To my friends who have left their encouragements I say a most grateful thank you. With the text for Book 2 now two chapters and 20,000 words less (and much better for it) and the deadline fast approaching, your words - and your concomitant patience - have been most excellent and welcome.
I shall have answers to questions in the next couple of weeks.
… and for breakfast this morning I had some wheaty-fruity cluster thingies.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
I'm Back...
Well.
My time blogging at Inside A Dog is now done. It was a blast and for me very frequent (though perhaps not frequent enough for the folks who frequent Inside A Dog with greater frequency) .
Editing progresses.
Time runs short.
Time, time, always time...
The 'mountain' is steep but if I keep looking at how hard it will be to climb then I just will not get anywhere, frozen by fear. So head down and on with todays work: those handful of chapters designated as today's challenge. Tomorrow's challenges for tomorrow.
This brings me to the necessary yet painful revelation that MBT Book 2 will not be out in May of this year, that being 2007. It is more likely to come out late this year (2007) or early next (2008) - but certainly no later than this!
*wince*
I am so sorry to have to do this to those of you hanging in there with me. I apologise for the misinformation several posts ago. That was out original target, yet the process of making MBT 2 any good is taking some time. For those of you who continue with us in this, I truly think it will be worth the protracted wait. I truly believe, however, that a good book late is better than a bad book on time.
For those of you who are still here and have not vacated in frustration at this revelation, Winter expressed curiosity at the origins of the vinegar seas. I sometimes wonder if eagerly divulging my creative process is ruining it for people, like seeing the strings on a marionete or getting that blue-screen fuzz about a spaceship that is meant to be hurtling through space ... I could go on. What do folks think? Reveal all - or keep the mystery?
Having said that I'll answer Winter's curiosity and say that there were two things most directly influential on the invention (if I may call it that) of the vinegar seas.
First came my delight at Homer's term "the wine-dark sea", and wanted an equivalent in the Hc that had a similar poetic impact, a way of refering to the all-inportant oceans that was more that just a technical name. I do not recall where exactly the idea of "vinegar" came from - probably the association with wine - but having settled on that as possessing the right 'vibe' I then had to justify why the seas were named so.
The second part? Watching a documentary on flamingoes I was struck by those multi-hued soda lakes in Africa, the very home of these birds. A conjunction formed in my thoughts: I had actually wondered if the Homer's "wine-dark sea" might actually be deep red in colour, and these soda lakes were red (and torquoise, and yellow and so on) in colour. So perhaps the vinegar seas are actually alkalai oceans filled with all kinds of exotic chemicals to make them odd and lurid hues, that the appellation "vinegar" comes from the sharp, sour-wine-like smell of the various chemicals within the waters. Click. For me it all fitted and so the idea became firmly a part of the Hc.
From there it was - and continues to be - a matter of allowing for the adaptions and habits such an aquatic world might force on people, on shipping and seaside living, and what manner of creatures might lurk beneath the turbulent waves.
I hope this does not ruin the idea for anyone.
And as yet I have not had breakfast, though it is most likely to be Sultana Bran [TM] with a few extra saltanas for increased sultanary goodness.
... and I am still very very sorry for the disappointing news of MBT2's later than expected publishing date.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
My time blogging at Inside A Dog is now done. It was a blast and for me very frequent (though perhaps not frequent enough for the folks who frequent Inside A Dog with greater frequency) .
Editing progresses.
Time runs short.
Time, time, always time...
The 'mountain' is steep but if I keep looking at how hard it will be to climb then I just will not get anywhere, frozen by fear. So head down and on with todays work: those handful of chapters designated as today's challenge. Tomorrow's challenges for tomorrow.
This brings me to the necessary yet painful revelation that MBT Book 2 will not be out in May of this year, that being 2007. It is more likely to come out late this year (2007) or early next (2008) - but certainly no later than this!
*wince*
I am so sorry to have to do this to those of you hanging in there with me. I apologise for the misinformation several posts ago. That was out original target, yet the process of making MBT 2 any good is taking some time. For those of you who continue with us in this, I truly think it will be worth the protracted wait. I truly believe, however, that a good book late is better than a bad book on time.
For those of you who are still here and have not vacated in frustration at this revelation, Winter expressed curiosity at the origins of the vinegar seas. I sometimes wonder if eagerly divulging my creative process is ruining it for people, like seeing the strings on a marionete or getting that blue-screen fuzz about a spaceship that is meant to be hurtling through space ... I could go on. What do folks think? Reveal all - or keep the mystery?
Having said that I'll answer Winter's curiosity and say that there were two things most directly influential on the invention (if I may call it that) of the vinegar seas.
First came my delight at Homer's term "the wine-dark sea", and wanted an equivalent in the Hc that had a similar poetic impact, a way of refering to the all-inportant oceans that was more that just a technical name. I do not recall where exactly the idea of "vinegar" came from - probably the association with wine - but having settled on that as possessing the right 'vibe' I then had to justify why the seas were named so.
The second part? Watching a documentary on flamingoes I was struck by those multi-hued soda lakes in Africa, the very home of these birds. A conjunction formed in my thoughts: I had actually wondered if the Homer's "wine-dark sea" might actually be deep red in colour, and these soda lakes were red (and torquoise, and yellow and so on) in colour. So perhaps the vinegar seas are actually alkalai oceans filled with all kinds of exotic chemicals to make them odd and lurid hues, that the appellation "vinegar" comes from the sharp, sour-wine-like smell of the various chemicals within the waters. Click. For me it all fitted and so the idea became firmly a part of the Hc.
From there it was - and continues to be - a matter of allowing for the adaptions and habits such an aquatic world might force on people, on shipping and seaside living, and what manner of creatures might lurk beneath the turbulent waves.
I hope this does not ruin the idea for anyone.
And as yet I have not had breakfast, though it is most likely to be Sultana Bran [TM] with a few extra saltanas for increased sultanary goodness.
... and I am still very very sorry for the disappointing news of MBT2's later than expected publishing date.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Answers to Questions.
And now to answer the back-log of questions and get on track - for the moment any way. I have answered these in no especial order, just as they came out. Before we go on might I let you know that there is a fairly comprehensive interview over at the BookClub - so head on over or read on: it is wall to wall MBT! Either way, let us get cracking.
