Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 18
April 24, 2021
The Assassins of Thasalon vendor-page copy
First draft, anyway. It could use a catchy header, but the only one I'd thought of so far had the wrong tone. Shall cogitate more. I'm still waiting on cover art and some last test-readers I'd saved out for the whole, and my usual end-of-book doubtful fretting about any changes, however minor. This too shall pass...
***
An unholy attack upon his brother-in-law General Arisaydia pitches sorcerer Learned Penric and his Temple demon Desdemona headlong into the snake-pit of Cedonian imperial politics. But they will not travel alone. The mission from his god brings Penric some of his strangest new allies yet, and the return of some of his most valued old ones.
This novel-length story takes place two years after the events of “The Physicians of Vilnoc”.
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
“Demon”, “Shaman”, and “Fox” are collected in the paper volume Penric’s Progress, and “Mission”, “Mira” and “Limnos” are collected in the paper volume Penric’s Travels.
***
Ta, L.
(It is customary, though not universally so, that novel and book titles appear in italics, and names of shorter stories in quote marks.)
***
An unholy attack upon his brother-in-law General Arisaydia pitches sorcerer Learned Penric and his Temple demon Desdemona headlong into the snake-pit of Cedonian imperial politics. But they will not travel alone. The mission from his god brings Penric some of his strangest new allies yet, and the return of some of his most valued old ones.
This novel-length story takes place two years after the events of “The Physicians of Vilnoc”.
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
“Demon”, “Shaman”, and “Fox” are collected in the paper volume Penric’s Progress, and “Mission”, “Mira” and “Limnos” are collected in the paper volume Penric’s Travels.
***
Ta, L.
(It is customary, though not universally so, that novel and book titles appear in italics, and names of shorter stories in quote marks.)
April 16, 2021
Penric 10 Impending
I am pleased to report that the tenth Penric & Desdemona story is just now finished in first draft. ..."Just now" as in "half an hour ago."
It turned out to be a, er, novel-length novella this time. (It started as a novella, I swear.) Length at the moment is about 85,000 words. For your mental calibration, that's about the lengths of Falling Free or Cetaganda. (My shortest novel was Ethan of Athos, at 63k, my longest Mirror Dance at 165k.)
Title is The Assassins of Thasalon. Timeline-wise, it takes place two years after the events of "The Physicians of Vilnoc".
It is slated for indie e-publication just like its preceding sibling novellas. Next comes the last revision pass or six, and devising a cover, on which my mind is presently a blank, but now that I'm mostly done wrestling the prose, perhaps something will occur.
E-publication at the usual suspects when all those trailing tasks are done, whenever. Maybe a month? No, we don't do pre-orders. It will be for sale as soon as it goes up.
I'll post again when I come up with the vendor-page ad copy, also on my list of trailing chores, though it's the last item needed.
Ta, L.
It turned out to be a, er, novel-length novella this time. (It started as a novella, I swear.) Length at the moment is about 85,000 words. For your mental calibration, that's about the lengths of Falling Free or Cetaganda. (My shortest novel was Ethan of Athos, at 63k, my longest Mirror Dance at 165k.)
Title is The Assassins of Thasalon. Timeline-wise, it takes place two years after the events of "The Physicians of Vilnoc".
It is slated for indie e-publication just like its preceding sibling novellas. Next comes the last revision pass or six, and devising a cover, on which my mind is presently a blank, but now that I'm mostly done wrestling the prose, perhaps something will occur.
E-publication at the usual suspects when all those trailing tasks are done, whenever. Maybe a month? No, we don't do pre-orders. It will be for sale as soon as it goes up.
I'll post again when I come up with the vendor-page ad copy, also on my list of trailing chores, though it's the last item needed.
Ta, L.
April 6, 2021
Heyer conference now up on You Tube
The discussions of the works of Georgette Heyer in which I participated online last month are now up for general viewing on YouTube:
Heyer: The Nonesuch of her Time and the Original Influencer - Bing video
https://youtu.be/3kqGB6dCRF0
Enjoy!
