Nicola Griffith's Blog, page 79

Colder Wind

"Colder Wind" by Wylie Beckert.A few months ago I did a post about all the different art of "Cold Wind," my short story about snow, and sex, and shape-changing. It was full of pictures of the various pieces that inspired it—a print of Terri Windling's Deer Woman; Riva Lehrer's marvellous multi-media, multi-dimensional portrait of me as a snow leopard; Hedningarna's haunting "Viima"*—and my discovery of some art, by Rovina Cai, inspired by it. All art, I concluded, influences all other art.

And then yesterday I got a message from in inestimable Henry Lien, the new art director of Lightspeed Magazine, wondering if I'd seen the long and interesting process post on how Wylie Beckert put together Colder Wind, her illustration based on my story.

It's radically different in mood and tone from Rovina's piece, though it's interesting that both use flowing/floating clothing accessories to add interest and fill space, quite unlike Sam Worthington's original illustration for Tor. I loved seeing different artists' take on Hild, too (there's more I haven't got around to posting). It tells me so much about the different approaches readers must take to a text.

I'm curious, though, about which of the three pieces—Sam Wolfe Connelly's cover illustration, Wylie Beckert's painting (above), Rovina Cai's interpretation—comes closest to matching the pictures "Cold Wind" put in your head (if it did). Or which you think enhances the story in some way. I'd love to hear your thoughts, any thoughts on the subject, really.

* I played that song on repeat for hours and find it has snuck into the playlist for Menewood...

We're all people first

From: Kelly

I enjoyed the reading you did in DC. I loved reading Hild and was happy to hear you talk about it.

What I'd also hoped to say in some way was just how much your books mean to me. But I'm dysfunctionally shy on a good day, so I'm generally incapable of normal conversation with, well, anybody. So I'll write it instead -- your books were the first I ever read with strong lesbian characters who were portrayed as unashamed and (is this the right word?) normal. Not victims or sad freaks. I came out a few years ago in my late 20s and struggled with it. Reading your books was life-changing because they offered an alternative to the way I thought I was confined to be. They helped me through the process in a way. If that makes any sense. So for what it's worth, thank you. Thank you for not writing gloomy women who sit around sewing all day, hating themselves, and getting the shit kicked out of them by men.

I look forward to the sequels to Hild. And I love Kelley's writing as well. Can't wait to see the movie version of Solitaire. I feel like I hit the jackpot when I discovered your writing and Kelley's.

Women loving whoever they want is a huge part of my work. Actually, women being who they are—in whatever way—is part of my fundamental approach to the world. We are people. It's that simple. 

Long ago, today, and in the future people, groups and individuals, have been, are, and will be constrained by the rules of society. Rich or poor, male or female, person of colour or white, young or old, differently abled or not, we're all constrained. Constrained differently, and to different degrees. And it's the degree that matters. A slave is going to be subject to an utterly different level of constraint than a member of the elite of any sex, race, ability, and so on. In this case it's the slavery that has the most profound impact, not the sex or sexual orientation or gender presentation. But slaves—and to be clear here I'm talking about the institution from a long historical perspective, not just the iteration of it that made millions of lives in the US so terrible for so long—were and are people. And people will always find a way around some constraints because that what we do. It's what we've always done. We find a way. If you squint, you could say that's what Hild is about.

I got tired a very long time ago of women, and lesbians, being seen as Other. Not fully human. Not human first. Have we always been regarded this way? I doubt it. Will it always be this way? No. As I've said before, I think it's changing. And that's what I write towards.

In our house we have a saying: Act as if. In other words, behave as though the world is treating you with the respect you deserve. I can't speak to the experience of others but from my perspective as a white woman of a certain age*, it almost always works. This means assuming good intent, and not feeling and so behaving as though you're on the defensive. I've always behaved this way, always assumed I'm a human first and deserve treatment as such, and often those around me respond to that. Obviously, there are times when it would be ridiculous, even dangerous, to assume good intent, and situations where it's impossible. Generally speaking, though, it works surprisingly well.

As I say, I write from that position. I write towards a day when we are only seen as other because of something we choose: team colours, if you like. Team colours we can change anytime we want. Today you're Red and I'm Blue; tomorrow we swap shirts. If my writing has a purpose beyond the fact that I love telling stories, love earning my living by making shit up, it's that I write towards people being people first. In that sense, as I've said before**, I write to change the world.
And regarding Solitaire as a film, well, stay tuned...