Steve said “Hi, I was wondering when the halfcontinent.com site would be online? I just reviewed Foundling and in the comments it's come up that a click and zoom function for that map would be great :-)”
Thank you for the review Steve (!!!) This “world-building geek” greatly greatly appreciated your insights and positive words (and for getting the length / proportion of the back matter correct). I shall now have to read Vance. In the past I have made the rather obvious mistake of getting too much into reviews for MBT – it is a rather rarified atmosphere with all the highs and lows – so I these days I tend to be a little less egocentric and just let those that come my way be enough. A bad review can be crushing (though probably it should not) and a good review (as with Steve’s) so very encouraging, emboldening even. And thank you too, sir, for the heads up regarding a zoomable map (aka http://www.halfcontinent.com/ ) – as stated somewhere in a previous post the project is on the way and is “in the pipe 5 by 5” (10 points for anyone who can tell what movie that quote came from…)
madbomber asks: “I'd like to try and stump you with a word, but it seems impossible. So I'm interested in the gods of the half continent. Who or what do people believe in? It seems that science plays a large part in many of the professions.”
Hmmm, that hoary old chestnut. Mate, Mr. Bomber, you have a knack for the tough questions! I have to frank and say that religion is probably the least developed area of the HC and the lands beyond; it is probably the most complex and perhaps touchy subject. Certainly as you have astutely deduced science or habilistics is a most prevalent point of belief – that man’s knowledge and learning and application of the same will conquer, will fix all ills. This is equivalent of “humanism” I suppose, sometimes referred to as “universalism” or coingnosis (said "CO-in-no-sis") or prosaics (coming from prosagologia – the idea that reason conquers all) Then there are those who seek to raise the false-gods (those anciently man-made abominations) – who might be thought of as worshipers of the same, the fichtärs, cultists eagerly seeking the return of their chosen “lord”. With these there are those are in thrall to the less friendly kind of monster and those who do not hate monsters quite so much and think there might be “good” monsters too – enter those accused as sedorner. Some folk trust to Providence – the idea that there is a God and He will provide – others trust their track to the paths of the Signal Stars – all fairly common stuff. Other ideas not ready for publishing bubble away too, just as they have always done ever since I started notebook 1. The Half-Continent and the world it is in still continues to form and grow – it is no fixed thing and it will take a goodly long time to get my notes into a solid coherent form (of which the Explicariums only tell a part) As for a black and red “football” team, Mr. Madbomber – how about the Bombazines? The Artillerists? The Sappers?
Jimmy Trinket said some encouraging things (!!!) and then asked: “… what advice would you give to a budding illustrator??? I recently gave up a rather stressful job to follow my dream of drawing doodles all day, heh heh. I'm at that point where I have a portfolio and no idea... I'm just not sure where to go or what to do.”
Advice is such a tricky thing and my journey has been so long and meandering its hard to know what to say: certainly persistence is essential. I went through a period of about 4 years doing part time work I hated whilst waiting for illustration work to build up, and it was only the Providential intervention of a television show requiring an illustrator that rescued me from more years of toil. Being an illustrator is very rewarding, but until MBT came along (a decade later! – I might add), not very fiscally rewarding. I don’t think the obstacles to a creative life are “put” there deliberately, but it does sort out those who really want to do it from those who "kinda" want to do it. Get your folio – your “book” – looking slick, get a business card or some such of same quality, get an online folio, get yourself about: advertising, publishing, editorial (by which I mean magazines and newspapers), find an agent (though be choosey who you go with – if at all possible, get advice from those who have worked with them), pray if you dare. Be determined but also have some patience: I finished Unit in 1993 and its only been 14 years later that things have reached this stage. I am not sure this helps much, email me if you need more advice.
John asks: “Speaking of detail, even in the blow-ups in the back of the book, many of the words on the map of the Half-Continent were too small to make out. Any chance of a fold-out map in the next book? Or a separate poster?” and Mr. Missfitt agrees “I also think the separate map is a great idea go talk to the publishers about it!”
A great request – yet my publishers are sitting on a printed map for now. We’ve argued about releasing a map sooner rather than later, but they want to wait for a bit. Distributing such a map is not as straightforward as I thought it might be. Ah well, on with the online map I say which I hope will be coming sooner rather than later… and thank you John for your enthusiasm for the non-standard setting of the Hc, I am glad to have “hit the nail on the head” for you, as it were.
random missfitt enquires: “Is the hardcover edition coming out as well or do we have to wait? – because I hate it when your favorite book falls apart on your 15th read of it (so do I! – DM). The Explicarium better be long as well, I’ve read that more times than the book.”
That warms the cockles of me heart, Mr. Missfitt – I have to say the Explicariums are my favourite part of the books too. So chuffed you like ‘em too. As to your questions: hard cover will be coming out first then paperback and I am afraid the Explicarium for Lamplighter may well be shorter – I am told it is a cost thing, that the story of Lamplighter itself being longer impacts on the length of the end matter. But you never know: with the drastic re-write required of Lamplighter as it stands currently, more room for the Explicarium may only be a few deletions of a chapter away.
Daisy Girl says: “I recently did a few days work experience at Omnibus Books and Dyan eagerly showed me your book and told me to read it (which I'm still doing)... it's interesting the changes that different countries made to the cover art and title. Do you have a favourite?”
How can I choose between them all? Each time the publisher has done their utmost to make a beautiful book. I like them all yet as it happens I do have a “favourite” (and I hope this does not ruffle too many feathers) It is quite naturally the ANZ edition – the one made first, right here in Oz-land: it is actually just how I wanted it to look. Being a trained designer has its advantages when you’re an author, and I was graciously allowed to have a major contribution to the whole look and feel of the book – even down to the cloth-like feel of the cover and the two ribbons – one to mark your place in the story and one to mark your place in the Explicarium (non-Australian readers – other than those wonder folk from Germany - will not know what I am talking about, but if you get a chance to obtain an ANZ edition I highly recommend it, it is the closet to my “vision” of how the book should be – see image)
For me writing a book is not just about the text, it is also the process of illustrating and designing the cover, of the character studies and the density of information at the back, of painstakingly constructing maps from a blank page. Speaking of which I can say that there will be (the Lord and publishers willing) a layout of Winstermill in Book 2.
An a nonny mouse viewer asked for a preview of Book 2 – I shall see what can be done. That’s the kind of things publishers get first and last say in I am afraid. Stay tuned …and thanks to another a nonny mouse for the rework of the white stripes number, that's rather snazzy.
