Cherie Priest's Blog: It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion, page 10

Phoenix was...wow. I don't know where to begin, so I will probably punk out and not say much of anything except for this: It was absolutely wonderful, and I was tickled to see so many friends. Big ups to Kevin Hearne in particular, for organizing a couple of great events (one at the Poison Pen, and one at the Taco Guild), and hearty digital hugs to everyone else. If I tried to link/recap, I would only end up leaving people out and feeling like a jerk. So instead....well...you know who you are, and thank you for being there, and for being fantastic.

For pictures [including MANY GROUP SELFIES] of the past week, click here, scroll down, and be amused .

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Thanks also to all the great folks who came out to my signings; I burned through many copies of Maplecroft and plenty of I Am Princess X - and I am terribly grateful for those of you who helped make that book's debut in Arizona such a smash.

My apologies for running out of the kicky I Am Princess X stickers. We burned through my whole roll at the Poison Pen event.

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SPEAKING OF PRINCESS X. Since it only just came out, less than a week ago - and it was front-and-center while I was out of town - I have a handful of cool links to share. Just a handful! And they're great! I promise!
The LA Times summer books list - IAPX is named one of 30 summer books that kids will gobble up!

Amazon.com chimes in - IAPX is one of their Best Books of the Month for teens and young adults!

Shelf Awareness agrees - IAPX gets a starred review! "In a clever innovation, Priest seamlessly integrates Kali Ciesemier's comics within the prose narrative. Each new episode of Princess X reveals further clues and a terrifying reality for their creator. Ciesemier's portrait of Princess X achieves a sense of both anxiety and bravery."

Thank you to all the fine reviewers out there, fighting the good fight. I am so, so thankful for the kind reception.

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Today is dedicated to unpacking, filing receipts, doing laundry, emptying the inbox, etc. etc. etc. - all the stuff that backs up when you're out of town for the better part of a week. You'd think that with BEA and several conventions going on, my inbox would be a wasteland, but nooooooo. I'm eyeballs deep.

Therefore, I'm wrapping this up quickly - mostly posting it to say, "I'm back! And it was grand! And all is well!" for those who might be wondering. I'll close it out with a critter pic, for Greyson's big, goofy smile was waiting for me last night, when I finally arrived home. Everyone loves a smiling dog, right?

Okay! As you may already know, today is I Am Princess X day! Go ahead. Click the link if you're not sure what I'm talking about. Beware: MUCH SQUEE LIES BEHIND THAT LINK. MANY ALL-CAPS. SOME SILLY MOVING TEXT AND THREATS OF CHAMPAGNE.

Consider yourselves warned.

Right! So that was today's BIG news, and now I have to offer up the news for the rest of this week - because tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Phoenix Comic Con! I'll be gone through the weekend (leaving the critters in my husband's capable care). I will not be bringing my laptop, since it looks like I'll be so wildly busy that there won't be much point.

What this means from a practical standpoint: I won't be blogging, but I WILL have my smartphone, so you can expect pictures and assorted forms of zaniness on my Twitter feed and maybe even over here on Facebook . But mostly on Twitter.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PHOENIX AREA but are NOT ATTENDING THE CONVENTION: Should you be interested in picking up (a). a copy of the brand spanking new I Am Princess X, (b). some of my other books, or (c). a signature on any of the above ... you can find me - and EVERYBODY ELSE (just about) at the Poison Pen tomorrow evening (May 27) from 7-8:00 p.m. Click that link to get the roster, and I PROMISE you'll see somebody in attendance who'll pique your interest.

If you WILL be at the convention and you're all like, "Maybe I'll try to catch Cherie at one of her panels or something," then allow me to direct you to THIS-HERE LINK where you'll find my schedule posted in a handy-dandy fashion. In addition to the panels, you'll note that there are a couple of signings on-site. Catch me there. Catch me early, and I MIGHT even have some awesome I Am Princess X stickers. Supplies are limited so I'm not making any promises, but trust me - they're fantastic.

(Speaking of supplies at the convention, I've been assured that there is a fat stack of I Am Princess X - among other books of mine - waiting at the Mysterious Galaxy booth.)

And I think that covers pretty much everything of note for the next five days, so please pardon the brevity and the all-caps, but I still need to finish packing and wrap up my last-minute travel details. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope to see some of you in Arizona!

Finally, today - I am officially a YA author!

