NEWSLETTER: Spring cleaning - odds and ends...
Alma Hromic Deckert
and blogs etc. that pertain the ALma Alexander and her doings, you
will know that Worldweavers 1:Gift of the Unmage is officially out on
the streets. So far the reviews have been pretty cool - Kirkus
Reviews, the one with the curmudgeonly reputation, called it
"Suspenseful and engossing" (it also called it a mix of Carlos
Castaneda and Orson Scott Card in his Alvin Maker period - hey, I'll
take it...). Booklist called it "an exquisite job". Kliatt and VOYA
(and it has a starred review in the latter) both told the people who
liked Harry Potter to go get this book - which is really cool. Oh, and
by the way - there's a new site, dedicated to the Worldweavers books.
You can get there through my official website, or directly at
www.worldweaversweb.com (they named my cats on the back flap of the
hardcover dustjacket, so I thought it would be fun, amonst other
things, to feature my cats on one part of the page...)
APPEARANCES
I'm doing a reading in Bellingham, at Village Books in Fairhaven, on
April 5 at 7:30, for anyone who is within shouting distance. The store
has 34 copies of the book in stock, something that makes me feel all
warm and fuzzy - they really DO have confidence in me, my friends at
Village Books, and I appreciate it! I'm still working on the local
Barnes and Noble, perhaps in May. In the meantime, I've received
invitations to be a part of an event at the Redmond Borders in June
(date still to be confirmed, and will be announced) and also to join a
teachers' conference in Leavenworth WA in early May and then to lead a
YA writing workshop there at a Writing Camp on May 13. And then I'll
be off th Wiscon, end of May. But more about all that later.
Just returned from Lunacon, and a visit with my publisher and my agent
in New York. I did a bit of research for Worldweavers 3 - in the
process of being written right now, and a lot of fun so far - and my
lovely agent and I discussed details of a brand new project, the
proposal for which will be going off to various publishers very
shortly and the research for which I will be starting when I'm done
with the YA books. You can read about that outing on my blog, which is
at http://anghara.livejournal.com if you haven't been there yet.
IN OTHER NEWS
Just did an interview for a German fantasy magazine, which I am told
might appear as soon as this summer - and the German edition of "Jin
Shei" is now out, and looks great. I"m still awaiting author copies of
the Lithuianian and the Czech editions, which will both be fun - and
the Brazilian edition, which I am told is also out. I've yet to see
the author copies of the Dutch "Embers" edition, too, so there will be
a lot of new book parcels coming home to roost soon.
I"ve got new reviews due soon at SFSite, so keep an eye on that place
over the next few issues if you want to know my opinion of a bunch of
new books, including Mary Gentle's "Ilario" - and I might also be
starting to write reviews for IROSF soon, too. Lots to do, lots to do,
busy and happy...
Happy spring, wherever you are. Keep an eye on my appearances list on
the main webiste, and if you're anywhere near where I might be come
and say hello.
And if you've read "Gift of the Unmage" and feel like posting a review
on Amazon - please do! I'd muchly appreciate it...
Until next time -
Mir Plemmons
cars or building parts off of people instead...
hugs!!
Mir
(more thoughtful answer when more thoughts are available to fill the
answer *with*)
Alma Hromic Deckert
reviewed in the August issue of Realms of Fantasy and in the June
issue of Locus - both of which are something of a milestone. So far
the little book has gathered in quite a respectable crop of reviews,
including a starred review in VOYA, the Bible of YA literature. My
editor, who just sent me a rundown of what's been notched up so far,
seems quite pleased by the whole thing.
I've been home from Wiscon, the world's first feminist SF convention
and my favourite con of all that I go to, for nearly two weeks now,
and for those who want to know what a saga that was, I'll refer you to
my blog (http://anghara.livejournal.com) of May 29. I've since
received two $100 vouchers for my next flight on American Airlines,
should I choose to fly with them, which are valid for a year. WE paid
THEM cold hard cash for the privilege fo being able to go home. Garfle
bargle grump. However, at Wiscon I got wind of the fact - just in
casual conversation - that my name had been tossed into the hat as a
potential GoH at the con - which made me drop my jaw quite
spectacularly, seeing as other guests of honour here have included
Ursula le Guin, VOnda McIntyre, Lois Bujold, Chip Delany, and many
other luminaries too numerous to name. To find my name in this company
- even as a ghost candidate - makes me veyr proud indeed. So thanks to
Wiscon for even thinking about it for a nanosecond.
However, in the two weeks that I've been back, I've basically reworked
chapter 9 of book 3 into something resembling what I wanted it to be,
and that was where book 3 stalled - seeing as this was also the moment
that the proofs for Book 2, "Spellspam" saw fit to land on my
doorstep. The proofs were, shall we say, a little bit of a mess - and
I'm currently in the process of writing up my cavils and stets and
suggestions etcetera, and my "proof edit letter" is already running to
8 pages, and I"m not halfway through the MS yet. THat's the priority
at the moment, and I hope to have book 2 out of my hair and off my
desk by Tuesday. Then it's back to book 3, which is now roughly just
over half-done and which needs needs needs to be done by the end of
August. And we won't even think about the fact that it's already the
middle of June...
