Nicola Griffith's Blog, page 4

Sitting in the bar without a mask

I’m a wheelchair user with a variety of health conditions: in terms of Covid, a vulnerable member of the population. Tonight I’ll be signing at Phinney Books and going to the pub next door afterwards. Unless I test positive in the next few hours I won’t be wearing a mask. On Wednesday I fly to Kansas City for the Nebula Awards. On the plane I’ll be wearing a mask. In the bar at the convention probably not. Why?

I mask depending on:

Data. How prevalent is Covid locally? Current wastewater levels are a very good proxy; Kansas City’s levels, as of yesterday, were Very Low.Situation and circumstance. How crowded is it? Does the bar/hotel/banquet room have good air filtration? Will I be eating or drinking?My risk/reward ratio.The vulnerability of those around me.

Let’s focus on that last one. First, I will not be in the bar or any other public place unmasked if have not just tested negative. Testing negative means there are no perceptible levels of virus in my airways. That means that I am vanishingly unlikely to be able to infect anyone else. (And, yes, I generally do test more than once—if I have symptoms I test all the time—it always ends up being allergies. But I do it anyway.)

Remember, we’re talking about a bar, here. Not visiting an ill or fragile person in their home, a person who for a variety of reasons cannot mask, or in the ICU, etc. In these situations ‘vanishingly unlikely’ isn’t enough. I mask. In ordinary clinical settings—the ophthalmologist, the neurologist, the internist, etc—I tend to mask, mainly to protect myself (lots of sick people in doctors’ offices) but not always.

So assuming there is no reasonable risk to anyone else, the who choice of whether to wear a mask comes down to my own risk/reward ratio. If viral prevalence is low or very low, if the bar is well-ventilated, if there’s reasonable space between tables, and if the bar is full of people I really want to talk to and beer I want to drink, then the reward easily outweighs the risk. And of course the point of a bar is to drink—and you can’t drink beer through a mask.

This is a purely informational post. I’m not the least bit interested in arguing with anyone on this topic. (Fighty comments will be deleted—you don’t have to agree, but don’t be obnoxious and do not, not lecture.) This is what works for me. I have never had Covid. I intend to keep it that way.

Listen to me read the beginning of STAY

This one is for all Patreon members—paid and free. So you have to be a member BUT! You can join for free! (‘Free’ really means free: you don’t have to give any payment information; no one will ding you later.) And then you can watch/read/listen to the occasional post like this that I make available to all members.

Why should you go listen? Well, it turns out the publisher is not yet sure there will be audiobooks (sigh), so until that’s sorted, or until I get those rights back and do it myself, this is the only way you’ll get to hear the books as they’re meant to be read.

Enjoy!

Three days to go…

And a reminder I’ll be at Phinney Books on Monday around 4:30 pm to sign stock and sign and personalise books for anyone who shows up—and for those who have preordered—then repairing to the pub next door for a well-earned pint of Guinness with anyone who wants to chat.

Preorder

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

Aud *will* surprise you

What is it about Aud?

What has always surprised me about the Aud reviews and blurbs is that each reader is surprised by Aud. And they all describe her differently. To some she’s the sexiest action hero since James Bond. Or smart, resourceful, and cool as a cucumber. Or every woman’s personification of secret kick-ass dreams. Or knows how to survive, fight, kill, or think. Or an intuitive, old-fashioned sleuth who would do Elmore Leonard proud. Or the hero we need today. Or super fit and super bright. Or tough, sexy, and alluring. Or sleek, sexy, and dangerous. Or an exceptional woman with a dark heart. Or a scary, gorgeous creature who loses herself in the beauty and balletic control of pure violence. Or someone who would frighten Jack Reacher. Or essentially optimistic.

So who is Aud, really? Well, she’s not damaged or angry. She’s equally at home at cocktail parties and a city’s sleazy underbelly, and using both her mind and her body: to her, violence is just one of many tools. She is a hero Just Because. She likes girls. And she always wins.

For the rest, well, read the books and decide for yourself. All three Aud Torvingen novels, reissued by MCD/Picador in delicious matching editions, will be out on Tuesday, 3 June. Read more about the books. Go pre-order. And get your books signed and/or personalised—in-person if you’re in Seattle, or by pre-order then by mail if not.

