Paksworld

1. I was informed today there’s an offer on the new Vatta book.   Agent is  on it–details will be hammered out…er…peaceful negotiations will result in a contract most pleasing and desirable for all parties.

2. Kirkus Reviews picked Crown of Renewal as one of the best fantasy novels of the year.  https://www.kirkusreviews.com/issue/best-of-2014/section/fiction/?page=8

3.  In this fascinating graphic of 62 different stories of the future,  a lot of information is turned into one stunning timeline.   And one of my books is on it.   http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/futureevents_giorgialupi_large.jpg

For Orbit UK, Rachel Bach and I interviewed each other; my interview of her went up a few weeks ago (I did mention that, didn’t I?   I hope?)   and her interview of me is up now at the Orbit blog.   It’s not specifically about Crown of Renewal but it’s a nice general thing.  We were asked to pose 4-5 questions for each other–and we both enjoyed the process.

Next week (Wednesday the 27th)  I’ll be Twitter-chatting with Brian Thomas Schmidt on SFF Chat for an hour (no doubt annoying my choir director, because I won’t be at rehearsal.)   Schmidt,  you may recall, is the editor of Shattered Shields, the fantasy anthology a new Paksworld story is coming out in.   Some of you may be too engrossed in Crown to join us, but any who want to (whose Crown copy didn’t arrive?) are welcome.   As you can see from the website transcripts, Mr. Schmidt has a wicked sense of humor and I will have to be quick on my mental feet to keep up with him and those who enter the conversation.   (There will be more reminders about this.  That’s how the writer ego works…) Read the rest of this entry »

As the rest of my week will be solidly busy,  here’s an Easter treat…little snippets from here and there.

All snippets have the potential to be a spoiler for someone,  though I try hard to keep them “clean,” so crack open the chocolate rabbits, candy eggs, and so on with care.   Some are from earlier drafts and may not be exactly the same in the final book.  They are not in order, either.

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First careful run through the page proofs  for Crown of Renewal is done, finding only three errors–the usual clean job that Del Rey’s production team delivers.  Now for the backwards pass, because I have (though not with Del Rey) found truly awful problems only on the second, backward, pass, when I’m forced to see the page differently and cannot be distracted by the story. Read the rest of this entry »

Since Crown of Renewal’s  covers, US and UK, are on display at their respective Amazon portals…there they are side by side for your delectation.

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In the gap between sending off the revisions and hearing reactions to them,  I thought I’d discuss a few more things about Paksworld and the series you’ve been reading.  Still no spoilers for Crown of Renewal, though, I hope.

As I mentioned in a comment yesterday,  the series shifted from my original plan for a long story about Kieri Phelan to a consideration of how forced change affects people in midlife.   I began it after we’d had one, and as friends had lost or  were losing their jobs (again!, and several years after they’d just begun a recovery from the previous downturn, at a lower level)  in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.   So I had a lot of direct knowledge of how forced change–even good forced change (because that happens to some)–plays out in real peoples’ lives.   But at the same time, the invented universe I now call “Paksworld”  has its own set of rules and logic–and stories do too.  Read the rest of this entry »

A terrible pun, true.   But also true that revisions consist of more than pulling out the Chainsaw of Correction.   Sometimes revision means noticing that the arm of the statue is on at the wrong angle…and remodeling, molding it, until it looks right.  Both Agent and Editor found things to say about Crown of Renewal that pointed to the need for more remolding than chainsawing and clipping (though those did occur.)

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In the first book of all–Sheepfarmer’s Daughter–there is a comment about the colors worn by Sofi Ganarrion’s cavalry troop and by Vladi’s polearms company.   I can’t find it.   I thought it was in this chapter…then in that chapter…it’s just a casual mention, but…where?   I know it’s there, but I have conflicting notes from another time…and I’m writing a side-story from Crown of Renewal that involves a cohort of Ganarrion’s people, and need the colors.  (If the editor likes it, that story will be in an anthology called Shattered Shields, coming out from Baen.)

So I’d very much appreciate it if someone who’s got the time could  answer that.

In the meantime, revisions are almost done (somewhat slowed by needing to get this story out of its snit and finished.   I’ll post about its intransigent nature later.)

This will be the last post for awhile because a) deadlines and b) medical stuff–appointments, tests, all that, all taking time out of the writing day.    So I decided to hint at some things coming up in Crown of Renewal, along with the background research that went into them.   I hope this will tide you over for a couple of weeks, while I finish the revisions and the shorter work due for an anthology. Read the rest of this entry »

As I go through Editor’s revision letter, I realize that she’s right…without the background in the Gird/Luap books,  even readers of the Deed may be adrift in places.    (And the post I wrote about this, this morning before I headed to the city for the sports medicine doc, apparently went poof–I thought I’d posted it but it’s not here.)   Anyway, I do recommend, for those who haven’t bothered with Surrender None and Liar’s Oath…or the omnibus version (The Legacy of Gird in the US,  A Legacy of Honour in the UK)  that you find a copy.  They’re for sale (the US versions of the e-books via Baen Books’ website: here’s my author page) in both hardcopy and e-book formats.

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