I have received an advanced copy of the ANZ edition of Lamplighter and I am bound to say, it is thick, as in chock the back wheel of your car when it is parked on a steep hill thick. Not quite as portable as Book 1 I am afraid. If a work's value is measure by the pound then Lamplighter should be an ok read.
It appears that the galleys (or ARCs) are doing their job - not only is Tara reading it (you show off, you ;) - but there is even a brief review (of sorts) for it online over at Bookshelves of Doom.
Speaking of reviews, I was sent a link to an online review for Foundling by my US publisher recently.
It is positive and encouraging but what is most gratifying to have a reviewer actually understand the Explicarium for a change - it has otherwise been accused of hype, page filling, author's notes other writers have more wit to not include and just plain unnecessary. Well thank you, Olgy Gary, for your insight.
And might I just say how excellent your comments were last post, entertaining and diverting: a most hearty conversation. I agree that labels do bite the big one but I am curious if there is possible a genre title that can be given to MBT - chemo-something... I don't know.
(Oh, and I have to credit the title of this post to my editor Celia Jellet - spake upon receiving the ARC late last year)
17 comments:
gday mate,
its so close...my precious...
I cannot wait to have a big, fat, rich, heavy, hardcover book in my hands! There's joy right there, before I've even opened it.
Phear the poundage! =)
...so much to read...
not your book but the blog! i was only away for a few weeks...
no, it's my precious!
I just can't stop whining. I finished the galley and now want the final copy.
And, as lovely as the over of the U.S. edition is, I want the UK cover. (Stupid Americans, again. Why do we always shaft overselves with covers? Who says brighter is better?)
Greedy. Greedy. Greedy.
Excited.. Excited. Excited.
I'm really looking forward to this. I've been a fan for a while... Which is why, per your previous post, it was a massive honour to have you quote an article I wrote. How on Earth did you find me? I thought. Oh. Yeah. That's right.... I referenced you first...
BTW, retroactive permission to quote me is hereby granted :)
As for terms - my personal feeling is still for Steampunk, simply because it's a general term for retro-tech fantasy/sci fi whether there's actual steam or not. But 'Gaslamp Fantasy' as coined by the P. and K. Folio might be another nice one. Especially since the title 'Lamplighter' brings such pleasing echoes.
Still agree, FSW--that whole "vitorian" thing was pretty much decided by, well costumers!
DM--Is too late to submit my Hc character? :D Also, I thought you might enjoy this, which I found on BoingBoing today: http://floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2008/01/bottled-stories.html
*drool*
Oooo! I love good, long reads. It sounds like the new book will be able to keep me happily occupied for a long time!
I don't know if MBT fits the Gaslamp niche. Maybe Chemo-Revolutionary? ChemoIndustrial? Heh. Just some suggestions.
Rael submit your character, please, very much needful for me to start putting them up properly.
As to labels, I guess the steampunk thing is not up to me really. just as Mister S.F.W. said somewhere (I think on his blog), it is readers who determine these things not authors.
Still some little vain part of me does dream of making something destinct enough that it makes its own niche. Ahhh, dreams...
If it has its own niche it will very quickly STOP being distinct because everyone will be trying to copy it... trying to write in the "half-continent" genre. I don't think I could stand to see a whole lot of poorly executed copies of a great work. I think it's better to keep people confused about the 'label' and retain some of the mysterious individuality.
Hi there everyone. Just finished reading Foundling and loved it. Had to come online to see if there were any information on the next book and looks like I came to the right place.
BTW I'm a PR guru by trade and loved D.M.'s story of how he wrote this book. I hope you have a good publicist whose sharing that story with all the right media outlets! The public always likes to hear about an undiscovered talent's hard road to success.
DM, SFRevu has the ARC in hand; I'll be reviewing it in the next week or two (have a large backlog of titles to review for February). Can't wait to read it.
best,
Drew
Ok, Drew, now I'm nervous...
LOL!
I doubt you have much to fear, DM.
(mwah ha ha!)
best,
Drew
On the good news front: Just found out our new book review editor did keep a copy for herself. But, the old editor must have warned her about me because she left the ARC within my reach upon seeing me bearing down on her.
Joy!
At last I'll start seeing stuff I want to read in my own damned newspaper.
To be honest Yoomz I am not sure who is shopping my "story" about, in the PR sense. I have to be frank that three books in the glow of that first serendipitous moment as been absorbed into the realities of being a professional writer. The thing is I feel more at home as a writer than I did as just an illustrator - very odd.
How's the PR business going?
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