Jane Lindskold's Blog, page 56
May 9, 2020
Wolf’s Soul Live On All Sites!!
Wolf’s Soul Runs Through the Amazon!
Wolf’s Soul, the eighth book in the Firekeeper Saga, is finally live on Amazon. The pages for the two versions may not yet been merged on all sites, here are links to the Kindle (mobi) e-book and the trade paperback.
Wolf’s Soul is also available as an e-book from Barnes and Noble, Google Play, i-Tunes, and Kobo.
The cover art is based on Julie Bell’s wonderful piece, “Three Hungry Wolves,” which you can acquire as a print from her website.
Wolf’s Soul is a close-upon-the-heels sequel to last July’s Wolf’s Search and, as such, requires familiarity with the events in Wolf’s Search to be best enjoyed.
That said, Wolf’s Search can be delved into without a review of—or even great familiarity with—the previous six books in the Firekeeper Saga. If you haven’t yet read Wolf’s Search, you can learn a little about it here.
If you’d like more information about Wolf’s Soul, here’s a link to this week’s WW where I provided a few more details.
May 8, 2020
FF: Continuing
Part of the View Outside My Office
This week my reading is mostly electronic formats, so I offer picture of one of Jim and my pets: the garden. Every plant you see, we put in. This corner used to be all sterile sand and construction junk. It’s looking good now. It will look even better when the hollyhocks, yarrow and desert willow start flowering
For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
Recently Completed:
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie. I could probably recite some of these aloud, but I needed something both absorbing and yet familiar to read before bed.
Pasttime by Robert B. Parker. Audiobook. Held up well. Less a detective story than a mediation on how relationships between parents and children shape the adult, seasoned with gunshots.
David Bowie: The Oral History compiled by Dylan Jones. Stronger before the editor decided to have the last word on Bowie. Rather a contradiction, given that the inherent message of the book is that no one, probably not even Bowie, could have the last word. But isn’t that true about all of us?
The Father Brown Mysteries radio dramas adapted from several short stories. Well done. Obviously audio!
In Progress:
The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham. Audiobook. Yep. Another re-listen.
Also:
This latest Smithsonian magazine, while slim, had some good articles. I’d recommend.
May 6, 2020
Wolf’s Soul Lives!
Wolf’s Soul!
Wolf’s Soul, the eighth book in the Firekeeper Saga, is now (or shortly will be; Amazon is having tech issues) available from the following on-line booksellers: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, i-Tunes, and Kobo. For those of you who prefer physical books, Wolf’s Soul is available as a trade paperback from Amazon. The cover art is based on Julie Bell’s wonderful piece, “Three Hungry Wolves,” which you can acquire as a print from her website.
Wolf’s Soul is a close-upon-the-heels sequel to last July’s Wolf’s Search and, as such, requires familiarity with the events in Wolf’s Search to be best enjoyed.
That said, Wolf’s Search can be delved into without a review of—or even great familiarity with—the previous six books in the Firekeeper Saga. If you haven’t yet read Wolf’s Search, you can learn a little about it here.
If you don’t want spoilers for Wolf’s Search, skip the italicized portion. Otherwise, read on for the cover blurb to Wolf’s Soul:
Firekeeper has always believed that her heart is a wolf’s heart.
Now the time has come for her to prove it.
Blind Seer’s search for a teacher of the magical arts brought him and Firekeeper to Rhinadei, a land rich in magical lore, but intolerant of those who would rebel against its core precepts. Now, eager to aid Wythcombe, his new teacher, Blind Seer agrees to lend his keen senses to the hunt for Kabot—Wythcombe’s childhood rival and leader of a band of fanatical blood mages.
In this hunt, Firekeeper runs as ever at Blind Seer’s side. Rounding out their pack are Laria and Ranz, two young humans with potent magical gifts of their own; Farborn, a yarimaimalom falcon; Wythcombe himself, and the ever enigmatic Meddler.
Yet, despite the versatility of this pack, Kabot’s blood mages miraculously elude them, leaving behind the tantalizing scent of more power than they should possess. Suspicion builds that Kabot has acquired a new ally: an ally who may be one of their own pack turned traitor.
To anticipate a frequently asked question: Yes. I will eventually be selling copies (signed and personalized, if you wish) of the physical book through my website bookshop. As soon as I have my copies and have set up the order form, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, you can check my bookshop for copies of other of my works, many of which are available as first edition hard covers.
Wolf’s Search and Wolf’s Soul will be the final Firekeeper Saga books for some time to come, so there’s no reason to wait. Join Firekeeper and Blind Seer, as they encounter lands familiar and unfamiliar, hot on the trail of that which may make their oldest dream come true.
