w00t » Deborah Kalin

Sale to TPP!

announcements, briskwater mare, cherry crow children, the wages of honey 8 Responses »

Mar 132012

I have a confession to make: for a couple of months now, I've had some Good News that I've not been able to share. And by good news, I mean KERMIT-FLAILINGLY AWESOME NEWS!

It has been very difficult not to share this news with you all, and I feel most strongly that you should all admire my stoic moral character as a consequence.

But now the news is out:

Twelfth Planet Press is delighted to announce that fantasy author Deborah Kalin has joined the Twelve Planets series with a collection featuring her beautifully horrific story, “Wages of Honey”.

YES, I AM BEING PUBLISHED BY TWELFTH PLANET PRESS!

This is a dream come true for me. Twelfth Planet Press has been producing some breathtaking work, and almost as soon as I heard about the Twelve Planets series I wanted to be a part of it. I still can't quite believe that it's happening.

"The Wages of Honey" (aka the thorn girls story) cost me not a little pain in the making, and ended up at a difficult length. And thank all that's holy that it did, because if it hadn't been so demanding, and so awkward and defiant a length, I might not have loved it so fiercely that only the very best home for it would do. I submitted it to TPP almost in spite of myself: it fit their brief so perfectly that, even though I didn't have any stories to accompany it, and even though TPP didn't publish single stories, and even though the Twelve Planet series was full at that stage, I just had to.

To my delight, Alisa also felt that my story had come home to roost with her press, and so I'm now hard at work writing three more equally awkward and defiant stories to match and accompany "The Wages of Honey" in what will be my first collection.

(I can't believe I just wrote that. I'm going to have a collection to my name! It's like I'm a real author or something!)

I don't have a title for the collection yet, but I can tell you that two of the three in-progress stories have titles. (This is unusual for me, to have a title before a story.)

They're going to be called "The Briskwater Mare", and "The Cherry Crow Children of Haverny Wood".¹

Unless they're not. [↩]

packing status: still borked

announcements, journal, the wages of salt, writing life Comments Off

May 252010

Good news, landing just before I flit off to lands untrammelled, is that PodCastle will be publishing "The Wages of Salt" in an upcoming issue.

So, if you never did manage to track down a copy of PostScripts #18, or if you did but you'd also like an audio copy of the story, keep your eye on the PodCastle site.

Yay for the little story that could!

nothing like happy to turn a monday around

asides, the wages of salt 4 Responses »

Apr 122010

People, check it out: "The Wages of Salt" received an Honorable Mention in Ellen Datlow's "Best Horror of the Year, Volume 2" !

It's quite a list,¹ and my little story that could is in some spectacular company.

Yea verily, tonight I am not a little bit chipper

such a list, in fact, that I missed my name entirely on the first pass. It wasn't until Ben Payne posted the Australian-only summary that I found out. [↩]

i can see my future, and there are edits in it

announcements, journal, shaping lily, writing life 8 Responses »

Jul 112009

Today I have exceedingly good news: I have sold a story to ASIM. Tentative publication date is April 2010.

For those playing along at home, I wrote the first draft of this story in January 2005, during my stint at Clarion. (Actually, since it was my week one story, I probably started it, in some brief and jotted form at least, in late December 2004.) I can't remember what I called it at the time (probably something genius like "Untitled"), but it's since acquired the title "Shaping Lily".

The story was inspired by the meeting of two ideas: an epic(ish) quest fantasy story wherein the main character was a little old lady, and Web of Light, by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. (And in seeking out that link for you, I've only just gone and gotten myself lost in browsing Stephanie's site. Again.)

It's a quaint little story, and one I'm very fond of, so I'm glad it's found a good home.

And in updating my spreadsheet which records these things for me, I've belatedly realised I have exactly one short story currently doing the rounds of submissions, and nothing else to offer. I do have a handful of short stories in serious need of revising (some of my Clarion stories are still languishing, for example — although I think they'll stay languishing, except for one, which may turn into a novel. Like I need yet another novel idea in the queue. Still, too many ideas is a nicer problem to have than not enough ideas, I suppose).

