Ah, oops --
One stop was left off the Passage tour list --
Sat. May 3rd, 1 PM CDT
Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore
2864 Chicago Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Ta, L.
Subject: Passage tour finalized
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008
The Passage tour is now finalized --
April 22, 6:30 PM CDT
DreamHaven
912 W. Lake St.
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-823-6161
April 23, 7:00 PM PDT
University Bookstore
event to take place at:
JBL Theater at EMP/SFM
323 Fifth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98109
206-633-6443
April 24, 7:00 PM PDT
Mysterious Galaxy
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
858-268-4747
April 26, 3:00 PM PDT
Borderlands
866 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-824-8203
Ta, Lois.
Subject: Book!
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008
Ah ha --
UPS brought me, overnight from my editor, two freshly-printed copies of The Sharing Knife, Vol. 3: Passage -- it's real now, the die is cast, the print is run, etc. etc. It's really pretty. You can see the little flatboats down on the river in the distance better, too -- all that research I put the patient Julie Bell through for the original cover sketches wasn't wasted after all. I like the way the landscape extends around the corner onto the spine.
I see they got the Author's Note in, as well. That's something I added at the last minute, after reflecting upon my sources. It was inserted after I'd proofread the galleys, so I didn't get to check it after type was set, or whatever they do to get ink on the page these days -- it's missing two commas and a conjunction, but I expect readers will figure it out anyway.
I'm not sure if it would be a spoiler to post the Author's Note -- it is at the end rather than the beginning of the book for a reason besides space-available.
The print run is comparable to the prior two volumes, very good for the genre, short of mainstream break-out numbers (thinking of guys with "R.R." in their initials. Should I have been "Lois R. R. Bujold"? Too late...) I suppose it's unrealistic to look for a great jump upward in sales at this point in such a closely-connected series' life cycle -- although, I reflect, Rowling managed it somehow. Ack! Book launch madness will pass -- it always does -- but at this stage, it's always like watching a horse race upon which one has bet a year of one's life.
Ta, L.
Subject: (news) Bujold in Seattle April 23rd
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2008
I have some details on the Seattle gig next month, which will be a bit different from former visits --
Wednesday . April 23 . 7pm
Lois McMaster Bujold
The Sharing Knife: Passage (HARPER TRADE)
Reading & Book Signing
Science Fiction Museum, JBL Theatre, 325 5th Avenue, Seattle
In an alternate, magic-using future world, where a great catastrophe has
reverted North America to a 1800's technology, a young farmer and her
soldier husband must leave their homes. Their marriage is one of
separate cultures, and frowned upon by their kin. And so off they go, a
ragtag group of friends in tow, downstream to a new home. Tickets are
free. Reserve one at EMP/SFM box office at 206.770.2702 or 1.877.EMP.SFM1.
Here's the URL for the actual posting:
The book is terribly mis-described here, alas; Fawn and Dag's wide green world never was our own. (And the tech, in several important ways, does not map all that precisely to early 19th C.) And... well, I'd better stop there. But I suppose it does for a short-hand description.
The book tour will also include San Diego (Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore) and San Francisco; more details on those as they are finalized and given to me.
Ta, L.
Subject: French cover for Beguilement
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008
Wow, this is unexpectedly fine...
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51pTago5RPL._SS500_.jpg
Ta, L.
Subject: (newschat) the worth of widgets?
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008
Oh cool, you can get a free Passage widget!
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061375330/The_Sharing_Knife_Volume_Three/index.aspx
Cute. Help yourselves!
I do wonder, though -- has anyone anywhere in history ever actually bought a book as a result of advertising gimmicks like this? I can't say that I have. Though I suppose if it's a book folks know they want already, it does give useful availability information.
In other news, the Passage book tour is about to be finalized. It looks like a short one (for which I am not sorry), limited to the west coast again, all in the last week of April. Seattle, San Diego and San Francisco have been mentioned. I should have a final schedule to post in a few days.
Ta, L.
Subject: (news-chat) Passage flap copy
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008
OK, by popular request...
Herewith the cover copy for The Sharing Knife, Vol. 3: Passage. It was written in-house at HarperCollins, but I was given a chance to edit it, which I did, though fairly lightly -- writing cover copy, or indeed, trying to describe my books briefly in any format, is not one of my favorite skills.
I can't imagine being so spoiler-sensitive that the mere jacket flap copy constitutes a spoiler -- and I did make sure there weren't any gross spoilers in it, at some risk of concealing the main thrust of the plot and themes -- but if there are any such sensitives, I'll put in a little spoiler space here just for them.
Anyone who wants to copy or quote this elsewhere, please go ahead.
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THE SHARING KNIFE
VOLUME THREE: PASSAGE
Young Fawn Bluefield and soldier-sorcerer Dag Redwing Hickory have survived magical dangers and found, in each other, love and loyalty. But even their strength and passion cannot overcome the bigotry of their own kin, and so, leaving behind all they have known, the couple sets off to find fresh solutions to the perilous split between their peoples.
But they will not journey alone. Along the way they acquire comrades, starting with Fawn's irrepressible brother Whit, whose future on the Bluefield family farm seems as hopeless as Fawn's once did. Planning to seek passage on a riverboat heading to the sea, Dag, Fawn, and Whit find themselves allied with a young flatboat captain searching for her father and fiancé, who mysteriously vanished on the river nearly a year ago. As they travel downstream, hoping to find word of the missing men, they inadvertently pick up more followers including a pair of novice Lakewalker patrollers, running away from an honest mistake with catastrophic consequences; a shrewd backwoods hunter stranded in a wreck of boats and hopes; and a farmer boy Dag unintentionally beguiles, leaving Dag with more questions than answers about his growing magery.
As the ill-assorted crew is tested and tempered on its journey to where
great rivers join, Fawn and Dag will discover surprising new abilities
both Lakewalker and farmer, a growing understanding of the bonds between
themselves and their kinfolk, and a new world of hazards both human and
uncanny.
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Subject: (news) Passage preview scheduled
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008
Someone asked about on-line sample chapters for Passage. My editor writes:
"What we'll actually be doing is releasing the "Browse Inside" widget early, which is a better online reading experience and gives readers more pages than we can post online. That will go up two weeks before the on-sale date, so 4/8."
Which is a bit late off the mark in my view, but I'll take what I can get. I'll spread the link around when it goes up.
Would anyone be interested to have me at least post the jacket copy?
bests, Lois.
Subject: Blackness Tower by Lillian Stewart Carl
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008
Ah ha --
I just obtained a copy of my oldest friend Lillian Stewart Carl's new book from Juno, Blackness Tower. I saw (and critiqued) an earlier draft in manuscript, haven't read the final yet. Features her trademark blend of contemporary archeology, history, romance, and the paranormal. The cover is attractive, if a trifle misleading -- the setting is contemporary coastal Scotland, but with the hand of the past heavily in evidence. Recommended.
isbn 978-0-8095-7207-1 paperback US $6.99
Good, it has an Amazon link:
Lillian is co-editor on the upcoming The Vorkosigan Companion, as well.
Ta, L.
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