COVER REVEAL: Courting Magic, a Kat Stephenson novella by Stephanie Burgis

I am beyond excited for more stories about Kat Stephenson, the heroine of Burgis's Unladylike Adventures trilogy, out from Atheneum. Here's the synopsis of this one:

In Kat Stephenson's Regency England, magic is even more shocking than a stolen kiss. But now that she's eighteen, it's time for wild and magical Kat to be introduced to high society by her older sisters, whether she likes it or not...and to finally have a romance of her own!

Of course, her true love is hopelessly ineligible. But when has Kat ever let Society's opinion stop her from making up her own mind? Once she realizes she's found her perfect match, she's not going to let anything or anyone stand in their way - even if she does have to solve a magical mystery, matchmake for an old friend, and break a few rules along the way!

This novella will be published August 12, 2014.

Go add it on Goodreads, quick!

Audio interview with Stephanie Burgis is up on Black Gate

Yes, I know I've been away from this blog for over a month. Not the new normal, I promise. The insanity that kept me away has blown over now.

And I have a new interview up with Stephanie Burgis on Black Gate. Those of you who know me, know that Stephanie and I go way back. To 2001, specifically, when we went to Clarion West together. Since then she's moved to the UK; married our classmate, Patrick Samphire; had a child; published the Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson trilogy with Atheneum in the US and Templar in the UK; and been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

It was great to have an excuse to sit and talk to Stephanie. Afterwards I shut off the recording equipment and we kept right on talking. She's got another baby due soon, and her latest novel has just been sent out to publishers by her agent.

Go listen to the interview to find out more about one of my favorite writers, who also happens to be a friend.

It's a giveaway to celebrate the release of STOLEN MAGIC by Stephanie Burgis!

To celebrate the release of Stolen Magic by the wonderfully talented Stephanie Burgis, she is holding a giveaway of one witch's heart ring, which I designed for the book! To enter, go to her post with pictures of the ring and an outline of the rules, here.

And I highly recommend this series. These were some of the most fun, heartwarming books I've read in a long time.

Enter to win a copy of Stolen Magic, by Stephanie Burgis

I got to read an advance copy of Stolen Magic. Here's my review of it:

The only bad thing I can say about this book is that it's the end of the series, and I didn't want to say goodbye to these characters. While Burgis leaves plenty of story threads that could be picked up again in future books, this book has a satisfying end that resolves the main conflict in Kat's life, specifically, who her mother was and what kind of scandalous magicks did she practice?

The story opens with Kat and family arriving for Angeline's wedding, and her betrothed's family hasn't exactly welcomed her into the fold. She's too poor, both in terms of money and social connections, and her future mother-in-law is not about to hand over the keys to the castle. Meanwhile, one of the other wedding guests is a woman who knows Kat's father very well, which is odd, because Kat's never heard a single thing about her. Yet a little bit of spying soon reveals that this woman practices magick, and not the proper, Guardian kind.

And Kat would love to ponder this further, only someone keeps trying to take Angeline's life, really, that's quite distracting for our heroine. Who, though, is at fault? The reluctant soon to be in-laws? The mysterious witch wedding guest? The jealous cousin who'd once hoped to wed Angeline's fiancee? Only Kat knows enough about magick and mayhem to get to the bottom of this.

In case it isn't obvious, I loved this book. Now there's a giveaway on Goodreads for a copy of the book. Really, you want to enter it. You want to win it. I'd enter myself, but that's selfish since I already have preordered my copy and copies for my mother and friend.

Enter to win a SIGNED hardcover of RENEGADE MAGIC by Stephanie Burgis

Renegade Magic is out and it's time to do a giveaway! I have in my possession one beautiful, hardcover copy of this book SIGNED by Stephanie Burgis herself, given to me by her very devoted husband who traded texts with me all during the Hugo Award announcements at EasterCon while we tried to find each other. It was a heroic deed on his part, let me tell you. We finally connected juuuust as I was leaving with my family, and my husband was able to run back to the hotel and get the book.

Anyway, enough of my babble. How do you enter the giveaway? You post a link on your blog, Twitter, or Google+ to the Facebook Fan Page for the book, and then you leave a comment on that fan page to let us know you've done that. More details are on said fan page, so navigate on over there now!

New Post up on Black Gate

I just posted on the Black Gate website about my book tie-in jewelry. Head on over there to see pictures of the different "drafts" I did of pieces, including an alternate front cover of the Magick Book pendant that Stephanie Burgis passed on.

An excerpt from the post:

I’ve produced three designs, a pendant that I released at the same time that Kat, Incorrigible hit bookstores, a pair of earrings that debuted at the launch party for the second book, A Tangle of Magicks (this will be released as Renegade Magic in the US next year), and a charm bracelet that just went on the market about an hour before I sat down to write this post. One might ask, how big is the market for book tie-in jewelry like this? I have no idea. Ask me in a year or two. What I can talk about, though, is how we started this venture.

Head on over to www.blackgate.com to read the rest!

A Tangle of Magicks by Stephanie Burgis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Kat Stephenson is back, and this time she and her sisters and brother are in Bath, where Stepmama hopes to find a suitable match for Angeline. Never mind that Angeline has already found her true love; his mother has put paid to that union. Kat would love to have her sister's ear, but Angeline isn't speaking to her. For that matter, neither are the Guardians after Kat loses her temper in front of their leader.

There is strange magic around the baths that give the English west country town its name, though, and Kat's in the unique position to see more than a girl her age ought. Someone is tapping into this ancient and devastating power, and will Kat be able to get the attention of either her sister or the Guardians before it's too late?

Yes, I know it isn't out yet, but I have connections, what can I say? Given I know a lot of writers and have access to more books than anyone can read in a lifetime, it's notable that I finished this book in two days - and that felt like too long because I really wanted to just sit and read it all on the first day.


View all my reviews

Coming up for air

Been ages since I've just sat down and blogged. As I've said before, I've been working overtime on my Etsy shop. Ever since starting it back up, after the birth of my second son, I've been hard at work restocking it and getting involved with the Etsy community. Slowly my work seems to be paying off. I'm getting more views and a few sales.

The most exciting item, from my perspective, is this:

The Magick Book pendant from Stephanie Burgis's A Most Improper Magick/Kat, Incorrigible. You can buy the pendant on its own, or, if you act fast, with a signed copy of A Most Improper Magick.


So, yes, that's what's been happening in jewelry world for me. As far as writing, goes, I'm working on a short story right now, an feeling like those ten years I've been trying and failing to write short stories are starting to pay off. I kinda sorta know what I'm doing and hope to produce another publishable piece. The novel project I had I've shelved for the moment to see if I can do some more, sellable, short stories.

Ten years ago, I graduated from Clarion West and the plan was to start selling short stories to the major markets and thus get a little attention, maybe have an agent ask if I had a novel. Five years later, my writers group in New Mexico convinced me to turn back to novels, since my short stories were really awful. My novels weren't fantastic either, but they got me on a first name basis with some agents and editors. Then I sold a novel to a small press, and discovered it wasn't worth it to publish with a company I didn't trust or respect.

And somewhere along the way, my subconscious figured out how to do short stories. Sort of. I hope. Now I find myself back where I was ten years ago, wondering if I can build up my reputation by selling short stories. We shall see.

Last day for entries to the giveaway

Over 45 people have entered the drawing for the Magick Book Pendant + Signed Copy of A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis, and this contest will close tonight, at midnight GMT. So there's still time to enter!

Then tomorrow, at 8pm, GMT, I will list 3 pendants with signed copies of A Most Improper Magick in my Etsy store. Those will sell on a first come, first served basis. After that, anyone who'd like a pendant, or a pendant with a copy of the book, will be able to place an order through my Etsy store, or my Folksy store - the price will be the same in both places. If you know you want a pendant and would like me to reserve one for you in the next casting, which will happen later this week, please contact me via email (emilymtippetts at gmail dot com), through Etsy or Folksy, or through the event I'm posting on my company's Facebook Fan Page right now.

