A 3-book deal with Del Rey
Category: Writing and Poetry

Hi everyone,

A few of you have already heard this through other channels, but:

Del Rey (a Random House imprint) has purchased my urban fantasy novel Spellbent and two of its sequels. I believe their tentative plan is to release Spellbent in early-to-mid 2009 and the other books in the trilogy will of course come later.

I'm very excited about this; SPELLBENT is my first novel and I think it's found the best possible home. I'll be working with editor Liz Scheier, who's handled books by authors such as Di Francis and Chris Golden.

6:40 PM - 13 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Sparks and Shadows wins Black Quill Award
Current mood: pleased
Category: Writing and Poetry

Today, my collection Sparks and Shadows won the Editor's Choice Black Quill Award for Best Dark Genre Collection.

Currently listening : Vapor Transmission By Orgy Release date: 10 October, 2000

2:38 PM - 7 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Literary agent news
Category: Writing and Poetry

It's been a busy few months for me.

In December I signed with the Professional Media Services literary agency; agent Robert Fleck is representing my new urban fantasy novel Spellbent and its sequels. A big part of the reason I was missing from Myspace for a few months was that I was working on submissions and novel edits and synopses and all that good stuff.

In other news, Raven Electrick recently posted my sonnet "Uncanny Valley Girl", which you can read for free here:

http://www.ravenelectrick.com/ravenpoetrick/uncannyvg.html

8:27 AM - 8 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

5-star reviews for Installing Linux on a Dead Badger

SFReader.com gave my humor collection Installing Linux on a Dead Badger a top 5-star rating.

Reviewer Adrienne Jones writes:

"The humor in this collection is understated and the theme progression is perfectly paced. It's rare to find a writer who can combine social commentary, popular culture, and science fiction without cheapening the laughs, but this author's balanced the act to perfection.

"With smart, well-crafted writing, and humor to tickle readers of varying tastes and
genre preference, Lucy A. Snyder could be one of the funniest new writers on the planet."

You can read the rest of her review here:

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?book=1134


Dread Central also gave ILDB their top 5-star rating:

http://www.dreadcentral.com/node/25795

9:54 PM - 4 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Sparks and Shadows: the preliminary Stoker ballot and a 5-star review
Category: Writing and Poetry

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted a blog here, hasn't it? Sorry 'bout that, folks. It's been a busy few months for me. The first bit of news is that my collection Sparks and Shadows is on the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Award.

Gary A. Braunbeck also made the preliminary ballot for his novel Mr. Hands and his novella "Afterward, There Will Be A Hallway" (which is in Five Strokes to Midnight, which is also on the ballot in the anthology category).

So, if you are a book reviewer or voting member of the HWA and you haven't had access to my book, let me know and I can fix that :) I have a few coverless review copies of Sparks and Shadows I can mail, or I can email a PDF. Whichever you prefer, please send me a message with your address.

Gary can also provide PDFs of all his aforementioned works, so please likewise send me a message if you'd like copies for consideration.

Speaking of reviews, Hellnotes just gave 5 stars to Sparks and Shadows. Reviewer Nickolas Cook writes:

"(T)his has to be, hands down, the best collection I've read since Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts. ... Lucy Snyder means business, people. She is here to kick ass and take names."

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A new review

Hi everyone,

Zombie Fest last weekend was a lot of fun.  It was great getting to hang out with Mike Arnzen, Greg Lamberson, Scott A. Johnson and his wife Tabby.  About a dozen people picked up copies of my new book Installing Linux on a Dead Badger, and so far the reader reviews seem pretty positive.

