Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 10
June 28, 2023
The Gerould Family revisited
I've just put up on Kindle a second edition of The Gerould Family of New Hampshire: Two Diaries and a Memoir, incorporating a short autobiography by paterfamilias (and my great-great-grandfather) Rev. Moses Gerould. This came into my hands after I'd finished the e-volume, and it's taken me a while to decide what to do with it. It is not as tightly focused on the Civil War years as the other entries, but it has a couple of fascinating anecdotes about local pro- and anti-slavery factions, and fractiousness, in his New Hampshire community in the lead-up to the war.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9NV3D5M/
Instead it recounts Moses's long career as a congregationalist minister, which may be of interest to students of what I learn is dubbed by historians "The Second Great Awakening", a widespread 19th. C. religious revival movement. I think I learned more about the family from Cynthia's diary, which also puts a few of her transcribing marginalia in a sharper light.
I didn't change the title, since that would have involved redoing the cover. But my updated vendor page notes make this second edition pretty clear, I hope.
I would have liked to make it a simple update that folks who have already purchased a copy could just access like typo corrections, but the added verbiage exceeded the 10% limit for that. (The added ~9,500 words atop the original ~42,000 made it about 20%.) So I have ended up with two identical-looking editions in the Kindle store. I would delete the first to save confusion, but I'm afraid of old readers losing their copies thereby. If I figure out I can do this without damage, I might, for the sake of new purchasers -- which are about 2 a month, so, not a pressing issue.
Ta, L.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9NV3D5M/
Instead it recounts Moses's long career as a congregationalist minister, which may be of interest to students of what I learn is dubbed by historians "The Second Great Awakening", a widespread 19th. C. religious revival movement. I think I learned more about the family from Cynthia's diary, which also puts a few of her transcribing marginalia in a sharper light.
I didn't change the title, since that would have involved redoing the cover. But my updated vendor page notes make this second edition pretty clear, I hope.
I would have liked to make it a simple update that folks who have already purchased a copy could just access like typo corrections, but the added verbiage exceeded the 10% limit for that. (The added ~9,500 words atop the original ~42,000 made it about 20%.) So I have ended up with two identical-looking editions in the Kindle store. I would delete the first to save confusion, but I'm afraid of old readers losing their copies thereby. If I figure out I can do this without damage, I might, for the sake of new purchasers -- which are about 2 a month, so, not a pressing issue.
Ta, L.
May 22, 2023
old Ista interview
I realized the Vorkosigan Wiki generously gives me a place to permalink old material that was either never posted anywhere, or has fallen through the internet. Here's a blast from the past -- 2007, apparently.
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/Al...
Interesting to see what parts have aged (besides me) and what parts have not.
Ta, L.
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/Al...
Interesting to see what parts have aged (besides me) and what parts have not.
Ta, L.
April 10, 2023
Knot of Shadows shipping at last
From Subterranean Press:
https://subterraneanpress.com/newskno...
It should be trickling into bookstores and mailboxes later this week, or next depending on shipping speeds. Dreamhaven Books & Comics and Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore here in Minneapolis should both have it soon.
Ta, Lois.
4/12 -- My author's copies arrived today! Lookin' good. I'm pleased to report the type is very clear and readable despite not being the large print I use for reading ebooks -- generous spacing between the lines does the trick, I think. Very pretty (if, granted, pricey) collector's limited edition.
It had a print run of 1250 numbered copies, which means I signed about 1300 signature pages last winter. Not, thankfully, all at once. For those who don't know, sig pages for these things are sent separately to the author for signing, and then bound into the books at the printing plant.
L.
https://subterraneanpress.com/newskno...
It should be trickling into bookstores and mailboxes later this week, or next depending on shipping speeds. Dreamhaven Books & Comics and Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore here in Minneapolis should both have it soon.
Ta, Lois.
4/12 -- My author's copies arrived today! Lookin' good. I'm pleased to report the type is very clear and readable despite not being the large print I use for reading ebooks -- generous spacing between the lines does the trick, I think. Very pretty (if, granted, pricey) collector's limited edition.
