Gentle Reader, I have a busy day today getting caught up on all my correspondences and paperwork ~ which is terribly Victorian of me, when you think about it. (Except that the correspondences are all electronic.) I am getting a late start because I am a lazy so-and-so. However, The Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition is coming up (March 12-14, 2010 in Emeryville, CA) and in honor of that I am dropping this reboot of an interview about steampunk fashion that I did for the steampunk fanzine Exhibition Hall.

Please note that the post is image-heavy and that the accompanying images are ones ganked off the net. If you find one and it belongs to you I am happy to either take it down or provide appropriate direction/link/credit. Due to a computer snafu I have lost all of this information myself. Thanks for being understanding.

What defines Steampunk Fashion to you? How do (or do) you see fashion defining the Steampunk movement?
Steampunk fashion tends to be an amalgamation of Victorian fashion with metallic industrial detailing (usually brass) and modern gothic overtones. I've defined it in the past as the lovechild of Hot Topic and a BBC costume drama.

Prepping to watch Doctor Who End of Time, pts. 1 & 2, with several friends. Living room is filling up, curry is cooking, and we have several individual packs of tissues on hand on the assumption that we'll need something to sniffle into, and possible something to throw at the tv in proxy for RTD.

Most likely both.

(HidingSpot) What jobs did you have on your way to being a writer? Did they help you in any way as a writer?
I've been everything from a bartender to a tour guide, but I think my career as an archaeologist/academic has helped my writing the most. It gave me great research skills, familiarity with a variety of cultures both around the world now and in the past, good self-discipline, and a paranoia over making deadlines (which my publishing house appreciates). Oh, and the ability to subsist entirely on a diet of Top Ramen and tea.

(Gareth Wilson) Writing is said to be something that people are afflicted with rather than gifted and that it's something you have to do rather than want. What is your opinion of this statement and how true is it to you?
I suspect writing is more of a curse for those around me. I get distracted and spacey at the beginning of a project, frustrated in the middle, briefly euphoric at the end, and grumpy when I'm not writing at all. I imagine it's like living with someone who has a six-month rotation of some bizarre kind of pregnancy – all the time, over and over again.

(Fantasy Cafe) How would you react if you were you attacked by a vampire without even a proper introduction?
Oh, I have no pride or gumption. I would run to the nearest public area yelling for the constabulary.

(Fantastic Book Review) Is there anything else you want people to know about yourself or the book?
Someday, all will indeed be revealed about the octopuses.

(Ash) Do you have any advice for young budding authors like myself?
Actually, I do. Write it, finish it, edit it. Give it to three people who might hate it. Fix it, submit it, ignore it. Write something else completely different. And repeat.

(Jacqueline Cook) Give us one embarrassing author moment:
I arrived for my very first in-person meeting with my agent with the back of my dress unzipped. Sigh. The moral of this story? Always travel with a lady's maid. The moral of the moral? Sell enough books to afford a lady's maid.

(Jeff VanderMeer) Do you carry a parasol for defense?
Sadly, no, I'm an unparalleled wimp. There was once an entirely unsuccessful attempt at karate, wherein I kept fretting about actually having to kick people and trying to convince the class to break for tea. Sometimes, however, I've been seen carrying a parasol for protection against the sun. I know, I know, crazy talk.

(John Glover) Given that your biography states that you are "fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit," would you please describe your favored method for combining the two, and the conditions under which said combination would occur?
How about a teeny tiny hat decorated with tropical fruit? Or wearing a teeny tiny hat and eating tropical fruit? Or cutting tropical fruit into the shape of teeny tiny hats!

(Jonathan Moeller) Why parasols?
You would prefer, perhaps, octopuses?

(Kate) If you could describe Soulless in one word, what would that word be?
Canoodle! (Because it's the best word ever, followed closely by kafuffle. Oo, can I choose three words? A canoodling kafuffle!)

(Natalie Allen) I saw a little bit about your cat, Chubby Fucker, on your website: She pees in the human lavatory and keeps you company while you write. Were you the one to teach her this neat trick?
Ah the Chubby Fucker. She's a sweetheart - even if we really are only keeping her around to make into stew after the zombie apocalypse. I did not, in fact, potty-train the cat. She came to us fully disciplined (or she wouldn't have come at all – I do not allow litter boxes in my house, thank you very much). Funnily enough, her trainer is the infamous Eytan Kollin of the Brother's K - co-author of The Unincorporated Man. So I suppose you could say I have an unincorporated cat.

