Gotham City

Hi everyone! Sporadic blogging continues, but for good reasons: 1) I’m finishing up line edits to the third and final Iron Codex novel and 2) I’m working on two brand new Book 1′s of both an adult and YA series. No sales yet, but I hope that’ll change very soon, and I can share some details with all of you lovely people.

In lieu of any news (because let’s face it, doing nothing but edit for 6 hours a day since I got back from the cruise is boring to everyone but me), I bring you some shiny, pretty things.

Viviane Hebel of HebelDesign has made some absolutely gorgeous jewelry inspired by the Iron Codex books, which is about the coolest thing ever!

Here are the two designs:

This one is based on the secret gears that control Aoife’s family home, Graystone, and all of its clockwork apparatus. In real life (Viviane was kind enough to send me a sample!) it’s beautiful, shiny, and heavy–really perfect if you have a steampunk event or costume you’re trying to accessorize.

  This one is based on Aoife’s compass from The Nightmare Garden, and it is absolutely gorgeous. In real life it’s perfect for everyday wear (I wear mine all the time!) and it glimmers and gleams and I love it.

Viviane donates portions of her proceeds to reading charities, and she also features jewelry inspired by (among others) the Mortal Instruments and Curse Workers series. If you’re interested in Iron Codex shinies of your very own, you can find them right here:

HebelDesign

Iron Codex jewelry!

I always disliked the phrase “a vacation from my vacation” (a phrase almost as saccharine and idiotic as “a case of the Mondays”.)

But after spending a week and a half on the JCCC2 boat, which Wil Wheaton’s lovely wife Anne described as “Nerd camp for adults, on a boat” (More info on the JoCo Cruise here–it really was spectacular in a strange and very nerdy way) I needed the week to regroup. Thus, I have a link dump of epic proportions for all of you, and not really very much content, for which I heartily apologize.

Here, have a clip of Paul & Storm singing a song they wrote to George R.R. Martin (the crappy phone audio is to blame for the pitchiness–trust me, I was there and they killed the song live):

So that is a small sample of things that happen on such a nerdy sort of cruise. That was also not the only song directed at a pop culture icon named George I heard over the course of the week.

And now I am back on land, land which has finally stopped moving around thanks to my inner ear, and I can’t say much else than… [ :: insert floppy sound effect here :: ] …which brings us up to this week.

I can say that I’m hard at work on a brand new young adult series, and as soon as I have clearance to tell you more I will be so happy.

And right now, (literally the second I hit post) I’m working again on rewrites for Soul Trade, making it suck at least 99.9997% less.

And now…here are some links.

• From the files of this is awesome: Random Buzzers is giving away a chance to win a copy of The Iron Thorn‘s pretty new paperback edition, and! a phone call with me. I’ll talk to you about writing, about my books, about other people’s books, unicorns, Batman, baking pies, you name it. This is a pretty crazy opportunity and I hope all of my Iron Codex readers will enter.


• Viviane Hebel, the artist behind Hebel Designs, which makes pretty baubles based on such books as Holly Black’s Curse Workers novels and Cassandra Clare’s various series, graciously agreed to designed a few pieces based off of the Iron Codex novels. You can purchased them here. And they. are. stunning. I highly recommend you take a look.


• I guest blogged for Romantic Times about all the different ways you can incorporate a “strong” heroine into your book, and that strong doesn’t necessarily mean physically powerful or even particularly brave. There’s a giveaway!

One further reminder, if the sidebar hasn’t told you already: I’m going to be at two events in San Francisco and Berkeley in the coming weeks. Look to the sidebar! It will tell you all!

I’ve also confirmed a new event in Alexadria, VA at Hooray for Books! on March 24th, where I’ll be sharing the spotlight with Jessica Spotswood, debut author of Born Wicked, and my good friend Tiffany Trent, who’s novel The Unnaturalists is fantastic, awesome, imaginative and amazing. You should definitely blow off whatever you had planned for that day and come hang out with us instead. We’ll have cake.*

*Said cake may be a lie.

Today’s the day! The Nightmare Garden is officially on shelves, along with the paperback of The Iron Thorn, for double the steampunk fun, Lovecraftian monsters, and sexy Dean Harrison goodness!

I can’t tell you what a huge deal it is to have this book out in the world. This was the hardest book I ever wrote–there were times when I was sure I’d never finish, at least not in any form I’d be okay with, but at some point I turned the corner and the result is that I am incredibly, ridiculously proud of The Nightmare Garden and I can’t wait for all of you to read it!

I’m not going to make a long list of how, where, when and why you should buy the book–you’re smart people, lovely readers, and I trust you can figure that out for yourselves. I’ll just say that purchasing the book in its first week of release helps the author out immensely in terms of sales. But hey, you don’t get paid til March? The Yakuza blew up your car? Your cat got into a fight with a chupacabra? No worries! I’m just happy to have readers. Get it from your lovely local library, get it as a Nook, Kindle, what have you (just don’t download it illegally, pleasekthankyou!) and I am a happy, happy author.

