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This year I've been getting more and more people asking about ebook editions of my novels. This is my general response to that query.
First of all: you're asking the wrong person. My publishers are in charge of the electronic rights to my novels. If you're curious
John Scalzi has more to say on this question. If you're desperate for ebooks of my stuff bug my publishers, not me. That will be much more effective.
But here's what I know: Penguin has made electronic editions of Magic Lessons and Magic's Child available. But for some reason not the first book in that trilogy, Magic or Madness. Apparently they're working on it. That's all I know.
Bloomsbury, who publish How To Ditch ...
Posted by Justine at 21:02, November 13th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Reading, Young Adult literature |
For a while now I've been thinking about how many readers seem to hate female characters more than they hate male. Or rather that the same behaviour from a male character is okay but someone inexcusable in a female. Sarah Rees Brennan has written about this phenomenon
most eloquently:
Let us think of the Question of Harry Potter. I do not mean to bag on the character of Harry Potter: I am very fond of him.
But I think people would be less fond of him if he was Harriet Potter. If he was a girl, and she'd had a sad childhood but risen above it, and she'd found fast friends, and been naturally talented at her school's only important sport, ...
Posted by Justine at 13:50, October 15th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, State of the World |
I'll be here:
Friday, 16 October, 7:00 pm:
Voracious Reader
1997 Palmer Ave
Larchmont, NY
It's a very short train ride from Grand Central so if you're in NYC and wish to hear me be witty and wise you can do so! It's even closer if you're in Westchester County and thereabouts, (which you would probably know if you were in Westchester County or thereabouts).
I'll be talking about Liar, writing and life, and answering all your questions. In fact, I have decided that this will be the event where I tell the true ending of Liar. So if you don't attend you will never know! Though I did say I would reveal all in Memphis and Nashville yet I didn't. But I'm quite sure ...
Posted by Justine at 15:11, October 14th, 2009 under Book tour, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
When I was a brand new about-to-have-my-first-book-published baby author I freaked out entirely about blurbs. I was sure I needed them. Or rather my brand new baby book needed them. I panicked and decided I needed to ask every single published writer friend I knew. But then when it came to actually asking them I froze. It was so icky and embarrassing.
"Hello, oh lovely writer friend of mine, so, um, I know we've known each other for years and, um, gotten drunk together, even though getting drunk is wrong and neither of us plans to ever do it again, and, um, where was I? Did you hear about them Sparks? Suck, don't they? Er, why did I phone you? No ...
Posted by Justine at 23:10, October 13th, 2009 under Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business |
Next week I'll be doing four events at the
Melbourne Writers Festival. None of my events are free, alas. Sorry about that! I will work extra hard on these panels to make up for it. ((Not that I don't give my all for free events!))
My Sunday event is part of the adults programming and thus is
a bit pricey. You can
book your ticket here. However, my other events are part of the under 18 programming and thus are only $6. You can
book the U-18 events here.
Event 1
Day: Sunday
Date: 23/08/2009
Time: 4:00 PM
Venue: ACMI 1
Event Name:
Taking Over the Grown-Ups Table
Panelists: Isobelle Carmody, Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier
Chair: Agnes Nieuwenhuizen
Official Description: Join Justine Larbalestier, ...
Posted by Justine at 18:18, August 18th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Sydney/Australia |
Liar just sold to
Salani in Italy. They're the publishers of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Cool, huh? For those keeping count Liar has now sold in six countries. This is massively more sales than any of my other books have made prior to publication. I am dizzy. (I posted recently on
how foreign rights works for those who want to know why I am so excited.)
In other news: today I met someone who looks so much like Tom in the Magic or Madness trilogy I almost gasped. He's a red head and taller and older (20 rather than 15) than Tom, but other than that identical. I had to stop myself from calling him "Tom." This ...
Posted by Justine at 13:20, June 19th, 2009 under Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Yesterday's post got a pretty overwhelming not really from most of my readers. Most of you do not lie about
those five things. (I was made very happy by all the teenage non-drinkers. Yay, youse!)
Judging from your comments and my own experience here's my suggestion of a top five:
That you didn't do the thing your parents/teacher/boss busted you for
That your friends' clothes/appearance looks fine
Your health in order to get out of school/work
Height
Weight
I have lied about all of these. But not about no. 1 in a very long time. Or about no. 3 and no. 4 in ages. Haven't lied about no. 3 since I had a regular job. Sadly my no. 2 areas of lies is still going ...
Posted by Justine at 0:03, May 27th, 2009 under Bloggery, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 14:55, May 23rd, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 13:10, April 18th, 2009 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising |
Posted by Justine at 8:57, April 17th, 2009 under Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 0:05, March 30th, 2009 under Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Publishing business, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 1:47, March 17th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Ranting, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 13:59, March 15th, 2009 under Cricket, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Sport |
Posted by Justine at 0:07, February 15th, 2009 under Fashion, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 0:35, February 1st, 2009 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, State of the World, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 16:21, January 30th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 17:05, January 19th, 2009 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 2:11, January 11th, 2009 under Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
I've had a couple of questions that are about publishing, not writing. I have disqualifed such questions from this month's advice though I might run a publishing questions month later in the year. ((Though I am far less qualified to answer publishing questions.)) But since I've already gotten two such questions I'm grandfathering them in.