In other news, Fear Zone recently posted a review of my collection Sparks and Shadows ... you can read it here:

http://www.fearzone.com/blog/sparks-and-shadows-review

"Man, oh, man. I can't believe Lucy Snyder has flown under my radar for so long. ... Her writing is smooth and soft, like a fresh-made bed at a five-star hotel; but it's also full of dark things that leap onto you and bite your flesh when you least expect it. (N)o matter what kind of story you like - romantic, creepy, violently scary, Hitchcockian, devilishly clever, or packed with fantastic adventure - you'll find something in this book that will seem written just for you."
- Fear Zone

2:28 PM - 4 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

A new movie adaptation of Gary’s fiction and other news
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Director Earl Newton at Stranger Things has adapted Gary A. Braunbeck's story "Rami Temporales" into a short film called "One of Those Faces" ... you can check it out at http://www.strangerthings.tv/

In other news, we'll be going to Zombie Fest in Pittsburgh this weekend ... will we see any of you there?

And finally, Kestrell Rath is running a series of "13 Days of Halloween" author interviews; you can read mine in her October 22 post.

5:31 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Interview at FearZone and ILDB news

Yesterday, the folks at FearZone just posted an interview with me conducted by Gary Frank.

And, Installing Linux on a Dead Badger was released this week.

Amazon.com has knocked 20% off the cover price of the book so it's now $8.76, but they ding you $4 for domestic shipping. So, unless you were already going to get another $17 worth of stuff from them to make free shipping, it's still cheapest to get the book directly from the publisher if you're in the U.S. Also, buying direct does more to support the fine folks at CGP :)

On a related note, I was amused that for about 6 hours last night, if you did an Amazon search on "installing linux" mine was the first book that popped up.

And in other news, I put up an article entitled "How to Make a Living Writing Short Fiction".  In this article, I take a look at the practical economics of trying to make a living writing short fiction in the U.S. This topic regularly comes up on message boards and at conventions. People usually speak in generalities ("You can't make a living writing stories!" "Can, too!") or cite specific-but-individual anecdotes without other data or analysis.

I take the approach that it is possible to survive on the proceeds from short fiction; the question then becomes, under what conditions can it be done?

(Read the rest)

4:22 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Chizine Review ... and Zombie Fest!
Current mood: pleased

I know you've all been thinking of me as being super-aware of what's going on around me (coworkers: stop laughing, I can hear you) but I only last night discovered that ChiZine posted a review of my book Sparks and Shadows. Reviewer William D. Gagliani says:

"Snyder's work is vibrant and resonant and superbly measured ... Short, sharp, and sometimes slightly shocking, Snyder's fiction is always memorable. ... No matter the rhetorical device used, Lucy Snyder's approach is to covertly engage and then massage a little-used muscle in the reader's psyche. Sometimes blatantly, explicitly erotic, sometimes sardonic, sometimes tinged with a great sadness, always just a bit off-kilter, and often just downright funny, the stories in Sparks and Shadows weave a spell that'll prove hard to shake. It really is a bacchanalia in there, and you just might find you don't want to turn the last page. Nicely presented as a limited from HW Press with a distinctive Deena Warner cover, this volume belongs in any serious dark fantasy collection." (read the rest)

8:47 AM - 4 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Installing Linux on a Dead Badger available for preorder

For a limited time, you can preorder my new humor collection Installing Linux on a Dead Badger (and Other Oddities) for only $10 if you're in the U.S. (shipping is also free to U.S. addresses).



The book is a trade paperback and contains 12 stories that are illustrated by Malcolm McClinton and DE Christman.

Author Nalo Hopkinson says, "Do go read (this book). When you do, don't have anything in your mouth that a surprised snort could catapult up into your sinuses. You have been warned."

Tangent Online has reviewed a couple of the stories in this collection:

"'The Great Vüdü Linux Teen Zombie Massacree' by Lucy Snyder is a hilarious romp through the state of Texas in a world gone mad ... one laugh effortlessly follows the other." (read more)

"Snyder, like her Linux gangs, has taken a dead body (in this case, cyberpunk) and fused it with the latest elements of science fiction to tell a story which is funny, dark, and cheerfully absurd." (read more)

"'Graveyard Shift' is Lucy A. Snyder's whip-smart and darkly funny take on the latest hot employee group, the dead ... Laced with jet-black humor, this is a great story and a great world to read about, if not live in." (read more)

10:10 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment