Robin McKinley's Blog, page 151

Pegasus Party News 6 (black bear)

PRC RUNNING LIST

as of November 9, 8 am EST
Happening THIS WEEK

Boston/Worcester/Nashua/Providence area –Saturday November 13, in Lowell, MA. There will be a visit to the New England Quilt Museum at 10 am, followed by a lunchtime tea at 12:30 at cgbookcat1?s house–seriously, go look at the menu, these folks are planning tea sandwiches and florentines and things.  All are welcome! Post in the thread or email me to be put in touch with Gryphyn for directions. Organizer: Gryphyn.

Vancouver BC, Canada — Saturday, November 13, 3 pm. Aphrodite's Pie Company, West 4th and Dunbar, Vancouver.  In the true spirit of Robin's blog, the time was shifted to accommodate an attendee who has opera tickets. :) Organizer: Kim A

Knoxville, Tennessee — Sunday November 14, 4 – 5:30 pm, at a private residence but all McKinley fans in East TN are welcome to attend! It's in the Fountain City area near the Duck Pond, and you can contact our organizer for directions. dkarchdeacon [at] gmail [dot] com.  Delicious pound cake is promised! Organizer: boddhi_d

Upcoming Worldwide

Manhattan – Friday, November 19, 6pm. Irving Place Coffee in Manhattan.  Organizer: Kathy L., via email.

 

Central Indiana –Saturday November 20, 1:30 –3:30 pm.  At the River Crossing Borders bookstore. Cupcakes from The Flying Cupcake may make an appearance. Organizer: Black Bear

Anchorage, Alaska – Saturday November 20, time and location TBD.  Book club meeting, but others are welcome!  Organizer: Corrie

Kansas City – proposed in forum for November 20. If you're interested, email me or go respond in the thread!  Organizer:  Jeanne Marie

Invercargill, New Zealand–November 28, 7:30 pm. 181 Tay St., Invercargill.  This is a writers group meeting, but other book lovers are welcome! Organizer: Zerlina.

Quebec, Canada – November 29, 1 pm, at a private home; more people are welcome!!  For details, please email Bonnie at b_dmccallum@hotmail.com Organizer: Holmes44

Toronto ONT, Canada — December 3, Coxwell and O'Connor area (location still pending,) 7 pm. Organizer: Manga

Denver Metro area – The downtown Tattered Cover. Proposed for the afternoon of Saturday December 4.  Organizer: Catlady

East-Central Illinois – Saturday, December 11, 1 – 4 pm.  Urbana Free Library, Urbana Illinois.  Cupcakes will be provided, additional baking is encouraged!  For more info on the event, you can click here. Organizer: Rhymeswithcarrot

San Francisco Bay area – Is currently discussing December 11, late afternoon, in Berkeley.  Organizer: Equus_Pedus

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia —December 11, a picnic in Kamesburgh Gardens at 3 pm. There will be loads of delicious food, blankets, chairs, a card table, and there's a service ring in the nearby bell tower at 5:30. Organizer: B-Twin_1

Chicagoland – probably at a location in Schaumburg, date/time is under discussion.  Organizer: Apple

Los Angeles/Orange Co – proposed for late December, no location/time as yet.  Organizer: Peanut

Sacramento — Discussion on a December date. The SFB group might merge with this one.  Organizer: Sarahkp

Dallas – Proposed in forum for late December, several responses but no firm date/time yet. Organizer: livvispatula

Birmingham, England — the Birmingham Waterstones, time/date TBD. Organizer: Southdowner

Oslo, Norway — proposed in forum, one response suggesting late December.  Organizer: Re Williams

Proposed PRCs

I'm condensing the ones that haven't had recent activity on the forum, just to get these blog entries a little less lengthy.  If you're interested in one of these locations, please post in the forum threads or email me and I'll put you in touch!

Central NY/Northern PA/Toronto

Baton Rouge

Phoenix

Boston/Brookline

Florida Panhandle

Rexburg, Idaho

Kent, England

Christchurch, NZ

Barcelona, Spain

Lo-text Monday Revisited, or Possibly Exhumed

 

I remember, long long ago in a galaxy . . . no, damn it, it wasn't very far away.  It was right here.  And right here I inaugurated Lo-Text Monday in another of my flimsy, laughable attempts to cut down on the time (and the word count) I spend on the blog.  It went the way of all such innovations which seek to save me from myself.

            But it's back.  And just like [superhero/ine of choice HERE] it's bigger and meaner than ever.  Which is also to say, especially now that I have people writing me emails and the occasional tweet saying that PEGASUS is the first McKinley novel that made them cry,* I'd better be getting on with PEG II in all haste, due and undue, right?**  And on a Monday night when I'm not still writing tortured guest blogs about writing fiction, I might even get a few more syllables expelled into another file***

So another GIGANTIC BOX OF SPRING FLOWER BULBS arrived a few days ago, and fortunately we haven't had any frosts lately so they could take up most of the space on the top of the Winter Table†—most of this particular gang are for indoor forcing, although there are lots more waiting in the greenhouse.  I'm not ordering them all—I can't possibly have ordered them all.  I have clearly got on some mysterious 'send all surplus bulbs to this address' list.††  I assume I'm part of a great experiment in (a) the life enhancing properties of gardening (b) the ease with which middle-aged control-freak women can be driven round the twist.

            So today I decided I was going to do something about . . . at least some of them.†††  And I did.  Which required a surprising amount of going outdoors into the pouring rain‡ for things that shouldn't have been out in the greenhouse in the first place . . . which then lead to detours . . . oh, never  mind.  There are lovely smelly narcissi, hyacinths ditto, and hippeastrums that merely knock your eyes out, all primped and ready for action.  I'm dreaming of a bright Christmas.

             PS:  And one of my favourite fantasies about being rich and famous?‡‡  Having a greenhouse with electricity and running water, so I don't have to do this in the kitchen sink.

* * *

* I'm sorry!  I know the ending's a ratbag!  It wasn't my idea!  I never have any ideas!^  The story made me do it! . . .

            . . . Wait a minute.  First?  The first McKinley novel that made you cry?  FIRST?  You mean you didn't cry when  . . . or when . . . or when—or when!  First??

            I'm really insulted.^^

^ Er—could we maybe have that banner/ballgown/magic potion/forty-headed monster pink? —No, no, forget I said anything.