Ta, L.
Heyer: The Nonesuch of her Time and the Original Influencer - Bing video
https://youtu.be/3kqGB6dCRF0
Enjoy!
Ta, L.
February 27, 2021
Physicians of Vilnoc from SubPress in July
Cover reveal!
The paper ARCs arrived at my door this morning (advance proofs sent out to reviewers), and the advance order page for this novella has just gone up at Subterranean Press for their limited hardcover edition, so I can finally show you all the wonderful cover art by Lauren Saint-Onge.
https://subterraneanpress.com/physici...
Click on the cover to see an enlarged image, which will be worth it.
I had pretty much given up on ever seeing cover art that not only accurately portrayed my characters physically, but also presented the right mood and mode for the story actually behind the cover. This nails both aspects perfectly. It CAN be done! I'm so happy with this cover.
Uncle Hugo's and Dreamhaven bookstores here in Minneapolis will, as usual, have signed trade (regular) editions available for mail order. It's a bit too soon for them to have their web pages for it up, but they'll appear in due course. Projected release date July 31.
Ta, L.
The paper ARCs arrived at my door this morning (advance proofs sent out to reviewers), and the advance order page for this novella has just gone up at Subterranean Press for their limited hardcover edition, so I can finally show you all the wonderful cover art by Lauren Saint-Onge.
https://subterraneanpress.com/physici...
Click on the cover to see an enlarged image, which will be worth it.
I had pretty much given up on ever seeing cover art that not only accurately portrayed my characters physically, but also presented the right mood and mode for the story actually behind the cover. This nails both aspects perfectly. It CAN be done! I'm so happy with this cover.
Uncle Hugo's and Dreamhaven bookstores here in Minneapolis will, as usual, have signed trade (regular) editions available for mail order. It's a bit too soon for them to have their web pages for it up, but they'll appear in due course. Projected release date July 31.
Ta, L.
February 23, 2021
Heyer conference online on the 25th
Georgette, of course. More here:
https://tanaudel.wordpress.com/2021/0...
My part was to record a Zoom discussion with three British writers (and Heyer fans) on her influences. Quite fun.
Ta, L.
Later: the content is going to be put up online in a few weeks. I'll post a link when it does. So if you missed this live on the 25th, you'll have another chance.
Ta, L.
https://tanaudel.wordpress.com/2021/0...
My part was to record a Zoom discussion with three British writers (and Heyer fans) on her influences. Quite fun.
Ta, L.
Later: the content is going to be put up online in a few weeks. I'll post a link when it does. So if you missed this live on the 25th, you'll have another chance.
Ta, L.
January 20, 2021
Masquerade in Lodi audio due February 27th
Aha...
Masquerade in Lodi has now acquired a release date from Blackstone Audiobooks -- February 27th. It's not yet listed on the Downpour or iTunes sites, but I see Audible had their page up --
https://www.amazon.com/Masquerade-Lod...
I look forward to seeing what they do with the cover.
Ta, L.
Masquerade in Lodi has now acquired a release date from Blackstone Audiobooks -- February 27th. It's not yet listed on the Downpour or iTunes sites, but I see Audible had their page up --
https://www.amazon.com/Masquerade-Lod...
I look forward to seeing what they do with the cover.
Ta, L.
January 1, 2021
Penric's Progress in Paperback Jan. 27th
Happy New Year, all!
I am pleased to note that the mass-market paperback edition of Penric's Progress, the novella collection from Baen Books containing the first Penric & Desdemona tales "Penric's Demon", "Penric and the Shaman", and "Penric's Fox", plus my short introduction, will be released January 27th.
https://www.amazon.com/Penrics-Progre...
for reference. There will also be signed copies available by mail order from Uncle Hugo's and Dreamhaven here in Minneapolis. And, with luck, general bookstore distribution, something I haven't had a lot of lately.
