Apparent Technology Luddite warning!
(though, in such a medium as a blog this is a nice irony)
One of the problems with digital is it is very hard to archive long term, which will bemuse future historians I think. We've had computers in the mainstream for how long now? Maybe 30 years tops; and how many operating systems have we gone through? My the original files of my old stories written on my parents Amstrad 664[TM] are gone, baby! The only version of them extant, printed copies.
One day - and maybe the youngest of us here will be alive when it happens, but I am thinking a couple hundred years time - they may well come to the conclusion that paper is the most advanced step for (especially long term) storage of information. I certainly think the complete digitisation of the world is not as necessary as the digitisers would have us think... but that is just me. No one ever seems to think it necessary to really ask "Just because I can, does it mean I should..?"
Having said that, if reading a Kindle[TM] is just like reading a real book, then I am ok with that.
New poll - all very off topic at the moment, hope people don't mind. Just shows we can function on a level other than the Half-Continent.
Also, for those of you who have not read it, please have a squiz (sp?) at my last post regarding the rather troubling developments in the world of publishing here in Australia.
Advice: Letting your porridge go cold then still eating it is NOT the best way to start the day...
Showing posts with label breakfast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breakfast. Show all posts
The stages of editing.
I thought it would be simplest to show you the very beginning of Lamplighter. I will make some comment on each version but will let them speak for themselves - my hope is that when you click on an image it will show it at a better, more readable size.
Please, ask any questions you like.
As you can see my initial beginning was markedly different from what we now have in the book. My first thought was to start the very next day from where Foundling left off. I am glad that I did not. The where to begin a story is one of the big challenges in writing. Apart from this, other problems clear to me (now, at least) are a/ that Grindrod is unrealistically harsh & b/ the excessive use of capitals for his voice.
Please, ask any questions you like.
As you can see my initial beginning was markedly different from what we now have in the book. My first thought was to start the very next day from where Foundling left off. I am glad that I did not. The where to begin a story is one of the big challenges in writing. Apart from this, other problems clear to me (now, at least) are a/ that Grindrod is unrealistically harsh & b/ the excessive use of capitals for his voice.
Next is the proper beginning to the story; it is bloated and clumsy - but that is the nature of my first drafts for you... The comments on it are made by the fair hand of my publisher, Dyan Blacklock.
The change from first to second draft is hard work but seeing the better, tighter story emerge from all the pain is a genuine joy. The scribble in green is my own hand as I continue to improve the text - all those little details and tweaks that feel make the tale a whole lot better.
This final stage is what are called pages. It is the properly typeset book printed out on ordinary A4 paper for me to go over for any final and usually small corrections. I, however, made some significant changes - as you can see by the highlighted text, which, if memory serves, was shifted and cut. If you get out your copies you shall see what I mean. This is not normal at this stage, of course, but most was agreed to by my editor (the purple penciled Celia Jellet), for it indeed made the whole work again that much better. (I paid for the re-typesetting, btw - 'tis only fair...)
There you have it! Just like that. This book writing thing is easy!
Also Gareth of Falcata Times asked me to point you all to their review of Lamplighter, which fits well with this post, the final end for this whole process: people reading it and even reviewing it. Thank you, Gareth!
For breakfast today I had porridge with sultanas and a cup of Irish Breakfast tea.
Cybils Fantasy/SciFi Shortlist 2008
Well, it is near two weeks since the peep of the year and have you heard anything from me..?!
I am very chuffed to break silence (as it were), do as others have done and post up a shortlist from the up and coming Cybils Awards in my own chosen genre, Fantasy & Science Fiction:
Cabinet of Wonders written by Marie Rutkoski, Macmillan
Graveyard Book written by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins
Magic Thief written by Sarah Prineas, HarperCollins
Savvy written by Ingrid Law, Penguin USA
Airman written by Eoin Colfer, Hyperion
Curse Dark as Gold written by Elizabeth C. Bunce, Scholastic
Explosionist written by Jenny Davidson, HarperCollins
Graceling written by Kristin Cashore, Harcourt
Hunger Games, The written by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic
Wake written by Lisa McMann, Simon & Schuster
... and (*drum roll*)
Lamplighter written by some weird fellow surrounded by notebooks in a darkened room, Penguin USA.
A true and dare I admit astonishing honour - (watch for my over-use of this word in Book 3... :( - to be included amongst such lights. Congrats to us all, to the judges for hour upon hour of reading to get to this list, to anyone who dares attempt to write a book - shortlisted, awarded or otherwise - and to you most excellent folk who read! Thank you R.J. Anderson for pointing my shortlisting out to me; thank you Laini Taylor-Di Bartolo for you great summary and to you all for your continuing support.
Only a couple of weeks away from the 2008 Aurealis Awards too.
My head is so swollen at the moment I am having trouble fitting through doors and cannot drive my car. Of course, ego takes a big hit when confronted by the daily struggle with the English language, which often feels a lot like...
English language & Plot not doing what it ought to: 1 - D.M.Cornish: nil.
Never-the-less, we are getting there folks!
Klesita (welcome to you!) was asking... "Is it true that Jim Henson Co has the rights of the series? Do you still retain some kind of rights over the script that will allow you some control over the final product? It would be a shame if the movie trashes this beautiful/fearful/incredible world and its inhabitants..."
Yes, the Henson company does indeed have the rights to MBT; no, I think they have to right to make the story what they want it to be, and if I get any say in how it turns out it will be purely on the condescension of the director etc. I too am nervous of what the final product my morph into; I reckon at this very moment the Henson Company are probably nervous how I actually end the story (and me along with them) - so nerves all round.
Ben Bryddia ponders... "Do they have land mines in the Haacobin Empire? You know, big ceramic or porcelain spheres full of mordants, just waiting for some hulking unterman to step on, and crack open? Which makes me wonder, are there any poisonous potives of the gas variety?"
Not in the way we have landmines, no. More like buried or hidden bombs with long fuses, and with or without potives. There are devices known as belchpots (amongst other names): large cauldron-shaped pots of cheap iron or clay with a metal base plate and filled with black powder (sometimes called cannon char) and lots and lots of langridge (or langrage, read: shrapnel). These pots are then buried into the soil, their mouths pointed in the desired direction of the blast, and when needed are set off with a long fuse. Variable and messy, but very cheap and relatively simple to produce.
Most repellents and the like work on a rapid expansion in air principle, so it that sense much of a skold/legermain's arsenal is somewhat gaseous, if not to start with, certainly once "deployed". There are a few pure gas potives, but they are rare due to difficulties of storage (usually in a tightly stitched animal bladder of some variety).
Breakfast today: Apricot Fruity Bix
I am very chuffed to break silence (as it were), do as others have done and post up a shortlist from the up and coming Cybils Awards in my own chosen genre, Fantasy & Science Fiction:
Cabinet of Wonders written by Marie Rutkoski, Macmillan
Graveyard Book written by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins
Magic Thief written by Sarah Prineas, HarperCollins
Savvy written by Ingrid Law, Penguin USA
Airman written by Eoin Colfer, Hyperion
Curse Dark as Gold written by Elizabeth C. Bunce, Scholastic
Explosionist written by Jenny Davidson, HarperCollins
Graceling written by Kristin Cashore, Harcourt
Hunger Games, The written by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic
Wake written by Lisa McMann, Simon & Schuster
... and (*drum roll*)
Lamplighter written by some weird fellow surrounded by notebooks in a darkened room, Penguin USA.
A true and dare I admit astonishing honour - (watch for my over-use of this word in Book 3... :( - to be included amongst such lights. Congrats to us all, to the judges for hour upon hour of reading to get to this list, to anyone who dares attempt to write a book - shortlisted, awarded or otherwise - and to you most excellent folk who read! Thank you R.J. Anderson for pointing my shortlisting out to me; thank you Laini Taylor-Di Bartolo for you great summary and to you all for your continuing support.
Only a couple of weeks away from the 2008 Aurealis Awards too.
My head is so swollen at the moment I am having trouble fitting through doors and cannot drive my car. Of course, ego takes a big hit when confronted by the daily struggle with the English language, which often feels a lot like...
English language & Plot not doing what it ought to: 1 - D.M.Cornish: nil.
Never-the-less, we are getting there folks!
Klesita (welcome to you!) was asking... "Is it true that Jim Henson Co has the rights of the series? Do you still retain some kind of rights over the script that will allow you some control over the final product? It would be a shame if the movie trashes this beautiful/fearful/incredible world and its inhabitants..."
Yes, the Henson company does indeed have the rights to MBT; no, I think they have to right to make the story what they want it to be, and if I get any say in how it turns out it will be purely on the condescension of the director etc. I too am nervous of what the final product my morph into; I reckon at this very moment the Henson Company are probably nervous how I actually end the story (and me along with them) - so nerves all round.
Ben Bryddia ponders... "Do they have land mines in the Haacobin Empire? You know, big ceramic or porcelain spheres full of mordants, just waiting for some hulking unterman to step on, and crack open? Which makes me wonder, are there any poisonous potives of the gas variety?"
Not in the way we have landmines, no. More like buried or hidden bombs with long fuses, and with or without potives. There are devices known as belchpots (amongst other names): large cauldron-shaped pots of cheap iron or clay with a metal base plate and filled with black powder (sometimes called cannon char) and lots and lots of langridge (or langrage, read: shrapnel). These pots are then buried into the soil, their mouths pointed in the desired direction of the blast, and when needed are set off with a long fuse. Variable and messy, but very cheap and relatively simple to produce.
Most repellents and the like work on a rapid expansion in air principle, so it that sense much of a skold/legermain's arsenal is somewhat gaseous, if not to start with, certainly once "deployed". There are a few pure gas potives, but they are rare due to difficulties of storage (usually in a tightly stitched animal bladder of some variety).
Breakfast today: Apricot Fruity Bix
Poor, Down-trodden Teratologists
Taylor - by email - asked this recently:
"I have a question that has been rankling at me for a bit as I've become immersed in Monster Blood Tattoo, and it is this: In a world as monster-ridden and monster-phobic as the Half-Continent, why do people tend to have a negative view of lazhars, skolds, scourges, and any kinds of terotologists? I realize people might be a bit afraid of them due to their powers, but, for example, why does Felicitine refuse to allow Europe to stay at the Harefoot Dig? Or why, when Europe comes to see Rossamund at Winstermill, do most people "habitually disapprove of her trade"? It always seems that people are disdainful of those who have altered themselves for the protection of the Half-Continent, and in a land where showing the slightest bit of sympathy for monsters gets a person exiled or worse, this seems a bit narrow-minded of the population. What do you think?"
