Writing Bits

Posted on May 22, 2007    Posted by John Scalzi

Some about me, some about other people:

* Look! Proof I know cool bestselling authors!

That’s me with New York Times bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare (and Cassie’s friend Lori), after Holly and Cassie’s stop here in Dayton for their book tour. The two of them had quite a turnout; they both write YA and it’s always heartening to see so many teens and tweens in one place, books in hand. Also, Holly and Cassie (and Lori) were tons of fun to hang out with. I’ll be interviewing both Holly and Cassie at some point in the future for Ficlets, as soon as I pull my head out and actually start sending out interview questions again. I really have no excuse now; I’m just procrastinating.

* Elizabeth Bear’s New Amsterdam is shipping this week, and you’re in for a treat when it hits — but why wait for a taste? Subterranean Magazine online has a ginchy audio version of “Wax,” a story in the NA collection, read by Mary Robinette Kowal, who you all know to be one of my favorite audio people (she’s cool in other respects too). Enjoy and remember that the sooner you buy new Amsterdam, the sooner you can read it, and the sooner you read it, the better you’ll feel about, well. The entire universe, actually.

* Moving on to me: As most of you know, Subterranean Press is slated to release Your Hate Mail Will be Graded: Selection Writings 1998 – 2007, comprised of selections from the Whatever over the years. We were originally going to release this book early this year, but decided to put Coffee Shop, my writing book, in that slot instead. This turned out to be a good idea (Coffee Shop did well) but as we prepped Hate Mail for later this year, I couldn’t help notice that 2008 — and my 10th year of writing the Whatever — was right around the corner. And, you know. Ten years is a nice round number.

So: Hate Mail is being pulled back into 2008, and being revamped to be a ten year retrospective of the site, which should be both interesting and fun to do. I think this will give us a lot more flexibility with the presentation of the book, which needless to say is better for you, the potential book-buying public, whom I adore and want to give quality work to. So, for those of you who have been looking forward to Hate Mail, patience. We’ll make it worth the wait.

Also, of course: Ten years. Damn. I’ve been doing this for a long time.