And when you’ve read them I’l look forward to hearing what you think.

Preorder

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

Aud in just *five* days…

The three Aud Torvingen novels, reissued by MCD/Picador in delicious matching editions, will be out on Tuesday, 3 June. Read all about the books. Go pre-order. And get your books signed and/or personalised—in-person if you’re in Seattle, or by pre-order then mail if not.

Preorder

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

Six days to go…

In just six days Aud will once again be loosed upon the world to kick ass and not bother taking names—at least here in the US. UK readers will have to wait until 3 July—but that’s only 5 weeks.

So every day I’m going to post a little slideshow. And a reminder I’ll be at Phinney Books Monday 2 June at 4:30 pm to sign books and afterwards trundle next door to the pub for a celebratory pint of Guinness. Feel free to join me.

In Seattle? Get Aud a day before everyone else

Image description: Photo, taken on a bright spring day with an old disposable camera, of a friendly neighbourhood street: cars parked in the shade of a tree growing on the sidewalk in front of Phinney Books and its next-door neighbour, the 74th Street Alehouse.

The three Aud novels are officially reissued on Tuesday 3 June, but I’ll be busy doing other things that night—like packing—in preparation for an early morning flight the next day to Kansas City for the Nebula Awards Conference where I’ll be being honoured as SFWA’s 41st Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master. (I love saying that…)

So for those who live in Seattle and like to support their local bookstore, and who might just want to get their books a day early, I’ll be at Phinney Books on Monday 2 June, starting around 4:30 pm, signing stock and personalising any pre-orders, then repairing to the pub next door for a well-earned pint. This is a quiet relaunch—Aud isn’t new—but for me it’s worth marking because seeing all three books together for the first time in matching editions is something I’ve dreamt of for years. And what better way to celebrate than a quiet, satisfied Guinness in your local pub? Feel free to join me there—if you can believe the forecast it promises to be a warm sunny day, perfect for a book and a drink—or just raise a glass from afar.

So if you want to say Hi and get a signed and/or personalised set, or just a single copy of The Blue Place or Stay or Always—or any of my other books (Slow River, Ammonite, Hild, Menewood, Spear, With Her Body, and So Lucky1)—either drop by that afternoon/early evening to get them signed in person or call in/email your order now and have it mailed to you first thing Tuesday morning.

Aud in one week! I am soooo looking forward to that pint!

I can’t remember if Phinney Books still any copies of my collector’s edition memoir, And Now We Are Going to Have a Party—contact the shop and ask ︎

Come talk and listen and Ask Me Anything

For those who have signed up for the Nebula Awards Conference next month, whether in person in Kansas City or virtually from anywhere in the world, I’m going to be doing a few things—parties, signings, panels, workshops, giving a speech (see my event schedule)—but the two main things will be my speech on Saturday night (you will be shocked—shocked!—to hear I Have Things To Say), and my 90-minute Grandapalooza on Friday afternoon.

Here’s the official description of the Grandapalooza (all times are Central Time):

Friday, 7 June. 1:00 P.M. – 2:30 P.M. Grand Master Nicola Griffith, “A Long, Strange Trip (So Far)”Join 41st Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Nicola Griffith, in conversation with the one who knows her best, wife and fellow writer Kelley Eskridge, for a 90-minute love letter to SFF and the wild ride of a career that’s still evolving. Come listen, laugh, and AMA—in person or online—about the importance of figuring out who you are and what you want, how to get there, and the joy of finding your people.

I might read some snippets from various books but mostly I’ll be trying to figure out in conversation with Kelley how my long strange trip of a career has ended up here—and where ‘here’ is (and isn’t—I have never, for example, been a bestseller). I’ll talk a lot about joy and about digging deep to cope with challenges, and of course I’ll answer everyone’s questions so I can’t say for sure how the conversation will evolve. Having said that, I suspect that I’ll tell a lot of stories that tend to follow the same essential pattern: Against the expectations and advice of some agent/ editor/ friend/ publisher/ instructor I do not do the usual sensible, reasonable thing; I then wonder with a sinking feeling if, this time, my career really *is* over…until I get told by some ‘helpful’ pompous ass that they told me so: You’re just not allowed to *do* that! At which point I stare, burst out laughing, and say, “Hold my beer…”

So do come. There’s still time to sign up and tune in from anywhere in the world. I promise not to be boring.

