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What Cat said (which I seem to be saying a lot . . .)

yuki_onna on the decline of LJ, and the fact that the first step in getting back to the “glory days” is to pony up and be interesting.

I can’t promise 30 straight days of engaging blogging — in fact, since I’ll probably be sans Internet for a few days in mid-July, it’s quite impossible — but comment here and tell me some topic you’d be interested in seeing me write about, and I’ll see what I can do. Writing is of course fair game for requests, but so is anything else: entertainment, politics, my hobbies, anything where you have reason to think I could say something substantive about it.

The whole reason I’m not interested in Twitter and Facebook is that I prefer content-full posts of moderate length to brief snippets of humour or what have you. Anything I can do to encourage that over here, in my main Internet home, is worth a try.

not what I would do

I know why I’m stalling on tonight’s scene. It’s because the thing Eliza’s about to do is very, very stupid. And it’s not that she thinks about it and decides she’s got to do it anyway, for one reason or another; she doesn’t think about it at all. She just snaps and does it, for no better reason than because her temper gets the better of her.

Which is so profoundly not me, I’d probably find easier to get into the headspace of an alien. I keep trying to figure out how to make the necessary moment happen — but my thoughts keep going in the direction of finding a rational reason for it, something that she hopes to gain, when that isn’t what this scene is about at all. Then when I try to hit it from another angle, figuring out what makes her snap, I come up blank, because my subconscious can’t imagine anything that would make me do the same. My temper can get the better of me, yes, but not to the extent of doing something this ill-advised.

And yet, I know people like this exist. What I want to write isn’t unreasonable; it’s only going to seem unreasonable if I fail to represent it right. Which means I need to figure out the inside of her head, what mixture of emotions produces this explosion, and what its precipitating factor is.

But like I said, an alien might be easier for me to figure out.

Cover time!

This is the extra bit I alluded to yesterday, when I posted my research book list: I finally have a version of the cover that I’m allowed to post. (There may be minor tweaks before it hits the shelves, but they’re along the lines of fiddling with the text, rather than image changes.)

In honor of that, I’ve started putting the page for the book into proper order. Enjoy!

Also: since my image-manipulation skills end at being able to crop and shrink pictures. I will be grateful to anyone who can make a nifty icon out of this, so future book posts can use that rather than the comet image I’ve been employing.

My birthday comes early this year . . . or late

Early because the news comes a couple of months before my birthday, late because it won’t actually become a reality until a couple of months after: the historical thesaurus to the OED will be going online in December.

It feels kind of like a sign from On High, that this won’t be available until after I finish drafting and revisions on the Victorian book (though copy-edits will likely still be ahead of me, and page proofs definitely will). i.e. the universe is saving me from what might otherwise happen, which is that my progress would slow to a crawl as my obsessiveness in checking my word choice shot through the roof.

Anyway. Yes. I’m an enormous geek. Not that this comes as a surprise to anybody who’s been reading this journal. But some of you are enormous geeks, too, so I thought I should share.

Driftwood in your ear

That header sounds painful, now that I think about it.

Anyway, if you would prefer to listen to a story about Driftwood rather than read it, you can now download the audio from BCS. (Which also has a new Aliette de Bodard story this week, one of her Aztec pieces. I haven’t read it yet, but I am very much looking forward to it.)

I’ve also put up an extra tidbit for the Driftwood fans: “Smiling at the End of the World.” It’s a piece of flash fiction from Last’s point of view, but since Driftwood flash doesn’t stand on its own very well, I’ve chosen to just post it to my site as a freebie. Enjoy!

Do you like superheroes? (Or supervillains?)

Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge are doing a pretty sweet contest for their upcoming book Shades of Gray (sequel to Black and White, their first superhero/urban fantasy collaboration). Due to legal restrictions, the contest is open to everybody, but the general idea is to get people to pre-order Shades of Gray, so as to help ensure it will actually show up on bookstore shelves. (There’s been a problem with the situation there, but I don’t know if the details are mine to share.) Ergo, if you like the idea of superhero fiction in non-comics form, check out that link, enter the contest, and spread the word!

doing the math

The good news is, I don’t think I’ll have to completely replace every Dead Rick scene from Part One.

Just a bit more than half of them.

Seriously, I feel like a book or two ago, somebody sneaked in and replaced my writing process with another author’s. I used to write relatively clean first drafts; now I flounder through writing wrong scenes left and right, inventing Spanish nymphs that may not even show up in the final draft, and generally failing to figure out what one of the villains is doing. Some concerted effort on my part has at least begun to sort that last bit out, which is why my pessimistic guess of “all Dead Rick scenes” has been revised downward to “five of the nine, with revision on the rest,” but it’s still disheartening. (Oh yeah, and I’ll probably need to write at least one entirely new scene, aside from replacing half of those already there.)

I’m glad I noticed the growing pattern from Ashes and Star, and gave myself extra time for this book. Otherwise I’d be screeeeeeeeewed.

