Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 21
June 2, 2020
Nebula weekend online
Nebula weekend this year was a fascinating experience, and not just for the Grandmaster honor. When it became apparent a few months back that the traditional hotel-based party was going to be made impossible by Covid-19, the SFWA president Mary Robinette Kowal, the SFWA board, and large team of tech-savvy volunteers went into high gear figuring out how to retool it as an all-online event. Part of this included training those attendees who weren’t already fluent in Zoom, etc. (that would include me) how to accomplish it all.
I’d managed to duck most of the newer media before, but this was an occasion to rise to. We pre-recorded my Grandmaster interview via Zoom, ably conducted by best-novel nominee (and, it turns out, long-time Bujold fan) Alix Harrow, but my other bits were live, and thus had to be tightly coordinated. It was a very different experience from such events in the past, where a nominee just sat indigesting at their banquet table with friends and supporters, and was called up or not onto a stage, with nothing recorded but a few still photos. My main impression is that it has shifted, and probably not just this year, from a private party and ceremony to a public permanently recorded performance, and the "performance" aspects now drive the car. Watching the backside of this tapestry unfold was an education in itself.
The SFWA suite and room parties were replaced by an array of Zoom chat rooms, where one could still have great conversations with fellow attendees from their computers as far-flung as New Zealand and Paris, not to mention all the US time zones. (A lot of time-zone calculations went on.) Pretty much everyone agreed we could actually hear each other better this way. I suspect a lot of the techniques the SFWA folks developed are going to be carried off to fandom at large this summer.
Anyway, after a lovely pre-recorded introduction and presentation by my friend and fellow writer since 7th grade, Lillian Stewart Carl, I said this:
“It is the peculiar nature of career awards to be, in effect, awards for winning awards. This seems recursive to me, possibly a species of double-dipping. Nonetheless, it is enormously gratifying to be the recipient of this year’s Damon Knight Grandmaster honor.
If the meaning of any literary award is ultimately created by the works that have won it, looking down the daunting list of the prior 35 Grandmasters puts me in some very meaningful company indeed. I’m pleased to be invited to the party.
There is a great deal of unnecessary confusion generated by the language that surrounds awards. They are not won as in a race, for all that we speak of winning one, nor are they won as in an election, for all that many are voted upon. They are either a poll result, in which case any attempt to “rock the vote” is falsifying the data set, or they are given as gifts, bestowed upon. In all cases awards are not something a writer does; they are something that is done to the writer, a fine example of the proper use of passive voice. The Grandmaster honor is much more clearly than usual a gift bestowed, and I thank this year’s president Mary Robinette Kowal and the SFWA committee for putting me on their gift list.
No writer writes in a vacuum, and no career grows in one either. My career has been nourished by many other people since back before the beginning. Heading the list whether chronological or in order of importance is always Lillian Stewart Carl; we’ve been each others’ first readers since seventh grade, edging toward 60 years ago. Dozens of other test-reader friends have bravely eaten my experiments over the years and told me honestly how they tasted. Lillian introduced me to both Patricia C. Wrede, best critiquer ever, and to Betsy Mitchell, my first purchasing editor at Baen Books, who gave The Warrior’s Apprentice a read back when it came in over the transom in the mid 80s. She in turn handed it on to Jim Baen, who bought all three of my completed novels and launched my career.
Jim and Baen editor Toni Weisskopf shepherded me through the fruitful 90s (very possibly in the sense of beleaguered sheepdogs – sometime I need to ask Toni how this all looked from her point of view.) Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog Magazine, put my work before a wider audience. After the turn of the millennium, my editors at Harper Collins, Jennifer Brehl and Katherine Nintzel, ushered my two fantasy series through the perils of publishing.
And, throughout it all, I have been endlessly supported by my agent, Eleanor Wood of Spectrum Literary Agency. We first met face-to-face at the Nebula weekend in New York City in 1989. The morning after Falling Free won my first Nebula Award, we shook hands over a hotel breakfast in a deal I trust neither of us has had cause to regret. Though I don’t think either of us realized how long it would last, three decades and counting.
