Kate Elliott's Blog, page 33

How to acquire a signed (by me!) copy of the US edition of COLD FIRE

Because I live in an out of the way place, I do very few signings.

I plan to attend World Fantasy Convention in San Diego the last weekend of October (27 – 30) this year, but other than that (and any potential signing I might do in the area then) I am as of now only doing a single signing for the release of COLD FIRE.

Blake Charlton (SPELLBOUND) and I will be reading and signing at Powells Bookstore (the Cedar Hills/Beaverton branch) on September 20 at 7 pm.

Although the official release date for COLD FIRE is Sept 26, I have been assured by my publisher that there will be pre-release copies available at the signing.

If you want a signed copy of COLD FIRE but can't make it to the signing, you can pre-order a signed copy at Powells via this link.

I should note that I have written a bonus chapter that fits within the storyline of COLD FIRE but which is not in the published book because it is not written from Cat's point of view and because it contains more explicit sexual content than I normally write (fair warning).

Copies pre-ordered at Powells before the signing will receive, with the signed book, a copy of the bonus chapter (in the form of a very short pamphlet that can be tucked inside the pages of the book in the appropriate spot). If you order because of reading about it in this post, best to note that you would like (or do not want) the bonus chapter.

If you can make it to the signing, Blake and I would love to see you there.

And, yes, those of you who are actually paying attention will see this signing flagged at least 3 more times before Sept 20, so my apologies in advance.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Cold Fire (Spiritwalker 2)

Although I'm posting this on 31 August my time, in the parts of the world where it is already 1 September, it is official release day for Cold Fire (Spiritwalker 2). That means you, UK/Australia/NZ and other English language/bookstore areas served by the Orbit UK and Orbit Australia divisions.

Some friendly Australians have already emailed me to let me know they have seen it in stores there (and in a couple of cases have purchased it–what fine people they are, and they know who they are!)

IMPORTANT: There is a bonus chapter that takes place within the timeline of the book but which is not in the published version. I will post it online AFTER the USA/NA release (it contains spoilers). If you are in the UK/Aus/NZ/etc market and want to read this bonus chapter NOW, please email me at Kate.Elliott at sff.net.

Gosh, are you going to get sick of this cover, or what? I'll post it again on 26 September, which is the official release date for the book in the USA/NA market.

[image error]

I describe book 1, Cold Magic, as an Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency fantasy adventure, with airships, Phoenician spies, the intelligent descendents of troodons, and a dash of steampunk.

I spent a while trying to figure out a similar description for book 2, which I posted some weeks ago, but all things considered, I think I'll just go with this one:

Sharks! Kisses! Sword-fights!

 

And, while I have some other posts and book reviews planned, I think I may also embark on two read/watch projects, as seems to be a fashion these days. And a fine one, if I must say so myself.

I think I may do a re-read of Katharine Kerr's Deverry series, in order. I have to sort out how to do it, and I will probably try to do it on another platform than this one just because I would like to attract a larger audience for my favorite epic fantasy series.

Also, at the nudging of a person who knows who he is, I am going to watch all three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender for comment/discussion episode by episode. I may start this when my daughter comes to visit next week.

Meanwhile, back to work on Cold Steel (Spiritwalker 3). Sadly, I do not think any sharks will appear in book 3. But you never know!

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Seeing New Covers Never Gets Old (Crown of Stars in Poland)

I got a box in the mail.

In it I found copies of the new Zysk (Poland) translation of Child of Flame, titled Dziecko Plomienia (there's a slash through the 'l' but I don't know how to get those letters on WordPress yet). I'm not quite sure what the cover has to do with the book, but I quite like the colors and design, and I'm delighted at the slightly larger paperback (the original versions of the first three books were regular mass market size).

 

Zysk also reissued King's Dragon — Krolewski Smok — with a new cover.

Here's the old cover, from the 2000 edition. Admire its 70s cheesy glory. Yes, she is bare-breasted. And don't even think about how she is managing to sit on the dragon with its spiky spine ridge.

 

The new cover fits the design of book four, and I think it is quite wonderful:

 

I'm hoping Zysk may be re-releasing #2 and #3 with the new design and images as well, because they will make a striking set if they do. Stay tuned.

 

NOTE: These don't embiggen. I grabbed them off the internets.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

What is the next book I should read?

Tell me in comments. Explain why. (but only suggest one book, please)

First review of COLD FIRE (Publishers Weekly)

I will endeavor not to bombard this blog with quotes from or links to reviews of COLD FIRE as they begin to appear (UK/Oz/NZ release is 1 Sept; US/NA release is Sept 26) .

[image error]

However, it's difficult not to get excited about the first review that appears in the wild, in this case, the forthcoming (Monday's issue) Publishers Weekly.