But I will answer NO OTHER publishing questions! From now on: questions about the process of writing only. Thanks!
beth says:
I’d be interested in looking at the differences in submissions from when you were first starting to now. Could you share your query letters? Could you show us a real-life synopsis that you used when publishing one of your books? As someone with a complete ...
Posted by Justine at 0:05, January 7th, 2009 under Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Publishing business |
There are a number of requests that touch on the same theme of getting stuck:
Jonathan says:
I’d be very interested in the pushing a dead plot post, since that’s where my novel is at.
On the other hand, I sort of know the answer already---stop reading blogs, sit down, and write.
Sylvia_rachel says:
I second the request for a pushing-through-a-dead-plot post (or perhaps a figuring-out-who-the-villain-is post). My writing projects tend to start with a strongly felt character/voice or scene, and then I have to go looking for a plot — sometimes easily found, sometimes … not.
Quiz question: Lois McMaster Bujold has said that the way she finds plots for character-driven novels is (I’m paraphrasing) to figure out what’s the worst thing she ...
Posted by Justine at 19:57, January 5th, 2009 under Ideas, Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Writing process |
Malcolm Tredinnick Says:
Picking a point of view and how you learnt to work with the different types would be something I’d be interested to hear about. As a reader, I kind of know when the point of view works for the story and when it doesn’t, but I don’t really know how consciously writers make the choice or how you do it.
Hmmm, a tricky one first up. Curses!
I think I may have mentioned that for most of my writing life i.e since I was five and first started, I wrote short stories, not novels. I'd start many but not finish them. But I finished hundreds of short stories. None of them were much good as stories, but ...
Posted by Justine at 4:03, January 2nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 5:19, December 26th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Mangosteens, Praising, Reading, Sport, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, December 2nd, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, State of the World, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 23rd, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 12th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Vainglory, Viewing |
I stopped studying maths in Year 7. Before that I'd made a bit of an effort but in my first year of high school (in New South Wales high school starts in Year 7) I downed tools. I was bored, annoyed, and couldn't see the point so I quit. Technically I kept going to maths class---it was compulsory until the end of Year 10---but I failed each year and was never made to repeat. I didn't learn anything new after Year 6.
At the time I thought it was excellent that I could get away with it. In class I read novels under the desk. I never studied and finished my maths exams quicker than anyone else cause I guessed all ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 9th, 2008 under Basketball, Bloggery, Excuses, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Praising, Science, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Lately, I've been receiving a slew of lovely fan letters mostly about HTDYF but also about the trilogy. More than I've ever received before. Thank you so much.
I'm really sorry I haven't replied yet. Right now there are more than three thousand emails in my inbox. And lots and lots and lots of other more pressing matters---you know, the kind that pay bills---have to be dealt with before I can get to the non-urgent email. Please forgive me.
Obviously I'm not very good at managing my time, but I'm working on it. I will get to your letters I just don't know when. Please bear with me.
In the meantime, I remain committed to blogging every day. So if all else fails ...
Posted by Justine at 0:39, September 5th, 2008 under Excuses, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 18:05, August 27th, 2008 under Admin, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 20:50, July 23rd, 2008 under Admin, Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing goals & milestones |
Posted by Justine at 1:18, July 20th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, April 30th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
This is old news to many of you but I just found out that Scott and me are finalists for the Young Adult section of the
Locus Awards. And the woo hoos ring out across the Larbfeld world!
YOUNG ADULT BOOK
Extras, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)
The H-Bomb Girl, Stephen Baxter (Faber & Faber)
Magic's Child, Justine Larbalestier (Penguin Razorbill)
Powers, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt; Gollancz)
Un Lun Dun, China Miéville (Ballantine Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
Quite the strong list, eh? Being on a shortlist with Ursula Le Guin makes me feel faint. Let me fan myself a moment. ...
Posted by Justine at 16:01, April 28th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
Look what I saw in an actual bookshop, RavensBuch in Friedrichshafen! Isn't it gorgeous?:
Yup, it's the German version of Magic or Madness. It's even more beautiful in real life. Sigh. The book next to mine (the yellow one) is by John Marsden. Two Aussies together in Germany. I've been stunned by how many Aussie books I've been seeing in translation on our travels. Oodles of them by the likes of Trudi Canavan, Sara Douglass, Sonya Hartnett, John Marsden, Garth Nix, Marcus Zusak etc., etc. World domination!
Speaking of Germany. Random House Deutschland has just made an offer for How to Ditch Your Fairy. A very enthusiastic offer and they'll be publishing it in hardcover. I am very happy. I ...
Posted by Justine at 6:18, April 13th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Travelling, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 16:27, April 9th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Travelling |
Posted by Justine at 12:35, March 4th, 2008 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, January 16th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Mangosteens, Whingeing, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
All three volumes of the
Magic or Madness trilogy will be out in Germany in the next few months. Here's what they look like:
These may well be my favourites out of all
the trilogy's covers.
