I'm trying to write a bio for QueeredFiction. I don't know why I feel the need to provide a new one when there's a perfectly serviceable one on my website already, but I do. Possibly this is displacement activity, since if I'm writing a bio, I'm not doing Day Job Stuff. Always a good thing. The problem is, I can't think of anything to say about myself except "Naomi has a deep and unholy fascination with cephalopods, werewolves, and cocktails." Maybe that will do? Maybe I should make up a bunch of lies, like "Naomi travels in a pimped-out Mustang and always keeps a bottle of brandy and a flamethrower close at hand."

Anyway.

(I just copied and pasted the bio from my website, thinking I'd modify it accordingly, and have just deleted everything except the first line. Sigh).

Anyway.

I've also been pondering some more on the zombie/military UF. My ex-military heroine now has a name and a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (got to keep everything clean when you're a plague-bearer, you know). I really, really want to write this book. I just need to settle on a title. I fancied Living Dead Girl, until I read Elizabeth Scott's book of the same name (it's an awesome, heart-wrenching book, you should all read it), and now I feel I can't use that title. Then I thought of Better Off Dead, but that's a bit too generically UF. So, I'm pondering more. I plan to start work properly once the Institute closes for Christmas (other projects allowing), so I'm sure the perfect title will hit me by then. If not, I'll just call it The Incredible and True Tale of the Zombie Plague Bearer and Her Brave Struggle with Hair Loss and leave it at that

I'll make no secret of the fact that I'm an unabashed Kittredge fangirl. Nocturne City is one of my favourite UF series, and if she released her discarded facewipes, I'd probably buy them I love her gritty, dark, Lovecrafty style, and how she's unafraid to give us morally ambiguous characters like Dmitri. So I was already prepared to love Street Magic, especially since it's set in London and I could be all like "OMG, I've been there!" about the locations and so forth.

And seriously. This book blew me away. I'd marry it if I could. I loved it. I loved Pete, loved Jack, loved their relationship, loved Kittredge's vision of London. This is a dark, melancholy book, although not without flashes of hope and humour, and it sucked me in completely. I didn't even mind the English-isms too much (I recently read a book written by an American set in the UK and it totally did my head in. Why say bugger when you mean fuck?).

I can't recommend Street Magic enough. Pete's ballsy without emasculating every man she meets, and Jack's flawed and dangerous without slipping into tedious melodrama and angst. The writing is evocative, the plot is fascinating, and this is the best book I've read all year. I have absolutely no doubt that Demon Bound, released in December, will be even better.

I read these two books over the weekend at my parents' - loved them both. There were some great stories in The Eternal Kiss, the standouts for me being Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Cold Town, Libba Bray's The Thirteenth Step, and Karen Mahoney's Fall to Ashes. In fact, I liked Holly Black's story so much, I went out and bought Tithe despite the fact that I'm not supposed to be buying any more new books until I clear my TBR pil (ha ha ha, oh that will never happen and we all know it). And Tithe is so awesome that I now want recommendations for other UF/paranormal YA books, please!

I've got Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely and Daniel Waters' Kiss of Life on my TBR pile, but I'd welcome any suggestions from people. I did want to try Cassandra Clare's series, but I've heard some rumours about plagiarism - anyone know anything about that?

I'm having a bit of an ebook buying binge. I decided that buying ebooks isn't as bad as buying actual books, because they don't take up floor/bookcase/desktop space. I promised myself recently (as I do at least once a month) that I wasn't buying any more paper books until I'd cleared my TBR pile, which is currently big enough to keep me going well into 2010. I've managed to stick to this promise for a whole three weeks now without cracking, which is definitely a record.

But ebooks, that's okay, right? I couldn't resist Stephanie Draven's new Nocturne Bite - I loved Midnight Medusa, and madlee276  recommended me a Louise Allen Historical Undone, so yeah. I've kind of been slow to embrace ebooks because I love paper books so much, but I've discovered some really cool authors through Samhain, Changeling, and Harlequin.