Steve said “Hi, I was wondering when the halfcontinent.com site would be online? I just reviewed Foundling and in the comments it's come up that a click and zoom function for that map would be great :-)”
Thank you for the review Steve (!!!) This “world-building geek” greatly greatly appreciated your insights and positive words (and for getting the length / proportion of the back matter correct). I shall now have to read Vance. In the past I have made the rather obvious mistake of getting too much into reviews for MBT – it is a rather rarified atmosphere with all the highs and lows – so I these days I tend to be a little less egocentric and just let those that come my way be enough. A bad review can be crushing (though probably it should not) and a good review (as with Steve’s) so very encouraging, emboldening even. And thank you too, sir, for the heads up regarding a zoomable map (aka http://www.halfcontinent.com/ ) – as stated somewhere in a previous post the project is on the way and is “in the pipe 5 by 5” (10 points for anyone who can tell what movie that quote came from…)
madbomber asks: “I'd like to try and stump you with a word, but it seems impossible. So I'm interested in the gods of the half continent. Who or what do people believe in? It seems that science plays a large part in many of the professions.”
Hmmm, that hoary old chestnut. Mate, Mr. Bomber, you have a knack for the tough questions! I have to frank and say that religion is probably the least developed area of the HC and the lands beyond; it is probably the most complex and perhaps touchy subject. Certainly as you have astutely deduced science or habilistics is a most prevalent point of belief – that man’s knowledge and learning and application of the same will conquer, will fix all ills. This is equivalent of “humanism” I suppose, sometimes referred to as “universalism” or coingnosis (said "CO-in-no-sis") or prosaics (coming from prosagologia – the idea that reason conquers all) Then there are those who seek to raise the false-gods (those anciently man-made abominations) – who might be thought of as worshipers of the same, the fichtärs, cultists eagerly seeking the return of their chosen “lord”. With these there are those are in thrall to the less friendly kind of monster and those who do not hate monsters quite so much and think there might be “good” monsters too – enter those accused as sedorner. Some folk trust to Providence – the idea that there is a God and He will provide – others trust their track to the paths of the Signal Stars – all fairly common stuff. Other ideas not ready for publishing bubble away too, just as they have always done ever since I started notebook 1. The Half-Continent and the world it is in still continues to form and grow – it is no fixed thing and it will take a goodly long time to get my notes into a solid coherent form (of which the Explicariums only tell a part) As for a black and red “football” team, Mr. Madbomber – how about the Bombazines? The Artillerists? The Sappers?
Jimmy Trinket said some encouraging things (!!!) and then asked: “… what advice would you give to a budding illustrator??? I recently gave up a rather stressful job to follow my dream of drawing doodles all day, heh heh. I'm at that point where I have a portfolio and no idea... I'm just not sure where to go or what to do.”
Advice is such a tricky thing and my journey has been so long and meandering its hard to know what to say: certainly persistence is essential. I went through a period of about 4 years doing part time work I hated whilst waiting for illustration work to build up, and it was only the Providential intervention of a television show requiring an illustrator that rescued me from more years of toil. Being an illustrator is very rewarding, but until MBT came along (a decade later! – I might add), not very fiscally rewarding. I don’t think the obstacles to a creative life are “put” there deliberately, but it does sort out those who really want to do it from those who "kinda" want to do it. Get your folio – your “book” – looking slick, get a business card or some such of same quality, get an online folio, get yourself about: advertising, publishing, editorial (by which I mean magazines and newspapers), find an agent (though be choosey who you go with – if at all possible, get advice from those who have worked with them), pray if you dare. Be determined but also have some patience: I finished Unit in 1993 and its only been 14 years later that things have reached this stage. I am not sure this helps much, email me if you need more advice.
John asks: “Speaking of detail, even in the blow-ups in the back of the book, many of the words on the map of the Half-Continent were too small to make out. Any chance of a fold-out map in the next book? Or a separate poster?” and Mr. Missfitt agrees “I also think the separate map is a great idea go talk to the publishers about it!”
A great request – yet my publishers are sitting on a printed map for now. We’ve argued about releasing a map sooner rather than later, but they want to wait for a bit. Distributing such a map is not as straightforward as I thought it might be. Ah well, on with the online map I say which I hope will be coming sooner rather than later… and thank you John for your enthusiasm for the non-standard setting of the Hc, I am glad to have “hit the nail on the head” for you, as it were.
random missfitt enquires: “Is the hardcover edition coming out as well or do we have to wait? – because I hate it when your favorite book falls apart on your 15th read of it (so do I! – DM). The Explicarium better be long as well, I’ve read that more times than the book.”
That warms the cockles of me heart, Mr. Missfitt – I have to say the Explicariums are my favourite part of the books too. So chuffed you like ‘em too. As to your questions: hard cover will be coming out first then paperback and I am afraid the Explicarium for Lamplighter may well be shorter – I am told it is a cost thing, that the story of Lamplighter itself being longer impacts on the length of the end matter. But you never know: with the drastic re-write required of Lamplighter as it stands currently, more room for the Explicarium may only be a few deletions of a chapter away.
Daisy Girl says: “I recently did a few days work experience at Omnibus Books and Dyan eagerly showed me your book and told me to read it (which I'm still doing)... it's interesting the changes that different countries made to the cover art and title. Do you have a favourite?”
How can I choose between them all? Each time the publisher has done their utmost to make a beautiful book. I like them all yet as it happens I do have a “favourite” (and I hope this does not ruffle too many feathers) It is quite naturally the ANZ edition – the one made first, right here in Oz-land: it is actually just how I wanted it to look. Being a trained designer has its advantages when you’re an author, and I was graciously allowed to have a major contribution to the whole look and feel of the book – even down to the cloth-like feel of the cover and the two ribbons – one to mark your place in the story and one to mark your place in the Explicarium (non-Australian readers – other than those wonder folk from Germany - will not know what I am talking about, but if you get a chance to obtain an ANZ edition I highly recommend it, it is the closet to my “vision” of how the book should be – see image)
For me writing a book is not just about the text, it is also the process of illustrating and designing the cover, of the character studies and the density of information at the back, of painstakingly constructing maps from a blank page. Speaking of which I can say that there will be (the Lord and publishers willing) a layout of Winstermill in Book 2.
An a nonny mouse viewer asked for a preview of Book 2 – I shall see what can be done. That’s the kind of things publishers get first and last say in I am afraid. Stay tuned …and thanks to another a nonny mouse for the rework of the white stripes number, that's rather snazzy.