To which I responded:
I think you have hit the nail firmly on the head - people are inconsistent, and no less so in the Half-Continent. I found this very tension an excellent vehicle to quietly explore this inconsistency, which is essentially: people do not want the problem but neither are they happy about the solution.
What-is-more, while we certainly have Madam Felicitine being snobbish, Master Billetus is not; Madam Oubliette has established an entire wayhouse for the patronage and support of the teratologist (albeit because they are generally not wanted in the towns). There I go again: Why are they not wanted in the towns when they do such a service? Teratologists with their much-needed yet dangerous powers are seen as the "necessary evil", like a rat catcher or a garbage collector. They kill the monsters but have to have contact with them in order to do so, placing them in a kind of half-way status.
Skolds will receive the best reception (indeed in some parts of the H-c they are truly revered), then pistolleers, laggards, lurksmen, peltrymen, tractors - your more unaltered types; followed by scourges (who, while appreciated for their efforts are mistrusted for the deadly power of their chemistry and that they look so odd wrapped so completely in their fascins) and then falsemen (no one likes to think that the person they are talking to knows what they are thinking).
Of lahzars, the disapproval goes much deeper, for there continues a rigourous debate as to what exactly they are - some hold that through the surgeries they have become a kind of gudgeon - and no one likes gudgeons - something other, whose capacities make them hard to control, place them outside the existing caste system, therefore upsetting the status quo, and very few in the H-c appreciate this (especially those of the higher situations, or with aspirations of social climbing).
So what we find in the Half-Continent is a lot of ignorance riddled with rumour; add to this "classists" snobbery - like Felicitine with her airs and graces - and the fact that a large proportion of the population are naivines (ie: never seen a monster) - and I reckon such inconsistency is valid (and a bit fun too - for me at least).
And never fear, there are those who are indeed fans of the lahzars - the obsequines, some of whom you might meet in Book 3.
Thank you Taylor!
... to this I might add (more in response to the query from Ben Bryddia) that the strange status lahzars have - the position of needful and powerful outsider - is an excellent mechanism for women to improve their lot in the commonly more patriarchal H-c / Haacobin society; hence there being a greater proportion of girl-lahzars. Never-the-less there are still plenty of boy ones too (the black-eyed wit, the Boanerges, the Knave of Diamonds - all in Book 2), it is just that they have not become the focus of my tale yet.
A question to the lady readers (if I may): how would you feel about changing your eyes by becoming a leer?
Breakfast = Vita Brits [TM] with Milo [TM] sprinkled on it and a cup of free-trade tea.
"I have a question that has been rankling at me for a bit as I've become immersed in Monster Blood Tattoo, and it is this: In a world as monster-ridden and monster-phobic as the Half-Continent, why do people tend to have a negative view of lazhars, skolds, scourges, and any kinds of terotologists? I realize people might be a bit afraid of them due to their powers, but, for example, why does Felicitine refuse to allow Europe to stay at the Harefoot Dig? Or why, when Europe comes to see Rossamund at Winstermill, do most people "habitually disapprove of her trade"? It always seems that people are disdainful of those who have altered themselves for the protection of the Half-Continent, and in a land where showing the slightest bit of sympathy for monsters gets a person exiled or worse, this seems a bit narrow-minded of the population. What do you think?"
To which I responded:
I think you have hit the nail firmly on the head - people are inconsistent, and no less so in the Half-Continent. I found this very tension an excellent vehicle to quietly explore this inconsistency, which is essentially: people do not want the problem but neither are they happy about the solution.
What-is-more, while we certainly have Madam Felicitine being snobbish, Master Billetus is not; Madam Oubliette has established an entire wayhouse for the patronage and support of the teratologist (albeit because they are generally not wanted in the towns). There I go again: Why are they not wanted in the towns when they do such a service? Teratologists with their much-needed yet dangerous powers are seen as the "necessary evil", like a rat catcher or a garbage collector. They kill the monsters but have to have contact with them in order to do so, placing them in a kind of half-way status.
Skolds will receive the best reception (indeed in some parts of the H-c they are truly revered), then pistolleers, laggards, lurksmen, peltrymen, tractors - your more unaltered types; followed by scourges (who, while appreciated for their efforts are mistrusted for the deadly power of their chemistry and that they look so odd wrapped so completely in their fascins) and then falsemen (no one likes to think that the person they are talking to knows what they are thinking).
Of lahzars, the disapproval goes much deeper, for there continues a rigourous debate as to what exactly they are - some hold that through the surgeries they have become a kind of gudgeon - and no one likes gudgeons - something other, whose capacities make them hard to control, place them outside the existing caste system, therefore upsetting the status quo, and very few in the H-c appreciate this (especially those of the higher situations, or with aspirations of social climbing).
So what we find in the Half-Continent is a lot of ignorance riddled with rumour; add to this "classists" snobbery - like Felicitine with her airs and graces - and the fact that a large proportion of the population are naivines (ie: never seen a monster) - and I reckon such inconsistency is valid (and a bit fun too - for me at least).
And never fear, there are those who are indeed fans of the lahzars - the obsequines, some of whom you might meet in Book 3.
Thank you Taylor!
... to this I might add (more in response to the query from Ben Bryddia) that the strange status lahzars have - the position of needful and powerful outsider - is an excellent mechanism for women to improve their lot in the commonly more patriarchal H-c / Haacobin society; hence there being a greater proportion of girl-lahzars. Never-the-less there are still plenty of boy ones too (the black-eyed wit, the Boanerges, the Knave of Diamonds - all in Book 2), it is just that they have not become the focus of my tale yet.
A question to the lady readers (if I may): how would you feel about changing your eyes by becoming a leer?
Breakfast = Vita Brits [TM] with Milo [TM] sprinkled on it and a cup of free-trade tea.
Europe and Sebastipole fall in love?
Well, that was a (tongue in cheek) offering last post. Could it be possible? Would it be probable? If ever they married I would expect Sebastipole to get eaten at the end of the wedding night like some poor male praying mantis.
Monday had a question (similar to one I received via email from Nick Nitsch of Nashville):
"What kinds of music are most prevalent on the h-c?"
Such a topic is indeed not distracting but fundamental to my conception of the H-c - there is a beautiful piece by Strauss (the younger I think) Invitation to a Dance which though actually truly too new, has been an abiding inspiration to me. Monday rightly deduces that there are regional and social differences, but in the main when I think music for the Half-Continent I think late Baroque (as it is called in our world) and early Classical - Handel, Vivaldi, Bach, counterpoint and the private chamber ensembles merging with and developing into Boccherini, Mozart, Haydn - essentially what is sometimes called a Rococo style. (I have as yet to come up with the H-c names for some of these music styles - an interesting and I hope rewarding diversion!) This of course would be the more citified musics, out in the parishes it would more strident, the instruments more antiquated, the pieces more folk style or popular balladry. Hero of Clunes for example, in her tour of Sulk End and the Idlewild (as seen in MBT Book 1 & 2) would be doing a combination of popular shanty (albeit taking it to a more sophisticated and sonorous level) and high-brow choral numbers written by the current and more popular/fashionable composers (such as Stumphelhose of Witzingerod, Cappelluto of Seville, or Attic Nehme or Brandenbrass).
Oh, and as requested, for breakfast I had Vita Brits with sultanas and a cup of tea sweetened with honey.
Monday had a question (similar to one I received via email from Nick Nitsch of Nashville):
"What kinds of music are most prevalent on the h-c?"
Such a topic is indeed not distracting but fundamental to my conception of the H-c - there is a beautiful piece by Strauss (the younger I think) Invitation to a Dance which though actually truly too new, has been an abiding inspiration to me. Monday rightly deduces that there are regional and social differences, but in the main when I think music for the Half-Continent I think late Baroque (as it is called in our world) and early Classical - Handel, Vivaldi, Bach, counterpoint and the private chamber ensembles merging with and developing into Boccherini, Mozart, Haydn - essentially what is sometimes called a Rococo style. (I have as yet to come up with the H-c names for some of these music styles - an interesting and I hope rewarding diversion!) This of course would be the more citified musics, out in the parishes it would more strident, the instruments more antiquated, the pieces more folk style or popular balladry. Hero of Clunes for example, in her tour of Sulk End and the Idlewild (as seen in MBT Book 1 & 2) would be doing a combination of popular shanty (albeit taking it to a more sophisticated and sonorous level) and high-brow choral numbers written by the current and more popular/fashionable composers (such as Stumphelhose of Witzingerod, Cappelluto of Seville, or Attic Nehme or Brandenbrass).
Oh, and as requested, for breakfast I had Vita Brits with sultanas and a cup of tea sweetened with honey.
Hippo Birdy Two Ewes!
Today in the Queen's Birthday Holiday and I would like to say Happy Birthday! to our dear Queen, bless her and the fact we get a day off here Oz.
On a lighter note ;) I found this review thingy over at OF Blog of the Fallen the other day and just wanted to share because I so love it when a fellow soul is on the same wavelength - don't we all...
Oh, and I am as yet to have breakfast.
On a lighter note ;) I found this review thingy over at OF Blog of the Fallen the other day and just wanted to share because I so love it when a fellow soul is on the same wavelength - don't we all...
Oh, and I am as yet to have breakfast.
Flat Stanley
Feeling pretty low at the moment - no good reason to, just been on a peak with Book 3 for the last few weeks and the inevitable trough has arrived. I don't know why books just can't write themselves then give their "authors" the glory...
Sorry to be a downer for you all. May be it has something to do with the fact I have not had breakfast yet today?
Happy note: Benjamin Lacombe has posted the finished illustration and design of the French cover for Terres des Monstres: L'enfant Trouvé (Monster-Blood Tattoo: Foundling and actually meaning "land of monsters: the found child"). The site is, unsurprisingly, in French, but the images speak in every language and they are tre magnifique!
It is a beautiful thing to share.
Also, just in case it was not noticed, I have refreshed the character profile - now Citizens of the Hlf-Continent - with a new personage of the H-c. I hope it is edifying.
Sorry to be a downer for you all. May be it has something to do with the fact I have not had breakfast yet today?
Happy note: Benjamin Lacombe has posted the finished illustration and design of the French cover for Terres des Monstres: L'enfant Trouvé (Monster-Blood Tattoo: Foundling and actually meaning "land of monsters: the found child"). The site is, unsurprisingly, in French, but the images speak in every language and they are tre magnifique!
It is a beautiful thing to share.
Also, just in case it was not noticed, I have refreshed the character profile - now Citizens of the Hlf-Continent - with a new personage of the H-c. I hope it is edifying.
French Cover for Book 1
I just thought today I might show you a rough I received from my French publisher, Milan, for the cover of the French (surprise surprise) edition of Foundling.
