The Journal of Michael Merriam

The steampunk spy-thriller novella is delivered to the publisher, so there is a big load off my mind. Dark Water Blues, has been rewritten and resubmitted to my editor, so another project down. I've been working on rewrites of Dead Brew and finishing the first draft of my still untitled contemporary coming of age novella (can you tell I've fallen in love with the novella length work?). Plans are still afoot to try my hand a screenwriting.

I've also started finalizing and lining up my programming at various conventions for 2012, and I'm looking at doing a few out-of-state readings and signings later this year. Website updates are in the works.

Over on a message board I frequent, we've been talking about Plot vs. Story vs. Characterization, though it is not the epic battle royale it sounds from that description. No one is being bashed over the head with adverbs and tossed out with a form rejection stapled to their foreheads or anything like that.

I've found it interesting watching the folks who only write short fiction and the folks who are writing novels discuss their different perspectives concerning plot. The general consensus is that in short fiction a single plot is preferable, while longer works such as novels, novellas, feature scripts, and long plays, should (and frankly, these days are expected to) have subplots. Of course I could point out examples of short stories with two or even three plots running, and I can point to successful novels that only have the main plot and nothing else, the general consensus stated about does seem to be the norm.

In genre fiction (SF/F/H/M/W/R/Thr and others) plot tends to be the emphasis, with characters and setting next in importance, while in what critics call contemporary, literary, or mainstream fiction, character and story tends to rule over plot. This is also a generalization, and of course some "genre" writers focus more on characterization or world-building, while I've seen some lovely plots in post-modern contemporary novels.

From a personal perspective as a writer, I like to write deep characterization first, plot and sub-plot second (grown from the character's desires and conflicts), and deal with world-building very little, hence I tend to write contemporary and urban fantasy with a smattering of magical realism and steampunk/supernatural westerns/supernatural Victoriana where I can use a "real world" setting and short hand the world-building.

I think that in short fiction everything, from paragraph to punctuation, has to advance the story in some way, either moving the plot or developing the characters, hopefully while deepening the sense of scene and place. I think you have more room to digress and get away with long descriptions in novels, though it should be used sparingly.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Because I know some of you got eReaders of one type or another for the holidays. And because as much I love writing, I also have to eat and pay bills. So here is my post-holidays marketing sales pitch for all my available books, both print and electronic.

Coffee For Your Body, Flames For Your Soul: Urban Fantasy Short Story

It came to the diner looking for a soul to devour.

At a late-night diner, the manager finds himself faced with a nightmare from his past: The Nalusachita, a mythical-creature of his Choctaw ancestors.

Determined to protect his customers from the shape-changing soul-stealer but unsure how, the manager sets out to clear the restaurant at closing time.

What neither manager or monster counted on was the eccentric patrons of the diner, and how they would react to the mythical creature…

Coffee For Your Body, Flames For Your Soul is available in ebook at Musa Publishing, Amazon, and Smashwords.

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The Horror at Cold Springs: Steampunk / Supernatural Western Novella

When a disparate group of travelers find themselves stranded in a ghost town on the western Nebraska frontier, will they unravel the mystery of the missing townsfolk and survive to tell the tale?

The Horror at Cold Springs is available in print from The Sam's Dot Publishing Bookstore and in all ebook formats from Smashwords.

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Last Car to Annwn Station: Urban Fantasy Novel / Paranormal Romance - Readings in Lesbian & Bisexual Women's Fiction Blog pick for Top Ten Books, 2011.

“The fare is ten cents, miss.”

Mae Malveaux, an attorney with Minneapolis Child Protective Services, is burnt-out, tired and frustrated. Passing on an invite from Jill, her flirtatious coworker, Mae just wants a quiet night in. Leaving the office late, she’s surprised to find the Heritage Line streetcars up and running and hops aboard, eager for a quick trip home.
But this is no ordinary streetcar. Death is one of its riders, and Mae is thrust into Annwn, a realm of magic and danger.

“Your transfer, miss. You’ll need that.”

Mae’s life is turned upside down as human and fae worlds collide. Her budding relationship with Jill takes a perilous turn when they are hunted by mythical beasts, and Mae is drawn into a deadly power struggle. With Jill at her side, Mae must straddle both worlds and fight a war she barely comprehends, for not only does the fate of Annwn rest in her hands, but the lives of both a human and fae child…

Last Car to Annwn Station is available in ebook format at Carina Press, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and in audio format at Audible.

