Women in SFF Month

A quickie post while traveling, because I realized I hadn't yet highlighted something I find really cool: Fantasy Book Cafe is celebrating "Women in SFF" all this month with a whole slew of guest posts from authors and bloggers (including such luminaries as Patricia McKillip, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jacqueline Carey).  I contributed a post talking about some of my favorite female-authored SFF novels from the 1980s and 1990s - books that influenced me deeply and that I'd love for more people to discover and enjoy, so please, head on over and check them out.  Oh, and as part of the fun, Renay of LadyBusiness blog is asking for everyone's top 10 female-authored SFF novels - at the end of the month, she'll collate them all and share the list.  I've gotta say, it's pretty darn hard for me to narrow it down to 10 books...I might have to cheat and go for my top 10 series rather than top 10 novels!  

A few more tidbits of news:

• The Tainted City got a wonderful review from Bibliotropic - reminding me that I don't care how crazy the business side of publishing gets; so long as people out there are enjoying my books, it's all worth it!
• The Whitefire Crossing got a review recently from Elitist Book Reviews that I found very interesting, because it shows just how deeply an audiobook narrator can affect a listener's experience of a story.
• Another review for Whitefire from Obligated to Exaggerate
• If you haven't checked out all the cool posts over at BookSworn by my fellow authors on objects that reveal their worlds, you should! Lots of fascinating stuff there.

And because it's Thursday where I am, here's a wilderness picture to finish things off:

The "Devil's Coach House", in Jenolan Caves

A bunch of news, links, and book recs

Happy Monday, everyone! My weekend was a bit less fun than I was hoping, thanks to coming down with a nasty cold - but on the other hand, while feverish and unable to sleep I read quite a few good books.  More shall be said of those later, but first off, I've got some various bits of news to share:

• The Tainted City is now available as an audiobook! (Looking forward to giving it a listen myself, since I'll be doing a reading at MileHiCon weekend after next and I'd like to listen to how the scene I choose is narrated so I can crib a few tips.)
• The first part of the interview I did for Stumptown Books is now live - in this bit I talk about the reception for Whitefire Crossing and Tainted City, the cover art for the books, and give a spoiler-free look at what readers can expect from book 3 (The Labyrinth of Flame).  (Two more interview sections will be posted later on this week, covering everything from whether I considered changing narrators in the Shattered Sigil books to my favorite peak climb.)  
• Liz Bourke reviews The Tainted City at Tor.com.  My favorite bit of the review is where she says "And yes, I'll admit it: the tension was such that I checked the final pages in advance, to spare my stomach some clenching." As someone whose first drafts always inspire moans of "But *where* is the tension?" from my critique group, I call that a total victory. 

And lest you think I only ever read about myself on the internet, here's a few links to posts I read over the last week that I found interesting and/or thought-provoking:

• Sarah of Bookworm Blues talks about realism, true strength, and narrow portrayals of women in urban fantasy over at Bastard Books' blog.  ("You don't need a weapon strapped to your leg to be strong. You don't need cut abs, or some horrible past to be strong.  Some people fight silent battles.")  
• At the Book Smugglers, author Cat Valente talks about childhood, growing up, and the terrible message of Peter Pan. (And yes, "Growing up is the beginning of the end" is a terrible message - and sadly, one I bought right into as a kid (damn you, James Barrie). I long ago determined I'd do my best to show my son that adulthood can be fun and magical and full of wonder, so he won't dread growing up the way I did.)
• Another post at Bastard's blog (the first in his ongoing series on why some people don't care for urban fantasy): Paul Weimer discusses the problem of lazy worldbuilding, and shares his picks of urban fantasies that do worldbuilding right.
• Teresa Frohock, author of Miserere: An Autumn Tale (a terrific book!), talks about how she chooses names for characters and places in her novels. (This is part of Abhinav Jain's ongoing series on his blog on "Names: A New Perspective."  I love names and language, so I've been reading all the posts with interest!)

Last but not least, I've a couple book recs to share from my recent sleepless nights:

The Spirit War (Rachel Aaron)

This is the fourth novel in Aaron's Eli Monpress series. I read the first three books in omnibus form (The Legend of Eli Monpress) a week or two ago, and enjoyed them as light, breezy, fun caper fantasy.  (Eli is a terrific character if you're into charming rogues.)  But The Spirit War, I loved.  It's a little darker and a little more serious (even while indulging in some spectacular magical battles), and fulfills a lot of things that were only hinted at in the earlier books.  And yeah, there's one plotline that pretty much pushes all of my buttons (in a good way!) as a reader - I can't wait to see how it plays out in Spirit's End, the final book in the series, forthcoming in November.

