On the loose in New York

On the loose in New York

Of course, there are thousands of writers in New York, but on Tuesday that was thousands plus one little Pacific Northwest girl, all on her own. What a blast! And how amazingly productive twenty-four hours can be.

First, the wonderful Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman hopped a subway to come and meet me for dinner at a really cool Greek place--not fancy, great food, and of course perfectly lovely conversation.

Second, the writer of MARRYING MOZART, ebullient and friendly Stephanie Cowell, also hopped a subway to meet me for coffee Tuesday morning. We share a fascination with Mozart, and of course we both write about him. Stephanie knows a LOT about this composer, and she is also, like yours truly, a retired singer. We discovered we have a lot in common. Then, like a true New Yorker, she walked with me all the way to West 35th, for my lunch with my agent.

Lunch was wonderful, at a restaurant called Uncle Jack's. Sounds like a steak place, doesn't it? But it's very white-table-cloth and extra waiters. Had lobster bisque and sashimi tuna. Oh, and an encouraging talk about what's to come next in the career of la Marley.

I delivered some page proofs to Ace, and had a nice, quiet meeting with my editor, and then a struggle to get a taxi back uptown. Okay, this was interesting: cab drivers go off shift at 5:00 p.m. I was on Hudson Street, quite far downtown. Four different cabs stopped for me, but when they found out I needed to go back to my hotel on W. 51st, they turned me down! Apparently they thought the ride would keep them working past their shift change! Gee. I guess they don't need the work that much.

But, ultimately, a cabbie carried me back to my hotel for my bags, and then another one got me close to Grand Central, but not all the way. The UN is meeting! New York was hopping busy, cops everywhere. So I schlepped two suitcases and my briefcase up the sidewalk, downstairs into Grand Central, across that stupendous marble lobby, often with help from kindly gentlemen taking pity on a lost-looking refugee from the rainforest. Perspiring and not a little doubtful, I made it on to my train for Connecticut--more help from kind strangers--and here I am. Yes, I know I should travel light, but I needed a whole bunch of stuff for this trip!

The Long Ridge Writers Group orientation begins tonight, and I have some work to do. Thank goodness I have a day to rest!

Freelancing again

I turned it in. AIRS OF NIGHT AND SEA is now in someone else's hands. I feel relieved, sad, and hopeful.

Since my first novel came out in 1995, I've only NOT been under contract for a very few months! But with my new project, I'd like to write it before selling it. This feels a bit odd, after such a long time knowing exactly what I'm going to do next and who is going to publish it. When one door closes, they say . . . I hope.

Watch this space!

Horsemistress images

This is Allen Douglas's beautiful painting for Airs and Graces. Lovely girl, beautifully realized horse.

This is by artist Kevin Radthorne, just having fun with my characters. Darker, edgier, just really different. Such fun to see a different take!

Buried Treasures

The leading light of small press editors, Lou Anders ( http://www.louanders.com ) sent me this link to a lengthy article, "Buried Treasures", by Peter Heck, published in Asimov's. http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0710/onbooks.shtml

If you're interested in the state of publishing, and the whys and wherefores of small press, this exhaustive article will illuminate you.

Here's the gist. Peter writes: "Whether you call it evolution or devolution, SF publishing has changed rather radically from what it was, say, a decade ago. Most of the changes have been negative in terms of accessibility to potential readers and income to writers. However, perhaps there will turn out to be a small improvement or two in terms of literary freedom as the center of gravity, to coin an entirely paradoxical metaphor, moves to the fringes.

For, among other things, more of the most interesting fiction in the extended genre than not seems to be found, at least by those able to find it, in the lists of the so-called small presses, and in the list of a publisher like Pyr, which seems to straddle, or perhaps in the end will erase, the distinction between such lists and the so-called major SF lines."

He goes on to explain quite fluently what's happening with major publishers (like my own) that's making it hard for writers to write what's dear to their hearts, and forcing those who are driven to do it anyway to choose small presses to publish their work. There are wonderful things about small presses, as I learned in publishing ABSALOM'S MOTHER AND OTHER STORIES with the fine small publisher Fairwood Press. The chief advantage is artistic freedom. The downside is limited distribution.

There's a lot to be learned by Peter's detailed analysis of five small-press books and why they deserved, and indeed, needed to be published, but why they didn't fit the commercial mold of large presses. Pyr's SAGRAMANDA (Alan Dean Foster) is one of the books he writes about, and which now I have to run right out and buy.

If you love the genre, this article is worth ten minutes of your time. But you may have to go straight to Amazon.com and do some shopping.

Extraordinary Knowing

Thanks to rdeck I took this amazing book, EXTRAORDINARY KNOWING out of the public library. Like so many speculative fiction readers, I've been fascinated with the topic since childhood, and it's remarkable to read an account by a serious scientist of events unexplainable by conventional science. Elizabeth Mayer was a Ph.D. psychologist who had an experience she couldn't understand, and in true scientific fashion, set out on a journey to try to sort it out.

Non-sf people turn up their noses at all our books and stories about psi, which as far as I know is our own word for psychic phenomena. I explored the topic thoroughly in both my Nevya books and in THE GLASS HARMONICA. But as I read this book, I'm convinced there are many, many people who have had or who believe such experiences, but they're afraid of admitting them because they're afraid of being ridiculed or losing their credibility. I wish I'd known of Dr. Mayer's work when I was writing "Gathering Genius".

I've always said, about my own psychic experiences and those of my friends and family, that they can't be repeated in a lab because there's an emotional component. Dr. Mayer supports that same thesis in this remarkable book, from a rigorously scientific perspective. I think all of us sf/f folks should feel vindicated!

Riposa in pace, Maestro

The most glorious voice of the twentieth century left us last night. Luciano Pavarotti served as a role model artistically and technically for all of my musical life.

If you're interested in such things, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VATmgtmR5o4&mode=related&search= and observe the relaxed diction, the steady flow of breath which nothing--not even a damned consonant--is allowed to disturb, the forward placement of this great instrument, the erect posture of the singer, and the absolute dedication to the music and the text.There, your voice lesson for the day.

He was the greatest, truly a master. I'll miss him. I'm so grateful we have the legacy of these wonderful recordings.