suricattus

Ohboy. Hearing reports that "Sin Washer" in FLESH AND FIRE is being considered blasphemous by some Xtian readers.

*boggles*

Technically, I'm not sure it's possible for me, as a non-Christian, to be blasphemous. Not that accuracy has ever stopped such accusations.

So.. you folk who have read the book: what do you think?



(I'll share my own thoughts in comments in a bit, so's not to possibly spoil anyone to the story/background).

FLESH AND FIRE is on Library Journal's "Best Books of 2009" list!


(thanks to Moshe F for the heads-up)

Sometimes you get a review so bad, or overwhelmingly meh, you're taken aback and don't know quite what to say.

And sometimes you get a review that is so positive, it leaves you feeling very much the same.

http://templelibraryreviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/flesh-and-fire-by-laura-anne-gilman.html



I... wow. *is feeling sort of humbled by that one*

in no particular order or judgment of your photographic abilities:

Everbard
Nikki
Shawn C
Betsy V
Elektra
Scott Z
Molly
klingonguy
mzipser
Keith


I didn't get any snaps of the digital version. You guys can download a file but you can't do a ascreen cap? Oh the techy shamefulness of it!

Winners, please send me your mailing address, or if you're going to be at Philcon I can hand your corkscrew over there...

A few last winery stops, and then we're heading back to San Francisco for our reading/signing [The "Wine, Women and Song" mini-tour] at the Park Branch Library (1833 Page St) @7pm. If you're in town, stop by -- as of now the rockers outnumber the skiffy types, which will be fun but disconcerting...

SO, this was the Blog Review Week for Flesh and Fire, and the verdict so far seems positive, if mixed.

The SciFi Guy said "Readers of original and intricate world-building and magic systems should enjoy Flesh and Fire. I did and very much look forward to the next book in the trilogy" and Pick of the Literate said Jerzy was a likeable and believable character ...I strongly recommend the book and hope a sequel is close on its heels. And Carol's Notebook loved both world and characters, and I may send her a copy of Book 2 early, just because she indirectly asked so nicely. *grin*

The Neverending Shelf was also pleased. So was Starting Fresh.

Revenge of the Book Nerd, not so much, although there was a grudging confession that I can write while My Life in Not So Many Words had trouble getting into it, as did Beth's Book Review (one of my favorite negative reviews, in fact, because it reminded me that some reviews are just Not The Right Reader, and all you can do is wish them well, elsewhere.)

It's always interesting to see how someone else reacts to what you've written, and I want to thank the bloggers -- both pro and con -- for taking the time to read and review.

Yeah, it's a good book. It may even be a really good book. And you know you or the fantasy lover in your household needs a copy.

But there's another reason to buy the book that has nothing to do with me

Y'see, as you may or may not know, mine editor has a Thing about Hello Kitty.

No, really.

So I told her that if we got on any national bestseller lists, I'd hand-deliver a bottle of Hello Kitty sparking wine.

Yes, really.



And yes, if this happens, there WILL be video. And me holding my nose as I hand it over, because ODG the things we do to make our editors happy...

Okay, these questions got asked in e-mail so I figure I'll post the answer publicly, so everyone knows.


1. Yes, it's a 'real" trilogy -- three books. Yes, all three are under contract, and will be published a year apart. Yes, I'm almost done with the second one, and yes I know (mostly, kinda, sorta) what happens in the third. No worries, you won't be abandoned.

2. Yes, these books are, as per most of my work, perfectly acceptable for a smart 13-year old to read. The world is a violent one, but I don't linger lovingly on the details, and sex will be referenced occasionally but not actually shown.


Any other questions? Step forward and speak up. The sooner you ask the sooner I can answer.... (no, I won't give spoilers here. If y'all want to discuss the series, we can set aside a separate entry for that)

Finally, 'tis the official Book Release Day for Flesh and Fire. I am celebrating by... working on Book 2. Because that's how this gig goes.

To mark the occasion, I give you not an excerpt, but a repeat of

On the Occasion of My Book's Birthday, or "To Pub or Not to Pub"
(wth abject apologies to master Wm. Shakespeare)

To brace or not to brace; that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The inevitability of that Klausner review,
Or to take refuge against a poor store display,
And by ignoring deny them? To work: to weep;
No more; and by weeping to say we endure
The heart-ache and the thousand returned books
An author is prone to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To work, to weep;
To weep: perchance to go out of stock: aye, there's the rub;
For in that work of bookstores what fears may come
When we have shuffled off this contractual coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of too little backlist;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of Locus,
The reviewers's wrong, the disappointed reader's spite,
The pangs of despised love, the payment's delay,
The insolence of wannabes and the spurns
That patient merit of the unpublished takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a delete button? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of there being nothing after,
The remainder'd country from whose bourn
No author returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus publishing does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And manuscripts of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the pacing of action. - Soft you now!
The fair New York Times list! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

-- ©Laura Anne Gilman 2008

and a shoutout to mizkit who put me to the blush on the subject of Flesh and Fire.

Find your copy now!
Amazon.com//BN.com//Amazon UK//Indiebound//Powells.com//Amazon Canada//Mysterious Galaxy -- signed copies will be available!)

P.S. and the contest is still ongoing -- time for the e-book people to step up their game!

"Negotiator Tomas!"

Tomas turned away from the clothing he was placing into his carry bag, the weary resignation on his face schooling itself into something more appropriate to greet the eldest daughter of his host, however unexpected the meeting might be.

"Lady Thaïs."

"You had hoped for more, from my father." She saw no purpose to pleasantries, but instead cut directly to her purpose. If you needed information, go to the source.

"I had no hopes at all," he said smoothly. "My only purpose was to bring my master’s words to this court, to inform them of incursions and alarms my master felt they should be aware of. Prince Erebuh’s office was uncommon gracious."

