My husband is doing much better, thanks all who asked. Four weeks ago he was hit by a car on his bike. On one hand, it could have been SO MUCH WORSE than it was. He was very lucky. On the other hand, he still broke his collarbone, fractured his elbow, and got road rash. So the past four weeks have been focused on him, his recovery, and the fact that he can’t drive. Doc visits today place him as healing fast, so that’s a happy thing. I told him he had mutant healing power like Wolverine, only slower.

The book The Shambling Guide to New York City is doing well, as far as I can figure. I don’t have numbers for any other book to compare the bookscan numbers to, but the editor is happy, the reviews are all great, and I got some NPR love in the form of a one-minute review from Cory Doctorow on The World show, which was just awesome.

I’m about done with my Torment novella. If you followed the Kickstarter campaign, you may have noticed one of the stretch goals was a novella written by me. That’s due this month, and I’m on track, thanks to…

…the MAGIC SPREADSHEET. Yes, I’m still in this cult, and about to hit 200 days. More on that later.

Stonecoast residency next month. I’ve finished 3rd semester, so that’s a relief. This fall I work on my thesis. I’ll be writing something new, I think. We’ll see.

RANT TIME!

I am not going to go see Man of Steel. I’ve never been one of the huge movie fans, gotta see stuff on huge screen, opening weekend or else the film will degrade, etc, but this, I think, speaks to something larger that has been bugging me. We’re told to write our passions, we’re told to write what scares us, we’re told to write the unique story only we can tell. And then what does media give us? Another Dresden book. Another Sookie book. Another Wheel of Time book. Another Spider-Man reboot. Another Superman reboot. Hangover 3. Star Trek reboot movie II. Fast and the Furious VI. Final Fantasy XIII, another Mario game, another Uncharted game, another Bioshock game.

And dont get me wrong, I like a lot of those things too. Some of them are damn good, and some of them I actively look forward to. (Another Dragon Age game? Sign me up!) And hell, if I can make Shambling Guide stick as a series, I’ll be writing that as long as I can. It doesn’t bother me that that sequels and reboots exist, my problem is it seems these kinds of media are THE MAJORITY of what we are getting. A new game that’s not a third person shooter of some sort? A fantasy book that’s not political intrigue and rape featuring The Chosen One? A summer blockbuster that doesn’t ride on the heels of last year’s blockbuster?

I feel like people who complain about the lack of healthy food when you travel. When healthy food is offered next to fast food, you know where people are going to go. I’m totally guilty of this. People go for the comfortable, the easy, the familiar, all the while saying they want something new and exciting. The market follows what people do, not what they say.

So with Man of Steel, I’m doing. I’m not voting for another reboot with my dollars, not with Wonder Woman in production hell (is it on or off again? It’s like a bad relationship at this point.) Not with people claiming women stars can’t carry a movie (except when they can – those times don’t count, naturally.) Not with so many superheroes out there and Hollywood suckling constantly at the teat of SupermanBatmanSpider-Man.

(And please don’t cherry-pick in order to prove me wrong, I know that there ARE original media coming out, and I know that The Avengers is Thor’s gift to Hollywood. I’m not saying the above are absolutes, but they ARE dominant, you can’t deny that.)

Rant over. I’ve got a sinus headache that’s making me hate life. So watch my new favorite song. This is so NSFW. Seriously.

And io9 claims “Now THIS is the Urban Fantasy Heroine We Want!” in their review of Shambling Guide!

Remember you can buy the book now! (Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) (Audible) — and many other places including most local bookstores!

And don’t forget, The Shambling Guide to NYC is out now! (Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) (Audible) — and many other places including most local bookstores!

Remember you can buy the book now! (Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) (Audible) — and many other places including most local bookstores!

If you hadn’t noticed, the book is OUT! Check local book stores, online at Amazon or Indiebound, at Audible, or where ebooks are sold (it’s in Google Play, iBooks, and Kindle, to name a few).

Thanks everyone for their awesome support!

And to the 99% of you saying, “That’s great, Mur, but I’m not going to BEA!”* — Orbit has sent a downloadable map for you!

Check out New York from the monsters’ eyes!

* (It’s OK, neither am I.)

How to help authors:

• Buy their book. This one is a duh, but it bears repeating because it gives me the chance to throw these links on the page. (Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) (Audible) – check Amazon or Audible in your area of the world for the book, it should be available in the US, Canada, and UK. Or listen to the podcast if you’re not sure you want to buy yet.
• Tell a friend. Word of mouth is still the best marketing an author can get. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc, all of those things can help.
• Semi related, review the book. Toss a review on Amazon, B&N, or Goodreads. They really do matter. They matter a huge deal.

