Kate Elliott's Blog, page 43
January 24, 2011
Cold Magic: The Typos
Just a general question. The mass market paperback edition of Cold Magic is going through production now. If you happen to have noticed a typo (or that kind of thing -- that is, not a revision suggestion but an actual typo or grammatical mistake or someone's eyes described as brown here but red there or a very clear historical/cultural mistake that can be easily correctable by application of the correct term, and etc), then please drop a note into the comments here.
If you didn't notice, then I certainly understand because I never notice such things either, and often alas not usually in my own work (which is why I love my copy editors). But I thought I would throw the question open just in case. Thanks.
If you didn't notice, then I certainly understand because I never notice such things either, and often alas not usually in my own work (which is why I love my copy editors). But I thought I would throw the question open just in case. Thanks.
January 23, 2011
YA & Sex
Oh voracious readers.
Can you please mention (and perhaps briefly describe the basic story Without Spoilers) book titles for books that
1) fall clearly into the YA category
2) with preferably some kind of supernatural or fantastic element (major or minor)
3) either set in this world or a secondary world (I don't care)
4) possibly written post-Twilight (2005) but I'll take earlier if it's a good example of a book that is still being read
5) in which the teen protagonist(s) has (have) consensual and non regretted sex that does not involve getting married first (as it does in Twilight).
ETA: It can involve True Love, or not, that doesn't matter. It can suggest that the pair may get married in the future, but they are not waiting for marriage. Equally, if there is no talk of marriage or if marriage is not in the cards now or ever, that's good, too (I'm almost more interested in this, but I'm looking for both.)
5a) heterosexual, homosexual, some other variety of sexuality that I don't know how to properly name, serial partners, whatever, anything (ETA: including "brought to orgasm without consummation" sex). The key is that it is what I would call "healthy" sex: that is, consensual, respectful, and not personally shameful to the individuals involved (whether or not there is a shame element culturally that the individual ignores is a different issue). It doesn't have to be explicit (although it can be) but it has to be clear that it happens. A universe-shattering kiss does not count.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. You can mention your own book because I'm looking for titles, and you would know better than anyone! Just to be clear, I'm looking for published titles, not ones being written or contemplated.
Can you please mention (and perhaps briefly describe the basic story Without Spoilers) book titles for books that
1) fall clearly into the YA category
2) with preferably some kind of supernatural or fantastic element (major or minor)
3) either set in this world or a secondary world (I don't care)
4) possibly written post-Twilight (2005) but I'll take earlier if it's a good example of a book that is still being read
5) in which the teen protagonist(s) has (have) consensual and non regretted sex that does not involve getting married first (as it does in Twilight).
ETA: It can involve True Love, or not, that doesn't matter. It can suggest that the pair may get married in the future, but they are not waiting for marriage. Equally, if there is no talk of marriage or if marriage is not in the cards now or ever, that's good, too (I'm almost more interested in this, but I'm looking for both.)
5a) heterosexual, homosexual, some other variety of sexuality that I don't know how to properly name, serial partners, whatever, anything (ETA: including "brought to orgasm without consummation" sex). The key is that it is what I would call "healthy" sex: that is, consensual, respectful, and not personally shameful to the individuals involved (whether or not there is a shame element culturally that the individual ignores is a different issue). It doesn't have to be explicit (although it can be) but it has to be clear that it happens. A universe-shattering kiss does not count.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. You can mention your own book because I'm looking for titles, and you would know better than anyone! Just to be clear, I'm looking for published titles, not ones being written or contemplated.
January 20, 2011
Will the Eddie go?
The prestige surfing competition isn't run every year. It is run at the whim of nature. As of this evening, the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Surfing Competition may run, if the swells are big enough (over 20 foot wave faces) and "right."
Here's a Honolulu Star Advertiser article about the possibility. People are certainly camping out overnight at or near Waimea Bay just in case it goes tomorrow.
The swell is predicted to peak early tomorrow so surfers will be on the beach and ready to go immediately if the contest begins.
"Let's not forget, we are not dealing with a concrete stadium sporting event," said Downing. "Surfers and great surfing events are 100 percent dependent upon many nuances of nature that not even the latest, greatest technology can perfectly predict. What we are saying is that the potential for 20-foot surf does exist. We might go, we might not, but we will always be ready for when the bay calls the day.
"That's what this event, in particular, is about. We will do exactly what Eddie and big-wave riders have always done through the years — watch the swell developments, be ready, and wake up to see what the day delivers."
No, I'm not going to the North Shore to watch in person if it runs. The traffic will be horrendous. But check it out, if you're interested.
