Days of the Dead blog tour 2014: Gail Z. Martin on Hiding Under the Covers

The Rebellion Store eBook sale is now on - selected titles just £1.50

Hiding Under the Covers

By Gail Z. Martin

I’ve always liked ghost stories. Well, let’s say that I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with ghost stories. I love them when it’s daylight and the lights are on. I’m not so keen on them in the dark.

As a kid, I remember being scared of some of the oddest stuff. There was a children’s encyclopedia that had an entry on “hallucinations” and the drawing accompanying the definition gave me nightmares for a week—no idea why.

Even so, I kept coming back to re-runs of shows like The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Tales from the Crypt, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the monster movies that used to run on Saturday afternoon TV. And I loved any book I could get my hands on that included magic, witches, ghosts, and the supernatural. One of my favorite books in middle school was Jane-Emily about a girl being haunted by the ghost of her vindictive cousin.

I remember watching the old monster movie Them about giant radioactive ants destroying the world. I was eating popcorn and watching the movie on TV alone in the dark. All of a sudden, a huge beast with black shaggy fur and a hideous, green-eyed gorilla face jumped out at me from behind the couch. I think in that case, my dad got more than he bargained for because even after he took off the mask and the fur coat, I wouldn’t stop screaming until every light in the house was on. #ParentingFail

As a kid, cemeteries were favorite places. My mom was a teacher and had to stay late at school to grade papers. When I was 10 or 11, she would let me go up the block and wander around the old historic cemetery (times were different then). It’s a beautiful place with a lot of historic graves, and I used to pass the time by reading the epitaphs and making up stories about the people. In high school, I planned the family vacation to make sure we hit Salem, Massachusetts so we could go to all the witch trial museums, and some of the old cemeteries.

Nowadays, I absolutely love going on ghost tours when I visit a city. Rome, London, Dublin, New Orleans, Charleston, and more—it’s always on the itinerary. I’ve dragged my family through the Capuchin crypts in Rome where the monks used human bones for decorating, and on tours of cemeteries in several countries.

I’m more a fan of ghost/suspense types of scary movies. I don’t do slasher/gore flicks. But I do love something like The Woman in Black and Rose Red that have a good, creepy vibe. When it comes to books, quite a bit of what I read includes vampires, magic, ghosts and the supernatural, although it tends to skirt being outright horror. I enjoy Stephen King’s stuff, but I have to admit that after I read IT I kept the lights on!

My Days of the Dead blog tour runs through October 31 with never-before-seen cover art, brand new excerpts from upcoming books and recent short stories, interviews, guest blog posts, giveaways and more! Plus, I’ll be including extra excerpt links for stories and books by author friends of mine. And, a special 50% off discount from Double-Dragon ebooks! You’ve got to visit the participating sites to get the goodies, just like Trick or Treat! Details here: www. AscendantKingdoms.com

Trick or Treat: Enjoy an excerpt from Buttons, the short story that led to the Deadly Curiosities book series here.

And a bonus excerpt from Collector, one of my Deadly Curiosities Adventures short stories here.

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Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin is available now in the UK, US and as a DRM-free eBook from the Rebellion Store. 

Deadly Curiosities Review Round-Up

It's finally here! Deadly Curiosities is now available in all good book shops State-side, and of course on amazon in both print and for the kindle. 

Deadly Curiosities author Gail Z. Martin will be holding the launch party on Facebook today (June 25th) from 10:30 ET (that's 3:30pm for UK folks) - join her and host of fellow authors for some Q&A sessions, competitions and exclusive Deadly Curiosities downloadable freebies! Head over and say hi!

Want to know what all the hype is about? Check out just some of the lovely things people have been saying: 

Publishers Weekly: “Martin (the Ascendant Kingdoms saga) weaves together fact, fiction, and the supernatural to create a realistic underworld for modern Charleston, S.C”

Beauty in Ruins: “Familiar, accessible, and enjoyable, Deadly Curiosities is the kind of book to have serious crossover appeal for urban fantasy and horror readers alike.”