May 2, 2020
Bitten Off, Coming Back
Frost-blackened Accented with Renewal Green
We’ve had a warm spring, which meant that a lot of our perennials started leafing out on the early side. Then, in mid-April, we had just enough of a frost that many tender leaves were killed.
Sometimes, even if a plant is well-established, a sudden chill like this can kill not just the leaves, but limbs. Sometimes you can lose the entire plant.
Jim and I have been watching carefully and, as of today, we have seen evidence that although we lost leaves, we haven’t lost any plants. Yay!
Pictured is our pomegranate shrub. Whether or not we get fruit will be the next question, because pomegranates produce leaves first, then flowers, then fruit. (Unlike, say, cherries or apricots, which flower before they leaf out.) Our pomegranates usually need the length of the summer to ripen, and this year they’ll be getting a late start.
But the shrub survived. That’s what’s important. We’ll rejoice at the leaves, hope for the flowers, dream of the fruit to come.
May 1, 2020
FF: You Must Remember This
Mei-Ling Embraces Miss Marple
I’m just about finished with the biography of David Bowie I’ve been reading. My general impression of this book overall is that the editor has an agenda. This is a good time to remind people that “biography” and even “autobiography” are not fact, but a delicate dance between fact and opinion, because the writer, compiler, or editor makes choices as to what to include and how to lead into various sensitive issues.
With David Bowie: The Oral History, I was particularly annoyed by the lack of a bibliography, since without that the editor is creating the impression that he spoke to each and every person, and at the time the book was compiled when, in fact, he is clearly cherry-picking from a host of sources. That said, reading it was an interesting intellectual exercise.
For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
Recently Completed:
Last Ditch by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook. Largely from the POV of Alleyne’s now-grown son. Minor complaint, in the light of having also recently read Spinsters in Jeopardy is that there is no mention of the fact that this is not the first time Alleyne’s job put his son at risk.
Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook. This one goes back to when Alleyne and Troy’s son, Ricky, was six. A bit of an initial jolt after him being a young man in Last Ditch. Also raises the question of why the kids of detectives are so often precocious and rather bratty.
In Progress:
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie. I could probably recite some of these aloud, but I needed something both absorbing and yet familiar to read before bed. My dreams have been loaded with anxiety.
Pasttime by Robert B. Parker. Audiobook. Just starting. I read this years and years ago, and cannot remember anything but that I liked it.
David Bowie: The Oral History compiled by Dylan Jones. Bowie is dead. Editor is mixing reactions of friends and family to the event with a look at the cultural impact not only of Bowie, but of reactions to his death.
Also:
Smithsonian magazine, which has apparently been put on a diet. The letter’s column contains a reference to the Covid-19 pandemic, which brings the issue into current events.
April 29, 2020
So I Figured
Clarence In His Burrow
When the time came to write this week’s Wednesday Wanderings, I had no idea what to wander on about.
I did, however, have ample ideas as to what to write on my current work-in-progress, the yet-untitled fourth book in the Star Kingdom (aka Stephanie Harrington or Treecat) series that I am writing with David Weber.
So I figured as follows…
Most of you who read these wanderings do so because you’re interested in my fiction writing or, perhaps, in snippets from the life of the person who has written fiction that you have enjoyed. In that case, you’d be glad that I was spending my time writing fiction.
Those of you who look these up because you’re family or friends and want to know what’s going on at Chez Lindskold/Moore would know that a Jane Who Is Writing Fiction is a happy and contented Jane. Therefore, you’d rather have me writing on SK4 than staring at the screen, trying to figure out what clever thing I could wander on about.
As for the rest of you, those who are reading this for reasons I cannot fathom, here is a picture of Clarence the Toad in his burrow. I’ll add to it an invitation to ask questions that might plant the seeds for future Wednesday Wanderings.
Now, off to the planet Sphinx, in the Star Kingdom of Manticore, where… No, I’m not teasing, I won’t know what happens until I write it!
April 24, 2020
FF: Peeking Out
Mei-Ling Peeks
This week I’ve been writing more, reading less, but I’m still immersed in story, from which vantage I peek out at the world.
For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
Recently Completed:
Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook. Once again Alleyne’s name is pronounced “Al-ay-n”) throughout. It’s pronounced “Allen.” Oddly enough, Marsh doesn’t mentions how his name is pronounced in some books, but in some she does. If I was wearing my English prof hat, I’d be tempted to read the series in order and see if there is a pattern.
But I think I’ll write about the denizens of the planet Sphinx instead.
DreamForge, Issue Five. Coincidentally, many of the stories deal with parallel worlds, but it works.
In Progress:
Last Ditch by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook. Largely from the POV of Alleyne’s now-grown son.