Thank you all!”
One could probably tell it was live because I dropped my notes in the middle…
Interesting times.
Ta, L.
Full Grandmaster list here: https://nebulas.sfwa.org/grand-masters/
I’d managed to duck most of the newer media before, but this was an occasion to rise to. We pre-recorded my Grandmaster interview via Zoom, ably conducted by best-novel nominee (and, it turns out, long-time Bujold fan) Alix Harrow, but my other bits were live, and thus had to be tightly coordinated. It was a very different experience from such events in the past, where a nominee just sat indigesting at their banquet table with friends and supporters, and was called up or not onto a stage, with nothing recorded but a few still photos. My main impression is that it has shifted, and probably not just this year, from a private party and ceremony to a public permanently recorded performance, and the "performance" aspects now drive the car. Watching the backside of this tapestry unfold was an education in itself.
The SFWA suite and room parties were replaced by an array of Zoom chat rooms, where one could still have great conversations with fellow attendees from their computers as far-flung as New Zealand and Paris, not to mention all the US time zones. (A lot of time-zone calculations went on.) Pretty much everyone agreed we could actually hear each other better this way. I suspect a lot of the techniques the SFWA folks developed are going to be carried off to fandom at large this summer.
Anyway, after a lovely pre-recorded introduction and presentation by my friend and fellow writer since 7th grade, Lillian Stewart Carl, I said this:
“It is the peculiar nature of career awards to be, in effect, awards for winning awards. This seems recursive to me, possibly a species of double-dipping. Nonetheless, it is enormously gratifying to be the recipient of this year’s Damon Knight Grandmaster honor.
If the meaning of any literary award is ultimately created by the works that have won it, looking down the daunting list of the prior 35 Grandmasters puts me in some very meaningful company indeed. I’m pleased to be invited to the party.
There is a great deal of unnecessary confusion generated by the language that surrounds awards. They are not won as in a race, for all that we speak of winning one, nor are they won as in an election, for all that many are voted upon. They are either a poll result, in which case any attempt to “rock the vote” is falsifying the data set, or they are given as gifts, bestowed upon. In all cases awards are not something a writer does; they are something that is done to the writer, a fine example of the proper use of passive voice. The Grandmaster honor is much more clearly than usual a gift bestowed, and I thank this year’s president Mary Robinette Kowal and the SFWA committee for putting me on their gift list.
No writer writes in a vacuum, and no career grows in one either. My career has been nourished by many other people since back before the beginning. Heading the list whether chronological or in order of importance is always Lillian Stewart Carl; we’ve been each others’ first readers since seventh grade, edging toward 60 years ago. Dozens of other test-reader friends have bravely eaten my experiments over the years and told me honestly how they tasted. Lillian introduced me to both Patricia C. Wrede, best critiquer ever, and to Betsy Mitchell, my first purchasing editor at Baen Books, who gave The Warrior’s Apprentice a read back when it came in over the transom in the mid 80s. She in turn handed it on to Jim Baen, who bought all three of my completed novels and launched my career.
Jim and Baen editor Toni Weisskopf shepherded me through the fruitful 90s (very possibly in the sense of beleaguered sheepdogs – sometime I need to ask Toni how this all looked from her point of view.) Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog Magazine, put my work before a wider audience. After the turn of the millennium, my editors at Harper Collins, Jennifer Brehl and Katherine Nintzel, ushered my two fantasy series through the perils of publishing.
And, throughout it all, I have been endlessly supported by my agent, Eleanor Wood of Spectrum Literary Agency. We first met face-to-face at the Nebula weekend in New York City in 1989. The morning after Falling Free won my first Nebula Award, we shook hands over a hotel breakfast in a deal I trust neither of us has had cause to regret. Though I don’t think either of us realized how long it would last, three decades and counting.
Thank you all!”
One could probably tell it was live because I dropped my notes in the middle…
Interesting times.