Red Star Reviews: “Let me start by saying this book was awesome! Very engrossing right from the start! I’ve enjoyed every Gail Z Martin book I’ve read and Deadly Curiosities is no exception to this!” 

Book review by Charlotte: “This story is full of action. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I can see this story as a major motion picture full of action and adventure.”

Books Boones & Buffy: “An atmospheric tale filled with fascinating historical details, a protagonist with a very cool ability, and lots of scary ghosts and shadowy corners."

Fiction Vortex: “Martin is clearly in her element when bringing the ghosts of Charleston to life. Cassidy’s investigation is peppered with the stories of pirates and smugglers whose deaths are tied to the evil threatening the city. I’ll admit, I’m a big fan of ghost stories and I loved the touch of character Martin gave to her haunts.”

She hearts books: “This is one of those books you just can't put down until you're finished reading.”

The Book Adventures: “The world-building, the setting, the characters, the relationships have depths to them that make this a complex and very interesting urban fantasy novel.”

Not yet read: “Gail Z. Martin does an excellent job painting vivid scenes, her suspense and fight scenes are amazing and her characters charming. I can’t wait for more!”

Sci-Fi Fan Letter: “a fun start to a new series”

Wicked Scribe: “The villains are delightfully evil, the crimes are horrific and you get pulled into the motivation to find and stop this paranormal killer before things get even worse.”

I smell sheep: “The characters are wonderful making me want to get to know them and kept me turning the pages to find out just what was happening and where it would all end up.”

Much loved books: “I found myself emotionally invested in the outcome of each one, even the dog, and when they were facing the badest, strongest, entity, I was so nervous, I had butterflies in my stomach worried over what would happen to them. Deadly Curiosities is a great combination of paranormal and mystery…”

Gizmo’s Reviews: “If you like kick ass action at every turn, and the unknown whether the characters will all survive or not, then please read Deadly Curiosities and give the finger to publishers who say that UF is dead and gone.”

A Bibliophile’s Reverie: “This novel felt like a shiny twist between Warehouse 13 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” 4/5 stars

Love Fantasy More: “If you’re looking for a nice summer ghost mystery, Deadly Curiosities is a great book for you. And if you like procedural type books, you may even love it more than I did!”

Elder Park BookReviews: “the characters were rich and fleshed out and [there was] plenty of new takes on supernatural powers to keep this novel innovative.”

Caffeinated BookReviewer: “An old school urban fantasy with a Warehouse 13 vibe, this tale was action packed. Filled with magic, supernatural creatures and possessed objects. I quickly consumed this and look forward to reading more.”

Bibliosanctum: “I do hope she has plans to continue expanding Cassidy’s story as well, because this was a lot of fun. I would return to Charleston and Trifles & Folly in a heartbeat.”

The Book Adventures: “A fast-paced, suspenseful and sometimes creepy story, this book brings paranormal closer to horror and further from fantasy, and was a welcome change from the tropes that pervade the sub-genre.”

Missing Volume: “Good world building and the huge plus for me is there is no romance building the background between the characters.  I'll be looking for more books in this series.”

Ponderings of Psyche: “Dark Curiosities brought up fresh ideas and mixed it with the old ones, making a perfect blend of read that will certainly not fail the expectations of the readers of urban fantasy.”

Dab of Darkness: “This was a fast-paced urban fantasy with a twist: antiques. So, lots of history was tossed into the mix, and I loved it.”

Mixed Book Bag: “Deadly Curiosities has just the right blend of paranormal and mystery and a great start to a new series.”

Doctor’s Notes: “The book was fast paced so I flew through it with ease and was fully invested in it.”

Tome Tender: “Deadly Curiosities is a fun, unique and interesting story with marvellous possibilities for what might come next.”

Are you a reviewer or blogger interested in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror or Alternative YA & Children's Fiction? If you'd like to receive advance title information and review copies, as well as opportunities for guest blogs and interviews with our authors contact us at press@rebellion.co.uk. Please include information about the site or publication you review for, any genre preferences and your preferred contact name and email. 

You can also check out our current list of eARCs available via netgalley now. 

