RDF/RSS Feed
Atom Feed
The Orbit UK edition of Crown of Renewal arrived in a box on my front porch this afternoon. Great gloating ensued. If I ever get over the thrill of opening a box and finding !my books! inside, I should quit writing…new books deserve that excitement. Husband grabbed one and opened it. I grabbed one and opened it. I didn’t read beyond the first few pages (yes, the story is still there and has not turned into someone else’s story, perhaps about the life of a stockbroker who is dissatisfied with his teenage son and his manager) because I had Other Stuff to do.
The point is that actual books on actual paper do exist now…they’ve been printed and bound, and those of you who are getting the UK paper edition can be reassured that the books exist and will show up in bookstores (I hope) and your doorstep (and your e-readers) in a timely fashion.
I suspect the US edition also exists, or will be back from the bindery soon, but I haven’t seen it yet. Held it. Sniffed it. Fondled it. And rejoiced over it. This one I have. And so it’s been held, sniffed, fondled, opened, and (briefly) read. This makes up for a week of less progress on various things than I had hoped for and worked toward.
Comment by Linda — May 1, 2014 @ 9:08 pm
Rather like something planted and tended carefully finally blooming, an image for May Day. So tantalizing.
Comment by Susan Malcolm — May 1, 2014 @ 9:32 pm
Can. Not. Wait!!!
Comment by Richard — May 2, 2014 @ 1:40 am
I have a song to sing O!
(Begging Elizabeth’s pardon for the liberty, and some others’)
Comment by patricia n — May 2, 2014 @ 3:37 am
My birthday is the day that I expect my book to arrive. Hooray a double celebration
Comment by Gareth — May 2, 2014 @ 4:20 am
Have both UK paper and US e-book on order (no don’t ask why the difference it’s a long story but it seems to work). I do work on both continents so having a physical or virtual presence on both is good though it does complicate things at times.
Really counting the days…
Comment by Gareth — May 2, 2014 @ 6:24 am
Interesting… purchasing something else on Amazon I am recommended in Science Fiction ‘Echoes of Betrayal’ on the first page and then in Literature and Fiction I’m recommended Kings of the North on the first page. (Yes I already have them from other sources of course). I find it strange that the one shows in SF and not the other. (BTW Much further down the SF list was Limits and Legacy.)
Since (I think) all the things Amazon recommended in ‘Literature’ were SF (or at least F&SF) I really don’t know why some came in one and some the other. Why would one PAKSWORLD book fall under SF (and the other (only) in ‘Literature & Fiction.
Wonder where Crown would appear (excpet that since I have ordered that I guess they won’t show it to me)
The working of Amazon recommendations are strange.
Comment by Annabel — May 2, 2014 @ 11:13 am
I do wish I weren’t going to be on holiday when it arrives (and I am not too sure how much Internet access I shall have to download the digital version). Many, many congratulations, and I am longing to read it.
Comment by Daniel Glover — May 2, 2014 @ 12:44 pm
Only five hand of days! Almost getting down to the Code of Gird count!
Comment by GinnyW — May 2, 2014 @ 1:13 pm
I agree with Susan. (#2)
Comment by John Mc — May 2, 2014 @ 1:55 pm
“The Orbit UK edition of Crown of Renewal arrived in a box”I hope that this means that one can expect to hear from the local book shop some excelent news?Like Susan says wait I cannot do,but got to.
Comment by Nadine Barter Bowlus — May 2, 2014 @ 9:02 pm
Looking forward to the arrival of the official book, and hoping that “the map” was completed in time to be included. Currently making do with the map of Aarenis published earlier in the current series annotaed with place names from the map in “Deed”, and still wondering just which dot north of the Dwarfmounts is Brewersbridge.
No worries, i’m just a map geek.
Comment by Nadine Barter Bowlus — May 2, 2014 @ 9:03 pm
annotated
Comment by Richard — May 3, 2014 @ 3:12 am
“Sing me your song, O!”
It is sung to our Moon by a Paks-struck goon
From out of the online throng, O!
It’s the song of a merryman moping mum
Whose soul is sad …
The original was a dialogue (alternating verses) for a male voice (portraying two characters) and a female voice. One of my favourite G&S songs (outside HMS Pinafore), it is from The Yeomen of Gird (well, close), and grows in the middle with each verse, building on the tail of the one before. Thus if the first runs ABYZ, then the second goes CDXYZ and the third DEWXYZ.
