Ialfa

I published another book.

Yeah, yeah, I know normal people have a party on their birthday. Since when was I normal? But I did go out to dinner.

Many thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday!

Except my Wii. It claimed I was 20 two weeks before my birthday, but just as my birthday was approaching it changed its mind and decided I was 54. Bad Wii. No cookie.

The printed versions of Dicing With Flames and Pavane in Pearl and Emerald have arrived. I think the cover for Pavane turned out particularly well. My eldest son read it, and said that he thinks he may like it better than Cantata.

Meanwhile I continue to plug away at Black Flag and the website overhaul.

Thank you everyone who has offered to read Pavane for me!

I am touched, overwhelmed, flabbergasted!

Not only have I gotten a bunch of enthusiastic Cantata/Velvet Lies fans, I have also had a number of brave people who have never read anything by me before volunteer. (Poor souls, they have no idea what they are getting themselves in for!)

So I think I have enough readers for now. :)If there is anyone else out there who is interested in helping me with this book, I’d be delighted to send out more copies after I’ve done the next set of revisions — but I’m afraid I have no idea when that will be. It depends on how long it takes my volunteers to get their comments back to me.

Thanks again, everyone!

(And good luck with reading the book. I hope you like it!)

Crossposted to rec.arts.sf.composition

I’m ready to send Pavane in Pearl and Emerald (113K words) out to beta readers.
It’s complete and entire in and of itself — it shares a world with Cantata, but it is not its sequel.

It’s got a unusual and exotic setting!
It’s got intrigue, mystery, romance!
It’s got a dry and subtle wit (or at least that’s what someone said about Cantata, and hopefully the knack hasn’t deserted me.)
It’s also got a large cast and some weird terminology/concepts I need to know if I’m introducing/incluing properly, and a plot I need to know hasn’t bogged down anywhere. Copy edit type crits welcome, but not necessary.

Interested people please email me (my address is NOT munged) and let me know how you want it. (An rtf attachment is the default, but I can do plain text, and possibly even Word, although the format translator doesn’t always do it right).
And yes, I’m willing to read one of yours in return unless it is horror or has lots and lots of sex scenes. (I have trouble critting those, because, well, I don’t *like* them, so how can I know if you are doing them right?)

Cross-posted to rec.arts.sf.composition.

Pavane in Pearl and Emerald no longer has anybody or anything in it named ????.

Finally.

The next time I decide to write a story from the point of view of a courtier, will someone please sit on me, or hit me over the head, or something. Kide knows everybody in the Coral Palace — If not by name then as so-and-so’s cousin, or whatever, which gives me two walk-on characters to enter into the database, instead of just one.

There are, however, surprisingly few descriptions of anyone’s clothing other than his own.
And many fewer weird dance terms than there were weird music terms in Cantata.
Although, to make up for the lack, we get the names of over a dozen different kinds of flowers.::rueful grin::

I’m still rather delighted with their flower language though. (Am I allowed to admit that?) I wonder if it would be possible to turn it into a web-toy somehow? “Build your own bouquets and send cryptic and ambiguous messages to all your friends”, or something that that?

“To the most eminent [recipient], a courtier named [so-and-so] has ordered the following bouquet for you. It means either ‘I hope you are feeling better’ or ‘My, aren’t you athletic!’ We trust such a cultured and insightful person as yourself will have no difficulty guessing which was intended. Humbly at your service, the Coral Palace gardeners.”

Thank you very much for all the congrats and woohoos everyone.

I am always very happy to get to the end of a book, firstly for the joy of completion (yes, I know there are still revisions to be done, that's beside the point, there are always revisions to be done), and secondly because it means I'm allowed to switch to a different project. >:)

So long, elegant-and-witty-court-intrigue! Hello again action-oriented-space-opera-pastiche starring Bambi Wysorickovitz the barbie-doll-blonde investigator with purple eyes.

Kind of cool that I'll be back to working on this one just when the anthology with the related short story comes out. (So that no one coming in late will get confused, I am referring to “Frozen Witness” which will appear in stores as part of the POLARIS anthology shortly. The story is published as hard science fiction, and is not intended to be humorous, but nonetheless makes reference to a Dr. Wysorickovitz…)

Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word count: 112651

First draft completed!

Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word count: 105815

Kide's political career is in ascendancy, his heart is desolate, and the twelve-year-old girl who adores him is crying on his shoulder.

Oh, and he's develloping a real humdinger of a black eye.

Tsk, tsk! And him a consummate courtier. How could he have gotten himself into this mess? >:)

Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word count: 101509

I've been wondering when the rush to the finish phase would hit and I would find myself regularly going way over my daily quota (which I'm most particularly not supposed to do, but at the end of a book I just can't seem to help myself.)

It finally did. Nearly double my daily quota yesterday, and nearly triple today. Alarums and kerfuffles have taken place and next Kide will be handed the very last piece of the puzzle, and will then masterfully solve everything except his romantic difficulties, which, of course, he is going to make worse than ever by solving everything else. Bwahaha!
:bounce, bounce, bounce:
Wheee! Love endings! Love happy endings…
…Love getting to the end.

:Hits ground: Oh-oh…
I am way over my weekly quota and therefore am not supposed to write again until next week.
:whines: But I'm at the best part!

But the rule is there to protect my health, which is vital if I want to get anything done.

Blah!

Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word count: 95846

Also, two more tshirts.