RDF/RSS Feed
Atom Feed
One advantage the writer has–if she gets her copy ahead of time enough–is that she can see and weep over the remaining errors before being clobbered with them by a reader. Because a writer reading her own work when it’s hot off the press reads like a nitpicker, not an enthusiast. Little prayers puff out of her brain: “Oh, please don’t let anyone tell me about this the first week–or tell anyone else, either.” And, if she’s lucky, there are moments of “Yes…that worked…good…uh-huh…and that…yeah, this whole chapter’s fine.”
Because, in the time since I saw it last, I’ve forgotten a lot of specifics. I’ve used my ARC to check continuity in Crown, of course, but reading for fact-checking isn’t the same as reading for flow or for errors or infelicities. Limits of Power is, to my eye, quite clean, but there are words that I would change now, if I could. (Note…not words anyone asked me to change and I wouldn’t. And maybe you wouldn’t change them if you saw both versions.)
Reading Limits after finishing Crown–and with Crown‘s manuscript available to go on with–is a different experience from reading Limits as I was revising it. I didn’t know then what I know now. That presents the writer with some dilemmas with the interior volumes of a multi-volume work. How much do you need to “point” things that will (maybe or maybe not) be significant in the final volume? (Remember that sentence about sheep pulled out of Crown?) This is where outliners have a real advantage…and so do those with the leisure to finish the whole thing before revising straight through.
However, I’m now very pleased with how Limits aims toward the issues, the confrontations, the problems–and the resolutions–in the last volume.
Comment by Nadine Barter Bowlus — June 4, 2013 @ 10:29 pm
I know the pleasure of the creative journey that takes an idea from vague to realized form. I’m glad you are pleased with Limits and its fit with the subsequent books. The insights you share with us give me an understanding of the craft behind the magic that deepens my enjoyment of the books.
Comment by Margaret Poore — June 4, 2013 @ 11:58 pm
It seems like the closer to publication Time gets, the slower it moves. I want the book! I want it now! whaaaa! I am almost desperate enough to go to Spoiler Space.
Comment by sue — June 5, 2013 @ 3:39 am
just got Limits, read it, now need to read it again, slow enough to appreciate it. happy face.
Comment by ellen — June 5, 2013 @ 4:18 am
six more days. ..no bookshops here….and hubby won’t let me drive to Sydney to get a copy! (It’s only 3 hours, OK maybe 4) 🙁
Comment by Sharidann — June 5, 2013 @ 6:49 am
Err release isn’t the 11th of June worldwide?
Would it make sense for me to check out my local bookshop?
Comment by Larry Lennhoff — June 5, 2013 @ 7:02 am
I ordered it months ago on Amazon. I hope they ship it to arrive on the release date, rather than release it to shipping then, especially since I used Super Saver shipping.
Comment by Sharidann — June 5, 2013 @ 7:06 am
same, am amazon prime customer anyway but still…. getting impatient…
Comment by Annabel — June 5, 2013 @ 8:15 am
I have just discovered I can start using my Free Travel because I am Old Pass at once, and not wait until my birthday next week, thus saving myself at least £20 on travel expenses, so am definitely going to buy a Kindle copy of Limits. I know it won’t download until the 11th but even still….
Comment by Ed Bunyan — June 5, 2013 @ 10:55 am
So looking forward to reading/listening to this book. I hope to see your name soon on the New York Times Best Seller list. Thank you for a wonderful world to explore and great characters to cheer on.
Comment by Genko — June 5, 2013 @ 11:04 am
The 11th! That’s a Tuesday, start of my work week. But I have the morning off … let’s see, how much can I read in a morning — quite a bit. I do have a train trip coming up on the weekend of the 16th and 17th, so will savor it then. One big advantage of the Kindle is that I don’t have to wait a couple of extra days like I did for the last one for the hardcover to be in to pick up.
Comment by GinnyW — June 5, 2013 @ 7:40 pm
I have been haunting my bookstore in the forlorn hope that the book will appear before the release date, but so far no luck.
Elizabeth: I am glad they let you have a copy first. I always see the earlier books in a series differently in light of a later one, it must be doubly so for you, since you remember the book in the context in which you wrote it. Put up your feet, sit back, and enjoy! I know the rest of us will.
Comment by Adam — June 5, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
Just purchased both Hardback and Nook ebook. Already done my reread thinking I might do it again…
Comment by Richard — June 5, 2013 @ 11:59 pm
Ginny, there’s some edge-of-the-seat stuff in there too. (And I’m only a hundred pages in.) I’ve a new distraction competing for my attention though, for the next two or three hours: BBC Springwatch’s latest stars, the water rail chicks that hatched overnight.
