Kate Elliott's Blog, page 56

The Clothes-scape of Cold Magic

My daughter forwarded this link to me because, she said, it reminded her of Cold Magic, and it totally does!**

Even though I had never before heard of this awesome textile artist dude Yinka Shonibare.

So very Wow. Check it out.



**(in certain specific ways although not in all ways -- those of you who have read the early draft will know what I'm talking about)

More on Titles

For the final published title, I rarely use the working titles I paste onto my drafts, except in the case of later volumes in series when the kind of title I am using, one which fits the "brand" of the series (that is, a similar pattern or feel or emotion or verbal landscape), is already set.

Often the title as published is a second or third attempt to find a good title. And by "a good title" I personally mean the following:

1) suggests something true about the content

2) together with the cove...

The Spiritwalker Trilogy: Series Titles and Book Titles

A hiatus ends with a post. That is how it always goes, unless of course there is no more posting, which would be a different issue.

Cold Magic has an utterly fabulous cover which I'm waiting for Orbit Books to announce before I show it off here. Also, Orbit likes to have a "series title" for each group of books it publishes. If you check out the serieses being published by Orbit, you'll see things like "The Inheritance Trilogy" "The Parasol Protectorate" "The Moorehawke Trilogy" and "The Gri...

And There He Goes: the Navy, Crawling Cities, and the Fantasy/SF Choice

In January (or was it February) 2008, Twin B left for 10 months in Americorps NCCC and came back here to go to college.

Now it is Twin A's turn, as he departed today for Navy Boot Camp. I told him I would write a story in installments to send him while he is there (although I doubt it will be a short story; more likely the opening to a novel, since I have a very difficult time plotting short stories and, in fact, don't read them much either, but that is a different post).

I asked him what he ...

Of Pen Names and Crawling Cities

I am home again for the second time this year. I am hoping to be home for a while, but one never knows.

I have some posts planned but only partially written, and meanwhile I'm behind on my previously optimistic schedule for working on book two due to a Life Situation, one of those things you can't plan for or around but must deal with when it crops up.

I am not a person who discusses my personal life much in public and that is not going to start now. In fact, one of the odd benefits of writin...

Traitors' Gate: USA Paperback is out

The Tor Books paperback edition of Traitors' Gate is available in the USA, as of March 2.

San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art: Exhibition Alert

I'm sorry I didn't flag this earlier but I've been busy.

If you live in or are traveling to the Bay Area, I highly recommend a visit to
The Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco
where the current exhibition focuses on the textile tradition in Mali.

I highly recommend it, and not just because I know the curator of the exhibit and got an introduction to contemporary Malian fabric aesthetic from her in Mali, or because I tagged along in the market in Djenne while she looked for Barack Obam...

TV Tropes: Crown of Stars

I'm still back, and still processing our fabulous trip to Mali, Burkina Faso, and Paris. But as it happens I unexpectedly have to make another quick trip, so my brave attempts to start posting regularly again will fade into the necessity of Family Obligations. For the time being.

March 2 marks the publication of the Tor Books paperback version of Traitors' Gate. I just got copies today in the mail, and the physical book looks very nice. I particularly like the way the typeface pops, especi...

Three Bs: Back Home; Birthdays; Book Launches

Back Home!

Yes, we are back home after being gone almost a month, much of which was spent in Mali (with a lightning detour to Burkina Faso) and four days of which introduced us to bitterly cold but positively lovely Paris. Also, adding to the B theme, we met the publishers and staff of my new French publishers, Bragelonne, about whom I cannot say enough good things, although I'm actually being published within their imprint Milady. But more on that (and on meeting Jasper Kent, esteemed autho...

Timbuktu

I wanted to post or tweet from Tombouctou yesterday, just because it seemed one ought to do so if one could, but after all we were too tired and too hot to walk from the no-wifi hotel to the cybercafe. So I napped, and we had a superb rooftop dinner yesterday evening instead.

I am now in Ouagadougou making ready to go to bed after eating some very good pommes frites (french fries). As some wit said, the only things the French left in West Africa were French bread and pommes frites, rather th...