1: When We Wake First pass pages: SUCCESS

[Transcript: A pile of printer paper bound with heavy duty rubber bands, many post-it flags indicating changes in the top left corner. The top page reads WHEN WE WAKE in a delightfully futuristic typeface]

Typically nervewracking work, because what if you don’t like the book anymore? Turns out I do, excellent, send it off on Monday.

2: First ever creme brulee: MOSTLY SUCCESS.

[Transcript: A creme brulee in a grey terracotta soup bowl, looking mighty fine if I do say so myself.]

Me: Where are those ramekins you said you had?
Mum: Oh, hmmm, let’s see, how about these?
Me: Those aren’t ramekins.
Mum: They’ll be fine!
Me: They’re soup bowls, they’re too big. The custard won’t set.
Mum: How about these two mismatched containers that are different sizes and made out of different materials?
Me: I will take the soup bowls.

They didn’t set. But the resulting thick custard was very nice!

3: Would you like me to critique your short story or novel synopsis plus first chapter? You can have that happen! You just have to promise the most money in the Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers auction.

It’s probably worth noting that, if we are not good buds – and even then I regularly have to prioritise other things – charity auction bids are pretty much the only way I critique others’ work, so this is a rare opportunity.

My item is here, but there is plenty of other super neat stuff up for grabs, and all the money goes to financially underprivileged young writers to assist with attending the workshop. A most worthy cause!

As you know, I think I have had excellent fortune with covers; although I love some more than others, I think they are all beautiful, and none horrify my social justice sensibilities. Neither of these things are guaranteed in the world of publishing, and I am very lucky to have had excellent designers and ethical publishers working on these books.

This is all preamble to say that Little, Brown decided on a new cover for the paperback of Guardian of the Dead and I LOVE IT FOREVER.

[Image transcript at end of post]

It is so creepy and sexy and strong. This is no vacillitating damsel in distress, this is a lady STARING DIRECTLY INTO YOUR SOUL*. Every single person I have showed this to said “Oooh!” or “Oh my God. Wow.”

Actually, one person said “Is that the font from the Angel title sequence?” but 1) she is a typeface geek and 2) I love both Angel the TV series and that font, so I interpreted that as “Oooh!”

It may or may not have the silver Morris medal on it when it hits stores, and I am fine with that either way. I am just so very in love with this cover!

* Who is the lady? It is a mystery! Although probably not to those who have read the book.

[Image transcript: A head/neck/bare shoulders shot of a woman with bronze/brown skin and dark hair scraped back, is facing forward, unsmiling, at the viewer. Her eyes are in complete shadow. Superimposed on her forehead is the title GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD. A silver medallion is superimposed over her right shoulder, reading WILLIAM C. MORRIS DEBUT AWARD FINALIST. At the bottom of the image a blurb reads: "'Creepy, funny, sexy, smart' - Libba Bray, author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine."]

Hi Interwebs! I have a confession to make.

You see, after a lot of discussion, Allen and Unwin decided to go with a new cover design for the Australian version of The Shattering. They went with a new designer, RC Fleming, and a really different take on the book.

I’ve been sitting on this for a while, DYING to let you all see. And today, I finally get to unveil the new cover design to you!

This design really speaks to the lighter side of the book, and these typefaces are elegant and fun at the same time. I totally love the mystery of the shopping bag. What’s in there, Interwebs? We don’t know! Who do those legs belong to? Could be anyone!

Not gonna lie, I really liked the old cover too, but the more I look at this one, the more I think it’s even better.

Anyway, today is my publishing anniversary! One year ago, Guardian of the Dead was officially released, and my goodness, I might do some reminiscing on that tomorrow.

But today you get a cookie. And in celebration of this anniversary, I am going to give you the scene from The Shattering referred to on the new cover!

Sione stared at the girls, wondering if his face might explode from blushes.

“Heyyyyy Sione,” Keri slurred, waving a wine bottle at him. “How’s it gooooing?”

Janna jumped off her bed and grabbed his hand, yanking him into her room. “With my mum out of town and my sisters away at friend’s places, I thought tonight would be the perfect night for a shopping session and then a sleepover!” she said perkily.

“But… our brothers?” Sione asked, trying not to look directly at her. Janna’s outfit was very brief, and her voice wasn’t the only thing that was perky. “I thought we were going to find the killer tonight? Um, deeds of daring, great magic, that kind of thing.”

“Killers schmillers,” Janna said.

“Killer schmillers willers,” Keri giggled. “SIONE have a drink.”

“I don’t drink,” Sione said. “but okay!”

“JELLY SHOTS! JELLY SHOTS!” Keri shouted, and Sione downed 12 – no, 24! – shots and didn’t throw up because he is a hard man.

