Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 6
July 1, 2024
Penric and the Bandit goes live
Now up at these links:
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/penri...
Amazon Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8JSYTS8/
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/penr...
Barnes & Noble Nook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/penr...
Strange company…
When Rozakajin, road-weary bandit and army deserter, spots a hapless blond young man in a country inn with an intriguing treasure map, he thinks he’s scouted an easy and lucrative victim. Attaching himself to odd traveler Penric seems simple enough, but when Roz’s old enemies catch up from behind, his plans take a turn for the much worse. When Pen’s claim that I never travel alone proves true in ways Roz never imagined, his world becomes more frightening still—but also much wider than he’d ever dared to dream.
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
“Knot of Shadows
“Demon Daughter”
“Penric and the Bandit”
I'll set up a spoiler discussion space post as usual in a bit. Because some of you are speed readers, although I am not a speed writer.
Ta, L.
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/penri...
Amazon Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8JSYTS8/
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/penr...
Barnes & Noble Nook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/penr...
Strange company…
When Rozakajin, road-weary bandit and army deserter, spots a hapless blond young man in a country inn with an intriguing treasure map, he thinks he’s scouted an easy and lucrative victim. Attaching himself to odd traveler Penric seems simple enough, but when Roz’s old enemies catch up from behind, his plans take a turn for the much worse. When Pen’s claim that I never travel alone proves true in ways Roz never imagined, his world becomes more frightening still—but also much wider than he’d ever dared to dream.
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
“Knot of Shadows
“Demon Daughter”
“Penric and the Bandit”
I'll set up a spoiler discussion space post as usual in a bit. Because some of you are speed readers, although I am not a speed writer.
Ta, L.
June 28, 2024
Now the morning after: Bujold reading at Dreamhaven tomorrow reminder
Sunday morning report: I indeed had great fun reading at Dreamhaven last night. We filled every chair. Some folks flew in from as far away as Iowa and Missouri! They gave me flowers, like an ice skater! (Happily no ice out today though.) And all their attention, and good questions.
I read the first 3 scenes of "Penric and the Bandit", which don't exactly end on a cliffhanger, but with this crowd I don't think that mattered. (The next scene would have, but I wanted to leave time for Q&A and, of course, buying books.)
Note for those who missed it, you can get my books signed through mail order from Dreamhaven, by arrangement, including some they don't have in stock but I do. (Some, like the "Penric's Demon" hc from Subterranean, and the first Sharing Knife hc, Beguilement, no one has, alas.) (Note you can still get the first Penric story on paper in the Baen hardcover omnibus Penric's Progress, plus the next 2 novellas.) The trickier titles will take more lead time. But it's worth asking about others.
The e-version of "Penric and the Bandit" should go up this coming week sometime. The Blackstone Audiobook version will follow as soon as they can get it recorded -- we just confirmed the contract a few days ago. Subterranean Press is still working on "Demon Daughter", projected pub date January 2025.
If anyone had a question they didn't get answered last night, I direct you to my "Ask the Author" column here on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/1609...
(I meant to mention last night, I did do a home Covid test on myself yesterday, negative as I expected. I was bemused to find I could pick one up right off the shelf at my nearest grocery store pharmacy department.)
Ta, L.
***
(Outdated news below)
Reminder post for my reading, Q&A, and signing at Dreamhaven Books & Comics in Minneapolis on Saturday evening (tomorrow as I post this) at 6:30 PM.
More info including location and travel directions here:
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/calendar/
I will be reading the first few scenes from the upcoming Pen & Des e-novella "Penric and the Bandit". As a rule I prefer to read from unpublished stories; it's been a while since the timing aligned to do so. Should be fun.
Ta, L.
I read the first 3 scenes of "Penric and the Bandit", which don't exactly end on a cliffhanger, but with this crowd I don't think that mattered. (The next scene would have, but I wanted to leave time for Q&A and, of course, buying books.)
