Good news!

Mar. 6th, 2025 10:03 am
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 Two very cool things happened this week!
  • First: I’m being given an award that combines writing (body of work) and service to my lit community. I’m very excited about this! It’s an award that is juried primarily by a jury of readers and writers. They have to select you, you can’t apply for it. So I’m very honored too! I can’t announce officially yet because they’re contacting one of the other winners, but soon. :-D
  • Second: I’ve been working with the University of Minnesota Libraries Upper Midwest Archives for the last year and a half to set up a Queen of Swords Press archive and the finding guide has just gone live!
  • And a third, just for funsies: the Backerkit for a new year of New Edge Swords & Sorcery Magazine has funded! You can still pledge to get the authors, like me, and artists get a pay raise for a few more days! 

    • Hope to see some of you at MarsCon Minneapolis this weekend!

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Updating like an updating thing....

Dec. 4th, 2024 09:30 pm
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So it never rains and all that. The current renter of my services, ie. the day job where I am a contractor, had told me back in October that I "was doing a great job" and they wanted to convert me to being an FTE. Now they are wildly dysfunctional and in a healthy job market and without a dying wife and chronic burnout, I would have politely declined. But under current circumstances agreed to the conversion "once they got the budget and planning sorted out." Fast forward to today when I find out from a reliable source that there will be not hiring and that there will in fact be layoffs and I can plan on being one of them. Unsure of timeline, but rumor has it they will start next week. Fortunately, I have been trying to treat each week like it might be my last one on this gig because of aforementioned dysfunction and have done some planning...but they had just extended me to June. I could live with not going FTE, but June would have been a solid date to plan for and I could get a number of things done around the house as well as planning for whatever future I may have. So now I get to add job hunting anxiety and probably commuting to my newly-honed mortal terror that my wife will hang on long enough that the safety net that supports her in hospice disappears. I was hoping she would pass soon for her sake as well as my own, but now I get to throw money into the mix just to make it all perfect. *Screams into the void*

How are things apart from that? Queen of Swords Press is putting out a new title tomorrow!Point of Sighs (Astreiant #5) by Melissa Scott is a terrific installment in the Rathe and Eslingen series set in the magical city of Astreiant and I love it to pieces. I also just sent Melissa the edits for the brand new Astreiant novel, Point of Hearts (coming out early in 2025). Its so good and I'm so excited!

I've also got another submission to look at and have heard rumors more are on the way. And I have started overhauling the next werewolf novel so hoping to dig into that. I also picked up a very part time gig in January vetting arts grant proposals. And I have a few ideas about pitches and class proposals and so forth, always assuming I can continue to do the queer fiction and nonfiction work I've done for decades now. I accepted an invite to be guest at Readercon this summer - I've been wanting to go for years and decided that now is the time. I'm also planning on Seattle Worldcon, seeing these are both things that I pay significant costs up front for.

Apart from all this, I'm stocking up on needful things. I had a successful house cleanout sale and give away this last weekend that dented things a bit. I'm spending time with friends and going to events and donating and buying things from tiny businesses in hopes that they can survive the times ahead. I'm working on reconnecting with folks I haven't talked to for a while. I have some plans for retraining in a new field if that becomes necessary. And so it goes onward, step by step, Sending everyone who needs one a giant hug for the here and now.

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Queen of Swords Press is in Publishers Weekly! Again!

Apr. 22nd, 2024 08:57 pm
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This time for, well, surviving! Advice that small press publishers founded in the last 8 years (that are still around) pass along to those who would join their number - here. Some weeks, surviving seems like the whole of the game.

It's been lively! The PEN panel went well last week, as did 13 Gears Steampunk last weekend. And our reading on Thursday night at DreamHaven. What's next, you ask? Well, I'm taking a tiny vacation and going off with friends to visit the Castlerock Museum in Alma, Wisconsin (kitties and house will be tended by their latest minion). But lots of work to get done before then! And afterwards! I've also taken on a few new projects that I'm excited about, but have to vaguebook about for the moment.

