b&n, mark morris, changeling sfbc

[ellenkushner]

Went to Lincoln Center Festival to see SF ballet doing Mark Morris' ballet Sylvia. Delightful. Must now find today's NYTimes review (which some people there were reading) to find out why the house wasn't completely full. Stopped at the Barnes & Noble at 65th/B'way to see if they had The Privilege of the Sword - the book's been out for 4 whole days now, and it was time I took the plunge. Told guy at info counter I was local author, would sign stock if he had any. He asked the name of the book. I'm guessing that, like many people, he couldn't spell "privilege," because he only found it when I gave him my own name (which I always spell for people). He sent me upstairs to SF (with that I thought you said it was a novel tone of voice I know and loathe so well). Nice young man upstairs couldn't find it on any of the shelves. Heart sinking. Then he found in the "not yet shelved" section (I guess). Six copies! I signed them all. That's where the world's only autographed (so far) copies of TPOTS now are. I haven't given Delia hers yet.

Speaking of Delia, her Changeling is an August title of the Science Fiction Book Club, who have shown enormous good sense & broadmindedness in offering it to adults (and teens who read like adults), even though it has a kid heroine. There's an awfully nice interview with Delia about the book just went up on the SFBC website, but you need to be a member of the club to see it. I'll try and get a copy of the text to post here this weekend. (Changeling is scheduled for bookstores on August 17th!)

And Cheryl Morgan has given The Privilege of the Sword a very nice review, indeed, over at Emerald City. No spoilers here, though one slightly misleading question - quite deliberate, I suspect! She also has the good taste to quote 2 of my favorite lines. Thank you, Cheryl.

Comments

No, laddie, "privilege" has neither an 'a' nor a 'd' in it...

[peregrinejohn.livejournal.com]

The only ones, huh? Bloody hell. I may have to see about taking K to NYC after all; though if she finds out my ulterior literary motive, it could be amusing.

Re: No, laddie, "privilege" has neither an 'a' nor a 'd' in it...

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

The only ones *now,* John! I'll be doing a fair amount of traveling & signing in the coming weeks - see

http://www.sff.net/people/kushnerSherman/Kushner/upcoming.html

for nearly complete listing. Not sure if we'll make it to Philcon, though we're thinking of it.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

Working on reading Privilege right now. Loving it. Think I need to go back and re-read Swordspoint at some point though. :>

[splagxna.livejournal.com]

I am generally quite competent with the english language, but I always, always, ALWAYS spell That Word wrong.

Happily, this does not stop me wanting to read the book. I just have to reread the others first... which means convincing my mother to sort through the books still stored at her house....

[cliosfolly.livejournal.com]

I was at Borders at Columbus Circle last night; they claimed to have at least two copies of Privilege in stock, but they couldn't find them.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Eeek! Well, thanks for alerting them to the fact that somebody out there actually does want it!

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

so what are your favorite lines, if you don't mind my asking?

(elf my elf and i keep finding excuses to remark upon "coverley's last theorem" :)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Ah- thank you for catching that!

One of my favorite lines was actually pointed out to me by Jed Hartman (who plans to blog it on Lorem Ipsum, but I've gotten there first, ha ha ha!!):

'"It's not trash," her daughter said. "It is full of great and noble truths of the heart. And swordfights."'

That kind of sums it all up for me!

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Our copy of Privilege of the Sword came today! I'm doing a 24-hour charity Blogathon today, so it's my reward for it, to be started tomorrow...

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

*sigh*
For that, I may have to break my "Never Go North of 44th Street" rule. :)

Changeling

[(Anonymous)]

Changeling is an absolutely lovely novel -- highly recommended. (Our reviews runs on August 13th.) The actual novel showed up yesterday and I must say that the design is as good as the novel itself! -- Cat at Green Man.

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Grrrr. And my copy still hasn't arrived. I'd have done better simply going out and buying a copy, though that wouldn't have supported the book as early.

[rojomojo.livejournal.com]

God (or Goddess),

you must be proud. I can't imagine.

rojo

b&n, etc.

[(Anonymous)]

Quite a few B&N booksellers must be on vacation this week because the new books are not escaping the back room. I had to ask at the Duluth store, too, but the woman kindly retrieved a copy for me and put three others on the SF shelf for K authors. (Happily, that's top shelf here.) With the heat wave continuing, I needed something nice to read this weekend and it appeared that the Amazon copy would not arrive until mid-week next week. Of course, that copy appeared yesterday, so the public library will receive the extra for one of the branches or even the bookmobile.

It's definitely worth the wait, Ellen. Thanks! --Joyce

[queenbookwench.livejournal.com]

I am _almost_ finished with Privilege, and I'm absolutely dying to babble and be all meta about it somewhere where I don't have to worry about spoiling people too much. I had to stop at a particularly awkward point, too, but I shall be getting back to it soon. I'm excited for Changeling too, after having had a taste of Delia's faerie-NYC 'verse in The Green Man and The Faerie Reel.

[aurenfaie.livejournal.com]

I want one of those signed copies! >D

[ramonarjona.livejournal.com]

I rather wish there were a way to route the money made off F&SF books and magazines around the literary snobs. You know, sort of like, "I wouldn't want you to lose all your self-respect by having genre fiction underwrite your paycheck--so I'll just be taking that off your hands."

[beth-bernobich.livejournal.com]

I finally have my copy of Privilege!

Bought at Confluence this past weekend, and a good thing, because my flight home was delayed, so this lovely wonderful book helped get me through several otherwise tedious hours. Thank you!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Hurray! Great to hear it was available at Confluence, too! I hope you found your name in the back. Thanks again for your help and encouragement.

[beth-bernobich.livejournal.com]

*checks back of book*

Oh my! Thank you for the kind mention.

Yes, the book was available at Confluence. I pounced on a copy with squees of delight, recommending it and Swordspoint to several passers-by. (But only after I had safely acquired mine.)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[davidkeck.livejournal.com]

(Butting in uninvited to say--)

That Cheryl Morgan's no fool. (Treated me well once recently too). Does one ever stop reading reviews, by the way? Aren't we meant to? (I haven't figured out how).

[davidkeck.livejournal.com]

By the way, have you heard that Morgan is closing Emerald City? There's some explanation on the Emerald city's blog, but it sounds as though the reception never matched the enormous effort required to maintain the magazine.

Yikes.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I know - it's such a shame! Maybe we'll learn more when we see her at Worldcon.