© Laura Anne Gilman 2009

Find your copy now!
Amazon.com//BN.com//Amazon UK//Indiebound//Powells.com//Amazon Canada//Mysterious Galaxy -- signed copies will be available!)

And the Spot in the Wild contest is still on-going: The next six five [five down already!] to send me a photo of Flesh and Fire in the wild will get a Limited Edition Vineart War traveling corkscrew, perfect for tailgates, conventions, and using as a makeshift tool to get cat hair out of the keyboard (not recommended by manufacturer of either corkscrew or keyboard).

A separate contest for digital readers will begin at 12:01 am tomorrow morning, when the e-versions are released. First five e-reader sightings will also get a corkscrew!

I am informed that Amazon.com and BN.com have shipped Flesh and Fire a smidge earlier than street date. So help me out, guys! Send me a photo* of Flesh and Fire in the wild (a bookstore shelf, in a shipping box, already at home on your reading table...!)

First ten eight six [four down already!] to do so will get a Limited Edition Vineart War traveling corkscrew, perfect for tailgates, conventions, and using as a makeshift tool to get cat hair out of the keyboard (not recommended by manufacturer of either corkscrew or keyboard).

* or a screen capture if you bought the digital version. In fact: separate contest for digital readers! First five e-reader sightings will also get a corkscrew!


"Surfacing, gasping as cool air replaced the liquid in his lungs, spluttering and coughing, Jerzy grabbed blindly, his fingers closing around the smooth metal band of the vat’s rim. He hauled himself out, throwing his legs over the edge and dropping down onto the ground. His pants made a sodden noise against his legs, and his skin prickled in the suddenly cold, dry air. A rivulet of mustus ran down his face, and he licked the drop off his lips without hesitation. It was clean and sweet and sang on his tongue."

© Laura Anne Gilman 2009

Find your copy now!
Amazon.com//BN.com//Amazon UK//Indiebound//Powells.com//Amazon Canada//Mysterious Galaxy -- signed copies will be available!)

You know that cannot last. Not if the rumors we are hearing are true.

Recent rumors come to his unwilling ears, of strange plagues and seemingly random attacks. Of vineyards damaged, their fruit withered, or eaten away by some unknown rot. Like the unusual order coming from Atakus, things that happened outside his lands were no concern
of his, so long it left him and his alone.

And when it begins to concern you?

Malech looked away from the Guardian, and focused all of his attention on Jerzy’s careful, if halting, movements with the vials. It was a valid question the Guardian asked. He just didn’t know what the answer would be.

© Laura Anne Gilman 2009

Find your copy now!
Amazon.com//BN.com//Amazon UK//Indiebound//Powells.com//Amazon Canada//Mysterious Galaxy -- signed copies will be available!)

I am informed that Amazon.com and BN.com are both shipping Flesh and Fire a smidge earlier than street date. That means it's time for me to hide under the bed start asking folk for sightings in the wild...

So help me out, guys! Send me a photo* of Flesh and Fire (in its Amazon shipping box, on the shelf at your local bookstore, sitting comfy-and-loved on your desk)!

First ten do do so will get a Limited Edition Vineart War traveling corkscrew, perfect for tailgates, conventions, and using as a makeshift tool to get cat hair out of the keyboard (not recommended by manufacturer of either corkscrew or keyboard).


Meanwhile, Vinart 2 revisions are on p. 175 of (at the moment) 359, with a running wordcount of 98,000. Book 1 came in at about 120,000 words, and I'm probably looking at the same, here. Dear Universe: a nice, simple, 75,000 word book next, please?






*to lag at lauraannegilman dot net

I am informed that the Kindle edition of FLESH AND FIRE is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. Yes, there will be other e-formats, but I know there are some Kindle konverts out there who have been waiting specifically for this information. So there, now you have it.

And, in light of my earlier link to the pricing controversy over e-books, I point out that it is available for $14.30 (list price $26).
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Here at Chateau Felidae, we have another day of cat- and manuscript-wrangling. As proof of how busy I am, last night's dinner was a bowl of pasta tossed with salmon -- from a packet. Yes, it's true, I bought ready-to-eat salmon. I may never live down the shame... (I did grate the grana padano fresh, though, so I am not totally lost to foodie sense)

Later today, I will close the voting for the feline picspam caption contest. it's literally a matter of single votes between first, second and third place, so get your votes in while you still can...

EtA: and apparently, one of the local newspapers reviewed A STEADY RAIN unfavorably, claiming that all the action happened off-stage. Um... WTF? [the play is told through the occasionally conflicting POVs of the two characters, each unreliable in his own right, and the action IS the retelling and personal conflict -- what actually happened is less important that what each man believes happened.] I just... argh. As my mom said, "this is why nobody reads those papers for theater reviews." But still, it makes me weep for the Arts in America all over again...

Good news - audio rights to FLESH AND FIRE sold to Tantor!

Am much pleased. And now feeling even more under the hammer to finish up VINEART 2...

*goes back into writing-burrow*

Much, much earlier this week, I was told that copies of Flesh and Fire had arrived in the office, and copies would be sent to me via messenger service. When, by Friday morning, the books had not made it the 12 miles from office to apartment, we took matters into our own hands.



(we figured a wine bar was the best place to welcome baby book into the world. That's Raina holding the book, for those who need identifications)

No, the book still won't be in stores for another seventeen days, give or take 24 hours. But two of you lucky winners have copies already on their way...

The guy down the bar from us asked what the fuss was about (after he realized 'his' bartender was now dragged into our conversation.) Turns out he works for ABC News. Yes, he now has my card. Hey, can't hurt, right?

And now I have to go finish V2...