Nicola Griffith's Blog, page 14

A Woman Who Wins

Algernon the parrot reads “A Woman Who Wins” in NYRB (Photo by Angelique Corthals)

It’s always a lovely day when you get to read a 4,000+ word review essay, “A Woman Who Wins,” of Hild and Menewood in the New York Review of Books. For one, it’s been a while since anyone has illustrated me for a print publication (this one was by Leah Reena Goren; the last time was in the Wall Street Journal, long ago).1 And for another, Nicole Rudick has some interesting things to say—mostly complimentary—but I’ll content myself with posting two snippets from her discussion of Menewood:

In Griffith’s hands, a conversation between Hild and Æthelburh as they sit on a riverbank is as thrilling as a spear thrust through a man’s cheek. The language is rich and abundant with details of the environment’s flora and fauna, almost Edenic in its plenitude; each page beats with life.

[…]

Griffith has so thoroughly realized her characters that certain deaths catch the reader like a knife in the ribs. (This reader cried several times.)

— Nicole Rudick, New York Review, November 7, 2024

Oh, wait, no—one more thing. In the essay, Rudick complains that there’s no Dramatis Personae in Hild, and she’s right (and perhaps we’ll fix that one of these days), but there’s always been one available to download on this site’s Hild page, under ‘Extras’. I encourage you to visit both the Hild and Menewood pages, because they have links to many extras. Enjoy!

And in very different circumstances: it was a hostile interview. I was being held up as an example of the country’s declining morals because I, an out lesbian, had had the temerity to apply for and, gasp, be granted a National Interest Waiver from the State Department—an worthy not to mention distasteful queer person, a ‘kook’ who wrote about spaceships, changing US immigration law?! What was the world coming to… (Trust me, this is better.) ︎

VICFA Reading, Wednesday 10/23

I forgot to mention this earlier because, er, well, I forgot. (Life’s a bit chaotic at the moment, with things—good things! not-so-good things!—flying at me unexpectedly every day. Sort of like living inside a tumble dryer.)

BUT—the reading will be awesome! Andy Duncan and I have 90 whole minutes between us to read, and talk, and answer your questions. And we’re both doing something many people might not expect. So if you’re part of VICFA, do come.

Wednesday, October 23, 2024 — Virtual — VICFA

Event: 11:00 AM PT/2:00 PM ET; Interstellar Space roomReading, with Andy DuncanThe reading isn’t from a novel—but hopefully still full of thrilling event and drama—the highs! the lows! Seriously, I hope to make you laugh, and maybe cry—or at least go Ooof. Come and see. This event is part of the annual Virtual International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts—please note the change in date (rescheduled due to hurricanes…)I believe you can only access the virtual room with membership to the conference, but you’d have to check the website to be sure. And it might not be too late to join…Details

Celebrating James the Deacon

Those who have read Hild and/or Menewood know who James is—and just how hugely he influenced her philosophy of love. (Much as a priest I once knew influenced mine.)

Today is his Feast Day and I think he’s very much worth celebrating. I explain why in a post over on my research blog, Gemæcce.

You can sign up to receive those research posts via email, just as you can to posts from this site:

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Aud is back! Cover reveal and preorder

Cover design by Thomas Colligan for MCD/Picador. Out 3 June 2025.Preorder1

Bookshop.org | Amazon.com | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Phinney Books | Target | Powell’s

A long time coming

The three Aud novels (originally published between 1998 and 2007) are going to be reissued on 3 June, 2025, by MCD/Picador in beautiful matching editions—paper, ebook, and audio—just in time for Pride!2,3

But wait! There’s more! Alongside the new editions will be three new Aud short fictions. I haven’t actually written them yet but the goal is for each to be about 10,000 words long.4

But wait! There’s even MORE! And this is the bit I’m just bursting to talk about, but, er, can’t yet. Not quite. Before you crazy kids get your hopes up, though, I will say it is not a film or TV adaptation. (The books have been under option for years, but the latest option just lapsed.)5

About the covers

For the new covers I wanted a sense of fluidity and movement—and suggested that if the publisher felt the need to show a woman’s face they only show part of it, and blurred, as in motion (like the original Stay cover). And that they should basically be monotone, but each be differently tinted—blue for The Blue Place, red for Stay (it’s original working title was Red Raw) and what ever might look good for Always—though, seeing as it was purple in the original, purple might would work. And, well, wow, that’s exactly what I got from the talented Thom Colligan. I wish it were always so easy!

Naturally, I have a lot more to say, and will do over the coming months. For now, though, go check out more detail on the books, and know I’m very happy with how these new editions are shaping up. I think you will be, too.

