This weekend I’m off to Philadelphia for ALA Midwinter. I’m on the Publisher’s Liaison Committee for YALSA, so I get to see the inner workings of the committees this year and to go to some booksignings in the Random House booth for Magic in the Mirrorstone, the anthology of fantasy short stories we’re releasing in February. It’s edited by Steve Berman and features 15 wonderful stories by 15 amazing authors, like Holly Black, Gregory Frost, Tiffany Trent, Cecil Castellucci, Cassandra Clare, Jim C. Hines, and on and on. If you like short stories, check it out. Hey, even if you don’t like short stories, there’s plenty to love–Cecil Castellucci’s first foray into fantasy, a “lost story” of Hallowmere, unicorns, frogs, a voodoo princess… and more, of course. (Twoo wuv, mawage…)

And of course, if you’re going to BE at Midwinter, make sure to come looking for a signed copy of Magic in the Mirrorstone. Gregory Frost and Holly Black are having independent signings, and several others, including Ann Zeddes, Lawrence Schoen, and anthology editor Steve Berman (the reason the whole thing exists!) will be around signing stock, so you might just be able to get a copy with several authors’ John Hancocks!

Mirrorstone does not have a booth at Midwinter this year, so go looking for copies at the Random House booth, #1231.

Here’s the schedule:

11:00AM—12:00PM – Gregory Frost (Shadowbridge & Magic in the Mirrorstone) signs copies of his book in the RH Booth #1231

11:00AM—12:00PM – Holly Black (Magic in the Mirrorstone) signs copies of her book in the RH Booth # 1231

Rebecca Shelley, assistant to R.D. Henham, is throwing a party next week in honor of the release of Red Dragon Codex! Of course, living all the way in Krynn as the Honored Scribe does, R.D. Henham won’t make it to the party, but you can meet Rebecca and try out her tests of valor!

Here’s all the info. If you’re in Utah, check it out!

Red Dragon Codex Publication Party

Open House
January 12, 2008
4:00-6:00 PM

West Valley Fitness Center
5415 West 3100 South
West Valley City, Utah 84120
(801) 955-4000 < br />Community Room A

Come join us for food and fun at the Red Dragon Codex publication party.

Meet the author, Rebecca Shelley (R.D.Henham). Books will be available for purchase and signing at 20% off retail price.

Face the three tests from the book–the tests of courage, love, and truth–to gain the magical silver dragon pendant.

Try your hand at coloring or drawing your own dragons.

And put your name into a drawing for free copies of Red Dragon Codex!

Children of all ages welcome. We can’t wait to see you.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Shelley and friends

And if you’re not in Utah, make sure to find Red Dragon Codex at your local bookstore next week!

I’m just looking at my sidebar and thinking how busy I got after reading Wildwood Dancing, which I think must have been at the end of the summer. I’ve read other books since then, but I haven’t had much time to update my sidebar. And I need to update the Books YOU Should Read for 2008, because Mirrorstone has a lot of great books coming out that I want to tell you about, but I’ve been so swamped that, once again, I have slacked on the sidebar-age.

I’m not making a New Year’s resolution to change that any. The blog has been down on the totem pole for a while now, sadly. On the bright side, I’ve been accomplishing a lot of cool things that I just haven’t had time to tell you about. Like a couple really cool series which I can’t tell you about yet, but which you’ll hear much more about later when the time is right. 

… If I have time to blog. Which probably won’t be this month, given that I’m traveling to Philadelphia mid-month for ALA Midwinter, and then at the end of the month I’m disappearing to the Great White North of Vermont for the Kindling Words retreat. All time not spent out of town will probably be spent keeping up with work in the office!

So I’ll be around, though in a minimal way for a while yet. I’ll still pop in from time to time to announce things. Perhaps I might come away from Kindling Words with some interesting information I can share.

Come to think of it, we have a release this month you need to know about–the debut of the companion series to A Practical Guide to Dragons! Red Dragon Codex comes out within the week (I think Jan. 6 is the official release date) so go find it! R.D. Henham has penned a fun adventure that fans of the Practical Guides will love!

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I’ve been seeing a lot of publishing bloggers posting about the December slowdown. Here at Mirrorstone it’s similar–things do slow down here the week between Christmas and New Year’s because the whole company has it off. But the time up to that time off is full of people like me trying to catch up, too, working on projects we haven’t had the time to catch up on due to other more pressing deadlines. (I don’t know how it is at other publishers, but I imagine it’s similar.)

I’ve gotten several emails about recent submissions (and not-so-recent) and you’ll be glad to know that I’m working on them! Especially requested manuscripts. I have instituted a new system that, once I get caught up on the oldest submissions, will allow me to respond to initial submissions within 3 months. Manuscripts, of course, take a little more time. I’m not the fastest editor in the industry, that’s for sure. Note that I take simultaneous submissions, so don’t feel bad about letting other see your work while you’re waiting
on me!

So while I’ll be relaxing that week off starting a week from today, life is just as busy as ever this week and next! I hope that you all are having a relaxing December yourselves and that whatever holidays you celebrate will be full of joy with family and friends.

Sadly, not the singer variety. But it’s just as exciting! Hallowmere author Tiffany Trent is hosting a contest on her LJ to celebrate the book birthday of By Venom’s Sweet Sting. You could win signed copies of In the Serpent’s Coils and By Venom’s Sweet Sting, plus all sorts of goodies! All you have to do is go over to her blog and comment by Dec. 25. Go now!

I usually avoid politics here, but I couldn’t resist sharing this one, which mostly just makes me chortle:

In a week when Mr. Romney delivered a speech intended to deal with concerns about his religion — he would be the nation’s first Mormon president — the poll found that little more than half of Republican respondents thought the United States was prepared to elect a Mormon to the Oval Office. That said, it also found that 45 percent were unable to say what Mr. Romney’s religion was. 

And that’s not even from the Onion. 

Finalizing my travel plans for ALA Midwinter next month. I’m really looking forward to an ALA in which I won’t have to man a booth! I’ll be at the Random House booth on Saturday–Random House distributes Mirrorstone’s books–for the booksigning of Magic in the Mirrorstone, our forthcoming anthology edited by

, Steve Berman. Several of the anthology authors will be appearing, including Gregory Frost,

My old friend Brandon Sanderson (

) just got chosen to write the final chapter in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. I have a special place in my heart for this series–it’s one of the first fantasy series I ever read in college, and the first series that ever had me waiting with baited breath for the book release date and then reading through the night till dawn the day after I bought the book. Though the series slowed down WAY too much for my liking in the last few books (really, can something more happen between books 8 and 11?), I still think that The Eye of the World is a classic fantasy text that writers would do well to take an example from. Jordan, who passed away this last September, did a lot to bring fantasy back into the forefront at least to the niche SFF audience, long before Harry Potter was a twinkle in J.K. Rowling’s eye.

So stop by and congratulate Brandon. He’s got quite a tall job ahead of him.