Category Archives: The Space Between

It Is Way too Early to Start a Countdown

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Okay, yes. I already know I’m getting ahead of myself. But here’s the thing. I just did the release-date math, which is, in and of itself, kind of impressive because I resent math a lot (even though I understand on an intellectual level that it’s valuable because we need bridges and roads and shortbread recipes).

Here is what I discovered: The Space Between comes out in exactly 168 days. That is 24 weeks. That is less than six months. That’s heart-stoppingly close and incredibly far AT THE SAME TIME. This is the kind of mysterious time-conundrum that really makes me wish I understood quantum physics. Although I’m given to understand that no one actually understands quantum physics. True? False? Do we know?

I don’t have ARCs yet. But I cannot wait until I do, because I’m already fantasizing possible teasers and contests and giveaways, because I just have to say, I’m having a really hard time waiting 168 days to share this book. Because I like it, you guys. It seems indecent to say it, because I—you know—wrote it, but I do. I like it a lot.

So, because today I am Impatient Girl and I really, really want to share something, I’m going to settle for sharing some music.

This is the song I listened to 1 billion times while I was in the end-stages of editing. There are a lot of songs that have been the anchor-song for The Space Between at various times and various stages, but this one is the most recent, and in my mind, that makes it the Official anchor song. At least until I decide the anchor song is actually something else. Because I am nothing if not capricious. (You’ll have to excuse the scrolling lyrics—this was the only video I could find.)

I Like My Coffee Black, Just Like My Metal

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I just want to say that I am no longer unreasonably caffeinated.

I was. For like a month.

Also, I cooked zero things, ignored all forms of social media, listened to my music way too loud, and neglected to brush my hair.

The payoff? The Space Between has gone to copyedits! Which is two steps off from becoming an actual book. (Okay, more like three or four. But whatever.) It’s so close, you guys—it’s almost there!

So, in celebration of reaching this not-insignificant milestone, and because I can’t share my cold Chinese food with the internet and you probably don’t want it anyway, I have something for you.

This is not actually me revealing a secret, because The Space Between is already listed on Amazon, so the thumbnail’s been floating around for awhile. But I wanted to hold off on sharing it here until I had a nice big shiny file and yesterday, my editor sent me one!

So, here is the cover for The Space Between. And it is perfect.

SpaceBetween

What is this pretty red (red, red) book about, you ask? Well, here is the official copy from Penguin:

Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped—and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible.

Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie’s whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

Now, all I need is an ARC—just one ARC, held in my greedy little hands—and it’s going to feel real. Like a real book. That is happening.

Okay, maybe I am still slightly caffeinated. That doesn’t change the facts:

  1. I wrote another book
  2. It is pretty
  3. It is red
  4. It is a love story (Because when you get right down to it, aren’t they all?)

Some Glorious, Glorious Things

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As is typical, I’m disgustingly behind in sharing all kinds of exciting news. Basically, the internet moves much faster than I do. So, in the interest of being timely and responsible, I’ve made a handy list!

1) Because she is much more organized than I am, Maggie has already announced this on her blog and named names and posted pictures of taxidermied animals, but I’m repeating it here for posterity: in February, I get to take part in a huge writing retreat, where I expect to hang out with a whole list of inestimably cool people and stay up late and drink too much black tea. There will be vlogging. If you post questions on Maggie’s blog, we will try very, very hard to answer them.

2) Dates and locations for the Breathless Reads tour have been announced! Directly after the retreat, I’ll be leaving for a five-stop tour with Ally Condie, Andrea Cremer, Kirsten Miller, and Beth Revis, and you can find all the pertinent details here on my website.

3) ALSO (as you may or may not know) my next book is due out this fall and I’m going to be so mean here in a second and you’re going to hate me.

Okay, here is me being mean: I just saw the cover mock-up, and I can’t show you. I can’t show anybody because it’s not even final yet.

But I will tell you this: I lovelovelove it—the concept and the composition and the color scheme and the font and everything—it’s perfect!

And this: It’s designed by Natalie Sousa, who did such an amazing job with the US cover for The Replacement. The actual photo shoot hasn’t even happened yet, so I expect it will be awhile before there’s an actual reveal, but it’s there, it’s happening, and it’s excellent. And because I don’t like being disagreeable, I will leave you with something to soften my meanness:

4) My second book is officially titled The Space Between.

It is about demons and love and self-destruction and more love. It’s about monsters and transformations and kissing and self-perception and all the things I like best. That is not a good description. Later, it will have an actual summary, but right now I’ll just finish by saying, I am so, so excited for it!

Drafting—Now With More Book-Two Action

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Wow, I’ve been lamentably internet-absent lately! But—this is okay, because it has a reasonable explanation, which I will explain.

I’m hard at work on Book Two, and I’d talk more about that if I thought I could come up with anything coherent, but sadly I can’t right now because drafting is one of those things that takes over a person’s life and makes one’s brain start to lock up if one were to think about anything that isn’t demon-related for more than, like . . . two seconds.

So, in lieu of coherent content, I will now share a tiny glimpse into the Book Two process. Apparently, it involves listening to these two songs fifty trillion time on repeat:

(It should be noted that because I am somewhere in the middle of all this, the character relationships are so weird right now that this juxtaposition actually makes sense. I swear.)

Also, check out this page of process notes,* because not only is it vaguely teaser-y, it also makes me look like a straight-up crazy person.

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Book Two

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It should come as no shock that I’m currently writing Book Two.

I mean, the realness of it is shocking—it surprises me pretty much every day—but the actual fact of the matter is, this is what people who write books do. They write books. (Yes, I’m still having a hard time getting over this.)

Book Two is hard to talk about. Book Two does not have a title. I love Book Two more than I have loved anything I’ve ever written. I’m not just saying that because it’s new and shiny and exciting—even though it is.

I can’t get specific, since I’m writing it and things change, but here are the parts that are inviolably true: it’s about demons and mortal peril and moral ambiguity, and like everything I’ve ever written, it is a love story.

In some ways, it’s the resurrected corpse of a different story I started a long time ago and then started again, and kept starting. In other more important ways, it’s brand spanking new. The old story had fun characters and interesting prose, and this one tiny little problem where I just never knew what to DO with it, and kept making a lot of different messes.

Now, I know. I mean, I know in a vague, urgent way that keeps me guessing and trying things and IMing tessagratton and saying things like What if I . . .? and Can I do that? Really?

What I’m saying is, I know in the best way possible.

Also, I have a playlist and the playlist is this:

July 2010, ETA—Lala apparently doesn’t exist anymore. So, no more playlist. For posterity, it was:

  1. Dropping Like Flies – Firewater
  2. Against All Odds – The Postal Service
  3. Prayer of the Refugee – Rise Against
  4. Caroline – Firewater
  5. Four Winds – Bright Eyes
  6. Hurt (Quiet) – Nine Inch Nails
  7. Whistling in the Dark – Firwater
  8. Sweet Dreams – Marilyn Manson
  9. Isle of Dogs – Firewater
  10. Mouth (Stingray Mix) Bush
  11. Laughing With – Regina Spektor

Tiny disclaimer: I do not make playlists based on what I like (although I do like a lot of these songs). My playlists are made up of songs that encapsulate characters and plot points and themes. They are like a photo-collage, only without cutting up magazines.

Also, a special note: This book would not exist at all without The Ponzi Scheme but I couldn’t put the whole album on the playlist, because that wouldn’t be a very good playlist. Then it would just be an album.