Popping in to point you in the direction of Melanie's most excellent review of Life as a Fairy Thrall over at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words, today. Melanie is a true and tried fae fan, so to have her review my little trilogy while it's halfway through is a huge piece of awesome.

She gives it 4.25 stars and says:

The magic here engages all the senses, it is smelled, and stroked. It is the burbling of a stream and the mist of the woods and that gives these stories a wonderful depth and realism, both needed when the reader needs to believe in the world and characters before her. This tactile nature of these stories carries just as vividly into the sex scenes. Who knew that winged sex could be so hot?

Doing my part to spread the joy of wingsex throughout the land. *salute*

Seriously, though, thank you so much, Melanie. I'm already working on the final novella in the trilogy. Currently I'm planning for it to go out to the Raven campaign contributors in either very late October or very early November, depending--before I head to India for Diwali this year, anyhow. It'll be for sale about a month after that, as with last time.

Wondering what this is all about? Check out the Fairy Compacts page for more details. Or you can just cut straight to the chase...

Get the first little novella in the trilogy, The Dangers of Fairy Compacts, for free:

1. Read it at the GR M/M Romance group, or download a mobi, ePub, pdf, or zipped html file from the GoodReads page.
2. Download a mobi, ePub, pdf, lit, or zipped html file from my box.net folder.
3. Get an all-formats zip file from my Gumroad shop.

4. Download in multiple formats from Smashwords.
5. Get it from All Romance eBooks.
6. Get it from Barnes & Noble





1. Get an all-formats zip file from my Gumroad shop.
2. Download in multiple formats from Smashwords.
3. Get it from All Romance eBooks.

Long post will be long, but it's been that kinda summer, my friends.

Okay, so it's comic book time again. And this one is going to be less enthusiastic than the last few, I'm sorry to say. Much has changed since the hopeful beginning of this summer. I'll just start at the beginning with the monthly buys, but I'll do categories this time. As usual, this is mainly Marvel, because that's how I roll (for some ungodly reason). I should also point out that in the wake of the Avengers vs. X-Men clusterfuck, Marvel is doing a reorganizational thing (not a reboot) known as Marvel NOW! in which all the usual lineups are reshuffled--and apparently priorities too. So this is basically shit leading up to that.

Spider-Books

(Note: these aren't getting reshuffled--though Pete's an Avenger, obvs. These will be the nice ones, though, so much more brief than the X-Book rants coming up...)

1. Avenging Spider-Man. Still good, actually, though the last issue (#11) was totally phoned in by return/original writer Wells. It was meant to be the 50th anniversary, so of course it went back to the beginning. But it was fuck ugly (Dillon, wtf are you doing? No.) and cheesy in a bad way. I was disappoint. But hey, the arc before it with Captain Marvel was fun as hell, as advertised, and we get Deadpool next month with a new artist and writer, so maybe it'll be fun again.

2. Ultimate Spider-Man. No complaints here. I admit that I don't always love Bendis, but when I do, it's generally Spider-Man. He's doing a good job tying Miles back into the whole Peter Parker thing while still giving him his own excellent drama. The last issue brought in Captain America, who's a huge dick and it's awesome. Marquez's art remains fabulous. Etc.

3. Spider-Men. Only has one issue to go. I mentioned this in my Amazing Spider-Man movie post, but it's basically 20-something 616 (as in, usual Marvelverse) Peter Parker getting zapped into the Ultimate Universe where 13-year-old Miles Morales is the new Spider-Man... cuz Pete's dead there. #4 actually had the touching moment Avenging Spider-Man failed miserably to deliver, so I was happy, there. It's Bendis writing, and I adore Pichelli's pencils.

I may or may not decide to start buying Amazing Spider-Man again. This is the book my dad grew up on, and therefore the book I grew up on... and the book that always sends me into one of my "NO MORE COMIC BOOKS sulks when it inevitably breaks my heart. I bought the 50th Anniversary #692 and enjoyed it, both for the actual story and for the bonus stuff. Hesitated over buying the next one this week, though. Dan Slott has written some stuff I really like and some stuff that makes me want to throw things. We'll see how desperate I get. 

Avengers Books

1. Avengers Academy. Still the best thing going, but unfortunately it's not going to exist in the wake of Marvel NOW! Not only that, but Christos Gage, who I can safely say is my current favorite comic book writer, doesn't look to be a regular on any upcoming Marvel title. So yeah, you could say I'm fucking pissed. This book had better not go the same sporadic route the bad ass Young Avengers went--or the suddenly sub-par route Runaways did.

Marvel, this is why you can't have nice things.

Still, I'm enjoying this final arc a lot. Great character moments, good action, nice art from Divito, and I just hope they don't let these kids get lost.