The title, roughly translated, is "Land of Monsters" and the subtitle, "The Child Lost" - sounds so much better in French, I reckon. (I now know that it in fact means "Child Found" - still sounds better in French)
I was warned that some publishers would want to show Rossamünd's face and here is a good example. After acquiescing to my US publishers about revealing Ross' dial, I am no longer fussed about such things - it was a cute idea of mine to leave the reader's conception of him to themselves but it has not survived "translation". Indeed, given the current results of the 2nd Poll Question, it would appear that this is in fact a good thing.
I am truly learning this writing thing each day.
Either way, I really like the cover, which will be illustrated by a certain French illustrator, Benjamin Lacombe. Said to be '...one of "the most brilliant and popular artists for young readers'...", Mr Lancombe's work is at times dark and melancholy, whimsical and fairytale grim, just how I conceive the Half-Continent. So, this will be the first occasion another professional will have attempted to illustrate MBT (though let us not forget the excellent work done by Spanish readers), which I think is rather cool. If this is a rough then I am very very much looking forward to the finished cover. What fun!
Your thoughts?
...oh, and for breakfast today I had a pineapple, yoghurt and caramel smoothie.
(Also, I do not know if this is a bit lame but I have put a little white widget box some way down the righthand side with a small sellection of some electronic music of my own compisition. Just wanting to share.)
A galley - I have the proof.
Yesterday I received from Tim Travaglini - my US publisher-man - what in the US publishing industry is called a galley (here in Oz we called them ubers, or somesuch - not sure why, probably an acronym) of Book 2, Lamplighter. This galley is what most folks would call an uncorrected proof. Indeed, that is what it says clearly on the front: "UNCORRECTED PROOF NOT FOR RESALE"... and uncorrected it is: I am still working with Mr Travaglini to make the final adjustments for the US edition.
But the best bit is that a galley is actually an early, paperback version of the book! Yipee! It looks very nifty, I near took it to bed with me as some kind of blankey... and talk about thick! Now I reckon it is not seemly to judge a book by its weight, but deep inside some part of me cannot help but go "HURRAH! Look how dense it is! " - 730 odd pages with all things included. "Did I write that? It looks just like a bought one," I marvel to myself much more than I did with Foundling, but too much self-congratulation is not a good thing so I stop.
Just to note, there is a little treat in Book 2 for many of the brave souls who have contributed to this blog with their comments. Speaking of which, thank you very much to those who dared to answer my questions last post, your entries were brilliant. In fact they have helped greatly in expanding my sense of people moving about independently in the Half-Continent, doing their thing apart from any narrative. It would be great if others would give them a go too.
And as requested today for breakfast I had Apricot Fruity Bix[TM].
But the best bit is that a galley is actually an early, paperback version of the book! Yipee! It looks very nifty, I near took it to bed with me as some kind of blankey... and talk about thick! Now I reckon it is not seemly to judge a book by its weight, but deep inside some part of me cannot help but go "HURRAH! Look how dense it is! " - 730 odd pages with all things included. "Did I write that? It looks just like a bought one," I marvel to myself much more than I did with Foundling, but too much self-congratulation is not a good thing so I stop.
Just to note, there is a little treat in Book 2 for many of the brave souls who have contributed to this blog with their comments. Speaking of which, thank you very much to those who dared to answer my questions last post, your entries were brilliant. In fact they have helped greatly in expanding my sense of people moving about independently in the Half-Continent, doing their thing apart from any narrative. It would be great if others would give them a go too.
And as requested today for breakfast I had Apricot Fruity Bix[TM].
Back from Melly.
For those who are not familiar with Australian parlance, "Melly" is short for Melbourne, and I have returned as the title of this blog suggests.
As to the CBCA Awards I am so very very pleased to declare that not only was MBT 1 short-listed, it actually managed to make it as an Honour Book - which means silver, 2nd place!
Woo-stinking-hoo!
Now the book will get little silver stickers on it (well here in Australia it will) My hearty congratulations to the deep and delightful Ursula Dubosarsky The Red Shoe, my follow honour book awardee and to the wonderful Margo Lanagan Red Spikes, which took out the top spot, and deservedly so (IMHO) - though it is a shame they can not award gold to more than one. Here is the complete list of the CBCA 2007 results.
Whilst there in Melly, my wife and I had a coffee with femina and she promptly informed me that my blogging-style of writing was not at all like my book-style of writing. I had this awful sensation like my underpants were showing or something. It was a good observation, and ties in with my own struggle with style and voice. The very text you are now reading is more how I talk, it is just written conversation - does that mean my words in the MBT's are too contrived? Would the books be better if I just wrote them like this? Then again, when preparing finished illustrations I don't just scribble the first thing that comes to me - I do roughs, I model and refine a drawing till I am satisfied. In the same way when writing I wrestle with the sound and feel of my words until I am satisfied. I can sit with my head down staring at the floor for a goodly long time just trying to compose one sentence.
If I ever get to write more that MBT, if I ever get to explore this life of writing further, how much will my style change I wonder: will my books become looser - more modern, or shall my blogs become more wordy?
Anyway, enough self-consciousness! Enough navel-gazing! (omphaloscepsis I believe this is called - this is a real word not a H-c word, though I am sure I will be adapting it to something: it is just too good not to use. Perhaps an Imperial think-tank, the omphalosceptics, who puzzle and nut things out for the Emperor, who live and work in the Scepticon... hmmm...)
As to Rossamünd’s face, madbomber expressed concern at it being revealed, and it may well be that in different countries different degrees of revelation occur. Does this mean I have copped-out, I sure hope not *looks worried*. As a writer I am stubborn and argumentative, as an illustrator I am more agreeable and it was as an illustrator solving a brief that led to the drawing of Rossamünd’s profile. We will just have to wait and see.
... and yes, Mr Bomber, bless you, Dyan is a spectacular person indeed. It was more than fate that brought our paths together and I am greatful to have met her and for the strange events that lead to that meeting. Lord willing we will be working together for a long time to come.
Oh, and for breakfast today I had AllBran [TM] Wheat Flakes Honey & Almond (how beautiful do almond trees look in late winter, such burstings of blossom - I can well imagine whole forests of them, autumnlands like the Autumn of Sleep, mystic places where the urchin-lords live.)
As to the CBCA Awards I am so very very pleased to declare that not only was MBT 1 short-listed, it actually managed to make it as an Honour Book - which means silver, 2nd place!
Woo-stinking-hoo!
Now the book will get little silver stickers on it (well here in Australia it will) My hearty congratulations to the deep and delightful Ursula Dubosarsky The Red Shoe, my follow honour book awardee and to the wonderful Margo Lanagan Red Spikes, which took out the top spot, and deservedly so (IMHO) - though it is a shame they can not award gold to more than one. Here is the complete list of the CBCA 2007 results.
Whilst there in Melly, my wife and I had a coffee with femina and she promptly informed me that my blogging-style of writing was not at all like my book-style of writing. I had this awful sensation like my underpants were showing or something. It was a good observation, and ties in with my own struggle with style and voice. The very text you are now reading is more how I talk, it is just written conversation - does that mean my words in the MBT's are too contrived? Would the books be better if I just wrote them like this? Then again, when preparing finished illustrations I don't just scribble the first thing that comes to me - I do roughs, I model and refine a drawing till I am satisfied. In the same way when writing I wrestle with the sound and feel of my words until I am satisfied. I can sit with my head down staring at the floor for a goodly long time just trying to compose one sentence.
If I ever get to write more that MBT, if I ever get to explore this life of writing further, how much will my style change I wonder: will my books become looser - more modern, or shall my blogs become more wordy?
Anyway, enough self-consciousness! Enough navel-gazing! (omphaloscepsis I believe this is called - this is a real word not a H-c word, though I am sure I will be adapting it to something: it is just too good not to use. Perhaps an Imperial think-tank, the omphalosceptics, who puzzle and nut things out for the Emperor, who live and work in the Scepticon... hmmm...)
As to Rossamünd’s face, madbomber expressed concern at it being revealed, and it may well be that in different countries different degrees of revelation occur. Does this mean I have copped-out, I sure hope not *looks worried*. As a writer I am stubborn and argumentative, as an illustrator I am more agreeable and it was as an illustrator solving a brief that led to the drawing of Rossamünd’s profile. We will just have to wait and see.
... and yes, Mr Bomber, bless you, Dyan is a spectacular person indeed. It was more than fate that brought our paths together and I am greatful to have met her and for the strange events that lead to that meeting. Lord willing we will be working together for a long time to come.
Oh, and for breakfast today I had AllBran [TM] Wheat Flakes Honey & Almond (how beautiful do almond trees look in late winter, such burstings of blossom - I can well imagine whole forests of them, autumnlands like the Autumn of Sleep, mystic places where the urchin-lords live.)
Here I am... and you thought I'd forgotten you all!
Not a chance!
Every comment goes to my email - I know when you've come a'calling... & I know how long its been since last post = far too long: you are so right Mr. Shayne de Comyn Esquire. Well, hang in there, its a long hall for anything worthy. I'd like to try and do this the first Monday of every new month. Let us see if that works, a little regularity to help folks know when its time to come and check old Monster Blog Tattoo once more.
I am currently working on a final draft for the final fine-toothed-cimb editing (what I believe is called copy editing) and loving all the questions and suggestions. Mr. Missfitt's idea of the submariner experience is a corker and I am thinking even now of a possible short story to describe just that (dedicated to him of course).
Now here is huge question for those of you have a care about such things - and one that needs pretty prompt answering. The question is:
Would you like to see what Rossamünd looks like - have me draw a view of his face or would rather that we never saw Rossamünd’s face during the series, that I left the subtlety, the mystery, the idea of his face to you the reader?
Just put your answers in the comments - no trendy poll widgets here, I'm afraid. I would be most definitely grateful to know your opinions - all of you.
Now, cause Coz asked for it, here it is – a picture of a monster…
A long time to wait?
Yes.
Will it be worth the wait?
Oh Lord, please may this be so!
Dan S. Tong bless you, sir, for such encouraging words. My word hitting the nail on the head for someone else feels so so good. I want people to respond that way – not just because I feel good if I know (oh my ego! arg!) – but because I actually want to give to the reader (those who are ready and willing) a great big other world transcendent experience. I want you to feel what I feel when I read my favourite books… That is my goal, anyways.
On of the A Nonny Mouses (cheeky scoundrels) asks: "... so could you please go into more detail about ranks and different rolls of service in HC wepenoary&c..."
Every comment goes to my email - I know when you've come a'calling... & I know how long its been since last post = far too long: you are so right Mr. Shayne de Comyn Esquire. Well, hang in there, its a long hall for anything worthy. I'd like to try and do this the first Monday of every new month. Let us see if that works, a little regularity to help folks know when its time to come and check old Monster Blog Tattoo once more.
