Just dropping a note to say that I’m participating in Coyote Con this month. Coyote Con is a month-long digital spec-fic author’s convention running throughout May. Tonight, I’ll be speaking on the Character Creation: Non-Humans panel from 9-10 pm EST. I’ll also be speaking on the GLBTQ Fiction Writing panel on May 22nd at 7 pm EST. There are a bunch of really cool panels, and I suggest checking out what’s there. Where else can you participate in a month-long Con for free, without having to leave the comforts of your own home? *g* Huzzah to Deena Fisher of Drollerie Press and author Joely Sue Burkhart for putting this together!

*cough* So that whole regular updates thing kinda failed spectacularly… Let me just say (as I break in between Latin homework and cleaning the house, ah the glamorous life of a PhD student) that I am working on Heart’s Peace, and it should be out this winter, and that I’m taking a little while off the Con circuit as I figure out A: when the local upstate NY cons are and B: how this whole graduate school thing is going to work out.

Until then, the Muppets singing Bohemian Rhapsody.

So I went to Horse Camp this winter break (more on that later), recentered myself as a writer, a rider and a PhD student, and decided to do the ’school’ thing for a while. I’m going to write, and I’m going to get Heart’s Peace out by December (otherwise Aidan’ll be chattering in my head for the next four years), but most of my attention will go toward that Dissertation Thing and my comps and Becoming a Member of Academia.

That doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun though.

So I’m signing up for the POC Reading Challenge, where I’m going to try to read 7-9 books by/about People of Color this year (Level III).

I don’t have a book list yet, but I will post what books I read when I do get one.

Hope and joy of the season to you, and may the light shine in the darkness. Happy holidays!

My favorite Christmas castle.

The lovely Julia at Outer Alliance took time to post an interview with me as this week’s Spotlight. Check it out! Thanks, Julia, for the great questions!

They kidnapped Mikael. They kidnapped his family and killed his parents. Now, they may succeed in ending Soren’s very world. It’s time to stop them.

Soren’s life changed the moment his cousin Katjin brought home a renegade heart-sense.  Forced to act as guardian over the wayward pair, Soren created his own mess when he bound Katjin and Mikael in a ritual so old people had forgotten its consequences: a bond between two people so strong that it kept them physically together. Soren’s world has turned upside down, from the kidnapping and valiant rescue of his family, to his exile from the plains he grew up in. Now Soren’s going to turn the tables on the very Empire that has been hunting him for over a year.

Partnered with Aidan, the Shahi firepower, and Aya, lost twin of an Empire ‘path, Soren finally has to put the great plan to topple the Empire’s hold on the Clanfolk in motion. Even with the support of his renegade uncle, Soren begins to doubt his ideas with every step. His need to save lives combines with the inner struggle that Aidan, Soren’s closest friend and ally, seems to be going through, and all Soren can do is keep his act together, damn the consequences. Soren’s learning that everything, from victory to love, has its price.

Now available from Prizm here.

And yes, Gayle, Aidan gets his cataclysmic volcano.

From Heart Sense:

Meke smiled, a calculating smile. “We can even bring him to the Gathering, introduce him to a few boys his own age–nice boys he’s not related to.”

Katjin almost choked at that. He could just see that happening too; Meke would drag him to every yer within a day’s ride if it meant she could introduce him to some nice boy he could settle down with. And probably would this summer, if he knew his Meke. He groaned. The fellas might be nice to look at, but there was still a bit of awkwardness to it. My meke thinks you’d make a great partner for me. Can you make fry bread? It was hard enough to make conversation with the boys in town, much less the boys of the Horse Clans. At least she’d given up on him settling down with some girl, especially after she found him and one of her best friend’s grandsons skinnydipping at the summer camp three years ago…

Kat shivered, wrapped in the large blanket Meke had thoughtfully put around him as she herded him and Niko Three Rivers back to the Gathering. Niko, a whole year older than Kat, hadn’t so much as looked at him last year, when Katjin was just eleven. Now that Kat was twelve, though, he’d seen Niko shooting plenty of appreciative looks Kat’s way. Some fellas did — not as many as cozied up to Katjin’s cousin Soren, all sixteen years of swaggering and prowess and bully, but still, there were a few.

“It’s because of your eyes,” Niko said in a rush. Niko, word had it, was promised to a girl from the Blue Lightning clan. Still, promises were just promises when you were twelve and thirteen, and it wasn’t like they’d done anything. There’d been a kiss, and that was nice, even if Niko’s nose did poke Katjin in the eye.