To pace my reading, I’m also going back over Elizabeth’s old blogs from when she was writing LoP, seeing them in a new light. There is one I half remember but cannot find again – so maybe it is one of the mid-thread comments. I tried asking Google to find it for me but haven’t hit on the right keywords; what I have discovered is that one can catch a plane to tsaia!
Comment by Amanda — June 6, 2013 @ 1:49 am
The only thing keeping me sane as I await the arrival of the new book is me reading the old ones to my boyfriend. I started this journey earlier this year with him by reading one chapter a night. We missed a few nights and he even read me a book, but we are keeping at it. To help him remember in between our breaks we have been naming all of the chapters. This is just one little thing we do to help close the distance between us at this time and I wanted to thank you for giving us such a great story to connect with.
Comment by Naomi — June 6, 2013 @ 2:21 am
Richard – loved the little owl and that very fierce eagle owl last night;;; I’m off to Waterstones in downtown Brussels on the off chance they might have LoP in already…
Comment by Naomi — June 6, 2013 @ 3:54 am
Amazon just came up trumps and emailed the info that instead of waiting until the 14th they’re mailing it to arrive on the 11th, yippeeee!
Comment by Louise Heeringa — June 6, 2013 @ 5:42 am
On the offchance that I might get lucky, I called Waterstone’s in Amsterdam as my local independent bookseller won’t have a copy till next week.
They had one copy! I claimed it immediately and went to get it last evening.
Elizabeht, I just love , love the story.
Now I just need to pace myself unfortunately (and I did) as I cannot read the night through being (thankfully) gainfully employed on a fulltime basis. It does give me a guilt free 2x 20 minutes a day to read on the train though!
But it is so hard to be a responsible adult and close the book when it is time to turn off the light.
And sorry, will post on spoiler space as well because I think I found a nit!
Comment by Annabel — June 6, 2013 @ 8:12 am
Yay, just had the e-mail from Amazon that it should arrive on Monday, so plenty of time to read it before I’m 60! I hope. This important event happens on Friday, but more to the point is that we go away that day and I’m trying not to take any dead tree books with me for weight reasons. So I have cancelled my Kindle order, but if for any reason I haven’t finished it by Thursday night, I’ll download it anyway.
Comment by Gareth — June 6, 2013 @ 11:54 am
Happy nearly birthday Annabel – what a great present! (I hit that milestone early next year – don’t suppose mine will coincide with Crown though – mumble grumble).
Be careful if you go near the extras break room with a birthday imminent, they’ve been known to get a bit over exuberant…
Comment by Eowyn — June 6, 2013 @ 12:44 pm
I can’t decide if I want to buy the book at the campus bookstore (and pay a higher price) or have the DH buy it at B&N near home (he is a member and gets a discount). If I buy it at the store, I can read it during the breaks in History Fair. If he gets it, I save a little money and can use the fair breaks to re-read something else that I will be able to drop when the action starts again more easily than I suspect Limits will let me. I’ve already finished my re-read of Echo’s and have all sorts of questions about what will happen with [XYZ] and how [ABC] will resolve.
Comment by GinnyW — June 7, 2013 @ 1:07 pm
Richard,
I am on the edge of the seat enough waiting for the book to come out.
Once I get it, I plan on curling up in my favorite chair with a nice tall glass of cold tea, and staying there until all my questions are answered. Now I have to get a good many things done to block out the necessary time…
Comment by Richard — June 9, 2013 @ 7:10 am
Naomi (#15) I didn’t see the owls then but have now, on iPlayer. Thank you.
(They were on not the main show I watched but the Springwatch Unsprung aftershow that I hadn’t stayed on for. Having a book to get back to might just have had something to do with that!)
Comment by Richard — June 10, 2013 @ 3:05 am
Elizabeth! Isn’t it about time your web guru put Limits of Power onto the Paksworld dot com home page? – and the Fiction In Print page? It isn’t even on the Fiction Forthcoming tag right now.
Comment by Moira — June 10, 2013 @ 11:22 am
Amazon guaranteed delivery date of June 11 – just got the email. I’m jealous of y’all that got early bird copies (and grateful that you’re sticking to the Spoiler thread!)
Can’t wait. I have a brand new furry kid to look after, but she’ll have to learn that books are important, too! And not to be chewed on, or at least not with doggie teeth.
Did I mention that I can’t wait? 🙂
Comment by Chuck — June 10, 2013 @ 6:46 pm
Got the Amazon delivery today instead of having to wait until tomorrow! Yeah!
Comment by Jenn — June 11, 2013 @ 7:45 am
Still waiting…..