I am currently working on a final draft for the final fine-toothed-cimb editing (what I believe is called copy editing) and loving all the questions and suggestions. Mr. Missfitt's idea of the submariner experience is a corker and I am thinking even now of a possible short story to describe just that (dedicated to him of course).
Now here is huge question for those of you have a care about such things - and one that needs pretty prompt answering. The question is:
Would you like to see what Rossamünd looks like - have me draw a view of his face or would rather that we never saw Rossamünd’s face during the series, that I left the subtlety, the mystery, the idea of his face to you the reader?
Just put your answers in the comments - no trendy poll widgets here, I'm afraid. I would be most definitely grateful to know your opinions - all of you.
Now, cause Coz asked for it, here it is – a picture of a monster…
... it is an ettin from some treeish swampland, rather smarter than your average ettin and a terror to the locals. You get a sense of this fellow's size by the skulls displayed at his hip. Does anyone want to have a go at naming him?
But the big question is, of course, Book 2 Book2 Book 2? I think I have another life somewhere, I have vague recollection of some other thing, like eating, and sleeping and going to the movies; I have this vague image of a woman with red hair… I think I married her recently – it is all so vague in shadow of BOOK 2!
Well, as far as I am aware release date is…
wait for it…
April 2008!
*wince*
A long time to wait?
Yes.
Does this bite the big one?
Yes.
Yes.
Am I so very very sorry for the wait?
Still very much so, yes!
Will it be worth the wait?
Oh Lord, please may this be so!
Dan S. Tong bless you, sir, for such encouraging words. My word hitting the nail on the head for someone else feels so so good. I want people to respond that way – not just because I feel good if I know (oh my ego! arg!) – but because I actually want to give to the reader (those who are ready and willing) a great big other world transcendent experience. I want you to feel what I feel when I read my favourite books… That is my goal, anyways.
On of the A Nonny Mouses (cheeky scoundrels) asks: "... so could you please go into more detail about ranks and different rolls of service in HC wepenoary&c..."
I’d love to tell you all about the military (in its various forms) of the Half-Continent but I want to show you in detail about it in future books (should any publisher let me) and time and space are premium here. Therefore, in very very very brief right now: ... imagine ranks and files and blocks of soldiers in bright, stiff uniforms firing across the deadly gap at each other with firelocks and black-powder cannon, wearing proofing which makes them harder to hurt. Under great flying spandarions, regimental colours and company bunting, individual bravoes strut forward, suaves who are the darlings of their companies who challenge each other to dual. Across the dead-ground insults and musket balls are swapped and nothing much decided. An order relayed by runners, shouts and flags; one force starts forward 0 r maybe both. The armies close so that they might come to handstrokes where the troubardier is lord. Include now the thaumateers – the fighting teratologists: avertines (skolds) & bombastines (scourges) hurling their potives designed to harm men in to the steadily approaching foe in his neat ranks; somewhere a torsadine (wit) steps forward and putting hand to brow flattens sixty men before him in a perfect half circle. Now it is time for blows, the foe-man – three mighty troubardiers in proof-steal lorica are swinging their poleaxes at you. In leaps a tempestine (fulgar) and with a shout swings a fuse high and calls down lightning from the sky, felling the troubardiers instantly as the heaven-bolt leaps from foe to foe. This is how it goes for many hours till the moral contest is decided and one army quits the field, leaving the other exhausted and bereft after the terror and thrill of battle are gone. They retire to their camps and leave the desperate locals to loot the corpses of friend and foe.
Koallaku asks: “I have always wondered if it is harder to write the book or edit it when the writing is done? I myself hate editing my work so when it comes to that I usually do very little >.<”
Each has its trials, but actually squeezing the work out in the first place is – for me – the harder task (by far!). Getting started on editing is the big challenge, the (big! HUGE!) fear of the work actually in the end being no good at all, of having to dump the lot and start again, the fear of boredom because I already know how the story ends (darn it!). It has the two times I have engaged in it, been a very rewarding exercise; it can take an ok text on to being one worth putting before others, and that is a very happy thing. As to being edited by my editors (shall I say edit one more time?): yes, my ego gets dented in editing, but there is nothing wrong with our egos getting buffeted into a more other-friendly shape. Big egos are the cause of much ill in this world, and humility so little seen – I am thinking of myself here. Taking out 20,000 odd words from a text (I’m answering Andre here) is actually less painful that it sounds when they are the wrong words in the first place and the losing of them makes the story so much better.
Mr. Bomber's “Pigs might fly” question might have to wait a little, suffice to say that some existing clichés are “stuck between the stone and the sty” = rock and a hard place; “you can tell a light by its colour” = proof is in the pudding; “a face that would stop a horse” = a very unattractive person; “not everyone who studies law becomes a lawyer” = things do not always turn out how they seem; “even the sebaceous hexapods of Welter know!” = something is obvious and self-evident (the sebaceous hexapods of Welter are a mysterious, half-mythic race of weird, six-limbed creatures reputed to live in the depths off the southern Verid Litus. There are “heaps” more but I shall stop here (and figure out the pigs might fly equivalent… hmm…)
For breakfast today I had Skippy Cornflakes[TM].
Koallaku asks: “I have always wondered if it is harder to write the book or edit it when the writing is done? I myself hate editing my work so when it comes to that I usually do very little >.<”
Each has its trials, but actually squeezing the work out in the first place is – for me – the harder task (by far!). Getting started on editing is the big challenge, the (big! HUGE!) fear of the work actually in the end being no good at all, of having to dump the lot and start again, the fear of boredom because I already know how the story ends (darn it!). It has the two times I have engaged in it, been a very rewarding exercise; it can take an ok text on to being one worth putting before others, and that is a very happy thing. As to being edited by my editors (shall I say edit one more time?): yes, my ego gets dented in editing, but there is nothing wrong with our egos getting buffeted into a more other-friendly shape. Big egos are the cause of much ill in this world, and humility so little seen – I am thinking of myself here. Taking out 20,000 odd words from a text (I’m answering Andre here) is actually less painful that it sounds when they are the wrong words in the first place and the losing of them makes the story so much better.
Mr. Bomber's “Pigs might fly” question might have to wait a little, suffice to say that some existing clichés are “stuck between the stone and the sty” = rock and a hard place; “you can tell a light by its colour” = proof is in the pudding; “a face that would stop a horse” = a very unattractive person; “not everyone who studies law becomes a lawyer” = things do not always turn out how they seem; “even the sebaceous hexapods of Welter know!” = something is obvious and self-evident (the sebaceous hexapods of Welter are a mysterious, half-mythic race of weird, six-limbed creatures reputed to live in the depths off the southern Verid Litus. There are “heaps” more but I shall stop here (and figure out the pigs might fly equivalent… hmm…)
For breakfast today I had Skippy Cornflakes[TM].
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #009
horticulturalist = well most normally they are called gardeners unsurprisingly, or bowerists; also more technically you might find a flosfructors (technical), pomarians (fashionable), gartenbaurers (Gott), Imperial Hortomaths (the personal gardeners and gardening habilists of the Emperor).
And done! (for now...)
Mate!
It has been one crazy, no-other-life-but-writing kinda time, but Draft 2 of Book 2 is done and in the hard-working hands of those mysterious folk who make it better. At this point I managed to excise 4 chapters and roughly 25,000 words (give or take) - very satisfying result. I don't mind this one bit. I have a tendency to over-write and all this fat-cutting does is make the text more readable, better-flowing, better connected.
For breakfast I had Echinacea for a chest infection that has just taken residence in my lungs.
Answers to questions coming very soon, honest – just catching my breath.
(If I may say, I am heartily glad Mr Bomber is still positing his curly queries...)
Will be back shortly.
It has been one crazy, no-other-life-but-writing kinda time, but Draft 2 of Book 2 is done and in the hard-working hands of those mysterious folk who make it better. At this point I managed to excise 4 chapters and roughly 25,000 words (give or take) - very satisfying result. I don't mind this one bit. I have a tendency to over-write and all this fat-cutting does is make the text more readable, better-flowing, better connected.
For breakfast I had Echinacea for a chest infection that has just taken residence in my lungs.
Answers to questions coming very soon, honest – just catching my breath.
(If I may say, I am heartily glad Mr Bomber is still positing his curly queries...)
Will be back shortly.
Deep Gratitude
To my friends who have left their encouragements I say a most grateful thank you. With the text for Book 2 now two chapters and 20,000 words less (and much better for it) and the deadline fast approaching, your words - and your concomitant patience - have been most excellent and welcome.
I shall have answers to questions in the next couple of weeks.
… and for breakfast this morning I had some wheaty-fruity cluster thingies.
I shall have answers to questions in the next couple of weeks.
… and for breakfast this morning I had some wheaty-fruity cluster thingies.
I'm Back...
Well.
My time blogging at Inside A Dog is now done. It was a blast and for me very frequent (though perhaps not frequent enough for the folks who frequent Inside A Dog with greater frequency) .
Editing progresses.
Time runs short.
Time, time, always time...
The 'mountain' is steep but if I keep looking at how hard it will be to climb then I just will not get anywhere, frozen by fear. So head down and on with todays work: those handful of chapters designated as today's challenge. Tomorrow's challenges for tomorrow.
This brings me to the necessary yet painful revelation that MBT Book 2 will not be out in May of this year, that being 2007. It is more likely to come out late this year (2007) or early next (2008) - but certainly no later than this!
*wince*
I am so sorry to have to do this to those of you hanging in there with me. I apologise for the misinformation several posts ago. That was out original target, yet the process of making MBT 2 any good is taking some time. For those of you who continue with us in this, I truly think it will be worth the protracted wait. I truly believe, however, that a good book late is better than a bad book on time.
For those of you who are still here and have not vacated in frustration at this revelation, Winter expressed curiosity at the origins of the vinegar seas. I sometimes wonder if eagerly divulging my creative process is ruining it for people, like seeing the strings on a marionete or getting that blue-screen fuzz about a spaceship that is meant to be hurtling through space ... I could go on. What do folks think? Reveal all - or keep the mystery?
Having said that I'll answer Winter's curiosity and say that there were two things most directly influential on the invention (if I may call it that) of the vinegar seas.
First came my delight at Homer's term "the wine-dark sea", and wanted an equivalent in the Hc that had a similar poetic impact, a way of refering to the all-inportant oceans that was more that just a technical name. I do not recall where exactly the idea of "vinegar" came from - probably the association with wine - but having settled on that as possessing the right 'vibe' I then had to justify why the seas were named so.
