And the blurb can be found here (WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BLACK MAGICIAN TRILOGY!)
So far I only have vague release time information suggesting maybe, possibly May 2010. I know I'll be working on edits right up to New Year.
Recently in books Category
Yep, I've finally finished beating and polishing it into shape and sent it off to my publisher. Of course, there's a lot to be done before it hits the bookstores, including editing, proofing, printing and shipping. But since this milestone is the one that involves the Big Looming Deadline it always feels like the one that needs the most celebrating.
As always, I don't know when the book is going to hit the stores. All I know is it'll be sometime in the first half of next year. For more a precise date, nag my publisher. (Not me. Believe it or not, it isn't true that the more frequently I'm nagged for a release date the more likely it is that I'll know it. If that was true, I'd be asking everyone to nag me for the answer to much more profound questions about life and the universe.)
Info like release dates, signings and other appearances should appear on the website my publisher created for the purpose - trudicanavan.net - so keep an eye on it.
The niftiest little thing arrived in the mail the other day.
It's a rerelease of the unabridged audiobook of The Magicians' Guild, as published by Bolinda Audio. What's so cool about it is that it comes as a ready-to-play package. Earphones are supplied and batteries included (and yes they're replaceable). No need to dig up a tape or cd player, or get to a computer so you can download it to your ipod. You just plug in the earphones and start listening.
I can see all sorts of potential in this idea. Delays at the airport? Unexpectedly need to catch a train? IPod run out of power? Just pop into the bookshop and grab one of these.
How widely available they are I can't tell you, or where to get them, but this is one of those ideas I'd love to see take off. Even if just out of a selfish desire to be able to buy something to listen to next time I'm stuck at an airport with a delayed flight and a flat iPod.
I dropped into Angus & Robertson Forest Hill Bookshop today, which is my local bookshop, and signed some copies. So if you're after a signed copy and happen to live or shop there, I'm sure the friendly staff will be happy to sell you one!
I love hearing what people thought of my books, or reading messages that go "Wooo! It's out!", and even having errors pointed out (it's usually possible to get them fixed for the reprints).
Normally it's better if those messages go in the Guestbook, but it's easy to miss the link to it in the sidebar over there on the right. So feel free to leave a comment here on this post. But do bear in mind that the Guestbook makes your email address available to me if I should decide to reply to you, wheras I haven't found a way to access email addys in Movable Type.
Also please remember, do not include any spoilers in your comment. I've recieved some lovely comments and guestbook messages but had to delete them because they'd give away the story for others. If you want to mention something that would spoil the plot, send me a message via the fanmail address.
This was the view from my hotel room:
Southbank Sunset
I haven't been to Brisbane for over twenty years, when I bussed through on the way to Expo88. So everything was shiny and new to me. The city was bigger than I remembered, not surpisingly, and very cosmopolitan. And not as hot as I'd expected. It was humid, but not the searing 40-45 degrees (Celcius - that's 105-112 degrees Fahrenheit) I returned to in Melbourne.
The first bookshop Adèle, my Orbit guide, took me to was Angus & Robertson in Morayfield, where I signed stock for the lovely Lyn and Terry.
With Lyn
I'd woken up in the middle of the night with a frozen shoulder, possibly due to the hotel bed, and was in some pain so Lyn suggested I try the Chinese masseur nearby. Half an hour later, after the 'cups' treatment I somehow managed to order without realising it, I looked like this:
Cupping Marks
But I felt much better! We headed for Chermside, where at Dymocks I talked football with Byron and signed more books for Sue.
With Sue
And then we visited Mega Books, a newsagency with a big book section at Toombul, where I signed lots of books - in two displays!
With Lisa
And a savvy shopper, Elsa, took advantage of having a real, live author on hand to get a present for her daughter and granddaughter.
With Elsa (photo thanks to Adèle Fewster)
A late but very delicious lunch at Riverside books followed. Good food, good books, great company. I wish I had a shop like this near me!
With Emily
Sampling the product
Adèle, wearing amazing shoes that gave me a serious case of boot-envy.
Next stop was Dymocks Indooroopilly, and the lovely Jo Ann.
