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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Interview with Seanan McGuire and Giveaway - March 1, 2011

The Qwillery is delighted to welcome Seanan McGuire, author of the October Daye series.

TQ:  What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Seanan:  I set word count goals for myself (per project, thankfully, not "write 20,000 words today OR DIE IN FIRE), and I literally can't go to sleep until I meet them. I try to keep my daily goals reasonable as a result, since otherwise, I might never sleep again.

TQ:  Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?

Seanan:  Stephen King; Terry Pratchett; Tanya Huff; Kelley Armstrong. I believe that Stephen King, Dorothy Parker, and Tanya Huff have had a huge, huge influence on my writing. So has everything else I've ever read. I am a magpie, especially where literature is concerned.

TQ:  Are you a plotter or a panster?

Seanan:  Yes. I know, that's not the most immediately helpful answer, but it's true. Sometimes I plot along from A to B to C. And sometimes, I ride by the seat of my pants, and wind up sitting at D with no idea how I got there. I'll often be both over the course of a single book.

TQ:  What inspired you to write the October Daye series?

Seanan: Stuff. I was a Folklore major at UC Berkeley; I've been breathing fairy tales for as long as I can remember. I think something like Toby was inevitable. This is just the form it decided to take.

TQ:  What sort of research did you do for the series?

Seanan:  I was a Folklore major at UC Berkeley. :)

TQ:  How did you come up with October's name?

Seanan:  I actually went to school with a girl named October, who went by "Toby," under penalty of physical violence if you slipped and called her anything else. She was awesome.

TQ:  Without giving anything away, what is/are your favorite scene(s) from the October Daye books?

Seanan:  I like the thing with the thing during the thing. You know the one that I mean? Seriously, though, I have a lot of favorite scenes. It changes with every book, because there's always something I like more than liked my previous favorite. Right now, my favorite scene involves a meadow, a sundress, and a conversation.

TQ:  How many books are planned for the series? Will there be any short stories or novellas set in October's world?

Seanan:  DAW has purchased through book seven, and I'm hoping to go further than that. Ideally, I'd want at least ten volumes. There's already one novella on the way, "Through This House," which will be published in Home Improvement: Undead Edition this coming fall. It's set between Late Eclipses and One Salt Sea.

TQ:  What's next?

Seanan:  A nap. Followed by the May 31st release of my second book as Mira Grant, Deadline.

TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Seanan:  Thank you for having me!


Seanan's Books:

Rosemary and Rue
October Daye 1
(Septemer 1, 2009)
October “Toby” Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a “normal” life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas…

The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening’s dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening’s killer.




A Local Habitation
October Daye 2
(March 2, 2010)
Toby Daye-a half-human, half-fae changeling-has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the fae world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world had other ideas...

Now her liege, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills, has asked Toby to go to the County of Tamed Lightning to make sure all is well with his niece, Countess January O'Leary. It seems like a simple enough assignment-until Toby discovers that someone has begun murdering people close to January, and that if the killer isn't stopped, January may be the next victim.


 
 
 
 
An Artificial Night
October Daye 3
(September 7, 2010)
October "Toby" Daye is a changeling-half human and half fae-and the only one who has earned knighthood. Now she must take on a nightmarish new challenge. Someone is stealing the children of the fae as well as mortal children, and all signs point to Blind Michael. Toby has no choice but to track the villain down-even when there are only three magical roads by which to reach Blind Michael's realm, home of the Wild Hunt-and no road may be taken more than once. If Toby cannot escape with the children, she will fall prey to the Wild Hunt and Blind Michael's inescapable power.





 

 

Late Eclipses
October Daye 4
(March 1, 2011)
October "Toby" Daye is half-human, half-fae-the only changeling who's earned knighthood. But when someone begins targeting her nearest and dearest, it becomes clear that Toby is being set up to take the fall for everything that's happening.


















About Seanan

Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn't killed for using her typewriter at three o'clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite. Her upbringing left her with a love of rattlesnakes and a deep fear of weather, which explains a lot.

Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan's personal anecdotes end with things like "and then we got the anti-venom" or "but it's okay, because it turned out the water wasn't all that deep." She has yet to be defeated in a game of "Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?," and can be amused for hours by just about anything. "Just about anything" includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality television, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist.

Seanan is the author of the October Daye series of urban fantasies, the first seven of which have been purchased by DAW Books; the InCryptid series of urban fantasies, the first two of which have been purchased by DAW Books; and the Newsflesh trilogy, published by Orbit under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." She's working on several other books, just to make sure she never runs out of things to edit. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies, and she was a 2010 Universe Author for The Edge of Propinquity.

In her spare time, Seanan writes and records original music. She has three CDs currently available (see the Albums page for additional details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, "With Friends Like These...", as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie that has the words "blood," "night," "terror," or "attack" in the title. Most people believe that she doesn't sleep.