* But I have, of course, been other ages. My gender presentation is...eccentric. I've been very physically fit and now am a cripple. I've been—to some degree am—both a foreigner with a funny accent and a native. I'm a dyke. A woman. I've been all over the map economically—from years of grinding poverty to a few years of delicious bounty—but grew up lower middle-class in a family that could (almost) always afford rent and clothes and food but not going out to eat and not great clothes.
** I couldn't find the post I was looking for but I found my response to the question, "Can queer authors write straight characters?" I'd completely forgotten about this. It says everything I've said here, but from a slightly different perspective.

Songs in HILD

From: Kiffi

I am reading Hild, having heard of it through my friend Rob Hardy’s review, and enjoying it immensely. The mix of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ cultural details works wonderfully well, and creates a world the reader can begin to understand, rather than just observe.

But I have a question re: the song on page 211… Edwin’s gesiths are singing a drinking song beginning “Do your ears hang low…” etc.

When my now husband and I met, in Wisconsin summer stock, 1955, we were just a couple of theatre struck kids, and prone to acting out all sorts of things… At one maybe slightly drunken moment, Victor sang all his Delta Tau Delta (Univ. of Missouri at Columbia) fraternity drinking songs to me…

(What could he possibly have been thinking was the attraction ???)

But the point is, he sang that song, virtually word for word, with the substitution of a ‘continental’ soldier, and optional body parts!

My question then… is the use of that song: was it actually traced somehow, or was it something you had heard and found exactly appropriate for the scene?

Rob's review is one I particularly enjoyed. So please thank him from me.

The song is one I heard, long ago, from rugby union players in the UK—probably exactly the way your husband-to-be sang it, that is, not with ears. It's an idiotic song that conveys the all-male, privileged upbringing of how I imagined gesiths. No, there's no evidence that men were singing this 1400 years ago, but to me it conveys the essential boyness of gesith culture, and I thought it would convey that to readers, too.

I wrote a lot of song and poems for Hild but didn't include most of them in the finished text. I didn't want it to remind readers of The Lord of the Rings and all that tedious elvish poetry. (I love many things about LotR but the poetry and songs are not among them.)

If you want to read an example of the not-used songs and poetry, you can find them here and here and here respectively.

"Cold Wind" in Tor's "Some of the Best" anthology

Available for free download, Tor's anthology of their best short fiction of 2014, complete with the original illustrations. (The cover is from the one used for my story, "Cold Wind," 4,000 words of snow, mounting creepitude, and a hint of sex.)

Here's the full table of contents if you want to read them as individual pieces:“As Good As New” by Charlie Jane Anders (Short Story)“The End of the End of Everything” by Dale Bailey (Novelette)“Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch” by Kelly Barnhill (Short Story)“Sleep Walking Now and Then” by Richard Bowes (Novelette)“Daughter of Necessity” by Marie Brennan (Short Story)“Brisk Money” by Adam Christopher (Short Story)“A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade” by John Chu (Short Story)“The Color of Paradox” by A.M. Dellamonica (Short Story)“The Litany of Earth” by Ruthanna Emrys (Novelette)“A Kiss With Teeth” by Max Gladstone (Short Story)“A Short History of the Twentieth Century, or, When You Wish Upon a Star” by Kathleen Ann Goonan (Novelette)“Cold Wind” by Nicola Griffith (Short Story)“The Tallest Doll in New York City” by Maria Dahvana Headley (Short Story)“Where the Trains Turn” by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen (Novella)“Combustion Hour” by Yoon Ha Lee (Short Story)“Reborn” by Ken Liu (Novelette)“Midway Relics and Dying Breeds” by Seanan McGuire (Novelette)“Anyway: Angie” by Daniel José Older (Short Story)“The Mothers of Voorhisville” by Mary Rickert (Novella)“Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome” by John Scalzi (Novella)“Among the Thorns” by Veronica Schanoes (Novelette)“The Insects of Love” by Genevieve Valentine (Novelette)“Sleeper” by Jo Walton (Short Story)“The Devil in America” by Kai Ashante Wilson (Novelette)“In the Sight of Akresa” by Ray Wood (Novelette)“A Cup of Salt Tears” by Isabel Yap (Short Story)Or you could just download the whole thing, for free, right now, for your Kindle or Nook. It will be available soon on iTunes and other retailers. Enjoy!