I went out for a drink with Pip last night, planning not to drink because, man, I drank so much raspberry vodka on Friday night, but there were passionfruit and vanilla martinis on offer, so I had to have one. It was pretty good, so that was okay. We ended up bitching about work, as usual, and I remarked that signing the contract with QueeredFiction has changed my mind about leaving the Institute. Not that I'm anywhere near ready to pack up the day job and write full-time, but I've felt much less edgy and frustrated since I got the news. The burning need to escape at all costs has receded a little because I've got the satisfaction and excitement of knowing I can make it as a writer, and that puts everything else into perspective.

I'm going to speak to my line manager about changing my working hours so I can finish earlier and fit more writing time in in the evenings. So the Escape from the Day Job of Firetop Mountain is off for now. Everything else is going too well for me to stay unhappy at work anymore. Hmm. I must be in love.

The fabulous Kit Whitfield has written a really fascinating post on Twilight, which I recommend everyone with any interest in the book of any kind goes and reads. As always, she's clever, eloquent, and persuasive, and gives plenty of food for thought. (Unlike me).

Only on myself, obviously.

chaostheoryand I had a write-in last night, and I added 3k to SILVER KISS, as evidenced below:

 

30218 / 60000 words. 50% done!

I'm a week behind my self-imposed deadline as last week I was frantically working on something else. Don't want to say much as I'm not confident about the outcome, but an opportunity came along that I couldn't say no to. With that in mind, I quietly pleased at how SILVER KISS is coming along, and hope I can make my goal of finishing the first draft by late July/early August.

I also managed 400 words on a submission for Samhain's 2010 Angels and Demons anthology:

 

2015 / 20000 words. 10% done!

The deadline for this isn't until November, so I can afford to take it slowly for a bit, but I'd love to get it in well before the deadline. Sigh. Another reason to reconsider the day job... They really are mounting up.

ETA: My long-time friend and writing buddy laburton is self-publishing her first novel, STORM OF MAGICK, this summer, and she's just unveiled the cover. Go take a look - it's gorgeous!

I'm worried. I shouldn't be, but I am and I can't stop, and so I went into town and bought books. I know! But look, I'm really stressed out. So it's okay. I got this and this and this. The House of Night books are my crack reading fix - they're cheesy nonsense, Zoey is a total Mary-Sue, and I should know better. But I love them anyway. Daniel Water's Generation Dead is one of my favourite books, so I had to snap up Kiss of Life.

I also ordered a copy of Almost Human by Cat Marsters and a book on spontaneous human combustion from Amazon. Now I can worry about having no money because I've spent it all on books instead of worrying about The Other Thing.

Holy crap.

I just finished this on my lunch break - it's amazing! I had to go and buy Pretties immediately, despite the fact that I've yet to pay this month's council tax and promised myself only yesterday that I wouldn't buy any more books until I cleared the mammoth leviathan that is my TBR pile. But I HAVE to know what happens next!

I hope this is isn't stalkerish, but I just woke up from a dream where we were discussing business strategies for marketing books on the bus. It turns out that we hold a lot of common views, including the idea that writing "BUY MY NEW BOOK" in the condensation on the bus window is a great way to attract attention.

I'm pretty sure there was also a mummy in the dream, but I don't think that was actually anything to do with you. I don't know if there are any deep or hidden messages here, or if you've developed a technique for advertising directly into people's subconscious? (If so, I salute you!) Anyway, the upshot is that I just went to Amazon to preorder Deader Still (I know, I can't believe it's not out in the UK yet either!). So, you know, your cunning business strategy succeeded. I am in fact buying your book.

Thanks,
Naomi

For reasons best known to ... myself, I suppose, I read a lot of vampire books last month. I've got a bit of a love/hate relationship with vampire books - LKH scarred me deeply, but Richelle Mead and Jocelynn Drake have restored my faith somewhat.

( Click for pretty pictures! )

Happy April 1st everyone! Please keep your practical jokes to a safe level of humiliating. Just a quick list of books I read last month, mainly because some of them were awesome and I want to spread the goodness.