H'm. Perhaps it's time to work on revising or drafting a short story or two.

time for a new plan

journal, writing life 4 Responses »

Apr 302009

Today, I admitted defeat. I've been getting up at 5 a.m. to get an hour's writing in before the dayjob takes over. It's been working okay (when I'm disciplined enough not to check my email, that is), but it's been chilly enough that I've been working from bed to keep warm. This morning, however,¹ it was too cold to even THINK about sitting up at 5 a.m. For that matter, it was actually too cold to move. I tested the air with a single ear, but quickly tucked my head back under the blankets when I instantly lost all sensation in said exposed ear. Consequently, there was no writing this morning.

So, time for a new plan.

Buggered if I know what it will be, though.

In the meantime, my crazy-talented brother (one of my crazy-talented brothers, to be more precise) has written a game for the iphone: it's called AAA Gun Club.

My mother tells me she's been using it to ~~tease~~ amuse the cats: they look for the spent cartridges which they can hear falling to the floor. Hours of fun for the whole family! (Don't let my irreverance fool you. When I googled last night it was ranking among the top downloads of iTunes UK store. I'm just not entirely sure what to tell you because I don't have an iPhone. But I'm not bitter about that, not in the least, oh no, why do you ask?)

coldest night in April in 52 years, I'm told — I haven't googled to check [↩]

just when you think the day can't get any worse…

journal, shadow queen, writing life 8 Responses »

Nov 142008

…it gets inestimably better.

Today, after a day at the dayjob which could be best described as ugly, I arrived home to a package. Two, actually. One was the new DAAS DVD (which, let's face it, you all knew I was going to shell out for, didn't you?), and the other… well, I'll give you a clue.

It's printed. It's bound. It has my name on it. And lo, it is SHINY.

Let the record show that these sorts of surprises are excellent. I approve.

Since my ever-thoughtful editor also included a cover flat for me, this means I can belatedly deliver on my promise to reveal the cover. (Click to see it larger!)

Oh dear lord, people. It's a book.

somewhat belated

journal, teratogen 4 Responses »

Jan 142008

I'm not entirely sure how it is I forgot to update you all on this one, but I suspect everything I ate (and, er, drank) over the holidays pickled my brain to such an extent that it is only now recovering cognitive function.

Anyway, while I was determinedly avoiding the internets, Cemetery Dance decided they wished to purchase my abortion and butterflies story, "Teratogen".

Naturally I ~~cackled and indulged in a chair dance~~ accepted.

it's a deal!

journal, novels, shadow bound, shadow queen 16 Responses »

Nov 262007

The Short Version

I've sold two books to Allen & Unwin, as part of their new Arena imprint.

The Longer Version (After the Cut)

w00t!

journal, writing life 16 Responses »

Nov 062007

So, a little ways back¹, I very cryptically said:

There would have been more, but a phone call derailed me on that front. Incidentally, the phone call was also good news, so on the whole I couldn't get angry about losing my writing time, just this once.

Since there is actually ink on the contract now, and she's ~~stuck with me~~ committed, I can reveal the good news without fear of jinxing myself.

Said good news being: I have an agent. An agent from Curtis Brown Australia, no less.

Suddenly I feel all grown up.

Excuse me, won't you, while I celebrate by ~~drinking excessive amounts of bourbon~~ writing some more.

for you people. For me, it's been an eternity, during which I've gnawed my spleen away to next to nothing [↩]

postscripts

journal, pre-crash, the wages of salt, writing life 19 Responses »

Apr 252007

Well, I've slept on it, and hours and hours have passed, and no further email has appeared in my inbox telling me it was all a wicked joke…

So I guess I've just sold a story to POSTSCRIPTS.

Needless to say, I am thrilled (if a little stunned). But heck, I was pretty stunned when my query earned a "send the story along" response¹. So when the second email appeared in my inbox, I avoided it. They'd only had the story for a day, after all. Bound to be a rejection. Plenty of time to catalogue what kind of rejection in a moment.

Except this time? Apparently not.

The story in question is, yes, the one I've been wrangling recently, "The Wages of Salt". No idea when it will see actual print, since I understand POSTSCRIPTS is bought up a fair way into the future at the moment.

An enormous shout-out (of the I owe you a beer or beverage of your choice kind) to my Rimfire crew: Nike, Rju, Ben, Andy, Kaaron, Matt, and Rosaleen, who gave me such constructive feedback on this story I had to rewrite it from the ground up. Which means they won't recognise it any more, but they helped make it what it is.

I hate querying. I have always maintained I can't write queries. I guess maybe I can't maintain that any more? [↩]