And here’s how to get a copy delivered to you without even leaving the spot where you are at this very moment! (Unless you’re also being attacked by chupacabras. Then you should get out of there. Order the book later–I understand.)

The Nightmare Garden

• Amazon


• Barnes & Noble


• Books-A-Million


• IndieBound


• Book Depository

The Iron Thorn (paperback edition)

• Amazon


• Barnes & Noble


• Books-A-Million


• IndieBound


• Book Depository

Annnnnnnnnnnnd the book trailer contest is still going on! Here it is once more in case you’re on the fence about buying the books. This trailer will kick you right off the fence and into next week. It is that awesome.

One last thing, just in case your face hasn’t already melted off from the pure weapons-grade awesome of today (or from eating too many Dove chocolate hearts): I have a couple of awesome interviews going on right now!

• I’m at Mundie Moms today talking about The Nightmare Garden


• Suvudu interviewed me for their Steampunk Tuesday feature

And now, I must get back to work, because there is no rest for the wicked, especially not on Nightmare Valentine’s!

So yes, this has pretty much become the Nightmare Garden/Iron Codex 24-Hour Fun Channel, and for those of you who don’t come here for the book stuff, I apologize. But my release date is only four short days away, and it’s pretty crazy up in here, so I’m going to post a whole slew of Nightmare Garden stuff and hopefully there will be something for everyone!

First!

The Iron Thorn is embroiled in its first round of combat in the 2011 YA Book Genre Battle!

Iron Thorn is holding its own against Bite Club, Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampires opus, but we’re lagging a little, and much as I adore Rachel and her books, this cannot stand. We must crush the vampires, with steampunk fabulousity. You can vote for The Iron Thorn here or click the big old graphic. The battle only lasts until midnight, so every vote counts!

Other equally amazing stuff!

Remember my wonderful book trailer? Sure you do. It’s this one, with all the atmospheric lighting and smooching scenes:

I said that if I got 100 reblogs or 500 Youtube views I’d post an entirely new scene from Dean’s point of view, set circa Nightmare Garden. Well, last I checked we were at 304 views, and really, guys, don’t you want a brand new piece of writing set in the Iron Codex world? I know I can’t wait to share it with you!

Third verse, different from the first!

I’m doing a number of guest blogs in the next couple of weeks, a mini-blog tour if you will, and here’s a rough schedule of places you can find me talking about books, pie, and why Batman should trade out the Batmobile for a unicorn.

• Random Buzzers – Week of 2/13 (with an ongoing Q&A–ask me anything!)


• Indigo Teen Blog Book Boyfriends – Week of 2/13


• Suvudu – 2/14


• The Book Smugglers – 2/16 (Giveaway too!)

And more the next week, including a guest post for the Romantic Times blog!

I’ll post direct info the day of all of these, and once this release date and my strict revision deadline for Black London 5 has passed, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.

Over and out for now!

It’s here! With just one week until the release of The Nightmare Garden, the trailer is finally here!

Here’s the deal: this trailer is amazing. Vania of VLC Productions worked her butt off with casting, costumes, her photos and her kick-ass editing. I want everyone to see this trailer!

So! If we surpass 500 Youtube views OR 100 re-blogs/linksbacks, I will post an entirely new “deleted scene” from Nightmare Garden, from the POV of everyone’s favorite underground guide, Dean Harrison. Yes, a scene from the book (and I’m not talking about one of the scenes where they’re wandering around the woods ifyouknowwhatimeanandithinkyoudo) from Dean’s own snarky point of view.

How are you not posting this trailer on your own blog right this very second?

I do not know. But to recap: Click through or re-post the trailer on your own blog, and leave a link in the comments so I’ll know! (And hey, tell your readers why they should be excited for The Nightmare Garden/Iron Thorn dual release day!) Get brand-new exciting Dean snippet!

So easy.

And really, guys, this trailer is great. I can’t wait for you all to see it.

Without further ado…

I’m very happy to finally be able to announce that I have a short story in this:

21st Century Dead is a follow-up to Christopher Golden’s excellent The New Dead anthology, and when he asked me to submit a story, I was on it like a fast zombie on a fat guy with a broken leg. The TOC is still under wraps as far as I know, but you can read the list of contributors at Chris’s site. I’m in some awesome company…and if you’re dying (har) to get a peek at my story, I’ll be reading it at my Borderlands signing March 17th.

21st Century Dead is available for pre-order wherever awesome books are sold. Yanno, in case you want to have it in your bunker for the inevitable undead apocalypse.

—

One other small bit of publishing news…let’s just say I’m eagerly awaiting responses from a Variety of People on a Fun New Project. And waiting…waiting…waiting…  Okay, it’s only been two days but IT FEELS LIKE FOREVER. I haven’t been in the position of waiting for Good News since, oh, 2008…so this is a weird little flashback for me to my days as a newbie author. I am trying to be calm, and by calm, I mean eating a lot of candy, refreshing my email obsessively, and fidgeting every time my phone buzzes.

