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 One of the most common questions I receive about the unicorn series is in regards to the way the world at large responds to the rediscovery of unicorns. At the beginning of Rampant, people don’t think there are any such thing as unicorns (including Astrid) — kind of like the world we live in. But throughout Ascendant, you see that knowledge about the existence of unicorns has moved into the mainstream, and the ramifications of that, such as a pharmaceutical company exploiting their special properties, fringe environmental groups devoting themselves to the species, and Astrid’s mother Lilith making her living as a unicorn expert commentator on cable news specialties.
However, the existence of unicorns does not cause the world to grind to a halt. This strikes some readers as odd, though it’s actually the most realistic reaction. About five years ago, they confirmed the existence of giant squid, another heretofore mythical monster best known for its literary exploits (hello, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). When I was a teenager, I had a book of mythical monsters. This animal was in it, despite the fact that there had been occasional sightings of dead giant squids or pieces of dead giant squids found in the bellies of whales. (People have things called unicorns horns, too, and there are “created” unicorns like the kind that used to tour with the Ringling Circus.)
 But slowly we learned more and more about real giant squids, and now we have videographic proof that they are real. Sixty foot long squids, totally real !There were articles about it in every paper, and people talked about it on the news for like a week. But I still got up and went to work that day. The metro didn’t stop running because there are actually giant squids in the sea.
What happened with giant squids is similar to what happens with unicorns — there are articles about them, researchers can get grants to study them, people who are fascinated are still fascinated, and people whose lives aren’t so much touched by the whole situation go on with their lives as they did before — to them, it’s a curious article in a newspaper, a “Huh, isn’t that cool. Pass the coffee,” kind of moment. If it happened today, it would probably trend on twitter, and then the world would move on.
Now, with unicorns, it’s a little different, because, generally speaking, giant squids aren’t a danger to anyone except sperm whales and Captain Nemo, whereas the unicorns in my books attack campers in wild places and children in public parks. Indeed, in “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn,” which takes place at the same time as Ascendant, a unicorn attack has caused the closing of all the parks in Wen’s town.
 And yet, the world still goes on. To imagine otherwise is a statement about how sanitized most of our lives have become — most of us are lucky enough not to live in a place where we are in danger of being attacked by wild animals. Again, my concept of how real people and towns would react to this danger is based in reality — in how rangers in National Parks respond to bear attacks, or, on a more personal note, how the people on the beaches in my home state of Florida responded to a mysterious uptick in shark attacks about a decade ago.
Namely: there were lots of articles about it, lifeguards warned you about sharks, in places where there were heavy shark sightings or reported injuries, they closed the beaches… and yet people still went to work and school, and let their kids build sandcastles on the shore… even if they didn’t let them go in the water.
Of course, as Mark Twain once noted, the difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to be believable, and to some, it’s just not as fun if the average accountant or pastry chef or soccer mom hears about unicorns on the news, then continues to pay their bills, make lunch, and drop the kids off at school the way they do when they hear about shark attacks or the reality of giant squids.
Except, not everyone does that. My books are about the people who don’t. (If they weren’t, it wouldn’t be very interesting to read!) The people who put their entire lives on hold and devote themselves completely to the unicorns. Before there were unicorns, Neil Bartoli was a law student, Philippa Llewelyn was a volleyball player, Lilith worked odd jobs and Astrid went to high school. And you don’t have to be a unicorn hunter, either. All those environmentalists camping outside Gordian Pharmaceuticals — they have jobs and lives and families, too. But to them, unicorns are more important. There are people like that, and there are people who just watch the TV shows Lilith stars in and then go back to being bank tellers and car salesmen and pediatricians.I don’t talk a lot about those people in the books, though.
There are also people in the middle. People like Giovanni, who indeed had close encounters with unicorns, and now has a nice story to tell his friends at college. One imagines that when there’s a unicorn story in the news, Giovanni’s friends say, “Hey, aren’t you dating one of those unicorn hunters?” the same way I might read a story about the space shuttle and say to a friend, “Hey, isn’t your cousin an astronaut?” Giovanni can say, “Yeah, I got attacked by unicorns once. I hid in a van and this girl I was dating kicked their ass.”
Actually, I know exactly what Giovanni says. One of these days, I’ll write that story. 
I’m such a tease.
I just finished my fourth (ain’t sayin’ final) short story of 2011. Code name: THOA. Will release title and publication info when that’s more finalized. It’s my shortest short story yet, but takes place over the longest time period. It’s currently 5900 words long, but that might get shifted a tad since my editor did say something about a 5k upper limit. I hope he’ll let me fudge a wee bit.
So, let’s see… what can I tell you? If all goes as planned, it will release in 2012. It’s set in during the Renaissance (yes! More historicals!) It’s the thing I was twittering about the other day. And it’s about killer unicorns.
More specifically, it was inspired by a reader. It’s actually the first thing I ever wrote that was so explicitly inspired by a reader. Not that I’m taking requests!
I hope it was not a mistake to mention that part.
Okay, I’m off to sleep, since I’ve had such a busy day throwing Queenie a birthday party. Back later with more on that.
On the radio this morning, the DJ was talking about how there are now fantasy bowhunting leagues, like fantasy football leagues. How neat is that?
Of course, I already have a fantasy bowhunting league. It consists of Astrid, Cory, Valerija, Melissende, Grace, Dorcas, Ursula, Ilesha, Zelda, and Wen.
I’m sorry for my lack of substantive posts of late. I’m hard at work. I’m writing a new story (a unicorn story), and my new book, codename PIMP (which is hilarious — the codename, not the book, though the book does have some LOLs in it), and planning Queenie’s birthday party.
I know, I can’t believe she’s almost one year old, either.
My Little Pony-esque Killer Unicorns!
Bucephalus (this is as close as I could get, and it’s not very close)
Angel:
And, of course, Bonegrinder
and Flayer
And Astrid’s dress:
What? How did that get in there? Cobie Smulders, you are one tall, blue drink of water.
Seriously though, this is kind of what I pictured for Astrid’s dress, except a somewhat darker, smokier blue. Ooh-la-la.
They are of transfiguring into this:
Thanks to Jessica Spotswood for alerting me to the unicorn generator.(Actually, they’ll generate any ponies, but obviously mine are going to be killer unicorns…)
Alternate titles for the blog:
If Astrid Did Not Make It To the Last Round of The Hunger Games, Her Muttation Would Look Like This
But that was too wordy.
I can’t get over the fact that they’ll let me make a really adorable cloven-hooved, fanged, midnight-brindled kirin that also can have a long blonde braid. That is CUSTOMIZATION for you, folks.
Perhaps you have heard about the current internet hub-bub surrounding the Monstromology series by Rick Yancey. If not, go here for an interview with him to see what the current state of the series (and the drama) is.
In short: Rick thought he was writing more books in the series, his publisher said no, he mentioned it online, and there was a huge write-in campaign (like they do for TV shows) and now there is some chatter about the publisher being upset. (which is probably just chatter, Rick. Keep up the good writing.)
I have gotten in several conversations recently with writers who are in Rick’s boat — their series have been canceled, or are in a state of limbo, or whatever. People often want to cast the publishers as the bad guy. People have written me to ask why I’m “protecting” Harper in the matter of killer unicorns… I think it’s easy to see from Rick’s example how quickly half-understood bits of information can go haywire and get people all riled up.
