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Well. So I’ve been…

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Well. So I've been going to WindyCon, and the nice thing about WindyCon is that there are so few pros there (it's a bigger con than WisCon, but quite fan-centered) that if you are a pro, you get to have nice long conversations with other pros. So I had a long conversation with Jim Frenkel (senior editor at Tor) which was helpful and enlightening in all sorts of ways -- he kindly offered to take a look at my YA novel-in-need-of-a-middle to see if he could offer any plot suggestions. So I printed that out and am hauling it along to hand him today. And there's some possibility that Tor might sponsor something for our foundation -- something like a literary award for new first novel, with a cash prize and possible publication. I need to write up a proposal and send it to him. We'll see.

I also talked to Tom Doherty, the publisher at Tor, about something else altogether. You guys know the Jacqueline Carey stuff, the Kushiel books? Extremely beautiful woman geisha-type (not actually Asian, more French, but that kind of attitude towards prostitutes) protagonist, high fantasy culture with lots of politics, and she's a masochist to boot, and involved with her gods -- kind of a cross between Laurel K. Hamilton's faerie princess books and Janny Wurts's Empire trilogy, maybe? This is hard to describe. Not quite actual erotica, but closer to that than romance, but really just mostly fantasy, woman-centered, fair bit of sex, but not in a lot of detail. Lush. Sensual. Complex interpersonal power dynamics, both in bed and out of it.

The reason I'm trying so hard to describe it is that Tom would strongly like to see more of it (I gather Carey's stuff is selling quite well). Specifically, if I can find more, he'd be interested in having me edit it. I'd be interested in editing it. A lot. I could use the work, and I'm addicted to reading this stuff. So I suppose you can consider this something of an open call for synopses of such books. To be followed by three chapters at request, to be followed by entire manuscript at request. I'm going to keep this all informal, because after all, technically, I'm not a Tor editor yet. Only if I find a book Tom actually wants to buy. :-)

So if you have such a 1-3 page synopsis, or want to take a stab at coming up with one, send it to m@mamohanraj.com, with the SUBJECT line: TOR Synopsis -- [insert title]. We'll see what happens. Spread the word if you like.

11 thoughts on “Well. So I’ve been…”

  2. Mary Anne

    I’m happy to look at stuff from abroad, though I have no idea how TOR would handle the contracts. Cross bridge if we come to it, I suppose. There must be procedures for this kind of thing.

    Reply
  4. Mary Anne

    Thanks for the pointer, Kathryn! Not too groggy-looking, thankfully. I was sleepy all through WindyCon, it seemed. Was nice getting a chance to chat with you and David at lunch, and again, delighted to hear that your name will be on the next Year’s Best. About time!

    Reply
  6. Mary Anne

    Laurel, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate hearing that — I didn’t sell any of them, and I was feeling quite discouraged about it, wondering if people just didn’t like them.

    Do you think I priced them unreasonably high?

    Reply
  7. Laurel Amberdine

    I don’t think your prices were high, but the art show was huge this year, and it seemed like very few people had any money. A lot of good stuff didn’t sell.

    My husband bid on one very nice limited edition print. He didn’t expect to get it but no one else bid, and the matching piece didn’t sell.

    Do you think you might show some things at Capricon? I can start saving now. 🙂

    Reply
  8. Mary Anne

    I’m definitely planning on attending Capricon — if I feel up to hauling all the art out there, it’ll be in the show. Layered glass is heavy! On the plus side, it’s already in the trunk of my car, so maybe I’ll just leave it there until January…

    Reply
  10. Domini

    Wow. You don’t know me, but this post is interesting to me in 3 different ways. One, I’m a wanna-be writer who’d submit a chapter or two in Tor’s general direction if I had a novel finished, although I’m a bit too young to write as well as Carey. Two, I’m a huge Kushiel fan, and I run a fansite on her books. And three, I’m from the Chicago area, and apparantly I just missed WindyCon, which I found out during a job interview earlier this week with a bookstore manager who had something to do with arranging the convention.

    Anyway, in regards to #2 there, I posted a link to this on House Eglantine because as a Kushiel fan I like hearing it confirmed the books are as cool as I think they are. I’m not sure what effect, if any, this will have on submissions to you, but just in case since it is ‘informal’, I wanted to tell you I did that (and if you want me to remove the entry I will).

    I hope you do get some good entries for Tor from this. I, too, would like to see something else as good as the Kushiel books to come around! 🙂

    Hope everyone’s doing well, and I’m not intruding too badly…

    ~~Lady Domini

    Reply

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