Gail Z. Martin UK signing schedule

Gail at BEA 2014

Gail Z. Martin will be joining team Solaris this summer for a whirlwind tour of our fair Isles, and because we were bought up properly we'd like to share the good times with you... So please do check out the below and add a date (or two) to your diary and come along to get your copy of Deadly Curiosities signed.

JULY

23rd (Weds) - Forbidden Planet, London HQ
Deadly Curiosities Launch Party!
Gail will be meeting, greeting and signing copies of Deadly Curiosities from 6 - 7pm 
(keep an eye on the Solaris twitter feed for details of a post-signing meet up nearby too)

31st (Thur) - Waterstones, Cardiff the Hayes
Bumper author party! Gail will be joining  Ack Ack Macaque author Gareth Powell and Blood and Feathers author Lou Morgan for mega-signathon:
Gareth and Lou will be signing from 5:30pm and Gail from 6:30pm

AUGUST

1st (Fri) - Waterstones, Edinburgh
Gail will be doing a stock signing, watch out on the twitter feed for updates on when you can catch her in action closer to the day.

Plus, because we don't like to leave anyone out you can virtually hang out with Gail (as well as plethora of other lovely authors) on US launch day! Join Gail and co at the Facebook launch party on Wednesday 25th June from 10:30 am to 10:30pm EST (those outside of EST can find out your local time here) where she will be answering questions, giving away free goodies and offering you the chance to win e-copies of Deadly Curiosities. There are rumours the party may spill out across reddit and goodreads, and with a line up like the one below we think those rumours will probably be true:

10:30 – 11 Gail Z. Martin
11 – 11:30 Pip Ballantine
11:30 – Noon Chris Verstrate
Noon – 12:30 Trisha Wooldridge
12:30 – 1 John Hartness
1-1:30 Leona Wisoker
1:30 – 2 Keith DeCandido
2-2:30 Cynthia Ward
2:30 – 3 Jim Lavene
3 – 3:30 Gail Z. Martin
3:30 – 4 Jennifer Brozek
4-4:30 Joshua Palmatier/Benjamin Tate
4:30 – 5 Tricia Barr
4-5:30 Clockwork Universe
5:30 – 6 Athena’s Daughters 
5:50—Gail Z. Martin—giveaway announcement
6-6:30 TBC
6:30 – 7 Kim Richardson
7-7:30 Tera Fulbright
7:30 – 8 Danielle Ackley-McPhail
8-8:30 Stuart Jaffe
8:30 – 9 James Maxey
9-9:30 Natasha Rhodes
9:30 – 10:30 Gail Z. Martin

Add it to your Facebook calendar now.

Bridging Old and New - guest post by Gail Z. Martin

Why write an urban fantasy series after three successful epic fantasy series? Because it’s fun.
(P.S. That’s the same reason I’ll be writing a steampunk series for 2015, too.)

Truth is, a lot of the same interests run between my epic and urban fantasy. Scratch the surface, and find a history major and museum geek.

Plunk me down in a major city with time to kill, and I’ll find the museums. (Heck, I’ll find them in a minor city if you give me time.) And yes, I read the plaques underneath the objects, even when I’ve got the audio tour. I love discovering cool old stuff, weird objects, creepy funeral customs, and pretty things from the past.

In Deadly Curiosities, my main character Cassidy can read the history and strong memories/magic imprinted on an object. I don’t claim that ability, but I do have a wild imagination, and more often than not, I can close my eyes and feel the past around me. (Note: I avoid doing that when touring places like the Tower of London.)

While Deadly Curiosities happens in modern-day Charleston, SC, it’s a storyline steeped in the past. “Buttons” was the short story I wrote for Solaris’s award-winning Magic: The Esoteric and Arcane anthology (and reprinted this year in the British Fantasy Society’s Unexpected Journeys anthology). It was a contemporary story with the characters you’ll meet in the novel. But before that, I had written short stories in the Deadly Curiosities world spanning the 1500’s and 1700’s for other anthologies.

