Less than a week left to the wonderful Phoenix Convention (or P-con as it is affectionately known). I’m really looking forward to this one. P-con was the first con I attended as a writer (as an adult) and found an abundance of people with all the same interests as me.
This year I was invited as a guest and have panels. So exciting! 🙂
Saturday, 6th
10am Is it time for “Return of the Werewolves”?
Nick Harkaway, Brian J. Showers, Laura Anne Gilman, Maura McHugh, R. F. Long
And then all Saturday is mine to play with!
Sunday, 7th however is a different matter – I will be a busy girl.
12pm Keyboard or pen – Room for both?
R. F. Long, OisĂn McGann, Maura McHugh
2pm Has the Internet become indespensible?
Cheryl Morgan, Bob Neilson, R. F. Long, Maura McHugh
4pm E-Books
R. F. Long, Nich Harkaway, Colin Smythe, Derek Gunn
So far I’ve got the following answers “Yes”, “Em”, “YES”, and “Yay!”
But we’ll see how that goes. I’m in with some pretty impressive individuals so … yeah… wow! This is going to be fun.
In a strange way, its kind of harder to realise that rather than complete strangers, people you know, people with whom you interact, people whose opinions you can’t just shrug off with a “well it wasn’t their thing”, are reading my book. It’s brilliant but also somewhat terrifying.
Bogwitch (bogwitch64) posted her review of The Scroll Thief on Livejournal (and I now love her a lil’bit more!)
In other news, The Scroll Thief got an honourable mention in the LRC Best Fantasy of 2009 poll so thanks so much for the votes!
And other than that, things are ticking over. I’m working on the new WIP and its twisting arond on itself to create new and wonderful idea…
LR Cafe’s Best of 2009 Awards voting is open and The Scroll Thief has been nominated for Best Fantasy of 2009. If you’ve a vote to spare for The Scroll Thief, I’d really appreciate it.
To vote email at dawn_roberto @ yahoo DOT com with “LRC’s Best of 2009 Awards” in subject line. This is important as anything else will get deleted.
Voting ends on 22nd with the 23rd as a deadline for those in other time zones/countries to get their votes in. Anything after the 23rd is thrown out unopened so make sure the votes are in.
Award winners will be announced on 2/25 at NOON EST on the LRC’s yahoo loop from noon-2 PM EST. A full list of the nominees is available is LRC’s yahoo loop here.
The Fantasy Nominees are:
First Lord’s Fury (Jim Butcher-Ace)
Storykeeper (Jade Buchanan-AMP)
Lycan Tides (Renee Wildes-Samhain)
The Betrayal (Patti Nagle- Del Ray)
The Oath: Bound (Adrianne Brennan-Freya’s Bower)
The Apostle of Asphodel (Celina Summers-AMP)
Spying the Alcove (Laura Tolomei-Extasy)
Dragon Slayer (Fiona Jayde-Noble Romance)
Strange Fortune (Josh Lanyon-Blind Eye Books)
The Scroll Thief (RF Long-Samhain)
Dark Lady’s Chosen (Gail Z. Martin)
Any questions, please email Dawn at the above address.
“Long has a wonderful gift when it comes to creating the fantasy world and weaving a tale which tests her own characters’ strengths. Shan and Jeren had a lot thrown at them, it almost seems every five pages another conflict was added to the mix. Looking back on it the romance actually sits quietly in the background while the growth of Jeren is very much at the forefront. I look forward to the next chapter in Jeren and Shan’s quest for happiness.” ~ Natalie, rating 3
In a fit of organisation I decided I need to blog here a little more regularly. Or at least that’s the plan. And get some more guests as Sarah was so awesome. (Anyone wanna guestblog?) And in the spirit of that decision, I thought I’d actually write about writing. Not just craft, although there will surely be some of that, but also about my writing life, the things that impact me and don’t and hopefully some of it will be helpful.
And if it isn’t helpful hopefully I’ll make you laugh. At me.
Oh dear, I’m not sure this is working out the way I planned.
I’m pretty sure someone else did a post similar to this recently but I can’t for the life of me find it. If I didn’t dream it (entirely possible) I will be happy to link back if anyone can identify it for me. But here’s my take on Control, anyway.
A writer friend of mine emailed the other day to let me know that due to a conversation a few of us had been having via email she had experienced something of an epiphany.
