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The seven stories of Deeds of Youth have been combed over and checked again and again; the two that were serialized here have had a few minor changes made. One has never been “out in public” yet. Those three (two seen in the blog, one never) will get a professional polish from a copy editor; the other four, suppposedly (I HOPE!) clean enough copies are as they appeared in the anthologies. I’m hoping Agent agrees to use the same basic cover design with the new title and the background in green “antique-leather) behind the gold lettering. I do not yet have a release date, but I expect to have the date within a few weeks (that’s how it happened last time) and it should be out this year for sure.
Back to working on Horngard I.
Between the ice storm, the aftermath of the ice storm (heavy rain onto the melted ice) , some power outages and a total failure of plumbing, the past few weeks have been hectic and requiered a lot of “adjustment” to daily life. Having both toilets nonfunctional for a week + days, and the septic tank having to be pumped, and such…not the most fun in the world. But we’re lucky that it’s now back together and functioning.
Comment by Michele — February 18, 2023 @ 10:54 pm
I’m in central Austin and was without power for almost 7 days. When it went out I downloaded The Deed of Paksenarion. I knew it would sustain me. And I was right.
I’ve now reread all of Paksworld. It’s hard to come back to the real life after that marathon.
I love those books. And with young Camwyn fresh in my mind I’m thrilled as I await Horngard.
Thanks for seeing me through the great icepocalypse.
Comment by Jim DeWItt — February 18, 2023 @ 11:32 pm
Congratulations on getting the short stories out the door. I’m very much looking forward to them. And to Horngard I.
I am sorry for your adventures with weather and overstressed infrastructure. If it’s any consolation, your experience is increasingly common as warmer, wetter weather and an increasingly disrupted polar vortex combine. It’s only likely to get more extreme. Nature bats last.
Comment by Richard Simpkin — February 19, 2023 @ 2:23 am
I’ve said this before, only not so strongly – I wouldn’t wish Texas on anyone.
Comment by Annabel — February 19, 2023 @ 11:04 am
Looking forward to both the short stories and to Horngard 1!
Comment by Caryn — February 19, 2023 @ 6:41 pm
Was wondering how you were doing. Glad you have plumbing again!
Comment by Kathleen — February 20, 2023 @ 7:03 am
Great news. Sign me up for a copy of the new book of short stories. Sorry to hear about the plumbing issues.
Comment by Daniel Glover — February 20, 2023 @ 10:30 am
Yuck. Ice I don’t care for. We are currently in the waiting mode here up north. Forecast for later this week is the biggest single snow event since the Halloween Blizzard. I’ll take that any time to the ice you had, after all, it’s high school tournament time. We almost always get a blizzard (or three) during this time.
Glad to hear the short stories are out the door, even if not totally finalized.
Comment by Linda — February 20, 2023 @ 1:49 pm
Short stories, loooong series, I’ll read them all. Over and over. Hardbacks, e-versions, paperbacks. All have their uses. Pure pleasure. Intellectual stimulation, spiritual teachings.
I was surprised to on this re-reading to see how much help Gird was to Paks and Kieri as they struggled to get the Magelords/Luap’s mistake temporarily neutralized.
Having just read it this morning I am wishing that I could read a roundtable discussion including Paks, Kieri and Arian, Oakhallow, the Marshall General and Arvid, Dorrin, Arcolin, and maybe Estill and Aliam. With pungent asides by the Dragon and maybe some revelations by Dameroth (although he, of course, is dead, but how many elves can one trust?).
Failing that, a week long sort of on line seminar with the author and fans wanting to learn (not argue). Along the line of “Did Gird nudge Arvid to give Paks the necklace, or did that come later as an explanation?” or “when did you get the idea for the regalia? was it central to the Paladin’s Legacy series from the beginning?
And from a place where there have been temps in the 20s below zero (wind chill), days without electric power, sprouting of plants we shouldn’t see until April, my sympathies. I may go back to reorganizing all my emergency supplies which were scattered by being used etc. LH
Comment by elizabeth — February 23, 2023 @ 12:35 am
And today, someone in a large firm who has intelligence, initiative, compassion, stick-to-it-iveness, creativity, etc….fixed the problem I was having with the firm. I am SO grateful.
Comment by elizabeth — March 17, 2023 @ 1:30 pm
Wow,that’s a very tough period… OK, roundtable discussion…I wish my characters would do one for me, rather than dribbling out clues one by one that I find out connect to others’ clues only after writing them, staring at the screen, and saying way too many times, “Wait! WHAT? Huh? How’s THAT connect?” and then hearing giggles from the green room.
I don’t *think* Gird nudged Arvid on that one, but I DO think Gird nudged Arvid to spend more time away from Verella when the bad Thieves’ Guild Master introduced the bad priests of Liart. I think Arvid started traveling widely, and that’s why he was in Brewersbridge. His conscious intent in giving the necklace was to see if this upcountry soldier girl was female enough to be enticed by pretty shiny things…would she loosen up and let him have a roll in the hay. But Paks was, at the time, oblivious because she was having her own problems figuring out which way to go…she had badly misjudged her “half-elf” companion Macenion, had realized she’d been drifting closer to things she didn’t want to be part of, just as in the South, and longed for clear right/wrong distinction which is why she went with the Marshal’s recommendation to go to Fin Panir. Arvid didn’t have a chance; when he realized it (and knew he’d have a very hard time convincing even a Verella fence to give him value for the necklace) he let it go, praising himself for his generosity. But he could not forget her. Was that Gird? I don’t think, at that point, Gird could have gotten through his self-satisfaction if he’d appeared in front of them and whopped him upside the head.
