Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 36
October 21, 2017
The Prisoner of Limnos cover sneak peek
So, as promised, here is the e-cover of the new Penric & Desdemona novella. It will be #6 in the current internal chronology (and publishing order.)
Cover art and design by Ron Miller.
The vendor-page copy will read:
"In this sequel novella to "Mira's Last Dance", Temple sorcerer Penric and the widow Nikys have reached safety in the duchy of Orbas when a secret letter from a friend brings frightening news: Nikys's mother has been taken hostage by her brother's enemies at the Cedonian imperial court, and confined in a precarious island sanctuary.
Their own romance still unresolved, Nikys, Penric, and of course Desdemona must infiltrate the hostile country once more, finding along the way that family relationships can be as unexpectedly challenging as any rescue scheme."
I don't have a firm release date yet, though I'm hoping for launch in not more than a few weeks. I will, of course, post the news here when it goes live.
Ron, by the way, has two books of his own out this month:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
and
https://www.amazon.com/Aliens-Complet...
Ta, L.
Cover art and design by Ron Miller.
The vendor-page copy will read:
"In this sequel novella to "Mira's Last Dance", Temple sorcerer Penric and the widow Nikys have reached safety in the duchy of Orbas when a secret letter from a friend brings frightening news: Nikys's mother has been taken hostage by her brother's enemies at the Cedonian imperial court, and confined in a precarious island sanctuary.
Their own romance still unresolved, Nikys, Penric, and of course Desdemona must infiltrate the hostile country once more, finding along the way that family relationships can be as unexpectedly challenging as any rescue scheme."
I don't have a firm release date yet, though I'm hoping for launch in not more than a few weeks. I will, of course, post the news here when it goes live.
Ron, by the way, has two books of his own out this month:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
and
https://www.amazon.com/Aliens-Complet...
Ta, L.
October 18, 2017
new Penric novella upcoming
I am pleased to report I have finished the first draft of a new Penric & Desdemona novella, sequel to "Mira's Last Dance". Title is decided all but one vowel -- I'll add it when my aesthetic waffling concludes. About 44,980 words.
Later: Having spent the whole last day wrestling with one. dratted. vowel., title has finalized as:
"The Prisoner of Limnos"
I plan to have cover art by Ron Miller again, of which I will post a sneak peek in due course.
Still the final revision pass to go, plus waiting on comments from two test readers -- I really should wait for the latter before doing the former. I can occupy myself devising vendor-page copy while I wait, I suppose.
This e-publication thing is getting frighteningly fast, in part because a lot of little things which were baffling decisions or upward learning curves first round are now set templates which only need replicated.
I'm thinking e-pub in November, but we'll see. I had originally planned this as my winter project, but it got its legs under it in August and hardly stopped till FIN on Monday.
Ta, L.
Later: Having spent the whole last day wrestling with one. dratted. vowel., title has finalized as:
"The Prisoner of Limnos"
I plan to have cover art by Ron Miller again, of which I will post a sneak peek in due course.
Still the final revision pass to go, plus waiting on comments from two test readers -- I really should wait for the latter before doing the former. I can occupy myself devising vendor-page copy while I wait, I suppose.
This e-publication thing is getting frighteningly fast, in part because a lot of little things which were baffling decisions or upward learning curves first round are now set templates which only need replicated.
I'm thinking e-pub in November, but we'll see. I had originally planned this as my winter project, but it got its legs under it in August and hardly stopped till FIN on Monday.
Ta, L.
October 11, 2017
Cryoburn in Japan
My Japanese translator, Ms. Ayako Ogiso of Tokyo, very kindly sent me on a copy of the Japanese translation of Cryoburn, just out there I believe.
Front cover:
Back cover:
And the little wrap that is commonly found around these small-sized Japanese paperbacks:
In all these years, I never have found out just what they say. They must be conveying something, to allow them to obscure the often very good cover art.
Ta, L.
Front cover:
Back cover:
And the little wrap that is commonly found around these small-sized Japanese paperbacks:
In all these years, I never have found out just what they say. They must be conveying something, to allow them to obscure the often very good cover art.
Ta, L.
September 20, 2017
Gentleman Jole launches in mass market
Baen's mass market paperback edition of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen is coming up next week. Official launch date is next Tuesday, Sept. 26th. However, I don't think this one has a hard don't-sell-before date, so it will probably start trickling into brick-and-mortar bookstores whenever they get around to opening the boxes in the back room.
My box of author's copies arrived. Front looks like this, more or less -- Baen's shiny foil does not scan well.
The back looks like this:
They somehow got the first draft of the cover copy onto this one, and not the final one as it appears on the hardcover jacket flap. That last line was not supposed to be, misleadingly, All About Miles, but rather to put the focus on the book's actual protagonists and plot, and read, "...the impact of galactic technology on the range of the possible changes all the old rules, and Oliver and Cordelia must work together to reconcile the past, the present, and the future."
Ah, well. Most readers (who bother to read the back at all) will figure it out, I expect. Those that don't will be no more confused than usual.
Ta, L.
My box of author's copies arrived. Front looks like this, more or less -- Baen's shiny foil does not scan well.
The back looks like this:
They somehow got the first draft of the cover copy onto this one, and not the final one as it appears on the hardcover jacket flap. That last line was not supposed to be, misleadingly, All About Miles, but rather to put the focus on the book's actual protagonists and plot, and read, "...the impact of galactic technology on the range of the possible changes all the old rules, and Oliver and Cordelia must work together to reconcile the past, the present, and the future."
Ah, well. Most readers (who bother to read the back at all) will figure it out, I expect. Those that don't will be no more confused than usual.
Ta, L.