^^ But the ending of PEGASUS is still the story's fault.  Although, of course, so are all of those unspoilered whens . . . when you should have cried already.

** Not to mention the small but perfectly formed flood of emails—again, and a few tweets—saying, Oh!  So you do write sequels!  So you'll do SUNSHINE and Damar next, right?  —You really can't win in this business.  Which is why I'm about to finish my homeopathic training/get an MA in horticulture^ and set up shop in the real world. 

^ I can't wait to find out how many hours they'll give me for my BA in English lit

*** I have this vision of something like spitting watermelon pips into a bin.  I wish.

† Winter Table.  Oooh.  Suddenly it's romantic to have a great hulking piece of furniture taking up all the remaining room in your infinitesimal kitchen:  the great hulking piece of furniture Atlas made to order^ to fit over the hellhound crate, to take the weight of the indoor jungle.  The hellhound crate which already takes up three-quarters of the floor space of my tiny kitchen.  And when said table is loaded down with jungle . . . well.  Barring extricating hounds for hurtling and watering the visitors, I become unpleasantly superfluous.

^ Out of the timber equivalent of bin ends

†† I also have a hideous weakness for J Parker Wholesale http://www.dutchbulbs.co.uk/ They're cheap, and they have stuff I can't find anywhere else.  Unfortunately you have to buy at least 25 of most of it.^  I have the fattest mice in Hampshire.  You know it would be worth buying 25 at wholesale prices if the mice would simply eat the first twenty and leave five.  But mice are notoriously bad negotiators.  They'll promise you anything and then, whoops, somebody has an unscheduled litter—they're even worse at birth control than they are at negotiating—and they lose all sense of proportion and fair play.

^ Except, somewhat bafflingly, amaryllis/hippeastrum bulbs, which you can buy one of.  Which explains why, so thrilled by this freedom from oppression, I usually buy about six. 

††† There's also a continuing pansy problem. 

‡ And high winds.  Two days ago I took my last apple off my little tree, and today it didn't have any leaves left.

‡‡  Bag the famous.  Rich.  Just rich. 

Pegasus Celebrations Update 5.1 (now with working links!)

[Anyone confused by the hey-presto:  the links in Black Bear's original post, update 5, from last night (Sunday) , had gone AWOL.  These should work.   Note that the Mirkat PRC photo is DOWN AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT THREAD.   Meanwhile, my nightly post is Down Here Somewhere.  After you finish clicking through to the forum, keep scrolling. --hellgoddess]

Hooray!  Our first two PRCs have happened without a hitch (I hope… I'm writing this before I've got news of the Seattle one, but they seem very well organized.)  If you'd like to see a pic from the DC/Baltimore meetup, click here! Mirkat's promised more pictures as soon as she gets them on her computer.

Someone asked this week if it was "too late" to organize another PRC–heavens no!  You have until the end of December to host it; the only caveat is that if you wait to organize until too close to the date you want to host, you 1) might not get very many spontaneous attendees, and 2) might not get your raffle pack from the publisher in time.  Please keep in mind that US Thanksgiving is November 25, so it's likely that if you send me an email at the start of that week, the package won't ship til the following Monday.

PRC RUNNING LIST

as of November 7, 5 pm EST
Happening THIS WEEK

Boston/Worcester/Nashua/Providence area –Saturday November 13, in Lowell, MA. There will be a visit to the New England Quilt Museum at 10 am, followed by a lunchtime tea at 12:30 at cgbookcat1?s house–seriously, go look at the menu, these folks are planning tea sandwiches and florentines and things.  All are welcome! Post in the thread or email me to be put in touch with Gryphyn for directions. Organizer: Gryphyn.

Vancouver BC, Canada — Saturday, November 13, 3 pm. Aphrodite's Pie Company, West 4th and Dunbar, Vancouver.  In the true spirit of Robin's blog, the time was shifted to accommodate an attendee who has opera tickets. :) Organizer: Kim A

***NEW**** Knoxville, Tennessee — Sunday November 14, 4 – 5:30 pm, at a private residence but all McKinley fans in East TN are welcome to attend! It's in the Fountain City area near the Duck Pond, and you can contact our organizer for directions. dkarchdeacon [at] gmail [dot] com.  Delicious pound cake is promised! Organizer: boddhi_d

Upcoming in the USA

Manhattan – Friday, November 19, 6pm. Irving Place Coffee in Manhattan.  Organizer: Kathy L., via email.

 

Central Indiana –Saturday November 20, 1:30 –3:30 pm.  At the River Crossing Borders bookstore. Cupcakes from The Flying Cupcake may make an appearance. Organizer: Black Bear

Anchorage, Alaska – Saturday November 20, time and location TBD.  Book club meeting, but others are welcome!  Organizer: Corrie

Kansas City – proposed in forum for November 20. If you're interested, email me or go respond in the thread!  Organizer:  Jeanne Marie

Denver Metro area – The downtown Tattered Cover. Proposed for the afternoon of Saturday December 4.  Organizer: Catlady

East-Central Illinois – Saturday, December 11, 1 – 4 pm.  Urbana Free Library, Urbana Illinois.  Cupcakes will be provided, additional baking is encouraged!  For more info on the event, you can click here. Organizer: Rhymeswithcarrot

San Francisco Bay area – Is currently discussing December 11, late afternoon, in Berkeley.  Organizer: Equus_Pedus

Chicagoland – probably at a location in Schaumburg, date/time is under discussion.  Organizer: Apple

Los Angeles/Orange Co – proposed for late December, no location/time as yet.  Organizer: Peanut

Central NY/Northern PA/Toronto – proposed in forum, one response but nothing definite yet. Note that we do have a confirmed Toronto PRC on December 3, below. Organizer: cmarschner (who lives in Ithaca)

Baton Rouge – proposed in forum, suggesting the afternoon of Saturday, November 13 at Highland Coffee.  Organizer: Ned

Dallas – Proposed in forum for late December, several responses but no firm date/time yet. Organizer: livvispatula

Phoenix — Proposed in forum for east valley, possibly at Bookmans in Mesa. Organizer: Amycs

Boston/Brookline — Proposed in forum, at Panera on Harvard St.  Organizer: Jcrbuzz

Florida Panhandle — Proposed in forum.  Organizer: Librarykat (who lives in Panama City)

Sacramento — Proposed in forum for a December date. The SFB group might merge with this one.  Organizer: Sarahkp

Rexburg, Idaho — Proposed in forum.  Organizer: Vank2

Outside the USA

Invercargill, NZ–November 28, 7:30 pm. 181 Tay St., Invercargill.  This is a writers group meeting, but other book lovers are welcome! Organizer: Zerlina.