The second part? Watching a documentary on flamingoes I was struck by those multi-hued soda lakes in Africa, the very home of these birds. A conjunction formed in my thoughts: I had actually wondered if the Homer's "wine-dark sea" might actually be deep red in colour, and these soda lakes were red (and torquoise, and yellow and so on) in colour. So perhaps the vinegar seas are actually alkalai oceans filled with all kinds of exotic chemicals to make them odd and lurid hues, that the appellation "vinegar" comes from the sharp, sour-wine-like smell of the various chemicals within the waters. Click. For me it all fitted and so the idea became firmly a part of the Hc.
From there it was - and continues to be - a matter of allowing for the adaptions and habits such an aquatic world might force on people, on shipping and seaside living, and what manner of creatures might lurk beneath the turbulent waves.
I hope this does not ruin the idea for anyone.
And as yet I have not had breakfast, though it is most likely to be Sultana Bran [TM] with a few extra saltanas for increased sultanary goodness.
... and I am still very very sorry for the disappointing news of MBT2's later than expected publishing date.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
My time blogging at Inside A Dog is now done. It was a blast and for me very frequent (though perhaps not frequent enough for the folks who frequent Inside A Dog with greater frequency) .
Editing progresses.
Time runs short.
Time, time, always time...
The 'mountain' is steep but if I keep looking at how hard it will be to climb then I just will not get anywhere, frozen by fear. So head down and on with todays work: those handful of chapters designated as today's challenge. Tomorrow's challenges for tomorrow.
This brings me to the necessary yet painful revelation that MBT Book 2 will not be out in May of this year, that being 2007. It is more likely to come out late this year (2007) or early next (2008) - but certainly no later than this!
*wince*
I am so sorry to have to do this to those of you hanging in there with me. I apologise for the misinformation several posts ago. That was out original target, yet the process of making MBT 2 any good is taking some time. For those of you who continue with us in this, I truly think it will be worth the protracted wait. I truly believe, however, that a good book late is better than a bad book on time.
For those of you who are still here and have not vacated in frustration at this revelation, Winter expressed curiosity at the origins of the vinegar seas. I sometimes wonder if eagerly divulging my creative process is ruining it for people, like seeing the strings on a marionete or getting that blue-screen fuzz about a spaceship that is meant to be hurtling through space ... I could go on. What do folks think? Reveal all - or keep the mystery?
Having said that I'll answer Winter's curiosity and say that there were two things most directly influential on the invention (if I may call it that) of the vinegar seas.
First came my delight at Homer's term "the wine-dark sea", and wanted an equivalent in the Hc that had a similar poetic impact, a way of refering to the all-inportant oceans that was more that just a technical name. I do not recall where exactly the idea of "vinegar" came from - probably the association with wine - but having settled on that as possessing the right 'vibe' I then had to justify why the seas were named so.
The second part? Watching a documentary on flamingoes I was struck by those multi-hued soda lakes in Africa, the very home of these birds. A conjunction formed in my thoughts: I had actually wondered if the Homer's "wine-dark sea" might actually be deep red in colour, and these soda lakes were red (and torquoise, and yellow and so on) in colour. So perhaps the vinegar seas are actually alkalai oceans filled with all kinds of exotic chemicals to make them odd and lurid hues, that the appellation "vinegar" comes from the sharp, sour-wine-like smell of the various chemicals within the waters. Click. For me it all fitted and so the idea became firmly a part of the Hc.
From there it was - and continues to be - a matter of allowing for the adaptions and habits such an aquatic world might force on people, on shipping and seaside living, and what manner of creatures might lurk beneath the turbulent waves.
I hope this does not ruin the idea for anyone.
And as yet I have not had breakfast, though it is most likely to be Sultana Bran [TM] with a few extra saltanas for increased sultanary goodness.
... and I am still very very sorry for the disappointing news of MBT2's later than expected publishing date.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Answers to Questions.
And now to answer the back-log of questions and get on track - for the moment any way. I have answered these in no especial order, just as they came out. Before we go on might I let you know that there is a fairly comprehensive interview over at the BookClub - so head on over or read on: it is wall to wall MBT! Either way, let us get cracking.
Steve said “Hi, I was wondering when the halfcontinent.com site would be online? I just reviewed Foundling and in the comments it's come up that a click and zoom function for that map would be great :-)”
Thank you for the review Steve (!!!) This “world-building geek” greatly greatly appreciated your insights and positive words (and for getting the length / proportion of the back matter correct). I shall now have to read Vance. In the past I have made the rather obvious mistake of getting too much into reviews for MBT – it is a rather rarified atmosphere with all the highs and lows – so I these days I tend to be a little less egocentric and just let those that come my way be enough. A bad review can be crushing (though probably it should not) and a good review (as with Steve’s) so very encouraging, emboldening even. And thank you too, sir, for the heads up regarding a zoomable map (aka http://www.halfcontinent.com/ ) – as stated somewhere in a previous post the project is on the way and is “in the pipe 5 by 5” (10 points for anyone who can tell what movie that quote came from…)
madbomber asks: “I'd like to try and stump you with a word, but it seems impossible. So I'm interested in the gods of the half continent. Who or what do people believe in? It seems that science plays a large part in many of the professions.”
Hmmm, that hoary old chestnut. Mate, Mr. Bomber, you have a knack for the tough questions! I have to frank and say that religion is probably the least developed area of the HC and the lands beyond; it is probably the most complex and perhaps touchy subject. Certainly as you have astutely deduced science or habilistics is a most prevalent point of belief – that man’s knowledge and learning and application of the same will conquer, will fix all ills. This is equivalent of “humanism” I suppose, sometimes referred to as “universalism” or coingnosis (said "CO-in-no-sis") or prosaics (coming from prosagologia – the idea that reason conquers all) Then there are those who seek to raise the false-gods (those anciently man-made abominations) – who might be thought of as worshipers of the same, the fichtärs, cultists eagerly seeking the return of their chosen “lord”. With these there are those are in thrall to the less friendly kind of monster and those who do not hate monsters quite so much and think there might be “good” monsters too – enter those accused as sedorner. Some folk trust to Providence – the idea that there is a God and He will provide – others trust their track to the paths of the Signal Stars – all fairly common stuff. Other ideas not ready for publishing bubble away too, just as they have always done ever since I started notebook 1. The Half-Continent and the world it is in still continues to form and grow – it is no fixed thing and it will take a goodly long time to get my notes into a solid coherent form (of which the Explicariums only tell a part) As for a black and red “football” team, Mr. Madbomber – how about the Bombazines? The Artillerists? The Sappers?
Jimmy Trinket said some encouraging things (!!!) and then asked: “… what advice would you give to a budding illustrator??? I recently gave up a rather stressful job to follow my dream of drawing doodles all day, heh heh. I'm at that point where I have a portfolio and no idea... I'm just not sure where to go or what to do.”
Advice is such a tricky thing and my journey has been so long and meandering its hard to know what to say: certainly persistence is essential. I went through a period of about 4 years doing part time work I hated whilst waiting for illustration work to build up, and it was only the Providential intervention of a television show requiring an illustrator that rescued me from more years of toil. Being an illustrator is very rewarding, but until MBT came along (a decade later! – I might add), not very fiscally rewarding. I don’t think the obstacles to a creative life are “put” there deliberately, but it does sort out those who really want to do it from those who "kinda" want to do it. Get your folio – your “book” – looking slick, get a business card or some such of same quality, get an online folio, get yourself about: advertising, publishing, editorial (by which I mean magazines and newspapers), find an agent (though be choosey who you go with – if at all possible, get advice from those who have worked with them), pray if you dare. Be determined but also have some patience: I finished Unit in 1993 and its only been 14 years later that things have reached this stage. I am not sure this helps much, email me if you need more advice.
John asks: “Speaking of detail, even in the blow-ups in the back of the book, many of the words on the map of the Half-Continent were too small to make out. Any chance of a fold-out map in the next book? Or a separate poster?” and Mr. Missfitt agrees “I also think the separate map is a great idea go talk to the publishers about it!”
A great request – yet my publishers are sitting on a printed map for now. We’ve argued about releasing a map sooner rather than later, but they want to wait for a bit. Distributing such a map is not as straightforward as I thought it might be. Ah well, on with the online map I say which I hope will be coming sooner rather than later… and thank you John for your enthusiasm for the non-standard setting of the Hc, I am glad to have “hit the nail on the head” for you, as it were.
random missfitt enquires: “Is the hardcover edition coming out as well or do we have to wait? – because I hate it when your favorite book falls apart on your 15th read of it (so do I! – DM). The Explicarium better be long as well, I’ve read that more times than the book.”
That warms the cockles of me heart, Mr. Missfitt – I have to say the Explicariums are my favourite part of the books too. So chuffed you like ‘em too. As to your questions: hard cover will be coming out first then paperback and I am afraid the Explicarium for Lamplighter may well be shorter – I am told it is a cost thing, that the story of Lamplighter itself being longer impacts on the length of the end matter. But you never know: with the drastic re-write required of Lamplighter as it stands currently, more room for the Explicarium may only be a few deletions of a chapter away.
Daisy Girl says: “I recently did a few days work experience at Omnibus Books and Dyan eagerly showed me your book and told me to read it (which I'm still doing)... it's interesting the changes that different countries made to the cover art and title. Do you have a favourite?”
How can I choose between them all? Each time the publisher has done their utmost to make a beautiful book. I like them all yet as it happens I do have a “favourite” (and I hope this does not ruffle too many feathers) It is quite naturally the ANZ edition – the one made first, right here in Oz-land: it is actually just how I wanted it to look. Being a trained designer has its advantages when you’re an author, and I was graciously allowed to have a major contribution to the whole look and feel of the book – even down to the cloth-like feel of the cover and the two ribbons – one to mark your place in the story and one to mark your place in the Explicarium (non-Australian readers – other than those wonder folk from Germany - will not know what I am talking about, but if you get a chance to obtain an ANZ edition I highly recommend it, it is the closet to my “vision” of how the book should be – see image)
For me writing a book is not just about the text, it is also the process of illustrating and designing the cover, of the character studies and the density of information at the back, of painstakingly constructing maps from a blank page. Speaking of which I can say that there will be (the Lord and publishers willing) a layout of Winstermill in Book 2.
An a nonny mouse viewer asked for a preview of Book 2 – I shall see what can be done. That’s the kind of things publishers get first and last say in I am afraid. Stay tuned …and thanks to another a nonny mouse for the rework of the white stripes number, that's rather snazzy.
