Burn it All Down: Wiscon’s Failure of Feminism
There are two ways to change an organization: the first is from the inside out – joining existing structures, working one’s way up through them, turning like minds to your cause, and revolutionizing the institution from the inside out. The other way to do it is to burn the fucker down to the ground. The first way is much harder, as there’s a very real and proven possibility that by joining an existing structure, you’ll eventually be corrupted by it. This happens to every starry-eyed politician, and most working women battling their...
read moreOn Public Speaking While Fat
I admit that looking at pictures of myself the last couple of years always involves a bit of dissonance. Since God’s War came out and I switched to a job that no longer requires me to bike into work every day, I have – as has happened to many writers – put on about 70 pounds. This is easy to forget when you work at home a lot and don’t go out much. There are perfectly good reasons for this gain, as my metabolism is super efficient; I come from a long line of overweight people with a host of immune disorders who could, however, survive...
read moreReadercon Schedule: Boston area appearances!
So, right off the heels of CONvergence, I have a smaller, lit-focused con I’m attending this weekend outside Boston – Readercon. This will be a much slower-paced con, as I’m told there are only about 750 or so folks there, mostly writers and book-loving folks, which I anticipate will be a very, very different con experience. Certainly more my regular speed that busy CONvergence, but also, I suspect less fan energy! I did very much enjoy connecting with fans at CONvergence. I do hope to see some old and new faces at Readercon...
read moreMapping the Days of Our Lives: MIRROR EMPIRE Map & Giveaway
(if you’re only here for the giveaway, here’s the details: To enter to win a full-color, wall-sized map of what appears in MIRROR EMPIRE, signed by the author, simply reply to this post on Facebook, Google Plus, or @tweet the same to me @kameronhurley with tag #mirrorempire and let me know your favorite fantasy map, yours or someone...
read moreThe Angry Robot Imprint Bomb & MIRROR EMPIRE
I wasn’t going to comment at length on this, because MIRROR EMPIRE and EMPIRE ASCENDANT are published by Angry Robot Books, as opposed to its imprints, which were cancelled today, Exhibit A and Strange Chemistry. My heart goes out to all the staff and authors affected by these decisions, which I know were painful. I’ve had a contract cancelled before, and it’s really, really fucking messy and awful. Hugs not drugs, though, people – if you meet an Exhibit A/Strange Chem author at a con this year, please buy them lunch,...
read moreCONvergence Schedule
Surfacing from the ragged bowels of the EMPIRE ASCENDANT manuscript to note that two weeks from today, I’ll be in Bloomington, MN for CONvergence. I’ll be rolling in midday or so on Thursday, and out of there Sunday morning. Do catch me at a signing or after a panel. I’ll also be bringing a few copies of God’s War,Infidel, and Rapture - but alas, no MIRROR EMPIRE until GenCon in August! Hoping to see some of you there! Thursday, July 3rd: 3:30 PM Good, Fast or Cheap When does it make sense to work for exposure...
read moreYou Don’t Have to Be Evil to Sell Things: A Primer on Ad Writing & Sexism
I generally prefer to stick to positive imagery and commentary here, and I may eventually delete this post, but I keep seeing these lists of “vintage” sexist ads from the 50′s,60′s, and 70′s shared online so that folks may gloat about how “enlightened” we are in “this day and age.” I work in marketing and advertising, and though I can tell you things are getting better (this is still one of my favorite of the pieces I’ve done, from my portfolio), lazy ad agencies and in-house...
read more“We Have Always Fought”: Essays on Craft, Fiction & Fandom
Today I get to drop 85,000 words of collected essays on writing craft, publishing, marketing, publicity, fandom and celebrity on the internet – this time all in one neat package. “We Have Always Fought” is the title of the first blog post to be nominated for a Hugo Award, and is included in this collection for those who haven’t already downloaded the Hugo Voter Packet. Why put this collection together now? This project started out as shameless promotion, a tie-in to go with the Hugo nomination. But the more I looked...
read more7 Reasons to Pre-Order The Mirror Empire
Why pre-order an epic fantasy coming out in August! So far away, right? Oh, you mean what other reasons…. Besides blood mages, sentient trees, living swords?? Here’s seven MORE great reasons: 1) This cover: 2) This review: Read it. 3) This excerpt: Read the rest 4) All these excited people: 5) More pre-orders means more bookstore pre-orders (think thousands, not hundreds), increasing likelihood you’ll see this: 6) Because one of the...
read moreBlood from Stone: Finding Joy When Writing Becomes Work
I was sitting around with some folks at my day job, waiting for another colleague to arrive for a meeting, when someone asked me how my vacation had been. “Oh, the usual,” I said. “I had book deadlines.” This turned into a discussion about the trials of publishing, book covers, and author control over payments and marketing. After talking about how you only get paid twice a year, at best, and payments are usually late or – in the case of really awful publishers - never show up, one of my colleagues finally asked, “How is that...
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