to give critiques helpfully and receive critiques gracefully. Experienced workshoppers discuss techniques for critiques. Scott Edelman (M), Margaret McGaffey Fisk, Daniel Abraham, Sheila Finch, Tim Pratt

[I suspect I will say things on this panel that will annoy people.]

Sat 15:00 – 16:00, Fantasy in the Real World: The Rich World of Urban Fantasy (Panel), D05 (RSCC). When you ask people outside of our community what "fantasy" is, they either think of Tolkien or Rowling or of paranormal romances. But urban fantasy remains one of the richest parts of the fantasy field. Lisa Goldstein (M), Larry Correia, Sharon Lee, Tim Pratt, Madeleine E. Robins

[This should be interesting.]

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

After much pondering and flipping through a thesaurus and gnashing my teeth and googling around, I've decided to call the next Marla Mason novel Grim Tides. So there. Now I can think about actually writing the thing.

The plan is: launch a Kickstarter fundraiser in September. If it gets funded, I'll actually be able to afford to write the book (instead of finding another work-for-hire job). I'll write it with an aim toward serializing it online starting next spring. (Beginning April 2012, I suspect, though maybe earlier.) I'm excited! And the characters are starting to mutter at me more and more insistently every day.

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

I'm going to serialize my sixth full-length Marla Mason novel next year, but I can't decide what to call it. It's set mostly in Hawai'i, and involves (basically) a group of powerful old enemies who try to kill Marla while she's in exile and relatively unprotected. Some title contenders are below, as suggested by me, my wife, and our friends Greg and Jenn. Let me know what you like best! I might even abide by the winner.

If you have a better suggestion, you can put it in the comments! (Since the responses to the "other" section are only viewable by me, as far as I can tell.) To be consistent with the other books in the series, two-word titles are best.

What Should I Title the Sixth Marla Mason Novel?

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

This weekend I finished revisions on Venom In Her Veins, my Wizards of the Coast novel. Since it's listed on Amazon, I guess I can reveal that it's a Forgotten Realms novel! Whee! (My editor looked it over today and says it seems good. So I'm happy.)

The description of the plot at Amazon isn't quite correct, as I drifted a bit from the initial proposal, but, yes: snake-people, addictive flowers, the Underdark. All good things. Also some truly insane monsters. (My original title was Daughter of Serpents, but that was too similar to the title of another book from the publisher. Oh, well, so it goes.)

Having read the novel this weekend for the first time in about a year, I can say: I really like it. I hope it sells a million copies so they ask me to write another book about the character(s). Go ahead and pre-order it to get that ball rolling.

I also plowed through about a third of my Pathfinder Tales novel City of the Fallen Sky, and hope to finish revisions on that in the next week or so.

And then I will have the strange experience of being able to spend weekends hanging out with my wife and kid again!

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

Over the weekend I finished my first draft of City of the Fallen Sky, my Pathfinder Tales novel. I'm pleased with it. And I have 21 whole days to revise it before the August 1 deadline! It's about 91,000 words total (though it'll get a bit longer in revision). I wrote the last 40,000 of those words in the span of nine days. I am tired but happy. After August 1, my life gets a lot less deadline-y. No novels due until February 2012. That's forever away! Definitely a problem for Future Tim.

My story "Down with the Lizards and the Bees" is now 99 cents on Kindle, with an awesome cover by Jenn Reese. (Psst: hire her to do your covers to. She rocks.) Should be at B&N for the Nook in a couple of days. This is the first story I wrote about actor/psychic Bradley Bowman, who went on to become a major character in the Marla Mason series. Plus: it has trains to the underworld, monitor lizards, and, yes, bees!

And I'm sufficiently fond of this story that I'll link to it again: "We Go Back" is now in print and audio at Escape Pod.

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

I was invited to write an original story for the 300th episode of Escape Pod (a huge honor). The result was novelette "We Go Back", available now for you to enjoy in text form or audio. Or both!

(It features the main character from my novel The Nex, but is set some years later, and is meant to stand alone.)

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

Since July 2nd, I've written 25,000 words on City of the Fallen Sky. I'm close enough to the end that I can count the number of scenes remaining. (I mean, it's a lot of scenes, but it's no longer innumerable.) I have the kid with me today, and my wife will be at work, so I'm solo parenting. Even so, I hope to get a little written today as well. Join me in wishing the child a long and peaceful afternoon nap. I expect to have a draft of the book finished by this time next week, which would give me two whole weeks to revise it! Such luxury!

I finished Dance with Dragons yesterday. Since pretty much all my favorite characters were absent from Feast for Crows, this book was basically made of happiness for me. (Well. Except for all the bad stuff that happens. And it's not spoilers to say bad stuff happens in a Martin novel.)

My Marla Mason story "Shark's Teeth" is now 99 cents in the Kindle store. (I'll upload it to B&N soon too.) It's the latest Marla story, chronologically speaking, taking place after the events of Broken Mirrors, but it's meant to work entirely as a standalone. (It's still free to read at Daily Science Fiction too, for those content with HTML.)

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.

Time is running out to pre-order the limited edition of Briarpatch. There's less than a week to get it, so if you were hesitating, it's now or never time. There are only 150 copies to be had, you know? Go on, take a chance, maybe I'll be eaten by a famous tiger or something some day, and in the ensuing tabloid publicity storm, my work will go up in value. Tell your disapproving spouse/parent/friends it's an investment!

The Alphabet Quartet is done: Behold, "Z is for Zoom." Or go read the entire series of 26 flash pieces here. It's been a wonderful six months, sharing a new story every single week, but all things must end. On behalf of myself, Heather Shaw, Jenn Reese, and Greg van Eekhout, thank you for reading. And thanks to Daily Science Fiction for letting us hijack their fine publication 26 weeks in a row.

(Not that it's entirely done. There will be audio versions of the stories continuing to pop up at various podcasts, and even alternate stories for some of the letters. Links shall be provided when those things happen.)

Originally published at Tim Pratt. You can comment here or there.