... and when you have a chance get along to Inside A Dog for more from me of the blogging kind.
As for breakfast today: I am as yet to have it - yes I am foregoing breakfast to get this out, you heard it first here!
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #008
Keep them challenges coming - it actually helps me make the Hc better.
positive exclamations = esteemed and wondrous come to mind, also blithe or blithely though this is more used for good things received from an urchin or nuglung, from the better kind of monster – though don’t tell them I said that else I be carried of to hang as a sedorner.
negative exclamations = blighted is probably the most common, often pre-fixed with such things as “twice” or “thrice”, blasted is another or filthy.
(Thank you, Winter, for both of these: I feel i have not done it full justice so i might revisit the problem some time soon...)
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
As for breakfast today: I am as yet to have it - yes I am foregoing breakfast to get this out, you heard it first here!
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #008
Keep them challenges coming - it actually helps me make the Hc better.
positive exclamations = esteemed and wondrous come to mind, also blithe or blithely though this is more used for good things received from an urchin or nuglung, from the better kind of monster – though don’t tell them I said that else I be carried of to hang as a sedorner.
negative exclamations = blighted is probably the most common, often pre-fixed with such things as “twice” or “thrice”, blasted is another or filthy.
(Thank you, Winter, for both of these: I feel i have not done it full justice so i might revisit the problem some time soon...)
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
A Blogful Butterfly
A brief line to gratefully acknowledge Monster-Blood Tattoo: Foundling's inclusion in the ALA Best Books for Young Adults list for 2007! Sincerest delighted thanks to the 'judges' and congratulations to all the other works who were nominated and/or selected.
Also I just want to let folks know I am blogging over at Inside A Dog as their Writer in Residence for the month of February, so please, head over there for some more blogging fun. I have to be regular there so (as I said last post) it may just make me more regular here.
Editing with MBT 2 is at very very early stages, and the Explicarium for Book 2 is ticking along nicely and will (Lord willing) be done very shortly... and I haven't forgotten those questions still need answering.
Also I just want to let folks know I am blogging over at Inside A Dog as their Writer in Residence for the month of February, so please, head over there for some more blogging fun. I have to be regular there so (as I said last post) it may just make me more regular here.
Editing with MBT 2 is at very very early stages, and the Explicarium for Book 2 is ticking along nicely and will (Lord willing) be done very shortly... and I haven't forgotten those questions still need answering.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Aurealis Felicitas et Bonum
Well, first things: I have just returned from Brisbane where the 11th Annual Aurealis Awards were held. MBT had the great fortune to be nominated then short-listed in the ‘YA’ category for 2006. Thank you to the judges! So off we went, my wife and I, to Brisneyland (one of the many affectionate appellations we none Brisbane dwellers have for that – as it turns out – wonderful city) I have to confess that I had only passed through once before – a days work at an army barracks a long time ago – and had a southerners prejudice: well I was SOOOOOOO wrong. We loved it there! A salient lesson against mindlessness there.
Anyway…
Off we went with a posse of my close ones who have all moved up to Brisy very recently and came out in support of MBT and me. We had a great night. I finally met with the radiant Kim Wilkins, our host for the evening and the author of the Fantastica: Sunken Kingdom series , which I illustrated and was also nominated in the Awards in the ‘Children’s’ section. I talked with Will Elliot – author of The Pilo Family Circus, the winner of both the ‘Horror’ category and the Golden Aurealis! and Juliet Marillier (very briefly as she signed her novel for me) author of the ‘Fantasy’ category winner, Wildwood Dancing – which I am reading and enjoying at this very moment.
I also had a chance to chat with Dr Katherine Phelps who herself lectures on such things as world building to aspiring writers – amongst all her many other achievements and activities. I have to confess I was a little dazzled, but there you go – I suppose I can not expect too much in the good social skills department when I spend so much time closeted away making stuff up about a place that is only real inside my own head. Indeed, I am woefully ignorant of many of my fellow “genre” authors and contributors, and to them all I apologise.
Equally brilliant was the deep conversations with budding writers, and other newly arrived authors, the brief but deeply encouraging brush with the folks of Small Beer Press – so hello particularly to Kelly and Gavin … and to Melaina too, a fellow word-lover whose passion is contagious.
But most brilliant of all was the fact that MBT won the ‘YA’ category. Yep, that’s right – it took the trophy. It is a very strange thing to go from the profoundly personal process of writing, the privacy of editing with publisher (Dyan) and editor (Celia) then find myself squinting into bright stage lights and fumbling out a few awed words of gratitude. It is a strange thing, and as Dr Katherine said on the night, to be short-listed is to be a winner. I am very grateful either way, and pleased and amazed at the recognition to even be short listed.
So to Kate and Ron and all those who made the night and everything leading up to it happen – bleeding brilliant and thank you!
(How’s that for a whole bunch of name dropping…)
As for my ever-patient posters, I have not forgotten your questions - oh no! Not at all. I have gathered them over the long hiatus and printed them off and all… and shall get on to them in the next couple of days. Also, you might want to pop along to Inside A Dog for the next month or so, where I am to be the writer in residence and learn how to blog a darn sight more frequently than I do here. Only good things can result ... Lord willing.
My word! life is just getting busier… Here was me thinking it would become a little quieter after Book 2 was done.
Also: I have just started a dietary change around so be prepared for a thinner DM.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #007
Thank you to two of my regular blog-buddies for yet more of a challege!
sweat = the dribbles, aquicrina or "the quicks" in its vernacular form, or schwess (if you are from Gottland).
biro = in terms of an equivalent it would be either stylus or quill, though if you handed a biro to a learned person from the Hc they might term it a plenatris (the vernacular being rendered perhaps to plint) or atrement. (And thank you, Mark, for being at Mawson Lakes and for the heads up re: the old illustrated herbals currently on display at the Museum of Economic Botany in the Botanic Gardens)
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Anyway…
Off we went with a posse of my close ones who have all moved up to Brisy very recently and came out in support of MBT and me. We had a great night. I finally met with the radiant Kim Wilkins, our host for the evening and the author of the Fantastica: Sunken Kingdom series , which I illustrated and was also nominated in the Awards in the ‘Children’s’ section. I talked with Will Elliot – author of The Pilo Family Circus, the winner of both the ‘Horror’ category and the Golden Aurealis! and Juliet Marillier (very briefly as she signed her novel for me) author of the ‘Fantasy’ category winner, Wildwood Dancing – which I am reading and enjoying at this very moment.
