The Imago Machine #4: Those Mandatory Thirty Seconds of Stage Fright (One Week Until Launch, Where To Find Me, and How to Receive a Prize)
THE IMAGO MACHINE #4 - MARCH 17, 2019
I write to you late on the night of March 17, with terrible true crime shows on the television (bless the Oxygen channel for transforming itself into All Murder All The Time, this is precisely what I needed in my late evenings), which means it is slightly over a week until A Memory Called Empire is released. (Go on, preorder it here.) This is both terrifying and at this point so inevitable that it's crossed over into a weird serene place that I have previously associated with the phrase 'surrender to the travel god' -- the act of knowing that whether you will arrive at your destination on time is no longer at all your responsibility, but that of the vast machinery of the weather, FAA regulations, and random chance. I have arrived in the place where I am surrendered unto the publishing god. This thing is going to happen, and it is going to happen soon, and my responsibility is to hang on, ride through, and let the weather and random chance carry me home.
Hopefully the FAA will not be overly involved.
There's a state of terror that I know very well: those thirty seconds right before I get on stage. The stage doesn't matter -- academic conference, convention panel, choral performance. It's the same terror, and it lasts the same amount of time, no matter what. It's not stage fright in the strict sense. I haven't -- yet -- ever 'dried', forgotten my lines, panicked or run. One time before a partial differential equations exam I threw up in a bathroom, but that's about as bad as it's ever gotten, and that was back in college. Usually I have thirty seconds of vile horror, complete nerves to the point of shaky hands and racing heart, and then I'm doing the thing and everything is very clear and absolutely great and I'm flying. I love being on stage, really. Once I get there.
This whole week is the mandatory thirty seconds of terror. Right alongside the surrender to the publishing god. One week left, and then this story I made is free of my hands and alive in the world, independent of me. And I get to go on book tour to help it rise.
DID I MENTION THE BOOK TOUR?
Between March 26 (release day!) and the end of May, I am going to be in ... places. Many places. This is the current list, as best as I know it, but you can always check out Appearances & Events on my website to see where I'll be next and specifics on times and schedules. But here is where I'm going to be.
MARCH 26 - BALTIMORE - The Ivy Bookshop - 7 PM - Launch party and reading, followed by discussion with Vivian Shaw on creative partnerships.
MARCH 28 - JERSEY CITY - WORD Jersey City - 7:30 PM - Ancestral Night + A Memory Called Empire:Elizabeth Bear and I will read from our new books, then have a conversation about the legacy of women who have written space opera and the state of the genre today.
APRIL 3 - NEW YORK CITY - The Strand - 7:30 PM - Come to the second floor art department of the Strand to hear me talk about A Memory Called Empire with Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M.
APRIL 4 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Solid State Books - 7 PM - "Political Protest in Speculative Fiction", a discussion with Malka Older.
APRIL 13 - SAN FRANCISCO - Writers With Drinks - a reading & performance, m.c.'d by Charlie Jane Anders, featuring Saskia Vogel, Peng Shepherd, Arkady Martine, Michelle Cruz Gonzales, Mike Chen, and Susannah Breslin.
APRIL 17 - NEW YORK CITY - KGB Bar - 7 PM - reading at the Fantastic Fiction monthly series at the KGB Bar, alongside Nathan Ballingrud.
APRIL 24 - BALTIMORE - Charm City Spec - 7 PM - a reading, alongside Sarah Pinsker and Justina Ireland.
APRIL 26-27 - LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas Literary Festival - appearance at the 16th Annual Arkansas Literary Festival in Little Rock (further details to come!)
MAY 11-12 - MINNEAPOLIS - Wordplay Festival - appearance at the first annual Wordplay Festival (further details to come!)
MAY 18 - GAITHERSBURG - Gaithersburg Book Festival - appearance at the Gaithersburg Book Festival (further details to come!)
MAY 24-26 - BALTIMORE - Balticon - I'll be on programming at Balticon 53 (further details to come!)
Please do come to any event near you, or if I'm not coming to somewhere near you, I hope to see you in the future when we do coincide.
... also, if you come to these events, you might be able to walk off with entertaining prizes ... or you could simply continue reading and receive a prize in other ways...
BOOK GIVEAWAY ...
WITH BONUS ARTIFACTS (IMPORTED DIRECTLY FROM THE TEIXCALAANLI EMPIRE!)
All 117 of you people who have willingly signed up to receive letters on a semi-monthly basis from me -- this is for you, in thanks for being here at the very beginning. I'm going to give away three copies of A Memory Called Empire, signed and inscribed, along with some ephemera from the universe of the book ... because if you can't create your space empire's objects to help launch your book, when can you?
What you get:
A book, signed, and inscribed as you wish
An infofiche stick, containing some bonus material from the Teixcalaan universe
a bookmark and a sticker
Teixcalaanli-themed chocolates (if you're in the continental United States)
Here's how to win the giveaway:
Send an email to arkady.martine@gmail.com with your name, your favorite number, and your favorite noun (nouns can be plants, objects, or phenomena) ... that is, your name and your Teixcalaanli name!
I will randomly draw three numbers on March 27th.
If your number is drawn, I'll ask for your mailing address, how you'd like your book inscribed, and what flavors of Teixcalaanli chocolate you'd like (chocolate sadly won't survive customs, so the chocolate part of the giveaway is only good for people in the United States).
Until next time, o my friends: hang on, here we go.