Seanan lives in a creaky old farmhouse in Northern California, which she shares with her three cats, Lilly, Alice, and Thomas, a vast collection of plush things and horror movies, and sufficient books to officially qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life.

Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have firmly fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, so as to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies.

Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010.

Seanan's Links
Website
Twitter
Blog - Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls

The Giveaway

THE RULES

What:  One commenter will win a copy of Late Eclipses (October Daye 4).

How:  Leave a comment telling The Qwillery either your favorite quote from Shakespeare or your favorite play by Shakespeare? Please remember - if you don't answer the question your entry will not be counted.

You may receive additional entries by:

1) Being a Follower of The Qwillery.

2) Mentioning the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. Even if you mention the giveaway on both, you will get only one additional entry. You get only one additional entry even if you mention the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter multiple times.

3) Mentioning the giveaway on your on blog or website. It must be your own blog or website; not a website that belongs to someone else or a site where giveaways, contests, etc. are posted.

There are a total of 4 entries you may receive: Comment (1 entry), Follower (+1 entry), Facebook and/or Twitter (+ 1 entry), and personal blog/website mention (+1 entry). This is subject to change again in the future for future giveaways.

Please leave links for Facebook, Twitter, or blog/website mentions. In addition please leave a way to contact you.

Who and When:  The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59pm US Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 8, 2011. Void where prohibited by law.

*Giveaway rules are subject to change.*


Head over to FICTIONALL for a chance to win Feed (Seanan writing as Mira Grant) and the 1st 4 October Daye books by Seanan. Please follow FICTIONALL's rules for its giveaway.

FICTIONALL and The Qwillery are not affililated.

37 comments:

  1. My favorite Shakespeare play is Othello.

    I'm a gfc follower.

    Skk25@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. My favorite quote that I can think of is "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind" from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Loved the first 2 Toby's, have the 3rd in my TBR, crossing my fingers I win!
    I'm a gfc follower

    b(dot)cardone(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  3. My fav would be Much adu about nothing.

    GFC follower

    vidishamun@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ohh well I love MacBeth the most i believe. Alls well that ends well is also pretty high up there on my fav as well.

    GFC

    terilhack at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. ..."The lady doth protest too much!"
    that would have to be a commonly used phrase in this house ;)
    GFC
    kasuranna at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  6. If we shadows have offended,
    Think but this, and all is mended,
    That you have but slumber'd here
    While these visions did appear.
    And this weak and idle theme,
    No more yielding but a dream,
    Gentles, do not reprehend:
    if you pardon, we will mend:
    And, as I am an honest Puck,
    If we have unearned luck
    Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
    We will make amends ere long;
    Else the Puck a liar call;
    So, good night unto you all.
    Give me your hands, if we be friends,
    And Robin shall restore amends.


    Is and always will be my favorite Shakespeare quote.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey hey! I'll have Seanan on 3/11! Isn't she great?? Great interview!

    ReplyDelete
  8. "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Henry VI, my favourite oft misquoted quote ever.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love The Tempest!
    +1 comment
    +1 follower

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Romeo and Juliet :)

    Follower of The Qwillery.

    Tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/IntenseWhisper/status/42730693331124224

    robin [at] intensewhisper [dot] com

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  11. My favorite Shakespeare play is Hamlet, without a doubt!

    Blog follower
    Tweeted http://twitter.com/#!/lesleyboogie/status/42731824488775680

    drakeLa90 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  12. I loved Hamlet.
    I started college in my early 30's, and we were reading Hamlet when the class started discussing Claudis link to Ophelia. I didn't understand the tale when i was a freshman in high school, but I sure felt later in college that there was something funny going on beltween Ophelia and the Uncle. Call it that "hunky" feeling..*S* I remember that classroom chat still today, adn instructor thaought I had a pretty new insight with that point.
    Thank you for question. I wish my text weren't still in warhouse storage or could get the paragraph out and quoute it for you..darn it...I am going to
    +link on my blog:
    http://pommawolf.blogspot.com/
    +Facebook
    + already follow you
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    Pommawolf@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. My favorite play by Shakespeare is The Tempest.
    I've been meaning to read the October Daye books, but haven't gotten further than adding them to my wish list. They do sound wonderful and I want to read the series.

    Barbed1951(at)aol(dot)com
    GFC follower

    ReplyDelete
  14. Puck's final monologue from A Midsummer Nights Dream. The one that starts with I"f we shadows have offended, think but this; and all is mended" Ive had that memorized for years.

