The Bujold Nexus

May 2008

Subject: (news-chat) "Winterfair Gifts" at Blackstone in July
Date: Sat, 31 May 2008

All this audio news having caused me to go poking around Blackstone's website, I discover that the novella "Winterfair Gifts" will be available as a stand-alone purchase July 1 (or thereabouts.) There is usually a few weeks delay between the physical media becoming available and the MP3 download going up, but I presume the latter will be along in due course.

Now I worry that the uninitiated may not realize it is a novella, and is supposed to be a third of a regular book long. Well, I expect they will sort it out in due course.

Ta, L.


Subject: (news-chat) Horizon cover is up! Date: Sat, 31 May 2008

Hi all --

The just-completed cover by artist Julie Bell for The Sharing Knife, Vol. 4: Horizon, due out February 2009 from Eos, has now been added to the TSK covers page on dendarii.com (thank you, Mike Bernardi!) It's at the bottom of the collection: scroll down.

http://www.dendarii.co.uk/Covers/American/knife.html

I'm very pleased with it. People, horses, and landscape all look like themselves, and it's a tolerably-accurately represented scene from the actual book. I'm also happy with how the progression of the covers reflects the progression of the themes of the book -- from the formation of a couple, through the formation of a family (for a certain value of "family") through the formation of a community. All right, so the community is represented on the Horizon cover by the trailing mob on the road in the background -- Julie was calling them "the Little People" -- but at least they are there.

I had actually suggested some sort of a pastiche of this famous frontier painting as a jumping-off point for the Horizon cover:

http://kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/collections/artwork.asp?accnum=WU%202171

but it was apparently felt that the frontal-facing pose had been "used up" by the Passage cover. We retained a sense of the Appalachian-like landscape, though, which makes me happy.

Ta, L.


Subject: (Chat-news) Call for Passage typos Date: Fri, 30 May 2008

Hi All --

Eos, which is very beforehand this time, is asking for any typos spotted in the hardcover of Passage to be corrected in the paperback edition, which is in editorial production already. (It will be released in pb just before Horizon comes out next February.) Anyone who's spotted anything, now is the time to report in.

I just sent Mike a scan of the cover for Horizon to post on Dendarii.com, and also posted it in my MySpace pics. As it turns out folks who are not MySpace members can't access the pics (I didn't realize this) there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. So it's up to Mike now.

Now that the lettering is on, anyone who can is welcome to grep (is that the correct word for "e-lift"?) the cover scan and repost it wherever it would be decorative. Ditto for the Passage cover, which, I realize, I should still be promoting, burned out on PR as I am right now.

The four covers make a very nice progression, reflecting the progressing themes of the books; from the formation of a couple to the formation of a family to the formation of a community. Although the "community" in Book 4 is represented by what artist Julie Bell, in our e-mail communications on the cover-in-progress, dubbed "the little people", the distant trailing mob off on the right-hand side. But at least they are there.

bests, Lois.


Subject: health bulletin Date: Sat, 17 May 2008

Hi All --

My plans for May were abruptly re-arranged by a perforated appendix, hideously complicated by the docs taking an extra seven days to figure out my diagnosis because, it turns out, my appendix was in a non-standard location. I'm just back from the hospital yesterday, "resting uncomfortably" as they say, planning to hide out from everyone who wants me to do things for them. Biggest bummer was missing my daughter's college graduation, which is taking place today out in Portland, Oregon, without me.

I'll basically not be up for much till I get the drainage tube out, Thursday I hope. The one good piece of all this was that the clever surgeon was able to do a laparoscopic appendectomy, so all I have to heal are three little holes, like on a bowling ball. The surgeon gave me great pictures of the operation-in-progress, taken internally; I'm considering whether to be bloody-minded enough to scan them and put them on my MySpace page, later.

And after all that, I only lost three pounds. Seems unfair.

Please do not send cards, letters, food, flowers, e-mail, or anything else to which I would be socially obliged to respond. But while I'm on the subject of gastroenterology, now is a good time to remind folks about my niece Molly McMaster's Colon Club and Colandar, still available for 2008:

http://www.colonclub.com/index.html

http://www.colonclub.com/colondar.html

My brother tells me they are planning to do the photo shoot for the 2009 Colandar up at their place on Lake George very soon.

Ta, L. (slowly catching up.)


Subject: 3rd Eos blog post on Passage
Date: Thu, 01 May 2008

Ah ha, the third and last of my blog posts for Eos is up --

http://outofthiseos.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/guest-blogger-l.html

It covers some of the same reflections I touched on in my recent Fantasy Critic's site e-interview. I'm sure Eos would be delighted to host some comment/debate. Blogging without responses is something like throwing feathers into the proverbial well.

In due course, I will collect the 3 posts on dendarii.com for permanent archives.

Ta, L.


© 2008 by Lois McMaster Bujold

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