Note for those who missed it, you can get my books signed through mail order from Dreamhaven, by arrangement, including some they don't have in stock but I do. (Some, like the "Penric's Demon" hc from Subterranean, and the first Sharing Knife hc, Beguilement, no one has, alas.) (Note you can still get the first Penric story on paper in the Baen hardcover omnibus Penric's Progress, plus the next 2 novellas.) The trickier titles will take more lead time. But it's worth asking about others.
The e-version of "Penric and the Bandit" should go up this coming week sometime. The Blackstone Audiobook version will follow as soon as they can get it recorded -- we just confirmed the contract a few days ago. Subterranean Press is still working on "Demon Daughter", projected pub date January 2025.
If anyone had a question they didn't get answered last night, I direct you to my "Ask the Author" column here on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/1609...
(I meant to mention last night, I did do a home Covid test on myself yesterday, negative as I expected. I was bemused to find I could pick one up right off the shelf at my nearest grocery store pharmacy department.)
Ta, L.
***
(Outdated news below)
Reminder post for my reading, Q&A, and signing at Dreamhaven Books & Comics in Minneapolis on Saturday evening (tomorrow as I post this) at 6:30 PM.
More info including location and travel directions here:
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/calendar/
I will be reading the first few scenes from the upcoming Pen & Des e-novella "Penric and the Bandit". As a rule I prefer to read from unpublished stories; it's been a while since the timing aligned to do so. Should be fun.
Ta, L.
June 26, 2024
Penric and the Bandit vendor page description
...AKA what would be the back cover blurb if this were a paperback.
Strange company…
When Rozakajin, road-weary bandit and army deserter, spots a hapless blond young man in a country inn with an intriguing treasure map, he thinks he’s scouted an easy and lucrative victim. Attaching himself to odd traveler Penric seems simple enough, but when Roz’s old enemies catch up from behind, his plans take a turn for the much worse. When Pen’s claim that I never travel alone proves true in ways Roz never imagined, his world becomes more frightening still—but also much wider than he’d ever dared to dream.
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
“Knot of Shadows
“Demon Daughter”
“Penric and the Bandit”
The first week of July has firmed up for the e-publication date, if all goes smoothly, on our 4 main platforms Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple Books.
In other good news, Blackstone has picked up the novella. (Possibly the fastest turn-around time between submission and acceptance ever, but we did give them a heads-up some weeks ago.) Narrator is planned to be Grover Gardner again. Blackstone likes to be able to release their audio versions simultaneously with the print/pixel publication, but our quick epub makes that too tight to be possible. They will be moving production right along though, I understand. I'll post the firm release date when I get it. (Blackstone has done a great job in selling my big backlist with them. I do need to do my part with energy-infusions of new work now and then.)
Ta, L.
Strange company…
When Rozakajin, road-weary bandit and army deserter, spots a hapless blond young man in a country inn with an intriguing treasure map, he thinks he’s scouted an easy and lucrative victim. Attaching himself to odd traveler Penric seems simple enough, but when Roz’s old enemies catch up from behind, his plans take a turn for the much worse. When Pen’s claim that I never travel alone proves true in ways Roz never imagined, his world becomes more frightening still—but also much wider than he’d ever dared to dream.
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
“Knot of Shadows
“Demon Daughter”
“Penric and the Bandit”
The first week of July has firmed up for the e-publication date, if all goes smoothly, on our 4 main platforms Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple Books.
In other good news, Blackstone has picked up the novella. (Possibly the fastest turn-around time between submission and acceptance ever, but we did give them a heads-up some weeks ago.) Narrator is planned to be Grover Gardner again. Blackstone likes to be able to release their audio versions simultaneously with the print/pixel publication, but our quick epub makes that too tight to be possible. They will be moving production right along though, I understand. I'll post the firm release date when I get it. (Blackstone has done a great job in selling my big backlist with them. I do need to do my part with energy-infusions of new work now and then.)
Ta, L.