[:: flings confetti ::]
[:: fires tee shirt cannon ::]
[:: pops copious champagne corks ::]
[:: waggles champagne bottles ::]
[:: froth goes everywhere ::]

Oh, I'm an adult author, too - I mean (for the sake of clarity) I'm still writing books for adults, too. I have several more on the horizon, just in the next couple of years...but today? TODAY IS FOR YOU YOUNGER READERS OUT THERE. Or for you people who are, perhaps, somewhat LESS young - but enjoy YA fiction anyway. Or for those of you who even KNOW anyone from column A, or column B.

I'm just trying to cover ALL MY BASES, here.

LOOK, THE POINT IS that right NOW you can buy I Am Princess X at fine bookstores everywhere! Or at your preferred internet destination! Whatever floats your boat! That's the key takeaway from this SOMEWHAT FLAILING and WILDLY OVERCAPPED blog post, so KINDLY PARDON any excessively noisy squee on my part. After fifteen years in the industry, this is a first for me, and I am VERY SQUEEFUL about it - if none too graceful about how I handle all that squee.

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I Am Princess X at Amazon.com - and for Kindle
I Am Princess X at Barnes & Noble - and for Nook
I Am Princess X at an independent bookseller near you



So! If you're like, "What's it even ABOUT, anyway?"
Or, "Have any reviewers dug it?"...well, let me help and/or refresh your memory!
"Back in fifth grade, best friends May and Libby created Princess X, a katana-wielding heroine who wears Converse sneakers with her ball gown. Ever since Libby and her mother died in a freak accident, May’s life has been as gray as her Seattle home—until the 16-year-old spots a Princess X sticker in a store window, leading her to a Princess X webcomic that suggests that Libby might still be alive. With the help of Trick, a hacker-for-hire, May follows the trail that Princess X’s near-mythic narrative leaves for her, which incorporates Seattle landmarks like the Fremont Troll and characters like the dangerous Needle Man and the mysterious, helpful Jackdaw. Illustrations from the Princess X comic—skillfully rendered by Ciesemier and printed in purple—add greatly to this techno-thriller’s tension. Fresh and contemporary, this hybrid novel/comic packs a lot of plot in a relatively short book, but its strongest suit may be Priest’s keen understanding of the chasmic gap between the way teens and adults engage in the landscape of the Internet. Ages 12–up." ~Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"…An excellent book with loads of cross-genre and cross-format appeal. Highly recommended". ~School Library Review (starred review)

"Priest’s YA debut is an engrossing cyberthriller packed with a puzzling mystery, crackerjack detective work, and an eerie, atmospheric sense of place. The unembellished style is a perfect match for the noir-lite tone, and May and Trick, whose banter crackles with energy, rival any team of gumshoes out there. Teens who roll their eyes at adults out of touch with Internet culture will eat this up." ~Booklist (ALSO A STARRED REVIEW!!!)


I'll be frank: The buzz has been positively OVERWHELMING. I'm just so terribly grateful for the chance to put this out there - grateful to the fabulous folks at Scholastic, and to Kali Ciesemier for the amazing artwork, and to all the readers who've already gotten their hands on an ARC and gone chattering about it across the internet.

THANK YOU ALL. SERIOUSLY. ALL OF THE THANKS, TO ALL OF YOU.

(Man, I've slipped into italicizing my all-caps. Things must be getting serious.)

BUT I DON'T CARE! I am REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS, and I beg your indulgence. Likewise, I beg you to consider I Am Princess X for yourself, or for the young readers in your life, or for any random person who you think could maybe go for a book about a sword-wielding princess in red Chucks, a couple of white hat hackers (one of whom is actually really, really GOOD), a creepy-as-hell villain, and two girls who were so tight that not even death could keep them apart.

Thanks again, always, to everyone.
Thanks for reading :)

[:: bounces off to do some more squeeing ::]
[:: dog flees from high-pitched squee noises ::]
[:: chases dog and hugs him anyway ::]

Things are still good - just a bit busy. Since last I posted, I made a couple of deadlines, gained another one, and did a LOT of yardwork and garage restoration. Also, I've acquired one fluffy-eared and wildly misnamed houseguest, so we're having a good old time over here.

By "wildly misnamed houseguest" you regular readers will know that I mean "Cujo," the super-sweet gent with three legs, a heart condition, and the greatest smile ever.



His people are out of town for a couple of days, so he's hanging out here with us and kicking around with Greyson - getting some real good woofing done, indoors and out. Tomorrow will probably be a very loud day for the pair of them; the neighborhood is throwing a big yard sale, so it will be CRAWLING with people who just MIGHT stop at the gate and pet them...

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Holy cow! I Am Princess X is one of Publishers Weekly's picks of the week! And it comes out THIS TUESDAY at OMG LONG LAST! But you can still preorder, if you're so inclined!

