Jackie Kessler - Insert Witty Title Here

Where In The World Is Jackie Kessler?

She’s at home, sick. Alas. But thanks to tons of ginger tea, with honey, and homemade chicken soup a la Loving Husband, I’m on the mend. Huzzah and all that.

So I’ve been working on the LOSS page proofs — sending them back to my editor tomorrow, yay! — and starting to sketch out ideas for BREATH. And I’ve been working on a sekrit project that I’ll have to set aside to truly concentrate on BREATH, but I’m hopeful that will be done before the end of the year. BREATH is due to my editor in March. Expect me to be a neurotic mess for the first quarter of 2012. Just sayin’.

This, unfortunately, means BEFORE THE FALL — the first book in Pit and Paradise — has been pushed back. I’m looking forward to writing Hell 2.0, I truly am. Luckily, Jezebel and Daunuan are extremely patient. Well, more accurately, they’re good at waiting. They’re damned impatient, but they’re good sports. Um, evil sports. Oh, you know what I mean.

So Albacon 2011 has been canceled, alas. But I’ll be doing a breakout session at ALAN in Chicago in November, and there may be a panel/signing there too. More to follow.

5:59 pm · Comments (0) ·

August 10th, 2011

Albacon 2011

So hey, check it out: I’m going to be the Writer Guest of Honor at Albacon this year, October 21 – 23, 2011. Rah! It’s right here in Albany, NY, which is, like, so close to New York City (on a map) that it’s practically kissing the Upper East Side.

What is Albacon, you ask? It’s a local fan-run SF/F convention that celebrates science fiction and fantasy books, flicks and TV. But hey, it’s not just epic fantasy and space opera; it’s urban fantasy and paranormal romance and military SF and horror and almost any sub (and sub-sub) genre in the SF/F field. It celebrates fiction for adults and fiction for teens. There are panels and workshops and vendor booths galore. There are banquets and costumes and (rumor has it) a keynote from yours truly.

Albacon is very laid back. It’s a fun, low-pressure sort of convention, run and attended by terrific SF/F fans and authors who love the genre. And hey – there’s a bar. Woot!

Programming is being finalized, but I’m crossing my fingers that there will be:

– A panel on the worlds of Joss Whedon. And that’s not just because I wrote a short comic set in the Buffyverse! Give me Firefly. And Doctor Horrible. (Dollhouse? Erm.) And yeah, Buffy and Angel and the Scoobies.

– A favorite monsters panel, be it vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, or something completely different. Me? I’d vote for demons. Some people might say “Death,” but any character that looks like Kurt Cobain just can’t be a monster, sorry.

– A writing-focused day of workshops that cover a broad array of topics (OMG, I’ve lapsed into Business Speak!), including queries, the changing author/agent relationship, the realities of e-SP (electronic self-publishing), spicing up nooky scenes, choreographing an action scene…really, my hope for this sort of thing is almost endless.

– Hey, if I’m fantasizing, I also hope that Matt Damon will be there. And Nathan Fillion. And Neil Gaiman.

And hey, I mentioned there’s a bar, right? (That part’s not a fantasy. That’s a fact. Bars at SF/F are mandatory.)

Registration is cheap, the authors and fans are awesome, and hey, you need something to do in October. Come to the thriving metropolis of Albany, NY, and hang your hat at Albacon.

8:30 pm · Comments (1) ·

July 2nd, 2011

From the mouths of babes

From the You Can’t Make This Up files:

Over dinner, Tax Deduction the Elder told us how his friend’s baby sister has finally started talking.

“Do you know what her first word was?” he asked.

“What?” asked Loving Husband and I.

” ‘Shit.’ ”

Loving Husband and I try not to laugh, but to no avail.

“Why are you laughing?” asks Tax Deduction the Elder.

Tax Deduction the Younger pipes up, “Because ‘shit’ is a bad word.”

And that’s when Loving Husband and I lose it completely.

8:12 pm · Comments (3) ·

June 7th, 2011

Kevin Hearne’s The Iron Druid series

There are so many fabulous books out there, by so many fabulous authors. But one that I have to make special mention of is Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid series. Kevin is part of the League of Reluctant Adults with me, but that’s not why I’m pimping him. Well, okay, only partially why. The main reason is because I read his first novel, HOUNDED, a few weeks ago, and I absolutely inhaled it.

First, there’s the cover.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Now, I know that authors have very little say over their covers — God, do I know this — but Kevin absolutely lucked out, or maybe he made the appropriate sacrifice to the right cover god, because this is a hell of a cover. First, there’s a guy on it who A) is dressed, B) is hot and C) has a sword that’s not a convenient crotch metaphor. That’s because Atticus, the protagonist, isn’t just some beefcake whose job it is to make some heroine A) swoon, B) discover her own latent magical power, or C) pregnant. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those things — actually, there’s a heck of a lot RIGHT about those things, yowza — but it’s so terrific having a hero who’s exactly that: a hero.

Okay, so I sort of segued into the content. In a nutshell: I loved HOUNDED. Loved, loved, loved. Loved on the scale of chocolate and Matt Damon, and Matt Damon in chocolate. Loved to the point that I started imagining writing fanfic about Atticus. Seriously. Loved. This. Book.

Why? Well, Atticus is an incredible narrator — he’s smart and witty and humorous and serious and clever and powerful. I’m gushing, but it’s well-deserved gush. He can perform magic and wield a sword and deliver a quip and hold his own with gods. And it’s all organic; none of it feels forced. Just as important, Atticus isn’t perfect. Oh, no, definitely not. He makes his share of mistakes, and he’s got one hell of an Achilles heel (even though that’s not the body part in question). Tied into that, the writing is a pleasure to read. The pace is tight, the plot is solid, and the story is engrossing.

So…yeah. Loved it.

And today, the second book in the series, HEXED, hits the shelves.

Hexed by Kevin Hearne

It’s another fabulous cover. And I’m sure it will be another fabulous book.

9:50 am · Comments (2) ·

June 5th, 2011

Making the Darkness Visible

Over at my alter ego’s site, I respond to the Wall Street Journal’s article, “Darkness Too Visible,” which mentions my book RAGE.

11:02 am · Comments (0) ·

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