Periodically people (debela, particularly) want to know what it takes for me to be satisfied/impressed/pleased with myself/my accomplishments.

Here is the answer:

My first book came out 4 years, 6 weeks ago. Including the comics as one unit, what you see there are 15 books with my name on ‘em.

Today, I am officially impressed with myself.

(x-posted from the essential kit)

Here’s the really, really, really important part:

Gambit didn’t suck!

Also, stay through the credits.

(x-posted from the essential kit)

Oh my GOD. I thought these were going to arrive today. I don’t know *why* I thought so, but I did.

I have got in my hot little hands the mass market paperback releases of THE WALKER PAPERS.

BHAHAHAHAHAH!

I am excited beyond *belief* to have these books. They’re in the stores June 1, and they’re the first mass market releases under the C.E. Murphy name, so even if they’re reprints I’m BAHAHAHAHAHH!

…there are 48 copies of each. What in God’s name am I going to do with this many books?

AHAHAHAHAHAH!

In celebration, the cover of WALKING DEAD and the first chapter are ( behind the cut. :) )

(x-posted from the essential kit)

Okay. So there’s the Chance announcement.

Then there’s news from my editor at Del Rey: THE QUEEN’S BASTARD has gone back to press for a fourth printing.

And then to ice the cake, it is my utter delight to announce that Del Rey has bought two more books from me: TRUTHSEEKER, a paranormal romance, and an untitled sequel, for mass market paperback release (probably) in 2010.

I believe this might just be a banner day.

(x-posted from the essential kit)

Ladies and gentlemen, I am *exceedingly* pleased to announce, at long, long last, the official launch date of my comic book, “Take A Chance”.

Dabel Brothers Publishing, in conjunction with artist Ardian Syaf (”The Dresden Files”), colorist Jason Embury (”Hero By Night”, “Shadowhawk”), letterer Melissa S. Kaercher (”Dr. Blink, Superhero Shrink”), cover artist Scott Clark (”X-Men”, “Stormwatch”), and writer C.E. Murphy (”The Walker Papers”, “The Negotiator Trilogy”) bring you “Take A Chance”, a superhero comic series about Frankie Kemp, aka “Chance”, a woman who loses her son to gang violence and turns vigilante to save other children.

Those of you who’ve been reading for a while know that “Take A Chance” is a pet project of mine that I’ve been working on for over five years, mostly for love of the game. Seeing it realized is one of the most mind-blowing things I’ve ever done. I’ve had the good fortune to work with some incredibly talented people over the last few years, and I very literally wouldn’t have been able to do this without them. I owe all of you guys–Ardian, Jason, Melissa, and Scott, as well as the Dabels and my agent–a huge debt of thanks.

Back when I started this, I said that if I ever got Chance published, that I’d turn first issue into a fundraiser for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Now I’m putting my money where my mouth is.

50% of any proceeds I make (after paying my phenomenal team what they deserve) from the first issue of Chance will go to the CBLDF. The remaining money will be turned back over into producing further issues of the comic book. When the first six are collected into trade format, 10% of my proceeds on that will also go to the CBLDF, which means at the end of the day, I’m making no profit at all on that issue. I would dearly love to see the CBLDF profit enormously, though, so I hope you’ll spread the word.

Issue #1 of “Take A Chance” will be out in December 2008. It’s in this week’s Previews and available for pre-orders. I’ll get an order form with all the relevant details already filled in so you can just print it out, but please do talk to your comic shop owners, your friends, even your big box stores, who might be convinced to carry an independent monthly comic if there’s enough interest shown in it.

A very large version of the Previews ad (complete with a typo I hope didn’t make it into the actual ad) ( behind the cut: )

(x-posted from the essential kit)

When I said I was going to go write, I decided to first go lie down for a 10 minute nap. The 10 minute nap lasted an hour. When I staggered upright again, Ted announced that wisdom was the better part of valor and that I should read a book and go to bed instead of writing and going to the dead dog party. I think Ted is a very wise and clever man, and will be going to bed as soon as it no longer seems embarrassingly early to do so. Let me tell you, falling back two weeks in a row is rather confusing.

