Blogomancer

The first part of my reader-supported novella Bone Shop is online today: Chapter One: In which Marla converses with a pyromaniac, commits some minor crimes, and hears a curious proposition.

I've also indulged my love for afterwords and authorial blather, including some author notes on the chapter. There's a link at the bottom of the page linked above, if you're interested in such things.

Please read, and enjoy (I hope), and spread the word. The response and support from readers and the SF/F community has been really heartening so far.

As I mentioned yesterday, my wife was laid off this week, and while we both hope she finds a new job soon (and that I sell some more novels, as far as that goes), we're in sudden need of money now. I could have just straight-out asked for financial help -- and for those who've offered that, thanks, it's appreciated -- but I'm a writer, and if there's one thing I have in ample quantity, it's stories to tell.

Specifically a story I've been wanting to write for a while, but couldn't find the right market for: a longish piece about the early adventures of my series character Marla Mason.

Bone Shop is a serialized, donation-funded urban fantasy novella, available for anyone to read for free. New chapters will go up every Monday. The Bone Shop website is here, though there's not a lot there at the moment. I'll post the first chapter on June 29.

Marla Mason is the chief sorcerer of Felport, a woman who's tangled with gods and monsters and come out on top (if a bit damaged in the process). But she wasn't always a formidable engine of brute force and pragmatism; she started out alone, in a strange city, without allies or any more power than the average teenage runaway on the street. Marla was always willing to do anything necessary to survive, and it didn't take long for her to stumble into a world of magic, danger... and even the occasional moment of grace.

Bone Shop tells the story of Marla's evolution from runaway to sorcerer's apprentice to mercenary magician and beyond. Fans of the urban fantasy series that began with Blood Engines will find surprising secrets revealed about Marla's past, and new readers can meet the character from the very beginning.

Your donations will help keep a roof over our heads, and pay our son's medical bills (he has congenital glaucoma, and requires regular visits with specialists to keep his eyesight from deteriorating). We appreciate whatever you can give. And I hope you enjoy the story!

My wife was laid off from her job yesterday. She's looking for a new one, and for freelance work. She's been a catalog and website copywriter, and a buyer, for the past eight years; she also has office manager/admin experience, and can write pretty much any kind of copy. If anybody knows of good paying gigs, drop me a note. Ideally in the SF Bay Area, for go-into-an-office jobs, though we'd be willing to entertain suitably juicy options farther afield. We have enough savings to get us through a couple of months, but if something doesn't turn up by then, things will get extremely difficult.

Many people have suggested I do a direct-appeal-to-the-people sort of thing. I'm considering it. I've been toying with the idea of writing a Marla Mason prequel novella/short novel, about her early days as a sorcerer. Would any of you be interested in a donation-driven serial approach, with me posting a chapter a week free online, and soliciting whatever people want to pay? And possibly selling a hard copy/e-book through Lulu.com or something when it's done?

Keeping a roof over our heads is priority #1. Keeping up with our 19-month-old son's medical bills is priority #2, since he has an ongoing chronic medical condition that requires examinations under anesthesia by a specialist, and occasionally surgery, at least a couple of times a year. Not to mention the constellation of pre- and post-operation visits. So I'm exploring my financial options. Comment or e-mail to let me know if you'd be willing to contribute to such a thing. If there seems to be interest, it could be a good option for me -- I've been eager to write this story, anyway. It would be weird and heartbreaking and full of punching.

Many people have asked if there are going to be more books in the Marla Mason series, so here's a status update:

I still don't know.

I got word from my new editor last week that she's still interested in doing more, which is promising. I also got word that Blood Engines went back to press for a fifth printing last week, which is also promising. And the giveaway of book one is having an effect, or so it seems to me, based on the tenfold increase in fan mail I've received since the promotion started. So there are reasons to be hopeful.

Oh, and the awesome actress/writer/awesome person Felicia Day loved Poison Sleep, which does not help me sell more books to my publisher, but does make me happy.

We're waiting to see how sales look for book four (so go buy a copy of Spell Games and improve the numbers!), and to hear from the corporate masters about whether the book giveaway spurred sales a little or a lot. Things are still uncertain, and it could still be months before I know for sure. I'll let you all know the outcome when I do, and thanks for the support!

I'm trying to cut down on my tottering heaps of author copies, so here are some Marla Mason books for sale!

You can get signed and/or inscribed copies for cover price (I'll round up to destroy any stray pennies), plus $4 shipping per book. For overseas, call it $10 shipping per book, though if you international types order a bunch I might be able to give you a break on the shipping price.

Drop me a note to tapratt@marlamason.net or post in the comments here saying what you want and telling me if you want them just signed or also personalized, and I'll do math and tell you what you owe me and where to send the Paypal money. First come first served and all that, which is why you should comment or e-mail instead of just sending me money -- I don't want you to pay for something I ran out of.