Sorren, my nearly six hundred year-old vampire, is the thread of continuity through all the stories. In Vanities (originally published in the British Fantasy Society’s The Bitten Word), we see Sorren’s first job for the Alliance, battling a demon in Antwerp in 1565. I’ve written two other stand-alone short stories that follow up on Vanities: Wild Hunt and Dark Legacy, that show more of Sorren’s origins, tell the story of his maker, Alard, and hint at the creation of the Alliance.

The very first story about Trifles and Folly, the antique shop in Deadly Curiosities, appeared in the Rum and Runestones anthology and was set in the 1770’s, just before the American Revolution. The anthology prompt required pirates and magic, which is what Steer a Pale Course delivers. That story was popular enough to get me invited back to the Spells and Swashbucklers anthology, with The Low Road. Then Marie O’Regan tapped me for The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women, and Among the Shoals Forever was born.

Sorren’s past is Old World—Europe and old gods and ancient monsters. His maker battled Viking warriors and gained the help of a Norse Seior. A hundred years later, Sorren travels to Charleston to set up Trifles and Folly in 1663, forging a long-standing arrangement with one of Cassidy’s ancestors.

I know that Europe has phone booths older than anything we’ve got here in the States, but Charleston is one of our oldest cities. Unlike New Orleans, Charleston hasn’t been heavily used for urban fantasy, which made it a fresh location with much of the same charm and danger. Charleston, like New Orleans, has a very prominent European connection, and when you walk its cobblestone streets, you can feel in your bones the truth of Faulkner’s quote: “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.”

As in New Orleans, the younger sons of European gentry came to Charleston to make their way. Men with service to the crown received land grants and set up sprawling plantations. Fortunes were won and lost. And while Charleston is known as the “Holy City” for its hundreds of churches, beneath that piety ran rivers of blood in brothels, duels and slavery.

Look beyond the beautiful mansions and gardens heavy with bougainvillea, Spanish moss and gardenia, and you’ll find the tragedy of the slave trade.  Charleston was part of the “Triangle Trade” with the Caribbean—molasses, rum and slaves. By some accounts, the majority of slaves in the U.S. came through Charleston Harbor. Those slaves brought their beliefs with them, religions that melded and changed to create the Voodoo of New Orleans and the Hoodoo of the Lowcountry.  Charleston’s past rests uneasily, not far below the surface.

While New Orleans has always embraced its wild side, Charleston opted for repressed propriety. But like a convention of accountants in Las Vegas, even the proper folks have to let loose sometime, and Charleston’s back alleys were the place for indulgence. Duels were fought. Pirates were by turn welcomed and shunned in Charleston depending on the benefit to the city’s fathers. Blackbeard himself blockaded the city in 1718. The city’s history is full bad boys and wild girls.

I’m very excited about Deadly Curiosities and the chance to spin tales about haunted objects, dark magical items and cursed heirlooms. And I’m thrilled to be working on the second book in the Deadly Curiosities series for 2015 with even more thrills and chills.

If you want more of Cassidy, Sorren and Teag right away, check out my free novella on Wattpad.com: The Final Death. Coffin Box and Wicked Dreams also continue the adventures of Cassidy and her team, and you can find them with my other ebook short stories on Kindle, Kobo and Nook.

Cassidy and crew will be turning up in a couple more anthologies this year. Retribution, an all-new Deadly Curiosities adventure, is featured in the Athena’s Daughters anthology by Silence in the Library Publishing. The Restless Dead will be in the Realms of Imagination anthology from Dark Oak Books.

So the next time you pick up that family heirloom, pay attention if your fingers tingle or you catch a glimpse of something that isn’t there. Cassidy can tell you, the past may be gone, but it doesn’t stay buried.

I’ll be celebrating the launch of Deadly Curiosities the whole week of June 22-29 with more than 30 different guest blog posts, a Facebook launch party featuring prizes, guest authors and surprises, podcasts, three different excerpts, a Reddit give-away/AskMeAnything and a Goodreads party/give-away. Get all the details at www.DeadlyCuriosities.com, follow me on Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms or on Twitter @GailZMartin!

