Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 37
August 16, 2017
Hugo's Progress
Wow, my Hugo trophy is having a Grand Tour. Although I don't suppose it gets to see much from inside a cardboard box.
When it arrives, I'll post a picture.
Location Date Local Time Activity
Philadelphia, PA, United States 08/16/2017 12:43 P.M. Import Scan
08/16/2017 7:51 A.M. Arrival Scan
Roissy Charles de Gaulle, France 08/16/2017 5:40 A.M. Departure Scan
Koeln, Germany 08/16/2017 4:29 A.M. Departure Scan
Roissy Charles de Gaulle, France 08/16/2017 4:22 A.M. Arrival Scan
Koeln, Germany 08/16/2017 12:59 A.M. Arrival Scan
Malmo Sturup, Sweden 08/15/2017 11:43 P.M. Departure Scan
08/15/2017 10:29 P.M. Arrival Scan
Vantaa, Finland 08/15/2017 9:56 P.M. Departure Scan
Helsinki, Finland 08/15/2017 9:16 P.M. Departure Scan
08/15/2017 7:16 P.M. Export Scan
08/15/2017 6:21 P.M. Your package is at the clearing agency awaiting final release. / Your package was released by the clearing agency.
08/15/2017 6:13 P.M. Your package is at the clearing agency awaiting final release.
Finland 08/15/2017 1:06 A.M. (ET) Order Processed: Ready for UPS
My nephew flies internationally for UPS. It's amusing to imagine him transporting it for me, although he more commonly flies trans-Pacific.
Best (or at least most writerly) tale he told me: the week J.K. Rowling's last Harry Potter book was released, UPS had to lay on extra flights to get all the books to the bookstores.
Now, there's a benchmark for success...
Ta, L.
Thur. afternoon update -- It has been out joyriding around Minneapolis in a brown truck since 9:30 this morning. Surely not much longer now...?
When it arrives, I'll post a picture.
Location Date Local Time Activity
Philadelphia, PA, United States 08/16/2017 12:43 P.M. Import Scan
08/16/2017 7:51 A.M. Arrival Scan
Roissy Charles de Gaulle, France 08/16/2017 5:40 A.M. Departure Scan
Koeln, Germany 08/16/2017 4:29 A.M. Departure Scan
Roissy Charles de Gaulle, France 08/16/2017 4:22 A.M. Arrival Scan
Koeln, Germany 08/16/2017 12:59 A.M. Arrival Scan
Malmo Sturup, Sweden 08/15/2017 11:43 P.M. Departure Scan
08/15/2017 10:29 P.M. Arrival Scan
Vantaa, Finland 08/15/2017 9:56 P.M. Departure Scan
Helsinki, Finland 08/15/2017 9:16 P.M. Departure Scan
08/15/2017 7:16 P.M. Export Scan
08/15/2017 6:21 P.M. Your package is at the clearing agency awaiting final release. / Your package was released by the clearing agency.
08/15/2017 6:13 P.M. Your package is at the clearing agency awaiting final release.
Finland 08/15/2017 1:06 A.M. (ET) Order Processed: Ready for UPS
My nephew flies internationally for UPS. It's amusing to imagine him transporting it for me, although he more commonly flies trans-Pacific.
Best (or at least most writerly) tale he told me: the week J.K. Rowling's last Harry Potter book was released, UPS had to lay on extra flights to get all the books to the bookstores.
Now, there's a benchmark for success...
Ta, L.
Thur. afternoon update -- It has been out joyriding around Minneapolis in a brown truck since 9:30 this morning. Surely not much longer now...?
August 12, 2017
new short Bujold interview at 8LW
I have a new short interview up today at the blogsite Eight Ladies Writing, in honor of the launch of the new Penric & Desdemona novella "Penric's Fox".
https://eightladieswriting.com/2017/0...
We did this a couple of weeks ago, but delayed posting till after the e-publication of the novella earlier this week. (Good heavens, that was only Tuesday -- seems longer ago already, but that's how time speeds on the internet.) This turns out to be doubly timely, in view of yesterday's happy news, as I also talk a bit about about wrangling series structures.