Here's the event's pretty comprehensive web page, where you can likely watch it streaming if it goes, and where you can anyway see video from 2009 when 20,000 people packed the beach and road to watch.
Here's a Honolulu Star Advertiser article about the possibility. People are certainly camping out overnight at or near Waimea Bay just in case it goes tomorrow.
The swell is predicted to peak early tomorrow so surfers will be on the beach and ready to go immediately if the contest begins.
"Let's not forget, we are not dealing with a concrete stadium sporting event," said Downing. "Surfers and great surfing events are 100 percent dependent upon many nuances of nature that not even the latest, greatest technology can perfectly predict. What we are saying is that the potential for 20-foot surf does exist. We might go, we might not, but we will always be ready for when the bay calls the day.
"That's what this event, in particular, is about. We will do exactly what Eddie and big-wave riders have always done through the years — watch the swell developments, be ready, and wake up to see what the day delivers."
No, I'm not going to the North Shore to watch in person if it runs. The traffic will be horrendous. But check it out, if you're interested.
Here's the event's pretty comprehensive web page, where you can likely watch it streaming if it goes, and where you can anyway see video from 2009 when 20,000 people packed the beach and road to watch.
January 18, 2011
MLKjr Day: Quotes
I have 14 post-it notes stuck to my monitor. These are a more or less permanent (for some definitions of permanent) feature rather than things that come up and are taken down frequently.
3 are my kids' addresses. 1 is the # I need to reserve library books. 1 is personal. 4 are short notes to myself about writing and the creative process (aka useful reminders, inspiration, what have you). The other 5 are quotes: 1 Tricia Sullivan, 1 Gandhi, 1 Martin Buber, and 2 Martin Luther King jr.
Since today in the USA is the federally mandated holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., I'll share the two MLKjr quotes:
A time comes when silence is betrayal.
Law doesn't change the heart nor restrain the heartless.
The always thoughtful Prof. Juan Cole has quite a good post in honor of MLKjr on his blog, which you can find here.
3 are my kids' addresses. 1 is the # I need to reserve library books. 1 is personal. 4 are short notes to myself about writing and the creative process (aka useful reminders, inspiration, what have you). The other 5 are quotes: 1 Tricia Sullivan, 1 Gandhi, 1 Martin Buber, and 2 Martin Luther King jr.
Since today in the USA is the federally mandated holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., I'll share the two MLKjr quotes:
A time comes when silence is betrayal.
Law doesn't change the heart nor restrain the heartless.
The always thoughtful Prof. Juan Cole has quite a good post in honor of MLKjr on his blog, which you can find here.
January 17, 2011
kateelliott @ 2011-01-17T09:28:00
Hey! Look at that!
Lightborn, by Tricia Sullivan (our very own![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380442897i/1319734.gif)
triciasullivan
) is on the the BSFA shortlist for Best Novel of 2010.
Most excellent! And congrats to one of the hardest working writers I know.
Lightborn, by Tricia Sullivan (our very own
triciasullivan
) is on the the BSFA shortlist for Best Novel of 2010.Most excellent! And congrats to one of the hardest working writers I know.
January 12, 2011
Cold Magic cover for mass market release
I had heard rumors that OrbitBooks were going to alter the Cold Magic cover for its forthcoming mass market paperback release in August 2011 (in advance of the September 2011 publication of Cold Fire).
Looks like they did!
Looks like they did!
January 6, 2011
Cold Magic: The Cookie
Seriously, a reader created a cookie in honor of Cold Magic.
You can read about it here on the OrbitBooks blog.
You can read about it here on the OrbitBooks blog.
January 4, 2011
Call for Questions
If you have a question you'd like me to answer, let me know in the comments to this post.
It can be a question about pretty much anything, although I have to say in advance that I am unlikely to answer Qs on politics or religion (although that doesn't mean I never will).
Writing questions, pop culture Qs, reading, reviewing, social media or social change, world building, or specific questions about any of my books/series (including spoilers, but mark spoilers in your comment and I will answer such Qs in spoiler-marked posts: all are fair game.
Or, if you have asked a question previously last year or some year before that which I have not yet answered, you can ask it again (and remind me that I haven't answered it yet). Some Qs seem difficult for me to answer at any given time, which doesn't mean I won't ever answer them. I'm looking through my old files and have found a few Qs that I have answers to but which I can't be sure if I've posted or not. I mean, not that I mind reprising a post, but I wouldn't want to do that too often (as I just did recently).
I'm working on some longer craft posts, one on "Openings" and another on "Revisions" but those will take a little bit for me to finish, especially the one on Revisions which will probably run as a series of posts (but I intend to write it all first and then post it).
And I plan to post at least once a week a short book response to my recent and current reading.