Mewtant orange agents of chaos

Photo by Mauro Lima on Unsplash

In my experience, most orange cats are a bit… (searches for least prejudicial term) random. I’m not the only one who thinks so—just a couple of weeks ago my physical therapist wondered aloud, “Why are all orange cats such assholes?”1

To me the answer is obvious: because most of them are boys. And when it comes to mammals, nine times out of ten males are more likely to be aggressive, unpredictable, and just plain barmy than females.

Apparently, the polite, scientific term for orange cat arseholery is ‘chaotic behaviour’, and some nice people in Japan and the US—two research groups operating independently but arriving at the same conclusion—have published an article in Current Biology about all this.

What it boils down to is that causes the orange colour in cats is a mutations that deletes a section of DNA in the ARHGAP36 gene on the X-chromosome. Cats, like a lot of mammals (including humans) are generally female if they have two X-chromosomes and male if they have one X and one Y. If there are two Xs, and only one has the mutation, then you tend to get calico or tortoiseshell kitties—who are girls. Occasionally you get mutations on both Xs, and then you can get an orange female, but it’s much more rare. Boy cats, on the other paw, only have one X, so if that happens to have the mutated section of ARHGAP36, then, hey: male ginger mewtant.

Does this mutation lead to the arseholery? The Stanford researchers thought not, suggesting rather (according to Live Science) that ginger cats’ “chaotic reputation is more likely due to most orange cats being males” but couldn’t rule out ARHGAP36 being a factor, possibly by affecting other tissue in the body.

What is it about orange agents of chaos…?

Our own two fabulous furry felines are, of course, not orange, but, well, they are boys. And for those who like to hear about Charlie and George’s latest adventures, yesterday I did a post on Patreon—public, and so free to all, members and not—”Sunday Morning With Charlie and George,” in which our beasties try a variety of tactics to get our attention…

Kelley disagrees on this—she’s always wanted a big old orange cat. Somehow we just never seem to get one… ︎

Happy Syttende Mai!

Happy Syttende Mai (pronounced soot-n-duh-my)! That is, happy Seventeenth of May, or Happy National Day—Norway’s Constitution Day. In Norway—and the more Scandinavian parts of Seattle—it’s a national holiday in honour of the Constitution of Norway which was signed at Eidsvoll on 17 May 1814. According to Wikipedia, it is the third oldest written constitution still in use.

I’m not Norwegian but I tend to remember this day because it’s one that marked Aud Torvingen—one of my favourite characters—deeply, and has a big impact on events in The Blue Place and Always. But even before I wrote the Aud books, I felt an affinity for Norway. I’m from the north of England where Old Norse seeped into the bedrock of the language more deeply than in other parts of Britain. You can hear echoes of it still in some northern dialect. And of course Old Norse (ON) mingled with Old English (OE), the remains of Brittonic, and Norman French (which itself, of course, was a mix of Latin and Celtic language and…Old Norse) to become Middle English. (Just one example for the language nerds: whenever you see ‘k’ in English it’s often from the Norse—so ‘skin’ would be from ON whereas ‘hide’ is OE; and words like knife and freckle and kirk and kick and (a favourite) keg, are probably all from our Norse friends.

According to the National Nordic Museum, the biggest Syttende Mai celebration outside Norway is right here in Seattle—Ballard to be exact. Ballard, not-so-coincidentally, is also the home of the National Nordic Museum, which is well worth a visit. (They have a great café, too. Just saying). So if you want to join the parade and see people all dressed up in their bunad (national costume) come to Ballard and eat your bodyweight in lutefisk and pølse (what most of us would call a ‘hotdog’).

Sadly, I won’t be there. I’m going suit-shopping at Nordstrom’s. I bet you any money I end up with something from the men’s department. If I had Aud’s money, it would be Armani but, well, we’ll just have to see…