Also to note, the only PR push this novella is going to get is on this blog and these couple of by-chance recent interviews, so any mention folks may be moved to make about it out and around the net and elsewhere would be great. Amazon always gets plenty of reviews, and indeed by the time any prospective readers have made their way to the vendor sites the work is already done, so putting out the word in other places is more important.
Ta, L.
https://eightladieswriting.com/2017/0...
We did this a couple of weeks ago, but delayed posting till after the e-publication of the novella earlier this week. (Good heavens, that was only Tuesday -- seems longer ago already, but that's how time speeds on the internet.) This turns out to be doubly timely, in view of yesterday's happy news, as I also talk a bit about about wrangling series structures.
Also to note, the only PR push this novella is going to get is on this blog and these couple of by-chance recent interviews, so any mention folks may be moved to make about it out and around the net and elsewhere would be great. Amazon always gets plenty of reviews, and indeed by the time any prospective readers have made their way to the vendor sites the work is already done, so putting out the word in other places is more important.
Ta, L.
August 11, 2017
Vorkosigan Saga wins 2017 Hugo for Best Series
I am extremely pleased to report that the Vorkosigan Saga has won the Hugo Award for Best Series at the 2017 WorldCon in Helsinki, Finland.
Live streaming of the ceremony unfortunately ran afoul of technical difficulties, but I'd been following print links this afternoon as they updated. Generally, if one wins people hurry to say congrats, so you find out pretty quickly; if you lose, it's crickets chirping. So the first I actually heard were two e-mails from friends that said congrats (yay!) but not what for. (Since "Penric and the Shaman" was also a nominee in the novella category, which went this year to "Every Heart a Doorway" by Seanan McGuire, not to my surprise, congrats Seanan!)
I'll post a link to the ceremony recording when I find one.
Official link here:
http://www.worldcon.fi/wsfs-hugos/hug...
Tor also posts the full results here:
http://www.tor.com/2017/08/11/2017-hu...
The WorldCon's own website should have some pretty interesting voting statistics up soon, as well, for those who like to sort through the raw data. (Later: you can find them through the Worldcon link, above.)
Anyway, here are my acceptance remarks, which I gave to read to my friend and fellow Minneapolis writer Caroline Stevermer, who kindly and bravely offered to be my acceptor in and at the event. (It felt deeply weird to have to come up with these months beforehand. Hope they worked OK in the actual context.)
"Series have been a part of storytelling since The Odyssey followed The Iliad, engaging creators and delighting audiences for millennia. I have long thought that the series is an art form as distinct from the novel as the novel is from the short story, but no one studies series in the same way as novels, except those who write and read and love them. This may be more feature than bug.
It’s likely that the neglect of series in academic forums is practical: while teachers can just (barely) get classrooms of undergrads to read and compare half-a-dozen novels in a semester, there’s no way they could get them to do the same for half-a-dozen series.
Happily, free-range genre readers suffer under no such restrictions. There are still a lot of practical challenges for comparing series, especially those still under development by living writers. This year’s Hugo series category is a really interesting experiment in that direction, and I am honored that my work was among those put in the barrel for this particular roll downhill.
No writer could create a work extending over thirty years without an equal number of decades of publisher support, and it was my good luck that Baen Books and I stumbled into each other at the dawns of both of our careers. I need, as ever, to thank editors Betsy Mitchell, the late Jim Baen, Toni Weisskopf, and my agent Eleanor Wood for being my early and ongoing supporters on this long road trip.
And thank you all."
Ta, L.
Live streaming of the ceremony unfortunately ran afoul of technical difficulties, but I'd been following print links this afternoon as they updated. Generally, if one wins people hurry to say congrats, so you find out pretty quickly; if you lose, it's crickets chirping. So the first I actually heard were two e-mails from friends that said congrats (yay!) but not what for. (Since "Penric and the Shaman" was also a nominee in the novella category, which went this year to "Every Heart a Doorway" by Seanan McGuire, not to my surprise, congrats Seanan!)