I’ll be signing Deadly Curiosities in major cities across the U.S. and in England, Wales and Scotland this summer—the full book tour schedule is on my website, so please stop by and say hello!



About the Author
Gail Z. Martin writes epic and urban fantasy, steampunk and short stories. She is the author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, the Fallen Kings Cycle series and the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga series of epic fantasy books, as well as the Deadly Curiosities urban fantasy world and coming in 2015, Iron and Blood, a Steampunk novel, co-written with Larry N. Martin. Gail is a frequently contributor to US and UK anthologies. She also writes two series of ebook short stories: The Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures and the Deadly Curiosities Adventures.



Find her at
 www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com, on Twitter @GailZMartin, on Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms, at DisquietingVisions.com blog and GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com. She leads monthly conversations on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/GailZMartin and posts free excerpts of her work on Wattpad http://wattpad.com/GailZMartin.  An original novella set in the Deadly Curiosities universe, The Final Death, is available free on Wattpad here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/15334006-the-final-death

Gail Z Martin - Days of The Dead Blog Tour

Solaris Books author Gail Z. Martin is hosting her annual Days of the Dead blog tour, and she’s kicking it off with plenty of giveaways, special interviews, downloadable treats and hot news. We’ve got the one of five different interviews Gail has done with her vayash moru (vampires), a group that play a significant role in all of her Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings Cycle books.

Interview with Gabriel

By Gail Z. Martin, author of The Chronicles of the Necromancer and the Fallen Kings Cycle series



In honor of my Days of the Dead blog tour, I'd like to introduce you to one of my vayash moru (vampire) characters from the Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings series. Vayash moru play an important part in my books, aiding - and sometimes opposing - Tris Drayke and Jonmarc Vahanian.



Here, I'd like to introduce you to Lord Gabriel, a four-hundred year old vayash moru who is a member of the Blood Council and an unlikely friend of Jonmarc Vahanian.



Q: What has immortality taught you?



A: The circumstances set into motion by our actions reach much farther than we can possibly imagine.



Q: You are ancient, a lord in your own right and a member of the Blood Council. Why serve as seneschal for Jonmarc Vahanian?



A: The Dark Lady came to me in a dream and asked me to do all in my power to enable her chosen champion. I am pledged to serve until Jonmarc no longer needs my help.



Q: The Winter Kingdoms have gone to war against the Temnottan invaders from the north. Yet you have stayed behind at Dark Haven instead of accompanying Jonmarc. Why?



A: I best serve him by assuring the safety of his family and manor. I have faced Temnotta before in battle. By holding Dark Haven and the river,we keep the enemy contained. This the vayash moru and vyrkin can do quite well, despite our limited numbers.



Q: What is your biggest disappointment about immortality?



A: Mortals do not learn from the mistakes of their ancestors. Crises repeat needlessly. In this, immortality is frustrating because the poor choices of mortals are obvious and repetitive.


Please check out my Days of the Dead online blog tour—there are lots of other free downloads, drawings for free books, excerpts, interviews and fun—details are at www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com

To be in with a chance of winning a full set of Gail's exciting Chronicles of The Necromancer series, please comment on this blog post with your e-mail address. The winner will be selected at random.

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Monday linkspost:-

Juliet E. McKenna, author of the Chronicles of the Lescarii trilogy and the upcoming Dangerous Waters, has been interviewed about editing, at the Writer, Revealed website.

Horror artist Will Jacques has posted a triplicate of Solaris-related interviews at his blog, The Ghastly Door, with Juliet E. McKenna, Gary MacMahon (author of the upcoming The Concrete Grove) and Vincent Chong, creator of many eerie book covers (including The Concrete Grove and Shine).

Our congratulations go to Abaddon Books author Scott Andrews who has had his apocalyptic novel, School's Out, optioned for a movie by Multistory Films!

Chaz Brenchley's new urban fantasy noir, Desdaemona, has received a sterling review from Jared Shurin.

The BookThing review blog has posted two reviews in quick succession, of the first and second novels in Gail Z. Martin's Chronicles of the Necromancer series. We hope you enjoy the rest of the series!