“Let’s play Spin the Bottle!” he said. “That is the best game!”

Sione spun the bottle, but it shattered!!!

“Oh no!” Keri gasped. “Look at all this shattering! Why, it reminds me of my shattering heart!”

“And the peace of our hometown that is soon to be shattered!” Janna remarked.

“Girls, the important question is, who do I kiss?” Sione asked questioningly.

“I want to kiss Sione!” Janna insisted determinedly. Her eyes were enormous sapphire ovals, and her lithe, opaque nose twitched like the cutest bunny rabbit you’ve ever seen. “He’s a hard man, and soooo confident.”

Keri shook her head shakily. “No, me! Sione’s the best,” the wild wench winsomely wheedled.

Sione felt a smile crawl across his face like a Very Hungry Caterpillar crawling to the next leaf. “Now, now, ladies,” he said, like that guy in the towel who gives you tickets to that thing you like. “You can BOTH kiss me.”

They did. It was the best night ever! And no one died!

COOKIE END.

What do you guys think?!

Despite the fact that “triage email” was further down the list, I have never been able to resist the allure of Inbox (1).

Also, the subject was “SQUUEEEEEEEEAALLL!!”

There was no actual content. Instead, there was an attachment containing the Aurealis Awards Finalists press release.

From these FIENDISHLY DIFFICULT CLUES, I deduced that Guardian of the Dead might be listed, and clicked in nervous anticipation.

At the same time, my phone beeped. It was a text from the lovely Tessa.

The Lovely Tessa: “You’re up for an Aurealis!”
Me: “In the divine words of Ms Gwen Stefani, this shit is bananas.”
The Lovely Tessa: “B A N A N A S”

So, yes! Guardian of the Dead is indeed a finalist in the Young Adult Novel section, along with Merrow (Ananda Braxton-Smith), The Midnight Zoo (Sonya Hartnett), The Life of a Teenage Body-Snatcher (Doug Macleod) and Behemoth (some guy who fed me this weekend).

The full list can be seen in the press release linked here. It is a very, very good list. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Tales for Canterbury is an anthology of original short stories and reprints by writers from inside and outside New Zealand. All proceeds are going to the New Zealand Red Cross Earthquake Appeal, to aid people in the stricken city. None of the contributors nor the editors are getting paid.

Editors Anna Caro and Cassie Hart started putting the anthology together the day after the earthquake, and the response has been incredible. So much so that they opened pre-orders for the anthology one month after the quake. If you know anything about publishing, internets, and also about Star Trek, you know that this is Warp 13.

So, the pub date is expected to be mid-April (!!!!) and pre-orders are open, for both electronic and print copies! You can pre-order copies at Random Static for $12 NZ (electronic) and $24.95 NZ (print)*.

What Christchurch gets for your money is badly needed help.

What do YOU get for your money?

Awesomeness.

The full contributor list can be found here, but it includes such luminaries as Juliet Marillier, Gwyneth Jones, Sean Williams, Jay Lake, Helen Lowe, Tina Makereti, Jeff VanderMeer and Neil Gaiman.

Oh, and me, all a-flutter at my inclusion in such stellar company.

My contribution, “The Unicorn Bell”, is something of a urban fable. It features seven-year-old Sophie, a full moon, a nor’wester wind, and the most magical thing in her Nana’s magical house.

If you liked Guardian of the Dead and/or Queen of the Kitchen, I think you’d like it. Even if you don’t, odds are that you’ll really enjoy something.

Pre-order here!

Also, feel free to link everywhere you see fit.

* Non-NZers: if you are eyeing those prices and going, “wellll, if it’s for CHARITY”, be aware that these are actually very cheap prices for New Zealand books. Trade paperbacks often come in at nearly twice that, I am not kidding. Also, if you are in the USA, remember that this is New Zealand dollars. It’s like… fifty cents of your money**.

** Okay, maybe a dollar.

SPOILERS. BUT MILD ONES.

Tiny bit of relevant context: Janna’s nickname is Stardust. She claims it’s because she’s vital to the existence of the universe, but Keri has a different, less flattering, origin story for the name.

Patrick looked disgusted, but then again, that was his basic state. “Don’t spend the money before we’ve earned it,” he ordered. “I don’t know if you’ve thought about this, but we have eight days to prepare for the most important gig of our lives. We need to be focused!”

“We need a set list,” Janna said, and slung Cherry Bomb over her shoulder. “Let’s start with ‘Elephant in the Bath’; it’s jumpy, and everyone loves it.”

