Lawrence M. Schoen

In the US, it’s Memorial Day, considered by many to be the “official” start of summer. In the FSF community it’s also the end of arguably the busiest convention weekend on the calendar. I was only able to sneak away to one day of a convention on Saturday, owing in large part to my heading up to Book Expo America & Bookcon in a couple days, and the Nebula Awards shortly after that. Coast to coast, I hope to catch my breath by the second week of June.

Meanwhile though, here at EATING AUTHORS, we interrupt this year’s series of meals from Campbell Nominees to bring you a visit from editor-turned-novelist Lou Anders. He appears to have always been drawn to words, having worked as a playwright, a journalist, a screenwriter, and an editorial director and art director in publishing (winning both the Hugo and Chesley awards for that last one).

You might have heard the old joke that many actors really want to direct. I suspect that a corollary to that is that many editors really want to write. And so I’m pleased to tell you that the paperback edition of Frostborn, Lou’s first novel, comes out tomorrow. And in less than two months you’ll be able to pick up a copy of the sequel, Nightborn as well.

Before that though, let’s find out about his most memorable meal.

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The EATING AUTHORS blog feature has been running for about three and a half years now. Sometimes, when I reach out to an author everything falls instantly into place. Other times — and this is far and away the more typical situation — the author’s schedule is jammed with commitments, deadlines, travel, and other obligations such that we may spend months playing email tag. And then, once I have the author’s most memorable meal in the can (so to speak), it can be quite the ordeal to find a spot in the calendar to actually post it.

I mention these behind-the-scenes issues because this week’s guest, Sherwood Smith, very graciously provided the following meal back in early February and I’m only getting to sharing it with you now. That’s on me, and I am heartily embarrassed that it’s taken so long to fit it into the schedule. But Sherwood’s a pro, and she understands that despite the best intentions, stuff happens.

And I think you’ll agree that it’s been worth the wait, because Sherwood’s been a finalist for the Nebula Award, as well as the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. She’s co-written books with Andre Norton, written several new books in the tradition and world of Frank Baum’s Oz, published work under three pseudonyms, tried her hand at media tie-in novels, and best of all blown away readers with the many volumes she’s set on the world of Sartorias-deles. If you’re not already familiar with her work, click any of the covers below to immediately correct this oversight!

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And lo, it is May. The trees around my home are in full flower, the air full of pollen. I’m still feeling a bit worn out from the events of a convention that’s now more than a week in the past, and trying to prepare for a cross-country trip that’s coming up all too fast. In writing news, the ARCs of Barsk have landed, so in due course I’ll begin making myself anxious about reviews, but in the meantime I’ve gone through the MS line by line and sent in my corrections. For the next day or so I get to feel virtuous.

Meanwhile, it’s another Monday, and visiting EATING AUTHORS this week is Stephanie Saulter. Stephanie was born in Jamaica, completed her schooling in the US, and currently resides in the UK. Probably through no coincidence, her ®Evolution trilogy is set in a near-future London. Book two is entitled Binary, and comes out tomorrow in the US. The third book, Regeneration will be available in the UK this summer.

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As you read this on Monday morning, I’ve just returned from a long weekend as a special GOH of a convention. It was great fun, but thoroughly exhausting. So, it’s kind of wonderful to come back home and pause here to introduce this week’s EATING AUTHORS guest, M. Darusha Wehm, particularly as her first novel, Children of Arkadia, described as a political space station epic, comes out tomorrow from Bundoran Press.

I confess, I don’t know Darusha well. She’s from Canada, but currently lives in Wellington, New Zealand (and yes, there’s been a lot of NZ here in recent weeks), after spending the past several years traveling at sea on her sailboat. She’s a three-time Parsec Award finalist, and in 2012 she was shortlisted for the Sir Julius Vogel Award.

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I have a crazy crazy week ahead, culminating with me spending the second half of it down in Richmond, VA as a GOH at RavenCon. But unless you’re going, you probably don’t care about that; you’re hear for authors and what they eat, so let’s get to that.

Okay, time for full disclosure. This week’s EATING AUTHORS guest, Cat Rambo and I have a history. Her first collection, Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight, was the first collection I published with my small press, Paper Golem.

As often happens with firsts, I made a lot of mistakes. Anything that went wrong with the volume belongs on my plate (regardless of what my co-editor, Michael Livingston may say). Time, it is said, heals all wounds, and I think Cat may have forgiven me by now. I hope so, because she’s currently running unopposed for president of the SFWA!

Anyway, in the course of producing that collection I had the privilege of reading many short stories Cat had created in the Tabat universe. Which is why I’m positively squeeing that her novel, Beasts of Tabat, came out earlier this month. And if you’re making similar noises, I need to tell you that this is just the first volume of The Tabat Quartet. So, warn your neighbors, there’s more squeeing ahead!

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