Sparing the repetitions, here (above and below) are the starts of two verses, then the whole of a third. In my version verse 1 has a singular merryman but the repeats in verses 2 and 3 have plural merrymen.
[Verse 2] is sung to the sky with a wink of the eye
To lead its audience on, O!
It’s the song of an authoress, if you please,
With evil chuckle …
[Verse 3] is sung sotto voice by unselfish choice
So not be overheard, O!
It’s the song of a winner who knows too well
(From reading the ARC) but must not tell
Secrets of the authoress, if you please,
With evil chuckle who loves to tease
The importunate merrymen moping mum
Whose souls are sad and whose glances glum
Who sip no sup and who crave no crumb
As they wait to read Crown of Renewal.
Comment by Genko — May 3, 2014 @ 2:50 pm
O Richard, that is SO Bad! As a merry maid moping mum …
Comment by Sully — May 3, 2014 @ 2:58 pm
So…sample chapters soon? Or more snippets at least?
Comment by elizabeth — May 3, 2014 @ 6:21 pm
Alas, the map was NOT completed in time. LifeStuff keeps getting in the way of my going in that room, uncovering the drafting table, and working on it. SIGH.
Comment by Susan Malcolm — May 3, 2014 @ 10:02 pm
Richard, I am in awe!
Comment by Richard — May 4, 2014 @ 3:40 am
The song adaptation had been in my drawer since before Easter, waiting its turn … and there might just be a fourth verse ready for when we merrymen gain our hearts’ desire.
The original has a refrain, with a first line “Heighdy, heighdy, misery me, lackadaydee” (to rhyme with Lady), so if anyone can suggest nonsense words to rhyme with Renewal …
Nadine, taking LoP‘s map for example, I believe the little square on the road down from Chaya is Halveric Steading (Aliam’s), and the little circle at the road junction midway between there and Fiveway must be Brewersbridge.
Annabel, ref your remark a while back, I believe that in Paksworld terms tomorrow will be our Half-Summer day (in the Northern Hemisphere). Here in the UK the sun is out at the moment, as are flowers, all leaves, and my laundry.
Comment by Gareth — May 4, 2014 @ 11:41 am
Richard – Rhymes (almost) for Renewal… fol-di-oodle, accrual (that always seems nonsense to me when people talk about it). I’m-a-google. Sure there are plenty more… I think google ends clse enough to the ewal part even if it is just the el.
Comment by elizabeth — May 4, 2014 @ 1:45 pm
Other rhymes for renewal: refuel (probably not that useful), de-cool (for warm up, also probably not that useful), befool, and bejewel.
Comment by Jonathan Schor — May 4, 2014 @ 1:49 pm
There is no stockbroker, unless you consider the horse dealers in Pan Finir, but there is a banker who has a son – although it appears that they are on very good terms.
Comment by elizabeth — May 4, 2014 @ 5:01 pm
Jonathan: There’s no stock market, as such, but there are markets and some are fairly sophisticated (using medieval and early Renaissance marketing as a guide.) For instance–the regular seagoing trade around the north coast of the Immerhoft Sea, and then from the Immer ports up to the north, and across the Eastern Ocean from Bannerlith to the eastern continent (as well as the fishing fleets.) (There are pirates, so there has to be something for pirates to prey on…) Merchants buy shares in a cargo–and some do that with money they don’t have yet. There are “putting out” systems for some forms of manufacture (especially cloth related)–these vary between Guild League cities, but involve the investor supplying workers with raw materials or tools or both, and then selling on their product in a higher-paying market. There are futures markets in some areas for regular seasonal crops: grain, oilberries, flax. This became more and more possible with the use of paper (or parchment) to move funds around from banker to banker rather than hard currency. It’s common in Aarenis, in the Guild League…fairly common in the non-Guild League cities as well because it’s so useful.
Some of the events in Paladin’s Legacy will help stabilize economies, but some will do the opposite. Whenever there’s a political upheaval, economic structures are at risk. Even if it’s a “bad guy” who goes down.
Comment by Naomi — May 5, 2014 @ 2:14 am
just to let you know the first chapter is in the look inside feature on Amazon Uk, getting very impatient now!