I'll post a link to the ceremony recording when I find one.
Official link here:
http://www.worldcon.fi/wsfs-hugos/hug...
Tor also posts the full results here:
http://www.tor.com/2017/08/11/2017-hu...
The WorldCon's own website should have some pretty interesting voting statistics up soon, as well, for those who like to sort through the raw data. (Later: you can find them through the Worldcon link, above.)
Anyway, here are my acceptance remarks, which I gave to read to my friend and fellow Minneapolis writer Caroline Stevermer, who kindly and bravely offered to be my acceptor in and at the event. (It felt deeply weird to have to come up with these months beforehand. Hope they worked OK in the actual context.)
"Series have been a part of storytelling since The Odyssey followed The Iliad, engaging creators and delighting audiences for millennia. I have long thought that the series is an art form as distinct from the novel as the novel is from the short story, but no one studies series in the same way as novels, except those who write and read and love them. This may be more feature than bug.
It’s likely that the neglect of series in academic forums is practical: while teachers can just (barely) get classrooms of undergrads to read and compare half-a-dozen novels in a semester, there’s no way they could get them to do the same for half-a-dozen series.
Happily, free-range genre readers suffer under no such restrictions. There are still a lot of practical challenges for comparing series, especially those still under development by living writers. This year’s Hugo series category is a really interesting experiment in that direction, and I am honored that my work was among those put in the barrel for this particular roll downhill.
No writer could create a work extending over thirty years without an equal number of decades of publisher support, and it was my good luck that Baen Books and I stumbled into each other at the dawns of both of our careers. I need, as ever, to thank editors Betsy Mitchell, the late Jim Baen, Toni Weisskopf, and my agent Eleanor Wood for being my early and ongoing supporters on this long road trip.
And thank you all."
Ta, L.
August 8, 2017
Penric's Fox spoiler thread corral
It's been suggested (already!) that it would be nice for people who have already read the new novella to have a place to piffle on about it without spoiling later readers.
So here you go. Have what fun you like in the comments.
Those who want their first readings pristine, steer clear.
Ta, L.
Update 8/23: the corrected e-file of "Penric's Fox" has been uploaded at the vendors, so new purchasers should get it; you will have to advise each other how old readers may do so.
If anyone finds any more errata... keep them a secret.
L.
So here you go. Have what fun you like in the comments.
Those who want their first readings pristine, steer clear.
Ta, L.
Update 8/23: the corrected e-file of "Penric's Fox" has been uploaded at the vendors, so new purchasers should get it; you will have to advise each other how old readers may do so.
If anyone finds any more errata... keep them a secret.
L.
Penric's Fox is up!
Aha!
"Penric's Fox" is up this morning.
At B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/penr...
And Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074N1XJR2/
(A bit later) And iTunes/Apple:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/penr...
It seems to be up fine on the UK and Canadian Amazons, and, I expect, most of the other country-Amazons as well.
Ta, L.
Ta, L.
"Penric's Fox" is up this morning.
At B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/penr...
And Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074N1XJR2/
(A bit later) And iTunes/Apple:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/penr...
It seems to be up fine on the UK and Canadian Amazons, and, I expect, most of the other country-Amazons as well.
Ta, L.
Ta, L.
August 3, 2017
Bujold Reddit AMA is up
The Bujold Reddit AMA is now open for business, today (Thur. Aug. 3) only...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comm...
I begin to suspect I shouldn't wait till 7 PM to start answering questions, but we'll see how things develop over the day.
Ta, L.
Later: I think I have now answered all the questions. Don't add any more!
The completed AMA will remain up online at the above link for folks to read. People could still talk to each other in the comments, I suppose; not sure how that works. It's rather like about ten interviews stacked atop one another, so likely a bit too much Bujold to take at a gulp, but one can space it out.
L.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comm...
I begin to suspect I shouldn't wait till 7 PM to start answering questions, but we'll see how things develop over the day.
Ta, L.