Yeavering: the evidence

From: Wendy

Facebook can be useful. Someone just posted a link to the Archeology Data Service site where they list English Heritage monographs that have been made into free PDFs. This one about Yeavering caught my eye.

There is a lot of information in it and I've only had a chance to flip through, but any mention of Edwin or Paulinus made me think, "Hey, I know those guys!"

Thanks for writing about Hild. Between my interest in medieval stuff (and playing in the SCA for 20 years), and working as a metalsmith in a studio where we dabble in forensic metalsmithing, your book inspires me to dig more into things Anglo-Saxon.

I skimmed the Hope-Taylor, long ago. Fascinating stuff. But I didn't have it. Now I do. Yay! Thanks for that.

Yeavering is a most interesting place. It strikes me as out of character for Edwin. He seemed to prefer low-lying areas of rich countryside, close to water. This is the top of a hill. But Bede and the archaeology agree: this was a big, important site during his reign.

In Hild I posit that it's basically a traditional ceremonial place of the British: a hillfort where tribes came for the annual cattle render to their lord in spring. This was taken over by the Angles a generation or two ago (by Æthelfrith? before that? I don't know) and maintained in order to keep the local populace in their place. I've followed Hope-Tayor's interpretations of the material evidence, mostly. Those interpretations are agreed with—to a degree—by many.

Yeavering was destroyed, deliberately. I'll say no more of that here because for those that don't know their Bede, or the archæological evidence, it could be a big spoiler for Menewood (working title). 

But for how it might have been at the height of Edwin's rule, you could do worse than watch this brief animation of the sparrow's flight above and through the site of Yeavering. It's crude, very old-school, but I love it.

And one of these days, should you be so inclined, I'd love to hear more about the metalsmithing.

Travel, and dropping the email portcullis

From: Christine
I couldn't get to Porter Square [Boston], unfortunately. I would, however, love to have more east coast opportunities to see you read. From, say, NY eastward. I figure if 100 readers send you a similar message this week, it might impact your itinerary, so I'm pitching in my two cents on the matter. 

I've had many variations on this AN question. I'll answer specifically and then generally.

Right now, no, even a thousand emails would have no impact on my itinerary: I'm not travelling again for a while. In 2015 I'll be in Boston in July (I'm Guest of Honour at Readercon), in August I'll be in Spokane (for Worldcon) and in October I hope to be in the UK (for family stuff). And that, I hope, is it. I've already cancelled a couple of things I had tentatively agreed to, because all I want to do is stay at home and write.
I've talked elsewhere about the odd mental bifurcation required of a writer when trying to mix writing and publicity (see Branding: It Burns). I love talking to readers—but it gets in the way of doing the actual work that they want to talk to me about. Which is why I'm dropping the email portcullis and raising the communication drawbridge for a while. Actually, the email portcullis came down a week ago, and I'm dealing with zero email until January 12. After that, I'll be judicious.
In the event I decide to travel in support of Hild II, I might consider polling readers about places to go. But right now, I'm seriously considering not travelling for Hild II but just moving straight on to Hild III—and then doing a blowout tour. But that won't be for a while.

Meanwhile, if any organisation wants me enough to take that on (I talk elsewhere about what I need to travel), I generally plan a year or so ahead. In other words, look at 2016 at the earliest.

More on freemartins

It turns out that etymology is my crack. I can't resist it. Yesterday, after posting the AN question about freemartins, I couldn't resist looking just a bit further for the origins of the word, and found this from a 75-year old Journal of Agricultural Research*:

The freemartin has been known to cattle breeders since before the establishment of the Roman Empire. The sterile cow born twin with a bull was referred to by Varro, a writer who died in 28 B. C.