Quebec, Canada – November 29, 1 pm, at a private home; more people are welcome!!  For details, please email Bonnie at b_dmccallum@hotmail.com Organizer: Holmes44

Toronto ONT, Canada — December 3, Coxwell and O'Connor area (location still pending,) 7 pm. Organizer: Manga

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia —December 11, a picnic in Kamesburgh Gardens at 3 pm. There will be loads of delicious food, blankets, chairs, a card table, and there's a service ring in the nearby bell tower at 5:30. Organizer: B-Twin_1

Kent, England –  This PRC is being postponed until the UK edition is released.  We still don't have a date for this, but as soon as Robin knows, she'll post it and we can get the wheels turning.  Organizer: AJLR

Central England — the Birmingham Waterstones, time/date TBD. Organizer: Southdowner

Christchurch, NZ – proposed in forum.  Organizer: BlueRose

Barcelona, Spain – proposed in forum.  Organizer: Criscopolo

Oslo, Norway — proposed in forum, one response suggesting late December.  Organizer: Re Williams

Pegasus Celebrations Update 5 (black bear)

 

[This time I've just been feeble-minded.  Black Bear did tell me she'd hung an update and I . . . forgot.  So, keep scrolling, my blog post is under this one.  --hellgoddess]

Hooray!  Our first two PRCs have happened without a hitch (I hope… I'm writing this before I've got news of the Seattle one, but they seem very well organized.)  If you'd like to see a pic from the DC/Baltimore meetup, click here! Mirkat's promised more pictures as soon as she gets them on her computer.

Someone asked this week if it was "too late" to organize another PRC–heavens no!  You have until the end of December to host it; the only caveat is that if you wait to organize until too close to the date you want to host, you 1) might not get very many spontaneous attendees, and 2) might not get your raffle pack from the publisher in time.  Please keep in mind that US Thanksgiving is November 25, so it's likely that if you send me an email at the start of that week, the package won't ship til the following Monday.

PRC RUNNING LIST

as of November 7, 5 pm EST
Happening THIS WEEK

Boston/Worcester/Nashua/Providence area –Saturday November 13, in Lowell, MA. There will be a visit to the New England Quilt Museum at 10 am, followed by a lunchtime tea at 12:30 at cgbookcat1′s house–seriously, go look at the menu, these folks are planning tea sandwiches and florentines and things.  All are welcome! Post in the thread or email me to be put in touch with Gryphyn for directions. Organizer: Gryphyn.

Vancouver BC, Canada — Saturday, November 13, 3 pm. Aphrodite's Pie Company, West 4th and Dunbar, Vancouver.  In the true spirit of Robin's blog, the time was shifted to accommodate an attendee who has opera tickets. :) Organizer: Kim A

***NEW**** Knoxville, Tennessee — Sunday November 14, 4 – 5:30 pm, at a private residence but all McKinley fans in East TN are welcome to attend! It's in the Fountain City area near the Duck Pond, and you can contact our organizer for directions. dkarchdeacon [at] gmail [dot] com.  Delicious pound cake is promised! Organizer: boddhi_d

Upcoming in the USA

Manhattan – Friday, November 19, 6pm. Irving Place Coffee in Manhattan.  Organizer: Kathy L., via email.

 

Central Indiana –Saturday November 20, 1:30 –3:30 pm.  At the River Crossing Borders bookstore. Cupcakes from The Flying Cupcake may make an appearance. Organizer: Black Bear

Anchorage, Alaska – Saturday November 20, time and location TBD.  Book club meeting, but others are welcome!  Organizer: Corrie

Kansas City – proposed in forum for November 20. If you're interested, email me or go respond in the thread!  Organizer:  Jeanne Marie

Denver Metro area – The downtown Tattered Cover. Proposed for the afternoon of Saturday December 4.  Organizer: Catlady

East-Central Illinois – Saturday, December 11, 1 – 4 pm.  Urbana Free Library, Urbana Illinois.  Cupcakes will be provided, additional baking is encouraged.  Organizer: Rhymeswithcarrot

San Francisco Bay area – Is currently discussing December 11, late afternoon, in Berkeley.  Organizer: Equus_Pedus

Chicagoland – probably at a location in Schaumburg, date/time is under discussion.  Organizer: Apple

Los Angeles/Orange Co – proposed for late December, no location/time as yet.  Organizer: Peanut

Central NY/Northern PA/Toronto – proposed in forum, one response but nothing definite yet. Note that we do have a confirmed Toronto PRC on December 3, below. Organizer: cmarschner (who lives in Ithaca)

Baton Rouge – proposed in forum, suggesting the afternoon of Saturday, November 13 at Highland Coffee.  Organizer: Ned

Dallas – Proposed in forum for late December, several responses but no firm date/time yet. Organizer: livvispatula

Phoenix — Proposed in forum for east valley, possibly at Bookmans in Mesa. Organizer: Amycs

Boston/Brookline — Proposed in forum, at Panera on Harvard St.  Organizer: Jcrbuzz

Florida Panhandle — Proposed in forum.  Organizer: Librarykat (who lives in Panama City)

Sacramento — Proposed in forum for a December date. The SFB group might merge with this one.  Organizer: Sarahkp

Rexburg, Idaho — Proposed in forum.  Organizer: Vank2

Outside the USA

Invercargill, NZ–November 28, 7:30 pm. 181 Tay St., Invercargill.  writers group meeting, but other book lovers are welcome! Organizer: Zerlina.

