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Over at Making Light, Debra Doyle and Jim Macdonald have posted about their brand-new “alternate-historical fantasy” novel, Lincoln’s Sword.  They discuss the genesis of their novel, as well as some of the pitfalls of writing alternate history with fantastical elements.

It will come as no surprise to some folks that the writing of fantasy alt-history novels is a topic of no small interest to me.  So I was absolutely delighted to see Debra’s discussion about what it’s like to tackle such a project. 

In their case, Doyle and Macdonald took up the American Civil War, as opposed to the Second World War in Bitter Seeds.  Even so, Doyle’s discussion had me jumping for joy.  Because she’s right on the money.  I’ve heard exactly the same set of objections since the publication of Bitter Seeds.   And her take on the subject is pretty much the same as mine.

Below the cut: Testify!

Prior to last weekend, I spent the past month (or two) quietly—or not so quietly, depending on whom you ask—freaking out over Necessary Evil, the third and final Milkweed novel.  I knew, for years before I started writing it, everything that had to transpire in this book.  And, for the most part, how all those events had to unfold.   

And yet, it has also been the hardest of the three Milkweed books to write.  And that took me by surprise.  I knew for a long time that this book would be a little different. But it wasn’t until I started writing Necessary Evil that I truly understood something that other novelists have told me time and again:  writing a novel teaches you how to write (or not write) that novel.  It doesn’t necessarily teach you how to write the next one.  It gives you the benefit of experience and hones your skills along the way, but it’s quiet on the details. 

Bitter Seeds was difficult because it required so much setup (exacerbated by the fact that the story relies on two weird things and is set in a well-known historical period).  Coldest War was a little easier, and probably for me the most fun of the three.  Necessary Evil has been a thicket from beginning to end.

So I felt a tremendous weight leave my shoulders this weekend, when on Sunday evening I finally found myself writing the second to last scene of the trilogy.

Well, actually, this isn’t a brand-new story, since I wrote it last winter, and the sale has been more-or-less official for several months.  But I’m finally free and clear to announce it to the world!

So.  I’m downright delighted to announce that I’ll have a story appearing in After Hours: Tales From the Ur-Bar, an anthology edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray, and to be published by DAW in March 1, 2011.  (Hey, that’s just a month after the scheduled release date for Milkweed #2, The Coldest War. [Edit: Coldest War is now scheduled for October, 2011.])

To celebrate, Patricia is running Ur-Bar Bingo on her blog.  Match the authors to their story synopses to win fame and fortune!  (If you want a hint, Josh has posted the table of contents here.  The story titles might help.)  Though, people familiar with some of my other projects will find it easy to figure out which description applies to my own particular contribution.

The European Space Agency’s Planck mission released its first all-sky map the other day.