I also had a chance to chat with Dr Katherine Phelps who herself lectures on such things as world building to aspiring writers – amongst all her many other achievements and activities. I have to confess I was a little dazzled, but there you go – I suppose I can not expect too much in the good social skills department when I spend so much time closeted away making stuff up about a place that is only real inside my own head. Indeed, I am woefully ignorant of many of my fellow “genre” authors and contributors, and to them all I apologise.
Equally brilliant was the deep conversations with budding writers, and other newly arrived authors, the brief but deeply encouraging brush with the folks of Small Beer Press – so hello particularly to Kelly and Gavin … and to Melaina too, a fellow word-lover whose passion is contagious.
But most brilliant of all was the fact that MBT won the ‘YA’ category. Yep, that’s right – it took the trophy. It is a very strange thing to go from the profoundly personal process of writing, the privacy of editing with publisher (Dyan) and editor (Celia) then find myself squinting into bright stage lights and fumbling out a few awed words of gratitude. It is a strange thing, and as Dr Katherine said on the night, to be short-listed is to be a winner. I am very grateful either way, and pleased and amazed at the recognition to even be short listed.
So to Kate and Ron and all those who made the night and everything leading up to it happen – bleeding brilliant and thank you!
(How’s that for a whole bunch of name dropping…)
As for my ever-patient posters, I have not forgotten your questions - oh no! Not at all. I have gathered them over the long hiatus and printed them off and all… and shall get on to them in the next couple of days. Also, you might want to pop along to Inside A Dog for the next month or so, where I am to be the writer in residence and learn how to blog a darn sight more frequently than I do here. Only good things can result ... Lord willing.
My word! life is just getting busier… Here was me thinking it would become a little quieter after Book 2 was done.
Also: I have just started a dietary change around so be prepared for a thinner DM.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #007
Thank you to two of my regular blog-buddies for yet more of a challege!
sweat = the dribbles, aquicrina or "the quicks" in its vernacular form, or schwess (if you are from Gottland).
biro = in terms of an equivalent it would be either stylus or quill, though if you handed a biro to a learned person from the Hc they might term it a plenatris (the vernacular being rendered perhaps to plint) or atrement. (And thank you, Mark, for being at Mawson Lakes and for the heads up re: the old illustrated herbals currently on display at the Museum of Economic Botany in the Botanic Gardens)
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Merry New Thing!
Well soooooo long has past and not a peep from me and all I can say to that is Book 2 is done!!! It is in the hands of editors! ... and it is definitely much longer than Foundling – currently 33 chapters (though Celia, my editor here in OZ, may have something to say about that … we shall see.)
So I am back to blogging and thank you so much to all the questions and encouragements. I shall endeavour to answer all queries put to me in the very near future.
So I wish a Merry Late-Christmas & HAPPY NEW THINGY! to you all and I look forward to more frequent posting from me - so you can too.
Oh, and before I forget, this morning for breakfast I had Nutri-Grain [TM]
Watch this space for more Half-Continent words for every-day items, returning very soon...
So I am back to blogging and thank you so much to all the questions and encouragements. I shall endeavour to answer all queries put to me in the very near future.
So I wish a Merry Late-Christmas & HAPPY NEW THINGY! to you all and I look forward to more frequent posting from me - so you can too.
Oh, and before I forget, this morning for breakfast I had Nutri-Grain [TM]
Watch this space for more Half-Continent words for every-day items, returning very soon...
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Monster Blog Tattoo.
A new entry at last! ... also, I reckon I should have called this page the above - except that people might find it harder to discover.
MBT Act 2: Lamplighter is certainly coming along, will be of greater girth than Foundling, but i warn all those who hated the 'Explicarium' - it is the plan to have another, so watch out at the rear parts of the tome: the story will be ending sooner than you think... and for those who love it, well there will be more.
I reckon a sneek preview might be in order, so here is an illo (that's what we call them in 'The Biz'...) of a new character. Let me introduce Threnody... but that's all I say on her.
Madbomber asks: "I have a question, what games do people play in HC? I'm thinking particularly in Taverns, when they want to gamble with one another. Dice or cards, or something else?"
Well, first the rivet counting: there are no such things as 'taverns' in the Hc, there are ale-houses, wine-shops, rum-stops, and of course way-houses - amongst other places. But as to what you are actually asking, checkers is a popular pass time - played for money, of course - many types of card games: casino, lesquin, rustic dig; plus, at the right places billiards is provided. More illicit 'games' include the fighting of various animals against each other, a pass-time which has connexions with the dark trades.
For breakfast I had Vita Brits [TM] and sultanas, swilled down with a delicious pineapple and strawberry smoothie my spectacular wife made for me. Yes marriage agrees with me indeed - and not because of the food! but the care, the new life-lessons.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #006
Thank you to two of my regular blog-buddies for yet more of a challege!
rainbow = well, just rainbow, sorry, though if I wanted to get really technical, a habilist might term it a luxicromatofornix.
university = hmm, as a broad term you might have a collegium or bibliotheca where many kinds of habilist will go - for example: a tungolatrium for the study of tungolitry (what we would call 'astronomy'). Add to this, however, that skolds and some dispensurists train at a rhombus, and physicians and surgeons at a physactery, mathematicians will study at an abacus, and concometrists at an athenaeum... and so it goes.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
MBT Act 2: Lamplighter is certainly coming along, will be of greater girth than Foundling, but i warn all those who hated the 'Explicarium' - it is the plan to have another, so watch out at the rear parts of the tome: the story will be ending sooner than you think... and for those who love it, well there will be more.
I reckon a sneek preview might be in order, so here is an illo (that's what we call them in 'The Biz'...) of a new character. Let me introduce Threnody... but that's all I say on her.
Madbomber asks: "I have a question, what games do people play in HC? I'm thinking particularly in Taverns, when they want to gamble with one another. Dice or cards, or something else?"
Well, first the rivet counting: there are no such things as 'taverns' in the Hc, there are ale-houses, wine-shops, rum-stops, and of course way-houses - amongst other places. But as to what you are actually asking, checkers is a popular pass time - played for money, of course - many types of card games: casino, lesquin, rustic dig; plus, at the right places billiards is provided. More illicit 'games' include the fighting of various animals against each other, a pass-time which has connexions with the dark trades.