Comment by Joyce — May 5, 2014 @ 8:05 am
Amazon USA has many pages available to sample! It’s going to be GREAT! I can’t wait—and I’m too old to be feeling like a six year old a week before Christmas!
Comment by Mike D — May 5, 2014 @ 4:44 pm
Having looked Crown up I saw that if anyone needs a Deed of Paksenarrion to replace one worn out or to hook someone else.
http://www.bookdepository.com/Deed-Paksenarrion-Elizabeth-Moon/9781841498546 is discounted to £3.97 ($6.59) inclusive of postage anywhere in the world. 1216 pages !
Mike D
Little Egret in Walton-on-Thames
Comment by Kathleen — May 5, 2014 @ 7:29 pm
Use the surprise me link on the amazon us page to get many more pages then the first chapter. Can not wait for the whole book!
Comment by elizabeth — May 5, 2014 @ 8:26 pm
Naomi and Joyce: Oh, good! Thanks for letting me know.
Comment by Nadine Barter Bowlus — May 5, 2014 @ 9:50 pm
Richard,
Thank you for support my hypotheses for those marks. Scampering upstairs to apply pencil to map. Hee hee!
Comment by Sharidann — May 6, 2014 @ 9:10 am
Interrupted my rereading of Limits of Power (begann to read all four books)
Read the few pages available on Amazon.com and must say… For me Christmas shall come the 27th of may this year…
Really, really getting excited about the conclusion of the Pentalogy…
And on my – so far – fourth rereading, enjoying the few clues you spread throughout the book more and more.
Thank you Elizabeth!
Comment by GinnyW — May 6, 2014 @ 10:22 am
Richard,
jewel rhymes with renewal
oolay oolye impatient we yodelaydeeyool hee hee
Comment by Wickersham's Conscience — May 6, 2014 @ 11:12 am
Three weeks still. Hm. Reread the first four again? Any parts I haven’t memorized? Some how, the teaser previews on Amazon have made it worse…
Comment by Richard — May 6, 2014 @ 3:11 pm
Not going to look for random extracts. Not going to look for random extracts. Not going to look for random extracts.
Thanks people, including for “jewel”, but for now (and substitute your own line if you prefer):
Oodle, oodle, misery-fool, dang-doggerel
He sips no sups and he craves no crumb
As he waits to read Crown of Renewal.
Wickersham’s Conscience: how about Liar’s Oath. I reckon that between Limits and Crown has become the best place in the sequence to read it.
Comment by Linda — May 6, 2014 @ 8:57 pm
At the moment I’m not going to look at the teasers … for me the merry month of May is the hectic month of May. If I keep my nose to the grindstone now, maybe I’ll feel free to take the time off to just dive into Renewal without a care in the world, come the day.
Of course part of the grindstone is doing what I really love … messing around in the garden and so forth … enjoying the spring flowers … and planning Hogwarts Day camp.
Comment by Sharidann — May 7, 2014 @ 1:05 am
@ Richard : good Timing for Liar’s oath, but frankly, I can only agree with Arvid’s assessment of Luap in Limits of power…
Comment by GinnyW — May 7, 2014 @ 8:22 am
Richard, I like your timing for Liar’s Oath.
I too want to read the whole book. And savor it. And reread it. Long Extracts are spoilers for me. Too much and too little all at once.
Linda, the garden is a sustaining grindstone for me too.
Comment by Eowyn Ellison — May 7, 2014 @ 12:03 pm
I just finished re-read of Liar’s Oath … I had forgotten a bit in those last few pages (I had remembered most of the story arc but the discussion between mumble and mumble and the arch hadn’t stuck). This weekend I will start the re-read of the Paks trilogy and then launch into re-reads of books 1-4 of Legacy. Now that I’ve finished Oath (sorry, I don’t like Luap and it was hard to read), I should manage to blow through the rest just in time to start Crown. I will try to avoid the preview chapters … though it won’t be easy.
Thank you Elizabeth for sharing this world with us.
Comment by Daniel Glover — May 7, 2014 @ 1:44 pm
Count the days like you count the Code of Gird.
Comment by elizabeth — May 7, 2014 @ 9:45 pm
Eowyn: No need to apologize for not liking Luap. I don’t like him either…he was a pain to write, but I felt that since he was important in the history, I had to write his story (hoping that at some point he would change…but he didn’t.) I think Liar’s Oath is best read as nonfiction–as history in that world. What I learned from writing it (besides that trying to make deadline while grieving the death of a close family member is going to harm the book and give you ulcers) is that I do not like writing viewpoints of people who annoy me that much. It’s not that I don’t understand them and their motivations. I do. I just hate being in their heads & hearts for long enough to write their book. Yet there are passages in the book I’m very happy with, and other characters I’m happy with, despite the ongoing train wreck.
