Daddio

Thanks to barthanderson for this wonderful story about Anansi in a Chinese Restaurant.

The other thing(s) that happened

The Glasgow Worldcon (August 3-8) was also significant for me because I went public there with a couple of pieces of big news for me. Here is the first:

My new novel now has a title and a pub. date. The Privilege of the Sword takes place almost 20 years after Swordspoint, and is narrated by Alec's 15-year-old niece Katherine (who also appears in The Fall of the Kings). It is scheduled to be published by Bantam Spectra in September, 2006.

(I am currently back in my favorite Undisclosed Location, frantically working on revisions. My friends the frogs seem to have grown cannier with age: I hear the ker-plunk! into the pond before I can get close enough to see them.)

I should also mention here that I've also finally written and sold another a short story: "Honored Guest"* will appear in Coyote Road, an anthology of contemporary Trickster stories edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, to be published by Viking Penguin in 2006. The Table of Contents page is a real dream, as exciting as their previous two collections for Viking, The Green Man and The Faery Reel. I am so glad /Terri kicked my butt/ I finally got it together to write something for this wonderful series.

*The "guest" of the title is Jessica Campion, justabout everyone's favorite character in The Fall of the Kings. People have asked for a novel about her - but tricksters only get short stories! This probably will not be the last one.