How not to help authors:

• Pirate their book and then donate a couple of bucks to them via PayPal. I know you are justifying it by saying my publisher will only give me $X of royalties, while you’re giving me $X+$Y and that is therefore more and better. However, if the publisher doesn’t make money, they have no incentive to get me to write more books for them, which means I will have to write different books and hope I get another publisher. (Many people have asked what has happened to PFK II, and it’s the fact that I don’t have a contract for that, while I do have a contract for other books.)
• Review them based on the price of the book, whether the book is available in your area, or anything else that has nothing to do with the content of the book. Seriously, how many one star reviews are on Amazon because someone got their shorts in a wad over a “too high” ebook price, or how many authors get an email stating that the reader is going to pirate the book because it’s not available in their territory? Not the author’s fault and the book sales shouldn’t suffer because of your hissyfit.
• Buy anything from that hack Chuck Wendig. Oh all right, I’m just bullshitting now. Chuck is delightful and a damn good writer, and you should totally get his books.  He has one out today. So do Emma Newman and Merrie Haskell.

(Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) (Audible)

I could write and argue about how I’m not a debut novelist because I’ve self published a lot, via podcast and ebook, and I had a small press book out in 2008. But honestly my books have never before been in book stores, in front of people who never would have found them otherwise. It’s a big deal to me.

Coverage today that makes me squee: BoingBoing, where Cory Doctorow calls me “one of the worst-kept secrets in science fiction and fantasy.” and I got to write The Big Idea on John Scalzi’s awesome blog. (I wrote it the day the hubby had his accident, so I was kinda scattered. And I did get the birds out of the house.)

I’m nervous and happy and excited and want to hide under the desk.

Cover art by Jamie McKelvie

This week’s episode brought to you by the Flight of Pigeons.

The book goes on sale next Tuesday! Preorder (Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) You can also preorder via Audible.

Tonight there’s a live video chat with me at Shindig! You can drop in any time (it starts at 6:30 Eastern) but they would appreciate an RSVP. I’m very excited about this event!

Come to my shindig! (Pretty dress not guaranteed)

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Balticon is this weekend! I’m hitting the train tomorrow morning, arrive in Baltimore late afternoon, and will be shouting obscenities at Scott Sigler by 9pm. Watch me.

Also at Balticon: LIVE ISBW with a NINJA BOOK LAUNCH will happen at noon on Saturday. Be there. There will be giveaways. Also Myke Cole.

FABULISTS AT BALTICON- tell me you’re coming, I’ll do a thing. Possibly involving donuts.
–

So I’ve got a book coming out next week. Yeah. A little tense about it. Preorder (Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) if you’re interested. Or listen to the podcast if you’re not sure yet. You can also preorder via Audible.

Eep. Ack. No panic. Truly.
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Interviews!

• Orbit Books – Mur Lafferty on THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY
• Upcoming4.me – STORY BEHIND THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY BY MUR LAFFERTY

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And now the bad:

I’ve been absent from blogging and podcasting this week thus far because my husband was in an accident this past Sunday (his bike vs. a car.) He’s got many of the minor injuries one would expect (bruising, road rash), plus a broken collarbone. So my priorities have drastically shifted in the past four days to make sure he’s seen doctors and gotten meds and is comfortable, and, outrageously, the kid still gets to school on time and in clean clothes and with lunch and stuff.

But after coming out of all of that we looked at the situation and thought, well shit, it could have been so much worse. So we’re just glad he’s OK, and the break isn’t a bad one.

That said, he and Princess Scientist were planning on coming to Balticon, but he needs to stay home and rest. Sad face.
–

Cover art by Jamie McKelvie

It’s time for Chapter 3, and if you want to help out the book, please leave a review at Goodreads!

• Brought to you by Orbit Books.
• Subscribe to the podcast here or at iTunes (where you can also leave a review!)

And check out the latest review!

Booklist (Starred review): “This is a funny, thoughtfully conceived, and thoroughly entertaining romp that will be a sure bet for urban-fantasy readers—and might even surprise people who don’t think they’d enjoy a paranormal novel.”

From Booklist (Starred Review*)

Most new hires try to negotiate a higher salary. When Zoe takes a job editing a new travel-book series for Underground Publications, she needs to decide whether to get paid in hell notes, blood tokens, occult favors, or regular dollars. In Lafferty’s entirely believable world, New York City is secretly inhabited by vampires, zombies, fay folk, and assorted monsters. Public Works not only takes care of streets and sanitation, they are also responsible for keeping the balance between humans and “coterie”—the preferred term for nonhumans. Zoe’s pretty tough, and she thinks she can handle her assignment of creating a coterie guidebook to the city. But she’s ill-prepared for what awaits her in the underworld and soon finds herself succumbing to the erotic advances of an incubus coworker, tracking down raging zombies, and ultimately getting involved in an epic battle for the (literal) soul of the city. This is a funny, thoughtfully conceived, and thoroughly entertaining romp that will be a sure bet for urban-fantasy readers—and might even surprise people who don’t think they’d enjoy a paranormal novel.

