Would you please answer a myth or folklore question for me, or respond to some questions I have for a paper I'm writing?
In the past I did my best to help out with these requests, but alas, I have to say "no" to them right now. My time and energy is limited due to fragile health, and I'm conserving what I have for my own work. I suggest posting your questions to the Fairy Tale and Folklore Discussion Forum hosted by the excellent Surlalune Fairy Tales website. The forum is frequented by professional writers, fairy tale scholars, and devotees of myth and legend. If they can't help you, they may at least be able to point you in the right direction.
Would you please take a look at my writing or art and give me feedback on it?
Regretfully, I have to say "no" to these requests -- I just get too many of them, and my work time is already limited due to health constraints. But I can recommend a good online workshop for those wishing to work in the genre of fantasy literature: SFF Online Writing Workshop. Professional editors assist in the work, and there is online community support provided, along with market information. For American writers, I can also recommend the Clarion workshops, the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop, and the Wiscon convention writing workshops. In the UK, The Writers' Workshop offers information, advice, and critiques. Artists can often find useful information through The Society of Illustrators and The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Would you please give me advice on how to get my work published, how to find an agent, or suggest some markets for my work?
Again, regretfully, I have to say "no" because of the overwhelming number of such requests I'd have to answer otherwise. There are, however, many websites out there where you can find publishing news, information, practical advice, and market reports. Here are a few of them: The Speculative Literature Foundation, The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Scryptic Studios, The Critters Library Page of Writing Resources and Market Report Links, and The Market List. You'll also find some useful tips and links on Holly Black's Writers' Resources Page, Ellen Datlow's Writing Tips Page and Patricia C. Wrede's Fantasy World Building Page.
Can I hire you to read and edit my work?
I'm afraid not. I only do editorial work for publishing companies with whom I already have long-standing relationships.
I'd like to reprint (or otherwise make use of) an article, story, or artwork of yours. How do I go about getting permission?
Please see my Copyright & Permissions page, which has all the information you'll need.
Are you ever going to publish any more novels? I keep hearing that you are working on more fiction but nothing has come out yet...why?
Oh lordy, I get this question all the time! The honest answer is that I had a severe health crisis not long after The Wood Wife came out, and it's taken me all this time to climb back from it. I published five children's books during those years, loads of nonfiction on myth and folklore, co-edited many anthologies with Ellen Datlow and The Journal of Mythic Arts with Midori Snyder, so I wasn't idle even at my sickest...but writing adult fiction required a specific kind of energy and clarity of mind that I just didn't have for a long, long time. I'm better now, thank you, and I'm writing fiction again, but I still have health issues and set-backs that slow me down. I can only hope that what I'm writing now is worth the wait....
I've got two books in the pipeline: The Moon Wife, an adult novel set in England largely among the Pre-Raphaelites, which will come out from Tor Books, and Little Owl, a YA novel set in the Tucson mountains , from Viking -- but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer for them. I've also got a story (co-written with Ellen Kushner) in the new Borderland anthology, which will be out in from Random House in May 2011.
Plus I continue to create-&-edit anthologies regularly in collaboration with Ellen Datlow. Our next one is Teeth (dark fantasy for YA readers), to be published by Harpers in April 2011; and we're at work on After (dystopian fiction for YA readers) for Hyperion.
Will you ever write a sequel to The Wood Wife?
The forthcoming novel Little Owl, which I mentioned above, is connected to the characters and world of The Wood Wife, although I wouldn't call it a direct sequel. And some years ago I published a story titled "The Color of Angels" which is about Maggie Black's best friend Tat Ludvik. It appeared in two anthologies (first in The Horns of Elfland, later reprinted in Ravens in the Library), and can be read online here.
If you'd like to know more about some of the ideas behind The Wood Wife, I did a Question and Answer session about the book on Good Reads a while back; you can find it here.
Are there going to be any more Sneezle books?
There are no plans for any at the moment.
Are you ever going to collect and publish your "Folkroots" essays on myth and folklore in a single volume?
Yes! I'm working on that right now. When it's finished and I have concrete publishing information, I'll post it on my blog. In the meantime, a number of the essays can be read online here, in the archives of The Journal of Mythic Arts.
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