Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 15
November 24, 2021
Goodreads Choice poll eligibility
I note in passing, since Goodreads seems to be drumming up business for their Goodreads Choice poll right now, that my two eligible works this year are The Assassins of Thasalon and "Knot of Shadows", both fantasy. They don't seem to have a category split out for short work.
Ta, L. Not actually suffering an awards shortage.
Ta, L. Not actually suffering an awards shortage.
November 21, 2021
holiday Bujold bookshopping reminder
A reminder, most of my books are available, signed, mail order from Uncle Hugo's online bookstore, and from Dreamhaven Books & Comics both online and in person, here in Minneapolis.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/gateway...
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
Personalizations available by request, but remember to build in more lead-time.
There are quite a few titles that are now hard to find, including most of the Penric & Desdemona novellas from Subterranean Press except, alas, the first ("Penric's Demon"), in the leather-bound deluxe or, sometimes, the trade hardcover binding; the last three Sharing Knife volumes in hardcover (also alas missing the first, a perpetual problem in series publishing); Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt in hardcover; and the otherwise very hard to find SubPress "The Flowers of Vashnoi". Some will be standard price, some rarer out-of-print ones will be (higher) market price; look, or ask.
Ta, L.
later note: I see "The Flowers of Vashnoi" is not on Hugo's website for online ordering, due to its intermittent availability and floating market price; you'd need to inquire by email. Ditto any other special items, including a random few foreign language titles; again, you'd need to specify what you want and then find out if it can be had.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/gateway...
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
Personalizations available by request, but remember to build in more lead-time.
There are quite a few titles that are now hard to find, including most of the Penric & Desdemona novellas from Subterranean Press except, alas, the first ("Penric's Demon"), in the leather-bound deluxe or, sometimes, the trade hardcover binding; the last three Sharing Knife volumes in hardcover (also alas missing the first, a perpetual problem in series publishing); Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt in hardcover; and the otherwise very hard to find SubPress "The Flowers of Vashnoi". Some will be standard price, some rarer out-of-print ones will be (higher) market price; look, or ask.
Ta, L.
later note: I see "The Flowers of Vashnoi" is not on Hugo's website for online ordering, due to its intermittent availability and floating market price; you'd need to inquire by email. Ditto any other special items, including a random few foreign language titles; again, you'd need to specify what you want and then find out if it can be had.
October 28, 2021
October 23, 2021
Knot of Shadows spoiler discussion space
As per my habit, this post is for folks who have already read the story to discuss it freely with each other down in the comments section, insulated from the risk of spoiling readers who've not yet had a chance at it.
Have fun!
L.
(And, yes, sigh, errata reportage, but try not to let it overrun the thread.)
Have fun!
L.
(And, yes, sigh, errata reportage, but try not to let it overrun the thread.)
October 22, 2021
Knot of Shadows launches today!
Quicker than I was expecting!
Vendor links so far:
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/knot-...
Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K4GTSGY/
B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/knot...
"When a corpse is found floating face-down in Vilnoc harbor that is not quite as dead as it seems, Temple sorcerer Penric and his chaos demon Desdemona are drawn into the uncanny investigation. Pen’s keen questions will take him across the city of Vilnoc, and into far more profound mysteries, as his search for truths interlaces with tragedy."
Cover art and design by Ron Miller, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Ta, L.
(Amazon has their "Look Inside" feature up now, for anyone wanting a longer taste.)
Vendor links so far:
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/knot-...
Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K4GTSGY/
B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/knot...
"When a corpse is found floating face-down in Vilnoc harbor that is not quite as dead as it seems, Temple sorcerer Penric and his chaos demon Desdemona are drawn into the uncanny investigation. Pen’s keen questions will take him across the city of Vilnoc, and into far more profound mysteries, as his search for truths interlaces with tragedy."
Cover art and design by Ron Miller, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Ta, L.
(Amazon has their "Look Inside" feature up now, for anyone wanting a longer taste.)
October 21, 2021
Knot of Shadows cover sneak peek
We just finalized this e-cover this morning...
The vendor-page copy will read:
Knot of Shadows
When a corpse is found floating face-down in Vilnoc harbor that is not quite as dead as it seems, Temple sorcerer Penric and his chaos demon Desdemona are drawn into the uncanny investigation. Pen’s keen questions will take him across the city of Vilnoc, and into far more profound mysteries, as his search for truths interlaces with tragedy.
The internal chronological order of the Penric & Desdemona tales is presently:
“Penric’s Demon”
“Penric and the Shaman”
“Penric’s Fox”
“Masquerade in Lodi”
“Penric’s Mission”
“Mira’s Last Dance”
“The Prisoner of Limnos”
“The Orphans of Raspay”
“The Physicians of Vilnoc”
The Assassins of Thasalon
“Knot of Shadows”
**
The e-novella should be going up at our three vendors, Kindle, Nook, and Apple Books, within a few days. As usual, I'll post links when they surface.
Ta, Lois.
The vendor-page copy will read:
Knot of Shadows
When a corpse is found floating face-down in Vilnoc harbor that is not quite as dead as it seems, Temple sorcerer Penric and his chaos demon Desdemona are drawn into the uncanny investigation. Pen’s keen questions will take him across the city of Vilnoc, and into far more profound mysteries, as his search for truths interlaces with tragedy.
