My two tribes Mario here,


Father's Day makes me a little extra wistful for my old man and reflect on how different my life is versus the way his turned out. He died at 51, under circumstances that I'd rather explain in another blog.

A big difference is my circle of wonderful friends. I can't imagine my dad, or a man of his generation for that matter, having the web of informal acquaintances that I have, especially with women (no hanky-panky...really). It's not unusual for us--in groups or paired up--to have dinners, go to the movies, road trips, even indulge in some crotch couch-surfing. And we talk about everything, mostly about stuff that during my father's time, would've been delivered in a plain brown wrapper.

It's a lifestyle (outwardly irreverent and pervy but inwardly, we all work our asses off--being a Bohemian ain't cheap) made possible because I'm blessed to live in Denver, where I've found my two tribes: Writers and Artists...who both happened to have hosted spectacular soirees this weekend.



My writer tribe--in the guise of the Lighthouse Lit Fest--convened in the beautiful Montclair Civic Building (located way the hell out on east Colfax) for the Final Agent's Reception. Executive Director Michael Henry, in his snazzy linen suit, emceed the literary carousing.
<--one handed reading...erotica, no doubt




Harrison Candelaria Fletcher and Andrea Dupree kept the conversations smart and bubbly.

Anticipating that I might be drinking a bit (with so much free booze, who could resist?) I took the bus, the infamous 15L, a.k.a. the Colfax Ghetto Cruiser a.k.a. the Vomit Comet.

And then there's my artist tribe...


...who circled the ponies at The Art Salon's reception for The Bold and the Beautiful-Colorful Works by Wild Women. Geishas, koi, pretty birds, and a post-apocalyptic fruit bowl (for when your food feels scared and lonely).





Karma Points for writer pimpage! --> From Publishers Lunch:

Kevin Hearne's IRON DRUID urban fantasy trilogy set in Tempe, Arizona, featuring a rare book salesman, herb peddler, and 2,000 year old druid - the last of his kind - who has been on the run for over two millennia from a very angry ancient Celtic god; the first book HOUNDED primarily features the many Celtic gods; HEXED will focus on Coyote and the Bacchants; HAMMERED will be about a plot against Thor (everybody hates Thor), to Anne Clarke at Orbit UK, by Evan Goldfield at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (UK and Commonwealth).

Chuck Wendig's BLACKBIRDS, in which a woman is cursed with the ability to foresee how people will die, but without the ability to save them --until she foresees a death that forces her to try to change fate, and MOCKINGBIRDS, to Lee Harris at Angry Robot, by Stacia Decker at the Donald Maass Literary Agency (World English).

Not that I'm much on resolutions, but seeing as I'm always telling writers to read, read, read, I decided that it's best if I lead by example. So this week's offering is another splendid book by the amazing Sherman Alexie. First published in 2000, The Toughest Indian in the World is an anthology of Alexie's short fiction. As befitting the title, the works are one-two knockout punches, first a left with humor then a haymaker loaded with poignancy. He'll beat you senseless and you'll love the pounding. Now go read.

Labels: Art Salon, Chuck Wendig, Kevin Hearne, Lighthouse Writers, perviness, Sherman Alexie

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 3:04 PM  4 comments

  Kevin Hearne Hits Denver! And Denver hits right back!!

Last night, UF author Kevin Hearne made his first official author stop at Who Else!Books . His back-to-back releases of three in the Iron Druid Chronicles (the third next month) is garnering reviews and raves. Well, why wouldn't they? Take a look at these covers:




Kevin is not only a great writer, but funny as well! He kept us entertained with his readings, wit, and general good nature--unlike Mario who was his usual...well, you know. Let me show you what I mean.



Here we are on our best behavior...fellow league members sharing a little good will.

Then Mario starts acting up....



And all hell breaks loose.



And Kevin with his family in the audience! (Although I did notice mom and wife snapping away, too. Daughter was trying hard to pretend she didn't know any of us.) Still, all I can say is shame, Mario, shame.