Quebec, Canada – November 29, 1 pm, at a private home; more people are welcome!!  For details, please email Bonnie at b_dmccallum@hotmail.com Organizer: Holmes44

Toronto ONT, Canada — December 3, Coxwell and O'Connor area (location still pending,) 7 pm. Organizer: Manga

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia —December 11, a picnic in Kamesburgh Gardens at 3 pm. There will be loads of delicious food, blankets, chairs, a card table, and there's a service ring in the nearby bell tower at 5:30. Organizer: B-Twin_1

Kent, England –  This PRC is being postponed until the UK edition is released.  We still don't have a date for this, but as soon as Robin knows, she'll post it and we can get the wheels turning.  Organizer: AJLR

Central England — the Birmingham Waterstones, time/date TBD. Organizer: Southdowner

Christchurch, NZ – proposed in forum.  Organizer: BlueRose

Barcelona, Spain – proposed in forum.  Organizer: Criscopolo

Oslo, Norway — proposed in forum, one response suggesting late December.  Organizer: Re Williams

In the first place . . .

 

. . .  after an increasing torrent* of emails and a few tweets asking, mostly politely**, if I'm going to write a 'sequel' to PEGASUS, today I threw myself on Blogmom's mercy and she carved out time on Sunday morning to put up banners everywhere*** saying PEGASUS II COMING IN 2012!!!!!!!! 

            So, everyone got that?  I AM WORKING ON IT.  And it's not a sequel, it's the second half of the story . . . which I admit I thought was OBVIOUS and that I didn't have to make a fuss about it.  I am extremely well aware that I have made a career out of not writing sequels† but PEG II isn't a sequel, it's the rest of the story.  I am indeed inclined to be a trifle snippy that readers think that even I, old No Sequels Here, Honeybun, herself, would end as in END a story the way PEGASUS ends.  It's not an ending!  It's CLEARLY, OBVIOUSLY AND MANIFESTLY not an ending!!!!!!!††

            Got that?

            I know.  Regular blog readers are sighing heavily and muttering to themselves:  Robin, we know.  We know. †††

            And people who write me emails enquiring about sequels to PEGASUS aren't regular blog readers.

            My life is full of frustration and error.

            Take yesterday, speaking of frustration and error.‡   Yesterday was the famous Stedman Triples education day, that I'd applied for a place on the day after I had signed up a glossy new hellhound minder.  And then my glossy new hellhound minder cancelled on me, but the noble and angelic Fernanda said that she would drive over from Mauncester just to hurtle hounds, that I might be initiated into the wonders of Stedman Triples (Fernanda who can ring anything . . . although not yet on handbells).  And then I was frelling bounced from the course because they were overbooked and I'd applied late.

            Friday night I got home . . . not exactly early.  I don't do early at either end of the day/night.  And there was a message on my phone machine from the organiser of the Stedman Triples day saying that someone was ill and had cancelled at the last minute and if I would call her the minute I got this message, I could have the place.

            Call her at mmmph o'clock in the morning?  I don't think so.

            I did in fact spend a good five minutes staring out into the lightless darkness‡‡ wondering if it was worth it to get out of bed again in four hours and hurtle the hounds hard enough that if Fernanda couldn't suddenly drop everything and come to New Arcadia after all they'd probably survive . . . and decided drearily that it wasn't.  I wouldn't survive an entire six or seven hours of beating my brains out on Stedman Triples on zilch sleep—and I wouldn't have had time to cram for it first either.  And I'd've already got out of bed and hurtled before I'd dare ring the organiser the next day, er, later that same morning, and chances were that she'd already given the place to someone else.  Like, earlier on the day that was now yesterday.

            And then yesterday I felt like unholy death and green slime all day anyway‡‡‡, so I got to tell myself bracingly that it was just as well that I wasn't on the course.

            The bell gods really, really hate me.  Nobody needs to have their character adversarily strengthened to this extent. 

            This morning I limped§ to the tower feeling even less in control of my bell destiny than usual§§ thanks to the non-event of Friday practise and the rich and throbbing non-event of the Stedman day yesterday.  We began service ring with a touch of Grandsire doubles which, please the wicked, me-hating bell gods, I ought to be able to ring pretty frelling reliably on automatic pilot by now, even on Sunday mornings, but ask me that on a Sunday morning.  I seized my rope saying to myself, I can do this, I can do this. 

            And in fact I could.  The only one of us who went (briefly) wrong was Edward, which is a bit like Alfred Brendel hitting a wrong note.  It's not that it never happens, but you get to snigger when it does.  And then we rang some call changes for Cordelia, and then Niall—as he nearly always does, siiiiigh—asked if I'd call some plain bob doubles.  Plain bob doubles is the very first method you learn, okay?§§§  Even my heart-rate slows down a little on Sunday mornings when bob doubles is announced—or it did, until Niall started making me call it.  But nobody else there (except Cordelia trying to stay last on the tenor) has rung less than twice as many years as I have, right? 

            I will not embarrass anyone by identifying them here.  (Niall and Edward were sitting out:  and Cordelia is a beginner.  Beginners, even beginners who only have to stay last on the tenor can be expected to follow everyone else down in flames.)  But of the six of us, only Vicky on the treble and me trying to call the thing didn't go wrong.  It was not a beautiful listening experience.

            I need some new bell gods.              

* * *

* The book's been out LESS THAN A WEEK.  I suppose I should be pleased by the enthusiasm thus indirectly expressed.  Well, I am, but . . . 

** Although not always.  Eat hot faecal matter and die, you guys who think you own me because you plonked your credit card down on the bookshop counter^!   Or in the immortal words of Patrick Rothfuss, 'Kindly die screaming in a fire.  Your tears are delicious to me'.

^ Real or virtual 

*** Including twice on the opening page of the blog.  No, this is not a mistake.  It's also on the opening page of the web site, and you have to trip over it on your way to the send-email button.  I will continue to get queries but I hope there will be fewer of them. 

† I sometimes think that my admiration of Neil Gaiman is based less on the fact that he's a fantastic writer, which he is, than on the fact that he proves you don't have to write series.^  I've said this before, right?  Well, stand by, I'm sure I'll say it again.  But it's a little hard not to get fixated on such things when the first words out of any publishing professional's mouth when you've been so ill advised as to complain about your bank balance, are 'Write a series'.

^ Maybe you have to start by writing graphic novel series?  Then I am doomed.