As for regalia…I knew the necklace had to be part of *some* royal treasure, but I had no idea whose, where, or what. I figured “Leave it in Fin Panir, there may be some Girdish thieves, but probably not anytime soon.” So much for writerly intuition. At the end of Oath of Gold, when I went back to write Gird & Luap, I sort of forgot about the necklace. Surface mind forgot for the duration of the Serrano-Suiza books and into the First Vatta books; Undermind was clearly still munching away on the Paksworld elements but I wasn’t paying attention. Arvid re-entered the story in Oath of Gold, yes…and I sortakinda knew he was indeed changing, but the Marshal-General inviting him to Fin Panir…and his meeting with the rockfolk in an inn there…was all new to me, as to readers. But then the concept of the necklace as more a chain of office than jewelry for a queen’s decoration, and the related items in the suite, burst on me in a flash. Not yet what they *really* were, though. I knew Old Aare was desolate; the “three white towers” and “red sands” had been in my mind since college, and I assumed they were, in part, Aare, though the near-coastal mountain range was too, and that came out of our planet’s geography (Atlas range in N. Africa.) Stuff stirs around and stirs around and some things come together and stick.
Comment by elizabeth — March 17, 2023 @ 1:32 pm
Deeds of Youth is moving forward: it has an assigned copyeditor and the cover artist will change the title on the front and make it green leather-look, not red, so it’ll fit my vision. Pretty much expect it’ll be out later this year. Updates will appear as I get them. Also turned in the latest revision of Horngard I this week. Will see if Agent thinks it’s climbed out of its hole yet.
Comment by Jim DeWItt — March 18, 2023 @ 7:36 am
One of the things I admire most about you as a writer and human is your absolute honesty and candor, evidenced in your March 17 response to Linda’s comment/request. Not many writers are, or aren’t completely.
With no expectation of an answer, I wonder what happened to the folks at Old Aare who kept the fair all those centuries, preserved knowledge of what to do if the regalia were ever returned, and then did their duty. Did they survive the catastrophe that followed Dorrin’s return? Was their reward drowning, or burial in a mudslide? Dorrin was rescued by Dragon. Did anyone rescue the others? Dorrin wondered, but didn’t find out, or ask.
Comment by Brenda — March 19, 2023 @ 2:51 am
Eagerly waiting “Deeds of Youth” and learning more about the man that Camwyn is becoming. Heck, let’s be honest. I wont to know about every one that you will tell us about lol.
Glad you have plumbing again!
Comment by elizabeth — March 19, 2023 @ 4:47 pm
So am I glad to have plumbing again! So glad you’re interested in learning more about the characters and how they develop. THANK YOU!
s
Comment by elizabeth — March 19, 2023 @ 4:59 pm
The Guardians? They were *weird*. I kept wondering “Are they real? Are they some kind of wraith or…something? Do THEY know they’re weird, or do they think they’re normal.” I couldn’t figure them out. I couldn’t figure out what they could survive on, for one thing…yes, people do live in deserts…I don’t know. And the change since…OK, the natural level of water’s been restored but what IS the natural level of water there? Everywhere? Grasslands are not remade overnight, once sand blows over them. It’s been only 4-5 years…how can there be pasture for wild cattle?
Oh. Writing this I just had a plotbomb land in my lap. Sorry, gotta go write it down before it evaporates. I think it’s a Horngard II or III thingie.
Comment by ellen — March 20, 2023 @ 3:36 am
Cool! Can’t wait!
Comment by Daniel Glover — March 20, 2023 @ 9:32 am
I’m getting the plot bomb thing. Working on an RPG setting and while it’s sticking to type that I’ve been stewing on for the past 25 years it now has a bunch of hooks that I didn’t anticipate.
I now have a collaborator too. Which is stirring things up in a good way.
I am finding I need to at least jot things down when they appear so the outline doesn’t disappear to the recesses of my mind.
Comment by Elizabeth Moon — April 4, 2023 @ 11:18 am
Third time trying to update comment here. Computer crash, on new machine which isn’t ideal. More on Universes blog, available from main website.
Comment by Elizabeth Moon — April 4, 2023 @ 11:25 am
OK, that worked this time. whew! Project status: NewBook is stymied in agent limbo at present. Last comment not…encouraging. Deeds of Youth project is moving forward nicely. I am in midst of installing software on this machine: next major addition will be Paint Shop Pro, followed sometime this week by a trip to the nearest place I can buy an I/O hub with a flashcard and several USB ports on it because this laptop is highly deficient. What I have left of my writing and photography files is on flash cards.
I can’t get into the back rooms of my websites until I can get with my web manager, who also has the passwords, so I won’t be doing new posts, just comments here.
Comment by Jace — April 5, 2023 @ 3:09 pm
Good to hear from you again. We were worried. Bujold and Shepherd started self publishing electronic.
Comment by elizabeth — April 7, 2023 @ 6:30 pm
Well, the Paksworld story collections will all be self-published (via my agent’s arrangement) I’m willing to go that way with Horngard if necessary but it has needed more work (out of shape WriterBrain…mostly recovered but out of practice.) Just have to see how it turns out.