Steve said “Hi, I was wondering when the halfcontinent.com site would be online? I just reviewed Foundling and in the comments it's come up that a click and zoom function for that map would be great :-)”
Thank you for the review Steve (!!!) This “world-building geek” greatly greatly appreciated your insights and positive words (and for getting the length / proportion of the back matter correct). I shall now have to read Vance. In the past I have made the rather obvious mistake of getting too much into reviews for MBT – it is a rather rarified atmosphere with all the highs and lows – so I these days I tend to be a little less egocentric and just let those that come my way be enough. A bad review can be crushing (though probably it should not) and a good review (as with Steve’s) so very encouraging, emboldening even. And thank you too, sir, for the heads up regarding a zoomable map (aka http://www.halfcontinent.com/ ) – as stated somewhere in a previous post the project is on the way and is “in the pipe 5 by 5” (10 points for anyone who can tell what movie that quote came from…)
madbomber asks: “I'd like to try and stump you with a word, but it seems impossible. So I'm interested in the gods of the half continent. Who or what do people believe in? It seems that science plays a large part in many of the professions.”
Hmmm, that hoary old chestnut. Mate, Mr. Bomber, you have a knack for the tough questions! I have to frank and say that religion is probably the least developed area of the HC and the lands beyond; it is probably the most complex and perhaps touchy subject. Certainly as you have astutely deduced science or habilistics is a most prevalent point of belief – that man’s knowledge and learning and application of the same will conquer, will fix all ills. This is equivalent of “humanism” I suppose, sometimes referred to as “universalism” or coingnosis (said "CO-in-no-sis") or prosaics (coming from prosagologia – the idea that reason conquers all) Then there are those who seek to raise the false-gods (those anciently man-made abominations) – who might be thought of as worshipers of the same, the fichtärs, cultists eagerly seeking the return of their chosen “lord”. With these there are those are in thrall to the less friendly kind of monster and those who do not hate monsters quite so much and think there might be “good” monsters too – enter those accused as sedorner. Some folk trust to Providence – the idea that there is a God and He will provide – others trust their track to the paths of the Signal Stars – all fairly common stuff. Other ideas not ready for publishing bubble away too, just as they have always done ever since I started notebook 1. The Half-Continent and the world it is in still continues to form and grow – it is no fixed thing and it will take a goodly long time to get my notes into a solid coherent form (of which the Explicariums only tell a part) As for a black and red “football” team, Mr. Madbomber – how about the Bombazines? The Artillerists? The Sappers?
Jimmy Trinket said some encouraging things (!!!) and then asked: “… what advice would you give to a budding illustrator??? I recently gave up a rather stressful job to follow my dream of drawing doodles all day, heh heh. I'm at that point where I have a portfolio and no idea... I'm just not sure where to go or what to do.”
Advice is such a tricky thing and my journey has been so long and meandering its hard to know what to say: certainly persistence is essential. I went through a period of about 4 years doing part time work I hated whilst waiting for illustration work to build up, and it was only the Providential intervention of a television show requiring an illustrator that rescued me from more years of toil. Being an illustrator is very rewarding, but until MBT came along (a decade later! – I might add), not very fiscally rewarding. I don’t think the obstacles to a creative life are “put” there deliberately, but it does sort out those who really want to do it from those who "kinda" want to do it. Get your folio – your “book” – looking slick, get a business card or some such of same quality, get an online folio, get yourself about: advertising, publishing, editorial (by which I mean magazines and newspapers), find an agent (though be choosey who you go with – if at all possible, get advice from those who have worked with them), pray if you dare. Be determined but also have some patience: I finished Unit in 1993 and its only been 14 years later that things have reached this stage. I am not sure this helps much, email me if you need more advice.
John asks: “Speaking of detail, even in the blow-ups in the back of the book, many of the words on the map of the Half-Continent were too small to make out. Any chance of a fold-out map in the next book? Or a separate poster?” and Mr. Missfitt agrees “I also think the separate map is a great idea go talk to the publishers about it!”
A great request – yet my publishers are sitting on a printed map for now. We’ve argued about releasing a map sooner rather than later, but they want to wait for a bit. Distributing such a map is not as straightforward as I thought it might be. Ah well, on with the online map I say which I hope will be coming sooner rather than later… and thank you John for your enthusiasm for the non-standard setting of the Hc, I am glad to have “hit the nail on the head” for you, as it were.
random missfitt enquires: “Is the hardcover edition coming out as well or do we have to wait? – because I hate it when your favorite book falls apart on your 15th read of it (so do I! – DM). The Explicarium better be long as well, I’ve read that more times than the book.”
That warms the cockles of me heart, Mr. Missfitt – I have to say the Explicariums are my favourite part of the books too. So chuffed you like ‘em too. As to your questions: hard cover will be coming out first then paperback and I am afraid the Explicarium for Lamplighter may well be shorter – I am told it is a cost thing, that the story of Lamplighter itself being longer impacts on the length of the end matter. But you never know: with the drastic re-write required of Lamplighter as it stands currently, more room for the Explicarium may only be a few deletions of a chapter away.
Daisy Girl says: “I recently did a few days work experience at Omnibus Books and Dyan eagerly showed me your book and told me to read it (which I'm still doing)... it's interesting the changes that different countries made to the cover art and title. Do you have a favourite?”
How can I choose between them all? Each time the publisher has done their utmost to make a beautiful book. I like them all yet as it happens I do have a “favourite” (and I hope this does not ruffle too many feathers) It is quite naturally the ANZ edition – the one made first, right here in Oz-land: it is actually just how I wanted it to look. Being a trained designer has its advantages when you’re an author, and I was graciously allowed to have a major contribution to the whole look and feel of the book – even down to the cloth-like feel of the cover and the two ribbons – one to mark your place in the story and one to mark your place in the Explicarium (non-Australian readers – other than those wonder folk from Germany - will not know what I am talking about, but if you get a chance to obtain an ANZ edition I highly recommend it, it is the closet to my “vision” of how the book should be – see image)
For me writing a book is not just about the text, it is also the process of illustrating and designing the cover, of the character studies and the density of information at the back, of painstakingly constructing maps from a blank page. Speaking of which I can say that there will be (the Lord and publishers willing) a layout of Winstermill in Book 2.
An a nonny mouse viewer asked for a preview of Book 2 – I shall see what can be done. That’s the kind of things publishers get first and last say in I am afraid. Stay tuned …and thanks to another a nonny mouse for the rework of the white stripes number, that's rather snazzy.
... and when you have a chance get along to Inside A Dog for more from me of the blogging kind.
As for breakfast today: I am as yet to have it - yes I am foregoing breakfast to get this out, you heard it first here!
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #008
Keep them challenges coming - it actually helps me make the Hc better.
positive exclamations = esteemed and wondrous come to mind, also blithe or blithely though this is more used for good things received from an urchin or nuglung, from the better kind of monster – though don’t tell them I said that else I be carried of to hang as a sedorner.
negative exclamations = blighted is probably the most common, often pre-fixed with such things as “twice” or “thrice”, blasted is another or filthy.
(Thank you, Winter, for both of these: I feel i have not done it full justice so i might revisit the problem some time soon...)
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
As for breakfast today: I am as yet to have it - yes I am foregoing breakfast to get this out, you heard it first here!
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #008
Keep them challenges coming - it actually helps me make the Hc better.
positive exclamations = esteemed and wondrous come to mind, also blithe or blithely though this is more used for good things received from an urchin or nuglung, from the better kind of monster – though don’t tell them I said that else I be carried of to hang as a sedorner.
negative exclamations = blighted is probably the most common, often pre-fixed with such things as “twice” or “thrice”, blasted is another or filthy.
(Thank you, Winter, for both of these: I feel i have not done it full justice so i might revisit the problem some time soon...)
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Merry New Thing!
Well soooooo long has past and not a peep from me and all I can say to that is Book 2 is done!!! It is in the hands of editors! ... and it is definitely much longer than Foundling – currently 33 chapters (though Celia, my editor here in OZ, may have something to say about that … we shall see.)
So I am back to blogging and thank you so much to all the questions and encouragements. I shall endeavour to answer all queries put to me in the very near future.
So I wish a Merry Late-Christmas & HAPPY NEW THINGY! to you all and I look forward to more frequent posting from me - so you can too.
Oh, and before I forget, this morning for breakfast I had Nutri-Grain [TM]
Watch this space for more Half-Continent words for every-day items, returning very soon...
So I am back to blogging and thank you so much to all the questions and encouragements. I shall endeavour to answer all queries put to me in the very near future.
So I wish a Merry Late-Christmas & HAPPY NEW THINGY! to you all and I look forward to more frequent posting from me - so you can too.
Oh, and before I forget, this morning for breakfast I had Nutri-Grain [TM]
Watch this space for more Half-Continent words for every-day items, returning very soon...
Monster Blog Tattoo.
A new entry at last! ... also, I reckon I should have called this page the above - except that people might find it harder to discover.
MBT Act 2: Lamplighter is certainly coming along, will be of greater girth than Foundling, but i warn all those who hated the 'Explicarium' - it is the plan to have another, so watch out at the rear parts of the tome: the story will be ending sooner than you think... and for those who love it, well there will be more.
I reckon a sneek preview might be in order, so here is an illo (that's what we call them in 'The Biz'...) of a new character. Let me introduce Threnody... but that's all I say on her.
Madbomber asks: "I have a question, what games do people play in HC? I'm thinking particularly in Taverns, when they want to gamble with one another. Dice or cards, or something else?"
Well, first the rivet counting: there are no such things as 'taverns' in the Hc, there are ale-houses, wine-shops, rum-stops, and of course way-houses - amongst other places. But as to what you are actually asking, checkers is a popular pass time - played for money, of course - many types of card games: casino, lesquin, rustic dig; plus, at the right places billiards is provided. More illicit 'games' include the fighting of various animals against each other, a pass-time which has connexions with the dark trades.
For breakfast I had Vita Brits [TM] and sultanas, swilled down with a delicious pineapple and strawberry smoothie my spectacular wife made for me. Yes marriage agrees with me indeed - and not because of the food! but the care, the new life-lessons.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #006
Thank you to two of my regular blog-buddies for yet more of a challege!
rainbow = well, just rainbow, sorry, though if I wanted to get really technical, a habilist might term it a luxicromatofornix.
university = hmm, as a broad term you might have a collegium or bibliotheca where many kinds of habilist will go - for example: a tungolatrium for the study of tungolitry (what we would call 'astronomy'). Add to this, however, that skolds and some dispensurists train at a rhombus, and physicians and surgeons at a physactery, mathematicians will study at an abacus, and concometrists at an athenaeum... and so it goes.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
MBT Act 2: Lamplighter is certainly coming along, will be of greater girth than Foundling, but i warn all those who hated the 'Explicarium' - it is the plan to have another, so watch out at the rear parts of the tome: the story will be ending sooner than you think... and for those who love it, well there will be more.