(Nick) Did you ever find yourself writing a bit of dialog and reading it back to yourself thinking "Wow. That's just TOO over the top..."?
Wait, have you read my book? Uh. No. I did get the reign-in from my editor on a certain bit of dialogue in the second book. I neatly avoided the issue through judicious application of laudanum. (To the character speaking, mind you, not my editor.)

(Goodreads News Letter) If you could spend one day in Victorian-era London, what would you do (and, more importantly, what would you wear)?
I should love to visit the Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition displays housed there. I'd wear the appropriate day dress, probably something in teal velvet with hundreds of tiny buttons and a very outrageous hat. Ivy has nothing on me with regards to taste in hats.

(Vampire Film) CK: Any favorite vampires from lit, film, or TV?
I don't think he really counts, but I love Dorian Gray. I have a real soft spot for Mina Murray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel series and I adore the character of Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not to sneak in werewolves, but I was turned to the furry side by Klause's brilliant YA novel Blood and Chocolate.

(Travis) Have you reached the point at which you realized that you had “made it” as a writer and author?
When I walked into a bookstore store and saw Soulless on a shelf for the first time, there was sputtering. (I blog about it for the Brothers K)



Gail's Daily Dose
Your Infusion of Cute:
Octopus Tea Locket

Your Tisane of Smart:
Period fashion over the years.

(Image source I Like Historical Clothing. Music WARNING.)
Your Writerly Tinctures:
Spelling, Text Messaging, and Booty Calls all in one comic.

CAKE in Space: Back from agent, but now I don't have time for it.
From the Biblio File's Best & Worst of 2009. "Probably the most entertaining book of 2009."
SPOILER ALERT! Amazon and Powell's have posted Changeless cover along with blurb. Blurb gives bits of Soulless away so don't read if you haven't read the first book.
Blameless: Waiting on the Gamma.

Quote of the Day:
"Fiction writers, present company included, don't understand very much about what they do - not why it works when it's good, not why it doesn't when it's bad."
~ Stephen King

I prefer "goals" to "resolutions," don't you, Gentle Reader? Seems less formal.
So here are some thoughts/goals/and prospective appearances for 2010.

1. Books. I'd like to write a new book over the next few months. Something for me, that I really just want to play with.
2. Edits. I've got the revisions for CAKE from my agent. I need to go over those and see if I really want to break into that universe (YA SF) or not.
3. Shorts. I've had a few requests. It's been a while but I should dust of my brevity and see if I still have the chops for short story writing.
4. Email. I've been lax about responding to emails and interview requests and other things. I allowed myself too much slack over the holidays must be more diligent.
5. Website. See above. There are a few tedious changes I need to implement, like links to the books I recommend on the steampunk page and such.
6. Event. The Steampunk Expo is in March. I'll be on panels and I hope to have a few new outfits ready.
7. Changeless comes out in April. I have to make sure all my contest winners get their copies, and also do what I can to get books to the reviewers and individuals who have been so kind and helpful to me with Soulless.
8. I have readings, signings and conventions for April and May, some scheduled, some still to schedule.
9. I'm back on the excavation in August.
10. Event. I'm flying to Australia for WorldCon in September and staying there for a month or so.
11. Within that madness Blameless comes out. I won't be around to shepherd this third book as much, I'm hoping people enjoy Changeless enough to jump on Blameless in the same year.
12. October I'm hoping to go to Orycon.
13. Then it's right back around to the holidays.

2009 was a pretty good year for me, aside from some personal life wobbly bits. Here's hoping 2010 is just as much fun. It's starting out well so far.

Soulless is making the occasional appearance about the blogosphere on 2009 favorites lists. I am so excited and honored.

• Ron Hogan accuses Nicole Peeler and I of "doing a bang-up job of queering the paranormal romance." And here I thought I was putting "b" back in subtle.
• Babbling About Books give it an honorary mention .
• Kat with a K's 16 best.

Gail's Daily Dose
Your Infusion of Cute:
Modcloth shopping.

Your Tisane of Smart:
I am considering purchase of the LifeSpan Fitness TR200 Fold-N-Stor Compact Treadmill. Anyone know anything bad about it?
Your Writerly Tinctures:
Jim Hines (jimhines ) does his yearly writer income report.

