While at NasFic, Mur Lafferty interviewed me for her podcast, I Should Be Writing. Mur makes the whole thing feel like a casual conversation between friends which reduces the level of stress induced by trying to sound reasonably intelligent.

(Note to debut authors: when your book launches your brain is liable to have a repeating track of “Is this really happening?” rendering it largely useless.)

Part of what I like about I Should Be Writing is that Mur talks about her personal writing journey and the lessons she is learning during it. She touches on stuff that pretty much every author goes through.  While my part of the interview doesn’t happen until about the 27 minute mark, it’s worth listening to the whole podcast.

Which you can do at… ISBW #153 –  Mary Robinette Kowal Interview : I Should Be Writing.

In Chapter Five, Melody is helping Jane demonstrate glamour.

Pulling  a fold of glamour from the ether, Melody stitched it across the bookcase with large, awkward threads. The fold was bulky and wrinkled; light careened across the gilt titles. Continue reading Shades of Milk and Honey extra: Light careened…

Most of my fiction has at least one thing that I put in purely to amuse myself and Shades of Milk and Honey is no exception.  There are a number of Easter Eggs, if you know where to look.

Periodically, I’ll post one of these and an explanation for how it got there. Some of them may be amusing, others things may talk about Regency history, still others will just be odd. Since many of them also involve spoilers, they’ll be password protected to keep the unwary from stumbling into them.

What sort of things can you look forward to? Here’s a spoiler-free example.

In Chapter 10, Beth (Miss Dunkirk) decides to rename her horse, which was previously called “Bacon.”

She asks her brother:

“Bacon? Who would name a dainty mare that?”

“I think it is the pattern in her sock. The area where the roan blends down to the white does look very much like the marbling in bacon.”

Who indeed? The answer is that Beth is named after my friend Beth Wodzinski, the editor-in-chief of Shimmer magazine.  Part of her email address was “mmmbacon.”

I’ve got one more for you today. To access it and any others I post, you just need to know the name of the mare that Jane rides in Chapter 10.

This will be my first Dragon*Con and I’m very much looking forward to it. Since it is a costume friendly con, I’m bringing the full Regency wardrobe for evening wear. I’ll also have the sandalwood handfans for folks who would like them. But where can you get one? Just find me at any one of these exciting activities.

Friday

Dragon*Autographs
01:00 pm Location: M301 – M304 – Marriott (Length: 1)
Edited to add: An airline itinerary change has me arriving AFTER my session. Sorry. Feel free to find me after any of the other panels/events.

Dragon*Reading
05:30 pm Location: Roswell – Hyatt (Length: 1)
I’ll be reading from Shades of Milk and Honey and performing The Broken Bridge, which is the shadow puppet play that occurs in Chapter 10.

Saturday

Broad Universe Reading!
11:30 am Location: Greenbriar – Hyatt (Length: 2.5)
Description: Discover new writers, rediscover ones you know! Up and coming women writers read from their own works and others. (I’ll be reading a new short story.)

Sunday

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
11:30 am Location: Hanover C – E – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: A roundtable discussion about science fiction and fantasy book covers by industry pros, discussing what’s good, bad and could be better.

Monday

Joining a Writer’s Group
11:30 am Location: Manila / Singapore / Hong Kong – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Whether it’s a national organization like SFWA, RWA,or HWA or a local group…What’s in it for you?

Rob’s mom sent us a care package recently. In it was a packet of roasted and ground Wattleseed, which is an Australian product that apparently has a coffee, chocolate and hazelnut flavour profile.

While researching what to do with it I ran across what has to be one of the worst beverage names of all time: Wattlecino.

If any of you folks down in Australia for WorldCon run across a wattlecino, let me know what it tastes like.

Today was the first day when I truly felt like I was back in Portland. Granted, I was back yesterday and actually saw people I knew even, but it still felt like I was acclimating.

Today I slept in with my sweetie. Then headed off to run errands on the bicycle. Everytime I’m come back from a trip away I feel so much… release when I get on the bike for the first time. I think it is related to a sense of empowerment. With the bike, I’m able to get around under my own power and not reliant on trying to figure out transit in an alien city.  There’s a level of comfort which is nicely reinforced by the endorphins of exercise.

So today I biked down to the post office to mail off some packages and inquire about a P.O. Box. From there I went down to Powell’s where I signed copies of Shades of Milk and Honey, which was fun, and had my picture taken. It’s a totally ridiculous and fun promo thing they are doing.  Basically, when you leave the Gold Room and head toward the Rose room, on the Mezzanine there’s this guy with a camera and a greenscreen. You get your photo taken and they send you a copy. Way better than posing across the street especially since they put my name “on” the marquis.

From there off to visit my friend -e- briefly at Malloys where we made plans to meet up later for drinks. The rest of the afternoon I spent at Central Library researching the WIP. I need to thank Pauline, the reference librarian, who pointing me in the direction specific books in the 975s which was very helpful.

