Book things are rocking now! I hit 80k tonight in this draft, and I’ve only got 10 more k to edit/fresh write in. Crazy things are happening in the book, I wonder if they’re too crazy, but I’m too enamored with the book and with finishing to care. It feels good. I will concentrate on that.
In other awesome news, Nightshifted got its first blurb! The freaking amazing Kat Richardson read it and said this:
“Thank you SO much for letting me read NIGHTSHIFTED. It was simply amazing. The best debut Urban Fantasy I’ve read this year. This book takes Urban Fantasy to a new height with a unique mix of Hospital Drama and Adventure-Horror that was compelling, realistically stark, and wonderfully written. My mother is a nurse and I’ve spent enough time sitting in wards waiting for her to get off shift to have seen plenty of medical professionals in action and off-shift afterward and this book nailed it cold. Fantastic.
I hope it’s a huge hit.”
I have no idea how they’ll cut that down and ellipsis-ize it to fit onto a book cover, but when I got that email I was stone cold floored. (And pleased as hell, I have to admit.) Kat’s Greywalker series was some of the first urban fantasy I read and fell head over heels for. I’ve followed Harper Blaine through all her adventures from the beginning — I can’t believe Kat read and liked mine :D.
Thirdly, and no less awesome — my friend Barry Deutsch is up for an Eisner Award. (He was also up for a Norton this past Neb season, you may recall.) His graphic novel Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword — yet another troll-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl is eligible. Hereville is in turns charming and hilarious, and Barry’s drawings are delightful. (He’s also a fantastic political cartoonist.) If you are librarian or a teacher who has ever taught a graphic novel, you’re eligible to vote for the Eisner. It’s a really big deal, and Barry deserves the award. (In my not so humble graphic novel reading opinion. ;))