Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 38
July 23, 2017
new Penric impending
I am pleased to report that I have finished the first draft of a new Penric & Desdemona novella. (For that peculiar value of "finished" that means, "still dinking till it's pulled from the writer's twitchy hands.")
Title will be "Penric's Fox"
Length, at this moment, is around 37,400 words. It is more-or-less a sequel to "Penric and the Shaman", taking place about eight or nine months after that story.
Final editing and formatting, arranging for cover art to send it out into the world nicely dressed, etc., will take some unknown amount of time and eyeball-endurance, but e-pub will likely happen in August.
My computer file tells me I started typing the opening on March 3rd, but of course there was lead-up to that. It is, in general, hard to tell or remember when a project segues over from "notion" to "planning", although the notion had been with me for some time. Story notions are like a collection of vaguely related objects rattling around in a box; planning starts when some key object that connects them all drops in, and things suddenly get interesting.
Ta, L.
Title will be "Penric's Fox"
Length, at this moment, is around 37,400 words. It is more-or-less a sequel to "Penric and the Shaman", taking place about eight or nine months after that story.
Final editing and formatting, arranging for cover art to send it out into the world nicely dressed, etc., will take some unknown amount of time and eyeball-endurance, but e-pub will likely happen in August.
My computer file tells me I started typing the opening on March 3rd, but of course there was lead-up to that. It is, in general, hard to tell or remember when a project segues over from "notion" to "planning", although the notion had been with me for some time. Story notions are like a collection of vaguely related objects rattling around in a box; planning starts when some key object that connects them all drops in, and things suddenly get interesting.
Ta, L.
July 19, 2017
fantasy book covers
Heh. This amused me...
https://thoughtsonfantasy.com/2017/07...
Also, the number of people in the comments who said they'd totally read it...
I swear, the ill-fated "Pillsbury Nazgul" British cover for Paladin of Souls ticks almost all of the boxes.
Ta, L. Easily amused this morning.
https://thoughtsonfantasy.com/2017/07...
Also, the number of people in the comments who said they'd totally read it...
I swear, the ill-fated "Pillsbury Nazgul" British cover for Paladin of Souls ticks almost all of the boxes.
Ta, L. Easily amused this morning.
June 24, 2017
PW reviews Penric's Mission
Of the Subterranean Press hardcover; I don't think they cover many e-books. May be seen here:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-...
A Publishers Weekly review is, or was (probably still is), considered rather a coup for an aspiring writer. I remember how excited my agent was for my first one; she mailed me a clipping, which should give you an idea how many years ago.
Ta, L.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-...
A Publishers Weekly review is, or was (probably still is), considered rather a coup for an aspiring writer. I remember how excited my agent was for my first one; she mailed me a clipping, which should give you an idea how many years ago.
Ta, L.
June 16, 2017
water from the air
See, among other links:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/0...
You know, I've been around dehumidifiers for decades, but never once thought of this. And then it's so obvious.
(Not that this uses quite that tech, but, the principle of the thing.)
Straight-line extrapolations into the future -- that trick never works.
Ta, L.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/0...
You know, I've been around dehumidifiers for decades, but never once thought of this. And then it's so obvious.
(Not that this uses quite that tech, but, the principle of the thing.)
Straight-line extrapolations into the future -- that trick never works.
Ta, L.
June 13, 2017
Mira releases on audio today
The audio version of the Penric & Desdemona novella "Mira's Last Dance", sequel to "Penric's Mission", releases on audio from Blackstone/Downpour today.
https://www.downpour.com/mira-s-last-...
At all the usual audio e-vendor suspects. Also available in physical media, although almost no one seems to buy audio that way these days.
I see they decided to do their own cover again, keeping their own series look.
(It will be coming later this year in a collector's hardcover from Subterranean Press, as well; just saw the first batch of proposed cover sketches yesterday.)
Ta, L.
https://www.downpour.com/mira-s-last-...
At all the usual audio e-vendor suspects. Also available in physical media, although almost no one seems to buy audio that way these days.
I see they decided to do their own cover again, keeping their own series look.
(It will be coming later this year in a collector's hardcover from Subterranean Press, as well; just saw the first batch of proposed cover sketches yesterday.)
Ta, L.
June 2, 2017
GURPS Vorkosigan
Haven't mentioned the existence of this in a while...
Now also available in digital format,
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/vo...
Ta, L.
Now also available in digital format,
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/vo...
Ta, L.
May 12, 2017
Mira in audio up for preorder
It seems "Mira's Last Dance" is now available for preorder from Downpour.com, the Blackstone Audiobooks e-store.
https://www.downpour.com/mira-s-last-...
The release date is listed as June 13th.
(It will also appear at all the usual suspects around then, I daresay.)
