I should have done this a while ago

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Actually, maybe I have and just don’t remember.

Anyway, I thought people might be interested in seeing the query letter I wrote that caught the interest of my agent (and a couple others besides).

Here it is with the addresses stripped out:

Dear [Agent’s Name]:

Ray Lilly is just supposed to be the driver. Sure, he knows a little magic, but it’s Annalise, his boss, who has the real power. Ray doesn’t like driving her across the country so she can hunt and kill people dabbling in dangerous magic, but if he tries to quit he’ll move right to the top of her hit list.

But Annalise’s next kill goes wrong and she is critically injured. Ray must complete her assignment alone; he has to stop the man who is sacrificing children to make his community thrive, and also find the inhuman supernatural power fueling his magic.

Harvest of Fire is a completed 99,000-word contemporary fantasy in the tone and style of a crime thriller.

I have sold several short stories to the magazines Black Gate and On Spec. The latest is “Eating Venom,” due out in the next issue of Black Gate.

Thank you for your time,

While I’m proud of those short fiction sales, I’m not sure they did much to catch anyone’s interest. At least, editor and agent both convinced me to publish my novel under a different name than those shorts.

Also, the synopsis covers only the characters, setting and the big plot twist that finishes the “first act” of the novel, which falls around page 30-50. That recommendation came from “Agent Kristin” who runs the “Pub Rants” blog (pubrants on LJ) and it really works.

For the synopsis, I described the whole book, right up to the end, ‘natch.

Notice also that I used the word “magic” three times in two paragraphs–word echoes are my enemy.

Anyway, I hope that’s interesting or useful.

Added eight years later: I don’t have a lot of analysis in this old post, but then I’m not sure it needs it. It bugs me (still) that I used the word “magic” so many times, but word echoes are one of the crosses I have to bear.

Many years ago, there was an account called Evil Editor who would read queries, snark about them, then give advice. The query I wrote or Twenty Palaces, the book before this one, is here. EE didn’t ask me to change much, but they still had fun at my expense (all in good fun). Apparently, “ruthless vigilante sorcerers” became a thing on the site.

I think that query is too long, but it didn’t matter because the book wasn’t ready. It wasn’t until I had my Road to Damascus moment while revising Child of Fire that I began stringing sentences together in a reasonable way.

Role Model

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You know what freaks out my son? Giant spiders.

Last night after rough-housing with him a bit, I was feeling a bit… musty. Shower time!

Except we had a visitor in the bottom of the tub, and my kid freaked right the hell out. This is the best pic I took of our intruder (Mike C and other arachnophobes, do not click.)

Continue reading

Speaking of Randomness

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Here’s something that’s random and 100% AWESOME

via Josh Jasper on the aforementioned health care discussion on John Scalzi’s blog

Randomness

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I’m going to compile a bunch of random things into this post and publish them all at once.

1) via geniusofevil: Heat Wave: Richard Castle is a real writer!

2) I’ve been going back and forth on some common euphamisms. Yesterday, in a comment, I used the term “godsend.” Is that a word an atheist should use? I think not, obviously, since it bothers me. In the few stolen moments I had to type out the comment, I couldn’t come up with an alternative that said the same thing.

Except there’s “ghu” or “ghod” but I think of that as an SF fandom thing, and I’m not part of that community, either. Sometimes I write “Thank Pikachu” or whatever as a joke, even though at this point I’m the only member of my household who thinks Pikachu is cool.

I don’t really have a point. This is just something I’m thinking about.

3) Nicholas Kristof on the myth that government can’t do health care. And yeah, I spent way too much time yesterday arguing health care on John Scalzi’s blog.

3a) Arguing about health care on the web makes me hate the universe!

4) PW’s newly focused blog, Genreville (verdict: interesting so far) offers Lev Grossman the opportunity to knock over some straw men. He accepts.

5) Inglourious Wizerds

6) Man builds house out of Legos.

7) Work on Man Bites World continues slowly, but this is a really difficult section. Very different from what I’ve been doing before, and I’m going to have to revise it significantly once I straighten out in my mind how the protagonist would react to extremely strange events.

Book signing!

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I’ll be having a book signing on October 3rd, from 11-1, at Magnolia’s Bookstore here in Seattle!

Eeep!

Anyone reading this is invited! Please bring your friends! And your enemies! And your family! Complete strangers also welcome!

Ten seconds radio air time = 42 syllables.

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Yesterday, my wife paid for a day sponsorship at our local NPR station, to congratulate me on the release of Child of Fire. (It was supposed to be a surprise, but… oops!)

That pleases me, partly because I love our local NPR affiliate and I want to support them, and partly because it would be cool to hear my name on the radio in some other capacity than “Harry in Seattle writes to us…”

Here’s the interesting thing, though: The day sponsorship messages have to be ten seconds long, and that means 42 syllables. Interesting, huh?

Offered without comment

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School recalls band T-shirts, stating they promoted evolution.

“[Assistant Superintendent Brad] Pollitt said the district is required by law to remain neutral where religion is concerned.

…

Senior Drum Major Mike Howard said he was disappointed when he had to return the shirt.

“I liked the shirt because it was unique,” Howard said. “The theory of evolution never even crossed my mind.”

Spirit Gate and Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft

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Two books. First is Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott. One of the reasons I’m looking forward to my speed-reading book (which I’ll start any day now!) is that it will let me get back into epic fantasy. This book was over seven hundred pages of great story, wonderful characters, and fully-textured setting. The tone is very visceral and real, even when the subject is a giant eagle and rider.

I was a little disappointed by one or two things (I’m rarely a fan of prophecies, except when they’re really done well) and the pace lagged in the middle. The characters pulled me through, though. Fun stuff.

I have the second book sitting by the desk, waiting for me to learn to read at 40,000 words a minute or whatever, so I don’t have to spend three months on only one book.

Second is Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill (and some artist guy). I haven’t read any of Hill’s other work, but this was a very effective scary little comic. The structure of the story is jumbled in a pleasing way, hopping around in time to tell the story from several angles. No, it’s not especially revolutionary, but it’s good which hasn’t always been a given in the comics I read lately.

It’s also grim. It’s a horror story, after all, although Gabriel Rodriguez’s art (see? I can copy off the cover) undercuts that a bit. The art’s not bad at all–in fact, it’s awfully good–but I’m not sure it’s appropriate. I mean, it’s very comic-booky art, in the way he draws eyes, hair, tears, and so on. It’s very traditional superhero.

But it’s also incredibly expressive, and each character has his own look beyond the color of their hair and outfit (readers of superhero comics know what I mean). So I can’t say it’s bad art, just that it feels wrong.

This one is well-recommended, too, if you don’t mind stories that are a little on the dark side.

The GOP’s Misplaced Rage

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Bruce Bartlett, one of the people who developed the theory of supply-side economics and a long-time conservative economist, on why the current economic difficulties–deficit included–should be laid at the feet of President Bush, not President Obama.

He also touches on a topic that isn’t often mentioned: how much better the economy does under Democratic administrations than Republican ones, for rich and poor.

via: tnh’s Particles.

The difference between “smart” and “rational.”

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via Jay Lake:

Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married but George is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

Yes // No // Cannot be determined

Answer in the article, and yeah, I got it wrong.