Romanian Edition of Foundling

Shauki from Romania has sent me this add for the up-coming Romanian edition and I could not help but have a little show off of it. Very pleased too that Corint Junior (my Romanina publisher) have gone with the original cover. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but I am very excited. Thank you Shauki!

Speaking of gratitude, Drew has handed in his review and interview to SFRevu so they are now officially "up" - for those of you who do not want to have even a brief outline of the plot of Lamplighter told to you, I would recommend you restricting yourself to the interview only. Cheers very muchly Drew and the SFRevu!

Audio & previews

I have just got off the phone with Humphrey Bower, a gentleman, a scholar and the narrator of the audio edition of MBT. He had a long list of pronunciation clarifications to go through, which took us about an hour yet only got us about 2/3 the way through the text. Sharing the work in this way is a great joy; Humphrey knows more about Latin (and almost every other language I plunder) and brings his learning into the process, saying what might be the most correct sounds. We do not always go with these but it is very edifying and a joy to share with someone who also loves a bit of linguistic play.

It is actually sometimes a little baffling just how to say some words because they sound fine in my head but come out oddly on the tongue. I have been hacked at in the past for making words too complex, too "wordy" - but when you are playing with language what is the point if you can't invent a few apparently unpronouncables [not a real word].

So, spare a thought for Humphrey this week, clambering through the tangled texts of Lamplighter.

On another positive, Drew has put up a preview of his review of Book 2 - a very mild bit of spoilage (if you don't mind me saying so, Drew) just for those who want to be completely fresh when they read the Lamplighter (is it just me or does April/May seem like forever away..? Probably not very helpful of me to say that... We are getting there, not much longer now really).

Also, upon advice from my wife, I have grown a beard for the first time in my life. I feel very manly, very Ernest Hemingway.

My word for the day: Chastened.

After my bout of spleen yesterday, and the generous responses (especially that of Perry Middlemiss from Matilda - bless you, did not mean it to be a direct challenge...) I thought I might move rapidly along to a more constructive post.

This will be in the form of an answer to two related queries, one a direct question in an email from Lisa Perry, a book seller of Seattle, Washington, and the other more a statement of a wish by Drew.

Lisa: "Dare I ask if Rossamünd will make his way to Clementine?"
Drew: "... by all means, more Threnody!"

In answer to Lisa, I said: "...well there are so many places in the Half-Continent he could go and yet I must have what feel to me to be plausable and realistic reasons as to why he might go anywhere. If they do occur in the flow of the writing, thenI find myself having to go places I had not originally determined. ... plot is character in action, [therefore] I must let my characters go where they will go and not force them by my own purposed domination. SO in short, if I can get Rossamünd to Clementine I surely will go. If not, then, Lord willing, there might always be other books about other folks doing so instead."

This ties into Drew's notion of continuing Threnody (or any other character) through further book(s); that I find characters tend to have a gravity of their own (pretty much what I just said) and struggle to know how to include them in the story if Rossamünd's journey takes him out of their plausible range. Still, if I can some how fudge it I most surely will. It could be said that forcing something (only ever so slightly though) is fine as long as it is invisible and seems realistic. I may well be wrong, of course: I am testing this theory out even now in Book 3.

My friend Will (the fellow in the dedication of Book 1) and I have this joke about the "Considine Tea-party", where Rossamünd goes to the Considine and every favourite or interesting character from the books starts turning up "Oh look, its Fouracres with a special delivery only he could bring for no apparent reason!", "Oh hello Poundinch, would you like a towel?" - that kind of thing. It is to dream. (This is Half-Continent nerd humour: we laugh for hours...well, minutes anyway)

I reckon my ultimate H-c adventure, destroy-the-evil-overlord party would be Rossamünd (as he is in latter parts of the story, ie: a tad more clued in), Europe, Fouracres, Sebastipole, Aubergene, Doctor Crispus, Threnody, Dolours, Fransitart, Craumpalin and Freckle for comic relief and heavy lifting. Does any one else have a similar preferred line up?

On a final note, Jonathan was wondering: "...is this series going to stop at 3 books? I remember you saying that, I think, but I am hoping that due to the attention you have received, that things may have changed. Can you inform me please?"

Well, given that Book 1 was originally going to be the only book, that the trip to Winstermill was meant to only take 3 or so chapters and Rossamünd be done with the lighters at the end, I cannot rule out the MBT story taking more than three books to tell. My publisher here in Oz certainly has put it to me to consider Book 4. Reluctant at first, I do so a little more happily: a goodly way into Book 3 I can see it being possible for the story to need one more volume, but there is currently no way for me to know for sure. In short I shall say, it might not.

Yet even if MBT is done in three, there will (I most sincerely hope) be other citizens' of the Half-Continent stories to tell (does that even make sense?). I surely have other stories crowding around my mind - really depends if anyone will continue to publish me as much as any other factor. Here is hoping...