-e- and I had drinks at Secret Society which is fast becoming my favorite bar in Portland. I had a Jasmine Cocktail and a Sazerac. Bizarrely, there was another puppeteer sitting at the bar so I had a moment where the puppetry radar went off in my brain and we had a quick and lovely conversation about “OMG puppets!” and then went back to hanging out with the folks we’d actually arrived with.

All in all a delightful day.

I’m very happy to announce that I’ll be doing the puppet design for a production of Neil Gaiman’s Odd and the Frost Giants at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston, Texas. This adaptation is by Robert Kimbro. He and I have worked together on other projects in the past and I’m incredibly excited to be involved in this world premiere.

It’s scheduled for May of 2011. I’ll keep you posted as more details develop.

Two weeks ago, when our CSA box came I spontaneously gave the fellow who delivers the package every week a copy of Shades of Milk and Honey. He’s a nice guy but we’ve never had a conversation longer than the basic “how are you” and “see you next time” so I’m not sure what prompted me to do it.

This week he came back with the novel in hand and asked me to sign it. He said that his wife has already started it and likes it so far. The really neat thing though? He said that he hasn’t read a book since high school but is planning to read this.

How cool is that?

Also, we got strawberries today.

Have a question about Shades of Milk and Honey? Or puppets? Goodreads is hosting a Q&A with me for the next month.   Swing by and ask anything you like.

I have a 39,000 word SF novella that I could use some hasty feedback on. I’m looking for ways to make it shorter and things that are confusing, unbelievable, or dull. If you can get feedback to me by Monday that would be awesome.

Edited to add: I’ve got enough folks to look at this draft. If you are up for being a round 2 reader let me know. I’ll likely have a revision ready to go on Tuesday.

Since it’s a monster, if you’re up for reading it let me know and I’ll email you the manuscript.  Here’s the sampler.

Kiss Me Twice
by Mary Robinette Kowal

By the time Scott Huang took his second step into the precinct, the department AI had taken four hundred and fifty-seven images of him. The flesh and blood officers on the night shift were coming back to the station to log out, but the other F&B members of the homicide department wouldn’t turn up for work till eight. As Huang reached his desk, the cameras on Metta’s desktop interface swiveled in his direction.

“Well, hello sailor.” Mae West’s voice purred from his desk. Over the interface, Mae West’s head appeared and looked him up and down.

“Diamond Lil!” Huang had a weakness for starlets from the days of mono-vision, black & white in particular and Metta customized her interface for him regularly.

But this, this was special.

Clearly being gone for two weeks brought out the nesting impulse because I came home made a casserole, soup and cookies within the first four hours of being back. I’m moving on to laundry and am considering mopping the kitchen.

Rob is off at the vineyard and left his cell phone at home so I haven’t actually spoken to him yet. I’ll see him this evening.

It is really, really, really good to be home.

I’ll catch you up on what the readings were like but for the moment I just want to settle in an be quiet at home.

From March 25-27 I’ll be attending MidSouthCon 29 as the Author Guest of Honor.  This will be my first time as a GoH and I couldn’t be more pleased for it to be at a convention that focuses on literacy and education. This Memphis based convention has been running for almost thirty years.

Besides the usual programming with writers, gamers, editors, artists and scientists, they also hold a seminar for educators and librarians, a writers’ conference with workshops by award winning authors and editors, and annual student art and writing contests. They are doing a lot of wonderful outreach which can only strengthen the field.

The other Guests of Honor are: Artist Guest of Honor, Nene Thomas; Gaming Guest of Honor, Monte Cook; Comics Guest of Honor, Kurt Busiek; Costuming Guest of Honor, Kelldar; Editor Guest of Honor, Jackie Gamber; and Toastmaster, The great Luke Ski.

I’m very much looking forward to attending and hope to see some of you there.

The Eugene Weekly has a nice review of Shades of Milk and Honey that manages to talk about the book without being spoilery.

Kowal has a good time with the tropes and tweaks of this sort of story, making both sisters sympathetic and tossing a few obstacles into the way, but Shades sparkles to particular life when its characters are working, thinking about or discussing glamour — the way it works, the relevance of passion, the power of a muse.

You can read the full review at the Eugene Weekly.

I mentioned that at the reading tonight, there would be a specialty cocktail.  Rina Weisman, the power behind SF in SF, has given me the recipe to share with you

As the inventor, I graciously share the recipe for all: 1 shot Velvet Falernum over ice, fill with a nice champagne, add a dash of Rose’s Lime Juice, and topped with a maraschino cherry. DELISH! And for those of you who don’t know Falernum…it’s divine.

“This famous Bajan ‘Gold Medal’ beverage and mixer with a uniquely refreshing flavour was developed by John D. Taylor of Bridgetown, Barbados in 1890. This sugar cane based liqueur born and bred in Barbados is a staple of every Bajan’s bar. Its uniquely refreshing flavor comes from a refined infusion of lime laced with fine cane syrup and ‘botanicals’ including almonds and cloves.”

I hope to see some of you there tonight!