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Shimmers & Shadows: Short Story Collection

These diverse short stories unfold where the faery realm intersects with the mundane world of the Twin Cities, in the spacefaring future of exploration and adventure, and in a mythical land of sorcery and danger. Here you will find tales of adventure, horror, enchantment, humor, tragedy, and romance where:
…a young outcast strikes a hard bargain with the Muddy River
…two very different spirits find sanctuary in a historic shopping mall
…a space transport captain makes a difficult choice and falls headlong into the middle of a conspiracy
…a fallen Seelie champion is caught between his dark past and unusual mortal friends
…estranged lovers discover whether science or magic will save their dying Earth
…death is not the end, time does not always run in a straight line, and the rain blesses both mortals and fae.

Shimmers & Shadows is available at Lulu and in ebook for Kindle from Amazon.

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Should We Drown In Feathered Sleep: Near-Future Post-Apocalypse Fantasy Novella -- Long Listed for the 2010 Nebula Award.

A New Order

A new world is emerging years after war destroyed society. In a Minnesota lake, the last surviving loons, direct descendants of the legendary First Pair, await the one who can help heal the earth. Each year a human sacrifice is brought to them to be endowed with special gifts, but they come at a terrible price.

A Free Spirit

Even as the rest of the world rebuilds, Grace Kriske’s life is shattered. Unable to walk, she feels utterly dependent on her family and trapped in a community that disapproves of her rebellious ways. Grace’s only solace is her lover, David Tvedt, a trader who wants to take her away with him—if she’d let him.

An Impossible Choice

Yet something else calls to Grace—the loons. They haunt her dreams, lurking in her mind as if part of her deepest primal self. But when Grace is chosen as the new sacrifice, she’s afraid. Will she risk everything to help the community that shuns her, or will she choose her own path?

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

In between preparing for this weeks reading at True Colors Bookstore and trying to memorize my script for Tellabration! on the 26th, I’ve also been working on developmental edits for Dark Water Blues.

This has been a low priority, since I’m not contracted for it, but my editor at Carina Press came back with a page full of suggestions for me to mull over and possibly make before we go to Acquisitions with this novel. She said she loved the primary characters and thought the secondary characters interesting. She thought the social groups in the world were intriguing and fleshed out, and loved the humorous aspects of the story. I grinned when she noted that I wrote awesome sex scenes. The meat of the revisions asked for deal with pacing, and to a lesser extent, worldbuilding and characterization.

For those of you playing our home game, I’ve blog before that I think Dark Water Blues is both the best and worst thing I’ve ever written. Editor M is helping me repair and cut the parts that need work, and I am hopeful this will turn into one of the best things I’ve ever written, period.

But man, is it a hard slog. I’ve gone through the manuscript twice now with her revision letter in hand, being brutal and cutting things away. The novel has shrunk from 86K to 80K, but I will be adding things to shore up the worldbuilding, to deepen one of my protagonists, and to make life miserable for the other one. I also plan to bring the antagonists more to the fore; a part of my craft that I need to work on. I really don’t enjoy writing the bad guys, which I think make me an anomaly among writers.

While there are lots of crunchy worldbuilding bits in the manuscript, it turns out I’ve put them in the wrong places (which is a danger when you write by the seat of your pants, and this was defiantly a “pantser” novel). To help me with this major restructuring, I’ve broken the novel down into its component parts and written an outline. 14 chapters. 25 large scenes within those chapters. 52 small scenes / sections total. It’s like having 52 unruly kittens pouncing across the floor of your prose, knocking over your plot, shredding your tone, leaping on and off of your themes. I despair of wrangling them back into a coherent whole, but I know it must be done.

And when it is done, I am hopeful that Dark Water Blues will be sleek and beautiful and that it will be something Editor M and I can go to Acquisitions with and then sell to my publisher.

In between preparing for this weeks reading at True Colors Bookstore and trying to memorize my script for Tellabration! on the 26th, I’ve also been working on developmental edits for Dark Water Blues.

This has been a low priority, since I’m not contracted for it, but my editor at Carina Press came back with a page full of suggestions for me to mull over and possibly make before we go to Acquisitions with this novel. She said she loved the primary characters and thought the secondary characters interesting. She thought the social groups in the world were intriguing and fleshed out, and loved the humorous aspects of the story. I grinned when she noted that I wrote awesome sex scenes. The meat of the revisions asked for deal with pacing, and to a lesser extent, worldbuilding and characterization.

For those of you playing our home game, I’ve blog before that I think Dark Water Blues is both the best and worst thing I’ve ever written. Editor M is helping me repair and cut the parts that need work, and I am hopeful this will turn into one of the best things I’ve ever written, period.

But man, is it a hard slog. I’ve gone through the manuscript twice now with her revision letter in hand, being brutal and cutting things away. The novel has shrunk from 86K to 80K, but I will be adding things to shore up the worldbuilding, to deepen one of my protagonists, and to make life miserable for the other one. I also plan to bring the antagonists more to the fore; a part of my craft that I need to work on. I really don’t enjoy writing the bad guys, which I think make me an anomaly among writers.

