Paksworld

The copy edits have gone back to NYC on the wings of…oh, I dunno, a FedEx purple plane, probably.  They’re to be delivered Monday morning.  I made a copy for myself (hellishly expensive, but I did it last time and it makes checking the proof pages much easier–I can see if the copy edits were transferred correctly to the pages.)

And here we are, with no copy edits between us, and the long, long wait until May, and…I’ll bet you’d like a snippet.   The usual warnings apply.  All snippets contain the potential for unintentional spoilering.  If you don’t want any spoilers at all, not even the tiniest, most accidental one,  don’t read the snippet.    The snippet will be below the break, after  “more” warning.   If anyone thinks of something spoilerish that they’re pretty sure is right…please don’t post it in comments to this post.  As soon as I finish this one, I’m going to open a Speculation Space for such discussions, and all you who don’t like spoilers should stay out of it.    Is that OK?   (If not, I’ll fix it later.)

Snippet:  First paragraph and a half  of Crown (you’ve already seen the first sentence.)

POV: Meddthal Andressat

……………………………………

Andressat, winter of the previous year

Winter storms, one after another, cut off the high plateau of Andressat from the lowlands around it as Midwinter Feast neared.  On the morning before the night-long vigil, Meddthal Andressat, the Count of Andressat’s second son and present commander in the north, woke to hear the thud of the inner door closing, then voices in the tower’s main hall: exclamations, then quieter tones.

Someone, he gathered, had sent something to someone as a gift.  Found it by the door.  Sighing, he pushed back the covers, dressed quickly, and went out to see what was going on………………………………………

This was the beginning I tried not to use, which turned out to be essential in ways I had not anticipated, but which created the first “kink” in the timeline, as it overlaps the end of Limits.    But with characters stranded on opposite sides of the mountains–and not enough room in Limits for this chapter and what had to follow–my previous editor and I had discussed it, decided to leave out the Southern viewpoint from Midwinter to the birth of Kieri and Arian’s twins (better ending, it was thought)  and then…it had to come back in with this book, either as backstory of the “As you know, Bob, when this happened and that happened and so on and so forth, that’s how we got to where we are today, at the Spring Evener.”    So you can jump that kink very easily.  I hope.

Some of the first chapter will not be a total surprise, I expect, but what happens as a result will be.    (How’s that for dangling the bait?)    Remember, if you think you know what was delivered and want to talk about it, (or anything else) wait until I set up the Speculation Space post for that purpose.  I’m anticipating needing only one Speculation Space, but I could be wrong.  Feel free to nudge if you think we need more.