Caitlín R. Kiernan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greygirlbeast) wrote2009-06-11 11:49 am
greygirlbeast) wrote2009-06-11 11:49 am
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I never used subject lines at Blogger, so why do I need them here?
Eight hours sleep last night, but, as has been usual of late, an assortment of nightmares that will require most of the day to clear from my mind. And we're on our fourth consecutive day of grey, rainy, March-like weather, with more coming tomorrow. I need summer. Real summer. Too hot to walk barefoot on the sidewalk without blistering your feet summer. Sweltering after dark summer. There's no sign of it in the extended weather forecast. Right now, it's 58F Outside, here in Providence.
You should all know this: Charles Harvey, in The Red Tree, is not a parapsychologist. He's an anthropologist and folklorist. Recently, it was pointed out to me that synopses of the book appearing online speak of him as a parapsychologist, which, as I've said, he is not. I wrote my editor at Penguin, who very apologetically told me that somehow the copy was rewritten after I approved the supposedly final version, and, so, on the cover (the covers are already being printed) Harvey will be described as a parapsychologist, even though he's nothing of the sort. But, what the hell. Maybe it'll sell more books, if people think they're getting a parapsychologist (even though they're not). It should have upset me, hearing about this, but it didn't. I am vaguely concerned that it hasn't upset me. I fear I am losing the ability to care about what happens to the books once I have finished writing them.
Also, I never meant to give the impression that my publisher is paying for the book trailer. I'm paying all the production costs myself. I'm pretty sure I never said otherwise, but there were comments yesterday that indicated some readers had drawn that conclusion.
Yesterday, I wrote 1,281 words on "The Alchemist's Daughter." I hope I can find THE END of the story by Saturday evening.
Please have a look at the current eBay auctions, as we're hoping to defray the cost of my attending ReaderCon in July with this round of auctions. Thanks. I honestly do not know how writers afford to attend more than a single convention a year, and even that's a stretch. Well, there are those very few authors who make a lot of money, and have their expenses covered by cons, because it's all a vicious circle.
I have got to escape this house soon. I've got to see the sun. And the moon. Just now, I'd trade any number of valuable possessions for one muggy night.
You should all know this: Charles Harvey, in The Red Tree, is not a parapsychologist. He's an anthropologist and folklorist. Recently, it was pointed out to me that synopses of the book appearing online speak of him as a parapsychologist, which, as I've said, he is not. I wrote my editor at Penguin, who very apologetically told me that somehow the copy was rewritten after I approved the supposedly final version, and, so, on the cover (the covers are already being printed) Harvey will be described as a parapsychologist, even though he's nothing of the sort. But, what the hell. Maybe it'll sell more books, if people think they're getting a parapsychologist (even though they're not). It should have upset me, hearing about this, but it didn't. I am vaguely concerned that it hasn't upset me. I fear I am losing the ability to care about what happens to the books once I have finished writing them.
Also, I never meant to give the impression that my publisher is paying for the book trailer. I'm paying all the production costs myself. I'm pretty sure I never said otherwise, but there were comments yesterday that indicated some readers had drawn that conclusion.
Yesterday, I wrote 1,281 words on "The Alchemist's Daughter." I hope I can find THE END of the story by Saturday evening.
Please have a look at the current eBay auctions, as we're hoping to defray the cost of my attending ReaderCon in July with this round of auctions. Thanks. I honestly do not know how writers afford to attend more than a single convention a year, and even that's a stretch. Well, there are those very few authors who make a lot of money, and have their expenses covered by cons, because it's all a vicious circle.
I have got to escape this house soon. I've got to see the sun. And the moon. Just now, I'd trade any number of valuable possessions for one muggy night.
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They drive me insane, and yet, no matter how many times a manuscript is proofed, and no matter how carefully, a certain number of typos appears to be inevitable. Which I suppose should not be so surprising when dealing with a 100,000-word ms.
What I hate is when people tell me they've found a typo, like there's something I can do about it after the book's been printed. Or like I want to know.
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"Parapsychologist" used in that context makes the book sound formulaic. Would getting amazon to change one word be that difficult?
Oh, I expect we probably can get Amazon to change it. Penguin changed it on their ordering info page. But I'm much more concerned that it appears on the ARCs that have gone out to reviewers and will appear on the back cover of the printed book, and no one can do anything about that at this point.
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Oh well. Chalk this one up to Lesson Learned. Hazard yet onward...
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Oh well. Chalk this one up to Lesson Learned. Hazard yet onward...
Thing is, there really hasn't been a lesson learned. I approved what was supposed to be the "final" copy, and it still happened.
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"Shit happens" is the inelegant and unfortunate lesson.
Then it's a lesson I learned sometime around 1970.
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In RL I do a lot of manuscript writing, editing, and proofing. Unfortunately when I read for pleasure the typos just leap out at me. As I read a lot of small-press books, such as your SubPress editions, I know that there's no utility to mentioning them, as there's no chance they'll ever be corrected.
Which type of mistake is the most grating to you? Spelling, grammar, word usage issues?
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Which type of mistake is the most grating to you? Spelling, grammar, word usage issues?
I think they all piss me off about equally.
As I read a lot of small-press books, such as your SubPress editions, I know that there's no utility to mentioning them, as there's no chance they'll ever be corrected.
Thank you. Just a week or so ago, someone emailed to tell me hesheit had found a typo in Alabaster....
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I'd have been tempted to tell them that all of the typos in Alabaster are deliberate, and form a special code embedded across the stories.... it would have kept them occupied for months....
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I'd have been tempted to tell them that all of the typos in Alabaster are deliberate, and form a special code embedded across the stories.... it would have kept them occupied for months....
That is a awesome idea. That idea is made of awesome.
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I have this picture of someone contacting you months later, excitedly saying "I figured it out! It means...", and you listening politely, and then replying "Very well done! Unfortunately, you missed something". And off they go again!