For breakfast I had Vita Brits [TM] and sultanas, swilled down with a delicious pineapple and strawberry smoothie my spectacular wife made for me. Yes marriage agrees with me indeed - and not because of the food! but the care, the new life-lessons.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #006
Thank you to two of my regular blog-buddies for yet more of a challege!
rainbow = well, just rainbow, sorry, though if I wanted to get really technical, a habilist might term it a luxicromatofornix.
university = hmm, as a broad term you might have a collegium or bibliotheca where many kinds of habilist will go - for example: a tungolatrium for the study of tungolitry (what we would call 'astronomy'). Add to this, however, that skolds and some dispensurists train at a rhombus, and physicians and surgeons at a physactery, mathematicians will study at an abacus, and concometrists at an athenaeum... and so it goes.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Thursday, September 14, 2006
I am the nerdiest nerd that ever did nerd.
Hello deliberate friends and accidental visitors, "Well betide you", as is often said in the Hc. Thank you to those who have offered well-wishes at my nuptials. Sure am a lot calmer since that sweet, strange day... so much so people are commenting. Enough of that.
Had a great session with Dyan (my wonderful, pain-in-the-posterior, insightful slave-driving publisher at Omnibus here is South Terra Australis - which is a tautology, actually) a few days ago, feeling uber güt about Book 2 - certainly more happening now Rossamünd is at Winstermill. Hope people dig it when done.
A friend of mine, Andre, asked me by email, "maybe it's answered in the last couple of chapters, but what is the importance of wearing a hat for travellers? maybe I missed it..." Good question, I say, and here is an answer:
Hats are worn a) for protection as most have at least a proofed headband in them, and b) because it's the done thing for polite people to do, see as bad manners to not to have a hat upon your pate when out of doors. No other significance. (at this stage...)
As to the football 'league' of the Hc (madbomber) : it is actually more like soccer or Gaelic football - more European, and a fully fledge 'league' does not exist in Rossamünd's time, but is an advent of later centuries, though there are smaller, privately organised competions hereabouts. The whole idea is not fully formed yet - beyond team names (need to dust this stuff off and revisit, one of the MANY loose threads that await more fiddle-faddling.) As for black-&-red (sable and rouge = "shrewdness & eagerness") mottle for the best team, well of course - though rouge and leuc ("justice & integrity") might have something to say about that... Hmm, project!
(Get your orders in now for team names and colours, while idea is still coagulating in my soul!)
Kaollaku asks: "If MBT grows in popularity, like to where it is a well know book with a large fan base, will you consider a movie?"
Well, truth is, it is currently under consideration for an opption but it is very early days - so breath holding is unadvised. Still, I'm excited. Will keep you posted on this'un.
Two questions from random missfit:
1/ "I was just wondering, does Hc have its own number system?"
I am sure there were (may still even are) cultures surrounding the Hc that have unique or unusual methods of counting (my favourite is prime numbers 1 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23...), but the standard number system in the Hc itself as of the time of Rossamünd is as our own, perhaps with a little more use of what we call 'Roman' numerals (or capital-numbers in Hc)
2/ "if the Hc was on earth what sort of time is it set in?? (or the main type of weapons used)"
I always hesitate to answer what time on earth questions, simply because I am keen for things to be about the Hc in and of itself - making corollaries with our own world surely ruins a little of the charm. Yes? No? Let's just say that, for reasons of plausability, I use 1815 in our world history as a technology cut off for my ideation - to check if certain mechanisms or systems are 'allowable'. But don't be going "oh so it's 1815 our time, cause you would be off there, that's just my "no greater than" mark... Am I making any sense??? As to main weapons - well, read on. If it is not clear already after book 1, I hope the sense of most used anything will become more apparent over subsequent volumes.
Which dovetails rather nicely into the next and most commonly asked question.
"When can we expect the next instalment of Monster Blood Tattoo?" Inez
"How long till the next one! i dont think i can wait! :(" Andre
"Does anyone have any word on when the sequel to Foundling is coming out? My crew keep hounding me, and I can't find any word online." Jessy Griffith from yslsa-bk
In answer to this, I'll do my majic revealing trick right here, right now (and you were there to see it happen!):
May 2007 MBT Book 2 - ANZ/ US with other regions to follow
(indeed, I strain away at this very work even now... poor little Rossamünd...)
May 2008 MBT Book 3 - ANZ/US with other regions to follow
*blare of trumpets*
*crash of drums*
There y'are.
For breakfast today I had Granola [TM] with this wierd maple syryp flavouring - hmm, a journey into the culinarily bizarre.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #005
Just one today, only one person stepped up to the challenge since the last post.
honeymoon = well for a start, this is not a common event in much of Hc culture; marriage certainly happens, just not 'honeymoons'. When they do they are typically called congigoes or nuptial-rests.
... and no problems Mr Missfit for any misspelling - I'm an unspecified age above mid-twenties and I still can't spell to save myself.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent, ANZ = Australia/New Zealand
Had a great session with Dyan (my wonderful, pain-in-the-posterior, insightful slave-driving publisher at Omnibus here is South Terra Australis - which is a tautology, actually) a few days ago, feeling uber güt about Book 2 - certainly more happening now Rossamünd is at Winstermill. Hope people dig it when done.
A friend of mine, Andre, asked me by email, "maybe it's answered in the last couple of chapters, but what is the importance of wearing a hat for travellers? maybe I missed it..." Good question, I say, and here is an answer:
Hats are worn a) for protection as most have at least a proofed headband in them, and b) because it's the done thing for polite people to do, see as bad manners to not to have a hat upon your pate when out of doors. No other significance. (at this stage...)
As to the football 'league' of the Hc (madbomber) : it is actually more like soccer or Gaelic football - more European, and a fully fledge 'league' does not exist in Rossamünd's time, but is an advent of later centuries, though there are smaller, privately organised competions hereabouts. The whole idea is not fully formed yet - beyond team names (need to dust this stuff off and revisit, one of the MANY loose threads that await more fiddle-faddling.) As for black-&-red (sable and rouge = "shrewdness & eagerness") mottle for the best team, well of course - though rouge and leuc ("justice & integrity") might have something to say about that... Hmm, project!
(Get your orders in now for team names and colours, while idea is still coagulating in my soul!)
Kaollaku asks: "If MBT grows in popularity, like to where it is a well know book with a large fan base, will you consider a movie?"