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I Am Princess X at Amazon.com - and for Kindle
I Am Princess X at Barnes & Noble - and for Nook
I Am Princess X at an independent bookseller near you
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So like I said, I've been busy. After fixing the patio from the flood damage and tackling the front yard's ridiculous overgrowth, I moved on to the garage.



(I couldn't find my safety glasses - but I was just spray-painting by this point, so cheap sunglasses sufficed.)

Our garage was added in 1930. It's kind of gross, but we are still lucky to have it - for this is a historic district, and very few people have garages at all. (Since ours was built before 1950, it's safely grandfathered in, despite its semi-deplorable condition.) Anyway, I'd been meaning to do something about it for awhile, so I cleaned the living daylights out of it and reworked the grody old cabinets.

We have five sets of cabinets in there, none of them matching. Two sets are metal, and are more rust than metal...or they were, until I spent two days sanding the crap out of them and spraying them down with SIX CANS of industrial grade Rustoleum. They won't win any beauty contests, but now they aren't flaking to pieces. And they match.

They went from this unfortunate state:



To this!



(Photo taken before they were entirely dry.)

I also painted the wooden cabinets so that THEY all match, too. I used the same latex exterior paint that's on our house's trim (because I have scads of it) - so they're white, but I figure we can just hose them off if they get filthy.

Most of my restoration work was produced by plain old elbow grease, but the only tricky bit was actually these stupid wood cabinets. They've been uneven for so long that all the hinges have warped and the doors won't shut right - making it look like we had a poltergeist hanging out in there.



Basically, I could either (a). pull off the cabinet doors and replace their hinges, then re-hang them all, OR (b). I could go to ACE and buy a bunch of hardcore magnetic fasteners, because they don't have to line up perfectly to work just fine.

VOILA.



Exorcism: accomplished.

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Right! Well. Now I'm settled in with a drink and a fistful of Advil, because I ache all over the place. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone - and a very fine holiday to you all. Here, I'll close with another dog picture. For goodwill reasons, that's why.

Guess what! Over on Scribd YOU yes YOU can read a preview of I Am Princess X right this very moment! Just click the big fat image below for an excerpt of the book, complete with all its groovy webcomic artwork and everything.

No, for real - go click it. Read it. I hope you like it.
[:: shuffles feet ::]



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And, as per usual - don't forget, pre-ordering is important for authors!
Please do that!

I Am Princess X at Amazon.com - and for Kindle
I Am Princess X at Barnes & Noble - and for Nook
I Am Princess X at an independent bookseller near you

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Yesterday I grabbed a bag of gravel, a bag of masonry sand, and a mallet. It took me a few hours, but I eventually fixed the (approx.) 6 sq. ft. of patio pavers that washed down the hill and/or buckled last month. I am frankly proud of the results; it's like the flooding never happened.

[:: flexes muscles ::]
[:: strikes a pose ::]



Note: Because everyone always asks, no - that thing on the right isn't a Tardis. It's the base of an outdoor heater.

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As often as not, at least one or two of the neighborhood kids come by the gate in the afternoons/early evenings - asking if they can play with Greyson in the yard. The arm in this photo belongs to one such kid. As you can see, this tradition absolutely breaks the dog's heart.

Poor thing. Suffering through all those tummy rubs.
I tell ya, there oughta be a law.

I'm still here, and the house is almost back to normal! All I need now is to fix some damage to the patio, and then get the concrete landing regraded - but these things are relatively simple, and they can wait. Everything inside has been returned to its proper place. And that's the important bit for now.

Anyway, order restoration aside - it's been a busy week...but most of the stuff that's occupying my time is stuff I can't talk about. To be nice and vague about it: 'Tis the pitch and proposal season. Likewise, I'm still working on publicity/marketing stuff for I Am Princess X - which debuts at the end of this month. [:: waves pompoms ::] [:: fires tee-shirt cannon ::]

Word on this one is really getting around - and in addition to the three starred reviews it earned from the trades (PW, Booklist, and School Library Review) ... real-life reader reviews are filtering out onto the net. At first I was worried about the early reader reviews, because the ARC of this book was missing about 90% of the artwork for the webcomic that threads through it; and I'd been a little concerned that the pacing felt weird without the illustrations.

But lucky for me, the early chatter is actually pretty great :)
[:: throws confetti ::]

Shelf Awareness - "In a clever innovation, Priest effortlessly integrates the comics within the prose narrative. Each new episode of Princess X reveals further clues and a terrifying reality for whomever is behind them."