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Solaris Authors on "Disquieting Visions"...

Hey all,

So I don't know if you're aware of the paranormal world, science fiction and fantasy blog, Disquieting Visions, but if you've been reading it at all, you'll have seen some familiar faces appearing recently:

Chronicles of the Necromancer author Gail Z. Martin is a regular contributor to the site, most recently posting about not liking to read fantasy while writing...

Bitterwood author James Maxey posted in February about Why your book (wouldn't) make a great movie!, and went on to share a free story...

(And while I'm at it, watch this space for an exciting announcement about a future Maxey project!)

And Punktown author Jeffrey Thomas guest-blogged about world-building, and likewise shared a free Punktown story...

So head on over and give them some love.

Guest Blog: Gail Z. Martin's "Days of the Dead" Tour

Hey all,

As you may remember, Gail Z. Martin - author of The Chronicles of the Necromancer (including The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven and Dark Lady's Chosen and, with Orbit Books, her new title The Sworn) - likes to celebrate Hallowe'en every year with a big ol' tour of blogland, guest-blogging hither and thither and generally getting her internet self out there.

You can go to her official Days of the Dead Tour 2010 webpage to see her progress, including guest blogs, free chapters, giveaways, and podcasts readings. You can also jump on her Twitter account (@GailZMartin), where she's answering questions from readers and throwing up trivia questions every day.

Anyway, we've been gracious enough to let Gail take over our own little soapbox for a few minutes, and are proud to present:

Do we need death to make sense
of the world in truth and fiction?

Gail Z. Martin

OK, I write about a necromancer, so maybe I spend more time thinking about death and its variations than a lot of people. As an American, I know I spend a lot more time thinking about mortality than my fellow countrymen, because “some” is a lot more than “none” and in the States, thinking about death is outsourced to insurance salesmen, morticians and the clergy, so that there is more time for everyone else to shop.

I’ve started to reconsider the wisdom of our national aversion to admitting mortality, because I do believe that a culture that is afraid to think about death becomes neurotic in other ways because of that fear. Of course, a fear of dying also spawns a lucrative side-industry in everything from vitamins to Botox to cosmetic surgery, because we want to believe that dying only happens to old people, and if we never look old we’ll never be old and so the Grim Reaper will leave us alone. (Unfortunately, this has led to an oversupply of people who now look perpetually surprised, but that’s another problem.)

Looking Surprised: The little-known antidote to death.

For a nation that believes that death is optional if you just find the right pharmaceutical, we spend an inordinate amount of waking hours indulging in fictional representations of death, while doing everything possible to avoid thinking about the real thing. We also seem to have outsourced death to Hollywood and the entertainment industry. And did I mention a national fascination (and perhaps fetish) for vampires?

V-v-v-vampires?

Halloween (in the Trick-or-Treat variety) is a huge national holiday, arguably second only to Christmas in its utterly secular and commercialized celebration, and probably larger than Christmas in the consumption of beer. Come October 31, the vast majority of American children between ages 2 and 18 will grab a pillowcase or a plastic pumpkin and go door to door begging for candy, wearing a variety of costumes that range from Disney-cute to Scream-frightful. Bars and nightclubs will host huge Halloween-themed drinking bashes where there will be plenty of costumed participants, most going for a horror-glam look. Haunted house attractions will open the first weekend in October and run through Halloween, drawing around-the-block crowds with movie-quality special effects and an ever upwards-spiraling gore factor. Party stores not only stock up on fake blood and vampire fang prosthetics, but out-do each other with seasonal decorations including mangled body parts, zombie children and full-size animated robotic movie serial killers. Catalogs offer life-size mummies, vampires in coffins, bodies in spider cocoons, and headless horsemen. Pretty much every major city and large urban cemetery boasts at least one guided ghost tour.

Hallowe'en... the free market way!