Comment by Margaret — June 11, 2013 @ 8:18 am
Just bought and downloaded my copy of Limits from B&N. Only reason I’m not already on page 3 is, I’m currently on page 143 of “House of Steel” by David Weber.
Comment by Sharidann — June 11, 2013 @ 9:53 am
Is house of steel good ?
I have it but I am not in a SF mood at the moment, more in a Fantasy mood.
Comment by Blindcat — June 11, 2013 @ 10:24 am
Hope there is going to be an Audible version. Usually they release on the same day, but no Limits of Power in the new releases for today. Sigh.
Comment by elizabeth — June 11, 2013 @ 10:35 am
Blindcat: Yes, there’s an Audible version; I have my copies.
Comment by Jonathan Schor — June 11, 2013 @ 1:30 pm
Limits of Power – The King creates a PUC.
Just got the download on Kindle – good stuff.
Comment by Corinne — June 11, 2013 @ 3:00 pm
I just got the email that it is in the mail. Happy dance! 🙂
Comment by Karen — June 11, 2013 @ 4:36 pm
My mouth is salivating over the book other work won’t let me read, but I had to share the fact that your own auspicious day met the moment when Temple Grandin made headlines in the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-temple-grandin-20130611-dto,0,2848012.htmlstory
May this be an auspicious sign for both of your futures. 😀
Comment by Moira — June 11, 2013 @ 9:02 pm
Majorly bummed – I just checked on my promised delivery, and they delivered it to the building management office (long since closed for the day) and made no attempt to deliver to my 3rd floor apartment.
Grrrr.
Oh well, I’ll get it tomorrow.
Spare a fleeting thought, all you happily ensconced devourers of LoP, for those of us bereft and bewildered, still waiting. 🙁
Comment by Lise — June 12, 2013 @ 8:10 am
Well, I just found out my parents are still into Paksworld. As soon as I go to bed, my father nabs LoP and reads. My mother is re-reading from the start. Unfortunately, my brother still refuses to read the books so we have to be polite and not discuss them for hours 🙁
Thank you so much letting us explore this amazing world. I got hooked when my mother left Deed in the bathroom four years ago and I am still just as hooked.
Comment by s.e. — June 12, 2013 @ 8:47 am
I read the first chapter as a downloaded sample from amazon. It was great (and too short of course). Can’t decide if we are buying the ebook or waiting to get one of the copies from the library. Both dh and I will be reading this:)
Comment by GinnyW — June 12, 2013 @ 10:09 am
It arrived! And what amazing developments! I will be lost in the book for a while.
Comment by Genko — June 12, 2013 @ 10:21 am
Yum!
Comment by iphinome — June 12, 2013 @ 3:11 pm
got a shipping notice from amazon this morning, looks like they only sat on it for a day this time. Progress!
Comment by Doug — June 14, 2013 @ 9:31 am
BlindCat I got my Audiobook version from Audible but I had to do a search for the title. For some reason it’s still not listed in their New Releases section (as of Jun 14) when I checked this morning.
Comment by Blindcat — June 16, 2013 @ 7:28 am
Thanks Elizabeth and also thanks Doug. At the time I searched it didn’t even come up with an advanced search for title or author. I guess they were just a bit late in posting it and then it takes a bit for new titles to show up in category lists like ‘Just Added’, I was just a bit nervous after the last Ilona Andrews release had the audio version delayed for months due to a switch in production house and then finding out that the last two of Devon Monk’s Allie Beckstrom series were never recorded also because of issues with the same production house. The Kindle iOS app is now accessible for blind users, so I could have gone that way if I had to, but I will always take a human performance over a synthetic voice reading whenever possible.
I am now almost 2/3 through the book and loving every moment of it. Only problem is that I can’t seem to slow myself down, so I may have to find something else to cover the gap until the next Iron Druid book comes out next week.
Comment by GinnyW — June 18, 2013 @ 3:46 pm
Blindcat
If you have the time, Limits is worth reading twice. A lot of things are more significant when you know the ending.
Comment by patrick — June 23, 2013 @ 1:15 pm
I’ve been avoiding the blog for a while until I could read my copy, which did not arrive until June 18. That late delivery time I take that as a good sign for heavy preorder Amazon sales. With light sales, they could have shipped them all the first day. Heavy sales should help her publisher step up to her future book proposals, allowing us all to enjoy more stories in Paksworld.
I’m guessing my late shipment was due to not being a special category customer. I just wait until there are $25 worth of books I want and get my free delivery that way.
There is so much in Limits that I’ll wait to comment until I’ve had more time to digest and review the implications.