I'm chuffed because the review (which can be found in its entirety here) mentions two things I am very glad to see highlighted:

The setting:

Elliott's second Spiritwalker novel (after Cold Magic) explores a magical alternate Earth in all its intricate and colorful glory.

And the mix of action and emotion that characterizes this particular story:

Elliott skillfully blends intrigue and romance in this lively series about strong women caught among powerful and deadly forces.

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Between a rock and a hard place

Thanks to all who entered the contest to win an early copy of COLD FIRE.

There were many fine guesses of where the photo in the header of this blog was taken. I can only wish I had been in Mongolia to take any photos, but alas I have not (yet) been there. I can dream!

I've emailed the two winners but until I hear back from them I'm not going to announce any names.

Here is the original uncropped photo from which the cropped version shown on the header was taken. I'm sure it is fairly obvious I am facing (relatively) east and taking the photo as the sun comes up. The photo was taken in mid July.

 

All of you who guessed England were correct (although there were a lot of very reasonable guesses based on the flat terrain and fog). As the sun continued to rise, one might have turned around, as I did, and seen this scene:

 

Yes, it's Stonehenge.

My children and I had taken advantage of a program in which one can pay extra to enter the area very early in the morning before regular hours. Only a dozen people are allowed in at a time, and they are allowed to walk in among the stones.

I know Stonehenge is not physically large compared to its huge reputation as an iconic stone circle of great antiquity and spiritual, astronomical, and cultural significance. But I gotta say, all four of us were utterly blown away by the weight, if you will, of its presence.

 

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Cold Fire: Giveaway

ETA: This post is now mirrored from my wordpress blog, and the question below refers to the header on my Wordpress blog not to my user icon here. You can answer here if you want; I don't care either way.
Weirdly, I edited this to add the link to my blog there, and the link refuses to show up. A a truly bizarre artifact of the system which I don't understand. I will put the link into a comment, below.
The comments below with guesss re: my icon I will accept because of the confusion due to the lack of a link showing up when I thought one had.
One more thing: there is a link at the very end of the mirrored post to the original entry, under the words I Make Up Worlds (the name of the new blog) END ETA

Orbit UK has copies in the office of COLD FIRE (release date in the UK market is 1 September, while release date in the US/NA market is Sept. 26), and have generously offered to supply a copy for a giveaway. They've also sent me advance copies (which should be arriving any day now).

So with a new wordpress blog and a new release, it is time for a giveaway.

This one is easy to enter.

1) Anyone can enter internationally, no region restrictions.

2) One entry per person, please.

3) Just make your guess, in the comments below, of where the photo in the header was taken (I took it). Personally, I think you should just guess without checking to see what other people have already said, because

There will be two winners:

3a) One drawn randomly from all people who commented below.

3b) One drawn randomly from that subset of people who guessed correctly. If no one guesses correctly, I'll simply do another random drawing from the entire set.

4) Comments will be open from NOW until Friday midnight HT (Hawaiian Time) 26 August.

Your COLD FIRE sentence of the day:

 

With a snarl of rage, Rory dropped the bags. In a blur of gold too bright to be fully seen, he melted from man into huge, deadly saber- toothed cat, and sprang at the . . . [cut for spoiler]

Mirrored from I Make Up Worlds.

Trying to write Non-Colonial Alternate History in a Fantasy Context, Redux

I have a new Wordpress blog up here and will be posting there and mirroring here from now on.

My first mirrored post was yesterday, but it ended up posting here as My Eyes Only (I haven't quite gotten the hang of the JournalPress plugin yet).

So if you have not seen it and wish to (it includes the new map for Cold Fire), you can find it at I Make Up Worlds.

You can also comment on the lj mirrored version, which I finally figured out was hidden.

Or, of course, you can NOT COMMENT AT ALL.

I am going back to work.

Trying to Write Non-Colonial Alternate-History in a Fantasy Context

The Spiritwalker Trilogy (starting with COLD MAGIC) is my attempt to write "an Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency fantasy adventure with airships, Phoenician spies, and the intelligent descendents of troodons."

There's a quite interesting discussion of colonialism and post colonialism (specifically with regard to fantasy and science fiction and her own work) in N.K. Jemisin's post Considering Colonialism. In the comments, Jemisin mentions that she thinks Spiritwalker might be a non-colonial narrative.

I suspect it is difficult if not impossible to write non-colonial narratives in our colonial and post-colonial world when writing from the perspective of a culture that has done its share of colonizing. However, I believe the point is to examine other ways the world could be (and is, outside a certain narrow range of vision) and open a window onto them.

Here is the map for COLD FIRE, Spiritwalker #2  (click to embiggen)

Map drawn by Jeffrey Ward from an original by me (assisted by A'ndrea Messer).

How do I mirror my new wordpress to this lj?

How do I mirror my new wordpress blog to this lj?

I'll be posting there first but answering comments in both places.