Here's what's available:

Mass-market paperback of Blood Engines, $7.

Mass-market paperback of Poison Sleep, $7 Sold out!

Mass-market paperback of Dead Reign, $7

Mass-market paperback of Spell Games, $7.

(While supplies last I'll sell a set of all four for $25 plus $12 shipping if you want to be economical about it.) Sorry, I'm out of Poison Sleep, so no more sets!

If my novel excerpt seemed a little dadaist, it's because large chunks of it were accidentally erased in a formatting screwup. So, trying again: Chapter 1 of Spell Games.

It is Book Release Day! Spell Games is now available! And you can even read the first chapter here. (Now, while Spell Games does tell a self-contained standalone story, it follows immediately after the events of Dead Reign -- like, half a second after -- so there might be some slight edge in reading that one first; but it doesn't matter much.) Publishers Weekly says "Pratt's imagination shows no signs of flagging, and plenty of fresh twists and turns propel the series vigorously toward the next book." And other people say nice things, too. It's the most ambitious book in the series, and, I think, the most emotionally wrenching.

Also, as of today, the audiobook versions of all four Marla novels -- Blood Engines, Poison Sleep, Dead Reign, and Spell Games -- are available for download at Audible.com, read by the wonderful and talented Jessica Almasy.

Now, check out those spines:

And these pretty maids all in a row:

That's beautiful. And they look awfully nice on my shelf. Cries out for a box set, doesn't it?

I've joined a group blog for a few fantasy novelists called The Magic District, launching on Friday the 13th. Co-conspirators are Rachel Aaron, N.K. Jemisin, Greg van Eekhout, Margaret Ronald, and fearless founder Diana Rowland. Check it out. Should be an interesting bunch.

I got my first author copies of Spell Games
yesterday. Now I have all four books lined up on a shelf, and man, they look good together. Hope I get to write some more of them, but I'm proud of the series as it stands.

The fourth Marla novel, Spell Games -- which is coming out in late February instead of late March, now -- has great review in Publishers Weekly (scroll down a ways).

Want to win a copy? In fact, want to win a complete set of the Marla novels? Fantasy Book Spot is running a contest until February 24. Go enter!

Last night I started writing a short story, and cooked a loaf of cranberry-applesauce bread, and did a giant yummy stir-fry (with rice noodles!) for dinner. Cooking + writing = creative fulfillment.

I bloviate a bit about my favorite books and such of 2008 over at Fantasy Book Critic.

Some links to things: Dead Reign is the subject of a Page 69 test (follow the link to see what that means; it's nothing dirty.)

Dead Reign will be one of the featured books at the Barnes & Noble Paranormal Book Club in January, as announced here. Do please join in the conversation.

Marla Mason continues to Twitter her holiday adventures, aided now by Donner, the patron reindeer saint of thunder and cannibals.

My series heroine Marla Mason has been selected as a finalist for Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist in the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards. Whoo! She's up against six other great characters, including Sookie Stackhouse and Mercy Thompson, so we'll see who prevails...

Marla has been twittering about an invasion by the black-suited Satanic Santas, minions of the Salivation Army, which devours the homeless, the hopeless, and the downtrodden; the tweets are probably the closest thing to a Christmas story you'll ever see from the Marlaverse...

Here's a review of Dead Reign, and a review of Poison Sleep.

Hope you all had a fine Thanksgiving. I certainly did. Just dropping in to pass along a couple of Marlalicious links:

Steven Klotz is running a giveaway for a signed ARC of Spell Games, so get over there and take a shot at reading the novel a few months early.

There's also a review of Dead Reign over at SF Site.

This morning I did a phone interview with the good people at the Dragon Page for a future podcast. Because of time zone confusion on my part, they called an hour earlier than I expected, which was fine... except River was still awake, so I did the interview while chasing him around the house. Literally. I suspect it was not my most articulate 15 minutes, so it should be interesting, in a verbally-flailing kind of way...

Now comes a linkdump!

Here's an interview with me, attached to a contest to win a signed copy of Blood Engines.

And another guest entry at the Spectra Pulse blog, this time complimenting many of my friends who are also great writers.

A brief and positive mention of Dead Reign from somebody who'd buy the series in hardcover if they could; hear that, fancy small presses? Make me an offer!

Annnnd here's a review of Poison Sleep, and another review of Poison Sleep for good measure (sorry for the book review linkage, I like to have some record of these).

Okay, some Dead Reign related stuff (if you don't care about Dead Reign, um, come back another day?).

Greg van Eekhout (to whom the book is dedicated, incidentally) sent me the first picture of DR loose in the wild:

At the Borders in Mission Valley. I hope it flies from the shelf!

John Scalzi was kind enough to let me talk about the book for his Big Idea series. (The Big Idea is Marla vs. Death. Or possibly Marla Invades The Underworld.)