†† This is probably poor old Tolkien's fault too.  When I do my little song-and-dance about PEGs I & II, I have a wearisome habit of reminding everyone of the end of THE TWO TOWERS, the second volume of LOTR:  'Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy'.  Nobody mistook that for a really, really mean, nasty ending of the story.  Although it's also true that Tolkien had not already published a dozen novels, none of which were sequels to anything else (or what connections there were were peculiar), and he had turned in LOTR as one single monster epic novel, and his faithless publisher only agreed to publish it if he broke it up into three first.  But it's LOTR that was first called a 'trilogy' which is where the whole horrible Fantasy Trilogy thing came from . . . which I had already spent my first twenty or so years as a published writer kicking against and now it's all series.  Series!  Gah!  They aren't even stopping at three any more!^

^ PEGASUS is two books.  Okay?  Make a note.  Two.  Books.  Not three.  Not seventeen.  Two.

††† AND YOU ALSO KNOW THAT PEGASI ARE NOT FLYING HORSES, RIGHT?  Please spread the news.

‡ As the old joke goes:  Please.  Please take it far away.

‡‡ I don't remember anything about the weather Friday night.  But it was lightless darkness as far as I was concerned.

‡‡‡ I believe this is a known diagnosable symptom of ME, as listed in the Physicians' Desk Reference for several very scary drugs:  feeling like unholy death and green slime. 

§ I believe I have also failed to tell you that that magnificent concert Tuesday night also frelling crippled me.  It was, you may recall, in a pub.  I spent the evening vaguely aware that as I sat at an angle to face the tiny stage the hard, sticky-out edge of the banquette which was itself, of course, nailed flat to the wall, was digging into my back.  It dug well.  It dug very well.  It is a veritable John Henry of hard, sticky-out banquette edges.  I don't think hellhound whiplash later in the week assisted the recovery process either.

§§ Mobel on Pooka^?  Gaaaaaaah.  I've engaged my stubborn streak.  Ask me in a week.  Or better yet, a fortnight.

^ I am never sure how much regular text support and re-explanation I should supply.  Pooka, aka Apocalypse, is my iPhone.  Mobel is the method bell ringing ap for the iPhone, as discovered by Ajlr, henceforward to be known as The Evil, who thoughtfully sent me the citation.  She doesn't even have an iPhone!  She has an Android!

§§§ Before all you experts email me in outrage, yes, I know.  There are some towers that still teach Grandsire first.  Ours isn't one of them.  This whole area teaches plain bob first.

On becoming a bellringer, Part Two. Guest post by CathyR

The Obsession Grows

One practice a week soon wasn't enough for me. I started going to a second practice, then a third, and occasionally a fourth, and getting experience of different bells and different teaching styles. I must admit that the suddenness and extent of my enthusiasm (ok, obsession) did take me by surprise. Becoming a bellringer, of all things, was certainly not something I'd ever expected to happen; it's rather an odd thing to be doing, isn't it .. ?? Not like photography … My husband felt the same way; being rather bemused by it all, and somewhat surprised, but going with the flow, as always. He's seen me ring, and come along on several ringing walks and outings – but remains adamant that he'll never take it up! We'll see ……

Ringing in different towers, and experiencing the foibles and peculiarities and pleasures of different bells (and different ringing chambers) did help me to feel more confident, and it was also good fun. You see all sorts …

Common Tittums

COMMON TITTUMS *

Campanile Vulgaris

Species: Nocturnal Mammal

Located: British Isles

Habitat: Bell Towers and Ale Houses

Behaviour: Strongly territorial. Usually found in bands. Emits a distinctive, strident sound.

Mind you, I always have a slightly heart-stopping moment when I take hold in a strange tower – stretch up, good grip on the sally, make sure the rope's not twisted, remember to pull off with a good strong pull, all the way through … please let it be enough so it doesn't drop on the backstroke, please let me be in time with the others, please don't let me lose control and make a fool of myself ** …… – and then, phew, it's ok and (at least in rounds), I'm ringing.***

Fellow ringers are always keen to pass on their advice and hints and tips to newbies. At that stage I just knew that bob doubles would be forever beyond me, and that I'd never understand what "ringing by the treble" meant. When yet another ringer said to me "all you need to do is …", or "what I find really helpful is …..", my brain just didn't have the space to take in anything more. Then I found this, which encapsulated my feelings about lack of brain space perfectly:

"The most basic things seem to need all my brainpower, and more … After a while, sometimes a long while, and if I try hard enough, I find that the basics of whatever it is start to become more automatic. At this point, if I'm lucky, my brain has enough space left to begin thinking about other aspects of the job in hand … Doing the minimum to ring a bell well, even to rounds or plain hunting … is a very complex process. A high degree of physical coordination is required, and you also have to be able to look and listen at the same time … it takes a while to create some spare brain space for other things." ****

I love the mental stimulation and challenge of bellringing, the never-ending learning, always having something to strive for. As well as the essential rope time, I've spent many somewhat obsessive hours in front of this Beltower simulator screen.

Beltower ringing simulator

Beltower (sic) is the ringing simulator programme I have on my laptop and PC, which enables me to learn and practice any number of methods, ringing any bell, with bobs and singles, or spliced with other methods. This screen shot shows "me" centre front, with all the "ringers" at a different stage of the stroke. The panel at the side shows the changes (rows) I have rung so far; when I don't strike in the right place (by pressing the space bar) my actual position shows up in green to show just where I've gone wrong. I probably use about 1% of Beltower's functions and capability – but what an invaluable 1% that has been for me.

It's not only the learning of theory – backward hunting and Stedman whole turns, dodging and lying, point leading and fishtails, cats' ears and coat hangers, Long London and Cambridge Places …. but also the physical learning – how can I improve my bell control, so that I can ring all those new methods and fancy pieces of work? How do I improve my striking, so that my bell sounds perfectly in the right place, every time? Looking for more ways of learning and improving, I discovered that there are such things as residential ringing courses, some of which have been running for over 40 years. Total immersion in something you are passionate about, with others who feel the same way – what more could you ask of three days? I recently attended a three day course with only six students (other, large scale courses have over 100 students split between several groups). The atmosphere on these courses is just brilliant, and the learning intense and exhausting. If any of you new, Robin-inspired ringers get the opportunity to go on such a course, grab it! You'll be amazed at what you can achieve!

Bellringing has given me so much. I love the social aspect, the outings, the pub after practice, and the friendships I have developed which I know will be lifelong. Most of all, I love the synergy of bell ringing. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts, and that's what makes it really special for me.

