Now that the contracts are signed I can go ahead and mention that Jonathan Strahan is picking up “Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls”  from the October 2013 BCS for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 8. This is the first time I’ve made it into one of Jonathan’s year’s bests, so I’m pretty chuffed. It almost makes up for the fact that we just had to spend three grand to repair and upgrade our hall bath. Nothing like a forced remodel at Christmas to put things in perspective.

Speaking of which, I’m still not done with my Christmas shopping, but that’s pretty typical. One present is definitely going to be late and another might be. I just don’t handle the holidays as well as I should and the stress doesn’t really end until after Easter. A character flaw in me, I know, but there it is.

The next step in the publication of To Break the Demon Gate is the final selection of the artist (which is the publisher’s remit) and reviewing the preliminary designs of the cover. I have to say that I like this part of the process, since other than rendering an opinion—something I usually have no problems with—I don’t have to actually do anything. It’s all on the artist and the publisher at that point. When the book is out, of course, that’s another story. And I like that part too.

Come January I have two novel manuscripts to send off to Prime Books. One’s publication is already settled (the reprint), the other’s isn’t. That’s stress, too. But it still doesn’t compare to the holidays. I hope ya’ll are handling it better than I am.