I've a scheduled meeting with a local reading group who have picked up
"Jin Shei" for their monthly offering this month, on Wednesday night;
after that, on June 16 at 2L30 PM, I will be appearing at a Summer
Reading Program at the Lynnwood Borders store in Seattle. So if any of
you are within shouting, walking or even driving distance, do come in
and say hello, I"d love to see you. I'm also doing a special "writers
camp" for teens in delightful Leavenworth on August 13, so I'll be
floating around just that side of the Cascades come late summer...
In other news, I"m contemplating giving myself a birthday present - an
ultraportable laptop. I'm yearning for a Vaio, but I found something
more in my price range, an HP Pavilion laptop, which I can get for
pretty much half the price of a Vaio. I hope it's reliable, I"m still
investigating. But if I go for this one, it's on special offer at the
local Office Depot until the end of June - which makes it just nice
timing for July 5, on which I turn (don't tell anybody) 44. I mean, I
can yearn for a Vaio but I'll take what I can get...
I'm looking forward to a set of bound proofs of "Spellspam" very
soon. I'll probably be offering at least one as a competition prize on
my website, Keep an eye out.
Well, that's all for now. In absence of any earthshaking news that
needs disseminating instantly, I'll see you all when I get back from
the Worldcon in Japan, in September - at which point I may have some
news about the NEXT project I"m busy lining up...
Alma Hromic Deckert
1.WORLDWEAVERS NEWS
"Gift of the Unmage", Worldweavers #1, has been critically very well
received, with a starred review in the prestigious VOYA journal, no
less. I've had mail from readers, too, both the younger kind and the
adults, and I seem to have hit a couple of issues that people are
responding to - one in particular being Thea's craving for parental
approval and not getting it in the manner which she wants or for the
proper reasons.
Thea grows and develops fast - her world is changing, and she is in no
small way part of what is changing it. She has some difficult choices
to make in Worldweavers #2, "Spellspam" - if you haven't been my blog
or my website lately, you may not have seen the cover for the new
book, and you can go have quick look at it <a
href="http://www.almaalexander.com/covers/worldweavers2_us_lg.jpg">here</a>
- I think it's fabulous. "Spellspam", by the way is available for
pre-rder <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/Worldweavers-Spellspam-Alma-Alexander/dp/0060839589/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/002-4679573-8324015?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190845302&sr=8-4">at
Amazon.com</a>, right now - so if you have young 'uns (or older 'uns
for that matter) for whom you are wanting presents, here's a deal for
you - pre-order the book, email me that you've done that and give me a
snailmail address, and I will send you a signed bookplate SPECIALLY
made for the Worldweavers books which you can then put into people's
stockings this Christmas and tell them that they will be able to stick
the bookplate into the book in the Spring. The lines are, as they say,
now open.
I might also add that I"ve finished and handed in the third book in
the trilogy, and am awaiting the editorial letter on that imminently -
the book should be in production before Christmas... keep your eyes on
bookstore shelves for that one in the spring of 2009.
2. JIN SHEI NEWS
Please welcome my twelfth language for the Blessed Book - I have just
received word that it will be out in Russian sometime next year. I am
particularly pleased at this, because, of course, it's going to be in
the Cyrillic font - and that's the closest I've come to seeing my work
in my OWN home language. Let us recap - this means that the book is
now out in English (of course), Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese,
German, Dutch, Turkish, Czech, Lithuanian, Hebrew, andnow Russian. I
am feeling very international, and very happy, and very loved right
now...
3. CHANGER OF DAYS NEWS
And yet another language to report - the "Changer of Days" duology has
been sold to Spain, due out in 2009. That makes it three languages for
my little fantasy books. Again, one happy writer here...
4.OTHER NEWS
Just returned from my trip to Japan, where I was treated to the full
experience including my first crack at international business class
travel, and being right in the path of a tropical typhoon. I've never
QUITE seen vertical water before, but that one downpour that we got
caught in while wandering down the side of the Imperial Palace in
Tokyo was... sobering. We didn't GET the full brunt of the typhoon,
which veered off into the west and missed a direct hiton TOkyo, but
what we saw was interesting. We never did trip across Godzilla, but I
think I should get a T shirt that says "i survived a Tokyo Typhoon".
Pictures, of course. Lots of pictures. I'm making calendars for
Christmas presents...
Tha't s it for now, back to work - putting together an outline and
proposal for a new fantasy novel right now, while awaiting word on a
couple of other projects. Will keep you posted. Watch this space...