    

Unspoken (Sarah Rees Brennan)

I was quite fond of both Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon trilogy and her co-authored novel with Justine Larbalestier, Team Human (which was a hilarious send-up of vampire dramas even while telling a surprisingly serious story), so I was delighted to find that this first novel in her new Lynburn Legacy series is another great read.  Funny and dark by turns, featuring a female teen protagonist who's strong and determined without needing to be some kind of super ninja girl, and more of the difficult family relationships that Brennan excels at exploring - this is the kind of YA I love.

Wonders of the Invisible World (Patricia McKillip)

I don't read many short stories, but for some authors I instantly make an exception - like Patricia McKillip.  I can't think of another author who matches McKillip for sheer beauty and economy of prose; and she's one of the few who can pull off the numinous in fantasy, making the Otherworld feel truly Other.  I'll admit I love her novels even more than her short stories, but I still devoured this collection.  "Bittersweet, bewitching, and deeply intoxicating," says the book description - and I totally agree.  If you like short stories at all, go forth and read.

Adventures in Audio

So a few weeks ago when the audiobook of The Whitefire Crossing first came out, I said I'd do a post about what it was like for me as the author to listen to the audio version.  I got a bit overtaken by events as The Tainted City hit bookstore shelves a little earlier than I was expecting, but now at last, the time for that post has come.

But first, allow me the chance to celebrate (because if you can't share your glee on your own blog, then where can you?): the last few days have brought three lovely new reviews for The Tainted City.  (All of them pretty much spoiler-free, assuming you've read The Whitefire Crossing.)

• Mihir Wanchoo of Fantasy Book Critic says, "Courtney Schafer takes her story in a slightly different direction whilst never compromising on the positives that made her debut such a stand out one. This book is another excellent book from this very talented lady and I for one can't wait to see how it all goes down in The Labyrinth of Flame."
• J.R. Vogt of Examiner.com says, "The Tainted City is a fantastic follow-up to The Whitefire Crossing, going deep into the culture of Ninavel, expanding the overall mythology, and giving a sense of breathless adventure on each page."
• Justin Landon of Staffer's Book Review reviewed The Tainted City along with T.C. McCarthy's Chimera (which makes for a very interesting review, since T.C.'s novels and mine are wildly different!).  He called it a "highly successful piece of fiction" and said, "...I never once doubted Dev and Kiran's actions as anything but their own. Schafer doesn't work her characters to fit her plot; she lets them go, to find the solutions for themselves. The result isn't just a fun novel, but a composed and interesting one."

You guys, I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to see people enjoying The Tainted City! I wish I could go back in time and tell my stressed little author self of a few months ago that it was All Going To Be Okay. The book will get done, the story will work, and all the long nights are worth it.

Whew, okay. Back to talking about audiobooks!  I'll be the first to admit I haven't listened to very many.  Mostly because I have a very short commute, and I prefer to exercise outdoors rather than on treadmills and such, so I don't often experience the circumstances that make them so valuable.  Also because I'm a very fast reader, and in comparison, audio narration feels insanely slow in pace.  Though that can be a good thing...I remember listening to the audio version of Dorothy Dunnett's Queen's Play, and catching all kinds of humor that I'd missed during multiple reads of the novel in print.  Part of it was that the narrator did an excellent job at portraying the different accents and imbuing Lymond's dialogue with the perfect lurking edge of sarcasm.  But a significant part was that I couldn't just zip along to the next line; I had all this time as the narrator spoke to think about the multiple layers of the conversation (and realize exactly how cutting Thady Boy's seemingly drunken observations are).

RMFW Conference Wrap-up, and Tainted City news

Before anything else I just have to share: as of today, The Tainted City is in stock on Amazon!  Yes, that's right, IN STOCK. Now. RIGHT NOW. Holy crap! I mean, the early ship date isn't totally unexpected...as I recall, last year The Whitefire Crossing shipped from Amazon about 2 weeks early...but still. Yow.  I can't quite wrap my head around the idea that the book I spent so many late nights writing this past year is heading out to readers' hands at last.  (You guys, I am *dying* to know what you think, whether good or bad!)

(Just to clarify, it's only the print version of Tainted City that's going to be available so early.  For whatever reason, Amazon ships print books the minute they hit their warehouses, but the ebooks never become available until the official release date.  Don't ask me why this is.  The ways of publishing are byzantine and mysterious.)

Of course, this past weekend some folks got their hands on copies even earlier...because I attended the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers "Colorado Gold" conference, and participated in the conference book sale.  (I brought about ten copies of The Tainted City and sold all of 'em.  Including one to a very kind, very well-meaning gentleman who first bought The Whitefire Crossing for his fantasy-loving wife and had me sign it to her...only to call her later that evening proud of his purchase, and find out that he'd already bought a signed copy of Whitefire for her at the conference last year, and she wanted the sequel!  I signed the sequel for him and promised his wife in the message that I'd make sure not to sell another copy of Tainted City to him next year, haha.)