Ta, L.
Full Grandmaster list here: https://nebulas.sfwa.org/grand-masters/
May 24, 2020
Bujold live reading online Wed evening the 27th
Well, here's a new thing for me, as I am dragged into the 21st Century despite myself. I am going to do a live reading and Q&A for Baen Books in support of Penric's Travels this Wednesday evening on their Facebook page. I understand it will be recorded and go up later on YouTube, for folks who miss it to dip into when they have time.
The video will be on the Baen Facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/BaenBooks/ (There's no direct link until the stream starts, but the video will appear at the top of that page as soon as streaming starts).
Time is 8 PM Eastern, 7 Central on Wednesday evening. Event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/24653... that will send people reminders if they mark themselves as going.
I plan to read the opening of "Penric's Mission", that seeming the most pertinent and easiest to follow sample. This will only be new to new listeners, of which I hope there will be some, but I expect to save the larger part of the hour for the Q & As.
Now, I am reminded, I should go do my homework by reading it aloud to myself, to pick the timing and end-point.
Ta, L.
Later, 5/27: all done. It seemed to go OK, though it felt odd doing a live reading without a live audience -- I could only see Jim Mintz. It's up recorded on Baen's Facebook page for those who tuned in late, plus there will be a tidied-up version on YouTube in a couple of weeks, which I will link.
Oh. And I could read the comments and questions later on the Baen page, though not, of course, at the time.
L.
The video will be on the Baen Facebook page, here: https://www.facebook.com/BaenBooks/ (There's no direct link until the stream starts, but the video will appear at the top of that page as soon as streaming starts).
Time is 8 PM Eastern, 7 Central on Wednesday evening. Event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/24653... that will send people reminders if they mark themselves as going.
I plan to read the opening of "Penric's Mission", that seeming the most pertinent and easiest to follow sample. This will only be new to new listeners, of which I hope there will be some, but I expect to save the larger part of the hour for the Q & As.
Now, I am reminded, I should go do my homework by reading it aloud to myself, to pick the timing and end-point.
Ta, L.
Later, 5/27: all done. It seemed to go OK, though it felt odd doing a live reading without a live audience -- I could only see Jim Mintz. It's up recorded on Baen's Facebook page for those who tuned in late, plus there will be a tidied-up version on YouTube in a couple of weeks, which I will link.
Oh. And I could read the comments and questions later on the Baen page, though not, of course, at the time.
L.
May 23, 2020
Lois on Coode Street
Aussie writer Jonathan Strahan has been running a podcast series, interviewing all the writers he can catch to talk about what they are reading to get them through the current shut-in days. The interviews are nice and short, ten minutes or so. (I ran on a bit.) I'm episode 427, so he's been doing this for quite a while.
He interviewed me just this evening, or possibly tomorrow morning; he was at 7 AM in Australia, I was at 6 PM in Minnesota. It's up online already, here:
https://jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/e...
Ta, L.
He interviewed me just this evening, or possibly tomorrow morning; he was at 7 AM in Australia, I was at 6 PM in Minnesota. It's up online already, here:
https://jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/e...
Ta, L.
May 22, 2020
2nd half of BFRH interview on Penric's Progress
...is up here. Plus a variety of other topics touched upon.
https://www.baen.com/podcastfiles/mp3...
The first part was up last week, May 15. After the general podcast intro, Part 2 repeats the interview intro from the first half. The first half cut off somewhat in the middle of me talking about the private motivations of Nikys Arisaydria Khatai, the second viewpoint character through the three linked novellas comprising the Penric's Travels collection, so this picks up again also in the midst of that discussion; with luck folks will be able to follow the jump.
Part 1 is here, starting at about the 5-minute mark:
https://www.baen.com/podcastfiles/mp3...
A complete listing of the Baen podcasts here:
https://www.baen.com/podcast/index/new
Ta, L.
https://www.baen.com/podcastfiles/mp3...