I can’t speak for Rick or the Monstrumologist series. I hope that he does find a new publisher and a way to conclude the books, because he clearly feels there is more to that story in that form. In my case, I don’t feel “cut off at the knees” in the same manner. I have never been told by my publisher that I can’t do what I want to do with the series. The truth is, we don’t know the answer to this yet. There are various options being floated and considered, but I’m not going to talk about them on my blog yet. (Last week, my editor and I discussed one possibility that has me totally giddy with excitement.) In the meantime, killer unicorns are very much alive. In fact, I’m writing a short story about them right now. The paperback of ZvU comes out next month. The paperback of Ascendant is out next spring. There’s a new unicorn short story coming out in an anthology this winter. It’s wall to wall killer unicorns around here.
And what makes that hilarious to me is that despite all that, my own personal focus as a writer is on another world completely, an austere future world where a young girl tries desperately to eke a living out of an unforgiving earth while the boy she loves has his eyes set upon the stars…
I have been reading with interest the recent flurry of blog posts (in the wake of the release of A Dance with Dragons*) dredging up that old battle of George R. R. Martin’s fans against George R. R. Martin that became internet-famous once Neil Gaiman told everyone to settle on down.
People get very attached to series. A recent sampling of my mail and twitter feed:
“I’m thoroughly confused! Help! The series is clearly a trilogy. Are you working on the last book? Is it done but not published? Oy vey! I need to know what happens!”
“Loved your killer unicorn series! i was just wondering if there would be another one.”
“Will there be a third book in the Unicorn series?”
“Where did you get the idea for both books? Will there possibly be a third book in the series? I was close to weeping when I finished Ascendant.”
“Will we be getting a third Killer Unicorns anytime soon? I want more Astrid in my life.”
And when I’m not getting mail about that, I’m getting mail asking me to write more secret stories, or possibly a fifth Secret Society Girl book. Or both.
Which is all very wonderful, and definitely makes my writerly day. I love that people are so invested in my series and in my work that they would not only read my books, but would take time out of their busy day** to ask me to write more. I thank you, Amy thanks you, Astrid thanks you, and Bonegrinder thanks you.
Fine, fine, fine. But what are the answers?
On Secret Society Girl: Amy’s story is complete. I will never say “never” about writing more about Amy (or more secret stories) but it will only happen when I feel like I have something more to say about her. Right now, I feel like the poor girl had a really tumultuous year and deserves some down time. Where do I think Amy is right now? I think she’s killing it in NYC.
On Killer Unicorns: Astrid’s story is not complete. Anyone who has read Ascendant can glean that. I’ve written before that I envisioned her story as a trilogy. I know what happens to her, and I even know the title of the conclusion.
I just don’t know when I’ll be writing it or publishing it.
I know this is disappointing to fans of that series. I have even gotten flak for it on the internet — some readers have called me “sloppy” or even “irresponsible” for daring to envision a book not under contract.*** There is a growing expectation, I think, that book series must not only appear one after another, with nothing in between, but they must also appear in quick succession — 12 months or less apart.
This is not always the case, however. Megan Whalen Turner’s excellent The Thief was first published in 1996, and the fourth book in that series, A Conspiracy of Kings, only came out in 2010. Lois Lowry’s The Giver was first published in 1993, followed by Gathering Blue in 2000 and Messenger in 2004. Maureen Johnson’s 2006 13 Little Blue Envelopes only saw its sequel published this year, after Maureen wrote heaps more books.
I could go on. The point is, authors do not always write solely in one series and sometimes there are delays between books — they might be due to publishers, or to writers, or to phases of the moon. And it was neither sloppy nor irresponsible of me to write the (fictional) truth of Astrid’s story, in all its elaborate, messy detail. What would have been is if I’d gone back into a completed (and copyedited) manuscript and changed it; cheated Astrid, and the story, and the readers into a rushed, pat, and false ending just so Ascendant could tie itself up in a pretty bow.
There’s a story I heard once about Michelangelo and I think about it often. Sometimes, Michelangelo’s statues would be missing parts — their arms or their feet or etc. When his clients would complain, he’d say it was the fault of the stone cutters back at the mountain. They were the ones who had carved out the blocks of stone he made into statues, and they had left the hands, etc. in the mountainside. Michelangelo believed the figures were already there, inside the stone, and he just freed them. He wasn’t going to change where the hands went just because that was the shape of the stone block that he had no control over.