Talk about eye-catching! She even looks a little bit like I imagined Reason looking. Though the nose is wrong, the face too narrow, and Reason doesn't have facial tats or elf ears or blue-black hair and eyes . . . details, details.
Here's the first page in German:
Posted by Justine at 0:00, January 11th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, December 31st, 2007 under First Kiss, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Last Day of the Year, Love is Hell, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing goals & milestones |
This is the Brazilian version of Magic or Madness. Quite a contrast to all the other versions, eh? I likes it.
Here are the four other covers ((Apparently I'll be seeing the Thai and German versions before too long.)):
US & Oz; Italian; French; Taiwanese.
I'm not sure which ones I like best. What do youse reckon?
Posted by Justine at 13:28, November 21st, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
If you're in San Francisco, Seattle, or New York City you can find signed copies of my books here:
Borderlands
866 Valencia St
San Francisco
415.824.8203
They not only have the Magic or Madness trilogy but also Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction and Daughters of Earth
Books Inc Opera Plaza
601 Van Ness
San Francisco
415-776-1111
All For Kids
2900 N.E. Blakeley Street
Seattle
206.526.2768
Books of Wonder
18 West 18th Street
New York
212-989-3270
If you're hankering for a signed copy of one of my books but don't live anywhere near those shops---they all do mail order.
And because I'm curious how many of you like to have all your favourite books signed by the author? Do any of you collect signed books even if you've not read the book in question?
Posted by Justine at 13:12, October 28th, 2007 under Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Daughters of Earth, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 13:58, October 25th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Young Adult literature |
In my previous life I was an academic. Not a very successful or prolific one. I spent four and a half years researching and writing my PhD thesis, while on a scholarship and doing paid-by-the-hour teaching (what's known in the US as being a TA) as well as IT support. After that I was awarded a three-year post-doctoral fellowship that my university extended for nine months. In that time I wrote and published one book,
The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, and edited a collection of stories and essays,
Daughters of Earth as well as writing a bunch of essays and papers (and on the sly I wrote
short stories and a ...
Posted by Justine at 11:10, August 27th, 2007 under Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Daughters of Earth, Excuses, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 10:32, August 21st, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, State of the World |
I know I said blogging about writerly achievements is tedious but I have to share when my books are translated. That's not a writer skiting thing; it's a publishing geek thing.
I love seeing what books are called in other markets. In this case Magic or Madness, the first book of the Magic or Madness trilogy, becomes
The Revelation, book one of the Blood of the Witch trilogy.
Dark Magic is the name of the imprint. Also published on that list is none other than Margaret Mahy (!). Quite possibly the world's finest living YA writer (along with Diana Wynne Jones). Not too shabby company, eh?
But what's with the cat on the cover? There are no (living) cats ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, August 14th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
So, um, I seem to have won three awards this year. I know! I was as shocked as you. Anyways, I thought it might be fun to have a squiz at 'em. For annoying scheduling reasons I managed not to be at any of the award ceremonies so I've only just got my hands on two of them and have yet to see the third. It's back home in Sydney being babysat by my parents (thanks Jan and John!).
Here's the Susan Koppelman (thanks for accepting it for me, Brian):
Photo by Scott Westerfeld
The Norton (thanks, Eloise):
Photo by Scott Westerfeld
And the William Atheling (thanks, Sean):
Photo by Niki Bern
Contrast in awards ...
Posted by Justine at 1:40, July 12th, 2007 under Daughters of Earth, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 9:14, June 28th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Whingeing, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 22:24, June 9th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Magic or Madness trilogy, Travelling, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 15:31, June 5th, 2007 under Admin, Magic or Madness trilogy |
I appear to have won an Andre Norton Award for the first book in the Magic or Madness trilogy. Someone pinch me!
This is super amazing because:
The
books on the shortlist with Magic or Madness are absolutely fantastic.
It means I'm in the very tiny club of Norton Award winners with the brilliant Holly Black who won the inaugural award last year for Valiant.
I've won an award named in honour of one of the
most important writers of young adult fantasy books. How cool is that?
Now when I'm described as an award-winning author it's true!
Here's the speech that Eloise Flood who published and edited the trilogy (as well as Scott's Peeps and Maureen's Devilish, which ...
Posted by Justine at 2:20, May 13th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
Off to Paris today. I'm not sure what my intramanet access will be like while there, plus I'll be busy, so I figured I'd best leave you with a slightly meaty post given as I'm not sure when I'll be posting again.
For your delectation some thoughts on the efficacy of spreadsheets for novel writing:
A while back I posted a tongue-in-cheek guide on
how to write a novel in which I suggested using a spreadsheet. I'm still getting letters from folks telling me what a revelation that was, how it's transformed the way they write, solved all their plotting problems, and made their teeth whiter.
And I'm still coming across comments from those who are appalled and outraged ...
Posted by Justine at 13:20, April 30th, 2007 under Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