    GFC follower

    tweet - http://twitter.com/#!/DonnaS1/status/42821296215687168

    blog - http://donnasbloghome.blogspot.com/2011/03/qwillery-interview-with-seanan-mcguire.html

    bacchus76 at myself dot com

    ReplyDelete
  15. My favorite Shakespearean play is definitely A Midsummer Night's Dream and my favorite passages are Oberon's tasking of Puck to fetch the Love-in-Idleness and then his cursing of Titania as she is anointed. I've been cast as Oberon and always enjoyed the opportunity to express my inner bastard in those scenes. "Wake when some vile thing is near." Indeed. Mwuhahahahahaha. Sorry. Momentary lapse there. I'll try to keep it under control.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sorry. And if it isn't obvious please message me through my LJ account if necessary.

    ReplyDelete
  17. One of my favorite Shakespeare quotes and perhaps less known is:

    Absence from those we love is self from self - a deadly banishment.

    Thanks for the giveaway.

    Carol T

    +1 I am a Follower via GFC
    +1 for comment

    ReplyDelete
  18. "Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war..." is one of my favorite quotes.

    ReplyDelete
  19. "Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps."

    I'm a GFC follower :)

    bittenbooks at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  20. "What a piece of worke is a man! how Noble in
    Reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving
    how express and admirable! in Action, how like an Angel!
    in apprehension, how like a God?"

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Absence from those we love is self from self - a deadly banishment."

    Favorite quote, because it is the truth.

    +1 Follower
    +1 Comment

    Jessica Hansen

    takingitonebookataitme@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. I like most of Shakespeare's plays, but I've been particularly amused by Much Ado About Nothing. Thanks for the giveaway! Love this series!

    Blog Follower (GFC-Marg K.)

    Tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/ClockworkRevery/status/43144738186080256

    gosia727(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  23. I like Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar

    +1 GFC follower

    angeldream3[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  24. My favourite Shakspeare play is Macbeth, though The Tempest is a close second thanks to the delightful Prospero Lost by Lamplighter :)

    On a sidenote, Seanan McGuire is just as delightful an author as Lamplighter, if not even more. Love Tody Daye and can't wait for the next books!

    Thanks for the lovely interview!

    jannickv[at]hotmail[dot]com

    fb and blog follower


    Jannick

    ReplyDelete
  25. My favourite quote is a pretty simple and kinda stupid (if the adjective can ever be applied to Shakespeare). It's from As you like it and it's the followring

    "God buy you, let's meet as little as we can"

    I read it when I really didn't want to see some people and it kinda lingered in my mind!

    +1 comment
    +1 GFC follower

    aliasgirl at libero dot it

    ReplyDelete
  26. The Scottish play (MacBeth), line:
    Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

    gfc follower-Anne38

    acm05atjuno.com

    ReplyDelete
  27. My favorite would of course be Romeo and Juliet and very close second is Midsummers Nights Dream.

    +1 I am a follower of the blog
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    bookflamereviews@gmail.com

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  28. The Tempest and Hamlet are my two favorites. Love his other works too!
    GFC follower
    Lindadao2060@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. My favorite Shakespeare play has always been Hamlet.

    Fave quote is harder to pick. I love "All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players."

    ashley@ashleymaclennan.com

    ReplyDelete
  30. My favorite Shakespeare play is "A Mid-summer Night's Dream".

    ReplyDelete
  31. Macbeth -- only partly because I sing the Verdi version, and there's a flameout high C from everyone who can make it up there. Scots go to war indeed.

    Antony and Cleopatra (everything in it) runs a close second. The language is so so gorgeous.

    RIII shortly thereafter. Who doesn't love the venom?

    Oh, I give up. Most all of it except for the silly early stuff (Titus, for one).

    Anyway, hooray for Late Eclipses. I am so stoked. Artificial Night had to have my favorite reuse of Tam Lin (usually so sucked dry). But I'm afraid I'm really and absolutely head over heels with the Deadline series.

    Deary me, I sound like a gushing teen. Oh, that deceit should dwell in such a gorgeous palace!

    -- Clearly, I am Hysteric and Very Silly with glee. Ta for interview!

    ReplyDelete
  32. My favourite play is definitely A Midsummer Night's Dream.
    I'm a follower.
    petra_socaciu(at)yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  33. My favorite Shakespeare play is Antony and Cleopatra, followed closely by King Lear.

    blogged about this here: http://starlady.dreamwidth.org/407730.html
    and here: http://starlady38.livejournal.com/427772.html

    unrepentanteastcoaster [at] gmail [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  34. My favorite play by Shakespeare would be A Midsummer Night's Dream.

    +1 GFC follower

    chibipooh(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  35. I'm a GFC follower.

    thejoyofthejoyofcooking at hotmail dot com

    My favorite play is DEF. Much Ado about Nothing. I love A Midsummer's Night's Dream, too.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Well, we just reviewed The Tempest in Humanities class, so I'm going to stick with that.

    meredithfl at gmail dot com

    GFC follower

    ReplyDelete
  37. Great writer!
    Please give her support with the Amazon situation!
    Seanan McGuire Upcoming4.me

    ReplyDelete