CAKE in Space: Back from agent, but now I don't have time for it.
Buried Under Books. "Very highly recommended for anyone who likes fantasy and mystery, with more than a little steampunk thrown in for good measure."
SPOILER ALERT! Amazon and Powell's have posted Changeless cover along with blurb. Blurb gives bits of Soulless away so don't read if you haven't read the first book.
Blameless: Waiting on the Gamma.

Quote of the Day:
"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
~ E. M. Forster

I stumbled on a great foodie's website while hunting down rabbit stew recipes this past week, and while going back to it today to add it to my bookmarks - it's a slow food, gourmet site full of snark, so I know I'll be back, over and over and over again - I found this, from an article on deep-fried cheeseburgers in British food section:

The Scottish Diet is an ingenious nutritional system invented by the Scots to keep their pension funds in balance by reducing the number of people who make it beyond the age of 60. Like many of the world's smartest inventions (most of them invented by the Scots), it is devilishly simple. It increases the premature death rate through a well-balanced diet:

The Scottish Diet
Any and all thing you can eat
But this proportion always heed:
A third from fat
A third from sugar
A third from alcohol
From time to time, you can eat a small amount of fruits, in the form of jams or preserves, or even better, distilled.
--- fxcuisine.com

It is the new year, so it is time for a random list:

• Last meal of 2009
  An Italian-swiss style rabbit stew, salad, squid ink pasta & red sauce, spaghetti squash shaped into brain mold, assorted finger foods labeled "fingers" and "brains" due to zombie theme. Champagne.


• First meal of 2010:
  Toast with marmite, eggy cups, fresh fruit, tea, orange juice.


• Last tv of 2009:
  Q.I. episodes in the background while making rabbit stew for the party.

( rest behind a cut to save your scrollbars )

Clip from World Fantasy 2009 in which Jeff and I duke out the ancient and fateful question of invertebrate superiority: squid versus octopus.

(Filmed by Pixel Media for the upcoming television series "Margins." Contact kimball@thepixelmeida.com for further info.)



Gail's Daily Dose
Your Infusion of Cute:
From the mad skillz of OctopusMe

Your Tisane of Smart:
Stressed out in Ancient Peru
Your Writerly Tinctures:
Nicole talks about how to deal with negative reviews on the Orbit blog

CAKE in Space: Back from agent, but now I don't have time for it.
Love Vampires has an extensive and very kind review. "If you are bored with the same old urban fantasy or paranormal romance themes, or feel like you just can’t face another leather-pant-wearing, gun-toting urban fantasy heroine, then Soulless may be just the book you need to cleanse your jaded palate."
SPOILER ALERT! Amazon and Powell's have posted Changeless cover along with blurb. Blurb gives bits of Soulless away so don't read if you haven't read the first book.
Blameless: Almost done.

Quote of the Day:
"A writer doesn't solve problems. He allows them to emerge."
~ Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Some of you know, Gentle Reader, that I review professionally. That is, I am paid to read children's books and write about them in 60 words. So I almost never do it here in my blog. These books are chosen for me but always fall within my supposed area of expertise (YA & MG sci-fi/fantasy/historical or non-fiction for younger ages in historical/archaeology/anthropology/social sciences). And, Gail, you might ask, how does one become an expert on such topics? Search me.

Anyway, what this means is that I have from 6 to 12 books to read a month. What that means is I have precious little time to read anything else. However, Jane True and Alexia have been nattering away recently and I thought it might be a good plan for me to set aside some vacation time to read Nicole Peeler's Tempest Rising.

The Sub-Genre
I like urban fantasy but I am cautious in which urban fantasy I read, as I mostly do not like a modern setting or anything too dark. I enjoyed Patricia Brigg's werewolf stuff (although she sure does like raping her characters ~ really, not my thing), and ten years or more ago I loved Mercedes Lackey's Knight of Ghosts & Shadows (AKA elves in LA) and Children of the Night (AKA super sexy French vampire). (I think, sometimes, we do not give Ms. Lackey enough credit for single handedly holding down the sub-genre of urban fantasy well before it was a glimmer in Meyer's sparkly little eye.) I've danced the paranormal polka with a few other authors and been disappointed. Recently, I have added more hopefully to my ever-growing Amazon wish list and ever expanding pile or too-read books, but I'm terribly wary.

