Back-To-School Disorientation

Ugh… what day is it? How is it already the 28th? Oh, well. I met my word count goal for Camp NaNoWriMo, but I have one more chapter to complete in the rough draft of Traveler’s Guide to Mythical Beasts. Now I’m back to simmering all day in a subtropical office. (87 degrees F and 79% humidity. If the two were closer together, we’d have indoor rain, and I could grow orchids at my desk. Welcome to the prosperous world of public education!)

This sequel probably won’t be ready for release until spring, when it will coincide with the publication of a stand-alone comic fantasy novel called The Genesis of Max Variel. Remember, though, that the second Makkarios novel comes out in October. Still no word from OakTara about the re-release of the third Keeper novel, but (if you’ll pardon the pun) that’s nothing novel. For a publishing company, OakTara isn’t the best at communication. Still waiting for my mid-year sales reports too, which were supposed to be sent out at the beginning of August. [Insert grimace here.] Once we get the third book redone, we’re going to have to come up with a different plan.

But enough about publishing issues. Anybody found any really good books this summer? I’d love to hear about them, if you know of one. I tried to read The Magicians by Lev Grossman, but I didn’t last past three pages. I deal with “genius” teenagers who act dead common all the time at work. I don’t need to read about them. And anybody can tell that his Fillory is just Narnia in a thin disguise, however hard he tries to assert otherwise. So I’m looking for something genuinely out-of-the-ordinary. Otherwise, I’m going back to biographies this autumn.