Archive for News

News

Award nominations, new Ditch Digger team member, and more!

Work proceeds on my current novel, still unnamed and untalked about. Except I just did. But I’m writing a lot.

I have unexpected award nomination news! The Japanese translation of Six Wakes was nominated for the prestigious Seiun Award, and Solo: A Star Wars Story was nominated for the media tie-in focused Scribe Award! I was shocked and honored to hear both of these.

Solo also just came out in paperback, so if you’ve been waiting for a cheaper version of the book, wait no more!

Ditch Diggers 77 comes out shortly, and Matt and I are recording on a regular schedule now. We also welcome Hugo-nominated fan writer Alasdair Stuart to the team to give us some of his wisdom, and his first column is here: Welcome to the Montage, Now Stare at a Test Tube

I think that’s it. Summer looms, with movies, and heat, and new book launch, and running, and lots and lots of writing.

News, Personal

Update on me

HEY- Hugo nominations are open until March 15! If you’re eligible to nominate, don’t forget to do so!

January was crap. That’s all there is to it. It’s over now, which is great.

I have talked about hemochromatosis here, but the update is I can’t find a good hematologist. One did a quick breast exam, sent me for a mammogram, then set up a breast surgery appointment without discussing the mammogram results. (No, I didn’t go. Got another opinion.) The one I went to after that told me I didn’t in fact have both genes for the disease, and I could stop getting phlebotomies, but she wanted to check me yearly. Went in for checkup last year and POOF, she was gone, they had no record of this “misdiagnosis!” Turns out I DO have both genes, they even showed me the lab report, and the new hematologist who has taken over my case has determined I must have monthly phlebotomies to get my iron levels down quickly because it’s been building up.

Punch line- I haven’t met my new doctor. I speak to him through his physician’s assistant.

Second punch line- breast-surgery-recommending doctor (#1) has moved to my new hematologist’s office. I have said under no uncertain terms will I allow her to be my doc again. And if you know me, you know I’m not good at standing up for myself.

Are there any good blood docs in this fucking area of medical innovation?

Since this is my fifth pint of blood I’m losing in as many months, it’s starting to get to me, and I’m losing several days to exhaustion. I was going to try to get work done this morning, but it turned out that I wanted to complain/blog about my health instead. I really am getting older. Next, I’ll kvetch about the weather.

Nah- I’ll tell you that I have one ISBW and one DD ready to go, I just need to get them posted. Hurrah!

Writing: I started a new original book and a new project (vague, I know) recently. I will tell you more when I can. I also have a book for a younger audience coming out this summer, but it’s not announced yet, but it’s on Amazon for pre-order, so… that’s weird. This is not an announcement.

 

Oh and Reedsy listed Six Wakes in the 100 best sci-fi books of all time.

 

Books, News, Projects

Solo is out today!

[Note, I am notoriously bad about keeping up with blogging, and it’s a terrible time for me do that, what with travel and Hugo and all, but I came home from WorldCon and had to jump headfirst into a deadline which is eating everything else. I will be blogging the Worldcon recap later this week, promise.]

Solo cover
That’s my name right there!

It’s release day for Solo: A Star Wars Story!

Did you see the movie and go, “I wonder what went wrong for Han before the opening of the movie?” or “Where DID [REDACTED] take the [REDACTED] at the end of the movie?” or “What happened to Han during the four years after Corellia? What happened to Qi’ra, for that matter?”

The book will answer those questions.

Amazon | Indiebound | B&N

I was allowed to take the script of Solo and turn it into a book, adding scenes to lengthen it, looking at familiar scenes from an unexpected PoV, and giving some of my favorite characters more time to shine.

I’ll be doing a podcast soon, when I dust the mic off again, about the process of writing the novel, and the challenges I came across. Some were unexpected: like me disagreeing with the movie about which lines were meant to be humorous. I expected other challenges, like knowing the train scene took hours to write and still being frustrated when it was mere minutes on the screen. (I got new respect for movie people – especially special FX people – right then, since I know the scenes took even longer for them.)