Now, I’m not Michelangelo! But I can see his point, though, had I known, I probably would have chosen a different stone. For me, while carving, I had every reason in the world to believe that the statue would fit. But, to really pound this metaphor into the ground, the edges cracked off while I was halfway through my carving. And now I’m stuck wondering how best to tack on a new bit of stone.
And I’m aware that the reader doesn’t really care about any of that. For me, I’m thinking, “Wow, I have four short stories and two books out in 2012!” For a reader who is expecting KU3, however, it’s “When is Diana going to write the book I’m waiting for?”**** We both have totally valid reasons for wanting what we want, and I wish to reiterate that your enthusiasm for this series makes me so very, very happy.
I do hope we won’t have to wait for 6 years to see more killer unicorns. The thing is, it hasn’t actually been that long yet (less than a year), and the paperback of Ascendant hasn’t even come out. A lot of people didn’t start reading Rampant until the paperback came out. A lot of people didn’t start reading any of the series until they discovered killer unicorns by reading “Errant” or “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” in the three anthologies those stories appeared in (or by buying Errant online).***** And the paperback of Zombies vs. Unicorns (out this fall!) will hopefully lead even more people to discover the series.
And I do spend a lot of time thinking about the books and strategizing about how to make them happen. I’m actually writing another killer unicorn short story right now, so I’m still very invested in this world and as soon as the right opportunity to finish Astrid’s story presents itself, I’ll be all over it.
I’m just waiting for the right block of stone.
In the meantime, I have a lot of non-killerunicornsthree work going on:
- For Darkness Shows the Stars, a post-apocalyptic retelling of Persuasion: (Balzer &Bray, summer 2012)
- “Stray Magic” in Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, ed. by Jonathan Strahan, (Random House, August 2012)
- “Foundlings” in Brave New Love, ed. by Paula Guran (Running Press Kids, ~winter 2011)******
- two other short stories in anthologies whose titles and publication dates are very far from being announced.
I have one other full-length book under contract right now, with Balzer & Bray. It will be a YA novel. That’s all I can say about it right now, mostly because my editor and I haven’t talked about it yet. I have a pretty good idea of what I want it to be, though I want my editor’s input and insight on the matter as well.
So there’s the complete status of my publishing schedule. I am sorry if it disappoints some of you. I was also disappointed when I learned that Astrid’s story would be incomplete for a while, but since that happened in January of 2010, I’ve had time to get used to the idea (plus I was busy with FDSTS and that whole making-a-baby thing).So yeah, Astrid & co. = on hold but not dead; killer unicorns = still going; more fiction by me = gangbusters. All in all, I’m happy.
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* Also, I only just now this minute realized that the TV show Game of Thrones is based on this book series, which I guess I hadn’t realized because the book series is called A Song of Ice and Fire and only the title of the first one is A Game of Thrones. Which is so very HBO (Hello, True Blood).
** I’m so behind on answering mail. I should put that on my To Do list, too.
*** This is patently ridiculous, given that 99% of books were envisioned and written not under contract.
**** Can you imagine the folks who wish I’d stop it with the killer unicorns and write more chick lit? They’re really bummed. I get those emails, too. And believe me, I’d love to! As soon as I can sell some.
***** Wow, I really need to update my website, too!
****** This is a tentative release date. This anthology has been through the wringer. (Ringer? I never know which one that is.) Anyway, now there’s an edited line-up, a new editor, and a promise to donate proceeds to a shelter for homeless gay youth, so I’m very happy to be part of this collection!
 This month only, care of the good people at Smashwords, you can read my historical novelette, “Errant” for free. It’s available in any format, which means you can read it online, as a PDF, as a text file, for your Kindle, ePub, Sony Reader, etc. All you have to do is go to the Smashwords site and download it in your preferred format, using the coupon code SSWSF.