How are things apart from all that? Jana's not doing particularly well and I have to just resign myself to some aspects of that. I'm...tired. 3 events in row, plus starting a new job and trying to balance Queen of Swords Press projects has been draining. I'm hoping to get to a better balance here soon. Gradual house clean out continues slowly along too, so there's that. I'm loving "The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin" on Apple and "Renegade Nell" on Disney and I'm looking forward to this bit of utter ridiculousness: Borderlands. And lots more events coming up! Stay tuned!


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WisCon and related adventures

May. 28th, 2022 09:45 pm
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We got in on Thursday without too much stress and grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant (the hotel check-in staff was wowed by just how long we've been coming to this con, which was charming). I got to see my always delightful pal, Caroline Stevermer, and we got unpacked and watched "Midsomer Murders" and I worked on things. Friday morning was all about setting up for the Dealer's Room and the Art Show. I didn't get to go to The Gathering because I was on the Killjoys squee panel, which was delightful. One of the other panelists had left her laptop at home and the panel was online, so she came to our room and we broadcast from there, seeing as everyone was double-boosted and had tested negative within 24hours. We had a blast talking about our favorite elements of the show and now I need to finish my epic rewatch, which is currently in the 2nd season.

Saw bunches of friends and colleagues and sold some books when I got back to the table. It turned out that I got a spot next to Shawna Brown of Dragon Abbey Jewelry, and we get on splendidly. Queen of Swords Press author Heather Rose Jones is also in attendance and we had fun reconnecting and plotting (and did more of it on Saturday). We also made Friday dinner plans, so I went to go find Jana after we closed up shop for the day. Turns out that she had gone to a nearby art store to shop.

And things got...fun. So she wasn't responding to texts or email and by this point, I was down in the lobby running into friends and chatting and hugging people as well as intermittently trying to reach her. Finally, she responded to a call and informed me that she was on a bus. Then hung up. The art store is 5 blocks or so from the hotel, so this was concerning news. 4 or 5 phone calls later, it was clear that wherever the bus was going, it was not toward the hotel. More phone calls, more check-in. I give up on dinner with Heather and she went off to meet someone else and I started walking toward Jana's last known location, the bus stop where she got off the bus. This began as a 15 minute walk. Which turned into 17 phone calls and an hour and half long walk because she kept moving around. I had had no dinner and am hypoglycemic and she is sundowning so good times! Finally, I track her down at a gas station and call a cab. I picked up snacks and water because everyone is dehydrated (and they had let her use the bathroom, which was employee only, so I thought I owed them one) and we got back to the hotel around 8:30 (the adventures began at 6). Everyone was very tired, grumpy, hungry and in her case, sunburned.

This morning dawned with the unpleasant news that one of the friends I had seen in the lobby the night before had tested positive for COVID. I tested negative for this round, but get to look forward to a couple of days of testing ahead. Otherwise, I was smarter this time and walked Jana around the Farmer's Market until she was worn out, before going back to the con to work the Queen of Swords Press table. We had a splendid day and I had a good panel on the topic "Where are the Grandmothers?" Also got some lovely fan squee from people about my work and the press, which was a balm to the soul and bought cool art and books, including a first edition Joanna Russ. But I am, unsurprisingly, completely wiped out. Jana has been out cold since 6PM. Tomorrow is her birthday and I'm hoping for an expedition to breakfast as well as a side trip to Period Garden Park before I open back up again. Wish me luck and negative test results?
 