I’d like to hint at other questions the book answers, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Regardless, reviews are coming in praising the book for giving more time to characters people wanted to know more about.

L3-37
Hint.

And it was a lot of fun to write.

And holy crap I wrote a Star Wars novelization.

 

Books, News, Personal, Projects

Solo, Six Wakes, and more!

It’s time to check in with the lady who barely blogs.

—

First: Finally I can talk about it! My big project that ate my spring was the novelization of the movie Solo!

I’m writing a Star Wars novel. I’ve been to Lucasfilm. I’ve written canon scenes (pending approval) about my hero, L3 (and some of the other characters too). I turned in the novel. And it’s still unreal to me.

L3-37

It’ll be out in early September, and you can preorder now!

—

I attended the Nebulas! Matt and I will discuss it at length on the next Ditch Diggers, but I had an amazing time, lost a major award, met some phenomenal writers, and signed books. I didn’t even get upset that I lost, because losing to NK Jemisin is like losing a Tony Award to Hamilton or the Belmont Stakes to Secretariat.

—

Six Wakes was nominated for the Manly Wade Wellman Award! This award recognizes SFF from North Carolina. The full list of nominees:

  • Frost & Filigree by Natania Barron (Falstaff Books)
  • Amazing Grace by John G. Hartness (Falstaff Books)
  • The Stravinsky Intrigue by Darin Kennedy (Curiosity Quills Press)
  • Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (Orbit)
  • Scourge by Gail Z. Martin (Solaris)

Congrats to the other nominees and good luck to all!

—

Six Wakes will be coming out in Germany and Taiwan this summer! Check out these amazing covers!

Six Wakes Germany cover
Six Wakes Taiwan cover

—

New episodes of Ditch Diggers and ISBW coming soon!

News, Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #59: 1st Quarter Review (and NEWS)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:26 — 30.2MB)

Subscribe: Email | TuneIn | RSS

(NOTE FROM MUR: I think I’m shying away from blogging and podcasting now because a part of me is thinking if I talk about stuff too much, these things will be taken from me. It makes no sense. But that’s why I’ve been quiet lately. Sorry to listeners and sorry to Matt.)

UPDATE: Congrats to previous guest Justina Ireland for debuting at #5 on the NYT Bestseller List with Dread Nation!

  • Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s Arctic Weather Station
  • Matt explains that we’re in Morgan Freeman’s Arctic Weather Station because Matt doesn’t understand the purpose of radio stations in the Arctic.
  • The off-topic discussion devolves even further into the California real estate market and C-list celebrity sightings.
  • Mur and Matt finally arrive at the topic of the show: News!! We have a LOT of it to announce!
  • Matt talks about the recent announcement on Barnes & Noble’s SFF Blog of his three-book deal with Saga Press for his new epic fantasy trilogy.
  • Mur and Matt announce that the Ditch Diggers podcast (which is them) has been nominated for the second year in a row for the Hugo Award for Best Fancast!
  • Mur has also been nominated for TWO ADDITIONAL Hugo Awards, Best Semiprozine as editor of Escape Pod and Best Novel for SIX WAKES! That makes three Hugo Award nominations in one year!
  • Mur tells the story of her roller coaster day (and night) of Hugo finalist notifications.
  • Matt and Mur talk about why the Escape Pod nomination is such a big deal for the Hugos, podcast fiction, and the industry as a whole.
  •  Matt (while not being insufferable) does feel the need to point out the #SixWakesHatTrick hashtag he created came to pass.
  • Matt talks about dealing with what feels like constantly seeing other authors announce their book deals and related good news on social media, and how your time will come as long as you don’t quit.
  • Matt and Mur end the episode by recapping the first quarter of their 2018 as professional writers.

Affiliate links to our books!