Now that I’ve been super vague and cryptic, I must get back to revisions. Ta!

I’m super excited to announce that I’ll be appearing at Borderlands Books in San Francisco on March 17th, in addition to my Not Your Mother’s Book Club event in Berkeley on March 14th!

Bay Area, I am all over you.

I don’t have a ton of details firmed up yet, including whether this is a solo event or whether I’ll have a hapless victim fellow author signing with me! If you’re an SFF type living in the Bay Area and you’re interested in getting your sign on, drop me a line.

For the record, the Book Club event is strictly YA, and I’ll be promoting The Nightmare Garden (though I’ll sign anything you care to bring/buy at Books Inc.) while the Borderlands event will be more “adult”, ie I’ll sign whatever you like, do my trademarked super-awkward Q&A and may say naughty words. AND! I’ll be reading a brand new short story that won’t be on shelves in anthology form until July 2012.

So to recap: Berkeley. Borderlands. Battlestar Galactica.

Hope to see you there!

I found out on Wednesday that The Iron Thorn had made it to the final selection list for the ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults 2012 list. Needless to say I was thrilled to be in the company of wonderful authors like Holly Black, Kendare Blake, Kiersten White, Maggie Stiefvater and so many more.

The full list is here–and I wholeheartedly recommend ALL the books on it! There’s something for everyone, be they a genre freak, a contemporary fangirl, or a romance lover.

(On a personal note, I was delighted to see some straight-up horror stories nesting in the Top 10…I don’t write horror, but it’s my favorite type of book to read, and sorely underrepresented in YA, I feel.)

And for something fun, interactive and with the possibility for prizes: thanks to your votes, Iron Thorn made it into the next round of the YA Book Genre Battle on Fiction Fervor! BUT, the book needs advocates (basically cheerleaders without the standing back handsprings or pyramids or tap pants)(okay, you can wear the tap pants if you want)…because while some books have as many as 15, poor Iron Thorn has none at the moment! This cannot stand–I know there are some enthusiastic types out there ready to spread the word on days when Iron Thorn is engaged in battle to reach the semifinals.

What advocates do: they use social media/their blog to encourage people to vote for Iron Thorn…you can do as much or as little as you’d like, as long as you keep it legit (ie no spamming) and it helps if you’ve read or want to read the book. You can sign up to be an advocate for The Iron Thorn via Fiction Fervor or email them directly: fictionfervor  at gmail.com with “IRON THORN advocate” in the subject line.

You all rock, and I know we can take this thing all the way!

ONE LAST THING. (Because you know awesome things come in threes.)

If you check the sidebar you’ll see I FINALLY have an appearance scheduled, hopefully the first of many this year. I’ll be at Not Your Mother’s Book Club at Books, Inc in Berkeley on March 14th with Nina LaCour and Lissa Price. Click the link! They made us a spiffy graphic and everything!

You can also see the info on their Facebook page.

Whew! Lots of news, all of it good! Back to revising for me for now, but I hope to see some of you in Berkeley!

Congrats to the three winners! They are:

Anna Dase

Anna won the Unearthly Creatures prize pack–copies of both Iron Codex books plus Carrie Ryan’s complete zombie trilogy.

Liszi

Liszi won the Steampunk prize pack–copies of both Iron Codex books plus Cassandra Clare’s first two Infernal Devices novels.

Jennifer K

Jennifer won the Shadowy Secrets prize pack–copies of both Iron Codex books plus Holly Black’s first two Curse Workers novels.

Winners! Please contact me via email (caitlinkittredge AT gmail) with your name and mailing address. Please do this within 48 hours or I’ll draw a new winner for your prize pack.

Thanks to everyone who entered! Stay tuned for another great giveaway in February!

I finished the rough draft of the third Iron Codex novel, which means I’m done with the drafting stage for the entire trilogy. It’s a bit odd, since I conceived the idea for the books way back in 2009, and finished The Iron Thorn in January 2010. I always intended the Iron Codex to be three books. I will say I left the third volume a bit open-ended, but not a cliffhanger, because I despise finite series that end with actual major threads unresolved. (I do love a few lingering questions, though–I suppose it’s the ex-fanfic writer in me.)

I also received the edit letter for Black London Book 5, Soul Trade and have…a fair bit of work ahead of me. Try as I might in the first go-around, I just could not make the draft work like I wanted it to. It ended up being about 60,000 words, which is super short, so I have a lot of addition to do (and subtraction of all the crappy writing I did to try desperately string five or six disparate ideas together.)

Phonecall with the agent tomorrow to discuss some new and very seekrit proposals I’m working hard on. Hopefully, soon they’ll turn into book sales and in a year or two you’ll get to read them!

Anyway, I probably won’t be blogging much until Monday since I’ve declared this a Week Off, but I will announce the winner of the Nightmare Garden Giant Giveaway tomorrow, as soon as I’ve tabulated all the entries.