A grain of pure salt, by Karen Lord

This is still a blog …

merumsal — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:29:54 +0000

… though from the slowness of my updating you wouldn’t think so. I’m not going to make any wild promises about more frequent posting in the new year until I can get this most recent batch of research work plus editing plus writing firmly under control, but it’s on my list of Things To Do Better. Until then, Twitter is where I’m most active (a short tweet is less of a guilty break from work than a blog post of any length).

Here are a couple of updates. Last week I had the honour of being a part of Lauren Beukes’s Recommended Reading Gift List Part 1, (part 2 is linked at the bottom; don’t miss it). These are some excellent recommendations for the holidays and any time of year, so go have a look and bookmark it. Today I’m showing off my Christmas black cake on Paul Cornell’s blog. Scroll right to the bottom – there it is. Black cake is my ‘thing’. I’m an average cook and I can bake simple things on occasion, but my black cake can be used to make friends, influence people and create world peace . Readers of Redemption in Indigo may even remember that I mention it in the book: ‘a festival cake that will turn the head of the most seasoned toper’.

Oh, and for those who might not know (all … what … two of you?) Lauren Beukes is a South African writer and one of this year’s World Fantasy nominees (she’s won some other awards too – go check out her work!), and Paul Cornell writes for Doctor Who, notably two of my favourite episodes, the Hugo-nominated ’Human Nature’ and ‘The Family of Blood’.

Podcast with Nalo Hopkinson and Karen Burnham

merumsal — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:45:13 +0000

This is the second promised podcast! I chatted with Nalo Hopkinson and Karen Burnham while in San Diego, and it was fantastic. I caught myself listening to it all over again in the wee hours of the night. Do go check it out. Nalo’s brilliant, in case you didn’t know.

Nalo Hopkinson and Karen Lord in Conversation

Podcast with Charles Tan

merumsal — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 01:39:43 +0000

So here‘s the first of the podcasts I promised you. Charles Tan, blogger, nominee for the World Fantasy Special Award (Non-Professional) 2011, intelligent critic and reviewer of speculative fiction, allowed me to babble on. And I warn you, I do babble. But there may be a few gems amid the dross. Go check it out.

World Fantasy Convention

merumsal — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:23:09 +0000

I got back home Monday evening, and have spent the past two days in a jumble of post-travel errands, research consultancy catch-up and tech wrangling (new backup drive, new software, new iPad). I tweeted the news of the award results and put a link on Facebook, but I delayed doing a blog post because I simply had too many things to say and not enough time and energy to say them.

Now I seize the opportunity to tell you in longhand, in more than 140 characters or the brief paragraphs of FaceBook, that the World Fantasy Convention was fantastic, so much so that my plans to schedule nap time were scuttled, and the dwindling duration of my actual sleep time became a mild joke. Sleeping was re-scheduled for … um … this week (and will that happen? Looks unlikely). I met several truly amazing people, in no small part due to the excellent mentorship of Ellen Klages, who encouraged me to attend the Convention in the first place. People on my twitter list came to life – human, marvellous, intelligent, enthusiastic life. There were some I knew but hadn’t seen since ICFA. Some I’d only met by phone or email, notably my agent and my editors: Sally Harding of the Cooke Agency, Betsy Mitchell of Del Rey, and Jo Fletcher of Jo Fletcher Books. Some I’d never met before, only heard of. Some I’d never even heard of. All were brilliant.

Brilliant is the word. I had conversations that will be several months food for a ruminating brain. Two were recorded: an interview/podcast with Charles Tan and a Locus podcast with Nalo Hopkinson and Karen Burnham. I’ll let you know when the links go up. They capture the atmosphere well: relaxed, amiable, filled with laughter and deep thought.

There are too many tales to tell, so I leave you with this incomplete list:

Twister
Ukelele
So much food
Playing pool
Buying Guinness and being asked for ID
Books, books, books
Tea
Tim Tams
Cousin
Cold

On that note, I look forward to Toronto WFC 2012!

Redemption in Indigo to be published in the UK

merumsal — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:03:46 +0000

It’s a real thrill to see my picture up at the Quercus blog. Now I can finally reveal that Jo Fletcher Books will be publishing Redemption in Indigo in the UK in March 2012! I’m pleased and proud to have two forthcoming books on their list (eventually three, God willing). Jo Fletcher Books will hold a formal launch at FantasyCon in Brighton on 1 October. They are already active on Twitter (and giving away books too, so go follow them!)

Shared Worlds, interviews and other cool things

merumsal — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:54:38 +0000

Life is busy, but there are two things I must record here (I’ve already tweeted the news; a 140-character update is always faster!).

First of all, I’ve been invited to the Shared Worlds teen SF/F writing camp for 2013! I’m really looking forward to it (though it seems so far away!) Next year, Tobias Buckell will be there to carry the Caribbean flag. Do check out the full post at Jeff VanderMeer’s blog. In fact, check out the entire blog. There’s some interesting stuff there, including information on the upcoming, definitive anthology of The Weird (co-edited with his wife Ann VanderMeer) which is now at the top of my ‘must buy’ list.

I’ve done an interview with Chesya Burke over at the World SF Blog. Chesya was marvellous to talk to, and she has a book out this year, a collection of short stories titled Let’s Play White.

Interviews and conversations at Locus

merumsal — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:34:35 +0000

I’ve been terrible at updating here over the past week, for which I beg you to accept my sincerest apologies. There are two new things to mention:

1) an amazingly fun podcast I did with Karen Burnham for Locus which, I warn you, is basically two physics geeks chattering on about speculative fiction and occasionally going ‘Ooh!’ and ‘Cool!’; and

2) some online excerpts from my interview ‘Dual Reality’ which is in the August issue of Locus Magazine.

I really enjoyed the podcast and encourage you to go listen to it. The interview excerpts may seem a little disjointed, but that’s because they’re only there to encourage you to buy the magazine for the whole thing

Redemption in Indigo nominated for World Fantasy Award

merumsal — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:05:48 +0000

Locus Online has posted the World Fantasy nominees and the Lifetime Achievement winners. Thanks to Jeff VanderMeer, the first person to point me to the Locus post, and congrats to him as well for the nomination of his collection The Third Bear. Jeff’s feeling particularly happy right now, as well he should, because he called most of the Best Novel ballot in advance:

Best Novel

Zoo City, Lauren Beukes (Jacana South Africa; Angry Robot)

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

The Silent Land, Graham Joyce (Gollancz; Doubleday)

Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada; Roc; Harper Voyager UK)

Redemption In Indigo, Karen Lord (Small Beer)

Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)

Congrats to all the nominees! It’s amazing to see Redemption in Indigo in such excellent company!

The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature …

merumsal — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:38:27 +0000

… was awarded to Redemption in Indigo at MythCon 42 last night.

This is such an honour, and not only for the Inklings connection. The Collymore is for unpublished manuscripts, the Crawford is for new writers, but at the Mythopoeic Awards my work was considered alongside the work of career authors in the genre, authors of experience and note.

Thank you Mythopoeic Society!

The Best of All Possible Worlds. Indeed!

merumsal — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:37:28 +0000

The news for July 2011 at my agency says it all:

US and UK rights to Karen Lord’s The Best of All Possible Worlds have sold to Del Rey and Jo Fletcher Books respectively.

Thanks to my amazing agent, Sally Harding of the Cooke Agency! I’m going to be working with two leading editors in the field, Betsy Mitchell at Del Rey and Jo Fletcher at her new sf imprint under Quercus. It’s a two-book deal, and I am so excited!