Also the "Island of Misfit Toys" collection that is the teachers here. I will never, ever like Hank Pym, but he is at least interesting here, and Gage did such a beautiful job picking up loose end characters (Speedball, Quicksilver, Tigra, Justice) and carrying through a real arc. Gah.

So yeah, I definitely still recommend the trades of these, if you're interested in dipping your toe into the Marvelverse. Well worth it.

ETA: UPDATE: Marvel!NOW was already dead to me, but now it's official. NOPE.

2. Fuck the Avengers, basically.

X-Books

(Very little love, some outright hate. Fuuuuuck.)

1. Wolverine and the X-Men. It seems like far more than four months ago that this book had favorite potential. The cracky fun was occasionally interrupted by some stupidity, but it seemed as if these were issues that might be sorted out later. Mainly, issues of character interaction and relationship. Surely, Aaron would explain what the hell he was doing with Shadowcat/Iceman, right? Why the fuck he was dicking Husk over?

Thing is, I don't even care any more. After a few really, really bad continuity errors rising out of this AvX thing, plus, far from decreasing the creepy in his character relationships, Aaron actually upped it with sexual harassment as a repeated punchline... yeah. Nope. I'm done. You have punched my squick button, buddy. Ugh, what a waste of a great setup.

2. Uncanny X-Men. Here's the thing: I think Kieron Gillen is honestly a very good writer, and I'm not just saying that because of Phonogram. I think he understands his characters. The problem is that this whole AvX editorial mandate means that Cyclops and Emma Frost, in particular, have to act in very un-Cyclops and Emma Frost-y ways. Any time he does character interaction, it's perfect. It makes total sense.

But he got landed with the Phoenix Five. Which is the dumbest idea in the history of dumb Marvel crossover ideas. And I don't give a shit, so I stopped buying it as of last month.

It's kind of a shame I don't read Iron Man, since that's where he's going with Marvel NOW! But whatever.

3. Astonishing X-Men. Actually got better. I've discussed previously how this is basically my dream team, so I'll spare you. I got my Northstar Wedding Issue and it was well enjoyed. Had a few WTF moments, but overall gave me BEAUBIERFEELS (yes, allcaps) for a week or two. Helped because Aurora was depicted as an actual human being with feelings. Can we just say that only women are allowed to write her from now? That'd at least give her a fighting chance...

The arc was uneven, writing-wise, but it's starting to smooth out on the Karma arc happening now. I'm still a bit sick to death of the "woman gets mind-controlled" plot device, but I trust Liu to finish it off well. Still not a Perkins fan, however. Sometimes I really like his panels--the ones above are a great example--but his style is the polar opposite of all my favorite comic book art, really. He's good, but I don't care for him, if that makes sense. (And seriously, that one shit-eating grin he gives everyone. I can't deal.)

**As a side-note, for those of you interested in this arc for wedding purposes only (entirely possible considering the content of this blog in general), I can recommend the hardback collection or the trade when it comes around. The story stands alone without much background. The bonus stuff isn't that exciting, but it's interesting for historic purposes, I guess. Basically they just reprinted Alpha Flight v1 #106, which is the issue where Northstar comes out. It's ugly as hell--Marvel in the early 90s was ugly in general--and the story is both problematic and a rushed mish-mash of an after-school special, basically. But it was a big deal, and I guess is... vaguely relevant? First Marvel superhero to come out, first to get married to someone of the same sex? Or something? Sure, why not. Go on and pat yourself on the back, Marvel. Why stop now?**

4. X-Men Legacy. Also relegated to the "don't care" pile. Which is sad because it's Gage writing, and I really trusted that given some time he could save the book for me. But I just don't give a shit at this point. I'm waiting til the reshuffle, then I'll decide what to buy.

5. Uncanny X-Force. I came late to this one for the Dark Angel Saga. The line up is a cool one, but I really only had an interest in Psylocke and Archangel at first, hence my finally hopping on for that, and only once it was out as a collection. I liked it so much that I eventually caught up with the whole series... and fucking loved it. The Apocalypse Solution was amazing in every fucking way (basically one of those "if you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a child, would you?" stories. Their answer is one of my fave comics panels ever for sheer "holy fuck that just happened" effect). Jerome Opeña, marry me. Remender, way to write some fucking anti-heroes. Then the lead up from Deathlok Nation into Dark Angel. And then...

Okay, the Trial of Fantomex was silly as fuck, but nothing involving the Captain Britain Corps will ever not be silly as fuck. I had been forewarned that things went downhill for this series here, but even after that, I still wasn't quite sure it was going to happen. And then... and then momentous issue #25. Which was... okay-ish. Sorta. Except the "special bonus material" (vintange Remender and Opeña!) was complete shit. A casually misogynist Wolverine backstory moment and a crappy Deadpool issue that was a giant fat joke? Yeah. Fuck you very much.

