[From the Eye of the Storm] Jon Skovron's Newsletter #22
From the Eye of the Storm #22
Hello from the swamps of the DMV area, where the humidity is so thick, we swim through the air! Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
Thankfully, I wasn't here the entire time. The boys and I took a trip to Arizona. Which...well, at first it was even hotter. Dry heat or no, 119 degrees is still hot enough to literally bake cookies in your car (someone did!). Thankfully, my parents quickly whisked the boys up to Flagstaff, which has much milder temperatures due to the elevation.
Meanwhile, I rented a car and headed to San Diego for Comic Con! It's just as fun and crazy and stressful and overwhelming as everyone says. In fact, trapped in throngs of cosplayers and fans, I nearly missed my panel! Fortunately, I won through in the nick of time. And it was a great panel, with thoughtful questions from our moderator, Cindy Pon, interesting discussions (sometimes heated, sometimes polite) between authors, and a huge audience turn out. Apparently, someone filmed it and posted it to Youtube. I haven't watched it, so hopefully I don't come off as a complete ass. Or airhead. Either is possible.
I also had a ton of people show up for my signing at the Orbit booth, which was a new experience for me. It probably helped that we gave away 50 copies of Hope and Red, but I'm certainly not complaining. Sam Sykes and I also did a joint interview with B&N which...well, hopefully there was some content in there the poor guy can use. I blame Sam, of course. Mostly because he's easy to blame. I also got to catch up with Cindy Pon, Kiersten White, and Victoria Schwab, all of whom I see far too infrequently. And when I wasn't occupied with book-related things, my friend Holly Gabrielson was doing things like sneaking me backstage to a SyFy Network event or dragging me to a strange stand-up comedian house party.
After my big Comic Con adventure, I enjoyed the hospitality of Kiersten White's family for a night, then drove to Flagstaff, where I spent most of that week at my parent's house recovering. And also trying not to panic about the news I'd received right before we flew to Arizona...
I guess I can talk about this now, since it's in the publishing news channels. My editor took a job as associate publisher at a competing publishing house.
It's a great move for her. A huge promotion, and one she fully deserves. And it's at a house I respect a great deal. So I'm extremely happy for her.
But contracts are not tied to editors. They're tied to publishers. So I don't move over with her. I stay where I am. Which means that for the moment, I have no editor.
Everyone at Orbit has been wonderful. I've heard horror stories of authors finding out they'd lost their editor second, or even third hand, almost "oh, by the way...". But my publisher, deputy publisher, marketing director, and publicist have all assured me that everything is still on track and they are all looking out for me. My agent has also said she will make sure they are all looking out for me. All this is a huge comfort. And yet...it's difficult to put into words this vague sense of unease. Someone new will come swooping in to edit this third book. Will they like it? Will I get along with them? Will they care as much as my previous edit cared? What about all those tentative plans for a follow up trilogy? Hell, my previous editor was the one who talked me into that idea in the first place! Is that all out the window?
There are so many unknowns right now, most of them out of my control. About all I can do is keep writing. And so that's what I'm doing.
Book 3 is going well, by the way. Although I still don't have a title. I saw an early sketch of the map update for Bane and Shadow, which features a detailed look at Stonepeak. That's coming along nicely. And today I finally saw the cover. It's not done yet, but pretty far along, and it looks very cool! I had a few comments, which they were gracious enough to listen to. But on the whole, I really like it.
And as far as I can tell, Hope and Red is doing well. A few more reviews:
Philadelphia Free Press called it "a fun beginning to what promises to be a great series".
SFRevu said "The adventures of Hope and Red will continue, and you should plan to sail with them."
The Book Bag said "If you want to be thrilled with a fast plot and are looking for a fantasy book that is incredibly easy to pick up and not put down, Hope and Red is the best book for you."
Currently Listening
I did a lot of driving in the last few weeks (5 hours from Phoenix to San Diego plus 7 hours from San Diego to Flagstaff plus 2 hours from Flagstaff back to Phoenix). I spent a lot of that listening to podcasts like Radiolab, Invisibilia, or Here's The Thing. But when I wanted music, time and again I reached for the debut album from Minor Victories, which came out in early June. It's sort of a "super group", comprised of Slowdive's Rachel Goswell, Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite, Editors’ Justin Lockey, and Hand Held Cine Club's James Lockey. It has a big, sweeping, dark sound that meshed well with thunderstorms sweeping the desert. As luck would have it, they just released of my favorite song and it features a giant cat with laser eyes terrorizing a city.
"Scattered Ashes (Song for Richard)" by Minor Victories
And that's it for this week. Sorry it went a bit long playing catch up.
My dad is coming to visit, and the boys will come back the same day. So I've got today and tomorrow to cram in a bunch of writing and reading before my schedule once again goes wobbly. When does school start back up???