David Bowie: The Oral History compiled by Dylan Jones. The big question of whether Let’s Dance was selling out or not. Sometimes Bowie is taken way to seriously. This is the man whose first major single was “The Laughing Gnome.”
Also:
Archeology magazine.
April 22, 2020
Thyme For Irony
Pink Chintz Thyme
I’ve had a twist in my stay-at-home, work-from-home, whatever you want to call it, lifestyle. Before I tell you about that, an update.
The cover for Wolf’s Soul, the sequel to Wolf’s Search, is still not right, so I’ve ordered Proof Three. So I don’t bore the folks who tuned in last week, here’s a link to a mysterious masked writer and a copy of Proof One.
I’m thinking about using the proofs as one-of-a-kind giveaways. Does that sound interesting?
(If you’re really eager, sign up for my mailing list, because at least one giveaway is going to be exclusively offered there. There’s a link on my website.)
So, now for the twist….
I’ve been very careful about self-isolation because I have allergy-related asthma. For five days of the week, not much changed. My office is in my home. I work for myself. Jim is retired and took over most of the errands about a year ago.
Weekends changed, absolutely. That’s when Jim and I would go out, see friends, host our gaming group. Going anywhere or having guests ended for me over a month ago.
This year, maybe because of our wet (for us) winter, allergens are at a high level. So despite my being careful, my asthma ramped up. About two weeks ago, I had to add a medication that has taken about half my voice. The half that remains sounds as if I’ve swallowed a rusty scrubbing pad.
Okay. Maybe not that bad. Well, not all the time. However, if I talk for more than a few sentences, my throat gets tight. So here I am, now properly self-isolated because I can’t even take a phone call without scaring the person on the other end.
But I’ll manage.
Two more weeks to go on the meds (which are helping a lot) and I should be back to what passes for normal. Meantime, our gaming group is now experimenting with meeting on-line via Zoom. When we did, I kept the hot drinks on tap and managed all right but, later, my throat called me a few choice names.
So there you have it.
Oh, the picture? That’s pink chintz creeping thyme. To me creeping thyme is a great plant to illustrate irony because—ironically—it doesn’t much mind being stepped on.
Or maybe I should think of it as a thyme of fortitude. Yeah, I like that!
Okay, I’m off to romp with the treecats. The yet untitled Star Kingdom novel 4 (in collaboration with David Weber) is taking shape and I want to see what happens next. Later!
April 17, 2020
FF: No Pattern At All
Inspired Hats for Dandy and Coco
Other than renewing my acquaintance with various classic British mysteries, there’s really no pattern to my reading right now. Part of this is that I’m immersing myself in the Star Kingdom setting again.
For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
Recently Completed:
A Guinea Pig ABC by Kate Duke. Sharyn November posted a page a day from this, and after we decided needed our own copy.
Death of a Fool by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook. I love the folklore aspect of this one.
Artists in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook. Quirk in that Alleyne’s name is pronounced incorrectly throughout. It’s just “Allen.”
In Progress:
David Bowie: The Oral History compiled by Dylan Jones. Moving into the Berlin albums.
DreamForge, issue five. About halfway.
Tied Up In Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook. Fans of the series will see I’m reading these as I can find them, not in order!
Also:
Magazines. Only AARP and AAA (American Automobile) mentioned Covid-19 at all. The others were written in an alternate universe.
April 15, 2020
Proof of Wolf’s Soul
Who Is That Masked Writer?
I’ve discovered a great additional advantage to masks… Read on to find out what.
But first, the first proof copy of Wolf’s Soul arrived last week. This is the immediate sequel to last July’s Wolf’s Search. The cover art is adapted from “Three Hungry Wolves” by Julie Bell. You can read the cover blurb here.
Mostly, I was happy with how the book came out. However, because of issues with how the cover was aligned, we’re taking it back to press. Therefore, it will be a few more weeks before the novel is ready for official release. Then you’ll be able to get it as an e-book from Amazon, Barnes and Noble (Nook), Kobo, i-tunes, and GooglePlay. The trade paperback will be available from Amazon.
Stay tuned for further updates. If you don’t want to risk missing any, you can sign up for my mailing list at my website: www.janelindskold.com.
As to masks… As many of you know, I’m rather camera shy. Featured in the picture is my new mask, made by the talented Samantha Thompson. It’s one of those that have an interior pocket into which an additional filter can be inserted.
I happened to be trying mine out when Jim asked me if I was ready to take the picture of the proof. I decided to show off my new mask at the same time and discovered the bonus: I was no longer worried about the camera!
Funny…
Anyhow, I hope this finds all of you well, staying safe, protecting your packs.