It had a print run of 1250 numbered copies, which means I signed about 1300 signature pages last winter. Not, thankfully, all at once. For those who don't know, sig pages for these things are sent separately to the author for signing, and then bound into the books at the printing plant.
L.
March 3, 2023
new short interview
Karen Hunt, who runs the Vorkosigan Wiki as a fan activity, asked me for a little email interview for the site recently; it is now finished and posted.
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/In...
As with all fan Wikis, this one runs on volunteer labor, so folks interested in contributing should poke around and see what's up. It also hosts a very useful list of my prior interviews, and, now, a linkable copy of my reading-order guide.
Ta, L.
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/In...
As with all fan Wikis, this one runs on volunteer labor, so folks interested in contributing should poke around and see what's up. It also hosts a very useful list of my prior interviews, and, now, a linkable copy of my reading-order guide.
Ta, L.
February 9, 2023
Penric 4th combo title mulling
It occurred to me I could pull together a 4th Penric combo volume for foreign rights/translations sales even before "Knot of Shadows" runs through its year license period with SubPress. The shortish The Assassins of Thasalon plus the novella just about make up a nice book-market-friendly word count. But that, of course, leads to the perennial problem of a title, different from all the prior ones but clearly in a grouping.
This is all the more moot because foreign publishers, if any, all change the titles anyway, but it would be nice if the volume at least started out well-dressed.
So, Penric's [active-sounding plural noun]. "Adventures" is a bit bland, "Ventures" sounds a bit too much like "Travels", "Perils" is, um, no. Best I've come up with so far is Penric's Lessons, mm, maybe.
Anyone inclined to play is invited to chime in down in the comments.
Ta, L.
This is all the more moot because foreign publishers, if any, all change the titles anyway, but it would be nice if the volume at least started out well-dressed.
So, Penric's [active-sounding plural noun]. "Adventures" is a bit bland, "Ventures" sounds a bit too much like "Travels", "Perils" is, um, no. Best I've come up with so far is Penric's Lessons, mm, maybe.
Anyone inclined to play is invited to chime in down in the comments.
Ta, L.
February 6, 2023
link for Bujold reading-order guide
Another link for an up-to-date Bujold reading order guide is here:
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/Th...
Share as needed whenever the questions arise.
Ta, L.
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/Th...
Share as needed whenever the questions arise.
Ta, L.
January 30, 2023
Knot of Shadows hc releases soon
Later: Word on the Street (or at least from Uncle Hugo's) is that SubPress now doesn't expect to be printing this novella till the end of February, for release early March. I'm glad I wasn't more definite in my announcement... Other publishers are also having supply chain problems about paper, apparently.
Earlier: The Subterranean Press signed limited edition of the novella "Knot of Shadows" is due for release shortly. (SubPress sometimes has issues with their printers, so release dates tend to be a little vague.) Anyway, I was very pleased to see another pro review of it, in the venerable Locus magazine:
https://locusmag.com/2023/01/paul-di-...
Which answers, in a very satisfactory way, a question I'm finding ever harder to get settled in the draft stage, whether a story well into a series would work as a stand-alone for a newcomer who hadn't read any others. Yay! Granted di Filippo is very genre-savvy, which gives him a leg up, but still.
"Knot of Shadows" may be pre-ordered directly from SubPress, or from Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore or Dreamhaven Books & Comics here in Minneapolis. As a limited edition, it will not be available through Amazon or the like this round.
https://subterraneanpress.com/knot-of...
Be warned it's a pretty slim vol for the price; the economics of this sort of collector's publishing would take a whole 'nother essay. Cheap reading e-copies are available on 4 vendor platforms as usual, Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, and Kobo.
Ta, L.
Earlier: The Subterranean Press signed limited edition of the novella "Knot of Shadows" is due for release shortly. (SubPress sometimes has issues with their printers, so release dates tend to be a little vague.) Anyway, I was very pleased to see another pro review of it, in the venerable Locus magazine:
https://locusmag.com/2023/01/paul-di-...
Which answers, in a very satisfactory way, a question I'm finding ever harder to get settled in the draft stage, whether a story well into a series would work as a stand-alone for a newcomer who hadn't read any others. Yay! Granted di Filippo is very genre-savvy, which gives him a leg up, but still.
