Sarah Monette's Blog, page 96

FYI: Virtu

Right now, The Virtu is out of print in both hardback and paperback. My editor is trying to get it into the POD program Ace is starting up, and my agent is making a formal protest on my behalf to Ace Books. But unless and until Ace changes their mind (or the rights revert to me and I figure out what to do to make the book available), you're going to have to look for it used or remaindered.

Yes, this also means the Google Book Settlement is, hello, extremely concrete and personal right at the mome

Locus Award finalists

The finalists for the 2009 Locus Awards have been announced, including, in the short story category, "Boojum" by matociquala and me.

(That thing about the honor being in the nomination? We're in there with Peter Beagle. PETER! BEAGLE! ELEVENTY-ONE!!!)

Congratulations to all the other nominees!

Also, congratulations to the Nebula and Tiptree winners!

so here's the thing

Odyssey Con was excellent, and I stayed up much too late both Friday and Saturday night. Next weekend is Penguicon, which I expect will repeat both the excellence and the lack of sleep. In between, I'm tired, and the world feels like an awful lot of work.

So I think Q&A will stay on hiatus until sometime in early May (yes, there are lots more questions still to go), and there may not be much in the way of other posts this week either.

It's a big internet. Go have fun.

IPSTWD--the day on which it is the custom of my people to offer up free fiction on the internet

It is, in no particular order:

1. Shakespeare's birthday (observed).
2. International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Wretch Day
3. The day before Odyssey Con.

In celebration of 1 and 2, and to provide you all something to do while I am largely afk due to 3, I am posting the three scenes from Corambis that I most regret having to cut. None of them furthers the plot in any way. One, which you've seen before if you've been reading the Q&As, is a conversation between Felix and Mildmay about philosophers an

Q&A 18

Q: What books/authors would you recommend to people who like your books?

A: As the querent surmised, this is kind of a tricky one. But I'm going to take a stab at answering it by listing the authors who write the kind of stories (and the kind of prose) I want to write. (N.b.(1), this is not an exhaustive list. N.b.(2), this is not the same as a list of authors I enjoy reading (or did, when I could still read fiction easily) or of authors I admire. Ursula K. Le Guin, for instance: I admire her pas

Q&A 17

But first, I have a question for all of you.

Dreamwidth? Y|N|WTF


Q: Why do bad things happen to gay characters? Specifically Gideon, Felix and Isolfr (I know he's not gay, but bad (well, dubious consent) gay related things things happen to him. And uninformed, modern observers would have trouble recognizing his not-gayness).

If you've answered this in the first round (I know you've explained several times why bad things happened to Felix in Melusine), perhaps you could comment generally on it, espe

Good news!

accessiblehouse is succeeding!

And both my auctions are still open--among many other shiny auctions, including a signed ARC of the reissue of Bone Dance by Emma Bull ( coffeeem); the dedication of Emma's new novel, Chill--excuse me, I am confusing my Bear and my Bull: Emma's new novel is Claim; Tuckerization in Shadow Unit ; and "The Rose of the Vineyards," one of the fabulous elisem's fabulous necklaces. These auctions will be closing April 25th at noon CDT. My items are:
signed set of the hardback

Q&A 16

We're starting with one that somehow wandered into the Q&A post from the last round, because if I don't, I will forget about it.

Q: What's the difference between being a kept-thief and being a pack kid? I get the idea that there are (as English comp. students like to say) "Both similarities and differences," but I'm hazy on exactly what the similarities and differences are. It's clear enough that Margot the pack-leader is a mostly-good guy while Kholkis and Felix's Keeper are bad guys, but are th

5 things

1. My dreams are becoming densely narrative again. (Not necessarily coherent, mind you, but narrative.) This is a good sign.

2. Embarrassing confession #1: I really like "All I Need Is A Miracle" (Mike + the Mechanics). Although I like it better when it's about the desperate band manager finding the billionaire's beloved mopdog (as in the video) than when it's about a guy realizing he's been an asshole.

3. Embarrassing confession #2: I was being super-organized this afternoon: paying the electric

Q&A 15

Q: Where did Mildmay get his name from, in story? I know where his first name comes from, but where did he get the fox epithet from, and why? I'm guessing it has to do with him becoming a more established assassin, but how does that automatically equal fox?

A: Mildmay is called "the Fox" partly because his cheekbones give him a foxish look (and, of course, once the dye is stripped out, his hair is fox-colored, but nobody (except Kolkhis) knows that when they start calling him the Fox, so it's jus