I was delighted to hear from my publisher that he's sold German language rights to THE CIRCLE CAST to Urachhaus.

I wonder what the book will be called in German?

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Sarah Johnson has a nice St. Patrick's day review of TCC on her blog READING THE PAST:

The Circle Cast also offers a sweeping picture of 5th-century Ireland, a place of woods and green meadows, warring clans, ancient pagan rites, and a young, new Christianity that inspires fierce devotion in its followers. There's plenty of ale and good storytelling to go 'round, too. Sláinte.

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Library Lady quoth:

An intriguing and original take on a character that has appeared in legends and lore for centuries... Throughout the story, readers will find a lot to respect about Epstein’s version of Morgan, including her intelligence, bravery, and tenacity... thoroughly enjoyable.

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My publisher wants to do a book trailer. 60-90 seconds. What should be in it? I have my own ideas, but what about yours?

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Well, I seem to have cleared my advance on royalties! That's a nice feeling.

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Badges? We don't need no stinkin' ... oh. Er, thank you very much, actually.

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The Quebec Writers Federation's jury for the Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature had this to say about The Circle Cast:

A mature and surprising story that supposes the life of Morgan LeFay, the half-sister of King Arthur. Intense and evocative. This book has everything one wants in a novel from a deftly-organized plot, to varied characterization to crisp, rhythmic writing.

Nice!

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I got this awesome giant thank-you card from Kirsten Munro's terrific English class at Victoria Park Collegiate Institute, which I visited a little while ago. They were great!

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I did an interview on CBC Radio's Fresh Air about my own explorations of witchcraft, and how that related to the book. Check it out.

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Did a book signing at a Chapters in Toronto. I sold some books, but man, that is doing it the hard way. Some people are open to hearing about your book ("Hey, do you like magic?"), but others give you that look they reserve for beggars and other people they're afraid will talk to you. It is draining!

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I spent an hour and change this morning at Victoria Park Collegiate Institute, teaching The Circle Cast, and King Arthur, and post-Roman Britain, and my theories of character and storytellinger, to a 9th Grade class of honors students. That was fun.

I hope I didn’t leave them completely bewildered. I’ve been thinking about this story for over a decade, and I think I sort of gave them a 5 gigabyte upload all at once! I should probably have stopped more often for questions.

It’s a pleasure talking to smart kids. They really got the book.


They asked to see the original cover. They actually liked it better. They liked seeing a sixteen-year-old girl on the cover. I love the raven cover, but maybe a striking, mysterious cover is better for an adult, literary book, while the original cover lets you know right away that it’s a story about a girl and old magic.

Tomorrow at 2 pm, I’m reading at the Chapters in Bayview Village in Toronto. If you’re in the neighborhood, I hope you’ll come!

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Megan Arkenberg interviewed me in Lacuna: A Journal of Historical Fiction about some very interesting questions. I'll give you the questions here; you must go to the interview for the answers!

Q. While The Circle Cast stands out from many Arthurian retellings in its thoroughly historical Irish setting, it also reminded me of two of my favorite Arthurian novels: Bradley’s Mists of Avalon, with its focus on the women of Arthurian myth, and Douglas Clegg’s Mordred, Bastard Son, with its focus on the hero’s childhood far away from Arthur’s Britain. Do you read a lot of Arthurian retellings? Did any of them inspire aspects of The Circle Cast?

Q. The source documents for Arthurian legend say practically nothing about the early life of any character but Arthur. With such a wide blank canvas, how did you begin shaping Morgan’s life experiences for The Circle Cast? What inspired you to choose Ireland as the setting?

Q. How did you decide on the historical period (approx. 400 CE)? Did you do a lot of research before beginning the novel, or did you gather details as you wrote?

Q. Some of my favorite passages in The Circle Cast are the ones about Morgan’s magic and her deep connection with the land. How did you develop Morgan’s magic system?

Q. Conflict between Christianity and the ancient religions of Britain appears frequently in modern Arthurian retellings. The Circle Cast presents a broad picture of both beliefs, with both heroic and villainous characters belonging to each religion. Morgan herself seems to feel that both religions can be valid ways of life; it is the individual believer’s goals and values that make one path a better choice than another. Is this the message you see emerging in the scenes at the Christians’ village? What do you think about Arthurian legend’s relationship to the conflict between Christianity and paganism?

Q. Can you tell us a bit more about your current and upcoming projects? Can readers expect another novel about Morgan le Fay, or any other Arthurian characters?

There's also a lovely 5-star review of my book:

For fans of Arthurian reimaginings, The Circle Cast is a must read, and even readers who have been disappointed by vague historical settings and authors more interested in defending their characters than developing them will find this novel a welcome departure from the norm. The Circle Cast is a quick read, but one that will stay with you long after the closing image .

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How did I forget to post this? Gennifer Albin kindly interviewed me on The Apocalypsies blog . I talk about my influences, and my biggest challenge writing the book ("The Sucky Point"), my journey to publication, and my advice to debut authors.