* * *

* Tittums is a particularly melodic sequence, in which the small and large bells ring alternately, ie 1 4 2 5 3 6. The sound is ti-tum-ti-tim-ti-tum.

** Because of course, what you can't (easily) do is practise in private! Ringing is a performance every time, even when it's just a regular tower practice session. Your triumphs and disasters are publicly visible, to your fellow ringing band members and onlookers, and publicly audible to the locals.

*** Most recently when visiting Southdowner in Birmingham, and being persuaded to have a go at rounds on 12! 12!! I'd never even been in the presence of 12 bells before, never mind RUNG on 12. In Birmingham CATHEDRAL!! For service ringing!!

**** John Couperthwaite "Ringing Basics for Beginners" Central Council of Church Bellringers 2008

Pegasus Celebrations Update 4

[Blerg.  Because I am stupid and because Outlook likes to torture me, I managed to miss that Black Bear had sent this in.  So here is your Peg party update, and my standard nightly blog is below.  Keep scrolling.  --hellgoddess]

I've re-arranged the list in order of occurrence; so as dates get attached to locations, I'll move the list around accordingly.  As always, please feel free to comment in the forum threads, or email me at whiteape [at] whiteape [dot] net if you're interested in a PRC!

PRC RUNNING LIST

as of November 5, 7 pm EDT
Happening THIS WEEKEND

DC/Baltimore – Saturday November 6th, 3 -5 pm at the Books-a-Million in Arundel Mills. The store manager has promised balloons.  Organizer: Mirkat

Seattle –  Sunday November 7, 1 pm, at Chocolati in Wallingford. Organizer: Forthewords

Upcoming in the USA

Boston/Worcester/Nashua/Providence area –Saturday November 13, in Lowell, MA. There will be a visit to the New England Quilt Museum at 10 am, followed by a lunchtime tea at 12:30 at cgbookcat1′s house–seriously, go look at the menu, these folks are planning tea sandwiches and florentines and things.  All are welcome! Post in the thread or email me to be put in touch with Gryphyn for directions. Organizer: Gryphyn.

Manhattan – Friday, November 19, 6pm. Irving Place Coffee in Manhattan.  Organizer: Kathy L., via email.

 

Central Indiana –Date change to November 20. 1:30 –3:30 pm.  At the Clearwater Borders bookstore. Cupcakes from The Flying Cupcake may make an appearance. Organizer: Black Bear

Denver Metro area – The downtown Tattered Cover. Proposed for the afternoon of Saturday December 4.  Organizer: Catlady

East-Central Illinois – Saturday, December 11, 1 – 4 pm.  Urbana Free Library, Urbana Illinois.  Cupcakes will be provided, additional baking is encouraged.  Organizer: Rhymeswithcarrot

Chicagoland – probably at a location in Schaumburg, date/time is under discussion.  Organizer: Apple

San Francisco Bay area – Is currently considering combo-ing with the Sacremento group, so if you're in the Bay Area and are interested, please email me or post on the forum thread.  Proposed date and time are in flux. Organizer: Equus_Pedus

Kansas City – proposed in forum, one response but nothing definite yet.  Organizer:  Jeanne Marie

Los Angeles/Orange Co – proposed for late December, no location/time as yet.  Organizer: Peanut

Central NY/Northern PA/Toronto – proposed in forum, one response but nothing definite yet.  Organizer: cmarschner (who lives in Ithaca)

Baton Rouge – proposed in forum, suggesting the afternoon of Saturday, November 13 at Highland Coffee.  Organizer: Ned

Dallas – Proposed in forum for late December, several responses but no firm date/time yet. Organizer: livvispatula

Phoenix — Proposed in forum for east valley, possibly at Bookmans in Mesa. Organizer: Amycs

Boston/Brookline — Proposed in forum, at Panera on Harvard St.  Organizer: Jcrbuzz

Florida Panhandle — Proposed in forum.  Organizer: Librarykat (who lives in Panama City)

Sacramento — Proposed in forum for a December date. The SFB group is considering merging with this one.  Organizer: Sarahkp

Anchorage, Alaska – Proposed in forum for November 14 or 20.  Book club meeting, but others are welcome!  Organizer: Corrie

Outside the USA

Vancouver BC, Canada — Saturday, November 13, ***time currently under discussion on the thread.*** Aphrodite's Pie Company, West 4th and Dunbar, Vancouver.  Organizer: Kim A

Invercargill, NZ–November 28, 7:30 pm. 181 Tay St., Invercargill.  writers group meeting, but other book lovers are welcome! Organizer: Zerlina.

Quebec, Canada – November 29, 1 pm, at a private home; more people are welcome!!  For details, please email Bonnie at b_dmccallum@hotmail.com Organizer: Holmes44

Toronto ONT, Canada — December 3, Coxwell and O'Connor, time TBD. Organizer: Manga

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia —December 11, in Gardenvale. Location and time pending.  Organizer: B-Twin_1

Kent, England –  Date/location TBD, possibly the café above the Waterstones in Canterbury.  Organizer: AJLR

Central England — the Birmingham Waterstones, time/date TBD. Organizer: Southdowner

Christchurch, NZ – proposed in forum.  Organizer: BlueRose

Barcelona, Spain – proposed in forum.  Organizer: Criscopolo

Oslo, Norway — proposed in forum.  Organizer: Re Williams

Additional awesomeness:

 

School book clubs in Milton Wisconsin, Clarksville Tennessee, Winder Georgia, Ft. Stewart Georgia, New Haven Connecticut, and an Army base school in Germany have all offered to host parties.

It Can't Be Friday . . .

 

. . . there have been no bells.  My world, in Peter's phrase, is the wrong shape.*  There were some perfectly adequate Guy Fawkes fireworks earlier which I watched somewhat languidly out the window.**  Fireworks*** are just not on my list of necessary ingredients to a happy, fulfilled life.†

            So since my world is on backwards and I can't think of anything to tell you about†† let me tell you a little about a book I really enjoyed:  THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM by Tanya Huff.   I've read a fair amount of Huff over the years and she's always good value.  But this one's pretty special even with the bar set high.