While there are lots of crunchy worldbuilding bits in the manuscript, it turns out I’ve put them in the wrong places (which is a danger when you write by the seat of your pants, and this was defiantly a “pantser” novel). To help me with this major restructuring, I’ve broken the novel down into its component parts and written an outline. 14 chapters. 25 large scenes within those chapters. 52 small scenes / sections total. It’s like having 52 unruly kittens pouncing across the floor of your prose, knocking over your plot, shredding your tone, leaping on and off of your themes. I despair of wrangling them back into a coherent whole, but I know it must be done.

And when it is done, I am hopeful that Dark Water Blues will be sleek and beautiful and that it will be something Editor M and I can go to Acquisitions with and then sell to my publisher.

I will be interviewed this Saturday, September 17th on “Readings in Lesbian & Bisexual Women's Fiction." The discussion will focus on my novel Last Car to Annwn Station, including the "incongruity" of a straight male writing lesbian fiction. I will also do a short (one to three minutes) reading from the novel.

The Details:
Date: Saturday, September 17
Time: 3:00pm Central
URL: http://blogtalkradio.com/readingslab

There is a guest line at phone number (646) 929-1909 for anyone who might want to call in and/or ask questions live on air during the show.

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Last Car to Annwn Station. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and in audio format at Audible.

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

Temp-to-Perm office kitten approves of today's package from Carina Press.

For those of you who prefer to listen to your stories on ipods or your smartphone, Last Car to Annwn Station is now available in audio format at Audible.

careswen and I listened to the first several minutes. The reader has a smooth and pleasant reading voice and does different, distinct voices for the characters. We were both pleased.

My publisher had some nice things to say in the latest Carina Press Newsletter:

Our Staff Loves…Last Car to Annwn Station

When I was growing up, I was convinced that the wall in my parents' basement was actually a door, a door to another world—I even left notes for the people who lived there! I guess you could say I had an overactive imagination—but there's something so intriguing to me about the idea that just beyond our reality is another world, a world we can see and touch if only we knew the way in. And that's why I love Last Car to Annwn Station.

Michael Merriam introduced me to a new world through the eyes of Mae Malveaux. Mae has a stressful job and is on the verge of burnout when mere chance (or so it seems) whisks her into Annwn, a Welsh Fae underworld, a world just beyond our own. The author paints such a vivid picture of Annwn that it's impossible not to believe it's just beyond our reach. Couple the intrigue of Annwn with a great suspense plot and a lovely romance, and you've got a book that will keep your imagination going long after you've read the last page…

—Eleanor Elliott, Director, Digital Properties & Social Media – Carina Press.

Everyone at Carina Press -- from the publisher, to the marketing department, to various editors -- have told me how excited the house is about Last Car to Annwn Station. Let’s hope that excitement translates into some nice sales!
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Last Car to Annwn Station is available in ebook format at Carina Press, Barnes & Noble, Amazon U.S., and Amazon U.K.

If I said I was excited, it would be a horrible understatement. This is one of those moments that as writers we work toward, but fear will never happen.

Except sometimes it does.

I’d like to thank my wife, Sherry L.M. Merriam, who was the first reader and helped me edit the manuscript into something I could submit to publishers.

Thanks to Adam Stemple, Alison Ching, Jaye Lawrence, Joanne Anderton, Kevin McIntyre and Hilary Moon Murphy, all of whom read the novel in various drafts and offered thoughts, ideas, occasional smacks to the back of the head and all the encouragement I needed to finish it.

A special thanks to the editors and staff at Carina Press for choosing to publish my novel and helping me polish it until it shined. They are a joy to work with.

Thank you to everyone on Live Journal who cheered me on as I wrote the novel and who, when I described it as “a dark urban fantasy revenge and redemption paranormal romance and supernatural horror novel with mythological and fairy tale overtones and lesbian protagonists, featuring the ghost of the defunct Twin Cities streetcar system,” had a good laugh about me finding my little niche.

And a final thank you to the late Mr. Thomas Lowry (February 27, 1843–February 4, 1909). For the streetcars.

Last Car to Annwn Station is available in ebook format at Carina Press, Barnes & Noble, Amazon U.S., and Amazon U.K.

I’m still writing the sequel to a novel I haven’t sold yet.

Dead Brew II: Vampires and Werewolves


I have put together the submission pack for Dead Brew. I plan to send it out next week. Sent out a couple of things this week, but it feels weird to have so few things circulating right now. Once I finish this novel, I might write a few short stories. I have three in progress, all of them stalled and one threatening to go novel on me, like they sometimes do. I’ve also had the Spear of Destiny novel simmering in the back of my head again, enough that I’ve made a few notes.

I have finished my marketing materials for my book release, I just need to send it all off to Carina Press.

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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.