I owe a lot to RMFW. I met my agent-to-be at the very first RMFW conference I attended (back in 2008), and got invited to join a critique group that made a world of difference to my writing.  (Thanks to what I learned from their critique of Whitefire's original draft, I was able to rewrite it to publishable quality and get my book deal.)  I can't say enough about how wonderful an organization RMFW is, full of helpful, kind, generous people who bend over backward to help new writers. 

Group shot of my critique group (all 6 of us attended this year's RMFW conference). Front row: me, Catherine Montrose (a.k.a. Catherine Cooke), Carol Berg.  Back row: Curt Craddock, Susan Smith (a.k.a. Mackay Wood), Brian Tobias.  Without these people, The Whitefire Crossing would never have gotten published.

This was my fifth year in a row attending the RMFW conference, and I had just as good a time as ever.  I'll confess I spent much of the time in the hotel lobby bar hanging out and talking to fellow writers as opposed to attending workshops (though I did attend some, I swear!).  These days as a parent I get so few opportunities for uninterrupted adult conversation that I snatch at the chance whenever I can, heh!  And in truth I find talking to other writers about craft and story ideas just as inspiring as attending formal workshops.  When I ran out of social steam (as often happens during a conference, since I'm an introvert), I happily took myself off to a secluded corner of the hotel and did some plot noodling for The Labyrinth of Flame (the third and final book in the Shattered Sigil series, which I'm about to start work on.) 

At a conference dinner with Susan Smith, Curt Craddock, and Carol Berg.  Note the evil little smile on Curt's face. He is making up yet another horrendously groan-inducing, insanely clever simile to reclaim his title as champion of the RMFW simile contest.

This year was extra fun since those of us in my critique group got to cheer on one of our members: Carol Berg, who was voted RMFW's Writer of the Year for 2012.  (Carol's been one of my writer-heroines ever since I first stumbled across a copy of one of her novels in the library, many years ago.  She writes absolutely terrific epic fantasy - if you haven't tried her work, you are totally missing out.  Still can't believe how lucky I am to be in a critique group with her!)  Carol gave a lovely speech at the opening dinner - and later, on her Writer of the Year panel, she Told All in response to the moderator's questions, including 'fessing up to the TV show that is her guiltiest pleasure.  (Which turned out to be quite a few other writers' guilty pleasure as well!  What is it?  My lips are sealed...) 

Carol giving the conference's opening speech

Oh yes, and while driving to and from the conference, I took the chance to check out the brand-new audiobook version of The Whitefire Crossing.  I'm gonna do a post later this week talking in more detail about the audiobook experience, but the short version is: hearing my book read aloud was both utterly cool and extremely weird, all at the same time!  (The narrator, Andy Caploe, does a great job.  Especially with Dev.) 

So all in all, a lovely weekend, and now I get a break before heading back out on the con circuit in late October for MileHiCon and World Fantasy.  Time to plan a peak climb, I think...September is a gorgeous month for the mountains in Colorado.  And in the meantime, I'll be holding my breath as The Tainted City makes its way into the big wide world.  Will you like it?  I'm anxious to find out!   

Cool audio news, and a return to the Night Bazaar

Good news about the release of The Whitefire Crossing and The Tainted City as audiobooks - they're both coming quite soon!  The Tainted City is scheduled to release via Audible on Oct 2, the same date as its release in print and e-book; and The Whitefire Crossing will release within the next month or two (exact date TBD).  Yesterday I spent two hours on Skype talking with Andy Caploe, who'll be narrating both books.  We discussed character traits and went over pronunciations of names/places/etc - heh, which meant in some cases I had to actually decide on pronunciations.  I'm a visual reader/writer, not an aural one, so sometimes I find myself ambivalent over one pronunciation vs. another for a minor character's name, or a city that's mentioned in passing.  Also, you know that "cast your own novel as a movie" game that some authors like to play?  Turns out there's a good use for it - audio narrators love to know that kind of stuff.  (Sadly, I'd never cast my characters in my head, so I wasn't able to help Andy out in that way.)

Anyway, Andy plans to start recording Whitefire this Wednesday.  I can't wait to hear his narration - I think he'll do a terrific job!  (Andy has done several of David Brin's novels for Audible, and is finishing up recording Sharon Lee & Steve Miller's Liaden books before he tackles Whitefire, so he's no stranger to SFF.) 

In other cool audio news, the German audio rights to the books also sold, so at some point I'll get to practice my German by listening to my own novel.  A thought to which my only response is a Keanu Reeves-style "Whoa."  

And last but not least, today marks my return to The Night Bazaar, the group author blog I organized last year with a bunch of other debut authors.  (Night Shade took over the blog in 2012 and it's been going strong all this year, with a new group of folks posting each publication season.  Since The Tainted City's releasing in October, I'm joining in for the fall season (Aug-Nov) - I'll be posting there every Monday, so come stop by and say hello!