Wednesday, October 7, 2009

BLACKWORK!

Yesterday, the sixth, was the official publication date for Blackwork, and I did a signing at a local Barnes and Noble – well, local in the sense that it was in Roseville, which is east of St. Paul, which is east of Minneapolis, which is east of St. Louis Park, the suburb I live in. For my birthday, which is this month, I received a GPS and I decided to try it out for directions to the bookstore. Fortunately, the thing is extremely easy to set up, and its directions were quite clear. If you take a different way, the woman’s somewhat mechanical voice says, "Recalculating," and swiftly figures a way to get you back on track. The turnout was good for a general bookstore, and they all laughed at the right places during my talk, and then asked good questions. One woman did ask me if I had aimed this book at the Wiccan market. Is there a Wiccan market? I said I didn’t have Wiccans in mind when I wrote the book, though two friends who practice Wicca did contribute to the plot. I said I needed an innocent suspect who some people could think used the black arts to commit murder. And I had this really cool way of killing someone that would work in a locked room and wouldn’t leave a mark . . .

Thinking of looking for a stocking stuffer? (Already? Yes, already!) The paperback version of Thai Die will premier on December 1. Also an "anthology" of the second trio of Betsy Devonshire novels (Unraveled Sleeve, A Murderous Yarn, Hanging by a Thread) will appear under the title Sew Far, So Good. This is also a warning to those looking for a new Betsy Devonshire novel and who might think Sew Far, So Good is one – it isn’t, it’s a collection of three already-published novels. FYI, Patterns of Murder is a collection of the first three Betsy Devonshire mysteries.

Today Laura Childs and I are going to be interviewed at KFAI radio in a recording to be broadcast later – next week, I believe. Hope I don’t blow it.

This weekend I will be at a science fiction convention aimed at the GLBT community, called Gaylaxicon. The con is to be held at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park, my own neighborhood. I’m going to be on a panel, do a group signing, join a group that does crafting (bringing my knitting), and then sponsoring a beer tasting. Blackwork features a Wiccan character whose "herbal preparation" of choice is beer. I had no idea when I set out to write it that there were so many varieties of beer – or that they were so different from one another. From the light and delicate fruit flavored limbecs to the thick, dark and bitter stouts, there is a beer to suit the palate of everyone – even those who, like me, have never thought they were fond of beer. To prove it, I have asked Michael Agnew, professional beer expert, to select six or eight widely-different kinds of beer to present to a paying audience.

I played golf on Monday morning, a chill, gray day, that had a forecast for rain that came true in the afternoon. Had the course practically all to myself, which was great, as on the third hole, the longest and for some reason my most difficult hole, my game came completely to pieces, and I took a shot off the tee three times (a "do over" or "McGuffin" it’s called) before I decided to just go ahead and play it where it last landed, about a dozen yards up the fairway. I think it took me about twelve strokes on that par three hole – on the other holes I scored between five and seven. Pathetic, I know, but a five on a par three isn’t bad for me.

6 comments:

Christine Thresh said...

I bought Blackwork yesterday. I read it and really enjoyed it.

Savannah said...

Love the cover of Blackwork and can't wait to pick up a copy to read this week.

Linda O. Johnston said...

Congrats on the official pub date, Monica. You're certainly busy! We may have the same GPS system. When the mechanical lady with the Australian accent says "Recalculating," she always sounds disgusted! We're using the U.S. accent now.

Betty Hechtman said...

Congratulatins on Blackwork. Great title!

Terri Thayer said...

My brother changed my GPS to a British accent w/o much knowledge. Now I always feel like she knows better than me where I'm going.

Congrats on another pub date, Monica.

Monica Ferris said...

You can change the accent on the GPS? I'm going to have to try that! I have a friend with a GPS and while riding with her one day using it, I noticed how the voice (it sounded American-accented to me) sounded increasingly imaptient every time she ignored a direction.

Wow, Christine, you are a fast reader! I'm so glad you enjoyed the book!