The first part was up last week, May 15. After the general podcast intro, Part 2 repeats the interview intro from the first half. The first half cut off somewhat in the middle of me talking about the private motivations of Nikys Arisaydria Khatai, the second viewpoint character through the three linked novellas comprising the Penric's Travels collection, so this picks up again also in the midst of that discussion; with luck folks will be able to follow the jump.
Part 1 is here, starting at about the 5-minute mark:
https://www.baen.com/podcastfiles/mp3...
A complete listing of the Baen podcasts here:
https://www.baen.com/podcast/index/new
Ta, L.
May 20, 2020
Uncle Hugo's has Penric's Travels
The Baen hardcover collection Penric's Travels has just arrived at Uncle Hugo's. Owner Don brought some cartons out for me to sign this afternoon.
He says he has almost enough orders to sop up this initial shipment. Getting more out of Simon & Schuster is apparently proving a challenge this week, as their computer system is not cooperating and getting hold of a live human is a struggle, but be assured more books will be along in due course.
Don't forget Hugo's also still has signed trade edition hardcovers of "Knife Children" from Subterranean Press (it is sold out at the publisher) and, of course, the first Baen volume Penric's Progress.
Dreamhaven Books & Comics should have signed copies by Friday.
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
Ta, L.
He says he has almost enough orders to sop up this initial shipment. Getting more out of Simon & Schuster is apparently proving a challenge this week, as their computer system is not cooperating and getting hold of a live human is a struggle, but be assured more books will be along in due course.
Don't forget Hugo's also still has signed trade edition hardcovers of "Knife Children" from Subterranean Press (it is sold out at the publisher) and, of course, the first Baen volume Penric's Progress.
Dreamhaven Books & Comics should have signed copies by Friday.
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/
http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.s...
Ta, L.
May 16, 2020
Baen podcast interview on Penric's Travels
I recorded a long phone interview for the folks at Baen earlier this week, in honor of Penric's Travels. Which is now printed and in the distribution system... somewhere.
https://player.fm/series/the-baen-fre...
My interview starts shortly after the 5-minute mark, and runs till about 43 minutes. The second half will be up next week.
(We'd done another talk earlier this year when Penric's Progress was released. Scrolling back on the blog to January will find the link.)
Very fine cover art by Dan dos Santos, again.
Ta, L.
https://player.fm/series/the-baen-fre...
My interview starts shortly after the 5-minute mark, and runs till about 43 minutes. The second half will be up next week.
(We'd done another talk earlier this year when Penric's Progress was released. Scrolling back on the blog to January will find the link.)
Very fine cover art by Dan dos Santos, again.
Ta, L.
May 9, 2020
Physicians of Vilnoc spoiler discussion space
...and typo reportage zone. I'd have sworn a mighty oath that there were no more of the latter left, but the typo fairy just laughs.
This is an open thread established for folks who have already read the story to talk about it freely with each other. (If you haven't already read it and don't wish your reading spoiled, leave this comments section for later. )
Anyway. The novella is now up at these vendors:
Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Physicians-Vil...
Barnes & Noble Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-p...
Cover art by Ron Miller:
Have fun --
Ta, L.
This is an open thread established for folks who have already read the story to talk about it freely with each other. (If you haven't already read it and don't wish your reading spoiled, leave this comments section for later. )
Anyway. The novella is now up at these vendors:
Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Physicians-Vil...
Barnes & Noble Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-p...
Cover art by Ron Miller:
Have fun --
Ta, L.
May 6, 2020
The Physicians of Vilnoc -- two sneak peeks
The 8th Penric & Desdemona e-novella, for anyone who missed the prior announcement post.
First, as promised, the opening couple of scenes for Jo Walton's Patreon site The New Decameron. Episode 52, it turns out.
https://www.patreon.com/m/4119564/posts
Those who can, do consider chipping in. I'm donating whatever share would accrue to me to the charity, but some of the contributors are in tougher spots right now.
*
And -- tah dah! -- Ron Miller's promised cover art.
