If you want to catch up with us this week, come see us at The Southern Kidlit Writers Cabal at Malaprop’s in Asheville, Thurs., 7 pm.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

However, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the authors who have offered the following blurbs for UNNATURALISTS. This means so much to me, I just can’t even tell you. So, I won’t. Except to say thank you very much to all who read and offered kind words. I thank you and my little book thanks you.

“Fast-paced, heart-wrenching, magical and fascinating.” -Tamora Pierce, author of The Song of the Lioness quartet

“Utterly ingenious! Tiffany Trent has more fine invention at her fingertips than a roomful of magical Leonardos!” —Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award-winning author

“By St. Darwin and his Great Apes, The Unnaturalists is unnaturally good! Few authors can mix science and fantasy the way Tiffany can; her science-worshiping New London is perfectly original and perfectly realized, and Vespa Nyx is a heroine to cheer for. So much steampunk is just more of the same; The Unnaturalists is captivatingly different.” —Ysabeau Wilce, Andre Norton Award-winning author of Flora’s Dare

“Thrilling, intricate and magical, The Unnaturalists is a formidable entry into the steampunk genre. Vespa Nyx is a spunky heroine we can all root for, and Tiffany Trent’s worldbuilding skills are unmatched. This book will delight anyone who loves magic, gadgets and brilliantly drawn settings. I highly recommend it.” —Caitlin Kittredge, author of The Iron Thorn

Had an absolutely fabulous time at Hooray For Books in Alexandria, VA last Saturday with Caitlin Kittredge and Jessica Spotswood. So glad it worked out for all of us to be there! And big thanks to everyone who showed up despite the rainy weather! Lots of great questions asked—I think my favorite was “Where’s your ideal place for a research trip?” which spawned all kinds of interesting answers.

(And I also managed to sneak in a lovely meal with Mindy Klasky who took me to a yarn shop and let me FEEL THE YARNZ. Which was awesome. And it was so great to finally meet her and find we truly had more in common than we could have imagined. Lovely).

In books news, I edge ever closer to being done with UNNATURALISTS 2. Edging being the definitive word.

Meanwhile, it seems I will have two new stories for you in June or thereabouts. Here is the gorgeous US cover reveal for WILLFUL IMPROPRIETY.

And I’m especially proud to say that SCHEREZADE’S FAÇADE is a go, courtesy of all Michael Jones’s hard efforts. THANK YOU to everyone who supported it on Kickstarter!

Also, it appears that I have one new event: I’ll be at the Southern Kidlit Writers Cabal on April 26th at 7 pm at Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, NC. I’m enormously excited about this, not only because of my compatriots (what a cast!), but also because I’ve longed to visit Malaprop’s and that wish is finally coming true!

Hope you are all enjoying this magnificent spring!

APRIL

Saturday, April 14, 10 am to 12pm – SCBWI Roanoke Rendezvous, Main Branch Library, Roanoke, VA

Thursday, April 26, 7 pm – YA author Q&A at Malaprop’s, Asheville, NC

MAY

May 26 – May 28, WisCon – “Young Victorians” reading (time and date TBD)

I will give away an ARC of UNNATURALISTS at the Roanoke event, so I hope to see you there!

If you would like to schedule events, feel free to email me at tiffanytrent at msn dot com and we’ll see what we can do!

Read Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A Paean to Madeleine L’Engle there.

Joli did a really cool post about UNNATURALISTS for Waiting on Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone who entered, retweeted, FB-friended and just generally got excited about the cover reveal!  Stay tuned for more contests in the very near future!

Not only am I excited that Kathy was keen on my fascination with resurrection men, but I’m also ecstatic to be part of such a fabulous Table of Contents:

Genevieve Valentine
Leanne Renee Hieber
Steve Berman
Seth Cadin
Stephanie Burgis
Karen Healey
Sandra McDonald
Marie Brennan
M.K. Hobson
Barbara Roden
Mary Robinette Kowal
Caroline Stevermer

(With thanks to Mary Victoria!)

If I tried to tell you how much Stephanie’s books, friendship, and encouragement have meant to me over the years, it would probably take an entire book just to do so. We met, of all places, in a hallway at WisCon many years ago for literally five minutes.  When I first was putting my toe in the waters of LiveJournal (also many years ago), I remembered Stephanie and her husband Patrick Samphire (also a wonderful writer whose work I adore). I can’t remember who tracked down whom, but the rest, as they say…and we’ve been BWFs (Best Writing Friends) ever since. (A couple years ago, I even got to visit Steph and Patrick in the UK and had the most magical tea imaginable, as the pictures below will attest!)

Steph and I share a keen love of history, magick, and strong,     smart female characters. I love Kat Stephenson because she is both fearless and compassionate, impetuous yet smart, stubborn and full of questions. I very much wish I could have had these books back when I was 11 or 12, but I suppose that would mean I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to know Steph. So, I’ll just be glad they’re out in the world for everyone to enjoy now.

Stephanie was kind enough to stop by the blog and answer a few questions.