Have you been curious about the killer unicorn series but want to start small? This is a stand-alone novelette!
Have you been wanting to read it but are flat broke? It’s F-R-E-E!
I love this story. It’s my first published work to be written in third person perspective, it’s my first historical, and it’s chock-full of fine ladies, warrior nuns, and of course, killer unicorns.
Check out this 2010 Locus Recommended Read, which Publisher’s Weekly called “A harsh and poignant take on the unicorn myth,”and Booklist was was a “deliciously dark tale of unlikely nuns and even more unlikely unicorns.”
For Free This Month!
I’m amassing quite a collection of foreign editions of Morning Glory:
Look at all those different covers. The Brazilian one (which just came in and so is not included in this picture) has the same cover as the French one (top right).
And there’s other fun stuff, like the sticker on the Korean one proclaiming the screenwriter’s history with The Devil Wears Prada:
And the fact that my name, in Czech, is apparently Diana Peterfreundova:
Makes me sound like a spy in a Cold-War era James Bond film, dah?
Given that I was named for a Bond spy, I’m okay with that.
And of course, there’s the way the Spanish version doesn’t use quotes for dialogues, but instead, em-dashes:
Very Emily Dickinson.
I have done a lot of foreign deals over the years, but most of my books have used the same art as the US versions. So it’s fun, for once, to see the different covers.
Speaking of foreign deals, I have some big news for my Brazilian readers. Editora Record, the publishers of the rest of the secret society girl series, has made me an offer on book four, Tap & Gown. And, in case you can’t get enough of my books, they’ve ALSO bought my fantasy novels, Rampant and Ascendant. I’m so excited to be able to bring the conclusion of the series to my Brazilian readers as well as to introduce them to my fantasy novels as well.
Off to write!
Now you can read the novelette Publisher’s Weekly called “A harsh and poignant take on the unicorn myth.” and Booklist claimed was “[A] deliciously dark tale of unlikely nuns and even more unlikely unicorns…”
…for only $.99 cents!
In 18th century France, a noble family prepares to celebrate their daughter’s arranged marriage by holding a traditional unicorn hunt. But when an unusual nun arrives at the chateau with her beloved pet to help the rich girl train, nothing goes as expected. Starring hunters, fine ladies, fancy frocks, and killer unicorns.
This story was originally published in last year’s Kiss Me Deadly anthology. It is a 2010 Locus Recommended Read. If you have been curious about the killer unicorn world but haven’t had a chance to read the full length novels, here is a marvelously low-cost, high-adventure way to see what I keep going on about. And if you have read Rampant and Ascendant but didn’t get your hands on the antho, here’s my novelette in all its glory!
Buy it on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. (dedicated Apple version coming soon! Darn technical difficulties…) Read a free sample here.
I love this story so much. It’s my first historical, my first published work in third person, and my first story (despite having published not one but two novels with swords on the covers) in which I actually buckle some swash.*
Okay. Off to write. I’ve got three hours before Q’s doctor’s appointment. Wonder how much I can get done?
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* My dictionary app tells me that, to my dismay, “swashbuckling” does not actually refer to swordfights, but instead to adventurous/romantic derring-do. Naturally, all my books have that (hello! Dude jumped off a moving speedboat in Rites of Spring (Break)), but let’s just pretend we’re talking swordfights here.
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One of the most common questions I receive about the unicorn series is in regards to the way the world at large responds to the rediscovery of unicorns. At the beginning of Rampant, people don’t think there are any such thing as unicorns (including Astrid) — kind of like the world we live in. But throughout Ascendant, you see that knowledge about the existence of unicorns has moved into the mainstream, and the ramifications of that, such as a pharmaceutical company exploiting their special properties, fringe environmental groups devoting themselves to the species, and Astrid’s mother Lilith making her living as a unicorn expert commentator on cable news specialties.