Well, truth is, it is currently under consideration for an opption but it is very early days - so breath holding is unadvised. Still, I'm excited. Will keep you posted on this'un.
Two questions from random missfit:
1/ "I was just wondering, does Hc have its own number system?"
I am sure there were (may still even are) cultures surrounding the Hc that have unique or unusual methods of counting (my favourite is prime numbers 1 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23...), but the standard number system in the Hc itself as of the time of Rossamünd is as our own, perhaps with a little more use of what we call 'Roman' numerals (or capital-numbers in Hc)
2/ "if the Hc was on earth what sort of time is it set in?? (or the main type of weapons used)"
I always hesitate to answer what time on earth questions, simply because I am keen for things to be about the Hc in and of itself - making corollaries with our own world surely ruins a little of the charm. Yes? No? Let's just say that, for reasons of plausability, I use 1815 in our world history as a technology cut off for my ideation - to check if certain mechanisms or systems are 'allowable'. But don't be going "oh so it's 1815 our time, cause you would be off there, that's just my "no greater than" mark... Am I making any sense??? As to main weapons - well, read on. If it is not clear already after book 1, I hope the sense of most used anything will become more apparent over subsequent volumes.
Which dovetails rather nicely into the next and most commonly asked question.
"When can we expect the next instalment of Monster Blood Tattoo?" Inez
"How long till the next one! i dont think i can wait! :(" Andre
"Does anyone have any word on when the sequel to Foundling is coming out? My crew keep hounding me, and I can't find any word online." Jessy Griffith from yslsa-bk
In answer to this, I'll do my majic revealing trick right here, right now (and you were there to see it happen!):
May 2007 MBT Book 2 - ANZ/ US with other regions to follow
(indeed, I strain away at this very work even now... poor little Rossamünd...)
May 2008 MBT Book 3 - ANZ/US with other regions to follow
*blare of trumpets*
*crash of drums*
There y'are.
For breakfast today I had Granola [TM] with this wierd maple syryp flavouring - hmm, a journey into the culinarily bizarre.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #005
Just one today, only one person stepped up to the challenge since the last post.
honeymoon = well for a start, this is not a common event in much of Hc culture; marriage certainly happens, just not 'honeymoons'. When they do they are typically called congigoes or nuptial-rests.
... and no problems Mr Missfit for any misspelling - I'm an unspecified age above mid-twenties and I still can't spell to save myself.
Here is a challenge for those who want to take it on: give me a word and I'll attempt to render it into Half-continent speak.
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent, ANZ = Australia/New Zealand
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Now for excuses... (and what is with all the dots at the end of the titles anyway?)
Well, having been threatened with harassing for not posting here I am, back at it once more.
But first the excuses - the excuses for no posting for a whole month:
You see, not content with the crazy merry-go-round that writing has become in my life, I decided to up and get married, and have been away on my honeymoon for the last three weeks. A wonderful, bizarre, surprising and very real experience with my beautiful best friend.
Yet that is now all done, and the rush of life returns.
Since I have been gone, people have left such enthusiastic and encouraging remarks, many brilliant insights and questions, and not a few Half-continent word challenges. I shall now endeavour to address all these.
Kaollaku asks: "Any plans to release a version of the Almanac that he carries around as a companion book?"
random misfit asks: "i know ur making another 2 books but have u considered the wandering almanac orthe incomplete book of bogles?"
There is hope that this might be possible, certainly Dyan my publisher at Omnibus Books (the lady who discovered me as it were, who took that risk) and I have talk with great enthusiasm about such things, but it remains to be seen if MBT is successful enough to allow such volumes to be made. Sure would love it, both exist in very rough draft forms. We'll just have to wait and see.
midwishin asks: "Is it just me or does the half-continent have a vague resemblance to the south-eastern corner of Australia. If so, does this mean that Rossamund is traveling to Adelaide, or is it Melbourne? (My bet is on Adelaide.)"
Yes indeed the Hc does quite intentionally have resemblance to the south-east of Oz. Being raised in Adelaide has shaped my instinctive internal landscape and I naturally find it the foundation for an imagined world. That being said, the connection is not absolute, so High Vesting is not a corollary for Adelaide (that honour belongs more to Brandenbrass, but even then the compass points are turned on their heads = north is south, south is north), neither is Wörms or Gottingenin a proxy for Melbourne. The landscape of Rossamünd's peregrinations is much like the places I know so well, behind the Adelaide hills, from Stirling to Strathalbyn, via Meadows and Maccelsfield - a strange hodge-podge of European and native vegetation, straw brown hills and cool gully breezes. Those who know Kuitpo forest, for example, might recognise something of the Brindleshaws there. It's a well known axiom that a writer should write what they know, and I know these places well.
Even so, I do not tend to transplant a whole real place into the Hc as is - it is more the sense, the impression, the vibe, the general view of it I use, to help make the Hc places more real within, more like a memory of somewhere I have really been than just a vague, hard to grip invention.
midwishin asks again: "The title of the series is Monster Blood Tattoo, however in the book it's always written as monster-blood tattoo. Why is there no hyphen in the title?"
Being that I am a illustrator and designer by training and trade, I felt the omission of the hyphen on the cover worked better visually, and that it would be acceptable to address this apparent 'error' by using the hyphen correctly in the text itself. I did not intend to offend, just sometimes practice needs to be subordinated to aesthetics - but only sometimes, and I hope those who struggle with this will extend me a little leeway for the sake of a nice design.
markus asks: "Quick question: Was the word "Fulgar" derived from the word "Trafalgar"? "
The answer to that is "no". Fulgar comes from the Tutin (Latin) 'fulgur' = lightning, thunderbolt, 'fulgoris' = lightning, flash, brightness -and is also found in fulgaris, the metal-bound rods used by fulgars, coiled in copper (also known as fulgurite).
The Hc was and continues to be conceived for adult tastes - for my tastes - I want it to be solid, for consequences in it to be real and genuinely dangerous, for concepts to feel plausible even if they are make-believe. As a I child I loved reading books that did just this, and so in inventing for myself as a adult, am doing the same for me as a child too. I intend Rossamünd's story to be enjoyed by all, not just children, that though the protagonist might be a child, and the books released by children publishers, I do not want people thinking that means it is only for children - I intend it just as much for adults.