September 12, 2017
Chalion omnibus out in France
Aha. I just received my author's copy of the new French language omnibus of the Chalion novels, plus "Penric's Demon" as a bonus for French readers. Bragelonne has been the long-time publisher of my fantasy works in France.
Trade paperback size, 1268 very thin pages. I trust it will seem a bargain.
Translated, if I am reading correctly, by Melanie Fazi and Emmanuelle Casse-Castric.
Front cover:
and back:
I have no idea whether the cover art is bespoke or generic, but I like to think it refers to, well, a lot of things; assorted characters' armor, and of course the five fingers for the five gods. Artist credit goes to Johann Bodin.
Tell your French-reading friends...
Ta, L.
Trade paperback size, 1268 very thin pages. I trust it will seem a bargain.
Translated, if I am reading correctly, by Melanie Fazi and Emmanuelle Casse-Castric.
Front cover:
and back:
I have no idea whether the cover art is bespoke or generic, but I like to think it refers to, well, a lot of things; assorted characters' armor, and of course the five fingers for the five gods. Artist credit goes to Johann Bodin.
Tell your French-reading friends...
Ta, L.
September 10, 2017
Penric's Fox in audio in February
I am pleased to report that Blackstone Audiobooks has picked up the novella "Penric's Fox" for audio. They have it on their schedule already, for February 2018.
https://www.downpour.com/penric-s-fox...
for their vendor page. It will also be available in due course at all the usual suspects, wherever the prior Penric stories have appeared.
Ta, L.
https://www.downpour.com/penric-s-fox...
for their vendor page. It will also be available in due course at all the usual suspects, wherever the prior Penric stories have appeared.
Ta, L.
September 5, 2017
new Bujold podcast interview
...at Unreliable Narrators.
http://unreliablenarrators.net/2017/0...
We recorded this a few weeks ago via Skype; audio only, thankfully not video. I can just barely talk in real-time -- although alas it comes out as first draft -- trying to track my physical presentation at the same time would be not fun. I'm a writer, Jim, not an actress.
Anyway, this one seems to have come out well.
Ta, L.
http://unreliablenarrators.net/2017/0...
We recorded this a few weeks ago via Skype; audio only, thankfully not video. I can just barely talk in real-time -- although alas it comes out as first draft -- trying to track my physical presentation at the same time would be not fun. I'm a writer, Jim, not an actress.
Anyway, this one seems to have come out well.
Ta, L.
August 20, 2017
Penric's Fox doing well
...it just hit #121 on the Amazon sales rankings this morning. I am hoping it will crack two figures at some point on its initial sales arc, but since they change hourly, that's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it proposition.
Amazon sales rankings are a snare and a delusion and clickbait, which I suppose means they're working fine for Amazon, but they are the only real-time feedback an author can have, which is a new thing in the world. One used to have to wait up to a year and a half for the first royalty report for data on how one's baby bookwas doing had done out there in the world.
Speaking of "Fox", I meant to post this quote from a reader who had never read any of the Penric & Desdemona tales, and kindly agreed to test drive it: "Did it stand alone? Absolutely."
I've already spotted some reviews from old readers insisting, wrongly, it must be otherwise, which makes it much like other series work I've done. The most frustrating lately was for Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, with scads of old readers putting off new ones by claiming they had to read umpty-ump other books first, and the few new ones who slipped through the net, and read the book in front of them just as it was, saying it was fine.
(The latter, sadly small, group may actually have had a better and clearer read due to not having to fight through a forest of settled preconceptions first.)
So I think it might be better to take advice only from new readers, on this point.
Ta, L.
Amazon sales rankings are a snare and a delusion and clickbait, which I suppose means they're working fine for Amazon, but they are the only real-time feedback an author can have, which is a new thing in the world. One used to have to wait up to a year and a half for the first royalty report for data on how one's baby book
Speaking of "Fox", I meant to post this quote from a reader who had never read any of the Penric & Desdemona tales, and kindly agreed to test drive it: "Did it stand alone? Absolutely."
I've already spotted some reviews from old readers insisting, wrongly, it must be otherwise, which makes it much like other series work I've done. The most frustrating lately was for Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, with scads of old readers putting off new ones by claiming they had to read umpty-ump other books first, and the few new ones who slipped through the net, and read the book in front of them just as it was, saying it was fine.
(The latter, sadly small, group may actually have had a better and clearer read due to not having to fight through a forest of settled preconceptions first.)
So I think it might be better to take advice only from new readers, on this point.
Ta, L.
August 19, 2017
question for gardeners
All right, can anyone positively identify this mystery plant? It came up as a volunteer on the north side of my house, and seems to be self-seeding, because it keeps coming back each year. It blooms like this from the first week of August till frost. Bumblebees love it. Minnesota.
Pleased but puzzled, L.
Pleased but puzzled, L.
August 17, 2017
Hugo arrives from Finland
We live in a remarkable world. Does anyone else notice...?
Anyway.
Out of the box.
Some assembly required. Delayed by a hunt for a socket wrench that fit, which at length proved to be the handle that holds the other socket wrenches.
Together! Am I an engineer's daughter or what.
The front plate.
United with its siblings.
Ta, L.
Later, by request at @16, a larger group shot:
If anyone wants more data:
http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...
Foreground needs cropped, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. It'll do for a snapshot.
Anyway.
Out of the box.
Some assembly required. Delayed by a hunt for a socket wrench that fit, which at length proved to be the handle that holds the other socket wrenches.
Together! Am I an engineer's daughter or what.
The front plate.
United with its siblings.
Ta, L.
Later, by request at @16, a larger group shot:
If anyone wants more data:
http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...
Foreground needs cropped, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. It'll do for a snapshot.
