Lawrence M. Schoen

One of the things I like best about EATING AUTHORS is when I get to introduce you to a new writer, particular when her first novel is just being published. That’s the case with this week’s guest, J. Kathleen Cheney, author of The Golden City, which comes out tomorrow from Roc.

I’m especially happy to have J. here because I had the privilege of publishing her Nebula Award-nominated novella “Iron Shoes” back in 2010. I’m brutal when I’m wearing my editor’s hat, and she completely won me over with her lyrical style. So believe me when I tell you she’s an author you’re going to want to keep your eye on. You can begin by putting her new book on your To Be Read list right now.

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All Hallow’s Eve is fast approaching, and though it will see us much closer to a new moon than a full one, it nonetheless seemed like a good time to feature an author who knows a thing or two about werewolves. When that topic comes up, one of the best people in the biz is none other than the #1 New York Times best selling author, Patricia Briggs. Although she’s done stand alone novels as well as short stories, Patty is best known for series of books. Most readers of this blog will instantly recognize her name from the very popular Mercy Thompson series (the first book, Moon Called, came out in 2006; book #8 hits bookstores in March), and spin-off series Alpha and Omega (Cry Wolf, Hunting Ground, and Fair Game), set in the same world. Between these two sets, she’s been a finalist for the Endeavor Award three times.

Other series include Sianim (Masques, Wolfsbane, Shifter’s Wolf, Steal the Dragon, and When Demons Walk), as well as her Hurog (Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood) and Raven (Raven’s Strike and Raven’s Strike) duologies. That’s plenty of tricks and treats to tide you over for at least a week!

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Anyone who’s been reading this blog feature for a while will have realized that, as a general rule, I don’t feature self-published or “indie” authors here. It’s not that they don’t have great memories of meals, it’s more that I believe the whole signal-to-noise problem is a couple orders of magnitude greater with self-publishing than with traditional or even small press publishing. Every writer, newbie or pro, benefits from an editor’s careful eye. So, while I have no beef when experienced and established authors decide to self-publish reverted books from their respective backlists, I hold newer authors who have only gone down the self-published route to a different standard.

And yet, every now and then someone comes along that provides an exception to the rule, which is the way I’m choosing to introduce Christie Meierz, this week’s EATING AUTHOR guest. When I first met Christie, she’d self-published her first novel, The Marann. I stopped short of inviting her to talk about a meal here on the blog because, hey, self-published. But then her novel went and won the RWA’s 2013 Prism Award for Futuristic Romance (making her the first self-published author to win the award). Soon after, the fine folks at Sky Warrior Books approached her to buy the rights to the book. Christie provided some rewrites and expanded on a few scenes, and last week they released the new improved edition under their imprint.

I confess, I’m fascinated to see what’s going to happen next. Christie is still self-publishing, but she’s also now being published by a small press. Will she pick up another Prism Award? Will Sky Warrior offer a contract on the next book in her series? The answer to both questions may be affected by what you, gentle reader, choose to do. Especially if, after checking out her most memorable meal, you go out and pick up a copy of one or more of her books.

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If you’re reading this in the early morning hours when it automagically posts, be aware that I’m likely busily engaged in the thoroughly mundane act of sleeping in. I spent the weekend down at Capclave where I had a wonderful time talking with fans and pros and basking in all that is great about conventions. If your weekend was half as fine, you’re doubtless far ahead of most of humanity.

But it’s Monday again, and also (in the USA) Columbus Day. Rather than grapple with the incongruity of how best to observe a Federal Holiday when the federal government is shut down, allow me to introduce you to this week’s guest, T. L. Morganfield, a self-described writer of Aztec Science Fiction and Fantasy. She’s also a graduate of Clarion West, and a past finalist for the Sidewise Award.

I’ve had the privilege of attending Traci’s readings at conventions, and I’m here to tell you her short fiction has an incredible style and deft touch. But I’m even more excited to tell you that her first novel, The Bone Flower Throne, came out last week from Panverse Publishing. Personally, I have a weakness for tales laced with Aztec mythology, let alone set in tenth century Mexico, so this one’s a no-brainer; for those of you who need a bit more, the book grabs you with the simple question: “Can one woman alone defeat a god?” For me though, the better question is, what’s she going to do in book two, because there had better be another book!