1) Tell us about the places that inspired the Kat trilogy.  What was your favorite place and how did it end up in the books?  (I think I know the answer to this one…;))

Bolton Abbey!!!! (You know this one, Tiffany, since I dragged you around there when you visited. And I have pictures as proof!) In Kat, Incorrigible, Kat and her family go to a houseparty at Grantham Abbey, but that’s just my fictional version of Bolton Abbey, a real estate (owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire) which I used to visit all the time back when I was living in Yorkshire. I’ve got a whole flickr set of photos (which includes photos of you and me together there)!

And then Kat Book 2, Renegade Magic, was inspired by my love for the city of Bath, where it is set. Ohhh, Bath… (You can read me raving about Bath at length on my website.)
2) Is chocolate necessary for a writer’s existence?  Expound upon that one with favorite treats, if you dare.

Is this actually in question????? The answer, of course, is: NEVER TAKE AWAY MY CHOCOLATE.

And as far as favorite treats…mmm…
-Rich dark hot chocolate, made by melting my favorite bars of dark chocolate into hot milk
-Chocolate hazelnut brownies from my local café (which I ate FAR too many of while writing the second and third Kat books!)
-Coffee-chocolate truffles
-and…no, I can’t continue. My mouth is watering too much. MUST FIND MORE CHOCOLATE!

3) What has been your favorite experience with readers thus far?

I’ll always cherish the first email I ever got from a Kat reader, a smart, book-loving twelve-year-old who was given an ARC by her local independent bookstore manager. I actually cried the first time I read that email. I’d written Kat for the girl I used to be at that age, and it was so incredible to hear from someone who’d connected with it in just exactly the way I’d dreamed – but never really believed – might happen.

4) What’s next on the Steph agenda?

Kat Book 2 comes out in the US and Canada on April 3, 2012, as Renegade Magic. Kat and her family go to the fashionable spa town of Bath, which turns out to be full of gossip, Napoleonic spies, and wild magic! And then Kat Book 3 will come out in April 2013. (Pleasepleaseplease let me have thought up a good title for it by then! The novel is written and edited and is in copyedits now, but oh I am not gifted at titles.)

5) Also tell us anything else we need to know. 

OK! Anyone who hasn’t read Kat, Incorrigible yet can read the first three chapters on my website.

Anyone who HAS read it and wants more can read a free short story set a couple months afterward, also on my website: Duelling Magicks.

(Have I mentioned how much I love my web designer? He’s super-patient with me…which is not surprising, since he’s also my husband.)

Thanks so much, Steph!  And everyone be sure to run out and get KAT, INCORRIGIBLE and RENEGADE MAGIC for yourselves and your young readers!

I couldn’t be more pleased about this cover. The Simon & Schuster team bent over backwards to make it truly reflect the book; I can’t thank them enough.

And the description (which I *think* is the cover copy):

In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.

As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.

I’m so excited to finally be able to share this that I must have a contest. I’m offering a lovely steampunk basket of goodies, including:

-a copy of the CORSETS & CLOCKWORK anthology

-another steampunk book of my choice

-a delicious confection from my local chocolatier  AND

-a lovely pair of cufflinks OR -hand-knitted fingerless gloves (depending on your inclination)

Here be the rules:

1. This contest is international.  I will ship anywhere, even Antarctica, if that’s where you are.  (And if you are, I want to visit you and the penguins).
2. You get +1 if you retweet on Twitter. I’m @tiffanytrent over there. Use the hashtag #unnaturalists
3. You get +2 if you retweet on Twitter and friend my FB author page.
4. You get  +5 if you retweet, friend, and then make a post about it on your own blog and post the link here.
5. If there are ties, I will break them with a randomizer.
6.  Contest ends on Jan. 31st, so get busy!

(And it wouldn’t hurt to make your will known on Goodreads, too, but I’ll stop with the shameless self-promotion there).

Susan Robertson over at Wastepaper Prose is talking about Unnaturalists at some point today, too. Go have a look!

This book means a lot to me, perhaps more than any other I’ve yet published. I wrote it through a very dark period when it seemed to me that my brief writing career was over. I wrote it for a dear friend who nearly died of breast cancer but managed to survive. This book is a testament to survival, but I’d love to see it thrive. If it’s in your heart to help it do so, I’d love to hear from you. If you’re a book blogger/reviewer and are interested in an ARC, I will gladly pass those requests on to my publicist. Just leave your contact info in your comment. I can’t promise anything as I’ve been told there will be a limited stock of ARCs. I will certainly offer up one or two in contests here throughout the year. (At this time, I’ve no word on whether there will be e-galleys).

But if you’d simply like to pre-order, well…here you go: Indiebound,  Amazon , Barnes & Noble, and Chapters Indigo . (Did I forget anyone?) I know it’s a long time until August, but that should make the arrival date all the sweeter!

My thanks in advance for all you do and have done for books and authors you love. I’m so proud to be part of a community so passionate about books and reading and to share this new venture with you!