Here: A review of Hart & Boot & Other Stories at the Green Man Review, so glowing that it makes me blush. The Neil Gaiman comparison keeps coming up, which I suppose is inevitable since I'm doing that mythic fiction contemporary fantasy thing. I don't mind -- being compared to fantasy's rock-star author is a good thing! -- but it's interesting. While I love Neil's stuff -- especially Sandman, of course, but increasingly his non-comics prose, too -- he wasn't a formative influence on me. I never read a word of his until I was a sophomore in college (my friend D. introduced me to Sandman), and by then, I was already pretty much the writer I am today -- my prose was clunkier and my plots were stupider, but my subjects and obsessions haven't changed much since I was a teenager. My real influences were Stephen King and Charles de Lint and H.P. Lovecraft and Clive Barker -- they were the ones I read in elementary school and junior high, and I suspect little undigested chunks of them still show up in my work from time to time. Anyway, very glowing review, so, yay! (Oh, go buy the book, and I wouldn't mind seeing some reader reviews at Amazon, if you read it and feel so motivated.)

I really should always write in the morning. I thought about trying to get ahead on my freelance work last night while Heather was watching American Idol (the show doesn't do much for me, so I seldom join her in watching it), but the very idea of writing seemed insurmountably difficult, so I played Tetris instead. The thought of writing reviews was so painful last night that I worried this morning would be a trial, but, nope, I sat down with my notes and popped out two reviews, no problem. Clearly high-energy, coffee-filled morning writing is the key to my success. I should arrange for that more often.

My wonderful editor Juliet sent me the cover copy for Blood Engines yesterday, and it's good! Makes the book sound cool and fun and zippy, I think. I’m so excited about this book. Of course, I hope it makes me millions of dollars and spawns a series of action figures and a movie franchise and theme park rides and Marla Mason costumes at Hallowe'en and heaps of fan fiction, but just holding the novel in my hands is going to be a sufficient thrill if all else fails. I think it's a super cool book. Can't wait to see what they do for a cover. The October publication date seems soooo far away.