It was called "taura," which apparently meant "barren cow." Although the condition has been recognized for some 2,000 years the origin of the term "freemartin" is obscure. According to one authority the word "free" meant "willing" or "ready to go," as the freemartin was supposed to be an especially willing worker. It has been proposed also that the word "free" was used to signify exemption from reproduction (sterile). Another authority saw in the term a contraction of the words "ferry," "ferow," or "farrow," which appear to be associated with the Flemish "varvekoe"—a cow that gives no milk—and with the West Flemish "varwekoe"—a cow that has ceased to be capable of producing offspring. It is not difficult to imagine an association between the two words "free" and "farrow."

There is probably greater speculation about the word "martin." It may have been derived from the Irish and Gaelic "mart" meaning heifer or cow. Efforts have been made to trace it to St. Martin who, according to legend, once cast the devil from a cow. Moreover, St. Martin is said to have been the patron saint of twins and unusual fecundity. Another explanation offered is that on or near November 11, which was called Martinmas day in Scotland and England, it was customary to slaughter cattle the meat of which was salted for winter use and called martinmas-beef. An early English dictionary referred to martin as "not a true heifer, but an undeveloped male with many of the characteristics of the ox, and generally fattened and killed about Martinmas." It has been suggested further that the freemartin may have been given that designation because its meat was so choice that it was reserved for St. Martin's—a great feast day. Moreover the words "mart," "maert," "mert," and "mairt" appear to have been used in Scotland and parts of England in referring to the cow or ox fattened for slaughter and salted or smoked for winter use.

Hart showed that it is not difficult in view of these facts, to imagine such an individual being referred to as the "farrow-mart-one," or in Scotland as the "farrow-mart-yin," either of which might have been corrupted or shortened into "freemartin."

I learnt from reading the paper that freemartins aren't invariably sterile, just mostly. Figures vary but let's say 1 in 18 develop enough to reproduce. As this can take a couple of years, farmers might let female co-twins live on the off-chance they could end up being able to have calves and produce milk.

This is why there's been a reasonable amount of observable behaviour: freemartins will mount a cow in œstrus but not hurt it or (of course) be able to impregnate it. So before blood tests and thermometers, farmers might have used freemartins to tell when their cows are coming into season. Knowing this makes all the more obvious the contortions the authors of paper go through to avoid mentioning sexual behaviour. I'm sure it must have occurred to them that another way to regard "free" is to approach it from the "free with her favours" angle (especially when linked to their phrase "ready to go"). Either they were coy on their own behalf or at the direction of their editor, or they were utterly clueless about sex. And if you've spent time on a farm, one thing you are not is clueless in this regard...

The stuff about St Martin is interesting, too. I'm assuming they mean Martin of Tours (though the fact that he's the patron saint of twins is new to me). He lived before Hild, but I'm not sure how well known he was in her time. Not very, I'm guessing. So if she used the word freemartin, it came from somewhere else. But that is definitely an investigation for another time. Maybe.

* EARLY RECOGNITION OF THE FREEMARTIN CONDITION IN HEIFERS TWINBORN WITH BULLS, by W. W. SWETT, senior dairy husbandman,  C. A. MATTHEWS, assistant dairy husbandman, and R. R. GRAVES, chief, Division of Dairy Cattle Breeding, Feeding, and Management Investigations,  Bureau of Dairy Industry, United States Department of Agriculture

Freemartin: etymology and Wikipedia

Note: for some reason a first draft of this post published instead of the edited version. That's now fixed.

From: AndreaHaving visited Whitby some years ago, I found Hild especially intriguing. I'm writing to suggest that someone might like to add a reference to it at the Wikipedia article about freemartins (your book was the first time I'd ever heard of them.

There already is a Wikipedia article on freemartins. But, yes, it would be fab if someone added Hild to the list of fictional uses. Actually, it would be lovely if people would fix/add to my Wikipedia entry and/or create something for Hild. I can't do it myself, for obvious reasons: it would be against Wikipedia's rules; it would feel hinky (and most definitely un-English); and, well, I'm lazy I have Hild II to write. But if anyone out there wants to give it a go, I'd be more than happy to offer assistance.

Freemartins have been around longer than recorded history. But where does the word come from? Most people divide it into two parts, with martin being the easiest to deal with. The OED offers "Of unknown origin: cf Ir., Gael, mart, heifer." On further investigation (that is, a quick cruise through the first two pages of search results) mart is Middle English for cow or ox fattened for market. That might be from the French which is from the Latin (which might, depending on how you trace it, originate with the Etruscan *merk—). Mart is also a term that was apparently used relatively recently in Scotland—from the Gaelic, which of course originates with Old Irish. Both, naturally, begin with Indo European... 

