Hi all! I have a new patreon post up. Authors definitely need an online presence, but without a book deal, what do you put on it? Click here to read!
It’s free to view with a (free) follow or a subscription at any level. Please help spread the word to clients and writer friends if you think it’ll be helpful for them. 🙂
This book introduces ethical relationship concepts in an engaging way. The narrator is a smart and honest teen trying to do her best at school, at work, and for her loved ones. Her struggles with heartbreak, long-distance love, bullying, and prejudice will resonate with any reader. Highly recommended for its modeling of conversations concerning love, sex, and consent. Also highly recommended for its easy, casual inclusion of queerness and disability. Be aware that there is explicit sexual content.
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It’s not impossible to write and publish a great young-adult novel that centers on a polyamorous relationship.
It’s improbable.
Gabrielle Harbowy nailed it.
One of things I like best about this book–aside from the dry wit and the deep sweetness–is the naturalistic placement of high-school polyamory into a world where high-school polyamory has consequences. And especially the fact that the consequences are not lazily predictable ones.
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I bought a copy for my classroom, since we do SSR and ninth graders are always forgetting their “fun books.” It made its rounds of girls, and then a couple of boys. Now it has gone missing, so I hope it connected with someone who needed to feel seen. Time to buy another copy!
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It takes a certain sort of book to really capture the chaotic emotional turmoil of youth, but Hearts are Jerks meets the challenge with finesse and enthusiasm, instilling its tale of a heroine just trying to be happy and make her loved ones happy with dramatic verisimilitude. The characters are believably young and unwise, and make foolhardy decisions with the best of intentions, never expecting the harshness of real life to crash down on them.
The novel confronts and challenges the difficulties of its sometimes heavy subject matter with seriousness and grace. Too often we dismiss bullying and harassment as “harmless” or “don’t feed the trolls”, but this story shows us that sometimes such actions have real consequences for everyone involved, and it’s extremely cathartic to see.
Also, ethical polyamory rules. 🙂
I learned a great deal from this book, and I hope you will too.
I’m so pleased to participate in Can*Con Online — it’s one of my favorite conventions, and this year I can be a small part of it without the travel to Ottawa (though being in Ottawa is one of my favorite parts, too!).
You can register at https://can-con.org/cancon-virtual/ to attend this panel and a whole day of exciting literary programming!
I’m pleased to announce my promotion at Corvisiero Literary Agency to Literary Agent Apprentice. I am now able to start signing clients and building my list, and I am accepting queries! Please click here to see my full wishlist.
I don’t have my own query box at this time, so when you query me, it will show as querying Marisa Corvisiero. This is correct! Just address your query to me (“Dear Gabrielle” is sufficient) and it will be routed to me. Please don’t list me in the referral field, just in the query letter field. Unaddressed queries are assumed to be for Marisa.
Please don’t query multiple agents at Corvisiero. We share queries, so it isn’t necessary. Also, a no from one of us is a no from all. We do accept re-querying with the same manuscript after about 6 months, and only if the manuscript has undergone significant revision.
As an agency, we are currently not accepting novellas, short fiction collections, or poetry. My specific preferences (and that of our other agents) are available through the links above. If you think someone else is a better fit, I won’t be upset if you query them instead. We want you to find the best agent for your project!
Please don’t query by email, over social media, or through anything but the official channel. It’s important for record-keeping reasons and to make sure no queries fall through the cracks. We do read all queries and consider the sample pages.
Let the adventure begin!
I’m thrilled to announce that I’m now the Submissions Manager for THE OVERCAST, a podcast featuring “breathtaking speculative fiction from the Pacific Northwest and Beyond.” I’m leading a team of submissions readers to assist founder J.S. Arquin in discovering great stories to share with all of you.
Stop by and check it out at
http://theovercast.libsyn.com/ or https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-overcast/id982243225
And learn how to support The Overcast at https://www.patreon.com/overcast.
A beautiful new review of HEARTS ARE JERKS today from writer Deborah J. Ross!
Visit https://deborahjross.blogspot.com/2020/09/book-reviews-polyamory-is-great-place.html
In an unexpected plot twist, I’m now a licensed Life and Health Insurance Agent in the state of California. I’m doing this to help people, but please don’t think I’m giving up on writing and editing; on the contrary, I’m helping people while helping to fund future anthologies!
Writing-wise, I have a couple of short stories out on submission. I think one of them has passed the first-reader stage. I’m also still working on the rewrite of OF THE ESSENCE, which ended up on pause because *gestures vaguely at everything*.
Meanwhile, HEARTS ARE JERKS is starting to garner attention and some great Amazon reviews, though it could always use some more. It’s hard to believe it’s still the year in which that book came out. A lot has happened between February and now.
Gaming with Sigil Spotlight is on hold, but I’ll announce it here when it resumes. All the existing episodes are available on the “Sigil Spotlight” channel on YouTube.
Hope you’re all keeping safe and busy out there!
Total strangers played my D&D adventure last weekend at Winter Fantasy, a convention in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
And it’s up with credit on the official Waterdeep Adventures page:
Writing this adventure and working with the DDAL team has been such a learning experience! It’s exciting to see it start showing up on convention schedules, and I’m looking forward to running it, too.
If you want me to run it for your group, let’s chat!
I’m pleased to announce I’ll be signing GEARS OF FAITH at the Barnes & Noble in Palmdale, CA on Saturday, February 24 (2018) from 1pm – 4pm. If you’re in the area, please come out and say hi, get a book scribbled in, and enjoy some cafe treats!
So far, my query process has included two rejections, one request for the first fifty pages (followed by a rejection), and one enthusiastic request for the full manuscript from someone I would love to work with. The full manuscript request ended in a revise-and-resubmit invitation, with a ton of valuable feedback — all of which is dead on.
I’ve hired my long-time trusted editor to go over it for me, side by side with the agent’s feedback, so that my own blind spots don’t get in my way.
Meanwhile, I’ve submitted two new stories to short story markets. I’m currently working on a manuscript edit for a client, and an editing workshop/seminar to add to my repertoire.
Oh, and: Per my last post, converting an existing manuscript directly from first person to third person doesn’t work. At least, it didn’t work at all in this case. But I’ve discovered what my hard science fiction project actually needs, and that’s a full rewrite and present tense. It’s got a new first chapter now and it feels right.
And we keep moving forward, one word at a time. ❤
Gabrielle Harbowy 