I’m also very glad that I figured out most of Eliza’s PII while in London, as it gives me something to do while I figure out where I went wrong on the Dead Rick end. If I can manage to do his scene replacements while moving forward on her part, I’ll be in good shape. But first I need to finish sorting out him and Nadrett — and figure out if La Madura’s staying in the book or not — so I know what to replace those scenes with.

Best of Talebones semi-TOC

I’m calling this a semi-TOC because unless Patrick intends to organize the stories alphabetically by their authors’ last names, this is not the order the anthology will have in the end. But if you’re curious to know what’s going in the Best of Talebones collection, here’s the list:

Barth Anderson, “Landlocked”
Jennifer Rachel Baumer, “The Forever Sleep”
Marie Brennan, “The Twa Corbies”
Mike Brotherton, “Jack in the Box”
Jack Cady, “The Parable of Satan’s Adversary”
Stephen Couch, “The Dandelion Clock”
Aliette de Bodard, “Safe, Child, Safe”
Eric Del Carlo, “Nothing But Fear”
Alan DeNiro, “Comachrome”
Charles Coleman Finlay, “Hail Conductor”
James C. Glass, “Robbie”
Anne Harris, “Still Life with Boobs”
Barb Hendee , “The Winds of Brennan Marcher”
Nina Kiriki Hoffman, “Snow on Snow”
Kay Kenyon, “The Acid Test”
Mary Robinette Kowal, “Death Comes But Twice”
Jay Lake, “Tall Spirits, Blocking the Night”
Catherine Macleod, “Seepage”
Nick Mamatas, “Your Life, Fifteen Minutes from Now”
Louise Marley, “Night Shift”
Sandra McDonald, “Bluebeard by the Sea”
Terry McGarry, “God of Exile”
Paul Melko, “Ten Sigmas”
William Mingin, “From Sunset to the White Sea”
Devon Monk, ” Sugar ‘n’ Spice”
William F. Nolan, “Wolf Song”
Patrick O’Leary, ” 23 Skidoo”
Tom Piccirilli, “Caucasus”
John A. Pitts, “Three Chords and the Truth”
Sarah Prineas, “The Dog Prince”
Ken Rand, “Song of Mother Jungle”
Mark Rich, “Zothique Mi Amor”
Uncle River, “Love of the True God”
Patricia Russo, “Swoop”
James Sallis, “Roofs and Forgiveness in the Early Dawn”
Ken Scholes, “Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk”
Jack Skillingstead, “Two”
Bruce Taylor, “Spiders”
Steve Rasnic Tem, “Cats, Dogs, and Other Creatures”
James Van Pelt, “The Yard God”
Carrie Vaughn, “The Girl with the Pre-Raphaelite Hair”
Ray Vukcevich, “The Next Best Thing”

I’m very flattered to be in the company of some of those authors. Congrats to all, and especially to Patrick Swenson, who is making this happen!

more linky

Because, having cleaned out my browser, I don’t want it getting cluttered again so soon:

Miss D.C. body-slams groper

So, it’s worth mentioning that responding physically to someone groping you is not necessarily a good idea; it can escalate a situation that might have otherwise stayed minor, to the detriment of the woman trying to protect herself. But what I love about this is a) the hilarious contrast of a beauty queen slamming somebody into a wall, and b) more importantly, the way that hilarious contrast has helped make this incident news: Miss D.C., Jen Corey, now has a chance to talk about the truly unacceptable way women are often treated while engaged in such provocative activities as walking down a public street. And she isn’t letting that chance go to waste. To which I say, well-done, ma’am. The more we talk about this, the better.

If you missed it over the weekend . . . .

I posted a new excerpt from A Star Shall Fall (beginning of the whole is here).

And while I’m tidying up my browser, I might as well make this a linkdump post and add in two other things:

Cat Valente on the power of the suit — which I note mostly because, as I was saying to a friend recently, I have essentially no fashion registers between “jeans and t-shirt” and “formal wear.” I’ve sort of acquired a degree of business casual, left over from the year when I was teaching my own (non-archaeology-related*) classes, which you can see in action at ICFA and other warm-weather cons, but most of the time I default to a higher degree of slobbiness. But I really enjoy dressing up, i.e. actual fancy wear. It’s just the middle registers I don’t have much use for.

The Pleasures of Imagination — what struck me in this was a bit near the end, where the author said,

I have argued that our emotions are partially insensitive to the contrast between real versus imaginary, but it is not as if we don’t care—real events are typically more moving than their fictional counterparts. This is in part because real events can affect us in the real world, and in part because we tend to ruminate about the implications of real-world acts. When the movie is finished or the show is canceled, the characters are over and done with. It would be odd to worry about how Hamlet’s friends are coping with his death because these friends don’t exist; to think about them would involve creating a novel fiction.

And I immediately thought, “hello, fanfiction.” Because the aftermath of trauma is one of several fertile areas out of which derivative works can sprout.

This has been your not-at-all-regularly-scheduled schizophrenic link post.

*My theory was that when you’re assistant-teaching intro to archaeology, you’ll actually get more cred by showing up in jeans and a flannel shirt than a skirt and heels.

