“Packed with action and imagined worlds
and filled to the brim with sparkling detail”
NEWSWEEK
“A potent metaphor for the toleration of diversity”
NEW YORK TIMES
“A feast for those who like their fantasies dark”
LOCUS
Legacy of Kings in Paperback
Legacy of Kings, the final volume of The Magister Trilogy, will be released in mass market paperback on Sept. 4, offering readers the chance at last to complete the trilogy with matching Palencar covers.
In April 2011, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist posted a review of Legacy of Kings. Below is a teaser. Pat previously reviewed Feast of Souls and Wings of Wrath and interviewed Celia in 2007 and again in 2009. Links to those reviews and interviews can be found below. read more…
Darkover 35
Celia will be appearing at the 35th Darkover convention in Baltimore on November 23-25, 2012. This intimate family-style convention is a great place to hang out with your favorite authors, listen to good music, and of course enjoy the best in panel discussions and games.
This year they will be celebrating DarkoverCon 35 and the theme this year is diversity in all its forms.
Besides several full tracks of science fiction/fantasy programming, the convention offers assorted music programming (primarily, but not exclusively, folk), workshops where you can learn assorted arts or crafts, video programming, esoteric programing, dancing, and more. This year they are once again planning a full track of Steampunk programming.
The Reality of Writing
People often ask me what writing professionally is like…or how to go about writing a publishable book…or some other question that involves the writing process. Well, here’s the answer:
This morning I’m working on a chapter in my book where my characters are finally getting a few important things explained to them. Yes, the dreaded “E” word. An author usually avoids explanations like the plague, and writing one from the author’s POV is on the top ten list of unforgivable sins in fiction. But sometimes you get to a place in your story when one character needs to explain something to another, and then you have to figure out how to make that happen without slowing down the story… or making it seem like you’re trying to sneak in the author-POV thing. read more…
To Beta or not to Beta?
All right, I never thought of them as “beta readers.” The first ones were just “friends who believe in me and keep me going.” Back when I was working on my first novel, 700+ pages with no guarantee of publication, that was what I needed most.
As I wrote each chapter I would painstakingly print out copies (dot matrix continuous feed paper…ah, memories of the dinosaur age!) and then put them in manila envelopes and mail them to friends. And then I would wait on tenterhooks for the phone calls that would tell me, “I really liked that one, keep going!” At times when my spirits flagged, or I had doubts about whether I could finish this immense project at all, those moments of human contact kept me motivated. read more…
The DM Rule
Too often we create our worlds with a particular story in mind and assume that all the characters will respect our intentions. They don’t travel beyond the borders of our map, try to use artifacts in ways that we did not intend, seek loopholes in our Laws of Magic, or otherwise stress the limits of our universe.
Real human beings, of course, are not like that. History teaches that it is human nature to go everywhere, do everything, and test every limit there is. Thor Heyerdahl proved that man could cross an ocean using only primitive construction materials, and we know that many islands in the Pacific were discovered by men who set out with no more than an outrigger canoe and a dream. There is no island so remote, no terrain so daunting, that men will not seek out and explore it, no supernatural concept so bizarre that someone will not attempt to exploit it. Merely saying “it is dangerous” may scare off most people, but there are always those will consider danger a personal challenge. read more…
Trade Secret: How to Get your Book Published
Often I am approached by aspiring young writers who would like “the secret” to getting a book published. The formula is actually very simple:
Write a book.
Make it as good as it can possibly be.
Send it in.
Too simple, you say? Okay, I’ll add a few more details. read more…
Perfect Day
Founded in 1949, Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine is the award-winning original publisher of such classics as Stephen King’s Dark Tower, Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon, and Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz.
Each bimonthly issue offers compelling short fiction by writers such as Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Terry Bisson, along with the science-fiction field’s most respected and outspoken opinions on books, films and science–plus a dash of humor from our cartoonists and writers.
Perfect Day is C.S. Friedman’s contribution to this collection.
Dreamseeker: Excerpt II
The skinny man walked through the halls of the Shadows’ citadel with catlike tread: toe-balanced, silent. His features were lean and angular and his eyes were focused straight ahead with predatory intensity, unblinking. The scents of the forest clung to his skin and trailed in his wake down the hallway: pine trees, musk, and decay. They seemed to be natural scents, rather than something acquired.
A person who crossed his path at that moment might have jumped back in fright, sensing the animal essence in him before the human essence was apparent. Such a reaction would not be wholly inappropriate, or unwise.
By the man’s side walked a wolf. It was taller by half than the normal specimen of its species, and as long-legged and lean as he was. I didn’t look at all pleased to be in such an enclosed space, and now and then it would growl softly in the back of its throat, but when that happened the man would reached out his hand and stroke its hackles, causing it to subside into a sullen but wary silence. read more…
Dreamseeker: Excerpt I
SOUTHERN TIER EXPRESSWAY, NEW YORK
Standing by the side of the road, the deer was all but invisible. A sharp outcropping of rock shielded it from the view of the cars heading north, and the ones heading south were too busy concentrating on driving to be looking for wildlife. This close to the river driving could be treacherous, and one wrong move coming around the sharp turn on the mountainside could send a car hurtling down to the river.Had anyone stopped to look at the deer they might have wondered at its presence there. Sandwiched between a steady stream of cars and the jagged cliff face it barely had room to stand. Further north the slope was gentler, and led to sheltering woods, the kind of place that deer normally preferred. Here there was only danger.The deer did not look afraid.
It watched as the cars sped by, glancing briefly to the side as each one passed, as if to keep the reflection from its eyes from revealing its presence. Some of the vehicles whizzed by so close that the wind from their passage bristled its fur, but it did not shy away. read more…
Legacy of Kings
He opened his mouth to answer the High King’s question — to tell him that this place was a mystery to him as well — when suddenly he felt it. A sound just beyond the threshold of hearing, that resonated silently in his flesh. A tremor in the fabric of the universe, that set reality to vibrating like a plucked harp string. Looking over at Ramirus, he could see from the expression on the other Magister’s face that he had felt it, to.. None of the other seemed to. Not even the witches.
Which could mean only one thing.
“She’s coming,” he whispered.
Favias turned and nodded sharply to his people. No more explanation was needed. Dismounting, the Guardians took up their bows and nocked blue-tipped arrows in readiness. The other members of the party followed their lead and dismounted also, looking about nervously for cover as they did so. The Guardians did not bother with that. They understood that physical barriers were meaningless at this point. Either they could draw the Souleater down to them, within range of their weapons, or they were all dead men. read more…