I find this all pretty interesting because all the while, “real” death is something that people here shy away from discussing. Extremely high rate of gun-related fatalities? Any discussion is likely to start a fist fight. Higher-than-necessary mortality rates due to uneven access to affordable medical care? Until the recent Health Care Reform Act to correct the problem, not something most people worried about, and now a highly controversial election issue. Teen suicide rates and infant mortality rates (both high for a developed nation)—not on the conversational topic list. Grieving a recently deceased loved one? According to some in the psychology field, you’ve got two weeks to get over it, and then you need to take a Prozac and shut up already. Cemeteries have been replaced with “memorial gardens” with mow-over plaques instead of headstones. The morgue visits the home of the newly departed in an unmarked panel van, so as not to upset the neighbors with a hearse. Viewings and memorial services take place in rented professional locations, such as funeral homes and churches, instead of the front parlor.

Somehow, I think there has to be a happy medium (no pun intended) between Victorian death-obsession and modern America’s death-aversion. I also have this nagging suspicion that the less we talk about real death, the more we seem to need to gorge on depictions of fictionalized and sensationalized mortality. Whatever you try not to think about becomes an obsession.

A couple of happy mediums.

In fiction, the way a character and his/her society views death tells us a lot about the world in which the story is set. Culture and rituals around life and death underscore a fictional world’s deepest held fears and values, and influence the decisions and behaviors of characters. We see the influence of beliefs about life and death much more clearly in fiction than we can see them in real life because we ultimately stand apart from fiction, where the familiarity of real life and our own culture make it difficult to see what’s really there. One of the things that makes writing about a necromancer and a society where ghosts, the undead and other supernatural manifestations are real intriguing for me is that it gives me an interesting sandbox to explore and think about issues that are all-too-often left undiscussed. And maybe, just maybe, the same thing is what attracts readers to the growing body of paranormal fiction as well.

"Growing" doesn't say the half of it.

Thanks for reading this post — it’s part of my week-long Days of the Dead blog tour, so please catch the rest of my posts, contests, giveaways and goodies at ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com and my other partner sites. You’ll also find free downloads from my books, as well as freebies from some of my author friends as Trick-or-Treat favors.

Featured treat #1: downloadable excerpt from Corvus by Paul Kearney, plus a preview chapter of my new book, The Sworn.

Reviewspam!

Hey doods,

Some quick reviewspam for you:

• Nayu's Reading Corner, whose review of Cosmopath we've already mentioned, has published this very nice review of Ed Greenwood's Archwizard, second book in the Falconfar trilogy.
• Nayu's also written this review of Gail Z. Martin's Dark Lady's Chosen, fourth and final instalment in the Chronicles of the Necromancer. She told us in her email that she "absolutely adored it." Not bad praise, eh?
• Review site Cybermage (you'll note he's also featured our podcast in his most recent post) has added his voice to the many applauding Eric Brown's Cosmopath.
• Lastly, Tim at Mass Movement Magazine has reviewed Brian Lumley's Haggopian and Other Stories, Volume 2.

Some great reviews there, so take a look at them, and if you like anything, remember you can buy it right off our site.

Cheers,

David

Gemmell Award: Vote Now!

Hi all,

As I may have mentioned, Mark Chadbourn's The Lord of Silence (cover by John Picacio), Emily Gee's The Laurentine Spy (cover by Larry Rostant), Ed Greenwood's Archwizard (cover by Jon Sullivan), Gail Z. Martin's Dark Haven (cover by Michael Kormarck), James Maxey's Dragonseed (cover by Michael Kormarck) and Juliet E. McKenna's Irons in the Fire (cover by David Palumbo) have all been longlisted for the David Gemmell Award, in both the Legend (for best heroic fantasy) and Ravenheart (for best cover art) categories.

Current voting is for the short-list, to be published in April, and ends on March 31st; there will be another round of voting, the details for which will be given when the shortlist comes out.

The Gemmell Award is relatively new - this will be the second award - but already well supported and quite widely recognised, and winning either category will be a great coup for the author or cover artist (and for us). So be sure and jump on the website, sign up and get your votes in!

Cheers,

David

Press Release: Ghost in the Machine Podcast

Ghost in the Machine Podcast Welcomes
Jennifer St. Giles and Elaine Corvidae

Charlotte: Ghost in the Machine podcast, hosted by fantasy author Gail Z. Martin (Chronicles of the Necromancer: The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven), welcomes paranormal author Jennifer St. Giles and fantasy author Elaine Corvidae.