* AW YEAH

With the release of Dan Brown’s new book, I expect to be getting more email from people complaining of HOW could he have gotten a book deal if he writes so poorly? How in the world did EL James make a shitton of money off of fanfic BDSM? Then undoubtedly they will point out why the books are so awful. Or mock them.

And I get it. I feel the jealousy, I get all Christmasy green and red with jealousy and rage. “So all I have to do is shit on a page and send it in and they will buy it? Is that it?” I say through a gin-soaked olive. (Then my editor calls me and tells me under no circumstances am I to send her feces.)

Tobias Buckell recently had an amazing blog post where he was talking mainly of book bloggers and pro reviewers, but it applied to authors as well.

1) When you get to a point where you’ve read an amazing number of books, you change. You’ve read so much that what may seem new or interesting to most (and even to the writer of the book you’re reading) is just a variation to you. Your expectations regarding the work change.

Due to subjectivity being what it is, many writers can mistake what’s happening and view it as the books getting worse, not their own aesthetic changing. Two things can happen. One, despair at what they perceive is the dying of quality. You see this a lot with people who hit a certain number of books read: they begin to rail against the dreadfulness of everything. It can lead to bitterness, cynicism, and outright hatred of something they previously loved.

This hit home so hard. I know the “rules” of storytelling, I can spot lazy sexist writing (Hello, Jim Butcher, hanging a lantern on Dresden’s lecherous eye doesn’t make it any better), the lack of a strong conflict, cardboard characters, weak motivation, and the classic “let’s save the big gun till the end instead of using it at the beginning and saving us all this trouble” (hello Iron Man 3, Babylon 5, and every episode of Power Rangers ever.) This distracts and annoys me. And I want to stand up and shout, “Does everyone else not SEE that Bella is suffering from emotional abuse? Why can’t you understand that Harry Potter telling us something “dully” in every goddamn chapter is weak writing?”

They won’t listen. My friends and colleagues will listen, toasting me with their drinks or their tubes of cookie dough or their drug of choice, and will sit and wonder why the “good” books go unnoticed. But the world at large? They won’t listen. Because they’re enjoying themselves.

And now we come up against the common battle between entertainment and art. But we have to admit that book selling is a business, and the publishers wish to make money. And, frankly, so do artists. Entertainment is what fits the majority of people. There will always be a place for the “important” literature, don’t get me wrong. But the entertaining stuff sells whether it sticks to the rules or not.

Because people want to be entertained. And the average person is not going to critique a book or a movie, they’re just going to watch, experience, and probably tell a friend if they loved it or hated it. If it didn’t move them at all, then you’ve got a problem. But Brown, James, Meyer, and whatever other author would sit accused in the court of your authorly opinion, only they’re busy counting their money so they didn’t answer their subpoena, they move people. And that makes people buy books.

So crap is getting published. Yeah. Happens all the time, and will continue to happen. What can you do about it?

1. Shut up and write.
2. Whine to people about how bad books get published. Which accomplishes both jack and shit.
3. Get one of these “horrible” books from the library and find out just what it is that caused the books to sell in the first place. Brown spins a good, tense yarn with kick ass pacing, I understand. Stephanie Meyer learned how to perfectly encapsulate the feeling of being fifteen and in crazy love, and put it on the page. Rowling built Hogwarts and a ton of fun characters. They each hooked people and made them pay attention to their books, flawed or no.
4. Did I mention shutting up and writing was an option?

Here’s the horrible secret: if your book follows every rule, gets rid of adverbs and passive voice, has grammatically perfect sentences and a solid three act arc, no one will care* if the book doesn’t grab them in some way.

John Scalzi said it better than I did. Also his new book is out and I highly recommend it.

* Your mom will. Also, your English teacher will be pleased you know how to use a semi-colon.

Another convention episode of ISBW: #277

Cover art by Jamie McKelvie

We’re back, the feeds are fixed, and we’re ready to rock! Here’s Chapter 2, and if you like to talk about the stuff you listen to, check out the listen-along at the Audio Bookaneers.

Brought to you by Orbit Books.

Subscribe to the podcast here or at iTunes.

And check out some of these reviews!

“The hip, knowing and sometimes hysterically funny narrative, interspersed with excerpts from the guide of the title, lurches along in splendid fashion. Combine wit, style and acute observation: The result is irresistible.” - Kirkus (starred review)

“Lafferty, a 2012 nominee for the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, introduces a spirited, indomitable heroine who is bound to be a favorite of urban fantasy devotees.” – Library Journal