Christie Yant

ARMORED has been released!

ARMORED, the latest anthology from editor John Joseph Adams, was released yesterday–574 pages of mechs and power-armored goodness! You can read a few sample stories online by Ian Douglas, Tobias Buckell and David Klecha, and, well, me. Next week you’ll also be able to read Karin Lowachee’s story when it’s featured on Lightspeed.

And be sure to check out the author interviews on John’s site, including this one from my friend Wendy Wagner, who teamed up with her brother Jak Wagner on their awesome story “The Poacher.”

I’m really happy to be included in this book. Those who know me well know that writing science fiction is new for me. I blame the two years I spent working for Lightspeed for this new direction!

ARMORED should be available just about everywhere, unless you’re looking for the ebook, in which case it can be purchased directly from Baen.

Funny how fast it changes, how one day–or a even a week at a stretch–I can be inspired and driven, and then suddenly it all dries up and there’s just nothing there.

I’ve been comparing myself to other people a lot lately. Never a good idea. The road to competence was a long one, and I wonder if there even is a road to brilliance or if, as Stephen King says in On Writing, a good writer will never become a great one. (I threw the book across the room at that point.) I am stubborn, and do not like to be told what I cannot do. But then I read something truly brilliant and I wonder if he might be right.

I’m going to go try to stop beating my head against “Aveline” now and see if I can sneak into its cracks and fissures instead. I need to try something new because I’m not getting anywhere and the longer I don’t get anywhere the more I fear I never will.

It’s been a month since I last posted, and I guess that means I’ve been busy. I have been. Happily, it means I’ve been busy writing, and while I’m not quite achieving a new story every week I’m actually not too far off. I’ve written and submitted “My Mother’s Body,” which was both very easy and very difficult to write. I’m pretty close to finishing “Aveline,” thanks to a productive round of folding laundry and talking to myself until it made sense. I have “Sacred Spaces” outlined and just waiting for me to write it. And three more solid ideas waiting for outlines.

We’ve also been busy mulling over whether or not to buy this house we’ve had our eye on for several months. It is quite honestly our dream house, despite (or perhaps because of) its many quirks, quirks which have made it unattractive to other buyers. But we are writers, and we value eccentricity. So we’re going to try. There’s no guarantee that the sellers will accept the offer, or that the house will get through inspection without identifying twelve more things that need to be fixed, but we’re going to just roll the dice and see what happens.

John has been busy launching a book, attending a convention, being on the radio, and soon guesting at NYRSF. I miss him, but it’s allowed me to do some serious writing and tidying and reading and thinking. I’ve bought three more books for research on the novel, and hope to find time to read them soon.

So: all is well. Stories are being written. I’ve sold a couple of things, too–my updated list of what’s coming out so far this year can be found here.

Tomorrow there’s more editing and some other tasks I’ve been putting off because the writing was going so well. Right now I’m waiting for my friend Caitlin to arrive with Thai food and wine–not sure how I rated Thai food, wine, AND her company, but I’ll take it!

It’s a good life. Hope yours is, too.