Then, my editor asked if I could have the book ready earlier than the deadlone in my contract because someone else had missed their deadline, and he was rearranging the publishing schedule and wanted to move my book's debut from May 2004 to March 2004. Never let it be said that I am a slouch. I got it done. Got it in.
And then waited two months for him to finally say, "here's what I want you to rewrite...great stuff, love all the characters except I think the lead needs to be a little more butch--he's too wimpy..."
Took a deep breath and dove back into working on DRAGON'S TONGUE, even though it meant I had to stop working on WANDERING LARK (which is due in Next Spring).
Meanwhile, my other editor finally got a chance to look at the novella I sent her, and at the same time, I had asked her assistant to look at another novella that I wrote because the assistant suggested it...and suddenly, I had offers for both. So SHADOW LORD comes out any time now as a chapbook, and WILLOWHERNB is being combined with THE BLACK HUNTER (to which it is a sequel) for a print edition that will come out next year...
Than means I now have to finish putting those two together and giving them a good edit.
Oh, and a book I sold over a year ago. Well NOW they decide to typeset it and ask me to re-edit it, and so there I was buried under several novels and novellas and collections, and of course, I get asked if I have a story for FOUR BUBBAS OF THE APOCALYPSE. Yes, I did. Wrote it months ago, but it had to be edited and firmed up as well.
So now, Wildside has released MAGIC'S SONG:TALES OF THE HARPER MAGE with a lovely cover. It's available now on Fictionwise as an ebook, and print copy can be ordered directly from Wildside Press or Bamm.com. Meanwhile, my story "The Gingerbread Man" is made available first in electronic format, then in print format through Double Dragon E-Books. It's in an anthology titled FEMMES DE LA BRUME edited by Nichole Thomas and introduced by Tamera Thorne. If you like hot gothicy horror and dark fantasy written by women, this is the collection for you.
And DRAGON'S TONGUE is about to go back to Meisha Merlin, and I am told advanced reading copies should be sent out in August to various reviewers and pros who said they would gladly blurb it.
And maybe THEN, I can relax a little...
Or not...
Laura J. Underwood