And just a note regarding the Explicarium, for almost every entry in it, I could have included ten times as much information and each of those entries were there only because they occurred in the story itself. There is definitely much more of the Hc to be explored, and I have no intention of covering it all in just the MBT series.
... and I thoroughly approve and am powerfully encouraged by the use of Hc words as handles or in everyday conversation. Very cool.
For breakfast I had Coco Pops [TM] and a banana smoothie (very expensive with banana prices as they are).
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #004
Several folk have taken up the challenge and given me nice meaty words to tackle. Thank you.
football = football (sorry about that but that is the honest truth - I considered this one years ago, even figured out teams that play in an inter-citystate league) though the Tutin for it is follisa, and for a football player a follisator.
tweezers = unguidigia said "un'gwi'dij'ee'ah" or privers.
stethoscope = viscerausculator said "viss'ser'orz'skew'late'or" or cardiausculatologue said "kar'dee'orsk'kew'latt'oh'log".
lighter = flint-and-steel (I gather you mean a cigarette-lighter or such like).
obsolete = hmm, well in one sense the word is just the same but there are vernacular renderings: "gaffed" or "turned to vapours" or "gone to snot" - which is a reference to the Phlegms, an ancient race, the progenitors of the Attics and the Tutins, now extinct, also found in the term Phlegmish science, meaning ancient, hard to understand or defunct ideas.
Is this ok Ninjana, it's been a while I know, but dread of your heckling is motivation indeed!
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
But first the excuses - the excuses for no posting for a whole month:
You see, not content with the crazy merry-go-round that writing has become in my life, I decided to up and get married, and have been away on my honeymoon for the last three weeks. A wonderful, bizarre, surprising and very real experience with my beautiful best friend.
Yet that is now all done, and the rush of life returns.
Since I have been gone, people have left such enthusiastic and encouraging remarks, many brilliant insights and questions, and not a few Half-continent word challenges. I shall now endeavour to address all these.
Kaollaku asks: "Any plans to release a version of the Almanac that he carries around as a companion book?"
random misfit asks: "i know ur making another 2 books but have u considered the wandering almanac orthe incomplete book of bogles?"
There is hope that this might be possible, certainly Dyan my publisher at Omnibus Books (the lady who discovered me as it were, who took that risk) and I have talk with great enthusiasm about such things, but it remains to be seen if MBT is successful enough to allow such volumes to be made. Sure would love it, both exist in very rough draft forms. We'll just have to wait and see.
midwishin asks: "Is it just me or does the half-continent have a vague resemblance to the south-eastern corner of Australia. If so, does this mean that Rossamund is traveling to Adelaide, or is it Melbourne? (My bet is on Adelaide.)"
Yes indeed the Hc does quite intentionally have resemblance to the south-east of Oz. Being raised in Adelaide has shaped my instinctive internal landscape and I naturally find it the foundation for an imagined world. That being said, the connection is not absolute, so High Vesting is not a corollary for Adelaide (that honour belongs more to Brandenbrass, but even then the compass points are turned on their heads = north is south, south is north), neither is Wörms or Gottingenin a proxy for Melbourne. The landscape of Rossamünd's peregrinations is much like the places I know so well, behind the Adelaide hills, from Stirling to Strathalbyn, via Meadows and Maccelsfield - a strange hodge-podge of European and native vegetation, straw brown hills and cool gully breezes. Those who know Kuitpo forest, for example, might recognise something of the Brindleshaws there. It's a well known axiom that a writer should write what they know, and I know these places well.
Even so, I do not tend to transplant a whole real place into the Hc as is - it is more the sense, the impression, the vibe, the general view of it I use, to help make the Hc places more real within, more like a memory of somewhere I have really been than just a vague, hard to grip invention.
midwishin asks again: "The title of the series is Monster Blood Tattoo, however in the book it's always written as monster-blood tattoo. Why is there no hyphen in the title?"
Being that I am a illustrator and designer by training and trade, I felt the omission of the hyphen on the cover worked better visually, and that it would be acceptable to address this apparent 'error' by using the hyphen correctly in the text itself. I did not intend to offend, just sometimes practice needs to be subordinated to aesthetics - but only sometimes, and I hope those who struggle with this will extend me a little leeway for the sake of a nice design.
markus asks: "Quick question: Was the word "Fulgar" derived from the word "Trafalgar"? "
The answer to that is "no". Fulgar comes from the Tutin (Latin) 'fulgur' = lightning, thunderbolt, 'fulgoris' = lightning, flash, brightness -and is also found in fulgaris, the metal-bound rods used by fulgars, coiled in copper (also known as fulgurite).
The Hc was and continues to be conceived for adult tastes - for my tastes - I want it to be solid, for consequences in it to be real and genuinely dangerous, for concepts to feel plausible even if they are make-believe. As a I child I loved reading books that did just this, and so in inventing for myself as a adult, am doing the same for me as a child too. I intend Rossamünd's story to be enjoyed by all, not just children, that though the protagonist might be a child, and the books released by children publishers, I do not want people thinking that means it is only for children - I intend it just as much for adults.
And just a note regarding the Explicarium, for almost every entry in it, I could have included ten times as much information and each of those entries were there only because they occurred in the story itself. There is definitely much more of the Hc to be explored, and I have no intention of covering it all in just the MBT series.
... and I thoroughly approve and am powerfully encouraged by the use of Hc words as handles or in everyday conversation. Very cool.
For breakfast I had Coco Pops [TM] and a banana smoothie (very expensive with banana prices as they are).
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #004
Several folk have taken up the challenge and given me nice meaty words to tackle. Thank you.
football = football (sorry about that but that is the honest truth - I considered this one years ago, even figured out teams that play in an inter-citystate league) though the Tutin for it is follisa, and for a football player a follisator.
tweezers = unguidigia said "un'gwi'dij'ee'ah" or privers.
stethoscope = viscerausculator said "viss'ser'orz'skew'late'or" or cardiausculatologue said "kar'dee'orsk'kew'latt'oh'log".
lighter = flint-and-steel (I gather you mean a cigarette-lighter or such like).
obsolete = hmm, well in one sense the word is just the same but there are vernacular renderings: "gaffed" or "turned to vapours" or "gone to snot" - which is a reference to the Phlegms, an ancient race, the progenitors of the Attics and the Tutins, now extinct, also found in the term Phlegmish science, meaning ancient, hard to understand or defunct ideas.
Is this ok Ninjana, it's been a while I know, but dread of your heckling is motivation indeed!
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
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