Gails Blog

Obligatory Bio

New York Times Bestselling Author Gail Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon...


Books

Soulless Soulless AudiobookChangelessChangeless
Soulless (1) & Changeless (2) & Blameless (3)
Listen to a free sample of the first chapter of Soulless! Or watch the book trailer!

"Wickedly funny ."
~ Angie Fox, New York Times Bestselling author

The Parasol Protectorate Series books are comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. They are either Jane Austen doing urban fantasy, or PG Wodehouse doing steampunk. Soulless, Book the First, came out October 2009 and Changeless, Book the Second, in March 2010 and is a New York Times Bestseller. Blameless will be released September 1, 2010 from Orbit US. Heartless is due out July 2011, and Timeless in the Spring of 2012. Buy Soulless and Changeless online, at your favorite indy bookstore, or from your local brick & mortar. If you would like a signed copy of Soulless or Changeless you can order one from Borderlands Books. The Soulless audio book is also available.

Soulless Blurb

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she is being rudely attacked by a vampire to whom she has not been properly introduced! Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire, and the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
You can purchase Soulless from the following online retailers and many others: IndieBound, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Regulator, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, Murder by the Book, or Books*a*Million, in ebook form from Diesel eBook.

Changeless Blurb (SPOILER ALERT for Soulless)

Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria. But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can. She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it. Audio recording from Rick Kleffel of Gail reading from Changeless at SF in SF.
You can buy Changeless from Amazon, Mysterious Galaxy, Powell's, and all the other usual suspects.

Blameless Blurb (SPOILER ALERT for Soulless & Changeless)

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season. Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead. While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.
Currently, you can preorder Blameless from Amazon.


 

OryCon 2010 Convention Report, Sunday Day 3 & Powell's AuthorFest

I'm at SteamCon in Seattle this weekend starting this evening. I hope to see some of you there.

But first Sin Alma, cute little cards!

And I keep getting questions about men's fashions in the Victorian Era. Here's a good resource, but it's too late being only from the turn of the century on, and American. There is a great gaping hole waiting to be filled with a book here, people.

Lastly, I am head over heals in love with Oscar de la Renta's Spring/Summer 2011 collection for NYFW. I'll take one of everything, please. I bet my bottom dollar we'll see at least three of those dresses at the Academy Awards and a few others on Dita over the coming months - I think he designed the show for her.

And now back to OryCon.

What I wore . . .





What I did . . .
Steampunk: Victorian marvels of science fantastic: Discuss and learn about the marvelous world of steampunk. What's new and what's classic in books, movies, art, toys and even music!
What we actually talked about: sexy men, some film, a lot of literature, how we got into steampunk and why we love it. Why we think it is coming to the fore right now.

Gail Carriger, Camille Alexa, P.N. Elrod

Turtle or Bunny: Does writing speed matter? Should anyone care about writing speed? Where should writers spend their time? Are fast writers always hacks? When to spend a lot of time editing, when to write 'raw,' when to slow down and when to speed up, and why.
What we actually talked about: Jay Lake. How we defined writing fast or slow. How many books a year would make a living wage. What we would really write if we could. What would be the best kind of arrangement. Our different writing processes.

Powell's Authorfest
Sat next to the lovely Devon Monk. Between signings managed to pick her brain about what to expect from a romance convention (I have 2 next year) and various other things. Delightful companion. After, went out with big group of authors for much shop talk. Or I should say, one table talked shop (contracts, the fate of the industry, and Really Important Matters) my table talked about shopping and food (to my mind even more important matters).

Final Tally
Pairs of Shoes: 6
Panels: 6
Hats: 4
Tribute: 12 (included a chocolate bar, a pen, octopus pencil sharpener, a ring, and a necklace)
Costume Awards: 2 (which is odd for someone not wearing a costume)
Cups of tea: 11
Cups of coffee: 2
Discovery of a very cute shot-glass for my impossible to find presents for step-dad: 1 (victory is mine!)
Blisters: 2
Mysterious alcoholic drinks: 2
Arguments with Brent Weeks over wine: 1

Your moment of parasol . . .


Gail's Daily Dose
Your Infusion of Cute:
Jellyfish
Your Tisane of Smart:
Prehispanic Decapitated Ballgame Player Sculpture Discovered
Your Writerly Tinctures:
All about the very important Options Clause in a writer's contract.

David says, "I loved Soulless. And the thing that made it work, and gave it its delicious centre -- you know, the thing that makes you not want to stop eating -- was the writing. This book makes you want to keep turning just one more page..."
SPOILER ALERT! A full series review from Bookshop Talk. "In a world over-saturated with supernatural romance novels, I love Gail Carriger and her Parasol Protectorate series! These books are so wildly inventive and enjoyable."
Even bigger SPOILER ALERT! Really, DON'T READ THE BLURB ON AMAZON if you haven't read the other books first. Today's Adventure says, "Delightful. Excellent with scones."

Heartless: Working draft 7.
Timeless: Just an outline, making sure I pick up cookies and threads.
Secret Project F: Axed down and back with the agent.
CAKE in Space: Trunked.
Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded is out.
The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance 2 is out.

Quote of the Day:
"Fashion is something that goes in one year and out the other."
~ Denise Klahn