For you Denverites, there are signed copies of Kevin's books available at WhoElse!Books and you can call or stop by to get your very own!

I'll post more pictures of the signing on the League Blog later today.


Well, HEXED is on its way, as is CHICKS KICK BUTT. Preliminary sales have been good and I want to thank you all for that. A little Anna Strong fix before CROSSROADS.

Speaking of which, Crossroads takes place on the Navajo Reservation in Monument Valley. I took a trip there several years ago and fell in love with the area. There are Navajo characters in the book and one thing I didn’t think of while writing it was that when the book is read for audio, the Navajo language would be difficult to deal with. My narrator Dina Pearlman contacted me for help and I had to refer her to the websites I used for translation. But I don't know how much help that will be. So, if there are any Navajo speakers out there, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with her!

I went to the grocery store this afternoon and for the first time, I saw my name on the cover of a book on the racks!!! HEXED was right there! That's fun.

But then I went on Amazon to read some HEXED reviews..I know, I know, I hear the groans out there. And really, I don't usually do this. But there was this from a reviewer:

"Blood Debt" by Stein. One star trash. Gratuitous profanity, then warehouse is misspelled 'wearhouse' and I stopped reading there. Might have gone two pages. I dropped this author's series at book two, and it was obvious she still has no idea about writing.

Okay, I just would like to set the record straight. Wearhouse was not misspelled. It's the name of a business, Men's Wearhouse, which is why it was in caps.

Okay, I've gotten that off my chest. Now I'm never going to read another Amazon review again. EVER.

How goes it in your world?

Labels: Chicks Kick Butt, Hexed, Hounded, Iron Druid Chronicles, Kevin Hearne, Mario Acevedo

  ¶ posted by Jeanne Stein @ 1:25 PM  6 comments

  The Iron Druid, Rage, and what's on the other side of the Swamp Mario here:



In case you haven't tuned into the grapevine lately, urban fantasy scribe and fellow Leaguer Kevin Hearne will be coming to Denver this week. Wednesday, June 8, he'll be signing at the Broadway Book Mall at 7:30PM. Hexed and Hounded have been getting great reviews. Drop by and learn about the awesomeness that inspired these outstanding covers.





















Another Leaguer, the razor-sharp and erudite Jackie Morse Kessler, gives her response to a Wall Street Journal article that used her YA novel Rage as an example of modern teen literature that exploits youth self-injury and other adolescent destructive behavior. As expected with these hatchet jobs, the article took pieces of Kessler's narrative out of context and didn't bother to interview her about why she thought to address the issue of self-injury in the book. Kessler speaks of self-destructive behavior from personal experience and uses her novels as a forum to bring light on these issues.








If you want to meet other Denver area writers, stop by the Creative Connections Expo, this Thursday, June 9, 2-7PM, at the Colorado Community Church, 3651 S Colorado Blvd, Englewood, CO 80113. The event is sponsored by the Creative Connections trade show and the Denver Writers Meetup’s Writer Services Fair. And it's FREE!

Next Saturday, June 11, I'll be one of the featured authors at the RMFW Education Event: The Final Edit with Charlotte Cook of KOMENAR Publishing. The workshop will be at the Two Rivers Convention Center, 159 Main Street, Grand Junction, CO, 8AM-4PM. The other authors, Robin D Owens and Christine Goff, and I will be critiquing sample pages of attending writers. To enroll, contact Vickie Law: vruchhoeft@bresnan.net.

Besides doing yeoman duty for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, I've got a busy schedule with Lighthouse Writer's LitFest. This Tuesday, I'll be at Denver Civic Theater with the Salon: The Final Word--On Final Words, where a panel of most-excellent authors: Eleanor Brown: David Wroblewski; and William Haywood Henderson--plus me--will slice-and-dice writing that part of the novel way past the tricky beginning and the swamp in the middle...I mean, THE END. For more info, check out this posting on the League blog.

Labels: Iron Druid, Kevin Hearne, Lighthouse Writers, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 2:42 PM  5 comments

  Pimping Druids, the Fae, and Kevin Hearne
Thanks very much to Jeanne and Mario for letting me hang out here! I’m peppering a whole bunch of League blogs today for my urban fantasy debut, Hounded, and you can see the full list of stuff I’m up to over at my own blog.

I had some Twitter peeps suggest to me that I write about my path to publication, so I decided to do that over the course of a few blogs: the genesis of the idea is on John Scalzi’s Whatever blog in his feature called The Big Idea; my twenty-year epic journey is on the blog of fellow Leaguer J.F. Lewis, and here’s where I’m going to share a bit about queries.

I wouldn’t say my query was the bestest ever. Not even close. I sent it to twenty-four agents and got nineteen form rejections, three partial requests and two full requests. Lots of people get better results that that. Luckily, one of the full requests offered me representation and he sold the series in two weeks at auction. (And that’s a lesson right there: twenty-three agents said no to a manuscript that was quite acceptable to four publishers. Everyone has different tastes and you have to be persistent until you find the right match.)

I had zero contacts in the industry and no publishing credits, so I simply began with the pitch itself—either the story would be interesting on its own merits or it wouldn’t. At the end I put in a word count, hinted I had a series here, and then gave them exactly what they wished for in terms of their submission requirements. Some agents want ten pages, or the first three chapters, or whatever. Read their requirements and follow them! They’re all different on purpose because whether you follow them or not is a big hint about what you’ll be like to work with. Don’t tell them your friends really like it or that it will sell a million copies, or commit any of these other sad (but true) errors you'll find on Slushpile Hell.

Dear Agent,

Atticus O’Sullivan has been running for two thousand years, and he’s a bit tired of it. After he stole a magical sword form the Tuatha Dé Danann (those who became the Sidhe of the Fae) in a first century battle, some of them were furious and gave chase, and some were secretly amused that a Druid had the cheek to defy them. As the centuries passed and Atticus remained a fugitive—an annoyingly long-lived one, at that—those who were furious only grew more so, while others began to aid him in secret.

Now he’s living in Tempe, Arizona, the very last of the Druids, far from where the Fae can easily enter this plane and find him. It’s a place where many paranormals have decided to hide from the troubles of the old world—from an Icelandic vampire holding a grudge against Thor to a coven of Polish witches who ran from the German Blitzkrieg.

When Atticus hears from the Morrigan that his nemesis, Aenghus Óg, has found him once again, he decides to stay and fight rather than run. In so doing, he becomes the center of power struggle amongst the Tuatha Dé Danann where the sword he stole is the key to a plot to overthrow Brighid, First among the Fae.

Hounded is complete at approximately 82,000 words, and is the first book in a series of urban fantasy novels about the American Druid, for which I am seeking representation. I’ve enclosed a brief synopsis and the first fifty pages for your review. May I send you a copy of the entire manuscript? I have included a SASE for your reply. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,
Kevin Hearne

This letter didn't include any of the subplots or supporting characters in Hounded that early reviewers are responding to; a query letter can't contain all of that. You have to sell your main plot and hint at the rest if you have the room, but keep it short and enticing. The whole point is to get the agent to request your manuscript, after all, so that they can learn all about your subplots and supporting cast for themselves.

Again, my query letter isn't the zippiest ever. I'm much better at writing books and being a smartass than I am at writing a one-page sales pitch! But it's a necessary part of the biz, and one you have to acquire some competency in if you ever want somebody to read your work. Writing guest blogs during your release week is another necessary part of it. :)

If you'd like to read the first six chapters of Hounded for free, you can click here and find that as well as other goodies. It's available now at all the cool places you normally buy books. Hope you enjoy, and thanks to Jeanne and Mario for letting me sprawl out here!

Our pleasure Kevin. Sell tons o' books, then give generously to our bar tab!

Labels: Iron Druid, Kevin Hearne, query letters

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 2:29 PM  10 comments

  NaNoWriMo...the march continues
Mario here,

Labels: Kevin Hearne, NaNoWriMo, unicorns

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 4:24 PM  8 comments