Some highlights from the weekend that I've forgotten to mention:

* apparently last night we left too early. jaylake and kenscholes led the entire bar in a resounding "Happy Birthday" sing-along in honor of our mutual agent, arcaedia, who (in a fit of something far from her usual shy and retiring ways) got up on the chair and blew kisses and took bows and allowed everyone to admire the Best Agent Evar as they all ought to do. :) I wish we hadn't missed that, but man, I think I was asleep by the time it happened. :)

* the dress was an enormous success. I wore it at the booksigning Friday night and many, many people complimented me on it, and when I told them my mom'd made it, admired her skill. :) So that was good. :)

* Although we've been at several cons together now, WFC GoH Kim Newman and I had never actually met, so today when I saw him sitting alone I went over and rectified that, and when I said I was Catie Murphy he said, quite cheerfully, "I know who you are!" which somehow surprised me. :) I mean, of course I knew who he was, but the idea that I'd somehow managed to come onto his radar just seemed unlikely somehow. But, in fact, he not only knew who I was, but immediately said, "So since you're following in my footsteps, I expect you'll be the guest of honor at World Fantasy next year," which made me laugh and suggest he might have to talk to somebody to make that happen. :) (He was 2007's GoH at P-Con in Dublin, you see, and I'm 2008's GoH. :)) So we had quite a nice chat, really, and...gosh. Wow. :)

* We met kenscholes, who has just sold his first book (first five books, in fact!) and who was the most ebullient human in the history of ebullience. Watching him float around the con was just utterly splendid. :)

* I re-met several people from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, including the always-wonderful Carol Berg, whom my husband did the Silent Squee over. We also met David Drake, who said, "Hi, I'm David," and shook Ted's hand and a few seconds later Ted saw his nametag and saw it was DAVID *DRAKE*, FOR GOD'S SAKE, and turned to me with the Silent Squee look again. I love it. I introduced him (Ted) to Paula Duran of Juno Books as well, and because Ted is every bit as happy as I am that Juno bought and published the third book in Gail Dayton's (fantastic, IMHO) COMPASS ROSE trilogy after it was dropped by Luna, he had the chance to tell her how completely thrilled he was that they'd made the choice to do that. Made both Paula and Ted very happy. :)

* Speaking of Ted, damned near everybody who met him came up to me at some point and told me how wonderful he was and how well I'd chosen and how glad they were he'd come with me. *beams*

* suricattus and I had a great talk before and at dinner Saturday night. That was a lot of fun. :)

* we had lunch (and dinner, in fact!) with Tamara Siler Jones and her friend Michele (and, at dinner, also Susan and possibly Jeff and I've forgotten the other woman's name, bad me), which was utterly lovely. Tammy's just a sweetie and it was great to see her again. *beams*

* we ran into oneminutemonkey, who spent all of *last* WFC trying to hunt me down only to find me at the last minute, very early on, and several more times throughout the weekend, so we got to talk quite a bit, which was very cool.

* We re-connected with Larry Smith, a bookseller we met at I-Con in 2006. He sold out of the CE Murphy books he had on the first day. For the rest of the weekend, Maria at Flights of Fantasy (the bookseller who provided books for the Zombies party) had me signing books and was apparently selling them like hotcakes (I must've signed forty or more books for her, and she kept going back to the store to get more!)

* Ekaterina Sedia's accent was definitely a highlight worth mentioning. :) We didn't actually meet her, but we went to one of her panels and were just sitting there listening to her (not really heavy at all, but just heavy *enough*) Russian accent on words like "complicated". It's like listening to slovobooks say "stuff". I just can't get enough of it. :)

* arcaedia still owes us a dinner, because it turns out the place we went was, she thinks, the worst restaurant she ate at all weekend! We had a great time tearing it apart, though! :)

Okay. It's late enough to go to bed now, and so I shall. :)