Later: I think I have now answered all the questions. Don't add any more!
The completed AMA will remain up online at the above link for folks to read. People could still talk to each other in the comments, I suppose; not sure how that works. It's rather like about ten interviews stacked atop one another, so likely a bit too much Bujold to take at a gulp, but one can space it out.
L.
August 2, 2017
Penric series renumbering puzzle
So...
I'm am about to drop what most people will construe as a prequel into the Penric & Desdemona series, and, for those vendors who require numbers, the question has come up whether to number it in publication order, in which case it would be #5, or number it in current-internal-chronology order, in which case it would be #3, and renumber the volumes following.
Whichever we choose will likely set the plan for future entries, although whenever a story occurs at the working face of the timeline, it would come out the same.
Any thoughts you all have as as readers or e-book buyers? Help yourselves to the comments section.
Later: I should add, decimal numbering has already been decided against. It has to be either chronological or publication, in integers.
Note we're working across 3 different vendor platforms, and the least flexible drives the whole.
Ta, L.
I'm am about to drop what most people will construe as a prequel into the Penric & Desdemona series, and, for those vendors who require numbers, the question has come up whether to number it in publication order, in which case it would be #5, or number it in current-internal-chronology order, in which case it would be #3, and renumber the volumes following.
Whichever we choose will likely set the plan for future entries, although whenever a story occurs at the working face of the timeline, it would come out the same.
Any thoughts you all have as as readers or e-book buyers? Help yourselves to the comments section.
Later: I should add, decimal numbering has already been decided against. It has to be either chronological or publication, in integers.
Note we're working across 3 different vendor platforms, and the least flexible drives the whole.
Ta, L.
August 1, 2017
Penric's Fox sneak peek cover reveal
Whew! That was a process.
Trying a bespoke cover, this time. There turns out to be a lot more decision-making involved than when just gathering some public-domain image off the internet.
E-cover art by Ron Miller, http://www.black-cat-studios.com/
All files are in the hands of my e-people, so depending on what else is jostling their work queues, novella launch should not be many days longer. I'll post links from the usual suspects, vendors Nook, Kindle, and iTunes, when they go live.
Ta, L.
Trying a bespoke cover, this time. There turns out to be a lot more decision-making involved than when just gathering some public-domain image off the internet.
E-cover art by Ron Miller, http://www.black-cat-studios.com/
All files are in the hands of my e-people, so depending on what else is jostling their work queues, novella launch should not be many days longer. I'll post links from the usual suspects, vendors Nook, Kindle, and iTunes, when they go live.
Ta, L.
July 31, 2017
Bujold AMA chat on Reddit this Thursday
That's August 3rd. Welcome post is supposed to go up around noon, Q&A proper around 7 PM CST.
I've not done a Reddit chat before, but it seems to be rather like my "Ask the Author" feature here on Goodreads, except on fast-forward.
My Reddit people say; "There will be no official link until the AMA is posted. Until then, please feel free to let folks know that you have an Ask Me Anything (AMA) with the r/Fantasy group over at www.reddit.com/r/fantasy and that anyone can stop by to ask a question."
Ta, L.
I've not done a Reddit chat before, but it seems to be rather like my "Ask the Author" feature here on Goodreads, except on fast-forward.
My Reddit people say; "There will be no official link until the AMA is posted. Until then, please feel free to let folks know that you have an Ask Me Anything (AMA) with the r/Fantasy group over at www.reddit.com/r/fantasy and that anyone can stop by to ask a question."
Ta, L.
July 24, 2017
new Bujold podcast interview
...is here:
http://www.podcasts.com/live-from-the...
The interview starts at about 1 minute in, and runs about 30 minutes.
This was recorded on Day 4 of ConVergence, earlier this month. (Which seems longer ago than that, already.)
Ta, L.
http://www.podcasts.com/live-from-the...
The interview starts at about 1 minute in, and runs about 30 minutes.
This was recorded on Day 4 of ConVergence, earlier this month. (Which seems longer ago than that, already.)
Ta, L.