80 days and counting

The other writing-related bit of news I promised is another excerpt from A Star Shall Fall. This one introduces Mr. Galen St. Clair, first of the novel’s two protagonists — with a bonus cameo appearance by a Famous Historical Figure. (Who, like Newton, and indeed most of the FHFs that show up in this book, is not so good with the social graces. I guess that’s what happens when your book concerns itself with scientific history.)

If you missed the earlier excerpts, the beginning is here. Enjoy!

miscellaneous bits of news

Proof I have gotten way too pale: I managed to pick up a bit of a tan in freaking London.

Anyway, onto actual news, of the writing-related sort. Various bits and pieces accumulated while I was gone, so in no particular order . . .

1) I’ve sold an audio reprint of “Kingspeaker” to Podcastle.

2) Go here for another chance to win an ARC of A Star Shall Fall (scroll down for details). Author Stephanie Burgis is, with permission, re-gifting the copy I sent her.

3) Clockwork Phoenix 3 has gotten a starred review from Publishers Weekly, with this to say about my own contribution: “Marie Brennan sets the bar high with ‘The Gospel of Nachash,’ a fine reinterpretation of the Adam and Eve legend from a fresh perspective.” Also, finalized cover art.

4) An interesting post about “Remembering Light” and Driftwood more generally. I remain faintly boggled by how strongly people react to the setting — boggled, and flattered. I really do need to get more Driftwood stories written.

5) My remaining bit of news will get its own post in a bit, so instead I’ll use this spot to mention that I’m still seeking a title for the Victorian book. For those not aware or in need of a refresher, my requirements are here and here; you can leave suggestions on one of those posts, in the comments to this post, or send them to my e-mail (marie dot brennan at gmail dot com).

back in the saddle

I didn’t write while in London, nor did I revise. The first was expected, but the second wasn’t; unfortunately, the cold drained me of too much energy to be useful on that front.

So I haven’t technically written since May 27th, which is a remarkably long break for me while noveling. I think it was a good idea, though. The latest iteration of my much-revised timetable for this book focuses not on words per day, but on larger units than that: the book is in three parts, I have six months to write it, therefore I need to write one part every two months. I can technically take off as many days as I like, so long as I complete Part Two by the end of July. Since it’s supposed to be about forty-five thousand words, and there are sixty-one days in June and July, that’s eminently doable, even with a long break.

Mind you, I also need to revise. And Part One, as mentioned in my last status update, needs a lot of work, especially on the Dead Rick side. The good news is that one of my semi-sleepless nights in London brought with it an outline for something like 75% of Eliza’s PII scenes, so I can cruise along writing those while I figure out where I went wrong with Dead Rick, and where I’m going next. It might be a little <sarcasm>fun-tastic</sarcasm> from here to the end of June, while I pull double-duty on revision and writing, but I think I’ll survive.

Anyway, 1393 words today, because I wanted to clear the 40K mark I should have hit back in May. I’d revise a bit, too, but Jet Lag Brain utterly scotched my attempts to think about Dead Rick earlier, so I think I’ll take what I’ve got and get to bed. Time enough for the rest of it tomorrow.

Word count: 40, 026
LBR quota: Blood; Mrs. Kittering’s on the warpath.
Authorial sadism: Sorry, Ann. I have to make good on the claim that servants in that house get treated like shit.

Day Eight (belated): In which I do not go to York

When I was scheduling appointments for this trip, I deliberately left today open, because previous experience told me the preceding week would give me ideas for other things I needed to do — things not already on the schedule. Unfortunately, the major item on that list just isn’t feasible: I can’t get to York, make productive use of the Railway Museum archives, and get back in time for my flight tomorrow morning. But I’ve got plenty of smaller odds and ends with which to fill my day, and those will just have to be enough.

(more…)

Day Seven: In which I feel like I’m in an episode of The Sandbaggers

All right, so what I did today wasn’t nearly so exciting as a Sandbaggers episode, and for this I am duly grateful. But I spent my morning in an office that called to mind Willie and Denson’s exchange when Diane walked into their hutch — “Sorry, ladies’ loo is down the hall;” “Somewhat larger and better appointed” — sorting through folders of paper not unlike the ones stacked up on Burnside’s desk, listening to guys with English accents discuss topics include the Home and Foreign Offices. Is it any wonder I make the comparison?

Those of you with no idea what I’m talking about may be more interested in (and jealous of) this: I got to page through Inspector Abberline’s personal scrapbook. Yes, the Inspector Abberline who worked on the Whitechapel murders. Sadly, the scrapbook actually makes no mention of Jack the Ripper; in fact; it leapfrogs over that period, going from 1887 to 1891. Maybe he had another scrapbook for those years, kept somewhere more interesting than a bottom drawer in an obscure office in West Brompton. But it was full of carefully-glued newspaper clippings and notes in Abberline’s own handwriting, which affected me as it always does: he immediately stopped being a Historical Figure and became a real person, which never stops being cool.

More sitting on my butt in libraries ensues.