The Confession
But, I do like Nicole. We are twitter buddies. She's a fellow academic. She drinks (a lot). She is hilarious. She has this awesome skull belt. So I read her book, and here, ladies and gentlemen, is my take. You must consider it biased. What can I say? It's an opinion and it's mine ~ of course it's biased!
( Let us start with . . . )

I have only one last thought. And it's a snarky one. This is what the Meredith Gentry books should have been.

P.S. Screw the vampire, it's all about them weredoggies.



Gail's Daily Dose
Your Infusion of Cute:
New Years is coming. How about a vampire cocktail?

Your Tisane of Smart:
London 1927

Your Writerly Tinctures:
Conventions & Writing by Mary Robinette Kowal

CAKE in Space: Back from agent, but now I don't have time for it.
Karissa says, "This was a fun read; very creative and fast moving."
SPOILER ALERT! Amazon and Powell's have posted Changeless cover along with blurb. Blurb gives bits of Soulless away so don't read if you haven't read the first book.
Blameless: Edits are back, that's what I'll be doing all day today.

Quote of the Day:
"That crafty little minx, I thought, as I realized what was happening. She's one of them . . . she owes me fried cheese for keeping secrets. In my world, fried cheese is the gold standard."
~ Jane True (Nicole Peeler)

Just got back from a matinee viewing of Avatar. ( spoilers, but mostly for how much of a twelve year old I am )

Resa Nelson, in the December 2009 Issue of Realms of Fantasy, compiled a contributors series on favorite guilty pleasure movies. I love this idea, so I thought I would do the same. I tend to think of these movies more as good flavor movies. Which is to say, Gentle Reader, if I see a movie that really upsets me I can go home and pop in one of these and it will make me feel better. They live at the very front of my DVD binder for easy access. For some reason I don't have books that function the same way ~ perhaps books tap into a different part of the psyche.
Ever After ~ I have no idea why this Cinderella retelling featuring Drew Barrymore and Angelica Houston is so appealing, but it is. It could be that it ties back to my childhood love for the Slipper and the Rose. It also features Melanie Lynskey as one of the stepsisters, my choice of casting for Ivy Hisselpenny. The dialogue is stilted, the costuming questionable, and the accents atrocious but none of that seems to matter ~ watching this movie never fails to make me feel better.
Latter Days ~ Possibly the most romantic film ever made: party boy redeemed through the love of a good . . . Mormon? Yeah. Bring it. I can re-watch the ending scene where Christian drops the tray in surprise over and over again. Who knew the sexiest words in existence were "I hate the snow"?
Bend it Like Beckham ~ Girl power comedy featuring romantic interest Jonathan Rhys Myers in full on pouty-lipped tortured Irish mode. Who could ask for anything more? (Someday that boy with finally come out and my life will be complete, but I digress.) Not to mention in indomitable Juliet Stevenson as the white trash mother (or the British equivalent of white trash) trying to understand sports. In addition, we get: interracial difficulties, spunky girls with something to prove, gay best friend, makeover, sister bonding, victorious sports action, Bollywood dance, and beautiful saris. I find it odd anyone would not love this movie.

So those are my picks, and now, I'm dieing of curiosity. What are yours?



Gail's Daily Dose
Your Infusion of Cute:
League of STEAM holiday video

Your Tisane of Smart:
The Difference Engine on NPR.
Your Writerly Tinctures:
Social Networking and the Author Mystique by Jason Pinter

CAKE in Space: Back from agent, but now I don't have time for it.
Fellow LJer lady_fellshot  has some very witty things to say. "So, I had the joy of many laughs, chuckles, guffaws, giggles and one snort while reading Soulless. The writing style seemed like some weird melding of Jane Austen, Jim Butcher and Terry Pratchett. Very dry humor, scrupulous attention paid to 19th century societal mores with likable characters and pretty good action."
SPOILER ALERT! Amazon & Powell's have posted Changeless cover along with blurb. Blurb gives bits of Soulless away so don't read if you haven't read the first book!
Blameless: Edits are back, that's what I'll be doing all day today and tomorrow.

Quote of the Day:
"Editors also know that the people who are really readers want to read. They hunger to read. They will forgive a vast number of clumsinesses and scamped work of every sort if the author will delight them just enough to keep them able to continue."
~ William Sloane