“What about ‘em?” Katjin muttered, watching Meke’s back. He knew she could hear. She had ears like a thought-sense, and was almost as dangerous.

“Pretty green. Not brown as mud like everyone else’s.” Niko’s face focused on the grass, but Katjin could see the blush staining his tanned skin bright red.

Kat felt his own face flush. “Really?” His voice squeaked. He hated that. Soren always made fun of him for it.

Niko shot him a shy smile. “Really.”

Kat thought he heard Meke snort, but he couldn’t be sure, since they’d reached Three Rivers’ yer. “Here you are, Master Niko,” she said gravely. “Tell your ama that, if she’d like to talk to me, she may.”

It was Niko’s turn to squeak as he ran to the yer, blanket flapping behind him.

“You’re not gonna tell Apa, are you?” Katjin asked, a little afraid. He knew Niko was probably in for it — not ’cause Kat was a fella, but because he wasn’t the girl that Niko was promised to.

Meke chuckled, gathering Katjin close, wet blanket and robe and all. “That I caught you sneaking off with a boy, when you’re far too young for it?” She gave him a stern look. “You bet I am, young man. That you have fine taste in choosing a son of the Three Rivers clan? Perhaps. That he’s already promised elsewhere?” There was the scolding he’d expected. “You’re still young, but you know that’s nothing to be taken lightly, Katjin.”

Kat nodded. “We just meant it in fun.”

Meke smiled at him. “I know, love. But you’re too young for a broken heart, and that’s the last thing I want for you now, be it a boy or a girl who breaks it.” Most clans didn’t care who you partnered with, so long as the family approved. Redwind clan had been none too pleased when Apa brought home Katjin’s ama, outClan and daughter of the Lowlands to boot. As long as the boy was Clanfolk, Katjin figured that his family wouldn’t care. Still, it was nice to know that for sure now.

“I won’t let anyone break my heart, I promise,” Katjin swore, x-ing over his heart. He looked up at Meke again through his eyelashes. “You really don’t care if I bring home a fella, stead of a girl?”

Meke smiled, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “Little Kat, you could bring home a ‘path, for all we care. As long as he’s someone who loves you, and you love him, that’s all that matters.”

Little did she know, three years later…

Complete with picture of Nisha, Soren’s horse. Yes, I do love my cover artist. She is just slightly kind of awesome.

Stay tuned for Heart’s Price, soon!

Slight delay in Heart’s Price, but it should be out soon, since I’m holding precious galleys in my hand as we speak. The cover art looks very pretty — have I mentioned that I love my cover artist? Pluto seriously rocks.

Plotting on Heart’s Peace continues…

As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work.

Today is Pride Day, and I’m proud to be an ally and advocate for GLBT rights, in spec fiction and in writing spec fiction. I celebrate diversity in the many worlds that we inhabit, both in our heads and in real life. And here’s hoping for a day when, in that bright future, we’re all equal in gender and all that relates to it.

And here’s a snippet from Heart’s Price, book three of the YA Fantasy GLBT “Heart” trilogy (soon to be a quartet!). Heart’s Price comes out on September 15th from Prizm Books:

The kisses — he wasn’t sure what to do about the kisses. It was sweet, aye, and it was comforting, and Soren liked it. He wasn’t sure what Aidan actually meant by it, though. They were friends — really good friends, brothers in arms, almost — but there’d never really been talk of more than that. Soren’s sisters and cousins and occasionally Katjin had teased Soren about Aidan being his mate, but beyond that? He’d fancied a girl or two, and thought himself desperately in love with a fella from the Salt River clan four summers back, when he was a little younger than Shria, but beyond that… He hadn’t had the time to think of mates and partnership and setting up a yer with someone. His goal had always been the cavalry, and after that, retiring with horses and fat babies and peace on his family’s migration route.

But Aidan knew him, had been with him for the past year and walked every step beside him. Starless hells, Nisha even liked him. And his horse didn’t like just anybody, case in point that Salt River boy that Nisha almost kicked in the head after he tried something with Soren that Soren didn’t exactly appreciate.

So he clung to hands and arms, and tried to take comfort, and tried not to think — or feel — to much about it. Apa always said that attachment in times of war could never be permanent, that everyone fell in love when danger appeared.