Friday, August 24, 2012

the Foretold Anthology is almost out!



Look what came this morning! Real books of Foretold! Full title: Foretold: 14 Stories of Prophecy & Prediction. The awesome anthology which is also that first anthology I have ever been in, yay! Thank you, Carrie Ryan, for inviting me, and folks at Delacorte/Random House (especially Krista Marino) for publishing it, and with this gorgeous cover! I love it. 

My story is called Gentlemen Send Phantoms, and it is the first one in the book!!! ... which elicited some squeaks from me when I found out. I don't know why, but it did :-) 

This story was so much fun for me to write. It began back in -- I think -- 2006, when I had finished my first novel (Blackbringer) and was supposed to start on the sequel (Silksinger) but was afraid to, so I wrote short pieces instead. I started a writing blog with a blog friend in England, in which we posted weekly prompts, and then linked to them, and anyone could play. It's still going, though I dropped out after Clementine was born, finding I couldn't remember to do ANYTHING beyond feed the baby (and myself. Especially cheese and chocolate. Me, not the baby. Not directly, anyway.) So anyway, Gentlemen Send Phantoms was one of the stories that came out of those prompts, as were the three tales that made up Lips Touch, as were some of the key ideas in Daughter of Smoke and Bone, like the idea of a trader in teeth and wishes. 

I loved the "Gentlemen Send Phantoms" story so much, but it was only about 1000 words long, a wee little insubstantial thing, and it stayed that way for years. So when I was invited to contribute to an anthology on prophecy & prediction, I thought YAY I CAN EXPAND GENTLEMEN YAY YAY YAY! And I did, to a hefty 10,000ish, and loved every second of it. It's probably the sweetest thing I've ever written. It's kind of a lollipop, and it begins ...

Once, when the moon was younger than it is tonight and not as plump, three girls gathered by a hearth to bake a dreamcake.

Baking a dreamcake is a St Faith's Day ritual to glimpse the phantom of the man you'll marry and "know some of what life holds in its basket for you." The problem: these three friends all hope to see the same phantom, the one belonging to Matty Blackgrace. Will any of them be so lucky? Read and see!

I must confess to not yet having read the other stories in the collection (I got my ARCs not long ago) but I am so excited to read them! So many fabulous authors! I hope you will check it out.




Since you aks, it comes out TUESDAY and can be found ...

a) at an indie bookstore near you
d) Amazon

THANK YOU!!!







11 comments:

Holly said...

Can't wait to see it! I've been hearing good buzz already. :)

Kate said...

WOW!!! So excited now!!!! I hadn't known it was coming out!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Awesome!!!!!!! Just helped make my day! :) :) :)

June G said...

Honestly, I wouldn't have given this book a second thought, but since you're in it, I'm interested! I'm sure the other stories are good too :-)

claudine giovannoni said...

I'm so happy for you :-)
I'll try to get it here in Switzerland, otherwise I ask my airline-friends to buy it in the USA!
Thank you so much for posting...
Have an awesome day
:-)claudine giovannoni
http://annwynsecret.wordpress.com

Diana Peterfreund said...

Hi, Laini!

I am making my way through the stories in Foretold (in between revisions) and I'm so glad you started the antho. Your story is such a delightful confection, given that so many of us went dark dark dark...

Brenna said...

I need to go buy this.

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Pronto!

Anonymous said...

I don't normally read anthologies, but I'm definitely getting "Fortold" because I must have ALL THE LAINI TAYLOR WORDS! I wish I could read more stories from your writing prompts.

Can you link the writing prompt site?

Unknown said...

So excited for this!

Anonymous said...

I hope it's at the library

Anonymous said...

I loved this story! It was so cute and inventive.

One question though- where is the website with the writing prompts? I would love to join in!

Adrienne said...

I purchased the anthology as my birthday present to myself.

I read your story first. Yay! The ideas of women who turn into animals on their death and gentlemen who send their phantoms out to the girls they love made this a shivery Anne of Green Gables world. Delighted.

Skipped ahead to Carrie Ryan's piece about the murderous gardener. Trying to decide what to read next.

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