“I’ve been stressing for a year and a half over things I can’t control.”
My first response was: “Aren’t we all.”
Which led to my second: “WHY do we put ourselves through that?”
The Samhain Reader’s Choice Awards (or Sammies) are now running so here I am pathetically begging respectfully requesting your votes for Soul Fire and The Scroll Thief. By R. F. Long, no less. *winningsmile*
Thanks to the recent Steampunk Workshop on Romance Divas (which was brilliant btw) I managed to blackmail persuade the fantastic Sarah A. Hoyt to write a guestblog for me. We also discovered that we share a brain have a lot of similar interests – Robin Hood, Musketeers, Swashing and Buckling, Brave New Worlds – preferably those we create ourselves.
With Shovel and Pail
Sarah A. Hoyt
I’ve been building worlds as long as I can remember. I started with legos, paper and glue, and – at the beach – shovel and pail. I built houses and cities inhabited by tiny, plastic dog figurines, I built huge sand castle complexes and filled them with imaginary princesses and knights.
It is not that the real world wasn’t good enough, but that it often wasn’t INTERESTING enough.  I wanted people doing heroic or silly stuff and, from a very early age, I found the need for a world that my characters should inhabit.
The details of these worlds, particularly as I moved from stories in my head to stories on paper, were harder to establish.
For instance, while I was making stories for myself and enacting them with various materials, no one much cared if I were building elaborate cities to be inhabited by dogs who, lacking opposable thumbs, couldn’t possibly have built them. Turns out readers care more about this than my young self did – who knew?
So I started the long and stumbling road of world building. I never had such bad judgment as to assume that my world didn’t need to be internally consistent, or that I could wave a magic wand and change everything halfway through and no one would mind. No, I always knew the first commandment of world building:
I love release days. They’re also terrifying. They also sneak up on you far too stealthily and, in the manner of Keyser Soze… like that, they’re gone.
I’d never written a sequel before. I’d written some very long stories, but not a sequel to one I’d finished, believing it stood on its own. So when Jeren and Shan told me that they weren’t finished yet it came as something of a surprise.
I had no idea where it was going to go, or the things they were going to face. It got a lot darker than I expected.But Jeren and Shan grew as characters in ways I hadn’t imagined. Now, as I write The Wolf’s Destiny (part 3) I have two strong, determined people who are more than a match for the terrible things I throw at them.
In the course of writing The Wolf’s Mate there was a certain song which I listened to (almost all the time) and which sums up the major themes of the story. It also expresses some of the fear and pain that Jeren endures.
“It’s well written, fast paced and filled with interesting and unique characters….The best part of the story is Jeren herself. I liked her in The Wolf’s Sister but in this release, she really grows and shines, as she turns into a confident and determined woman, willing to fight for her man. I’m very curious to see what happens to these two mates with the next and last release.” – 4 Nymphs, Mystical Nymph, Literary Nymphs Reviews Only
Their love is a forbidden gift. Keeping it means a fight to the death…
A Tale of the Holtlands, Book 2
After escaping from her Holtlands home and her brother’s madness, Jeren looks forward to a new life with her beloved Shan and his people. She doesn’t expect the Fey’na to readily accept someone of her bloodline, but she’s determined to prove herself worthy. Then the jealous eyes of the beautiful sect mother, Ylandra, fall on Shan—handsome, strong, matchless among warriors—turning Jeren’s fragile new world upside down.
Shan wants nothing more than to be with Jeren, the courageous beauty who’s captured his heart. But their ancient enemy has attacked, and Ylandra cleverly uses an archaic oath to bind him to her service—fulltime. As he sets out on a suicide mission into the heart of enemy territory, he promises Jeren he’ll return—somehow—to claim her as his mate.
Jeren is left alone to make a place for herself among the elite Fey’na warriors, until a Holtlands envoy arrives bearing her ancestors’ sword. This magical artifact calls to the innate magic in her blood and forces her to make a terrible choice. She could lead the battle to free her people…but only if she forsakes Shan.
Warning: contains scary monsters, desperate acts, burning jealousy and the consummation of a timeless love.
I’m going to give away a copy of The Wolf’s Mate so someone who comments below, telling me what songs you think tell the best stories and I’ll pick someone using Random.org by Wednesday evening.
LR Cafe’s Best of 2009 Awards voting is open
