Paksworld

I don’t know if this will continue, but there’s a stuffed cow in Book V.    There’s a stuffed cow in Book V partly because of an email I got some months back, but also because, as soon as I got the email, the stuffed cow appeared in the book.  At first for no reason.  I stared (mentally) at the stuffed cow and it didn’t even look back.  It wasn’t a very good stuffed cow.  It was big, and badly done, and ugly, and smelled some.  WHY was there a stuffed cow in my book?    I understood it had something to do with the impetus of the email, but not what it had to do with the story.

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At my friend’s daughter’s wedding,  I met my friend’s uncle, whose first name happens to be that of a character in Paksworld.    It’s a fairly unusual name in the U.S.    Naturally, she was curious why I had given that character that name, and wondered if she’d said something about her uncle, way back when.

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There were two comments in the Moderation box; I thought I approved both of them, but only one showed up in Comments a moment later.    Sometimes I hit the wrong button, and apparently this was one of those times.   Feel free to re-post your comment, if you like.  (I thought it was a nice comment, for whatever that’s worth, since I zapped it.)

Moderation’s empty at the moment, so whoever had a post that was delayed showing up, and still hasn’t shown up–my sincere apologies.  The Moderator (and that would be me) goofed.  Since I look at content, not the names or the post being commented on, (I save that for after, when I’m actually answering comments)  I have no hope of knowing whose it was.  Because some days are like this and I’m an idiot.

EDITED:   Just looked at my inbox, and the comment shows up there…so why isn’t it in Comments, or (in a panic about accidentally zapping it) did I miss it and it was right in front of my face?   (Because some days are like this and I’m an idiot?)

The comment that the Gird & Luap omnibus wasn’t available from Audible as an audiobook brought up an issue that I see a lot of in email, so I’m going to mention it here (not, by the way, as a slam at people who ask the questions, Sam in particular this time.   They’re reasonable questions to ask.)   Maybe this will help (and maybe you can boost the signal about the lesser-known ends of publishing.)

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This thread is for those who want to discuss what they think might be coming up in the next two books (Book IV, which is Limits of Power, and Book V, which has no official title yet.)   Please confine speculation about these books to this thread, and if it gets too long let me know and I’ll open another one.    I am not advertising this space by announcing its existence on Twitter, since the people who already hang out here deserve a chance to fill it up first.

Necessary legal warning (not that I think any of you would transgress intentionally, but…)    Your speculation on what I’ve written may coincide with something that turns up in the book–but this does not mean your ideas were stolen.   Limits is already written…it’s done.  Book  V is very well along, with much of the rest planned out now, with lots of notes on what and why and how.   If you guess correctly what I wrote a year or more ago, that’s a good guess, but it gives you no intellectual property rights in either book.    (Given the intellectual level of this group, and previous experience with your sensitivity to the built-in clues, some of you will certainly be hot on my track!)

I won’t be reading Speculation Space (at least until Book V is done) unless there’s an interpersonal problem that comes up with those posting to it–and I hope there isn’t, but if there’s something going on you think I should know about, you can always drop me an email via the website.

The ensuing days have been busy, and the first essay deadline’s been met.   Though I should be working on the foreword for the 10th anniversary The Speed of Dark, Book V dragged me back (interrupted by watching the Sandy coverage and for friends’ return online after.  Also, there was this 43rd anniversary we had, and yes–we went out to dinner.)    I don’t have the final title for Book V (as you can imagine, communication with Editor has been…er…nonexistent as the whole publishing industry in Manhattan has been struggling to get back to work, along with others.)

But…a critical scene is slowly coming together.    As previously hinted, yes–certain things left hanging in Liar’s Oath will be dealt with.  How to deal with them has been a problem, and how to gauge the effect of magelords who slept through close to 500 years has been tricky.    Is it even possible for them to be wakened and brought out of Kolobia?   What if it’s not?   Will they all just die?  Or–would something kill them in place?    If so, what, and why not before now?

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