This one was hard -- this is actually our second complete cover idea. The first art-draft, though well put-together and striking, ran off the rails due to what proved to be a misleading initial choice of title. Title and cover and story really have to work together. Ron feels (strongly, and he has some interesting posts on the subject) that a cover should be advertising. I feel that cover and title are the first salvo of the reader's upcoming reading experience, already gating them into a tale in a particular direction and creating particular expectations. These two aims are not actually incompatible; I trust we got them yoked together to pull in the same direction this time.
If all goes smoothly, we're hoping to put the complete novella up in the Kindle, iBooks and Nook stores on Friday or thereabouts. It can be a little random which pops up on the purchaser's end first, but they will all get there in the end.
On Friday I will also create my usual spoiler-discussion post space for those who've already had a crack at the tale to freely discuss it with each other, without worrying about spoiling later readers.
(And, in other news, the 3-novella reprint collection Penric's Travels is printed, and wending its way though the much disrupted book distribution system, no one can predict how fast. But it, too, will get there in the end.)
Ta, L.
First, as promised, the opening couple of scenes for Jo Walton's Patreon site The New Decameron. Episode 52, it turns out.
https://www.patreon.com/m/4119564/posts
Those who can, do consider chipping in. I'm donating whatever share would accrue to me to the charity, but some of the contributors are in tougher spots right now.
*
And -- tah dah! -- Ron Miller's promised cover art.
This one was hard -- this is actually our second complete cover idea. The first art-draft, though well put-together and striking, ran off the rails due to what proved to be a misleading initial choice of title. Title and cover and story really have to work together. Ron feels (strongly, and he has some interesting posts on the subject) that a cover should be advertising. I feel that cover and title are the first salvo of the reader's upcoming reading experience, already gating them into a tale in a particular direction and creating particular expectations. These two aims are not actually incompatible; I trust we got them yoked together to pull in the same direction this time.
If all goes smoothly, we're hoping to put the complete novella up in the Kindle, iBooks and Nook stores on Friday or thereabouts. It can be a little random which pops up on the purchaser's end first, but they will all get there in the end.
On Friday I will also create my usual spoiler-discussion post space for those who've already had a crack at the tale to freely discuss it with each other, without worrying about spoiling later readers.
(And, in other news, the 3-novella reprint collection Penric's Travels is printed, and wending its way though the much disrupted book distribution system, no one can predict how fast. But it, too, will get there in the end.)
Ta, L.
May 5, 2020
Taiwanese covers
Not Ron's cover for the new novella yet, but these came in from my publisher in Taiwan, Fantasy Foundation; they are doing a reissue of the trio of Chalion books.
Very classy!
I cannot imagine the challenges of translating my carefully nuanced English prose into Chinese traditional characters.
They'd asked me to write a new introduction to the series, which I did a while ago, and to do some email interviews, one of which I've completed. The latter will presumably also be translated -- I'll have to see about posting the English original to my blog sometime.
Ta, L.
Very classy!
I cannot imagine the challenges of translating my carefully nuanced English prose into Chinese traditional characters.
They'd asked me to write a new introduction to the series, which I did a while ago, and to do some email interviews, one of which I've completed. The latter will presumably also be translated -- I'll have to see about posting the English original to my blog sometime.
Ta, L.
May 4, 2020
Penric 8 Impending
So…
Coming up Real Soon Now will be the eighth Penric & Desdemona novella, to be titled “The Physicians of Vilnoc”.
Vendor page description will be approximately this:
*
When a mysterious plague breaks out in the army fort guarding Vilnoc, the port capital of the duchy of Orbas, Temple sorcerer Penric and his demon Desdemona are called upon by General Arisaydia to resurrect Penric’s medical skills and solve its lethal riddle. In the grueling days that follow, Pen will find that even his magic is not enough to meet the challenges without help from dedicated new colleagues—and the god of mischance.
“The Physicians of Vilnoc” is the eighth Penric & Desdemona novella, following about a year after the events of “The Orphans of Raspay”.