June 20, 2024
Penric and the Bandit e-cover sneak peek
Art again by Ron Miller, https://www.black-cat-studios.com/
At the time I contacted Ron, I was divided in mind between a Significant Objects still-life cover, or some scene from the story. Ron got about two pages into the manuscript and hit the description of the map, and went ping! Ron is very partial to maps. And I like Significant Objects covers because they duck all thorny issues of what characters or settings look like, plus I think they are cleaner and classier. So our cover conference was very short this time.
On the making-of, Ron writes:
"Things that might be fun for your readers…
The map was drawn on a piece of real paper that I distressed, stained and photographed. The dice are real, too. And the coins are gold-foil-wrapped chocolate coins I got at Walmart!
R"
I have written the vendor-page copy, but it might be interesting to let you speculate on the cover for a bit without it...
Ta, L.
(We are aiming for early July for e-pub date, conditions permitting.)
At the time I contacted Ron, I was divided in mind between a Significant Objects still-life cover, or some scene from the story. Ron got about two pages into the manuscript and hit the description of the map, and went ping! Ron is very partial to maps. And I like Significant Objects covers because they duck all thorny issues of what characters or settings look like, plus I think they are cleaner and classier. So our cover conference was very short this time.
On the making-of, Ron writes:
"Things that might be fun for your readers…
The map was drawn on a piece of real paper that I distressed, stained and photographed. The dice are real, too. And the coins are gold-foil-wrapped chocolate coins I got at Walmart!
R"
I have written the vendor-page copy, but it might be interesting to let you speculate on the cover for a bit without it...
Ta, L.
(We are aiming for early July for e-pub date, conditions permitting.)
June 11, 2024
Bujold reading at Dreamhaven June 29th
I'll be doing a reading from the soon to be e-published "Penric and the Bandit" at Dreamhaven Books & Comics here in Minneapolis on Saturday, June 29, at 6:30 PM.
More info here:
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/event/lois...
As a rule I prefer to read from unpublished stories; it's been a while since the timing aligned to do so. Should be fun.
Ta, L.
More info here:
http://dreamhavenbooks.com/event/lois...
As a rule I prefer to read from unpublished stories; it's been a while since the timing aligned to do so. Should be fun.
Ta, L.
June 7, 2024
Penric 13 impending
I am pleased to report that I just today finished the first draft of the 13th Penric & Desdemona tale, to be titled "Penric and the Bandit". Ron Miller is already working on a cover. It looks, at present, as if it's going to top out at about ~33k words.
As the title perhaps suggests, this one is in more of an adventure mode. I'll have more to say about content later on. For now, after a breather, it's the eye-crossing stage of final tinkering and edits, the never-finished typo hunt, putting things in, taking things out, putting things in and then taking them right back out, etc. Also waiting for test-reader reports, for some fresh eyes to see what mine can't. This will take some unknown amount of time, because other people have schedules. Then will be the wait for my new e-wrangler at Spectrum to get the finished files assembled and up, also an unknown amount of time because they'll be clambering up a new learning curve.
But I'm thinking e-publication maybe July? Will have more to say when things become more definite. At some point there will also be a cover sneak-peek, when it has become something more photogenic than a scrawled (but evocative) concept sketch.
Ta, L.
As the title perhaps suggests, this one is in more of an adventure mode. I'll have more to say about content later on. For now, after a breather, it's the eye-crossing stage of final tinkering and edits, the never-finished typo hunt, putting things in, taking things out, putting things in and then taking them right back out, etc. Also waiting for test-reader reports, for some fresh eyes to see what mine can't. This will take some unknown amount of time, because other people have schedules. Then will be the wait for my new e-wrangler at Spectrum to get the finished files assembled and up, also an unknown amount of time because they'll be clambering up a new learning curve.
But I'm thinking e-publication maybe July? Will have more to say when things become more definite. At some point there will also be a cover sneak-peek, when it has become something more photogenic than a scrawled (but evocative) concept sketch.