"Knot of Shadows" may be pre-ordered directly from SubPress, or from Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore or Dreamhaven Books & Comics here in Minneapolis. As a limited edition, it will not be available through Amazon or the like this round.
https://subterraneanpress.com/knot-of...
Be warned it's a pretty slim vol for the price; the economics of this sort of collector's publishing would take a whole 'nother essay. Cheap reading e-copies are available on 4 vendor platforms as usual, Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, and Kobo.
Ta, L.
December 9, 2022
Knife Children goes print-on-demand
The fruit of several months of work with my Spectrum book wrangler -- wow do I ever have more respect for book designers and design now. So many fiddly decisions, so many maddening weird glitches in formatting programs, so many compromises between perfect and good. (As in, "The perfect is the enemy of the good." One could equally substitute "finished" for "good".)
Now available to order through your favorite bricks & mortar bookstore from Ingram's book distribution with this ISBN number: ISBN 978-1-62578-161-1
Also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPGCBQN8
Many thanks to artist Ryan Pancoast for the reuse of his very painterly wrap cover image. https://www.ryanpancoast.com/
Among the many puzzles and decisions was print size, which turns out to be very hard to judge from a file on a computer screen, even a pdf. I wanted something just a bit larger than the Subterranean collector's edition (now sold out), because my eyes. Choices in the formatting program gave bracketing options. After much back-and-forthing, I decided to go with the larger option, reasoning that folks who could read small print could also read large, but not vice versa.
Another decision was whether to go with whole words only, or hyphenated line breaks. The first gave a number of weird stretched-out lines, distracting to the eye, the second gave a more pleasing spacing but cost a few weird syllable breaks that could not be hand-corrected. As with so much of this, it was a personal coin toss.
Anyway. For all who wanted a reasonably priced paper version of this story, or missed their chance with SubPress, here ya go. (And just in time for the holidays, I must observe.)
As always, if you order through Uncle Hugo's or Dreamhaven, you can also get your copies signed.
Enjoy!
L.
Now available to order through your favorite bricks & mortar bookstore from Ingram's book distribution with this ISBN number: ISBN 978-1-62578-161-1
Also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPGCBQN8
Many thanks to artist Ryan Pancoast for the reuse of his very painterly wrap cover image. https://www.ryanpancoast.com/
Among the many puzzles and decisions was print size, which turns out to be very hard to judge from a file on a computer screen, even a pdf. I wanted something just a bit larger than the Subterranean collector's edition (now sold out), because my eyes. Choices in the formatting program gave bracketing options. After much back-and-forthing, I decided to go with the larger option, reasoning that folks who could read small print could also read large, but not vice versa.
Another decision was whether to go with whole words only, or hyphenated line breaks. The first gave a number of weird stretched-out lines, distracting to the eye, the second gave a more pleasing spacing but cost a few weird syllable breaks that could not be hand-corrected. As with so much of this, it was a personal coin toss.
Anyway. For all who wanted a reasonably priced paper version of this story, or missed their chance with SubPress, here ya go. (And just in time for the holidays, I must observe.)
As always, if you order through Uncle Hugo's or Dreamhaven, you can also get your copies signed.
Enjoy!
L.
December 3, 2022
signed Bujold books for the holidays...
...may be had from Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore or Dreamhaven Books & Comics here in Minneapolis. Both do mail order, both have pre-signed books ready to ship. Personalizations take more lead time, so if you are thinking of that, allow extra.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
Ta, L.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
Ta, L.
November 29, 2022
Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths
The Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths is having its annual fundraiser:
https://go.dojiggy.io/inclusiveblacks...
More about the organization here:
https://www.inclusiveblacksmiths.com/
Blacksmithing: it's not shoeing horses, that's a farrier (a tough and skilled job, too.) For a glimpse of the modern version, this 6-minute video is fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYdT_...
Ta, L. Biased observer.
https://go.dojiggy.io/inclusiveblacks...
More about the organization here:
https://www.inclusiveblacksmiths.com/
Blacksmithing: it's not shoeing horses, that's a farrier (a tough and skilled job, too.) For a glimpse of the modern version, this 6-minute video is fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYdT_...
Ta, L. Biased observer.