I'm caught up with the whole run now, and it genuinely did go downhill, as I was warned. Every awesome thing they built up with Psylocke is effectively tanked (oh wait, a woman being mind-controlled again? VICTIMIZING YAY! Also, PS: she is not actually Japanese, fuckers, so stop making her an appropriating douche, ugh); the man vs. animal debate inherent in a mutant kill squad run by Wolverine has gone off the interesting rails into STFU territory; and they completely screwed Fantomex, who fast became my favorite character. The dude, everything about him, every fucking detail and word, was the most brilliant existentialist experiment. And... blargh, now. Blargh. I'm so annoyed I might even have to write fanfiction just to FIX IT in my head.

It's almost over, as in for good, and now that they're on the new Brotherhood (Daken! Yay!) and Evan (who is part of my whole existentialist experiment love), I'm interested, at least. But blargh. Please save it. Please.

6. Sortakinda--I have been told I must start reading X-Treme because apparently Dazzler is kicking ass. Due to a recent sale, I also bought a large chunk of the current New Mutants title, and I'm a huge New Mutants fan. So we'll see how that shakes out, since I dropped three other X-books...

Solo Books

(A mixed bag, but most of the bad is conjecture.)

1. Captain Marvel. A few months ago, Carol Danvers, previously Ms. Marvel, took on the Captain Marvel mantel left behind by Mar-Vell when he died. (Again. He does that a lot.) This shiny new series is written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and drawn by Dexter Soy--and it's pretty much a clinic in storytelling. I didn't think I'd like Soy's art when I grabbed the first issue, but I've changed my mind. We've just had #3 and I'm in love.

Marvel's late to the girl power party, but they went at it good and hard when they finally did, I reckon. Also, I got a bunch of flack for this from friends when the design was first made public, but I still say McKelvie's costume redesign means he should redesign ALL THE COSTUMES. Fuck yes.

2. Hawkeye. Hawkeye is my third favorite Avenger ever, as I've mentioned multiple times. So him getting a new ongoing--and one kicking this fucking gorgeous David Aja design, at that--was a matter of some excitement for me a few months back. I don't have a great deal of faith in Matt Fraction, as he's committed some atrocities in the past, but hey, new book, new start, right? Anyhow, how can you fuck up Hawkeye?

Well, the first issue didn't. And I thought the second would be even better, because they were bringing in the other Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, my favorite Young Avenger. (Okay, second-favorite--my favorite is Speed, but that's obvious to everyone who's ever met me.) And I mean, look at this page. This is some serious mastering of your medium shit from Aja:

Click to enlarge if you like, but seriously. Fucking gorgeous.

And then they had to go and make it all awkward with Clint telling Kate that he wanted to work with her because he "doesn't want to sleep with her". And Kate telling him that would be creepy (she's, like, eighteen, and he's her mentor hellooooooo position of power!), so yay... then looking all disappointed.

Now, Fraction has said that this is not going to be a thing. Like ever. At all. Clint meant what he said, and that's that. But seriously, it was so. Creepy. You guys. And I'm so annoyed because the rest of the issue was so. Awesome. It would've been perfect. No joke. Fucking gorgeously brotp Hawkeye awesome.

So if it was a writer I trusted, I'd be fine with the way it went down. But it's not. So I'm not. Goddammit, do not fuck up an awesome thing, please. :/

From Gambit #2 by Asmus and Mann

The boys from By the River had a really nice week!

Review at Pants Off - 4.5 Pants Off (out of 5)

DarienMoya said: I am so in love with this story, just so freaking in love. It’s hauntingly beautiful, with unique characters, and the writing just seems so very real. I am so in love with this small little town, and I felt so important to be invited to get to know Leith and Adam.

Yeah, 'scuse me while I blush. Thank you for checking it out, Darien, and for letting it de-pants you.

Review at JesseWave - 5 stars (out of 5)

Sammy said: I cannot tell you how magically lyrical this novella was–how amazingly sweet and sexy it read. With each page, Katey Hawthorne invites you in, and allows you to sit in the corner of her imagination and watch beauty unfold. She gently exposes our fears, the idea that letting go of someone we love is both risky and freeing at the same time.

I mean, talk about getting to the heart of the matter, right? Add some sniffling to that blushing, kay?

While I'm on the subject, I've gotten a lot of questions about the Elementals books and how it works as a series. The real answer is that it doesn't, particularly. They're books that are linked solely by a concept.

Several people have asked me if they'll see Adam and Leith again. Half of these questions seem to come from people with lingering fears, which is awesome, and the other half are more suggestion, which is also awesome. The answer is yes, briefly. It'll be short and sweet, like the little Equilibrium stories, a kind of thank you note from me to everyone who took a chance on such a weird, weird couple. Not for a few months, but I'll keep you posted. Thank you to every single person who asked--or wondered in a review, or ever said anything about it at all.