Second Skin - Caitlin Kittredge - the third, and best so far, book in the Nocturne City series. Luna! Dmitri! Wendigos! Muscle cars!

Happy Hour of the Damned - Mark Henry - zombies and cocktails. This book was written for me.

Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham - having read this book, I'm now even more suspicious of the weird plant on my desk at work. I'm sure it moves.

Acid Row - Minette Walters - this was a really surprising book; considering the subject matter I enjoyed it immensely. Definitely worth a look.

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance - I'm actually about half way through this at the moment. Some of the stories are fabulous - I've just bought Jenna Maclaine's Wages of Sin on the basis of her short here.

Right, off to work to post that partial! Squee!

I have WINNERS! Drawn from the mystic depths of my top hat, the winner of the Top 5 of 2008 is heroineforhire ! Email me at violet_shadows at hotmail dot com and I'll get the books sent to you asap :)

And runner-up winner of The Hunger Games is Tez Miller! Email me, and it'll soon be winging it's way Down Under.

I finally have home internet access! A whole new world of never leaving my bed is open to me! Watch how I now never get anything done because I'm up all night on teh interwebz.

Anyway, if you haven't already, you can still enter my Top 5 of 2008 book giveaway by leaving a comment here. You've got until Monday to enter for the chance to win copies of Generation Dead, World War Z, Tantalize, Maneater, and Night Life, plus a runner-up prize of Hunger Games.

In an act of sheer generosity, I'm giving away five books that I read last year and loved (technically World War Z was a 2007 read, but I re-read it in 2008 and loved it even more the second time round, so it counts).

If you want to be in with a chance, just leave a comment before Monday 12 January. Your name will then go into my infamous top hat and the winner will be announced sometime next week.

AND as a special bonus, I'll draw a runner-up and send them a copy of Suzanne Collins' amazing The Hunger Games because OMFG, that book is insanely good and more people need to be reading it.

So, has anyone else read this? I finished it last night and it's amazing! Like Twilight would have been if Bella had a backbone and Edward had admitted he was a stalkerish creep. Tantalize is up there with Generation Dead as one of the best books I've read this year. It's witty, unusual, and elegantly written.

Quincie Morris and her uncle are reopening their family restaurant with a creepy new theme - vampirism. But a month before Sanguini's launches, their head chef is killed in what looks like a werewolf attack. Quincie is left with the job of whipping new chef Brad into shape while her uncle begins to spend more and more time with seriously weird new girlfriend, Ruby. Quincie's best friend, werewolf hybrid Kieran, is one of the main suspects for the murder, so who can Quincie trust?

Thrown into Quincie's quirky narrative are restaurant reviews and sample menus from Sanguini's, which I loved as it just gave the book that extra something. A poignant coming-of-age romance with a twist, Tantalize is just awesome.

 In order to channel my obsession with werewolves and assorted shapeshifters in a healthy way, I've started another blog for book reviews and general ponderings. If you enjoy such things, why not take a look?

 OMG, you guys. You guys, OMG. Go and buy A Rush of Wings by Adrian Phoenix. Go now. Go right now. Seriously, when have I ever lead you astray? You go buy it, I'll wait here.

Okay, you're back? You got a copy? Good. Moving on. Yesterday I cut almost a chapter and half out of Wild, which was painful. Hopefully what I replaced it with is good and adds to my "spice up the plot" quota. I'm not sure yet. It's like I'm halfway through conducting a major operation and I've had to stop because I can't remember if I'm taking out the heart or the liver. I do think a lot of what I'm cutting out is unnecessary waffle (or bad cholesterol, if you will), but it's quite scary to think I might be replacing it all with even more unnecessary waffle. Let's look at the evidence:

Chapters rewritten: 10. Technically it's twelve, but I cut one chapter altogether and merged two more into one.
Menacing encounters with werewolves: 3
Number of times Lizzie has resolved to quit drugs/break up with Harris and failed to do so: Countless.
Sinister predictions of Doom from strangers: 2
References to teenagers being killed by clowns: 1