And thanks, everyone, who's entered so far! 

Kat, Incorrigible Jewelry Giveaway!

Hi everyone! Today is the day that Stephanie Burgis is giving away one of the pendants I designed. It's the Magick Book from Kat, Incorrigible. Head on over to her blog, http://stephanieburgis.livejournal.com/233924.html, to enter. And then, late next week, it will be for sale in my Etsy shop.  

I'm starting to get why fashion companies do collections

So, I obviously haven't been blogging much lately. This week my parents are in town and I decided to work overtime to get ahead on my Etsy shop and bank a bunch of jewelry that I can list daily for a week or two. Which means I've been staring at my Etsy shop a lot, and thinking about what I mean to do with this thing.
You see, I started making jewelry purely as a hobby. It was a way to let off steam, burn some creative energy, and I really enjoy it. The Etsy shop started as a way to make a little money back, maybe make this a self sustaining hobby.

Then I started taking courses at London Jewellery School. It started with one, then another, then I finally took a deep breath and decided that since I loved it so much, I should just keep going. I stopped trying to pay for classes out of my jewelry income and instead dipped into my savings. I stopped trying to plan to earn the tuition cost back in the next few months or year, but rather decided to take the long view. Eventually I will earn it back, as it appears this isn't just a passing hobby. This is a part time job.

Learning new jewelry making techniques feels to me like I'm a kid in a candy store, constantly discovering new kinds of candy. I've experimented with all sorts of things and gone in so many different directions, and listed it all in my Etsy store. Then a new stress started. I could see that my store is so eclectic that I was hurting my chances of establishing a brand, but I didn't want to limit myself. I was having too much fun being eclectic.

This week, I sat down and rearranged both my store and my mind. I realized that even though I'm eclectic, my jewelry does fall into categories. I've got all my sparklies, or crystal and glass bead pieces, my minimalist chainmaille or wire roses and rosettes, my Jewelry Affaire featured lucite flower bead pieces, and my newest style, the sterling and fine silver. Then I've also been doing some wedding jewelry. That's still a lot of different looks, but at least I can actually pull together categories. Once I rearranged my shop into these sections, I had links to five differnt consistent looking sub-shops.

Now, many people on Etsy would literally open five shops. But if I did that, there is no way I could maintain my Folksy Shop, my Artfire Shop, and my Wedding Bliss Lane Shop. Odds are high that I won't keep all of these shops long term, but for now I want to get a feel for the different venues and see which other ones, besides Etsy, are a good fit for me.

While on one hand I do understand that it helps to have a strong theme and evoke a certain, focused response when people browse to my shop, on the other hand, I really felt that there is a place in this world for jewelry stores with several different lines by different artists, so why not a store with all the different sides of me in it? And then I had an a-ha moment that many established jewelers and artists and designers will mock me for taking so long to get to. Now I understand one of the main reasons why so many artists and designers work in series. You get the chance to be one way for a while, and provide consistency for your customer and all that, but then you get to change it up regularly.

Given that, I've figured out a new game plan for my store. I'm still going to do whatever I feel like, crafting wise, but I'll list and relist items daily in one category at a time. I.e. I'll do all glass bead and crystal for a while, then switch over to silver for a while, etc. This way whenever someone goes to my store, they won't be hit with a mishmash of randomness, but will rather see a cohesive theme and look. They'll be able to more easily decide whether they want to come back and if they stay and browse, they'll have an idea of what they're browsing for.

So, yes, all you visual artists out there can laugh at me now. I learn slowly :-) My next project, set up the release of the Magick Book pendant in April, when Kat, Incorrigible comes out. I'm having the master made right now and my goal is to get a pendant to Stephanie Burgis in time for a giveaway on April 5! So yes, there will also be a book jewelry section of the shop too. I have a short attention span when it comes to handcrafting. That's why I turned to jewelry in the first place, each project is small and I can finish it in a day.