"The Duke of Riverside"

[ellenkushner]

From our pleasantly run-down Boardwalk hotel room in Santa Cruz, with fourposter bed and fabulous view of ocean:

At last it can be told! Remember that pesky "Duke of Riverside" story that was giving me so much trouble in the fall? I sold it to ellen_datlow for her Naked City: New Tales of Urban Fantasy anthology (and a good thing, too, as I wrote it specifically for that collection, feeling sure that it would need a Riverside story). She has just posted the Table of Contents. Look at that company! I swoon.

Every one of my photos from Big Sur is a thing of beauty. Maybe I'll get it up to post them on Flickr, so you can see a little of what I saw, cliffs, surf, redwoods and all. Which was still not enough. Santa Cruz pier today (in the good company of Ellen klages) and saw many fine sea lions, plus a mama otter with baby (!!!). When I die, please post a Do Not Resuscitate: Return as Otter notice on my chest.

Comments

[yaoi-in-exile.livejournal.com]

EEEEE!! Want, want! *bouncing, squealing, indignities* (The story, not the sea lions.)

*scampers to investigate the release date* Been SOOOO curious about that story...like mini!Richard isn't enough, there's another one too! It's like Christmas come early! *bouncebounce*

Otterlawl.

[regicidaldwarf.livejournal.com]

Oh my god~~ that anthology looks amazing. I must have! *makes grabby hands*

[peoppenheimer.livejournal.com]

Curiosity makes some of us otters in this life.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Now all I need is the sleekness.

[twistedsheets10.livejournal.com]

GUH.

I want it so bad.

[hilleviw.livejournal.com]

Oh! Santa Cruz. Lived there for ten years. My little brother just opened (in the last fortnight) the Surfrider Cafe in downtown, around the corner from the bus depot. If you have a chance to stop in, most of the food is pleasant, but they have a mango milkshake which is bliss in a cup.

Otters are fab, in total agreement with you.

And I'm very much looking forward to reading your story.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Your brother is delightful, and we enjoyed the mango shake.

No, really! I was thinking what a shame it was we wouldn't have time to pursue this as we dashed out of town to see the redwoods at Henry Cowell (not the composer) State Park - when we came up to the Bus Depot and I yelled, "Stop!!" We also got exceptional Greek sandwiches next door, to eat among the redwoods.

[hilleviw.livejournal.com]

Oh you just made my day. I win win win! Pointing you at something you enjoyed, and getting business for Steve's new place! Thank you for telling me.

[maryrobinette.livejournal.com]

Yay! As if I didn't have enough reasons to buy the anthology.

?

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

That table of contents is wonderful. Spring of 2010?!? Do we gotta wait that long?!? **whine**
We must have missed the otters. We were at the pier too. Mom loves eating at Rivas there and the sun was too nice and we needed a sunshine walk.
But we did hear then see the sea lions. There sure was a noisy pile of them today.

Re: ?

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Just one little otter, that came & went, surprising us. We were there at sunset. Will check out Rivas!

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Congrats! :)

[themaskmaker.livejournal.com]

Oh, hurray!!!!!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Yay sale!

Especially, yay Riverside sale!

[withneedle.livejournal.com]

Yay for more Riverside!

Returning as an otter reminded me of one of Saki's short stories ("Laura", I think) about a woman who does just that.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yes! How can you see them and not want to?

[swimtech.livejournal.com]

Yup, I thought of the same story. "And now Amanda is seriously ill."

[nohwhere-man.livejournal.com]

More Riverside! I've corrupted my friends onto it. (And grumbling that I couldn't make it over the hill to scruz.)

BTW, did you know the otters have learned to steal fish from commercial fishermen's' lines. Cleaver little things.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Of course!

[apis-mellifera.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I hope I get to review that. It looks delicious.

[belledewinter.livejournal.com]

*sits down and waits for the book to come out*

♥

[petro-gulak.livejournal.com]

Dear Ms Kushner,
I'm the complier of your bibliography for the Russian bibliographical website "The SF Laboratory" (one of the biggest in the Internet). You can find it here): http://fantlab.ru/autor1114. The translation of Swordpoint arrived to our bookstores just few days ago (and Thomas the Rhymer was published in 2007).
Would you tell me, please, what is the place of "Duke of Riverside" in the general Riverside timeline?

Mikhail Nazarenko

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Dear Mr. Nazarenko(?),
Your bibliography is absolutely stunning! Thank you so much for doing all that hard work. Really, it is by far the clearest accounting of my work that I have ever seen. I am tempted to steal your format! But I suspect it would be more work than either my webmistress or I could handle . . . so I'll just have to let the Russians have all the glory.

Thank you for calling to me attention the fact that my own online bibliography (or at least "The World of Riverside" page) is no longer up to date. We're taking steps to correct that; meanwhile, the information you need: "The Duke of Riverside" takes place some 5 years after SWORDSPOINT, and the story "'A Wild and a Wicked Youth'" (F&SF, April/May 2009) takes place about 5 years before the start of the novel.

Thanks, too, for showing me the new SWORDSPOINT cover on your site! Do you know how I might get a jpeg of the cover, to share with my LJ readers here?

If there is anything more that I can do to help you out, please do not hesitate to let me know.

[petro-gulak.livejournal.com]

[Yes, I'm Mr Nazarenko, that's right. :)]
Thank you for your reply! I've made all necessary changes in the bibliography.
Here’s the available jpeg-file (from the Russian internet store; the novel hasn’t arrived to Kiev yet, so I can’t scan the book cover just now):
http://www.ozon.ru/multimedia/books_covers/1001118212.jpg
Concerning your family name: Kushner, or Kushnir, is the common Ukrainian surname, meaning “a skinner” (from German Kursche). E.g.: Alexander Kushner, one of the best contemporary Russian poets. It is pronounced like “Koosh-nehr”, with the stress on the first syllable if it’s Jewish surname, on the second if it’s Ukrainian one.
If you want some additional information about the Russian editions of your works, please, let me know too.