And remember: Keep Calm and Play Minecraft. Just watch your meatpops, dude.

Okay, guys, Life as a Fairy Thrall is back to its usual price. Thanks to all the people who made that sneak-sale such a success. Hope you enjoy the wingsex!

Now, for something a little different. Lovely reader Kati emailed me just now with some great questions--questions I have asked others many times, myself. So I thought I'd put them and my answers here in case this sort of thing amuses others, too.

Do you know from the start who your characters are or are you figuring it out as you go?

I definitely know who they are--as in what they ate for breakfast level of scary pointless knowledge. But that doesn't mean they won't surprise me.

That sounds absurd, so I'll give an example: 

There's a bit in Riot Boy where I thought Etienne was going to finally just lose his shit on Brady. But when I tried to write it, it was horrible because Et just would not go there. Which is to say that I realized that, no, this is not in his character, and for him to do this makes zero sense, so why did I ever think it would work?

[For the curious, it's the bit where Brady says: “I don’t know. You want to fuck or something? Least a guy can do.” Et's not happy at that point, but I went into it expecting him to flip a table or something. Dude just looked at me, crossed his arms over his chest, and went, "Nope."]

I love when they do that to me.

What comes first? the story idea or the characters?

I want to say characters, but it's sort of a bouncing thing. I already knew by the time I'd finished  Equilibrium that (if anyone published it, which I was not actually expecting to happen at the time) I'd do a book about someone who was kidnapped by witch hunters. So that basic idea was in place when I came up with Jody Aguirre, who'll eventually be the hero of that book. But it's Jody's character that influenced what kind of story he'd have and how it'd unfold, if that makes sense.

Do you plot your stories before hand? or doing worldbuilding?

With a new series or stand-alone, I start out with a really basic story element and go into worldbuilding from there, but I'm way heavier on the latter than the former when we're talking about the pre-game. Especially writing fantasy, I really, really want the framework to be there before I get too attached to what's going to happen. It's not totally inflexible because stuff might have to change for the story, but with something like the superpowered books, the science of it was in place from the very beginning and is totally rigid.

A lot of times I'll come up with weird worldbuilding stuff and set it aside for deeper exploration in later books where it will actually be plot-relevant instead of a random distracting aside/infodump--which is pretty much the entire story of the superpowered love books. But I like having everything at my fingertips so I can be sure to drop hints, even if they won't matter until five books down the road.

Pre-plotting is basically just the character arc for me. I know who they are and where I want them to get to by the end. The stuff in the middle to get them there is pretty vague until I actually start writing, though I usually have a few key scenes in mind.

And how many years have you been writing now?

I've always written stuff, like all night long every night through school. My best friend still has my first completed "novel" from when we were 13 (1993, oh god, the horror of that novel...). I've also written a lot of fanfiction since undergrad, and still do. *X-Men fandom fistbump*

I started seriously trying to write things that others might want to buy a little less than a decade ago. It's a ridiculous story:

I dropped out of grad school, moved around looking for a proper job for a few years, and around 2005 realized what I really wanted was some mentally untaxing work that'd provide me with health care and let me stay up late to write all night. Decided that probably indicated the sort of job I should really be working toward, and so I worked my ass off to get better. My first short story was picked up in 2008.

Which is extremely weird to think of now, but hey. Rad.

How many words do you write per day?

Oh man, that varies wildly, but it's rare for me to write less than 500 words at a time. I've been know to go up to 15k and more though, which blows a gasket in my brain, but I have trouble stopping once I start.

How long does it take you to write them?

There are times I'll write whole first drafts in a weekend. This habit is the butt of many jokes from my friends and family. The editing and rewriting bit before submission is the longest part, but I'm lucky to have amazing writer-friends who help me out with betas and all that good stuff.

But I also have a few books that I've been tinkering with here and there for a few months. Those are usually the books where there's some element missing and I can feel it, but can't put my finger on what it is yet. Once I shake it loose and have a deadline free week, I'll probably eat them whole.

Do you write every day?

Usually, but this summer I've been trying hard to take it easy and have for the most part succeeded.

... except that I've been RPing (which is basically collaborative fanfic, for anyone unfamiliar) all summer so I kinda failed there, too. Whoooops.

When is the next superpower book coming out?

It has been said that I will know shortly. I can tell you that my editor has two superpowered books of mine right now, tentatively titled Losing Better and Reentry Burn. The former is about a cranky FBI agent and a would-be superhero, and the latter is about Malory from Riot Boy. So hopefully the coming months will see them both come to life. I'll definitely keep everyone in the loop.