"Feed the Tree"
Aug. 4th, 2009 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastOn this day in 1892, the father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden were found murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts. It seems somehow fitting that the release of The Red Tree should share this day with that event.
A dream this morning of watching an asteroid impact. I was only a few miles from ground zero. I watched it streak to earth, and then there was only fire. It was not a frightening dream.
Sunny and bright outside, and the meteorologists are predicting the high 80sF for this afternoon. We'll be in Boston, filming the belated book "trailer" for the novel. I feel for our actress, who has to wear a wig in this heat.
Yesterday, I worked on proofreading The Ammonite Violin & Others for Subterranean Press. We made it through "Bridle," "For One Who Has Lost Herself," "Ode to Edvard Munch," "The Cryomancer's Daughter," and "Untitled 23." I might actually try to find a title for the latter before the collection is published. These stories are better than I remember them being, which is always a pleasant sort of surprise. Anyway, the first seven down, fourteen to go.
After work, we drove down to Spooky's parents' farm in Saunderstown. We went to pick blueberries and gather apple and hickory branches. But only the latter was accomplished, as the swarms of mosquitoes and the ticks were just too much to cope with. At least Spooky got her branches, and she's going to begin working on wands soon. We'll go back for blueberries earlier in the day, in the heat of the day, when the mosquitoes won't be so bad. I have photos, but no time this morning to edit and upload them. Maybe I'll get them up on Thursday. The apple trees were heavy with ripening fruit. Aside from the blood-sucking pests, the evening was beautiful.
If you've not already, please pick up a copy of The Red Tree, or order online. And to all those who have ordered already, or purchased copies in bookshops, I am extremely grateful. Assuming all goes well today, the "trailer" should be up on August 14th or thereabouts. Meanwhile, there's the evidence to peruse on the website. Also, for people in the Boston/Providence area, I should remind you of the Thursday night signing at Pandemonium Books in Cambridge. This will almost certainly be the only signing/reading I'll be doing to promote this book, so if you want a signed copy, or want to hear me read from it, that's your chance. The reading will begin at 7 p.m. Again, that's Pandemonium Books, 4 Pleasant Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. Phone: 617-547-3721. And, finally, at midnight tonight the tree-photo contest ends; I'll choose the winner tomorrow, and hesheit will receive a signed copy of The Red Tree.
Oh, and The Red Tree made the Fantasy Magazine "Fantasy in the Wild" ballot, and it's a truly impressive list. So I am honored.
The platypus says I should hurry. Miles to go before we sleep and all.
A dream this morning of watching an asteroid impact. I was only a few miles from ground zero. I watched it streak to earth, and then there was only fire. It was not a frightening dream.
Sunny and bright outside, and the meteorologists are predicting the high 80sF for this afternoon. We'll be in Boston, filming the belated book "trailer" for the novel. I feel for our actress, who has to wear a wig in this heat.
Yesterday, I worked on proofreading The Ammonite Violin & Others for Subterranean Press. We made it through "Bridle," "For One Who Has Lost Herself," "Ode to Edvard Munch," "The Cryomancer's Daughter," and "Untitled 23." I might actually try to find a title for the latter before the collection is published. These stories are better than I remember them being, which is always a pleasant sort of surprise. Anyway, the first seven down, fourteen to go.
After work, we drove down to Spooky's parents' farm in Saunderstown. We went to pick blueberries and gather apple and hickory branches. But only the latter was accomplished, as the swarms of mosquitoes and the ticks were just too much to cope with. At least Spooky got her branches, and she's going to begin working on wands soon. We'll go back for blueberries earlier in the day, in the heat of the day, when the mosquitoes won't be so bad. I have photos, but no time this morning to edit and upload them. Maybe I'll get them up on Thursday. The apple trees were heavy with ripening fruit. Aside from the blood-sucking pests, the evening was beautiful.
If you've not already, please pick up a copy of The Red Tree, or order online. And to all those who have ordered already, or purchased copies in bookshops, I am extremely grateful. Assuming all goes well today, the "trailer" should be up on August 14th or thereabouts. Meanwhile, there's the evidence to peruse on the website. Also, for people in the Boston/Providence area, I should remind you of the Thursday night signing at Pandemonium Books in Cambridge. This will almost certainly be the only signing/reading I'll be doing to promote this book, so if you want a signed copy, or want to hear me read from it, that's your chance. The reading will begin at 7 p.m. Again, that's Pandemonium Books, 4 Pleasant Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. Phone: 617-547-3721. And, finally, at midnight tonight the tree-photo contest ends; I'll choose the winner tomorrow, and hesheit will receive a signed copy of The Red Tree.
