So as I was trying to update some records, I stumbled on the new cover and the paperback release date for my witch anthology, UNDER MY HAT: TALES FROM THE CAULDRON.
I’m not sure I’m crazy about the fade away/split names on the cover. I far preferred the swirling smoky ones on the original. Oh well.
I also saw this review, from last November’s School Library Journal:
The anthology starts and ends with the best of the bunch, kicking off with Diane Peterfreund’s “Stray Magic,” which tells of a stray dog rescued by a shelter worker that begins to communicate with her and pleads for help finding her master (a wizard to whom the Labrador is the “familiar”). The final story is Margo Lanagan’s “Crow and Caper, Caper and Crow,” another gem detailing Pen, an aging witch, embarking on a journey across the sea to bless her brand-new baby granddaughter–but the clever witch is in for a surprise when she lays eyes on the new addition.
I hear this Diane Peterfreund’s pretty good. 🙂 In passing, I should probably start keeping a list of the way my name is spelled in reviews. At this point I may well have half a dozen pen names. The best is when they spell it three or four different ways over the course of a single review. Still, I’ll happily take “the best of the bunch!”
The paperback will be out in two weeks, and you can order it here:
This collection first came out last August, and I got to read from it on its release date while I was at Dragon*Con. Oh, it was so much fun — it’s definitely the best reading-out-loud story I’ve ever written. And it may be my favorite story yet. I was inspired by my work with foster dogs, and my general love for puppies. I still can’t get Malou and Goneril out of my head, even a year later. Of all my stand alone short stories, this is the one I could envision making into a complete book.
(In which opinion I’m joined by my friend Beth, who gave me the hard sell on turning it into a book when we had insanely rich hot chocolate in Asheville a few months back.)
Of course, right now, it’s like “yeah, let me just squeeze it into my schedule…” Those of you following me on Twitter or CampNaNoWriMo know how crazy the last month has been for me. The crazy isn’t letting up next month, either. Between a writer’s retreat at the start of the month, Dragon*Con at the end,my folks coming into town in between and a September first deadline — well, it’s going to be a big, big month.
And there might be a big surprise in there, too. We’ll see. 🙂
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