I think I mentioned before that Sword & Laser chose A Natural History of Dragons for their book club this month, and that they were also planning on interviewing me. That’s gone live now, so you can listen to me in all my rambling ridiculousness. 🙂

I have to say . . . 2013 has been a pretty good year for me, and A Natural History of Dragons deserves a lot of the credit for that. It’s done really, really well: good sales, good reviews, multiple hardcover printings, made some year-end “Best Of” lists (NPR! Slate!). I think what’s made me the most happy, though, is the number of people who seem to have gotten the book — by which I mean, they’re picking up on the stuff I tried very hard to put in there. Things like the effect of contrasting Isabella’s older perspective with her younger actions, or the way in which the book is kind of science fiction, or the finer points of the gender commentary (like how those expectations constrain Jacob as well as Isabella). Every time I read a review that calls out an aspect like that, I glow a little, because really: as an author, that’s pretty much what you hope to achieve. And this time, I seem to have done it.

I hope The Tropic of Serpents does equally well. And whether 2013 was a good year or a bad one for you, I hope that 2014 treats us all even better.

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