It can be a question about pretty much anything, although I have to say in advance that I am unlikely to answer Qs on politics or religion (although that doesn't mean I never will).
Writing questions, pop culture Qs, reading, reviewing, social media or social change, world building, or specific questions about any of my books/series (including spoilers, but mark spoilers in your comment and I will answer such Qs in spoiler-marked posts: all are fair game.
Or, if you have asked a question previously last year or some year before that which I have not yet answered, you can ask it again (and remind me that I haven't answered it yet). Some Qs seem difficult for me to answer at any given time, which doesn't mean I won't ever answer them. I'm looking through my old files and have found a few Qs that I have answers to but which I can't be sure if I've posted or not. I mean, not that I mind reprising a post, but I wouldn't want to do that too often (as I just did recently).
I'm working on some longer craft posts, one on "Openings" and another on "Revisions" but those will take a little bit for me to finish, especially the one on Revisions which will probably run as a series of posts (but I intend to write it all first and then post it).
And I plan to post at least once a week a short book response to my recent and current reading.
January 2, 2011
2011: Looking forward at work
Hope springs eternal. Mostly.
If I had infinite energy and time, here's what I would accomplish in 2011:
Spiritwalker:
-- Revise Cold Fire. Followed by copy edits and page proofs. Publication in September (mass market of Cold Magic available in August).
-- Draft Cold Steel (and preferably a first draft shorter than Cold Fire's first draft).
-- Make a decent North American/Caribbean Basin map for this Earth.
-- Write a novelette from the point of view of Bee (which would need illustrations).
-- Write up excerpts of journal entries by Daniel Hassi Barahal.
Crossroads:
-- Finish a draft of Crossroads 4
(I've written 45,000 words, but the story needs some re-visioning because the 45,000 words I've written constitute perhaps one quarter of the story and possibly less, so obviously I need to rethink how I'm approaching it)
Crown of Stars Universe proposal:
Write up a proposal for a short trilogy (<==don't laugh!) set in the Crown of Stars universe, possibly with a YA focus, set 450 years after the events of the septology.
Jaran Universe:
Sketch out more of the "political" (as opposed to emotional) plot for Jaran #5 in preparation for actually writing it.
Research: A ton.
Read more fiction, by wasting less time online.
Posts:
I have a set of posts I'm working on, surrounding issues of craft and the writing process, that I would like to complete and post throughout the first half of the year together with, I hope, a dedicated blog that will be mirrored on lj.
Travel to Spain in October (for research for Cold Steel).
(I had hoped to make a short trip to the Dominican Republic this month--January--but other necessary things have eaten my time and $$ and so this will not, unfortunately, be happening.)
That's all, but only because I'm not even touching on any potential new projects, of which there are always some churning in my head, including a side project set in the Cold Magic universe.
The chances I can manage all the above are, as we say, slim to none.
If I had infinite energy and time, here's what I would accomplish in 2011:
Spiritwalker:
-- Revise Cold Fire. Followed by copy edits and page proofs. Publication in September (mass market of Cold Magic available in August).
-- Draft Cold Steel (and preferably a first draft shorter than Cold Fire's first draft).
-- Make a decent North American/Caribbean Basin map for this Earth.
-- Write a novelette from the point of view of Bee (which would need illustrations).
-- Write up excerpts of journal entries by Daniel Hassi Barahal.
Crossroads:
-- Finish a draft of Crossroads 4
(I've written 45,000 words, but the story needs some re-visioning because the 45,000 words I've written constitute perhaps one quarter of the story and possibly less, so obviously I need to rethink how I'm approaching it)
Crown of Stars Universe proposal:
Write up a proposal for a short trilogy (<==don't laugh!) set in the Crown of Stars universe, possibly with a YA focus, set 450 years after the events of the septology.
Jaran Universe:
Sketch out more of the "political" (as opposed to emotional) plot for Jaran #5 in preparation for actually writing it.
Research: A ton.
Read more fiction, by wasting less time online.
Posts:
I have a set of posts I'm working on, surrounding issues of craft and the writing process, that I would like to complete and post throughout the first half of the year together with, I hope, a dedicated blog that will be mirrored on lj.
Travel to Spain in October (for research for Cold Steel).
(I had hoped to make a short trip to the Dominican Republic this month--January--but other necessary things have eaten my time and $$ and so this will not, unfortunately, be happening.)
That's all, but only because I'm not even touching on any potential new projects, of which there are always some churning in my head, including a side project set in the Cold Magic universe.
The chances I can manage all the above are, as we say, slim to none.
January 1, 2011
Onward into the 21st Century
This is an ad for National Geographic Magazine, but also interesting of itself.