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Full week in these parts and Flights of Foundry schedule

Apr. 13th, 2021 08:07 pm
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First the good stuff, because there needs to be good stuff.
  • My novel, Silver Moon, is going to be translated and released in a new German language edition by Ylva Publishing in 2022! Very excited about this since it's out first foreign rights sale.
  • Blood Moon got a lovely review on Hannah's Bookshelf, a great book-oriented radio show on North Manchester FM.
  • Queen of Swords Press has been invited to do a Small Press AMA (Ask Me Anything) at r/Fantasy on 6/4. Alex Acks, A.J. Fitzwater, Rem Wigmore, Jennie Goloboy and I will all be there, with some special guests, if we're lucky. Please join us!
  • The Tucson Steampunk Society's CommuniTea was delightful and my anthology class went well last weekend.
  • I have a new "6 Books with Catherine Lundoff" at Nerds of a Feather (big congrats to them for their Hugo Finalist nod!)
  • I got sick and migrainey a lot, a state that lasted until yesterday.
  • I'm teaching for Springboard for the Arts tomorrow night! Publishing Basics for Genre Writers – April 14th, 6:00-8:00 PM CST. Zoom, Springboard for the Arts.
  • I'm doing a couple of panels and a Dealer's Room table at Flights of Foundry next week. I'm also getting my second shot on Saturday afternoon (Jana is too), so we'll see how that goes. Flights looks like a great con again this year so you should definitely check it out.
The other things going on:
On Sunday afternoon, police in Brooklyn Center (a bedroom community about 10 miles away) shot and killed a young Black man named Duante Wright. For context, we are in Week 3 of Derek Chauvin's trial for the murder of George Floyd. Brooklyn Center is very diverse, majority POC city with a big immigrant population. The National Guard is out, the police presence and militarization is completely insane and the protests are substantial. The entire metro area is under curfew at present, which is every bit as useful as it was last time. It's enraging and horrible and frustrating and painful we need some big changes to do this better; if you live in Minneapolis and haven't signed the Yes 4 Minneapolis petition, please do it. This will enable us to vote to replace the current police department with a Department of Public Safety if it passes and let us vote for what we want to see (the Charter Commission crushed this last year and is putting forth another ballot to give the Mayor more control over the MPD, conveniently ignoring that he had full control last year and that didn't go so well). And here's a list of ways to help Brooklyn Center, which was already hurting quite a bit from last year. And please consider voting for Kate Knuth for Mayor.
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Where We Are Now

Apr. 5th, 2020 04:11 pm
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My last week:
  • Turned 57 last Monday, with a mellow birthday at home, good snacks, messages and calls from friends.
  • Tuesday: got a call from the nursing home that they wanted to put my mother in hospice care (she had contracted the flu but had been doing "fine.")
  • Wednesday: get a call in the wee hours of the morning suggesting  I "come visit" my mother NOW. I went over as early as seemed feasible and got thoroughly sprayed down, cleaned and temperature checked. Then I went upstairs to find my mother completely unconscious and hooked up to oxygen. I talked to her nurse, then sat down and read to her for a while from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini, which was always one of her favorite novels. Then I said my goodbyes and left. About 30 minutes later, I got the call that she had passed on.
  • Thursday and Friday were spent dealing with the cremation center (I had already bought a cremation package for her) and the nursing home - fortunately, I had set up most things beforehand and they took care of a lot of the administrative stuff. Family friends took on notifying others so I'm down to writing an obituary and sending it out, writing some cards, picking up Mom's ashes later on in the week and trying to figure out how to scatter them in a way that abides by her wishes (she had ambitious plans for her remains, even under the best of circumstances). And picking up her remaining stuff at the nursing home (I'm donating all the clothes to them). Blergh. Was it expected? Yes. Am I okay? Not sure. Quite numb and spent today with a killer migraine.
  • Saturday, I taught my anthology editing class to a small but enthusiastic group.
  • Tomorrow, Monday, April 6th - The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater comes out from Queen of Swords Press. You can get it in ebook everywhere, including direct from us; print is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound and Bookshop.org. It is the author's first book and it is beautiful and cuddly and wonderful. Please buy a copy - it will make you feel better about life. I promise.
  • And tomorrow, back to day job. They gave me a few days off to recover, which helped, but don't feel like enough.  Onward. I will xpost Mom's obituary out here when I get it done.
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Books sales, bits of news, catchup