My second guest blog entry at the Spectra Pulse page is up, talking about the mysical connection between novels and chili. (Speaking of chili, it's foggy and cold out, so it's getting to be prime chili weather.)

This week, Marla will be twittering about the events of Dead Reign (in a relatively non-spoilery way, if she can manage it). Though, uh, she hasn't actually started yet. Soon. I think she has some freelancing to finish first...

And, finally, a photo of my son demonstrating his good taste (or, at least, the fact that he thinks my book tastes good...):

Today is Dead Reign Day! You can order it from Amazon, or order it from Powells, or go spelunking in your local stores -- so long as you acquire a copy, I'm happy. It makes a great gift. It has a picture of a woman in a cloak with a flaming sword on the cover. And the inside is equally awesome. (This is actually my favorite of all four Marla Mason books I've written so far, and like the others, it's meant to stand alone.) The premise, in a line: World's bitchiest superheroine versus Death. So go, read, enjoy, tell your friends!

(If you need more of a convincer, you can read the opening.)

The Dead Reign blitz is beginning. I'm guestblogging for Bantam Spectra for the next few weeks -- that first entry barely mentions any actual, you know, BOOKS of mine, but the next one will talk a bit about the process of writing Dead Reign.

You can also read the opening of Dead Reign at that link I put back there earlier in this very sentence. Featuring adorable sacrificial goats and cranky elderly necromancers!

I've updated the MarlaMason.net website, just a tiny bit, and there's ordering info and such if you'd like to buy the book. It'll be in stores, like, at the end of next week! Whoo! (First week sales are important. Buy buy buy!)

Rick Kleffel says really nice things about Dead Reign, and me, over at The Agony Column.

And, finally: Marla Mason is still twittering. (Tweeting?).

Marla Mason is twittering. Transmitting her tweets techno-telepathically, since she can't be bothered to use computers or her cell phone...

Dead Reign (which comes out in less than a month!) got a good review in SF Revu. Death is coming to get you!

Just heard from the woman doing the narration for the Blood Engines audiobook. She's calling tonight so we can talk about pronunciations. When I filled a book with words like Tlaltecuhtli and the names of other Aztec deities, I never considered the fact that I'd someday be called upon to pronounce them properly. (I do know how to pronounce them, it just requires some mental effort to say them right -- they don't really roll off my tongue.)

Here's another review of Poison Sleep at SF Site. It's mostly positive, though the suggestion that Marla's character was "a calculated cross pollination between three or four of the successful female leads in the genre" is laughably off the mark; I began writing about her more than ten years ago, and hadn't read a single book in the UF boom when I sold Blood Engines; it was only when I was told I'd written an urban fantasy novel that I began to read other things in that subgenre. (And, in truth, I haven't read that widely, precisely because I don't want to pick up anyone else's flavor subconsciously.) Marla's abrasive personality and lack of empathy tends to piss off many fans of the subgenre, actually (though others say they find it a refreshing change from the usual.) I wish I was calculating; my books would probably be more commercial. But, alas, I write whatever weird stuff occurs to me and just hope for the best...

I'm pleased to announce: "T.A Pratt's four Marla Mason urban fantasy novels (BLOOD ENGINES; POISON SLEEP; DEAD REIGN; and SPELL GAMES) sold to Audible via Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown LTD."

(What this means is that, in the near future, you'll be able to purchase downloadable audio versions of the first four Marla novels at Audible.com. I'll let you know once they're available. I am excited.)

Dead Reign got an awesome review in Publishers Weekly:

Dead Reign T.A. Pratt Bantam Spectra, $6.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-553-59135-4

The complex, funny and powerful third entry in Pratt’s urban fantasy series (after 2008’s Poison Sleep) pits kick-ass sorceress Marla Mason, the guardian of East Coast metropolis Felport, against the newly reincarnated king of the underworld, a handsome and lusty fellow who calls himself Walking Death. He invades her territory in human guise and demands her prized artifact, a magical dagger that symbolizes her office and can cut through anything as long as its rightful owner wields it. When she refuses and Walking Death discovers that the weapon can’t be seized by force, he exiles her and takes over the city. While a few unpredictable allies start an underground resistance, Marla turns the tables on her enemy by launching her own invasion of Hell. Pratt’s writing is wildly imaginative, with roller-coaster pacing and startling twists galore. (Nov.)

I think that's the most purely positive review I've ever received from PW!

This made me very very happy: Fan art for Poison Sleep. It's a cute comic, and that's a great likeness of my chaos magician Nicolette. Having fan art made from my work is a longstanding dream, now realized!

(I also saw the cover for Spell Games, and it's awesome, but it's not quite final final, so I'll wait to post it.)

Also making me happy: Blood Engines just went back to press, for the second time. Third printing hurray!