melissa marr

Dear Lovelies,

I fail at newsletter timeliness. I really do. I always have the best intentions, but then stories come traipsing by, luring me away into new worlds, and . . . I follow. I'm between books now, though, so I'll attempt to remember the news.

Writing

Carnival of Souls is done. I don't have a cover to share yet, but in the Spring I will. It's currently slated as a two-book series. I'm not intending to go beyond that, but sometimes stories don't obey me. Wicked Lovely started as a stand-alone, then a two book, then six. Then it was five-which was never my plan until I was in the fourth book--when it was finished. You see? I lack order. So, the plan is two books. The first one, Carnival of Souls, will release in September 2012 in the US, Canada, Ireland, UK, Australia, & New Zealand.

The second project eating my schedule has been the Blackwell Pages: Loki's Wolves. This is a middle-grade (ie for readers of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, the Last Apprentice, etc) series that I'm co-writing with Kelley Armstrong. The first book is written & revised; the second is outlined (a new and scary thing to do, this outlining business). I hear that it will release in 2013. I had absurd amounts of fun with it. My spouse (& thus my babies) is of Norwegian descent, so I had to learn all of that heritage when I became a mother. Add that to my love of sharing books with my son, and Kelley and I both having written our YAs for our daughters and now having middle-grade sons . . . well, writing this series was inevitable.

Travel

In the midst of all of that, we had our second Smart Chicks Tour -which was great fun. I went to FaerieWorlds (Oregon), FaerieCon (Baltimore), and a few weeks writing retreat (Arizona, Oregon, & the mountains of Virginia). I'm now settled in and intend to do no more business travel until the 11th of April 2012 when I'll be a RT Booklovers Convention in Chicago.

Book Notes

Graveminder won the Goodreads Readers Choice Awards for Best Horror book of 2011. Thank you all so much for your votes. The trade paperback edition of the book-with a different look, aiming for haunting instead of creepy-is out next month.

In February, the paperback of Darkest Mercy and the hardcover of Faery Tales & Nightmares (short story collection, about 2/3 of which will be WL stories) come out February 21.

Enthralled (short story collection I co-edited with Kelley) released in September. It was my first time as an editor-and I loved it so much that I sold two more anthologies (both not out till 2013).

Film

I have no news regarding the Wicked Lovely film-beyond the fact that I've seen some of the art and found it gorgeous. We did part ways with Universal Studio, but both producers & director continue to say that we are on track. Hollywood is a weird world: I received the check the same week as the news that we split with the studio. So it's more than their words saying we're moving.

Life

My family continues to be the source of all that is wonderful in my life. My "little" girl turned 18, and we have been doing college visits. She's going to major in archaeology (much to my delight!), so we've been touring schools with great archaeology programs. We're now anxiously awaiting the answer from one of her top picks. My son is doing Model UN, switched from cello back to drums, and is awaiting the opening of the slopes. (If any of you know a snowdance that works, give a yell). Spouse is writing, working out, and . . . researching snowdances. My beloved assistant is very much not doing snowdances, but she is teaching me yoga (which I love) because she is a woman of insane numbers of skills. (Seriously, she was a yoga teacher, manager, and 57 other things before this job. If she ever left me, I'd fall apart.)

Holidays

I wish you all a beautiful holiday season-whichever of them you celebrate. I'll be nestled in with my family for Winter Solstice (our holiday) and then with my parents and niece for Christmas (their holiday). We don't do a big chaotic thing, but a nice quiet togetherness. Please be safe out there in the crazed holiday traffic.

With much fondness & wishes of peace,

Melissa