Oh, and The Red Tree made the Fantasy Magazine "Fantasy in the Wild" ballot, and it's a truly impressive list. So I am honored.
The platypus says I should hurry. Miles to go before we sleep and all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Happy Bookday!
Date: 2009-08-04 04:38 pm (UTC)Re: Happy Bookday!
Date: 2009-08-04 04:41 pm (UTC)Checked The Red Tree's Amazon ranking lately? I don't have data to compare it against with your past books, but I should say 3,129 is pretty darn good.
Yeah. I'm just hoping it'll stay up that high for a bit.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 05:13 pm (UTC)They are very good. I'm looking forward to having them all in a book.
On this day in 1892, the father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden were found murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts. It seems somehow fitting that the release of The Red Tree should share this day with that event.
"Outside, above, in the already burning air, see! the angel of death roosts on the roof-tree."
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 05:22 pm (UTC)They are very good. I'm looking forward to having them all in a book.
Me, too, actually.
"Outside, above, in the already burning air, see! the angel of death roosts on the roof-tree."
I so, so love that story.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 05:46 pm (UTC)Splendid! Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 08:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 05:56 pm (UTC)http://tinyurl.com/ndo9mz
Blatant plagiarism? Or blatant lack of imagination and creativity on the part of two similar "authors"? (I use the term "author" here very loosely)...
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 06:03 pm (UTC)Well, on the one hand, it amuses me to see Meyer getting grief, but on the other, though I haven't had time to read this all the way through yet...I'm not seeing any evidence of plagiarism.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 06:12 pm (UTC)But it is definitely amusing.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 07:28 pm (UTC)Oddly, I was having a dream of running into you and Spooky at some sort of contemporary outdoor market or swap meet. There was some grumpifying, as I recall, and Spooky kept manifesting bottles of liquor from an oversized olive-green parka. No one would take their sunglasses off.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 03:48 pm (UTC)No one would take their sunglasses off.
Okay, that part sounds like us.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 07:33 pm (UTC)I, personally, am grateful to you for persevering in the face of authorly adversity and continuing to share your visions with us. Amazon tells me that my copy should be arriving tomorrow, and I can't wait to read it!
no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 03:52 am (UTC)Picked them up at Powell's. Bad news was that my pre-order disappeared somehow, but good news was that I had a gift card and a credit card and I wasn't afraid to use them, and Powell's had it in stock. Is "Boo-Yah" allowed in your journal? Or is that too gauche?
Looking forward to your short film. This your first experience directing?
P.S. Why isn't it possible to write while sleeping? I ASK YOU. This deserves to be possible.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 03:46 pm (UTC)This your first experience directing?
Well, if you can call it that. It was my first experience telling an actress what to do, though mostly we went with a sort of improvisation.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 03:44 pm (UTC)I'm about 40 pages in and appreciate the attention paid to Sarah's writing instruments. When she wrote she hadn't unpacked her pens, I started wondering "What pens?" and felt rewarded.
So you've got the Pen Wonk demographic covered.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 03:47 pm (UTC)I got mine at the local Borders last night. Oddly, there seemed to be only one Borders in the Phoenix area selling it. I've noticed they've been letting some of their stores slide in terms of stock. All stock.
Spooky and I have also noted the Borders slide. And it's a shame, as they were once a fine chain of bookstores, better than B&N. If I recall correctly, they're on the verge of bankruptcy.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-05 04:09 pm (UTC)But I can't see cutting books out of a bookstore. I've noticed that even finding basic "Literature" published by Penguin or The Modern Library has become harder at most branches. Many items on their website now say "Online Order Only." If I wanted to order the thing online, I would do so. I wouldn't be looking at store inventories.
Also, of minor note, Borders was the first store I saw with a dedicated erotica section, nearly always tucked into Psychology. Now those have dwindled or gotten shuffled around, but I blame a combination of a shifting market-- more romance now-- and store policy.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-07 09:49 pm (UTC)