That, as she had predicted, started an argument about what to play in which order. Patrick won, because he was picky and stubborn and also because he had an annoying habit of being right. Takeshi watched them shout at one another for a while, but his eyes began to wander, inspecting the equipment and the egg cartons nailed to the garage walls.

Janna was wondering if this had been a bad idea. She picked out a B-flat scale, held the final chord, and stepped on the chorus pedal. The sound reverberated around the room. The boys stopped talking. And Takeshi’s eyes snapped back to her.

“Could we, I don’t know, rehearse?” she asked.

Patrick tilted his head, and the twist of his smile said that he knew exactly what she was doing. But he was a good ex-boyfriend.

“‘Elephant in the Bath,’ ” he said, stepping up to the mic. “One, two, three.”

And Janna felt Stardust come up through the soles of her boots and take over. The work was all Janna’s, learning the song, getting the timing, playing alone and with the boys over and over and endlessly over until it clicked at last into what they needed. But once that part was done, and the song was muscle memory in her strong hands, it was sexy, powerful Stardust who took the stage, the backbone of the band, the rhythm that drove them all on and up to new heights. She could feel Takeshi’s attention, warm sun on her skin, as her calloused fingers spider-walked through the opening notes.

And the boys, as always, felt her shining beside them and went for it.

They finished, note and beat perfect, with Patrick breathing out the final words, energy crackling between them.

“We’re going to kick ass,” Hemi said, grinning. And Janna thought that was true, but it was Takeshi she looked at, for the first time since Patrick’s countdown. His pupils had dilated, and he was staring directly at her.

“What did you think?” Patrick asked.

“Good,” Takeshi said. “Very, very good.”

But he said it to her.

REMINDER OF SEVERAL AWESOME AUCTIONS. RAISE MONEY FOR WORTHY THINGS. GET GREAT STUFF.

This is some of the first chapter, so unless you are really worried about spoilers, it should be safe enough.

An extract from The Shattering, coming July 2011 (Australia/New Zealand) and September 2011 (North America)

The first time I broke my arm, I was ready for it.

I was seven years old, and Janna van der Zaag and I were playing in her backyard. Janna’s backyard was a fantastic place for kids — a big dollhouse and a lot of bush out back for playing hide-and-seek in and a brand-new zipline her dad had made, sloping from a tall platform built into the sturdiest tree down to the brace attached to the next sturdiest.

Janna had been using the zipline for days, and she flew down with style, blonde hair like a banner, the T-bar gripped tightly in her hands. I climbed the ladder and clung there for a minute as she ran the T-bar back up to me on its long rope. The zipline hadn’t seemed so high up from the ground.

What if I fell off and broke my arm? I thought. And I mean I really thought. I pictured it in my mind, working out the way it could happen and what I should do if it did. I decided that a bone would go crunch or crack, and I would sit up and cradle my arm and yell, “Janna, get your mum!” and then go to the doctor in the family’s big blue van that fit all the van der Zaag kids for Sunday Mass.

Then I opened my eyes, grabbed the T-bar, and took off flying all the way down the wire, screaming laughter at the rush of flight. My landing was perfect, and I ran the T-bar back up to Janna for her turn, heart jumping with joy and terror.

My body was so free.

On the fourth time down the line, my palms were too sweaty. They slipped, I fell, my left arm went crack, and I yelled, “Janna, get your mum!” before her big blue eyes could even fill with tears.

Everyone praised me for being so brave, but I had still been scared. I had just known what to do if the worst happened.

After that, it just seemed a good idea to be prepared. I hung a go-bag on my door in case of a fire or an earthquake and put a mini first-aid kit in my backpack, and I rehearsed possible disasters in my head, over and over, until I was sure I knew how to react.

I knew it sounded a little bit crazy, and I stopped telling anyone about it when Hemi Koroheke called me creepy and, with smug emphasis, neurotic, which was our Year Eight Word of the Day.

But I did it anyway. I had plans for what eulogy to give if both my parents were hit by a car, how to escape or attract help if I were kidnapped, and how to survive if I were lost in the bush. It wasn’t as if I thought all these things were likely to happen. But I knew they could, and if they did, I wanted to be prepared.

In the end, it didn’t do me any good. Because I didn’t have a plan for what to do if my older brother put Dad’s shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger with his toes.

My mistake.

[...]

Once we went back to Summerton, I didn’t go to school for the last bit of the year — there was no point with the Christmas holidays coming so soon, and I got compassionate consideration on all my final assessments anyway. Mum cleaned the house as if she would die if she didn’t, and Dad had to go back to work. I walked a lot, trying to avoid people who would say useless, comforting things, like “Well, I’m sure he’s in a better place.”