The Phinney Books and Powell’s database may take longer to update, so contacting the stores directly by email or phone would be best.  ︎I’ll be narrating—and I can’t wait for you to hear them; they were made to be read aloud. ︎And, yep, there will absolutely be an Event For the Ages to celebrate! Planning is already afoot… ︎I’ll be narrating those, too. ︎Do I still think one day someone will turn them into the fabulous screen story they deserve? Yes. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. It’s actually quite frustrating. Because what I want to talk about is something I’ve been trying to make happen for over 25 years but, for a whole host of reasons—and, oh, you better believe I have opinions about those reasons—can only now come to pass. For the time being let me just say that while for some readers it might not exactly be earth-shattering news, for me it will be very, very satisfying, and all the sweeter for the wait. ︎

Menewood out now in paperback

Autumn is here—and Menewood is a perfect read for the season: curl up in front of the fire with a cup of tea or a glass of Armagnac, according to taste, and fall in. It’s a long, luxuriant read. And it’s out now in paperback in the US and Canada, wherever books are sold. (Out in mid-November in the UK—I’ll post a reminder then.)

As you can see, as a paperback it’s smaller than the hardcover—but, of course, equally beautiful, stuffed with all the maps, family trees, glossaries, cast of characters, and pronunciation guides of the original.

To match the new paperback, Hild was redesigned, too, so now you can buy a matching set.

Here, just for grins, is the whole cover, front and back (linked through to the original, large file). Happy autumn!

H5N1 updates

I’ve kept putting off posting bits of incremental news coming out of Missouri because it’s been extremely unsatisfying. Health officials in the state have been practising—to use a technical term—piss-poor public health. They have released next to nothing useful.

One person has been confirmed to be infected with H5N1 which is (probably—they couldn’t sequence much) the same version as is currently affecting cattle. That person was hospitalised but recovered. We know one of their household contacts got sick. We know that six healthcare workers got sick—one was tested, but too late to catch a current infection. (We don’t know how fast it clears a human system but it moves very fast in cattle, so…) We don’t know if any of those other seven individuals were sick with H5N1. We should know. We don’t know when they got sick. We should know. We don’t know exactly what their symptoms were or when they developed them. We should know.

The CDC is ‘remotely assisting’ in the situation which seems to boil down to them testing blood samples, sent from MO, for antibodies to H5N1. That’s it. That’s all I can glean. (The New York Times has an okay article—gift link).

This lack of information is, in my opinion—to use another technical term—fucking negligent, or at least criminally pollyannaish (the Missouri people appear to be very breezy and unconcerned about the whole thing). The cluster of illness might not be bird flu—it could be norovirus; it could be Covid; it could be any variety of adenoviruses floating around, and I sincerely hope that’s the case—but if it is H5N1, a cluster of eight human cases with no known animal vector is highly suggestive of person-to-person transmission, a shocking step change. We should have more information by now. I truly don’t understand why we don’t.

This lack of facts is why I kept not mentioning it. But I’m sufficiently frustrated that I felt the need to vent. Meanwhile, I’ll keep following Caitlin Rivers’ Outbreak Outlook—you might want to, too.

🎶 When I’m Sixty-Four 🎶

It’s not at all the sad-little-old-people situation I had imagined when I first heard the Beatles sing their song. In fact the day has dawned bright and sunny—not warm, exactly, but not wet grey, or windy—and full of new possibilities. And tonight there will be Guinness… A good omen for the coming year!

New beginnings

I love autumn. Here in Seattle morning mist rolls in from the Sound bringing the scent of brine up the ravine and blanketing our little pocket neighbourhood in stillness. In less than a month, young crows will start to gather—calling and competing in aerial acrobatics and getting to know each other in their annual kegger coming out party—figuring out who they are now that they’re no longer crowlings but young crows, at least partially free of adult supervision and ready to explore the world. The last of our annuals—the petunias and begonias and snapdragons—are still bright, defiant in the face of falling-temperature doom. But change is coming, and new beginnings…

Back deck just after dawnCrow disappearing into the mistPetunias, big and blowsy, brilliant and bright and dew-damp

Late September spells excitement for me. My birthday is just around the corner and I’ve always associated this month with new school years, new adventures, new friends. And that is particularly true this year. I’ve just had some lovely—excellent! fabulous! exciting!—news, cementing my belief that autumn really is a time of thrilling new beginnings. I can’t tell you more just yet, but this is news I’ve been waiting to hear for a very, very long time.

More soon.

Searching for cycad Entwives

By Purves, M., CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Laura Cinti, a biological artist, is looking for females for the world’s loneliest plant, a species of cycad. Unlike the Ents and their search for Entwives, however, Cinti and her team have modern technology: drones and machine intelligence.

The only known specimens of Encephalartos woodii (E. woodii), a species of cycad, are all clones of the same male plant found over 100 years ago in a South African forest. Now a team of researchers is on a mission to find an elusive female version of the plant

— The Conversation

If she can find a female, the trees can pollinate and reproduce, which would make the species healthier and less prone to disease. Also maybe a bit less sad. Listen to The Conversation podcast for more.

Another sale: Menewood!

Another sale! This time MENEWOOD: $2.99 on all US (and who knows, maybe other countries?) platforms. Best price ever!

Read more about the book here:
https://nicolagriffith.com/books/menewood-coming-october-3-2023/