Comment by Richard — May 8, 2014 @ 2:17 am
The Ten Fingers
(undiscovered fragment of a redraft by an M-G sometime after Gird):
1. Girdsmen are not bullies.
2. Anyone who says Girdsmen are bullies is evil.
3. Anyone who is evil, we bash their brains out with hauks and staves.
4. Girdsmen are always right.
5. Girdsmen are always in the right.
6. Anyone who disputes that is evil.
7. Anyone who is evil, we bash their brains out with hauks and staves.
8. Marshals are even more always right.
9. Women …
(The fragment ends here at a blood-stained torn edge.)
Comment by Iphinome — May 8, 2014 @ 3:04 am
@Lady Moon does that make the rest fiction in that world? I knew it! There was no way the Pheleni conquest could have been as easy on the Lyonyians. *snort* As if Kieri the bastard wasn’t going to have to displace the old ruling class to provide for his companions.
Comment by hawkman — May 8, 2014 @ 5:29 pm
My fave bookseller looked up Crown of Renewal, and the info on their computer shows that only the kindle version will be available on May 27. Eventually found that the Hardcover could be obtained, but there is some blockage elsewhere about this availability – we double checked after finding the correct info. Mya want to check this out. I want top 10 bestseller ranking.
Comment by elizabeth — May 9, 2014 @ 8:06 am
hawkman: What’s the bookseller? I can try to snake out the delivery pipeline better if I know both ends (publisher and bookseller) and set the publisher to work on it. OTOH, if it’s Amazon, I’ve heard from some other writers that Amazon has now slowed delivery of paper books relative to e-books…listing delays of 2-3 weeks for hardcovers, for instance, apparently to force readers to choose e-books. But your comment sounds like it may be an Indie store (yay! for Indie booksellers!) with a kink in the pipeline upstream. And that, my publisher should be able to help with. I’ll email my editor as soon as I know which store (which may also define a distributor that’s being unhelpful.)
Comment by Hawkman — May 9, 2014 @ 4:17 pm
I don’t know which site the clerk used to find the release date info. I saw the message, it did not say anything about delay, just that the only offering from you on 27 May was CoR kindle – and nothing available before then, either. Saw no listing for future release of hardcopy. Found the HC info when he tried another site. The bookseller was Book World, which has multiple stores.
I still want Top 10 Bestseller List ranking.
Comment by elizabeth — May 9, 2014 @ 7:18 pm
Hawkman: I would love a Top 10 Bestseller List ranking…naturally. Meanwhile, I’ll email my editor giving her the information you gave me and see if something will unstick itself.
Comment by Iphinome — May 9, 2014 @ 8:03 pm
@Lady Moon, it is unfortunate you got such a bad release date, Crown comes out the same day as _Skin Game_. 🙁
Comment by Richard — May 10, 2014 @ 3:11 pm
Elizabeth, in an ideal world you’d have enough spare time (and money) to drastically overhaul Liar’s Oath for a new edition. Bringing in what you now know really happened at Kieri’s end of the trans-temporal conversation might be only the starting point.
I suspect the story suffered from not having a following book to feed into. A book in which how Luap saved the magelords’ descendants from the post-Gird Girdsmen, and how Seri saved them from him, mattered for more besides being the reason Paks went to Kolobia to be captured by the iynisin. Perhaps we’ll see LO differently once we have Crown.
How many of us would have enjoyed Divided Allegiance if the DEED had stopped there and Oath of Gold never been written?
Comment by elizabeth — May 13, 2014 @ 12:49 pm
Hawkman: Heard back from Editor…she does not know who Book World uses as distributor. Can you find out? She says it will help her unkink things.
Comment by GinnyW — May 14, 2014 @ 4:32 pm
Richard,
I like the idea of a sequel to Liar’s Oath, although I would like to see more of the evolution of the Fellowship of Gird, especially as it solidifies its own organization and spreads into Tsaia.
Hawkman and Elizabeth,
Interesting sidelight about how books get from publisher to bookstore.