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Welcome to the first Monday in October. It’s a particularly exciting Monday because tonight is also the SFWA Annual Reception for Industry Professionals, an evening where authors, agents, editors, and publishers gather in Manhattan to mingle, chat, and do a bit of business while drinking booze and eating canapés that someone else has paid for.

But meanwhile, let’s go back to focusing on this week’s guest, Philadelhia’s own Michael Swanwick. Michael writes both short stories and novels, as well as commentary on the science fiction field itself. My personal favorite is his novel, Vacuum Flowers, which I consider to be one of the most compelling treatments of traditional cyberpunk tropes. He’s won the Nebula Award for Stations of the Tide, five Hugo Awards for short fiction (including “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur,” arguably the best SF dinosaur story ever), the World Fantasy Award, and the Sturgeon Award. And that’s not mentioning the titles of his many other works nominated for these and other awards in the field.

He writes fantasy novels with elves in Armani suits, rollicking adventures set in post-Utopia Russia, post-meltdown tales about Philadelphia and how the city’s Mummers naturally move in to fill the resulting power vacuum. And don’t get me started on his amazing short story collections, some of which feel like he wrote them on a dare or as exercises in performance art, as in The Periodic Table of Science Fiction or Puck Aleshire’s Abecedary.

I’ve had the great pleasure to hang with Michael at conventions, both on panels (in fact, we’re together on one this coming weekend) and more casually at the bar. I highly recommend both.

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I’m rather persistent when it comes to recruiting writers for this weekly blog feature. I’m sure some of those authors who have been on the receiving end of my emails would use a different word, perhaps “annoying” or some more colorful term that loosely translates to “leave me the hell alone, you ass!” though I prefer to think of myself as tenacious. It’s a necessary quality for EATING AUTHORS, because for every author who responds promptly there are three (or six, or ten!) others who are too busy to reply to the email, let alone generate an answer to the single question asked here. And that’s perfectly reasonable, because writers are busy people. We’re supposed to be writing. We’re juggling projects. We’re facing deadlines (or worse, have recently blown them).

This week’s guest is a good example. I’m happy to say I consider her a friend, which is why I’ve been trying to lure Liz Williams here for over a year. But she’s been just too busy. And yet, I persevered, because I wanted to ensure that you, gentle reader, would have a chance to meet her if you hadn’t yet had the pleasure of her fiction.

Liz’s first novel, The Ghost Sister, came out back in 2001. Her second, Empire of Bones, followed in 2002. Both received nominations for the Philip K. Dick Award. In 2004, she received a third nomination for Banner of Souls. That’s not all that surprising considering she has her doctorate in the Philosophy of Science, she’s just that smart.

More recently, she’s been writing her brilliant Detective Chen novels (beginning with Snake Agent), a series in which a mortal detective’s jurisdiction includes the edges of Heaven and Hell. Add in some “assistance” by his opposite number, an immortal vice cop from Hell, and you have everything you need for a great read!

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It should come as no surprise that the guests here at EATING AUTHORS fall into one of three categories: 1) writers I personally know and can merrily harangue until they send me a few hundred words about a meal; 2) writers I don’t know, but who strike me as approachable enough (and hey, why else do I have that SFWA Membership Directory, right?); and 3) writers I don’t know but have recently met at a convention and figure, what the heck, let’s give it a shot!

Today’s guest, Christian Klaver, falls into that last category. Our pre-destined meeting occurred last January when I was in Detroit for that year’s incarnation of ConFusion, and the gods of programming put us on a panel together. I had a great time, and Christian was part of what made it great, so naturally I reached out to him, and though it’s taken awhile for our respective schedules to mess, here he is!

Christian has been writing his own take on Sherlock Holmes, and represents the first author I’ve had on this feature (at least to my knowledge) to publish and market his work via Amazon Digital Services, Inc. It takes a lot of chutzpah (what the Klingons would call butlh) to write such a beloved character as Holmes, let alone throw Dracula into the mix, but that’s just what he does. Chutzpah, and a good breakfast.

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