Ta, L.
June 6, 2024
A Reader's Companion to A Civil Campaign
I was lately reminded of this delightful piece of high-level fan geekery:
http://dendarii.com/accc.html
which newer readers may not have seen. Much fun had with a close reading of the book.
Ta, L.
http://dendarii.com/accc.html
which newer readers may not have seen. Much fun had with a close reading of the book.
Ta, L.
May 5, 2024
The Curse of Chalion on e-sale for $1.99
The Curse of Chalion ebook is currently on sale for $1.99, wherever HarperCollins distributes: Kobo, Nook, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and Kindle, to name five.
I'd say stock up, but I expect a lot of the readers of this blog already have a copy, so let's go with Tell Your Friends. It's good as either a starter-Bujold or a start-Bujold's-fantasy choice, so they can dive right in without detouring through the reading-order debate.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-c...
https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Chalion-...
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-...
https://play.google.com/store/books/d...
No, I don't know how long the sale will last. (Nor who at HC decides such things, nor why.) But by all means, take advantage.
Enjoy -- L.
(Reading-order guide for those who want it remains at
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/Th... )
I'd say stock up, but I expect a lot of the readers of this blog already have a copy, so let's go with Tell Your Friends. It's good as either a starter-Bujold or a start-Bujold's-fantasy choice, so they can dive right in without detouring through the reading-order debate.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-c...
https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Chalion-...
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-...
https://play.google.com/store/books/d...
No, I don't know how long the sale will last. (Nor who at HC decides such things, nor why.) But by all means, take advantage.
Enjoy -- L.
(Reading-order guide for those who want it remains at
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/Th... )
April 9, 2024
Plot Trysts podcast: My Word As Vorkosigan
Running in 2024: a podcast discussion series devoted to an in-depth look at the books of the Vorkosigan Saga. Each episode, the co-hosts invite a different guest author to discuss a particular book.
https://plottrysts.wordpress.com/meg-...
I was startled, looking at the remarkable guest lineup, how many other writers I know or have read name my work as a reading pleasure or an influence. Having spent the first third of my career in the feedback vacuum of the pre-internet world, I somehow still feel that lingering sense of invisibility. (I was "new writer Bujold" for so long.) Early conditioning, I guess.
The co-hosts have also set up a Discord group for post-podcast discussions. On topic! The link may be found on the podcast page.
We just this past week recorded an interview with me to cap the series, come September.
Ta, L.
A commenter below suggested this might be a good place to re-link my own reading-order guide:
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/Th...
Although beginning with whatever Bujold you have in your hand is never a wrong choice.
L.
https://plottrysts.wordpress.com/meg-...
I was startled, looking at the remarkable guest lineup, how many other writers I know or have read name my work as a reading pleasure or an influence. Having spent the first third of my career in the feedback vacuum of the pre-internet world, I somehow still feel that lingering sense of invisibility. (I was "new writer Bujold" for so long.) Early conditioning, I guess.
The co-hosts have also set up a Discord group for post-podcast discussions. On topic! The link may be found on the podcast page.
We just this past week recorded an interview with me to cap the series, come September.
Ta, L.
A commenter below suggested this might be a good place to re-link my own reading-order guide:
https://vorkosigan.fandom.com/wiki/Th...
Although beginning with whatever Bujold you have in your hand is never a wrong choice.
L.
April 5, 2024
article up: Does Science Fiction Shape the Future?
Journalist Namir Khaliq recently e-mail interviewed me and several other SF writers on the relations of science fiction to real world applications, and appliers; the results are now up here online in Nautilus Magazine:
https://nautil.us/does-science-fictio...
Ta, L.
(I could have given him a more recent photo of me if he'd asked... wish I could as easily shave off 25 years in real life.)
https://nautil.us/does-science-fictio...
Ta, L.
(I could have given him a more recent photo of me if he'd asked... wish I could as easily shave off 25 years in real life.)