My carton of author's copies came the other day, fresh from the printer. Also received last week were the page proofs, what used to be called galley proofs, of the succeeding Penric's Travels mass-market paperback planned for May.
I'm very glad page proofs are now electronic -- I can enlarge the print to my eyes' content, most helpful for the tedious task of proofreading for errata. A good indoor project for this weather.
Ta, L.
I am pleased to note that the mass-market paperback edition of Penric's Progress, the novella collection from Baen Books containing the first Penric & Desdemona tales "Penric's Demon", "Penric and the Shaman", and "Penric's Fox", plus my short introduction, will be released January 27th.
https://www.amazon.com/Penrics-Progre...
for reference. There will also be signed copies available by mail order from Uncle Hugo's and Dreamhaven here in Minneapolis. And, with luck, general bookstore distribution, something I haven't had a lot of lately.
My carton of author's copies came the other day, fresh from the printer. Also received last week were the page proofs, what used to be called galley proofs, of the succeeding Penric's Travels mass-market paperback planned for May.
I'm very glad page proofs are now electronic -- I can enlarge the print to my eyes' content, most helpful for the tedious task of proofreading for errata. A good indoor project for this weather.
Ta, L.
December 8, 2020
Minekura's SAIYUKI is back
My review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
(My review was supposed to auto-cross-post to my blog, but does not seem to have shown up. This'll do, I guess.)
Ta, L.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
(My review was supposed to auto-cross-post to my blog, but does not seem to have shown up. This'll do, I guess.)
Ta, L.
December 2, 2020
new Pat Wrede podcast interview
...is up here:
https://theworldshapers.com/2020/11/2...
Pat's blog on writing has some of the most level-headed advice on the net. It's where I send pretty much everyone who asks me about writing tips, because, y'know, that's where I got mine.
https://www.pcwrede.com/blog/
She also offers a handy ebook compendium of selected older posts, Wrede on Writing. Found at https://www.amazon.com/Wrede-Writing-... and at other vendors.
Or you could just start at the bottom of the blog column and read up. Or the top and read down. Or use the search function to explore particular topics.
Ta, L.
https://theworldshapers.com/2020/11/2...
Pat's blog on writing has some of the most level-headed advice on the net. It's where I send pretty much everyone who asks me about writing tips, because, y'know, that's where I got mine.
https://www.pcwrede.com/blog/
She also offers a handy ebook compendium of selected older posts, Wrede on Writing. Found at https://www.amazon.com/Wrede-Writing-... and at other vendors.
Or you could just start at the bottom of the blog column and read up. Or the top and read down. Or use the search function to explore particular topics.
Ta, L.
November 28, 2020
Penric compendiums still at Hugo's, Dreamhaven
Just a note in honor of Small Business Saturday (an adjunct of Black Friday, America's real religious holiday): both Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore and Dreamhaven Books & Comics here in Minneapolis stock the lovely recent Baen hardcover collections of the six first-published Penric & Desdemona novellas, signed. (And a bunch of my other titles and formats, also signed.) And both do mail order, including internationally, giving one an alternate buying venue to the usual suspects.
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
Penric's Travels, in particular, had its initial sales depressed because it was launched back in May, when everything was first shutting down for Covid. So you won't find either hardcover just out on the shelves of regular bookstores, since that shelf space is now devoted to fall titles. The books still exist, they just need to be ordered. Which you can do right from home anyway, so good all around.
Ta, L.
(And signed books make good Christmas gifts, for anyone planning ahead.)
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
Penric's Travels, in particular, had its initial sales depressed because it was launched back in May, when everything was first shutting down for Covid. So you won't find either hardcover just out on the shelves of regular bookstores, since that shelf space is now devoted to fall titles. The books still exist, they just need to be ordered. Which you can do right from home anyway, so good all around.
Ta, L.
(And signed books make good Christmas gifts, for anyone planning ahead.)