News

The Hugo Finalists have been announced (burying the lede)

I am stunned, honored, and humbled (and proud- can I be proud and humble? The jury is out) to say that I have been nominated for three Hugo awards this year. Fancast (Ditch Diggers), Semiprozine (Escape Pod), and Novel (Six Wakes).

I got an email about Ditch Diggers getting the nod for Best Fancast early in the morning, and I was very happy. I waited impatiently for Matt to wake up on the west coast so we could exchange excited texts and Office quotes all morning.

WE ARE WARRIORS

I had lunch with friends, where Ursula Vernon and I quietly celebrated our nominations (she was nominated in Short Story and the new YA Not-A-Hugo – congrats, Ursula!). We went out for coffee afterwards, and then I got the email about Escape Pod being a finalist for Semiprozine. This is the first Hugo nomination for any Escape Artist podcast, and the first time a podcast magazine has been nominated in this category. I informed our publishers and then had a “holy crap!” call with my co-editor, SB Divya. I’m so proud of our team.

Two nominations. I was feeling pretty damn cool about right now.


It was dope.

That night I played Overwatch and drank a glass or two of wine. This was officially “holy crap I’m nominated for two Hugos” wine.

Mood right about now.

Then the third email, the BIG ONE, came in. I had to throw the controller at Fiona so she could take over playing Lucio for me, and then I read the email and tried very hard to parse the meaning. I’ve never had a major fiction nomination before, and now my novel has been nominated for the Philip K Dick, Nebula, AND HUGO.

I’ll be attending WorldCon in San Jose in August, decked out, dressed up, and no matter whether I win or lose, it’s going to be an awesome night.

Three nominations, man. I never ever expected this.

Congrats to all of the nominees! Full list here.

(Future posts will have the report from NorwesCon and commentary on the Hugo ballot as a whole. Spoiler- it is DOPE.)

News

Shambling Guide to NYC ebook on sale from April 2 – April 16!

Cover art by Jamie McKelvie

Hachette is doing a “Laugh It Off” promotion in April and has chosen The Shambling Guide to New York City to be on sale via ebook for two weeks! The ebook will be $2.99, so if you’ve been thinking about getting it, now’s the time!

Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in the tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can’t take off her resume — human.

Not to be put off by anything — especially not her blood drinking boss or death goddess coworker — Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble — with Zoe right in the middle.

Winner of the 2014 Manly Wade Wellman Award

News

Of interest to ISBW listeners: Writing the Other webinar

There’s a new webinar coming April 15 from the Writing The Other site and I wanted to let people know!

From the site:

Discussions of diversity in literature often boil down to a version of this basic question: Should white authors write characters of color? Should cisgender authors write trans characters? Should abled people write characters with disabilities? Should heterosexuals write QUILTBAG characters? The list goes on.

Though framed as a yes or no question, the answer is complicated and complex. Yet it’s the same one for every permutation that gets asked. In this 3 and a half hour webinar, authors Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford will give you the answer.

  • When: April 21, 3PM – 6:30PM Eastern
  • Where: Online via Zoom meeting
  • Price: $50

If you can’t make the webinar, then check out Writing the Other: A Practical Approach by Cynthia Ward and Nisi Shawl.

I’m not affiliated with Writing the Other, nor do I gain anything from you signing up, but I think this kind of class is very important since there are people who ask this question all the time. Check it out if you can.

News

Six Wakes is a Kindle Daily Deal!

Hey friends, I know what you’ve been thinking, that it’s time for you to get a new ebook! But times are tough, we all know it, so management* has told me we can give you such a deal, today only! Six Wakes, for only $2.99!

Now, you won’t find prices like this anywhere else, friends. If you’re looking for a shiny new ebook to drive away today, consider Six Wakes, the Kindle Daily Deal!

It’s Philip K. Dick Award nominated! It’s Nebula Award nominated! And it’s only $2.99. I don’t know what got into us to sell at such a low price, but I would take advantage of it if I were you! Buy today!

* OK, so it wasn’t management, it was Amazon.

Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions