Writing is a tough gig- there are deadlines to keep, plotlines to hash out, continuity to maintain, characters to develop, worlds to build, a wife to murder and Guilder to blame for it, and often a day job to boot!

 And then I had to go and get pregnant.

Pregnancy is a life-changing event not to be undertaken lightly. My parents took seven years of trying to conceive me and my mother admonished to get a move on just in case things worked that way for me too. So on the second try, of course, we succeed. Read the rest of this entry »

            I have been following the RaceFail and associated fallout for a couple of years now, but a few things have happened this week to make me really want to talk about it. And before you skim to the end of this to find out my grand conclusions, the spoiler is that I don’t have any! But I wanted to share some thoughts bouncing around in my brain for the last couple of weeks.

             The thing that got me thinking this week was the hiring of a white fashion director, Elliana Placas, for Essence Magazine, a fashion and lifestyle magazine aimed at black women aged 18-49.  In the CNN.com article , Angela Burt-Murray, the magazine’s editor-in-chief defends her decision by citing Ellianna Placas’ credentials and experience with Essence as a freelancer. The outcry in the black community has been loud, the main idea seems to be that this white woman cannot possibly know anything about what fashion means to black women. (In a somewhat related aside, Placas is noted by some sources to be of Hispanic descent [she is an Australian by birth], but that fact is overlooked in favor of making her as not-black as possible. Or is it? Is the fact that she is neither African American nor Caucasian have meaning in this debate? I don’t know, but I find it intriguing that she, as a Hispanic woman, has now been assigned to being “white” simply because she is not black.) Read the rest of this entry »

         I’ve been online for at least fourteen years now and in that time it’s gone from something geeks and those hiding from real socializing did to..something else. To believe the hype you can find elsewhere it’s destroying the idea of the real world, giving rise to a sect of people who can no longer function flesh to flesh in real time. It’s easy to find news stories about the city councilman who lost his job because he couldn’t stop playing Farmville, the couple that broke up over World of Warcraft, or something someone posted on their digital wall. Worse, you can find stories about children neglected so that the parents could escape into internet life.

            But I’d like to share a different occurrence, one that’s not newsworthy or spectacular, but that I find magical all the same. Read the rest of this entry »

The writing life can be tough, especially when one travels a lot. I know a lot of folks who have every specific needs in terms of where and when they can write. I mean, I certainly have preferences, but I have cultivated a skill of writing anywhere, anytime. Here are my tips for creating a great sense of place while writing wherever you are! Read the rest of this entry »

Apex is damn proud to announce the official release of The Labyrinth of the Dead, the action-packed followup to Sara’s The Convent of the Pure.

The book has a hot cover, front-to-back angel-kicking action, and a wonderful half-angel/lesbian love story. What’s not to love?

We’re going to run our order specials for a few more days. You can get Convent and Labyrinth together for $20. Or you can get Labyrinth and a special series of collector postcards at regular price.

Order today!

Apex Publications released Sara M. Harvey’s novella THE CONVENT OF THE PURE in April 2009. Now the second novella in the Penemue trilogy, THE LABYRINTH OF THE DEAD, will be hitting the shelves on June 28th (the third is set to come out next summer). What is the trilogy about? When does she find time to get it all written? Read on to find out!
Read the rest of this entry »

The Labyrinth of the Dead: Chapter One

Portia Gyony stood at the threshold. The air crackled in a whirlwind of electrostatic energy and bore the acrid scent of ozone. Although Imogen was right beside her, it was not right. Within the inscribed circle set down in chalk and salt on the scuffed hardwood floor, Portia’s memories were a maelstrom. Imogen lay there, silent and motionless, her hair spread out in a halo of sunset-red curls. For a moment, they were still at the convent with the inferno raging behind them. Portia could taste bitter smoke in her mouth. A scream caught in her throat as she watched Imogen, her sweet, beloved Imogen, collapse the moment she stepped through the gateway that separated the convent from the rest of the world.
Read the rest of this entry »

Imogen is all that matters.

After rescuing her lover from the forces that trapped her in The Convent of the Pure, Portia Gyony has lost Imogen once again to the darkness that surrounds them. The only way to reunite is to walk through the shadow-worlds of the dead and bring Imogen back to the body that awaits her—a journey no nephilim was meant to take.

Still seeking out the boundaries of her own power, Portia descends into a realm where all trade is in souls and the machinations of the world itself are coming undone. Her quest for Imogen becomes a battle of angels and demons, where clockwork warriors and shattered souls battle to keep the shadows of the dead from bleeding into the land of the living. The cost of saving one world from the other may be the sacrifice of Portia’s lover once again.

The second book in Sara M. Harvey’s exciting Penemue trilogy, The Labyrinth of the Dead, is about to hit the streets with an official release date of June 28th. That means you only have two weeks to take advantage of our three pre-order specials:

1. If you don’t have the first book, The Convent of the Pure, we are offering a “2 for $20″ special. You’ll receive The Convent of the Pure and The Labyrinth of the Dead for just twenty bucks.
2. If you already own The Convent of the Pure, then we’re offering a special set of Penemue postcards and accompanying bookmark to those who pre-order The Labyrinth of the Dead. The postcards will be limited edition and available only via this deal.
3. Because we really don’t want you to miss Sara’s excellent series, we’re making the eBook version of The Convent of the Pure available for only $1.00 at Smashwords. Just enter coupon code WX98P on checkout.

Finally, every person who pre-orders (or has already pre-ordered) Labyrinth will be entered into a drawing to win a large print of the book’s fabulous cover art by Melissa Gay. The print comes signed by the artist. A handful of pre-orders will also come with a promotional book flat signed by the author and the artist.

It’s that time of year again…summertime, fireflies, barbeques, mosquito bites, conventions.

As a relatively new author with a small backlist, conventions are a gold mine of publicity and marketing opportunities. But, you’ve got to know the game.

1. Know your convention. Typically I stick to sci-fi/fantasy/spec-fic conventions with the occasional anime or costume con. In general, I like to tailor my convention experience to match up with the books I have currently available. Which, right this second, is a paranormal Steampunk with demons and angels and hawt chicks with magic weapons.  So, I’m going to focus on cons that deal with Steampunk or at least have a great deal of Steampunk interest, as well as the usual cons that highlight dark fantasy and whatnot. Do your homework ahead of time on this. No use me showing up to a Harry Potter con, especially since the cleaners totally wrecked my Gryffindor sweater. Moving on.
2. Know your responsibilities and expectations. Some cons require a minimum of hours that a panelist must participate in order to earn a free weekend membership. Some cons will comp you and your spouse/SO/guest. Some cons will require you to pay some or all of your own badge fees or those of your spouse/SO/guest. At many cons, you will be referred to as a guest, which is different than a Guest, as in Guest of Honor, Guest of Awesome, or a Featured Guest. Other cons are very picky about their semantics and unless you are a Guest of Honor, you shall be known as a panelist and woe betide if anyone on staff hears you refer to yourself as anything otherwise. Some cons are a lot of drama. I have, thankfully, encountered very very few of these. But it is important for you and your guest/panelist/programming liaison to be 100% clear on what the con expects of you and it is up to you to decide whether or not you can do it. Have I done 14+ hours of programming on a single 2 ½ day con, you betcha! Do I want to do that this weekend? No way. I am happy with my three panels and two signing slots this time around, thank you.
3. Be the adult, here. If you have WAY overcommitted yourself and can’t put in the hours, you need to find your guest/panelist/programming liaison right away and sort things out. If you get sick or umm, hung over (I always travel with alka-seltzer, btw, fixes me right up for morning panels, but YMMV), it is in your best interest to be as up front with the con staff as possible as soon as possible. Can’t make a panel, tell them. That way they can get a substitute to fill in your chair and make some kind of announcement so con-goers can perhaps make other plans if this was a panel they’d wanted to see specifically on account of you. If this is the case, that people are coming just to see you, it is in your best interest to muscle through the hour as best you can, be as gracious as you can, and then go find a quiet corner and nurse that headache.
4. People are there to see you, don’t forget that. It is super easy to lose track of that fact that, yes, small and relatively insignificant as you may be sitting next to Laurell K. Hamilton at the signing table, people are coming to see you. Sure, they may just be coming from the next room, but still, it’s a start and these people deserve your respect. I’ve learned a lot from cons. One is that a smile and sunny disposition go a long, long way. Two is that when things don’t go well, don’t sweat it, just be agreeable and see if someone will maybe buy you a beer. If that fails, offer to buy them one. Alcohol seems to be an excellent form of barter. And don’t sweat it if you don’t drink, I have yet to meet a hotel bar that didn’t pour a damn good Shirley Temple (with extra cherries).

So in short, be a pro at the con, make the most of your time and have as much fun as possible while still fulfilling your obligations. I guarantee a good con reputation will pay dividends in visibility and books sales.

How do you think I ended up writing for Apex? We met at a con.

And, now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go finish packing for Hypericon.

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Sara M. Harvey is a grizzled con veteran of over four years. Her appearances this summer will include Hypericon in Nashville, LibertyCon in Chattanooga, Pi-Con in Western MA, and Archon in St. Louis. There you will find her smiling and drinking Shirley Temples and selling her books like the forthcoming Apex title THE LABYRINTH OF THE DEAD.

Imogen is all that matters.

After rescuing her lover from the forces that trapped her in The Convent of the Pure, Portia Gyony has lost Imogen once again to the darkness that surrounds them. The only way to reunite is to walk through the shadow-worlds of the dead and bring Imogen back to the body that awaits her—a journey no nephilim was meant to take.

Still seeking out the boundaries of her own power, Portia descends into a realm where all trade is in souls and the machinations of the world itself are coming undone. Her quest for Imogen becomes a battle of angels and demons, where clockwork warriors and shattered souls battle to keep the shadows of the dead from bleeding into the land of the living. The cost of saving one world from the other may be the sacrifice of Portia’s lover once again.

“THE LABYRINTH OF THE DEAD is a sensual, apocryphal nightmare — an exquisite adventure that manages to be both epic and personal, sweet and vicious.”
—Cherie Priest, Hugo Award-nominated author of BONESHAKER, FATHOM, and FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS

Set after the events of THE CONVENT OF THE PURE, this is the second chapter of Sara M. Harvey’s thrilling Penemue trilogy.

Taking pre-orders now!