The Journal of Michael Merriam

I have been writing on Dead Brew II (title pending). I’m about to the middle of the book and finally have the shape of the thing clear in my head. What I need to focus in now is writing the synopsis for Dead Brew and get it sent out.

Speaking of sent out, I submitted three new pieces to Anthology Builder. I have more pieces to submit to them, but I thought I would start with these three and once a decision was made, submit three more. If I can get all the stories on Anthology builder I would like, that would be 12 pieces. I also sent out a query on a small short fiction collection of my space opera pieces. The publisher in question has told me he is looking for more SF and space opera, so I have high hopes.

Attempts to integrate Belyn—aka Temp-to-Perm Kitty—with the Reverend Selena have been mixed. It would help if Belyn would read her signals (which are pretty obvious, considering how vocal she is) and back off when she’s angry. I wonder if the male inability to read signals a female is sending is a universal thing.

He is still very cute and we are patient. Belyn really wants to make friends with Selena. She is not all that interested right now. I think she might be willing to ignore him, if he would stop getting in her face.

Snippet four of Last Car to Annwn Station is more character and relationship development, with an indication that Jill is about to be drawn into the metaphysical mystery that Mae is dealing with.

I received my postcards and 8x10 prints from Carina Press for Last Car to Annwn Station. They are lovely, and I will have them to give away at 4TH Street Fantasy Convention, Convergence, and Diversicon if I attend.

( Snippet #4 Behind the Cut )
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Last Car to Annwn Station. Releases on June 27th. Pre-Order at Carina Press, Amazon U.S., and Amazon U.K.

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N, and in audio format at Audible.com

Every scene needs to carry its weight. Even in a novel, where you have more room to run than in a short story, every scene needs to work for its existence. Some scenes might not appear to be doing anything on the surface, but really do move the plot and story forward.

Snippet three from Last Car to Annwn Station looks like a normal conversation over lunch between two people. And it is. It also moves the story along by showing the reader a deeper glimpse into Jill’s personality, how Mae reacts to that personality, and how the two interact. We get some concrete information that develops both characters, and we move the “C” plot of the novel (Mae and Jill’s budding romantic relationship) along.

( Snippet #3 Behind the Cut )

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Last Car to Annwn Station. Releases on June 27th. Pre-Order at Carina Press, Amazon U.S., and Amazon U.K.

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N, and in audio format at Audible.com

The writing has been going slowly the last couple of weeks, swallowed up in computer woes and a new kitten. I’m hoping to get back on track by writing a little this afternoon.

Belyn, aka Temp-to-Perm cat, has been neutered and given a clean bill of health by the veterinarian. He and the Reverend Selena have seen each other through a screen. The Reverend Selena made a sound like an air raid siren before settling down to glare malevolently at Belyn. For his part, Belyn’s noise was something more akin to an agitated teakettle, though he quickly became bored and continued his quest to escape the crafting room.

The release date for Last Car to Annwn Station has been moved back to June 27th (One month! OMG!). I should have postcards to give away at 4th Street Fantasy Convention and CONvergence.

( Snippet #2 Behind the Cut )

Carina Press has moved the release date of Last Car to Annwn Station up a few weeks. The official release date is now 6 June 2011. In celebration of my first novel being released, I thought I’d offer a few snippets from the novel for your pleasure! I’m considering running some kind of contest and giving away a couple of electronic copies to the lucky winners. If I could decide on what kind of contest to run. While I ponder that, here is the first snippet.

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The ringing of a bell startled her. Mae took a step backward at the sight of a big yellow streetcar. She had heard there was a plan to bring back the old streetcars. “Heritage Lines,” Metro Transit called the resurgent machines. They would intersect the modern and highly popular Light Rail Train in downtown Minneapolis. She had not realized the streetcars were running, had not even noticed the tracks when she crossed the street.

Mae looked around. The open doors of the yellow streetcar beckoned. She glanced at her fellow travelers. No one seemed to notice the old streetcar. Mae read the route sign on the side of the car: “Hennepin Avenue Express.” She lived in Uptown, so the streetcar would work as well as a bus.

“The fare is ten cents, miss.”

She hesitated for an instant, starting to protest that she had a pass, but let her curiosity win out. Mae fumbled in her bag. Finding five tarnished pennies and a nickel, she dropped them into the fare box. The sturdy-looking man in an old-fashioned conductor’s suit offered her a slip of paper.

“Your transfer, miss. You’ll be needing that.”

She took the slip and turned toward the interior of the streetcar. Mae froze for an instant, then the car’s bell rang twice before it lurched, making Mae lose her balance. As the car rolled forward with a sharp clack-clack, she gazed in bewilderment at the other occupants.

It was as if Halloween had arrived early, and all the riders of the streetcar except her were on their way to a costume party. Mae grabbed the long overhead rail, more to steady herself from the shock than against the swaying of the streetcar. She locked eyes with a man in a business suit who had the head of a bison. He snorted and nodded solemnly to her. A small woman with fragile-looking wings and electric-blue hair stood near her. Too short to reach the rail, she clung to the support pole. The woman smiled up at Mae and leaned toward her.