With Jo Ann
Then Dymocks Brisbane City, where the store was closed for stock take, but as we arrived we encountered a reader who was trying to see the price of my book, and invited her in. She looked completely disbelieving at first when Adèle told her who I was! I signed a book for her and the shop put it aside for her to return and buy the next day.
With Sam - I hope you enjoyed the book!
With Pam & Jon and lots of signed books
Finally, we popped into Pulp Fiction, where I gossiped with Ron Serdiuk and signed yet more books.
With Ron
After a short rest at the hotel, Adèle took me to La Belle Epoque French Restaurant in Fortitude Valley, where I enjoyed a delicious meal with her, Matt Hoy from Orbit, Ron (Pulp Fiction), Chris (Coaldrakes Books), Emily (Riverbend Books, Rosy (Dymocks Indooroopilly), and Krissy (a reader and writer). We talked (and gossiped) about books, films, publishing and had a very fun and at time hilarious night.
Matt, Rosy, Chris, Ron, Emily, me, Krissy (photo thanks to Adèle Fewster)
All in all, a very enjoyable book tour - and all due to some very lovely, fun, book-loving people. Thankyou to all the booksellers, and to Adèle for being the perfect tour guide. I had a wonderful trip and can't wait for the next one.
Last Saturday I had the good fortune to have my book launched at a fantastic venue by lovely people just before the annual Aurealis Awards ceremony in Brisbane.
My publisher, Bernadette, began with introductions then Marianne de Pierres, fellow Aussie author extraodinaire, gave an amazing speech, saying wonderful things about my books and revealing things about them I didn't even know - like how long they'd been on bestseller lists!
Then it was my turn. I talked about the difficult time I had while writing the book, read a funny email from my UK editor, and tried to keep the thankyous short and sweet, then couldn't resisit finishing with an appalling pun.
There were gifts...
Books were signed. Thank you to everyone who bought a copy, especially those who decided to give my work a try for the first time.
There were photos...
(left to right: Bernadette, me, Marianne)
And then we all made our way into the Judith Write Centre of Performing Arts for the 2008 Aurealis Awards Ceremony.
Back when the awards were created I was the art director for Aurealis magazine. The ceremony was held in a small Melbourne specialty sf bookshop and the awards themselves were certificates printed out on my printer (which were later replaced by the sculptural version given in following years). They gradually became more well known, the venues ranging from a big commercial bookstore's cafe (where you couldn't hear a thing for the coffee machine) and a university theatre.
Then they moved to Brisbane and I 'retired' from being the magazine's art director. I wasn't able to get to Brisbane for the awards until this year. And was I impressed! Now there are frocks and suits, hosts and presenters, and it all looks and feels very polished and professional. But not stuffy - there was a real feeling of celebration for the genres and those who write, edit or illustrate in them.
Over the years since the beginning, I've had glimpses through people involved in organising, convening and judging the awards of the enormous task it is. The organisers did a fabulous job. I now want to head up north every year to glam up, see the ceremony and celebrate the best of Australian sf.
(If you'd like to know more, and/or see the shortlist and winners, check out the Aurealis Awards website.)
Here it is! The first chapter.
The book's release date is still February, and the Australian Orbit team are organising some events in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. I'll post dates, times and places when I know the details.
For now, happy whatever-you-celebrate-at-this-time-of-year!
Foreign language editions of my books are always fun to receive. There's something quite trippy about seeing a book so familiar to me changed into one that is filled with words I can't read. It's like it came from an alternate universe, written by that universe's version of me. But no, it merely came from a mysterious land on the other side of this world. A place I'd love to visit one day.
Most of the foreign language edition publishers have used or recycled the same artwork my UK publishers produced, which is a huge compliment to the artist and designer. A few have created some very interesting interpretations - look closely at the Indonesian editions and you'll see some very familiar figures. This Polish edition is a very clean, uncluttered reuse of the artwork. But what delighted me most was that they've also produced them as a box set. Unfortunately the box of the set that arrived the other day is damaged, but I'll tape it back together and put it on my bookshelf anyway.
Because there's something about a bit of folded cardboard holding the books together that makes them extra special. I'm not quite sure why, but it always has for me. Does it for you?