*
E-cover art by Ron Miller, of which I should have a sneak peek tomorrow.
The novella will be placed at our usual suspects: Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.
The writing of this story got off to a later start than I’d initially planned, when it and the pirates tale (which became “The Orphans of Raspay”) were both competing for my attention last year. But the pirates tale was ready, firmly signaled by its first scenes boiling up in my brain, and this one was still missing some key plot bits. I’d thought to start it in the early fall, when the key bits finally reported for duty, in which case it would have been completed and published around December, making me look remarkably prescient about now.
But the start was delayed by some minor medical and medication issues of my own, resolved in due course. I didn’t get rolling on actual writing till about the time I’d originally thought to be done.
So, due to its change of context, my tight little medical mystery may seem rather more fraught for some readers than I’d intended. If some would rather not read a plague story, no matter how miniaturized, medievaliod, and fictional, right now, I perfectly sympathize. The story will wait for you, although, once started, it wouldn’t wait for me. “The story demands its own completion” is how I’ve described that effect. (Otherwise, I’ve been home getting through by watching gonzo Japanese cartoons and old Great Courses, plus far too much spider solitaire, which proves to be an addictive thought-blocker.)
We will have a sneak peek on Wednesday the 6th of the opening scenes at Jo Walton’s Patreon site, The New Decameron, which she’s been running since mid-March. I was afraid “Physicans” might be a little too apropos for a site devoted to benign distraction for its shut-in readers, but Jo read it and thought it would be OK, so I will trust her judgment. Well worth a look for far more than this --
https://www.patreon.com/m/4119564/posts
…Current events – not as new as some think.
Ta, L.
Coming up Real Soon Now will be the eighth Penric & Desdemona novella, to be titled “The Physicians of Vilnoc”.
Vendor page description will be approximately this:
*
When a mysterious plague breaks out in the army fort guarding Vilnoc, the port capital of the duchy of Orbas, Temple sorcerer Penric and his demon Desdemona are called upon by General Arisaydia to resurrect Penric’s medical skills and solve its lethal riddle. In the grueling days that follow, Pen will find that even his magic is not enough to meet the challenges without help from dedicated new colleagues—and the god of mischance.
“The Physicians of Vilnoc” is the eighth Penric & Desdemona novella, following about a year after the events of “The Orphans of Raspay”.
*
E-cover art by Ron Miller, of which I should have a sneak peek tomorrow.
The novella will be placed at our usual suspects: Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.
The writing of this story got off to a later start than I’d initially planned, when it and the pirates tale (which became “The Orphans of Raspay”) were both competing for my attention last year. But the pirates tale was ready, firmly signaled by its first scenes boiling up in my brain, and this one was still missing some key plot bits. I’d thought to start it in the early fall, when the key bits finally reported for duty, in which case it would have been completed and published around December, making me look remarkably prescient about now.
But the start was delayed by some minor medical and medication issues of my own, resolved in due course. I didn’t get rolling on actual writing till about the time I’d originally thought to be done.
So, due to its change of context, my tight little medical mystery may seem rather more fraught for some readers than I’d intended. If some would rather not read a plague story, no matter how miniaturized, medievaliod, and fictional, right now, I perfectly sympathize. The story will wait for you, although, once started, it wouldn’t wait for me. “The story demands its own completion” is how I’ve described that effect. (Otherwise, I’ve been home getting through by watching gonzo Japanese cartoons and old Great Courses, plus far too much spider solitaire, which proves to be an addictive thought-blocker.)
We will have a sneak peek on Wednesday the 6th of the opening scenes at Jo Walton’s Patreon site, The New Decameron, which she’s been running since mid-March. I was afraid “Physicans” might be a little too apropos for a site devoted to benign distraction for its shut-in readers, but Jo read it and thought it would be OK, so I will trust her judgment. Well worth a look for far more than this --
https://www.patreon.com/m/4119564/posts
…Current events – not as new as some think.
Ta, L.