Dec. 23rd, 2019 03:16 pm
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Well, so much for my posting once a week. Here's the high level overview of where things are at:
  •  Still waiting on the job offer, but suspect the holidays have slowed things down. Have not yet begun to panic (saving that for the 2nd).
  • Book sales! All Queen of Swords Press books are on sale this week for various promotions! Please buy a book or two, if you've been thinking about it. This December has been slower than last December so far and I am still "between jobs." Also, "between insurance policies" while we wait on our new provider. Plus, I've put out some great books in the last 3 years!
  • Got most of the surprise bonus handmade ornaments and books out to my Patreon supporters. Sign up now and I'll happily grandmother you in.
  • Writing class bundles and sale -  Rambo Academy (Cat Rambo's online writing class platform) has a bundling sale that runs through 1/1/20. It includes my upcoming 1/26/20 class, "Book Promotion on a Budget." Check it out, add another class or two and save!
  • More writing class bundle and savings! Hidden Timber Books is also offering a bundle option which includes by February class, "Breaking Out of the Slush Pile."
  • Finished most of the preprep for The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater, coming 4/6/2020 from Queen of Swords Press.
  • Less great news: CONZealand is looking very unlikely due to finances, house repair, etc.
  • Better news: it sounds like we have some good options in progress for getting Cinrak to CONZealand, where A.J. will be in attendance.
  • How's Blood Moon coming along, Catherine? Not too bad. I'm about 20k words, give or take from a full draft, and things are moving.
  • Other fiction and writing - new short story in progress, reprint sold to podcast, new article in progress, stuff happening!
  • "Winter Lights at the Arb" (Minnesota Arboretum) and "Wicked Plants" at the Bell Museum are both awesome and you should go see them.
Have a lovely holiday, whichever ones you celebrate! Much love and good wishes sent!
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Catching-up...

Apr. 7th, 2019 07:11 pm
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Or something like it. Taught my second online class in a row this weekend, this one on editing an anthology. Lots of enthusiasm, great questions and...a power failure, plus several app issues (there was a local outage). Sigh. Cat Rambo did a great job holding things together, but then I got to spend the rest of the day pulling together support and extra materials so that people would feel like it was worth their while. We're looking at doing a followup as well as recording this one so stay tuned. Also, I'm getting fiber optic installed in the next month or so, which hopefully make it lot easier for online teaching and related activities.

Today was all about errands - shipping books for ClexaCon, dropping books off at the Little Free Library that I adopted, dropping copies of Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space) at Cream & Ale for next month's reading and meeting with my publishing assistant. The big news is that I'll be posting a CFS soon for queries for book length manuscripts and we'll see what comes in.

Home now and wrangling the game proposal I was supposed to get done ages ago, writing and trying to get organized for day job insanity tomorrow. Also, I'm supposed to leave on Thursday morning for ClexaCon. Bets on whether or not the fear April "surprise" blizzard due on Wednesday hits the Twin Cities? I don't like our odds but am hoping for the best.


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Preorder and updates

Mar. 10th, 2019 04:25 pm
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Queen of Swords Press' newest title, Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures by Alex Acks, is up for preorder now at the Evil Empire, other platforms to follow soon! Print will be up for preorder in the next week or so too. The pretty, pretty cover is by Nathalie Grey of KaNaXa.




Home with a splitting headache and working like a mad thing. Good times! But on the progress front, finished two very short story drafts and starting on a longer one, all due this month, have a new article mostly drafted and making progress on sundry things.

I've also been using my "snowed-in" time to shop for my birthday at the end of the month. It's pretty lowkey, but I've found an infrared massager that's supposed to be good for knees, shoulders and elbows (fingers crossed that this works! I'll link if it does), copies of Peking Opera Blues (Brigitte Lin in a tuxedo - do you really need to know more?) and Sword of Destiny (Crouching Tiger 2, pretty much just about Michelle Yeoh) and literary chocolate from Open Book Chocolates. Normally, there would be books too, but we're  tackling the Great Cleanout in prep for the Great Furnace Replacement so we're getting rid of a lot more than we're buying.

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