lishmcbride

The Value of Creative Work (A Rant in Blog Form)

I was actually going to write about something else today--what with you guys being on Patreon and supporting me, then clearly you're a big fan of putting your money where your heart is in regards to the art that you love.

But I'm at work, and there's this customer who comes in almost every week and whenever I see him my blood pressure spikes and I basically shut down because otherwise I'm going to say something unfortunate and lose my job. And I need my job.

The day after Christma...

You Make Me Feel So Young

New story! I wanted to post something a little more spooky than what I've been posting since it's October and all, so I thought perhaps you guys might enjoy a new story starring Sam. I'll post a new installment of MMHAA as soon as I can.

Hope you guys enjoy it!

Books You Should Put in Your Face

I thought I'd concentrate on graphic novels this go round because COMICS ARE AMAZING and you should read more of them.

It was my birthday a few weeks ago and as a present to myself I finally bought volume one of Giants Days. Then I bought volume two and consumed them both within 24 hours.

There's lots to love about this comic. It's funny. It's insightful. I love the art style, the color palette, and the characters. It's written by John Allison, a name many of you will know from his many,...

Make My Heart An Arrow Part 2

Let me know if you guys have any issues reading this installment! 

Books You Should Put in Your Face

So I'm going to write book rec posts occasionally and I will always make these posts public because, well, because I want you guys to read these books.  Today I'm going to talk about three titles.

First up is Jackaby, which I just now finally finished. I had started reading it ages ago and then my kid absconded with my copy and it just resurfaced. (I'm trying to decide if we should start calling his room the Pit of Despair, the Swamps of Sadness, or the Bog of Eternal Stench. It is not a ...

So Many Books...

I know what you're thinking--Lish, why are we looking at a picture of beat up bookshelves? 1) Because books are neat and 2) I'll explain.

This is the employee lounge at my local indie bookstore (and my current day job) Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA. And those books are all ARCs (Or Galleys or AREs as they are now sometimes called.) which stands for Advance Reader Copy. Basically, these are early editions of books--most of them one copy edit away from finished--that are sent to book...

Make My Heart an Arrow Part 1

So I divided the first story into two parts. I didn't do this to be a jerk or anything, but because the story I had in mind just kept...going. And as I hit page 20 I realized that it wasn't going to stop soon. So I had two choices--deliver a very large story late, or post it in bits. I decided to go with bits. I promise I won't make you wait a whole month for the rest of it, because that would be a jerk move. Hope you guys like it! I'm pretty excited about it--I've wanted to revisit Lena, Steve,...

Blog or Vlog topic!

Hello, team! Thanks again for your support. Cash money in our capitalistic society is great, but honestly it's also just nice to see support from my community. You guys are the best! Okay, so the majority of you have picked options that include a blog or vlog--I'll pick whichever option fits the topic best. I thought I'd check in and see if there are any topics you guys are interested in. Anything in particular you'd like to hear from me about? Book questions? Industry questions? Some third thin...

Tidbit for Story #1!

I thought I'd share a little tidbit from the draft (unedited) of the first story. Reminder that first payment goes out of your account tomorrow and the story will be posted by the 15th. I'm so excited about this, guys! Thanks for being my supporters.

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A thick padlock stood between me and the kennel. Of course, I didn’t have the key. It wasn’t my kennel. And from the muffled crashes coming from the cabin, now was not a good time to go search. Wuf sat next to me, a s...

Hey Team! I'm putting a free story up here. PLEASE READ MY POST BEFORE YOU JUMP INTO IT. 

First-why is this one up for all? Partially because I wanted to do a test run on how things work before I put up posts just for Patrons. I wanted to see how things look and if there were any issues.

Second-this isn't a new story. It's old-like from when I was in graduate school old, and it is unlike what I usually write.  It's a very quiet story and there's no magic or anything genre in it...

Heads Will Roll

http://www.tor.com/2012/11/28/heads-will-roll/

Hi, Team!

I should have a free little surprise for patrons soon, depending on whether or not we can get our internet functioning again at home. (They sent us a new router, failing to mention that you need a non-Mac computer to set it up. Why would anyone assume this?) But I wanted to get something up as a thank you to the people who jumped on this weird ex...