I reckon a sneek preview might be in order, so here is an illo (that's what we call them in 'The Biz'...) of a new character. Let me introduce Threnody... but that's all I say on her.
Madbomber asks: "I have a question, what games do people play in HC? I'm thinking particularly in Taverns, when they want to gamble with one another. Dice or cards, or something else?"
Well, first the rivet counting: there are no such things as 'taverns' in the Hc, there are ale-houses, wine-shops, rum-stops, and of course way-houses - amongst other places. But as to what you are actually asking, checkers is a popular pass time - played for money, of course - many types of card games: casino, lesquin, rustic dig; plus, at the right places billiards is provided. More illicit 'games' include the fighting of various animals against each other, a pass-time which has connexions with the dark trades.
For breakfast I had Vita Brits [TM] and sultanas, swilled down with a delicious pineapple and strawberry smoothie my spectacular wife made for me. Yes marriage agrees with me indeed - and not because of the food! but the care, the new life-lessons.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #006
Thank you to two of my regular blog-buddies for yet more of a challege!
rainbow = well, just rainbow, sorry, though if I wanted to get really technical, a habilist might term it a luxicromatofornix.
university = hmm, as a broad term you might have a collegium or bibliotheca where many kinds of habilist will go - for example: a tungolatrium for the study of tungolitry (what we would call 'astronomy'). Add to this, however, that skolds and some dispensurists train at a rhombus, and physicians and surgeons at a physactery, mathematicians will study at an abacus, and concometrists at an athenaeum... and so it goes.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
I am the nerdiest nerd that ever did nerd.
Hello deliberate friends and accidental visitors, "Well betide you", as is often said in the Hc. Thank you to those who have offered well-wishes at my nuptials. Sure am a lot calmer since that sweet, strange day... so much so people are commenting. Enough of that.
Had a great session with Dyan (my wonderful, pain-in-the-posterior, insightful slave-driving publisher at Omnibus here is South Terra Australis - which is a tautology, actually) a few days ago, feeling uber güt about Book 2 - certainly more happening now Rossamünd is at Winstermill. Hope people dig it when done.
A friend of mine, Andre, asked me by email, "maybe it's answered in the last couple of chapters, but what is the importance of wearing a hat for travellers? maybe I missed it..." Good question, I say, and here is an answer:
Hats are worn a) for protection as most have at least a proofed headband in them, and b) because it's the done thing for polite people to do, see as bad manners to not to have a hat upon your pate when out of doors. No other significance. (at this stage...)
As to the football 'league' of the Hc (madbomber) : it is actually more like soccer or Gaelic football - more European, and a fully fledge 'league' does not exist in Rossamünd's time, but is an advent of later centuries, though there are smaller, privately organised competions hereabouts. The whole idea is not fully formed yet - beyond team names (need to dust this stuff off and revisit, one of the MANY loose threads that await more fiddle-faddling.) As for black-&-red (sable and rouge = "shrewdness & eagerness") mottle for the best team, well of course - though rouge and leuc ("justice & integrity") might have something to say about that... Hmm, project!
(Get your orders in now for team names and colours, while idea is still coagulating in my soul!)
Kaollaku asks: "If MBT grows in popularity, like to where it is a well know book with a large fan base, will you consider a movie?"
Well, truth is, it is currently under consideration for an opption but it is very early days - so breath holding is unadvised. Still, I'm excited. Will keep you posted on this'un.
Two questions from random missfit:
1/ "I was just wondering, does Hc have its own number system?"
I am sure there were (may still even are) cultures surrounding the Hc that have unique or unusual methods of counting (my favourite is prime numbers 1 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23...), but the standard number system in the Hc itself as of the time of Rossamünd is as our own, perhaps with a little more use of what we call 'Roman' numerals (or capital-numbers in Hc)
2/ "if the Hc was on earth what sort of time is it set in?? (or the main type of weapons used)"
I always hesitate to answer what time on earth questions, simply because I am keen for things to be about the Hc in and of itself - making corollaries with our own world surely ruins a little of the charm. Yes? No? Let's just say that, for reasons of plausability, I use 1815 in our world history as a technology cut off for my ideation - to check if certain mechanisms or systems are 'allowable'. But don't be going "oh so it's 1815 our time, cause you would be off there, that's just my "no greater than" mark... Am I making any sense??? As to main weapons - well, read on. If it is not clear already after book 1, I hope the sense of most used anything will become more apparent over subsequent volumes.
Which dovetails rather nicely into the next and most commonly asked question.
"When can we expect the next instalment of Monster Blood Tattoo?" Inez
"How long till the next one! i dont think i can wait! :(" Andre
"Does anyone have any word on when the sequel to Foundling is coming out? My crew keep hounding me, and I can't find any word online." Jessy Griffith from yslsa-bk
In answer to this, I'll do my majic revealing trick right here, right now (and you were there to see it happen!):
May 2007 MBT Book 2 - ANZ/ US with other regions to follow
(indeed, I strain away at this very work even now... poor little Rossamünd...)
May 2008 MBT Book 3 - ANZ/US with other regions to follow
*blare of trumpets*
*crash of drums*
There y'are.
For breakfast today I had Granola [TM] with this wierd maple syryp flavouring - hmm, a journey into the culinarily bizarre.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #005
Just one today, only one person stepped up to the challenge since the last post.
honeymoon = well for a start, this is not a common event in much of Hc culture; marriage certainly happens, just not 'honeymoons'. When they do they are typically called congigoes or nuptial-rests.
... and no problems Mr Missfit for any misspelling - I'm an unspecified age above mid-twenties and I still can't spell to save myself.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent, ANZ = Australia/New Zealand
Had a great session with Dyan (my wonderful, pain-in-the-posterior, insightful slave-driving publisher at Omnibus here is South Terra Australis - which is a tautology, actually) a few days ago, feeling uber güt about Book 2 - certainly more happening now Rossamünd is at Winstermill. Hope people dig it when done.
A friend of mine, Andre, asked me by email, "maybe it's answered in the last couple of chapters, but what is the importance of wearing a hat for travellers? maybe I missed it..." Good question, I say, and here is an answer:
Hats are worn a) for protection as most have at least a proofed headband in them, and b) because it's the done thing for polite people to do, see as bad manners to not to have a hat upon your pate when out of doors. No other significance. (at this stage...)
As to the football 'league' of the Hc (madbomber) : it is actually more like soccer or Gaelic football - more European, and a fully fledge 'league' does not exist in Rossamünd's time, but is an advent of later centuries, though there are smaller, privately organised competions hereabouts. The whole idea is not fully formed yet - beyond team names (need to dust this stuff off and revisit, one of the MANY loose threads that await more fiddle-faddling.) As for black-&-red (sable and rouge = "shrewdness & eagerness") mottle for the best team, well of course - though rouge and leuc ("justice & integrity") might have something to say about that... Hmm, project!
(Get your orders in now for team names and colours, while idea is still coagulating in my soul!)
Kaollaku asks: "If MBT grows in popularity, like to where it is a well know book with a large fan base, will you consider a movie?"
Well, truth is, it is currently under consideration for an opption but it is very early days - so breath holding is unadvised. Still, I'm excited. Will keep you posted on this'un.
Two questions from random missfit:
1/ "I was just wondering, does Hc have its own number system?"
I am sure there were (may still even are) cultures surrounding the Hc that have unique or unusual methods of counting (my favourite is prime numbers 1 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23...), but the standard number system in the Hc itself as of the time of Rossamünd is as our own, perhaps with a little more use of what we call 'Roman' numerals (or capital-numbers in Hc)
2/ "if the Hc was on earth what sort of time is it set in?? (or the main type of weapons used)"
I always hesitate to answer what time on earth questions, simply because I am keen for things to be about the Hc in and of itself - making corollaries with our own world surely ruins a little of the charm. Yes? No? Let's just say that, for reasons of plausability, I use 1815 in our world history as a technology cut off for my ideation - to check if certain mechanisms or systems are 'allowable'. But don't be going "oh so it's 1815 our time, cause you would be off there, that's just my "no greater than" mark... Am I making any sense??? As to main weapons - well, read on. If it is not clear already after book 1, I hope the sense of most used anything will become more apparent over subsequent volumes.
Which dovetails rather nicely into the next and most commonly asked question.
"When can we expect the next instalment of Monster Blood Tattoo?" Inez
"How long till the next one! i dont think i can wait! :(" Andre
"Does anyone have any word on when the sequel to Foundling is coming out? My crew keep hounding me, and I can't find any word online." Jessy Griffith from yslsa-bk
In answer to this, I'll do my majic revealing trick right here, right now (and you were there to see it happen!):
May 2007 MBT Book 2 - ANZ/ US with other regions to follow
(indeed, I strain away at this very work even now... poor little Rossamünd...)
May 2008 MBT Book 3 - ANZ/US with other regions to follow
*blare of trumpets*
*crash of drums*
There y'are.
For breakfast today I had Granola [TM] with this wierd maple syryp flavouring - hmm, a journey into the culinarily bizarre.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #005
Just one today, only one person stepped up to the challenge since the last post.
honeymoon = well for a start, this is not a common event in much of Hc culture; marriage certainly happens, just not 'honeymoons'. When they do they are typically called congigoes or nuptial-rests.
... and no problems Mr Missfit for any misspelling - I'm an unspecified age above mid-twenties and I still can't spell to save myself.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent, ANZ = Australia/New Zealand
Now for excuses... (and what is with all the dots at the end of the titles anyway?)
Well, having been threatened with harassing for not posting here I am, back at it once more.
But first the excuses - the excuses for no posting for a whole month:
You see, not content with the crazy merry-go-round that writing has become in my life, I decided to up and get married, and have been away on my honeymoon for the last three weeks. A wonderful, bizarre, surprising and very real experience with my beautiful best friend.
Yet that is now all done, and the rush of life returns.
Since I have been gone, people have left such enthusiastic and encouraging remarks, many brilliant insights and questions, and not a few Half-continent word challenges. I shall now endeavour to address all these.
Kaollaku asks: "Any plans to release a version of the Almanac that he carries around as a companion book?"
random misfit asks: "i know ur making another 2 books but have u considered the wandering almanac orthe incomplete book of bogles?"
There is hope that this might be possible, certainly Dyan my publisher at Omnibus Books (the lady who discovered me as it were, who took that risk) and I have talk with great enthusiasm about such things, but it remains to be seen if MBT is successful enough to allow such volumes to be made. Sure would love it, both exist in very rough draft forms. We'll just have to wait and see.
midwishin asks: "Is it just me or does the half-continent have a vague resemblance to the south-eastern corner of Australia. If so, does this mean that Rossamund is traveling to Adelaide, or is it Melbourne? (My bet is on Adelaide.)"
