Reading & photos

[ellenkushner]

Delia & I are reading tonight at NYRSF  at 7pm  (details here).  Continuing last year's tradition of presenting not-yet-published work, this time I'll be giving a sneak preview of "The Duke of Riverside,"* a new story set shortly after my novel Swordspoint. It will be published this summer in NAKED CITY: TALES OF URBAN FANTASY, edited by Ellen Datlow (St Martin's Press, July 2011).  deliasherman  will read from her forthcoming teen novel THE FREEDOM MAZE (Big Mouth House, 2011): the story of a girl from 1960 who travels back in time to her family's sugar plantation in 1860s Louisiana, and is promptly sent to the slave quarters . . . kind of an E. Nesbit time travel book with teeth!

I seem to have caught a mild cold - or maybe it's just brutal malaise brought on by too much running around - but don't worry; I've given great performances in far worse condition; as soprano Laurie Monahan once replied when I asked her what techniques singers use for delivering the goods with respiratory ailments:  Adrenaline!  Seems to work.  But just in case, I propose to spend the day in bed re-watching the third season of Slings & Arrows, with maybe a little gentle Georgette Heyer, plus, if I feel up to the excitement, the galleys of Nancy Werlin's new novel, Extraordinary, which she was kind enough to send me in return for a sneak peek at "Duke of Riverside."

This will be our first time in the new reading series space, SoHo Gallery for Digital Art -  a thrill because its walls are lined with projection(?) boxes wherein giant images glow.  Even if you can't come, series director Jim Freund has posted tonight's images here (and this seems like a good place to thank him for putting up with my megrims as I fussed & fretted about what should go up, after having claimed on Friday (on the train to Philadelpia, by iPhone) that I didn't care that much!).  Along with book covers & illos, they include a couple of photos from our 2004 wedding in our backyard in Massachusetts, one of us cutting the cake, and the other of the giddy cake toppers (made by our dear Sarah Smith).

*As "The Duke..." weighs in at a hefty 8,000 words, I don't know that I'll be able to fit it all in my 30-minute timeslot. Will rise from my bed of teem at some point & try to figure out how many minutes/page - does anyone know?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know about book pages, but if you mean a typed letter-size page, the standard estimate is 250 words per double-spaced page, so presumably 500 single-spaced.

-- a lurking fan

[sararyan.livejournal.com]

Adore Slings and Arrows. About time to rewatch it myself.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

A new Riverside story? Wow!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Oops, yes - I knew that - meant to ask: How many minutes per (250-word) page?

Will correct above. But thanks!

"The Duke of Riverside"

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yes; I'm trying to fill in some of the gaps! This one is about how Alec becomes Duke Tremontaine. It's told from the POV of a nameless nogoodnik who hangs out at Rosalie's - though I throw in a few scenes just between R&A, because you wouldn't like it if I didn't. It was a hellish story to write, as it has to read to an audience who may never have heard of *Swordspoint* - took me hideous *months* to get right (and I'm still not sure!) - the first draft contained what was essentially a 3-page summary of Swordspoint, and was utterly dire.

I am currently working on another one for Yanni Kuznia at Subterranean Press, for their *Fantasy Medley 2* series. It's a bit different - kind of a meta-story, about a girl writing a paper about them. But I think you'll like it.

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth... During the only reading I ever did (at last year's Worldcon), I had 30 minutes, and I read a 4000-word story. It fitted in, with a teensy bit extra time to spare (it came to 30 minutes when I was practising, but I read faster in front of an audience).

And, wow. A new Riverside story? Awesome!

Re: "The Duke of Riverside"

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

*dancing around the room gibbering in anticipation*

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Interesting - I actually read *slower* in front of a live audience.

I guess I just like to milk it . . . ;)

[elswhere1.livejournal.com]

It is the best! And the 3rd season is like a seminar in Structure. Only more fun, and with lizard queens.

[csecooney.livejournal.com]

Which Georgette Heyer?

My favorite will always always be "These Old Shades."

But I have a tendre for Fredericka (all those brothers; I have deep sympathy), The Grand Sophy, The Devil's Cub, and - of course - The Masqueraders.

I've never seen Slings and Arrows -- or heard of it.

I wish you swift recovery and a shot of the finest adrenalin that ever a gland produced!

[csecooney.livejournal.com]

And... DUKE OF RIVERSIDE???!!!

AAAAUUUGGGGGHHHHYIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!

I mean... Ahem.

Hurray.

!!!!!!!!

Re: "The Duke of Riverside"

[abominabledante.livejournal.com]

*Also dancing around, giddy with joy*

[t-windling.livejournal.com]

I hope the reading went well and the cold goes away.

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

I tend to want to end it as soon as possible :)

[serith-moren.livejournal.com]

Ah, a new Riverside story? This is amazing news! My partner and I -adore- Swordspoint. Thank you for writing more for your fans. This made my day~

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

"These Old Shades" - well, of course! It was the first one I read, after years of resisting because my college friends made light of their passion for Heyer, so I thought they were just girly romances instead of - as the great Cynthia Heimel once called them - "Bertie Wooster for girls." But the Georgians are The It for me, way over the Regencies. Except for Devil's Cub, of course.

YOU must rush out & get all 3 seasons of "Slings & Arrows." You will love them so much you won't believe it. (The 1st 2 hours are merely Good. In the 3rd hour you realize you will never be unhappy again, and it continues all the way through. Then you can start over and watch them all again, and you will catch all the little things you missed the first time.) If I had to save one work of television and one only for the rest of all eternity while all the others burned like Alexandria, this is the one I"d pick.