(She also liked the book!)

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I'm going to be talking to an English class Friday morning. What sort of pictures should I bring?

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Bravo!FACT has posted YOU ARE SO UNDEAD on their site, so up it goes here. Enjoy! Best seen fullscreen, in 720p HD.

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I'm not loving Alfred Duggan's The Cunning of the Dove. It's another one of these historical books where the main character is the least interesting of all the historical personages bouncing around. It's all about the grand sweep of events, seen through the eyes of the passive and uninvolved king's chamberlain. Even the saintly King doesn't seem like much of a hoot. Ah, well.

I really need a great new novel to read.

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I am proud to tell you that the Quebec Writer's Federation has shortlisted THE CIRCLE CAST for Best Children's and Young Adult Literature, along with my friend Alan Silberberg's MILO and Geneviève Côté's WITHOUT YOU.

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NPR crowdsourced a little of people's 100 favorite SF&F books. SF Signal arranged them in a handy flowchart. Check it out.

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We're enjoying THE SECRET CIRCLE on the CW. By episode 3, the characters and even the acting have got a bit more nuanced. We stuck with it because it gets magic mostly right: it's not waving around wands and shouting Latin, it's willpower and talent, and a coven has more power than a solo witch. It's not THE CRAFT, but it's warming up.

At the end of episode 2, the teen witches bind their circle, which in the show's mythology means that none of them can do any magic alone. It's a clever storytelling decision. In episode 2, one of the girls calls down elemental power. If you give any character too much power, it becomes hard to tell stories about her. What problem can she have that she can't magick her way out of?

That's why Superman is harder to make a nuanced story about than Batman. He's invulnerable, he can see through walls, he can destroy at a distance, and he can turn back time. Superman stories wind up being all about the villains and the obstacles. Either you need to afflict him with Kryptonite®, or put him up against an equally overpowered menace, or against an enemy he has a weakness to. Batman, thankfully, is only a man.

Magic has to have a cost, or a risk, in a story. I always liked how, in EXCALIBUR, magic exhausts Merlin. Elric's magic is powered by blood and souls. On SESAME STREET, Abby Cadabby's magic just never does what it's supposed to.

When you set out to tell a supernatural story, think long and hard about the rules by which you circumscribe your magic. They are the foundation on which you're building your tale.

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Looks like I'm going to be appearing at two bookstores, a library and a school in Toronto in late October. Should be a fun trip.

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Looks like I'm going to be giving a reading of THE CIRCLE CAST at the Chapters Bayview Village, in Toronto (well, North York, really), on Saturday, October 22, at 2 pm. That should be fun! If you're in Toronto, come hear me read!

(I'm also screening my five minute teen vampire sex comedy, YOU ARE SO UNDEAD, at Toronto After Dark, that night at 9:30 pm!)

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TeensReadToo says TCC is "a hidden treasure." Thanks!

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In The Guardian, YA authors report that their agents and/or publishers have asked them to straighten out their gay characters.

Two American authors have revealed that they were told by a literary agent to "straighten" a gay character in their post-apocalyptic young adult novel if they wished to be represented...

The demand follows the experience of author Jessica Verday, who pulled out of the young adult anthology Wicked Pretty Things in March after she was told by its editor that her story, "which features Wesley (a boy) and Cameron (a boy), who were both in love with each other, would have to be published as a male/female story because a male/male story would not be acceptable to the publishers".

Boo! Do not like. Especially speculative fiction books: do publishers seriously think that readers who can accept alternative history, alternative religion, and even different laws of physics, can't handle teh gay? C'mon.

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I finished the LAST KINGDOM by Bernard Cornwell. I'm sort of two minds about it. It's a quick read. It catches the wild ride of one Northumbrian nobleman's son whose father is killed, and his lands taken, by the invading Danes. He's captured by a Danish nobleman and raised almost as a son, but destiny has other plans for him.

I liked the book as historical fiction. I liked the sense of who the Saxon English were, and who the Danes were, and what they valued. The reign of King Alfred of Wessex is another hinge point of English history, like the Saxon invasions themselves. In Alfred's time, the Saxon English, mostly Christian, were nearly conquered by the invading pagan Danes.

But the main character, Uhtred, is a bit of an enigma. His actions are those of a passionate man, but he talks dispassionately about them as he recounts them -- an old man telling the story of a young man's choices. Uhtred is motivated by the desire to get back his father's castle, but it's not always the driving force in his life. Sometimes sex is. Sometimes friendship is. Does that make him well-rounded as a character, or vague?

Alfred is a well-drawn nemesis, wise, fanatically religious, Puritanical and sly. And many of the other characters are well-drawn too. But there's a hole in the book, I feel, where the main character should be.

Your mileage may vary. To be fair, this is a book I ripped through in a few days. But I'm not strongly motivated to read the next one. I sort of wanted it all to add up to more. The book is a rollercoaster. I wish it held together as a coherent story, you know, with a theme and all.

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