            Allie is a member of the scary Gale clan, who really do run the world, or at least their portion of Ontario, Canada, in their own inimitable, matriarchal fashion, mostly involving home-made pies and meddling.  Allie has recently lost her job and gone home because she has nowhere else to go, and is only barely managing not to be made seriously crazy by the Gale Aunties, when she finds out that her grandmother has (probably) died, or at any rate has left her her rather unusual shop—one might almost say emporium—in Calgary, with the request that Allie go there and keep an eye on it because it has 'become crucial to the local community.'  As much as a way to escape aunts, pies and meddling as anything else, Allie goes.  And discovers, first, that the emporium is about as mad and enchanted as anything concerning a Gale woman is likely to be and, second, that the community it's become crucial to is the fey community, and Gales don't mix with feys. . . . And, three, that the local evil sorcerer's magic-bound assistant is trying to find out what Allie's up to for his master's nefarious purposes . . . and that she's falling in love with him.  The assistant, not the sorcerer.   And have I mentioned the dragons?  And the end of the world?

            It's funny, charming and delightful.  And jammed with characters:  not only Allie and too many Aunties, but Allie's cousin Charlie (another Gale girl) and best friend Michael (a mundane), the occasional dangerously powerful Gale man (Gales mostly run to girls), a leprechaun, the evil sorcerer and the cute assistant, a strangely clued-in coffee shop proprietor and a lot of dragons.  And a clearly sentient mirror with a strange sense of humour.

            I also like the dialogue: 

            'Allie's eyes widened.  "Mom, there's a signed photograph of a minotaur on the wall behind the counter."

            "Probably Boris."

            "He's dotted his i with a little heart."

            "Definitely Boris.  Your grandmother seemed very fond of him."

            Given the way Boris was built, Allie didn't doubt that in the least.'

            . . . Which brings me to a Special Mention.  I think most kinds of non-standard sex are very hard to pull off in fiction.  (Never mind reality.)  And by non-standard I mean pretty much anything that isn't committed pair-bonding (homo or het) or some version of singledom, either active or chaste.  I've seen non-standard sex done well—and usually in F&SF—but I still think it's unusual.  I think Huff gets it (as one might say) bang right.  The Gales do like their sex, and it's also mixed up in their power—and as a woman not merely of a certain age but past it myself, I like the idea that being a little grey and wrinkly doesn't necessarily mean you wouldn't notice a well-built minotaur making eyes at you.  Oh yes, and Gale women also seem to have a fondness for Chuck Taylor's All-Stars, which makes them good in my, uh, book.††† 

* * *

* And it's bent and pummelled more than that because my piano lesson was an hour and a half early.  This was because Oisin was going to have to play the organ for a funeral.  And then he wasn't going to have to play organ for a funeral, but he had to Stand By in case the designated organist fell in a hole or got a flat tyre.  Result was that since the designated organist did not fall in a hole or get a flat tyre, I stayed almost as long as I would have if I'd come at the usual time.  There is so a story in an Enchanted Organ or possibly a School of Organists wherein you are taught to handle the dangerously powerful King of Instruments.  Organs of course are manifestations of the earth spirits^;  they are part natural phenomena and part built or shaped by human intervention. . . .   It must have already been done, but that's never stopped me.  But the point is that Oisin is always ready to talk about organs.  All you have to do is keep asking him questions.  A bit like me and bells.  And yes, there is a magical-bells story in the queue:  THE BELLS OF MAZAHAN.  I've told you about it before.^^

^ Hey!  Maybe I can get an EARTH ELEMENTALS story out of this! 

^^ And how it started life as an AIR story and got long.  Siiiiiigh.   And organs are also part air—extrusions of earth, but powered by air.  Hmmmm.

** I am happy to say that hellhounds are not bothered by fireworks, although Chaos tends to wake up and look around in the hopes that the noise might involve something he can play with.  I was bothered this morning when some yobbo let one off about three feet behind us in the churchyard for pity's sake and I briefly reached a speed that would not unduly shame a hellhound.  Although speaking of turns of adrenaline-charged speed, as we were circling back toward the cottage through one of the rec fields a pair of hellhound admirers approached and permitted themselves to be gambolled upon^ and then in a dazzle of excitement hellhounds flaming shot off and hit the end of their leads full pelt.  Which they never do!  I almost frelling died.  And I really do have whiplash.  Ow.  Ow.  Geez. 

^ No!  Off!  Feet on the floor, you frellers! 

*** Except when provided by Gandalf

† I've just been listening to Jacqueline Wilson^ give the keynote speech for the kick-off to this year's free-thinking festival, which is supposed to be contemplating happiness.   http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/   During the questions at the end the pursuit of other insubstantial goals came up, and the announcer did an impromptu audience poll of wisdom vs happiness.  How many of you would—or perhaps do—prefer to seek wisdom?  Almost no hands went up.  Happiness?  Lots of hands went up. 

            This really startles me.  I'd've put it totally the other way around.  The audience is, after all, self-selected for being interested in such questions, or they wouldn't be showing up for a free-thinking festival in the first place.  After I'd blinked a few times I wondered what the average age of that audience was?^^  Is this just me, or don't you get more interested in wisdom and less interested in happiness as you get older?  It's not that you're not interested in happiness, far from it^^^.  But happiness is a fickle, whimsical little git whereas wisdom gives you a place to stand.  Pursuing happiness won't get it.  Pursuing wisdom . . .  might.  If you're lucky, and have a good map.  Maybe it's just semantics.  But I'd say, for example, that it's wisdom that lets you notice when you're happy.

^ If you don't know her you should http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Wilson

^^ If they're all devoted 13-year-old fans of Wilson's, then I'm not surprised.

^^^ Menopause has taught me far more about depression than I had any desire to know.  No, telling yourself it's just your hormones is not helpful.

†† The odd footnote aside

††† In fact, it makes me happy.  If no wiser.