The internal chronological order of the Penric & Desdemona tales is presently:
“Penric’s Demon”
“Penric and the Shaman”
“Penric’s Fox”
“Masquerade in Lodi”
“Penric’s Mission”
“Mira’s Last Dance”
“The Prisoner of Limnos”
“The Orphans of Raspay”
“The Physicians of Vilnoc”
The Assassins of Thasalon
“Knot of Shadows”
**
The e-novella should be going up at our three vendors, Kindle, Nook, and Apple Books, within a few days. As usual, I'll post links when they surface.
Ta, Lois.
October 15, 2021
Penric 11 impending
As may be construed from the prior post, I've been working on the latest Penric & Dedemona story, finished in first draft earlier this week. Novella length, about 30k words -- longer than my shortest, shorter than my longest, so average word-count I suppose.
It takes place in Vilnoc, somewhat less than a year after The Assassins of Thasalon, over a short time frame -- what in some circles is dubbed a "casefic" and which I would just call "a story".
Ron Miller is at work on an e-cover for it, of which I will do a reveal-post in due course, but neither it nor the story are going anywhere till it acquires a final title. I find titles either come up during the writing and stick tight, not to be dislodged no matter how I poke them -- The Assassins of Thasalon was a recent example of this -- or remain elusive right to the end and, maddeningly, beyond. Penric 11 seems to be one of these.
At the moment, the two candidates are "Entanglements" or "Web of Sorrows". One of my test readers remarks that "web" evokes spiders, which is not where I want to go -- no spiders were harmed in the making of this story, though I can't speak for other characters human or animal. But I do hanker for something that evokes a cat's cradle puzzle, what looks like a hopeless tangle of strings that, upon clever enough manipulations, is seen to resolve into one connected thing. (Which the first choice comes closer to, maybe.) Spinning, weaving... Anyway, if anyone has a preference between the two candidates, or other ideas, shout out in the comments.
Ta, L.
It takes place in Vilnoc, somewhat less than a year after The Assassins of Thasalon, over a short time frame -- what in some circles is dubbed a "casefic" and which I would just call "a story".
Ron Miller is at work on an e-cover for it, of which I will do a reveal-post in due course, but neither it nor the story are going anywhere till it acquires a final title. I find titles either come up during the writing and stick tight, not to be dislodged no matter how I poke them -- The Assassins of Thasalon was a recent example of this -- or remain elusive right to the end and, maddeningly, beyond. Penric 11 seems to be one of these.
At the moment, the two candidates are "Entanglements" or "Web of Sorrows". One of my test readers remarks that "web" evokes spiders, which is not where I want to go -- no spiders were harmed in the making of this story, though I can't speak for other characters human or animal. But I do hanker for something that evokes a cat's cradle puzzle, what looks like a hopeless tangle of strings that, upon clever enough manipulations, is seen to resolve into one connected thing. (Which the first choice comes closer to, maybe.) Spinning, weaving... Anyway, if anyone has a preference between the two candidates, or other ideas, shout out in the comments.
Ta, L.
October 1, 2021
September 6, 2021
sneak peek UK-World e-covers redo for Chalion trio
While my print publisher holds the rights for e-editions of my earlier fantasy novels here in the US/North America, we'd retained foreign rights, way back when. So when the e-books market opened up with Kindle etc. a decade ago, the first three Chalion books and the Sharing Knife series were among the first works of mine we were able to put up as indie ebooks in that market. Those early experimental covers have been up for a long time, so I figured, with the Penric experiences under our belts, that it was time to refresh them.
I've been working with artist Ron Miller (well, he was doing most of the work) for the past several weeks, and here's a peek at the results. They're planned to go up on my UK and World e-editions of Kindle and Apple Books in the next week or so. I don't know if already-purchased e-copies will refresh themselves the way they thankfully do for corrected typos -- it'll be interesting to find out.
(The actual covers will have better resolution than this thumbnail at the larger magnifications, though likely most prospective purchasers will only be glancing at small cover images on the vendors' screens.)
Ta, L.
I've been working with artist Ron Miller (well, he was doing most of the work) for the past several weeks, and here's a peek at the results. They're planned to go up on my UK and World e-editions of Kindle and Apple Books in the next week or so. I don't know if already-purchased e-copies will refresh themselves the way they thankfully do for corrected typos -- it'll be interesting to find out.
(The actual covers will have better resolution than this thumbnail at the larger magnifications, though likely most prospective purchasers will only be glancing at small cover images on the vendors' screens.)
Ta, L.
September 3, 2021
Paladin of Souls on eBookDaily
I have been roundaboutly informed that Paladin of Souls is featured on today's Kindle's eBookDaily, for $1.99 --
Today only, which, since today (9/3) is three-fourths over as I type this, may be a bit late for you all, but you all already know about the book. The main virtue of this, I believe, is for reaching new readers.
Ta, L.
Today only, which, since today (9/3) is three-fourths over as I type this, may be a bit late for you all, but you all already know about the book. The main virtue of this, I believe, is for reaching new readers.
Ta, L.