Piggybacking on this post, here's something I haven't mentioned in a while:
https://www.amazon.com/Sidelines-Essa...
(It's also on iTunes and Nook.)
Ta, L.
https://www.downpour.com/mira-s-last-...
The release date is listed as June 13th.
(It will also appear at all the usual suspects around then, I daresay.)
Piggybacking on this post, here's something I haven't mentioned in a while:
https://www.amazon.com/Sidelines-Essa...
(It's also on iTunes and Nook.)
Ta, L.
May 11, 2017
Bujold at CONvergence in July
I will be one of the guests of honor at CONvergence, the science fiction convention here in Minneapolis, July 6th - 9th. All details here:
http://www.convergence-con.org/
Ta, L.
http://www.convergence-con.org/
Ta, L.
May 4, 2017
question for anime-manga fans
OK, I am interested in collecting more good examples of a particular recurring character type. What would you put in slot 5?
Kisuke Urahara from Bleach
Fai Flowright from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Xerxes Break from Pandora Hearts
Yuuko from xxxHolic
______ from _____ ?
All snarky, sexy, secretive, smart, older, over-powered mentor figures. (Angsty backstories come factory-installed in nearly all manga and anime characters, so I won't factor that, but I grant their long lives do allow these types to acquire more.)
Inevitably in a genre aimed at younger audiences, most of these have secondary parts, but the amount of stage-time they are present should be better than homeopathic. Otherwise, to paraphrase Peter Wimsey, it's like eating through a ton of turnips to find a pound of pears.
I note that three out of the four listed didn't get out of their respective series alive, dammit. Being the young protagonist's mentor in a coming-of-age story is an only slightly less lethal job than being the protagonist's mother. Makes me want to write a tale where the mentor and the mother escape death by running away together, but anyway.
I could also mention Nightingale from Rivers of London and Watari from Descendants of Darkness, although how those two arrive in the same bin in my head is hard to explain. A friend offered Shiroe from Log Horizon, which I dipped into, but the world he was in didn't engage me, so apparently context does matter. Which trails another question, can such a character-type exist outside of an ensemble, or escape his role (or his doom?) Can't have a mentor without a mentee, after all. Do they require an exterior viewpoint to bring off their most delicious effects?
Not sure how many I would follow up on, as I am currently suffering attachment-fatigue, unwilling to wrap my mind around yet one more set of series characters, unless there is some extraordinary reward in it. But I do find series structures endlessly fascinating, even as their length self-limits compare-and-contrast.
Discuss away in Comments...
Ta, L.
Kisuke Urahara from Bleach
Fai Flowright from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Xerxes Break from Pandora Hearts
Yuuko from xxxHolic
______ from _____ ?
All snarky, sexy, secretive, smart, older, over-powered mentor figures. (Angsty backstories come factory-installed in nearly all manga and anime characters, so I won't factor that, but I grant their long lives do allow these types to acquire more.)
Inevitably in a genre aimed at younger audiences, most of these have secondary parts, but the amount of stage-time they are present should be better than homeopathic. Otherwise, to paraphrase Peter Wimsey, it's like eating through a ton of turnips to find a pound of pears.
I note that three out of the four listed didn't get out of their respective series alive, dammit. Being the young protagonist's mentor in a coming-of-age story is an only slightly less lethal job than being the protagonist's mother. Makes me want to write a tale where the mentor and the mother escape death by running away together, but anyway.
I could also mention Nightingale from Rivers of London and Watari from Descendants of Darkness, although how those two arrive in the same bin in my head is hard to explain. A friend offered Shiroe from Log Horizon, which I dipped into, but the world he was in didn't engage me, so apparently context does matter. Which trails another question, can such a character-type exist outside of an ensemble, or escape his role (or his doom?) Can't have a mentor without a mentee, after all. Do they require an exterior viewpoint to bring off their most delicious effects?
Not sure how many I would follow up on, as I am currently suffering attachment-fatigue, unwilling to wrap my mind around yet one more set of series characters, unless there is some extraordinary reward in it. But I do find series structures endlessly fascinating, even as their length self-limits compare-and-contrast.
Discuss away in Comments...
Ta, L.
May 1, 2017
Penric's Mission preorder page is up
At Subterranean Press. Collector's hardcover.
http://subterraneanpress.com/bujold-p...
Publication is not till November, thankfully, which should give my right paw more time to heal before those 450 signature pages. Art, again, by the excellent Lauren Saint-Onge.
Ta, L.
http://subterraneanpress.com/bujold-p...
Publication is not till November, thankfully, which should give my right paw more time to heal before those 450 signature pages. Art, again, by the excellent Lauren Saint-Onge.
Ta, L.
