Countdown to Smugglivus – Melissa Marr

Day 8 (18 Days to Smugglivus and counting)

Who: Melissa Marr, bestselling author of the modern day tales of faerie Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange. Wicked Lovely won a RITA for best Young Adult novel in 2008, and Ink Exchange debuted at #8 on the New York Times Bestsellers list and is in at least its third printing (info courtesy of Melissa Marr’s awesome fansite, WickedLovely.com). Check out our interview with Melissa HERE.

Recent Work: Following her debut novel release of Wicked Lovely last year, in 2008, Ink Exchange was released. (You can read our thoughts on Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange, reviewed here).

Please give it up for Melissa Marr, as she discusses her favorites for 2008, and what she has in store for us in 2009!
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Melissa:

So I’m supposed to be writing right now, but Ana and Thea tempted me to take a break. I lovelovelove lists and questions and…well, talking about books, so…*an hour passes looking at books & old blog entries & shelves & post-its* Okay, hmmm. It appears that most of my TBR post-its and memos are about books that were already released (I seem to be behind on reading). I suspect it would be easier if I could streamline my categories, but I’m lousy at that. I still have classics on my TBR, as well as mainstream, fantasy, romance, and mystery books from the last few years…and of course, books that I share with my middle-grade reader, my teen reader, and my mother.

*looks again* I do have a few that are on my Must Buy list: Rachel Vincent’s first YA (My Soul to Take); Kim Harrison’s latest Hollows book, as well as her first YA (Once Dead, Twice Shy); Kelley Armstrong’s second Chloe Saunders book (The Awakening); Susan Elizabeth Philips’ What I Did For Love; Charlaine Harris’ Dead and Gone; T.A. Pratt’s Spell Games; Rick Riordan’s newest Percy Jackson book; Bethany Griffin’s Handcuffs (which is a Dec 08 release, but that’s almost 09, right?). We won’t talk about the already released ones on the TBR shopping & library lists because that might reveal the extremity of my backlog. Suffice to say, I really need my editor to tell me to stop writing for a few years if I ever hope to catch up on my lists.

Next Topic: What did I really enjoy that actually released in 2008? Some of my top picks (not in order!) were Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, Kristin Cashore’s Graceling, Elizabeth Robbards’ With Violets, Amy MacKinnon’s Tethered, Gin Philips’ The Well and the Mine, Stephanie Kuehert’s I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, my crit partner Jeaniene Frost’s One Foot in the Grave, Kelley Armstrong’s The Summoning…I could keep going for quite a while, but then we’d be getting back into the whole backlog problem.

*re-reads email that set off my procrastination* The third question is the easy one: what do I have releasing in 2009? The paperback release of Ink Exchange comes out in late March; the first volume of my manga, Desert Tales, comes out in late April, as does Fragile Eternity (a sequel to Wicked Lovely). I’ll be on a 10 (or maybe 11?) city US tour for that stuff. FE releases the same week as RT Booklovers Convention, so I’ll get to go from RT straight into tour and then somewhere at the end of tour, Book Expo (in NY again!). So, there’s a release-and-travel blur. Then a few quiet weeks to write, and then RWA National and the release of my first adult short story in Unbound, an anthology with Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson, & Jocelyn Drake. Somewhere in the midst of all of that translations of the first three novels will come out in various nations as well.

Thanks, Thea and Ana, for the invitation to blog. I hope you–and all reading–have a happy holiday season.

-Melissa

Melissa has never been good at choosing just one path. After finishing high school with the dubious honor of being voted “most likely to end up in jail,” she went to college and graduate school. There curiosity (and tuition bills) led her to the dual jobs of teaching and slinging drinks at a biker bar. During the daylit hours, she indulged in long literary chats; at night, she lingered with intriguing people with one word names.

Eventually, she went on to bartend at a number of other weird little bars, teach lit both live and online, and discover the joy of tattoos. All three have been great rushes. The latter borders on addiction, but is held in check by the desire to attend the opera without flashing too many tattoos.

After marrying someone who shares the love of ink–on the page and on the skin–Melissa began moving around the country. In the process, she discovered how vast the Mojave really is, how many incredible museums are out there, and how hard it can be to think about settling in one place. She’s continued teaching along the way, but traded beer-slinging for book writing.

You can read more about Melissa on her website and blog. Thanks again, Melissa!

NEXT ON SMUGGLIVUS: Nalini Singh