Booklist Reader - "Looking for a smart, hip mystery to hand to teens who want something a little different? Cherie Priest’s I Am Princess X (May 2015) is just what the librarian ordered!...Part prose, part comic, this will lure in readers and trust me, once started, this a book that can’t be put down."

Bustle.com - (Named it one of May's best YA books.) "I Am Princess X makes full use of the hybrid novel-comic form, which is just amazing, and its meditations of Internet culture push it even further over the edge of coolness."

PopCrush.com - (Also named it one of May's best YAs.) "Speaking of nerdy YA, this one's getting down with its dorky side too, as well as feeding into the Missing BFF mystery theme that's been cropping up in YA lit lately...This YA debut from a seasoned science-fiction author is definitely going to be a home run for the genre this month."



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Don't forget, pre-orders are important for authors! We appreciate them tremendously! Please consider pre-ordering!

I Am Princess X at Amazon.com - and for Kindle
I Am Princess X at Barnes & Noble - and for Nook at
I Am Princess X at an independent bookseller near you

* * *

Right! So. Enough shilling from me, for now. I always feel weird doing it - which doesn't stop me, no, because it's part of my job - but I also figure that this blog is about me and my life and what's going on. Well ... this is what's going on: drainage problems and book promotion.

So for the sake of symmetry, here's a picture of the formerly soaked/ruined den, returned to its former glory. During the freak flash flood, we had water all the way up to those windows behind the couch. It was awful. Half the floor had to come out.



(Note: Our home backs up to a mountain; the front of the house is probably 15-20 feet above street level, but the back is set into the slope. Usually, water just runs off the hill and parts around the house...but we got a deluge, and combined with some bad DIY gutters from ages past, we got soaked.)

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Hmm...what else? The pets are just fine. The pooch is coming up due for his annual summer haircut, which reminds me, when I'm finished here I'm going to call the groomer. The days are heating up, and so is he. My poor fluffy black snow-dog, bless his heart. He's so much happier this time of year when he's virtually naked.

As for the little old cat, she's also doing well. The anti-anxiety meds, the pheromone collar, and the change of kibble have really worked wonders - much to everyone's relief. She's back to her queenly old self. Did I say "queenly"? I might've also used the words "adorably obnoxious."



So that's all for now. I'm not sure when I'll get back to the daily wordcount grind, as this week has me running around doing other writer-business-errands; but I'll do my best to get back to The Toll sooner, rather than later.

Have a good one, folks - and thanks for reading!

Things are coming back together over here - at long last. The French drain was finished yesterday, the gutters were installed today, and the floor will be ready for its usual furniture and traffic tomorrow, thank God. There's still a good chance we'll get some concrete regraded for additional drainage protection, but I won't know for certain for another day or two. That said, I'll probably want to schedule it as soon as possible. Let's just get all this crap out of the way, right? The sooner, the better.

Anyway. The house stinks of polyurethane sealant, and we're still building forts with the den furniture, but soon all will be back to normal ... including my blog-posting regularity :)

So please pardon me for being brief.

By way of apology for the general lack of content, here - have a picture of Greyson kicking it under the dining room table earlier this week (chairs were stacked elsewhere, during furniture Tetris). He's guarding yours truly and part of a rawhide bone from the scary power tools. And also hiding from them. Two birds, one stone. Good boy.

It's been a difficult week. There have been setbacks with the floor restoration; all the wood's been ripped out, but it hasn't been restored due to an unresolved moisture problem. Likewise, we've had problems with the drain/gutter arrangements; but I've finally gotten almost everything lined up to have the matters sorted out early next week. If we're lucky, everything will be back to normal by maybe, I don't know. Next Wednesday or Thursday.

For now, it's rather chaotic around here. Most of the den's furniture has been relocated to the rest of the house, so we're climbing over chairs and ottomans and end tables and books and rolled up rugs and displaced dining room stuff because that's where some of the den stuff went, etc. etc. etc. ... and the days are full of appointments, phone calls, and power tools a'buzzing. The evenings feature industrial fans running at full tilt, and full volume. It's unsettling. Everything out of place, and everything noisy as hell, 24/7.

Meanwhile, I'm on a deadline. Or two. Believe it or not, I've cranked out over 5000 words since Monday on [project I'm not supposed to talk about] and I hope to wrap up a draft tomorrow, depending.

Anyway. That's why things are quiet over here. Just thought I'd come up for air and say so.

I'm back! And I'm still eyeballs deep in work! Thus the silence since I returned from Pasadena on Tuesday night, I'm afraid. You would not BELIEVE how full an inbox can get when you're gone for three whole work days. Or maybe you would, I don't know. At any rate, it's been a mess, and things will continue to be a mess for awhile yet.