I couldn’t believe any of that crap. The room he’d died in had been blessed and a farewell karakia chanted, but Jake wasn’t going to take the long trip to Cape Reinga to find the home of Dad’s ancestors. He wasn’t in heaven with some white-bearded God. He wasn’t hanging around, keeping an eye on me. And he sure couldn’t do all three, which was what Nanny Hinekura seemed to believe. Those were just stories, things people made up to make the world nicer. How did they know? Where was the proof?

No, Jake was dead. He wasn’t in a better place. Everything left of him was in the ground, where it would rot.

Two weeks after the burial, Janna van der Zaag walked up to me and said, “If you want to find out who murdered your brother, follow me.”

So I did.

But! In the interests of your delight, and my crossing something off my To-Do list, would you like to see the Australian/New Zealand The Shattering cover?

You know, I thought you might.

[Image transcript at bottom of post.]

Lovely Editor S. emailed the draft to me from the House of Onion a couple of weeks ago and I stared at it in frozen awe for a second. Then I picked up the phone.

Normally I email my editors, but I have Editor S’s cellphone number, in case of emergency, such as thinking it would be a great idea for us to have a cocktail.

Editor S: *wary concern* Helloooo?
Me: I. LOVE. IT.

Oh, I love it so much. I love the fonts. I love the way the setting evokes both the brightness and menace of the book in the dying grass, and that sun, whose rays are breaking up the pictures solidity – and after all, is it setting or rising? I love the fantastic illusion of the sky, which is actually the ocean. Things are not what they seem!

And I love, love, LOVE the body language of the three protagonists. It’s wonderful. There’s Sione, cautious and loyal, following the girls and ready to support them. There’s Janna, floating in long, lovely strides, taking up all the space in the world, demanding that you look at her. And there’s Keri, racing out in front to meet the danger, athletic and determined and fast.

Oh, Designer B. You are a scholar and a gentleman and an artiste of stunning delight.

I wish to also convey my thanks to the Australia Council for the Arts, who awarded Allen and Unwin a grant for the purposes of developing and promoting me as a mid-career writer (hurrah!) which I am told is going to include some sort of fancy detailing for the cover (double hurrah!). Embossing, perhaps! I do adore a good emboss.

A young adult supernatural adventure, THE SHATTERING will be available in July 2011 from Allen and Unwin (Australia/New Zealand) and September 2011 from Little, Brown (USA).

[Image transcript: Three teenagers, a boy with black hair and medium-brown skin, a girl with blonde hair and pale skin, and a girl with light-brown skin and dark-brown hair, all dressed in jeans and casual tops, are running over a field of dying grass, their faces turned slightly away from the camera. They are partially silhouetted against the sun on the horizon, either rising or setting. What looks at first glance like a dark blue sky with clouds in the top third of the composition is actually an ocean with white wave patterns.]

This is my William C. Morris Award finalist plaque for Guardian of the Dead!

You see it below in the hands of my American editor, the supersmart Alvina Ling (who is rocking that bob!) and my fabulous editor Barry Goldblatt.

Big congratulations to the other finalists, Barbara Stuber, Lish McBride and Eishes Chayil, and HUGE congratulations to Blythe Woolston, whose book The Freak Observer is the 2011 William C. Morris award winner!

I am currently writing something about which I shall tell you NOTHING as yet. But it has been brought home to me that people might want snippets of my next book, The Shattering. Teasers, as they say! Or in the book world, cookies.

Internets, would you like some cookies?

It was a serviceable working title, but it lacked, how do we say, interest. Magic. Excitement. Darkness. And this is (I sincerely hope) an interesting book full of dark magic and excitement. Wouldn’t it be nice if it had a title that reflected that, my editors asked, and I agreed.

And lo, the title discussions began. Editors, assistants, some friends I dragged in, and my own febrile brain came up with long lists of titles. Some of them were pretty good. Some of them were totally ridiculous. All of them went through many many people, including sales and marketing teams on both side of the Pacific.

I had not undergone this process before – Guardian of the Dead had three titles before that one, but they were all my titles*. The book was sold as Guardian of the Dead, and so it remained. I found it totally fascinating this time, watching the different points of view, and seeing the possibilities whittled down until we had two strong titles…

And yesterday we settled on one.

Internets, I am delighted to introduce my 2011 novel release, THE SHATTERING.

Karen, oooh, that is dark magic excitement, you say! But what exactly gets shattered?

The peace of a small town. Mental stability. Families. Bones. You know, my usual. Plus, [SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER]!

Mmm, titles. Now I have to retrain my brain to stop thinking in terms of Summerton, and start thinking in terms of Shattering. Publishing, such an interesting business!

* “Drama Queens”, “Into The Mists”, and “Children of the Mist”. I am really pretty terrible at titles.