Yes indeed the Hc does quite intentionally have resemblance to the south-east of Oz. Being raised in Adelaide has shaped my instinctive internal landscape and I naturally find it the foundation for an imagined world. That being said, the connection is not absolute, so High Vesting is not a corollary for Adelaide (that honour belongs more to Brandenbrass, but even then the compass points are turned on their heads = north is south, south is north), neither is Wörms or Gottingenin a proxy for Melbourne. The landscape of Rossamünd's peregrinations is much like the places I know so well, behind the Adelaide hills, from Stirling to Strathalbyn, via Meadows and Maccelsfield - a strange hodge-podge of European and native vegetation, straw brown hills and cool gully breezes. Those who know Kuitpo forest, for example, might recognise something of the Brindleshaws there. It's a well known axiom that a writer should write what they know, and I know these places well.
Even so, I do not tend to transplant a whole real place into the Hc as is - it is more the sense, the impression, the vibe, the general view of it I use, to help make the Hc places more real within, more like a memory of somewhere I have really been than just a vague, hard to grip invention.
midwishin asks again: "The title of the series is Monster Blood Tattoo, however in the book it's always written as monster-blood tattoo. Why is there no hyphen in the title?"
Being that I am a illustrator and designer by training and trade, I felt the omission of the hyphen on the cover worked better visually, and that it would be acceptable to address this apparent 'error' by using the hyphen correctly in the text itself. I did not intend to offend, just sometimes practice needs to be subordinated to aesthetics - but only sometimes, and I hope those who struggle with this will extend me a little leeway for the sake of a nice design.
markus asks: "Quick question: Was the word "Fulgar" derived from the word "Trafalgar"? "
The answer to that is "no". Fulgar comes from the Tutin (Latin) 'fulgur' = lightning, thunderbolt, 'fulgoris' = lightning, flash, brightness -and is also found in fulgaris, the metal-bound rods used by fulgars, coiled in copper (also known as fulgurite).
The Hc was and continues to be conceived for adult tastes - for my tastes - I want it to be solid, for consequences in it to be real and genuinely dangerous, for concepts to feel plausible even if they are make-believe. As a I child I loved reading books that did just this, and so in inventing for myself as a adult, am doing the same for me as a child too. I intend Rossamünd's story to be enjoyed by all, not just children, that though the protagonist might be a child, and the books released by children publishers, I do not want people thinking that means it is only for children - I intend it just as much for adults.
And just a note regarding the Explicarium, for almost every entry in it, I could have included ten times as much information and each of those entries were there only because they occurred in the story itself. There is definitely much more of the Hc to be explored, and I have no intention of covering it all in just the MBT series.
... and I thoroughly approve and am powerfully encouraged by the use of Hc words as handles or in everyday conversation. Very cool.
For breakfast I had Coco Pops [TM] and a banana smoothie (very expensive with banana prices as they are).
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #004
Several folk have taken up the challenge and given me nice meaty words to tackle. Thank you.
football = football (sorry about that but that is the honest truth - I considered this one years ago, even figured out teams that play in an inter-citystate league) though the Tutin for it is follisa, and for a football player a follisator.
tweezers = unguidigia said "un'gwi'dij'ee'ah" or privers.
stethoscope = viscerausculator said "viss'ser'orz'skew'late'or" or cardiausculatologue said "kar'dee'orsk'kew'latt'oh'log".
lighter = flint-and-steel (I gather you mean a cigarette-lighter or such like).
obsolete = hmm, well in one sense the word is just the same but there are vernacular renderings: "gaffed" or "turned to vapours" or "gone to snot" - which is a reference to the Phlegms, an ancient race, the progenitors of the Attics and the Tutins, now extinct, also found in the term Phlegmish science, meaning ancient, hard to understand or defunct ideas.
Is this ok Ninjana, it's been a while I know, but dread of your heckling is motivation indeed!
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
But first the excuses - the excuses for no posting for a whole month:
You see, not content with the crazy merry-go-round that writing has become in my life, I decided to up and get married, and have been away on my honeymoon for the last three weeks. A wonderful, bizarre, surprising and very real experience with my beautiful best friend.
Yet that is now all done, and the rush of life returns.
Since I have been gone, people have left such enthusiastic and encouraging remarks, many brilliant insights and questions, and not a few Half-continent word challenges. I shall now endeavour to address all these.
Kaollaku asks: "Any plans to release a version of the Almanac that he carries around as a companion book?"
random misfit asks: "i know ur making another 2 books but have u considered the wandering almanac orthe incomplete book of bogles?"
There is hope that this might be possible, certainly Dyan my publisher at Omnibus Books (the lady who discovered me as it were, who took that risk) and I have talk with great enthusiasm about such things, but it remains to be seen if MBT is successful enough to allow such volumes to be made. Sure would love it, both exist in very rough draft forms. We'll just have to wait and see.
midwishin asks: "Is it just me or does the half-continent have a vague resemblance to the south-eastern corner of Australia. If so, does this mean that Rossamund is traveling to Adelaide, or is it Melbourne? (My bet is on Adelaide.)"
Yes indeed the Hc does quite intentionally have resemblance to the south-east of Oz. Being raised in Adelaide has shaped my instinctive internal landscape and I naturally find it the foundation for an imagined world. That being said, the connection is not absolute, so High Vesting is not a corollary for Adelaide (that honour belongs more to Brandenbrass, but even then the compass points are turned on their heads = north is south, south is north), neither is Wörms or Gottingenin a proxy for Melbourne. The landscape of Rossamünd's peregrinations is much like the places I know so well, behind the Adelaide hills, from Stirling to Strathalbyn, via Meadows and Maccelsfield - a strange hodge-podge of European and native vegetation, straw brown hills and cool gully breezes. Those who know Kuitpo forest, for example, might recognise something of the Brindleshaws there. It's a well known axiom that a writer should write what they know, and I know these places well.
Even so, I do not tend to transplant a whole real place into the Hc as is - it is more the sense, the impression, the vibe, the general view of it I use, to help make the Hc places more real within, more like a memory of somewhere I have really been than just a vague, hard to grip invention.
midwishin asks again: "The title of the series is Monster Blood Tattoo, however in the book it's always written as monster-blood tattoo. Why is there no hyphen in the title?"
Being that I am a illustrator and designer by training and trade, I felt the omission of the hyphen on the cover worked better visually, and that it would be acceptable to address this apparent 'error' by using the hyphen correctly in the text itself. I did not intend to offend, just sometimes practice needs to be subordinated to aesthetics - but only sometimes, and I hope those who struggle with this will extend me a little leeway for the sake of a nice design.
markus asks: "Quick question: Was the word "Fulgar" derived from the word "Trafalgar"? "
The answer to that is "no". Fulgar comes from the Tutin (Latin) 'fulgur' = lightning, thunderbolt, 'fulgoris' = lightning, flash, brightness -and is also found in fulgaris, the metal-bound rods used by fulgars, coiled in copper (also known as fulgurite).
The Hc was and continues to be conceived for adult tastes - for my tastes - I want it to be solid, for consequences in it to be real and genuinely dangerous, for concepts to feel plausible even if they are make-believe. As a I child I loved reading books that did just this, and so in inventing for myself as a adult, am doing the same for me as a child too. I intend Rossamünd's story to be enjoyed by all, not just children, that though the protagonist might be a child, and the books released by children publishers, I do not want people thinking that means it is only for children - I intend it just as much for adults.
And just a note regarding the Explicarium, for almost every entry in it, I could have included ten times as much information and each of those entries were there only because they occurred in the story itself. There is definitely much more of the Hc to be explored, and I have no intention of covering it all in just the MBT series.
... and I thoroughly approve and am powerfully encouraged by the use of Hc words as handles or in everyday conversation. Very cool.
For breakfast I had Coco Pops [TM] and a banana smoothie (very expensive with banana prices as they are).
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #004
Several folk have taken up the challenge and given me nice meaty words to tackle. Thank you.
football = football (sorry about that but that is the honest truth - I considered this one years ago, even figured out teams that play in an inter-citystate league) though the Tutin for it is follisa, and for a football player a follisator.
tweezers = unguidigia said "un'gwi'dij'ee'ah" or privers.
stethoscope = viscerausculator said "viss'ser'orz'skew'late'or" or cardiausculatologue said "kar'dee'orsk'kew'latt'oh'log".
lighter = flint-and-steel (I gather you mean a cigarette-lighter or such like).
obsolete = hmm, well in one sense the word is just the same but there are vernacular renderings: "gaffed" or "turned to vapours" or "gone to snot" - which is a reference to the Phlegms, an ancient race, the progenitors of the Attics and the Tutins, now extinct, also found in the term Phlegmish science, meaning ancient, hard to understand or defunct ideas.
Is this ok Ninjana, it's been a while I know, but dread of your heckling is motivation indeed!
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Sorry for the wait...
Well I must firstly apologise to any and all who are wanting more of Rossamünd and his confrontations with the wider world sooner than the offered release time of mid next year. All I can add to that apology is that the next book will be longer - quite a bit longer. I hope this makes up for the wait in some way... possibly... I hope...
Thank you to all those who have left yet more encouraging remarks. It so very much helps.
As to a larger version of the map - I'll see what I can do about putting up a .pdf of it perhaps, either here or at www.halfcontinent.com - my STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION web page for all things MBT and beyond - or at the official website. I will speak with my publishers about this. The idea has already occurred to me; indeed I am dead keen for people to see it in its right size, being 1 metre x 780 mm. Even at those dimensions it still has 4 & 5 point type on it. So yes, a lot of detail lost in the reduction of it, but we shall see. What do people think?
It has been offered to have MBT put on a uni reading list. There is a use for it I had never considered. It would be interesting to know how it would stand up to such scrutiny.
Oh almost forgot, for breakfast today I had Allbran[TM] and Milo[TM].
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #003
telephone / telegraph = astrapenunticon or transpositional.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
Thank you to all those who have left yet more encouraging remarks. It so very much helps.
As to a larger version of the map - I'll see what I can do about putting up a .pdf of it perhaps, either here or at www.halfcontinent.com - my STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION web page for all things MBT and beyond - or at the official website. I will speak with my publishers about this. The idea has already occurred to me; indeed I am dead keen for people to see it in its right size, being 1 metre x 780 mm. Even at those dimensions it still has 4 & 5 point type on it. So yes, a lot of detail lost in the reduction of it, but we shall see. What do people think?
It has been offered to have MBT put on a uni reading list. There is a use for it I had never considered. It would be interesting to know how it would stand up to such scrutiny.
Oh almost forgot, for breakfast today I had Allbran[TM] and Milo[TM].
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #003
telephone / telegraph = astrapenunticon or transpositional.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
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