Some Stories about Stories

 Okay– a business post.  Mostly.  I had some rambling, but it’s after 12, so I think I’ll save hat for another day.

First of all, a reminder that Country Mouse is up for pre-sale at Riptide.  Now Riptide goes in for the pre-sales in a big way, they offer a very nice incentive to fork over your money before the product is officially available–a chance to win free books for a year!  Anyway– this jaunty, hot little novella is getting a lot of attention because everyone knows that Aleks is awesomesauce (and yeah… the word is getting a trifle dated, but then, I’m still using “hella” and that dates back to the Reagan administration) and I just can’t get enough of seen Owen and Malcolm on the cover!  Also, we’re going on a blog tour together, which means that in a week we’re going to be hitting about six OTHER people’s blogs, and doing interviews and stuff.  Yeah.  I’m glad it’s the both of us, because really?  Too much me is already too much.  You alls know how I feel about being the most boring human on the planet.  Hasn’t changed.  Wish it had.  Hasn’t. 






Which brings us to Talker, also in German, because Talker is all ABOUT change.  See, not so long ago, when someone asked me how I knew my work really wasn’t pornography, I replied, “I’m pretty sure porn doesn’t get translated into four language and put on audiobook!”  Arrogant?  Yeah.  I’m sorry.  It sounds arrogant–it sounded arrogant even when I said it, but I can’t help it.  Everything I’ve believed about literature is embodied in the idea that it’s universal.  Someday, maybe, Talker will be translated into Farsi or Hindi or Korean–but I’m not waiting for that day to be totally proud.  And this is it– Talker’s fourth translation.  It’s also available in Italian, Spanish, and, I’m pretty sure, French.  And all three novellas are available in audiobook.  AND (and this part makes me really happy) in May, all three novellas will be available in the same bound edition.  I’m still a believer in printed paper– don’t think it doesn’t tickle the hell out of me when I get a novel and hold it in my hands.  Real.  It feels real.  And for someone who deals in the imaginary all the frickin’ time?  That’s almost sexual right there.  Who needs pornography?  I’ve got PAPER!

And you know what else is coming back in paper? Gambling Men: The Novel.  Now, I felt compelled to put The Novel on this one, because GoodReads is having one HELL of a time with Super Sock Man.  In spite of the fact that SEVERAL people have explained to them that the novella with the cover with the socks on it is actually 750% LONGER than the original uber-short story (I think that’s right– uber short story was 3.5K, novella was over 26K) the librarians at GR keep combining the two stories together.  Okay, so fine– I’ll NEVER have any sort of idea how much people like the second one as opposed to the first, and I’m having a VERY HARD time figuring out what my sales are–but that’s NOT happening with Gambling Men: The Novel.

The original Gambling Men story came to less then 5K, and was inspired by this video.  It was divided in sections and used as a pivot for all of the different parts of the Curious Anthology.  I enjoyed the two characters, so, for the hell of it, I wrote Raising the Stakes, which was sort of the next step in Jace and Quent’s journey.  Those were the only short stories about Jace and Quent that I published, but I continued to write about them–in fact, there were five more stories when I was done.

Well, for the helluvit, mostly, I kept sending these stories to Elizabeth and Lynn ad Dreamspinner–and Jace and Quent became sort of their comfort guys.  No pressure, no angst, really, just a couple of major testosterone hardbodies whose only solid basis for communication was poker.  They were infuriating and funny and irritating and dear–and very, very hot.

Last summer, Elizabeth said, “I want a novel.  You must give them a novel.”

And, after some mutual plottying in public (not nearly as dirty as it sounds) I had this idea.

See, the original stories had all been written from Quent’s point of view, and they gave us a very nice story arc.  But what about Jace’s point of view?

Well, I’ve got to tell you, Jace’s point of view rocked.  From that one little story, and it’s even shrimpier counterpart, this story is nearly 68K.  Jace’s character is completely filled out, and Quentin’s character has a lot more depth as well.  There are nuances and small twists and some bumpy paths to true love, in spite of the fact that the original story points to one night of passion and smooth sailing from their on out.  And (as it often does with writing) something amazing happened when the two guys got together and formed their own gestalt.

It became a whole different hand of poker.

I love this story.  I love the way I was inspired to write it, I love that Lynn, Elizabeth, and Mary all adore it (the novel is dedicated to them) and I love how it started out small, then dared to dream a little bigger, and then finally dreamed itself into a complex, complete novel.

I love the cover, which is perfect for the story as a whole.

I love that I had to learn how to play poker in order to write it.

I love that it’s coming out May 7th, and I can hardly wait!

Of course I have to– but still.  It’s Jace and Quent, and they’re sort of sentimental favorites.  I’m so looking forward to them!