To recap in brief: I had a marvelous time at the Children's Institute event, where I got to meet my awesome Scholastic publicist and a number of outstanding book buyers/vendors/reps/etc; I had an uneventful return trip; I had a freakout upon my arrival home.

Apparently I was wrong about some flooding damage. To wit, our house was the victim of a deluge a week ago - I mean, water up to the windows in the den deluged - and no, we don't have flood insurance.* Why the hell would we? We live on the side of a mountain, FFS. It was just a freak phenomenon where we caught the brunt of a flash flood at the rear of the house; and at first, it looked like everything was solved with some towels and some fans.

But the moment I came home, I knew we had a problem.
A wet, musty problem.

Oh yeah. It took the wood and its subflooring a few days to swell, and now we have to rip out maybe a third of that lovely oak we installed a year and a half ago. I'll find out how much this is going to cost us tomorrow, when a dude comes out to give me a number and make me cry.

Then on Monday a different dude is coming out to tell me how much a new gutter system and a French drain behind the den will run us. We've had "new gutters" on the to-do list** since we moved in - not that it would've done us much good last week - but the drain should help protect us from future freak water events.

Besides all that mayhem, my husband dashed out of town for work as soon as I got back, so it's been back-and-forth trips to the airport, packing and unpacking, and general freaking out for everyone! [:: throws confetti ::] He comes home again tonight, though. So there's that.

In other news, since my return to Tennessee - besides clearing the email backlog - I also batted last-minute cleanup on the I Am Princess X audio content, and then I went diving in headfirst on [secret project] with a deadline at the end of this month. I hope I make it.

Anyway, things aren't all hectic doom and gloom around here, for today Greyson had a playdate with Briley! A marvelous dog party ensued! So let's end on that note, eh?










* Even if we could con the insurance company into paying out, it'd come back to bite us in the ass when our premiums shoot skyward.
** It is a very SEXY to-do list.

Don't worry - no boring word metrics today. To sum up the last few (blog-free) days in brief: I finally finished up Chapelwood's copy edits, and then I had to leap immediately into some additional production work for I Am Princess X - specifically, the audio edition.

If I am very, very lucky, I'll have this stuff wrapped up by the end of the week. If I'm not...I'm in trouble, because I have to make a very fast jaunt to Pasadena (also for Scholastic) on Sunday, and this stuff is due early next week.

Alas, if you read that and thought, "Hey, I'm in Pasadena! Maybe I will come out and see you read/sign/etc...." then let me stop you right there. On this particular trip, I'll be (a). in town for only one full day, and (b). spending that single, glorious day all tied up with this groovy shindig.

My apologies! But at events like this one, my time is not my own.

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[:: psst ::]
[:: hey, you guys ::]

Scholastic is running a book give-away over at Goodreads!
Click right here to maybe win your very own copy of I Am Princess X!

* * * * *

Speaking of young adult books, my pal Delilah S. Dawson is having a book birthday! Yes indeed, upon this fine morn her Superlatively Awesome book Hit officially lands on shelves across the land!

Pick it up/check it out if you're down with the idea of a bank-owned post-democracy America exploiting teenagers as debt-collecting assassins. Or I mean, not if you're down with that from an ideological standpoint, but, like, a fictional ... you know what, never mind. Just buy that book. You'll dig it, I promise.

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Today I am wearing contacts for what is essentially the first time in a year and a half. Rather than bore you with the details (or, God forbid, risk having the internet come to my aid with Helpful Suggestions), just trust me when I say that I have some long-running and well established eyeball difficulties that have kept me primarily in glasses for awhile now.

BUT NOT TODAY.



Maybe tomorrow, because hell - you never know. Or at least I never know. Not at first. But so far, this variety of daily disposable lenses is looking pretty sweet, and I can once again wear sunglasses - so huzzah for THAT. Even if my spectacle-free glee turns out to be temporary.

I really hope it's not temporary. It is SO much easier putting on makeup when I have these bad-boys in, you know? (Trust me. My prescription is kind of ridiculous.)

* * * * *

Not much else to report right now, I'm afraid. We've had a lot of wet weather these last few days, so there's been minimal progress on the yard - and the pets are both doing just fine. And on that note, I'll go throw on some sneakers and get ready to take the pooch for his afternoon walk. (Usually I take the morning pooch perambulation shift, but this morning I had the eye doc appointment...so the husband and I swapped out.)

Have a good one, everybody. I'll try to squeeze out some more boring word metrics and/or other newsworthy blogging this week, but I make no promises.