Free is even trickier. a bit trickier though, again, you could link it to Old Irish fiadh, which means (roughly) wild. But why "wild"? We're really reaching...

In the end, I don't think there's any way to tell. But the only way to know for sure is to delve deep, and to consult experts. (And see above, for why I'm not likely to bother just now.) So let's just say people in Hild's era may or may not have used the word, but freemartins have been around since the domestication of cattle. (And sheep, goats—yep, they have them too.)

And, hey, it makes a great metaphor.

Hild II and III

From: Sara
What's your anticipated completion date? Why isn't it in my Kindle yet? Are you planning just 1 more volume, or 2?

I have not felt this way since Harry Potter.....

I've had a dozen or so variations on this question in the last month. So let me answer it before we move into 2015 and then I can just point to it when I get the same question.

Yes, after Hild II there will be Hild III. But there will only be three.

The working title of Hild II is Menewood. I have no anticipated completion date. I've been travelling way too much to properly get my head back in the writing, as opposed to publicity, game. For how different those two mindsets are, especially for the kind of immersive project that Hild is, read "Branding: It Burns," an essay I wrote last month.

I not only don't know when I'll finish the manuscript, but I don't know how long it will take to put the finished manuscript into production. I suspect it will be faster than last time, because I won't be working with a new-to-me publisher and publishing team. We all know each other better now. And Hild, the product, is a known quantity: the marketing ground won't need as much preparation.
So hopefully soon. Ish. Meanwhile I add a snippet of information on this blog now and again, and occasionally on my more research-oriented blog. Stay tuned.

MS as metabolic disorder, and diet

Welcome, all those who found their way here from Dr Terry Wahls' Facebook mention of my post on the metabolic hypothesis of MS from three years ago. 

A brief clarification: Dr Corthals' paper, if I've interpreted correctly, suggests neither that all animal fat is bad nor that changing one's diet will cure any individual's MS.

In my opinion, diet will not cure anyone of multiple sclerosis. But I do think that it's a vital part of our MS treatment.

My diet, which is eccentric and tailored to my individual food sensitivities, is neither perfect nor medically supervised:
low on carbohydrates (I avoid grains, for example—especially corn/maize—and only eat very high (85%) cocoa chocolate which is relatively low in sucrose, and then only once a day, and only a bit, immediately after lunch)very low on dairy (butter and cream are for high days and holidays only; I'm super sensitive to cultured dairy—cheese, sour cream, yoghurt—and so never touch it)very low on legumes and pulseslow on fruit (I eat a bit of apple in salad, and berries sometimes after dinner—always fresh, never dried—and I avoid those fruits I know I'm sensitive to: bananas, strawberries, melons etc)eggs less than once a day (I have no sensitivity, but lots of people do)very low on omega-6 containing foodsvery high on omega-3 containing foods (make sure they're also low in omega-6high on animal protein—grass-fed rather than grain-fed (lamb and beef), or free-range (chickens that eat insects etc rather than grains) or wild (salmon, trout, mackerel)high on leafy vegetables (cabbage and brussel sprouts, cauliflower, salad greens)high on brightly-coloured starchy vegetables (carrots, rutabaga, beets)zero high-fructose corn syrupzero nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers etc)—this is a personal sensitivity and may or may not apply to youtwo cups of caffeinated tea (no milk, no sugar) a daylots of herb teas (and one decaffeinated Irish breakfast tea after dinner)beer and wine before dinner every day, usually in very moderate amountsEveryone tells me that this last is a Very Bad Idea for someone with MS. I'm sure they're right. Every now and again I spend a few weeks without alcohol, and it's, y'know, okay, but I'm simply happier when I'm able to drink. So that's my vice.

Generally, if I have to have sugar, I privilege sucrose over fructose (and in terms of fruit, the whole is better than juice). I aim for an overwhelming omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. And I avoid nightshades. 

I eat three meals a day. When I snack, I try to eat nuts (macadamia when I can get them, pistachio otherwise—raw, or home roasted).

I'll talk about exercise and pharmaceutical treatment another time.