“These seats aren’t exactly friendly to someone with wings. Hi, I’m Elliefandi. You can call me Ellie, if you want.”

Mae barely followed the high-pitched and rapid speech. “I’m Mae,” she mumbled, looking out the window.

Hennepin Avenue passed by outside the window, but it was not exactly her Hennepin Avenue. The shops were dark and squat. There was none of the usual hustle and activity as they turned left at the Basilica of St. Mary and started toward Uptown. The Walker Arts Center and Sculpture Garden stood in grayscale and washed-out coldness.

“Don’t worry,” the winged woman said as they crossed Franklin Avenue and began to click along, gathering speed. “It’ll all be there once you go back.”

“Go back?” Mae asked. She could hear the note of panic in her own voice.

Ellie smiled. “Of course!” Her smile faded. “You’ve got your transfer, right?

Mae held up the slip of paper.

“And a return fare?”

“I—I’m pretty sure I’ve got enough loose change.”

“Good, good. Old man Lowry’s cars, they’ll take you where you need to go. Getting back, now that can be a bit of trouble.”

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Last Car to Annwn Station. Releases on June 6th.

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N, and in audio format at Audible.com

Writing continues at Merriam Manor. I have started taking Dark Water Blues apart one last time, this time to bring it inline with the continuity I am building in my Twin Cities urban fantasy setting. I’ve made the continuity fit, and now I need to go over it one more time to make sure I didn’t break something.

Most of my writing focus has been on the second novel in the monster-hunting barista series. In the last few days I’ve pounded out 3600 words, all of it in a vampire scene, which finished with vampires feeding and then a squicky sex scene. It was an uncomfortable scene to write, but I think that’s a good thing. You really need to be able to write scenes that make you uncomfortable, that leave you feeling out of sorts and a little unhappy. The next scene should be easier for me to deal with, though I do have to come up with the exact wording of a curse that is pivotal to the plot.

And speaking of vampires, it seems that all I need to do now is write a “Little Magic Shop” story and I can stand up and yell, “BINGO!” I’ve done zombies, elves, unicorns, talking cats, helpful animals, etc. I might have missed one or two, but if I have, I’d be surprised. ETA: timprov hit me with one I missed on the first comment. What have the rest of you got?

I’m still a little disbelieving about Last Car to Annwn Station and I suspect I will be until I get the author copies. Carina / Harlequin has promised me postcards, which I should have by CONvergence, maybe even by 4th Street Fantasy Convention.

In non-writing news, I had an interview last week for a part-time, mostly work from home position as a grant writer, with some copywriting, proofreading, and social networking tossed in for good measure. I think I’m a pretty good fit for the position. They told me they would be doing second interviews this week, so I’m hoping to get the call.

I’m going to try to be more active here on LJ again. I’ve let Facebook seduce me for awhile, but I’ve missed the more substantive posts and conversations you can have here on LJ.

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Last Car to Annwn Station. Releases on June 27th.

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N, and in audio format at Audible.com

I love it with the love. Seriously. I especially love the cold winter colors. It both reflects winter in Minnesota and frozen Annwn from the novel. I think the streetcar / train looks good, it has a nice ethereal feels to it. I think Mae looks very intense, pale, and winter queen-like. I am quite happy.

Omg guys! I have the draft cover art for Last Car to Annwn Station! It is gorgeous! I will share when I can.

My royalty statement from Harlequin arrived today. It actually made sense.

I have double-spice chai black tea in my Eeyore mug, because it makes me happy (the Eeyore mug, though the tea is fine as well).

I'm preparing to dive into working on the Monster-Hunting Barista Novel #2. I know I shouldn't write the second book when the first one hasn't sold yet, but I'm writing them to be mostly self-contained, and frankly, this is the thing that wants to be written right now. I am also pretty sure that once I send it to Editor Melissa at Carina Press, she's going to recommend it to the Acquisition Team. In other news at my publisher, the first set of Carina Press books (which are all ebooks) have been picked up by Harlequin print imprints. The print imprints seem mostly interested in three to multi-book series, so working on the Monster-Hunting Barista novels is actually me positioning myself to make that sort of move.

Or something like that.

I had a really good Paganicon, which I will blog about later today or tomorrow.

Job hunting continues. I've had a couple of places show some interest and one really good interview. I need to do some follow up this week at a couple of places.

ETA: To clarify: Harlequin has not picked up any of my books. What I meant was that Harlequin has taken some books by other Carina authors and turned them to print. I am hoping to take advantage of this with my monster-hunting barista series. If they had taken my books, there would have been much more flailing and jumping around!

Carina Press has accepted the final manuscript of "Last Car to Annwn Station." I am done with edits and rewrites. I need a drink.