Jennifer St. Giles, author of Kiss of Darkness, Bride of the Wolf talks with Gail about how writers can include believable paranormal elements in their stories. Then Elaine Corvidae, author of DemonHeart and other series, chats with Gail about books and short stories.

Ghost in the Machine features bi-weekly audio interviews with science fiction, fantasy and paranormal authors on topics of interest and controversy. Podcasts are available via RSS. Archived podcasts can be download from iTunes and on www.GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com.

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Gail Z. Martin is the author of The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven and Dark Lady's Chosen (2010) in the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, published by Solaris Books. Learn more at www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com.

Gail Z. Martin's Days of the Dead Tour - 2009

Gail Z. Martin, author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer, kicks off her annual Days of the Dead International Blog Tour during the week leading up to Halloween.

Today on the tour, she stops in at the Solaris blog to tell us all about her newest novel, Dark Lady’s Chosen, which we will release on December 29, 2009.


Q: You’ve taken your readers progressively deeper into the world of the Winter Kingdoms in your Chronicles of the Necromancer series. Do you have a particular process for writing?

A: I have a good idea of the beginning and ending for each story before I start to write, and a pretty good idea of the key turning points. Obviously, I have to also turn in a fairly detailed outline beforehand, but even with all of that, there are surprises along the way. I’ll start writing a scene knowing where it begins and where it has to end, but the details in the middle may not be clear to me until I see the words appearing on the page. It’s nice at the end of the day to read over what I’ve written and be pleasantly surprised.

Q: Can you talk about the world building that goes into a series like your Chronicles of the Necromancer?

A: I spend a lot of mental time in the world of my books, thinking about how they would think about certain things or celebrate a holiday or life event, or how the society would work around specific issues given the reality of magic and the presence of the undead. Often, that kind of random musing will get me started on a whole new plot twist, or something that I write into the book.

I was a history major, so I was taught to look for all the different elements that affect society: culture, geography, history, religion, economics, etc. I try to write those same elements into my world of the Winter Kingdoms so that it feels realistic and textured.

By the way, for the not-yet-published writers out there, I am actually teaching a four-part teleclass on World Building for WriteWellU.com this spring and we’ll go into the how-tos in detail.

Q: You have a way of talking about your characters as if they’re real, and you’ve even interviewed some of your characters. How do you develop your characters?

A: This may sound kind of weird, but I don’t really “develop” the characters as much as they present themselves and demand to be written into the story. They usually show up fully formed, and if I don’t know something about them, it’s more a question of picturing them in my mind and asking them questions than it is making stuff up about them. And if I try to take them in a direction they don’t want to go, they let me know and it just doesn’t work out.

Q: What’s behind your Days of the Dead Blog Tour?

A: I love Halloween. Next to Christmas, it’s my favorite holiday and always has been. And the week leading up to Halloween is special. You’ve got Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). So it’s a time of year that has evoked a feeling in people across time and cultures—the feeling that the threshold between the world of the living and the place of the dead is a little thinner than usual. So it made perfect sense to me to do a blog tour during such a great week when my books, after all, are about ghosts, necromancers, restless spirits, the undead—you get the picture.

The Tour premise is simple: I partner with a number of sites and provide unique content to each one during the week of the tour. We all have a lot of fun. New readers get introduced to my books, and existing readers get some tasty tidbits as we count down to the release of Dark Lady’s Chosen on Dec. 29. And my readers may also find some great web sites they hadn’t seen before. Everyone wins.

Of course, I’ll also be in stores and at conventions for the new book, so there will be a “live” tour also!

Q: You’ve got audio and excerpts from Dark Lady’s Chosen online, plus there are other sites participating in your Days of the Dead blog tour. Where can we find all the goodies?

A: Check out my site at www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com, for all the downloads and more Days of the Dead stuff. Also, please find me on Twitter.com as @GailZMartin and on Facebook and MySpace as well.