Arrival

 

I'm writing yet another Q&A about writing.  Blerg blerg blerg blerg blerg.  And these tediously thoughtful and judicious framers of questions just won't ask me stuff I can answer, like, how many cups of tea can you drink before you're shaking so badly you can't type?  (And how strong?)  Sigh.  Although even the answer to that isn't all that straightforward:  it varies—and often in inverse proportion to my stress level.  The crazier I am already, the more superfluous caffeine I can pour into my jaded system without the sirens going off.  And I tend to stop because of the blinding headache rather than the vibrating fingers.  In computer days you can always correct your buzz-accentuated typos;  back in manual typewriter days the effort necessary to press the individual keys had a sobering effect.  Electric typewriters were, however, dangerous.  I wonder if the cliché of the devil's-heart-black hot caffeinated liquid perpetually at the writer's elbow began in part because the old business manuals maintained their dignity through everything short of being dropped off the desk.  Although the hot liquid was usually coffee, and usually accompanied by the permanent ciggie attached to the lower lip.  Uggh. 

            Writing about writing is hard.  Some writers can do it—some writers can teach writing, which totally blows my mind*—but the chief effect writing about writing has on me is to make me self-conscious.  Think about being asked to explain how you do something that you do a lot of, that you don't think about because it's so much a part of you, it's so much a part of you that a great deal of it is instinctive, and it needs to be instinctive so you can get on with what you need it for.  Think about describing walking to a citizen of the planet Urplump, which is almost entirely underwater**, and where the dominant species is a kind of sentient jellyfish.  But you've got an interplanetweb connection and a Universal Translator ap, and here's this jellyfish asking you about walking***. . . .

            I think I may be raving.

            Hellhounds and I got well out of town for a proper hurtle this morning partly because I felt I needed to go somewhere that, if I pulled Pooka out, I would not instantly be offered a choice of ninety-seven different wireless networks.  Wind in my hair.  Lowing of cows.  Hurtling of hounds.†  It was an amazingly mild un-November-like day and my spring bulbs are busy sprouting in their cardboard boxes so after a half-hearted stab at PEG II over lunch I tweeted that pansies and tulips had rights too †† . . . and ran away. 

            But I am glad I was outdoors at the cottage hanging around the greenhouse potting on and planting out or I might not have seen what had arrived, since FedEx takes the line that I've told them they can leave stuff behind the water butt and nobody said nuthin' about cards through the door, so they leave stuff behind the water butt and it's up to me to read their minds and/or the entrails of black chickens and know when to look behind the water butt for unheralded parcels.

            And yeah, I'm a little obsessed.  Can you blame me?  This really is one of the great cover illustrations.

 * * *

 * Although some teaching of writing is absolutely, totally, infuriatingly bogus . . . which is possibly a rant for another time.  And I've run writing seminars occasionally, but to the extent that I was moving toward a concept or a structure, I would say that I was trying to create the right sort of space(s) for people to discover their writing for themselves.

** except it's not water.  Urplump's seas are shallow and warm, and life got to evolve there without worrying about the floats-when-frozen thing.

*** Well, you think it's asking about walking.  There are some doubts about the Universal Translator.^

^ Unreliable translators?  Yes. PEG II is always in the back of my mind at the moment.  Except when it's in the front of my mind, of course.

† Narrow avoidance of disaster.  I'd let them off in one of their standard fields—where I can see everything in all directions about as far as you ever can in this imperfect world—and had only just put them back on lead again when something the size of a small water buffalo crashed through the hedgerow and lumbered toward us.  Something the size of a small water buffalo, when it's a dog, has a lot of teeth.  Fortunately this one was friendly.  About five minutes later after the buffalo had trotted off on its own—not, allow me to add, back toward the hedgerow—and hellhounds and I were heading back toward Wolfgang, I finally saw a human being ambling along on the far side of that hedgerow.  Apparently without a care in the world or any sense that possibly he/she ought to know where the frelling dog is. 

†† Whereupon there was a whiplash response from several early PEG I readers saying, No they don't!  No!  Wrong!  No rights!  Nobody has any rights but us, your faithful readers, who have just pitched over that cliff!  You stay at your desk!

Awesome (someone else's) and other stuff (mine)

 

Last night's concert was awesome.  AWWWWESOME.  So frelling awesome, in fact, that I came home with a buzz on the size of Nebraska and didn't even try to go to bed till . . . um.  Well.  Late.*  And it took me a while after that to turn the light off.** 

            And then the meter man woke me up four hours later to read the frelling meters.  I got to stumble out into the greenhouse in my dressing-gown and move hundreds of empty plant pots so he could get at the frelling meter to read. 

            So thank the gods someone else posted one of my PEGASUS PUBLICATION CELEBRATION YAAAY guest blogs tonight so I don't have to write anything for here***:    http://www.booklovercarol.com/2010/11/guest-blog-robin-mckinley-on-world.html

            And my publisher is giving away a PEGASUS-plus prize pack or two here: http://destination-elsewhere.ning.com/forum/topics/pegasus-release-day-contest 

So please wander over and enter.   

            I'm also in the YA category for RT's 2010 Career Achievement Award, which is both a big wow and also a, you mean I'm that old?  Snork.  http://www.rtbookreviews.com/rt-awards/nominees-and-winners?award_type=author&year=2010

            Please note I tweeted all of these earlier, so if you're tweetaholics this is all old news.  But the RT link kept jumping around and dumping me in previous years, so be sure you're looking at 2010 if you click through.  I did discover this way however that I've been on the life-achievement award nominees list before . . . I've been old for a very long time. 

            Plus another amazing PEGASUS and cake party update from Black Bear—keep scrolling. 

* * *

* It's taken me exactly two days not only to eat that extra hour we were given back Saturday night, but to approach dangerous new levels of sleep avoidance.  And this is the wrong time of year to get careless about mornings.  

** Fiona, who also had a buzz problem but needed to get up for work early this morning, asked me how late I went to sleep last night.  I told her.  ROBIN!!!!!!!!! she said.  And I thought I was bad!

            You are bad.  I'm just worse. 

*** Which is not to say I'm not writing something for somewhere.   I've just written a piece for . . . oh, well, maybe I shouldn't tell you.  Netiquette is still a semi-closed book to me.  But it'll be out next week.  And then I have another piece that I'd better get started on tonight before my nerve fails.  PEG II is beginning to look easy in comparison to all this how I write/how I wrote PEGASUS stuff I've been producing (on request) for PEG's pub day and general rejoicing I mean marketing—writing about writing is THE WORST.  It's lovely to be wanted, and it's lovely to have all the fuss for PEGASUS, and I'm very grateful, but . . . I have no idea!  Stop trying to make me reveal the basic truth that I have no idea!   Sigh. . . .