ellenkushner: (Default)
I am deeply in love with my Hollins MFA students - a 2nd year Seminar of 6 wonderful women!  Watching them learn & write together is miraculous - like watching leaves unfurl from seeds in those time-lapse photography films . . . And about as quickly, since an entire semester is crammed into 6 weeks!  This week (#4) was notable for being the first time I felt I could tease any of them, secure in the sense that everyone felt safe & supported together, and all laugh without risk!  Wonderful, for me - and, I hope, for them.

Today I had 3 back-to-back one-on-one conferences, during which we did everything from discuss whether starting a new novel is harder than revising a broken one, to playing "The People Game" (asking direct questions to a character until we both felt we knew her well).

Yeah, I'm missing REadercon - but I'm basically getting the same high:  Talking About Writing all day!  (This will continue this weekend, when we go up into the mountains visit Tiffany Trent - with the added bonus of getting to see her chickens! You don't get that at Readercon, baby!)

So here's my question for YOU:

One of my students is writing a middle-grade SF novel about Earth kids who visit another planet (kind of a work-study program, only Top Secret).  I love her work, but was surprised that the SF elements feel very retro - kind of 1950s-style - since she's so young.  I finally found out from her today that while she LOVES SF film & TV, she has read virtually no actual SF novels.  We're going to fix that.

I realized that, in order not to reinvent the wheel - and to catch up to current publishing standards - she needs a crash course in YA/MG "interplanetary" SF!

Which I am sadly deficient in.

On the spot, I remembered (and recommended) John Christopher's TRIPODS trilogy (OK, it's not Interplanetary, but I remember its being very powerful), and some William Sleator. I'd already recommended Panshin's RITE OF PASSAGE, which is thematically along the lines of what she's doing (she's interested in Colonialism - and also in Morality:  What makes a good human being?) . . . . And then . . . I kinda fell off the map.

Can you help?

I'm looking for work that starts with contemporary(-ish) Earth kids, who then encounter either Space Travel or Aliens - either classics or recent much appreciated.  Suggestions?

**Andre Norton's great, but did she ever start with that premise?  And here's where I blush to said I never read a Heinlein juvenile - which is the right one, if any?  Is anyone still writing this sort of thing....?
ellenkushner: (Madame J. (closeup))
Before I return it to the library, I just want to say how much I loved Elizabeth Bear ([livejournal.com profile] matociquala)'s THE WHITE CITY! Because her vampires are kinda my vampires.  She understands loneliness and time and cities.  And age.  And art.

It's part of her New Amsterdam series, and now I must go find the rest!

Right now, I am reading Elizabeth Wein's CODE NAME: VERITY.  I am in the agony of it's so good I don't want it to end so I'm doing my craziness thing of slowing down so it won't, except I know as soon as I finish it I'll go right back to the beginning and it will be even better the second time cause I know she's hiding stuff from me that will reveal itself the second time. . . . Delia got the book from the UK (because we're both huge fans of all her work) - and if I weren't a total nut I'd hurry up & finish it so she could read it so I could have someone to talk about it with!

Maybe you could, too?  It will be out in the U.S. in May.

Plus, I know perfectly well who the unnamed recruiting agent is!
ellenkushner: (gargoyle)
I will be putting up much more stuff of mine to auction, very soon, I promise. Swordspoint stuff, Bordertown stuff . . . stuff you want.  (Any special requests?)

Meanwhile, do not miss delightful things like Caroline Stevermer's offer to handwrite a personal letter from Kate of Sorcery and Cecelia . . . Patricia McKillip's hand-written draft of her poem from Welcome to Bordertown . . . . an original song by Emma Bull . . . . a ms.critique by the stellar reader/teacher/critic Sherwood Smith (not that I'm biased or anything, but ahem!) aka [livejournal.com profile] sartorias . . . . and of course, signed copies of my dear Joel Derfner's amazing books, along with a litttttle something extra . . . . 

All of which is to say:

If someone were to offer to write, say, a fanfic about Alec in Bordertown - well, I would surely bid on it.

Wouldn't you?

For details on how to bid and how to offer something to the auction (and what it's all about, anyway), go here.

Every dollar raised is a bone for Tilly!
ellenkushner: (gargoyle)
 A wonderful visit today with Henry Wessells at James Cummins Booksellers on Madison Avenue, where he generously & affably showed my nephew, Theodora Goss[livejournal.com profile] d_aulnoy , Kakaner and me some of the jewels of the collection, and taught us about cut and uncut pages and bound and unbound copies.  I read from first editions of Tristram Shandy, Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and Chesterton's [ETA:  my nephew informs me it is Lord Chesterfield I mean, and "not G. K. Chesterton"]  letters to his son - none of which I've ever read myself, not in any edition.  Now I want to read them all.  But I wonder if I'll find them as compelling in modern paperbacks?  They felt so dense and amusing and . . . real in their originals.  Plus, Chesterfield had some excellent advice on how a young man should get on when he first comes to town and tries to establish himself, which I read to nephew, hoping he'll find it of use as he is in precisely that situation.

A young Brit was also there, perusing the shelves for what turns out to be his collector's passion, pre-1830s colored prints.  As he was leaving, he turned to AJ & me and said, "If you're thinking of collecting I just want to tell you:  Do it.  It is one of the great pleasures of life."

Oh, dear.
ellenkushner: (gargoyle)
Hollins' library has a wonderfully quirky Children's Books collection; in it I found:

THE BLACKSMITH OF VILNO by Eric P. Kelly (1930)
Yeah, it's the guy who wrote THE TRUMPETER OF KRAKOW, a book I loved when I was a kid, which my mom had also loved (one of the few things we could agree on; that, and THE SECRET GARDEN - which was the focus of the lovely student-run Francelia Butler  (wotta gal! And also, it turns out, a Clevelander! and Oberlin grad) Conference here yesterday!  So now I get to read speaker Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina's Norton Critical Edition of same, and get more gossip on FHB.  At the Conference Silent Auction, I also managed to snag a copy of SARA CREWE, OR WHAT HAPPENED AT MISS MINCHIN'S  [1895].  I already own at least one [courtesy of friends who know my passion for Sara], but this one is inscribed in a fine hand: "Margaret E. Schniehl, from Papa, Dec. 17th , 1896" and on the facing page, in another, I suspect later:  "The Little Unfairy Princess" dramatized version of "Sara Crewe" - Milie James as "Sara Crewe".  It's pretty beat up; but if you desperately need it, let me know. I like to keep spares for just such emergencies.) 

My father's mother, my Grandma Rose, was from Vilna so I'm jazzed about reading this.  It is the perfect summer's day lie around with a bowl of local peaches (which we also happen to have!) read - even though it does contain the sentence:  

He could not vision it, but had he possessed that power of intuition which brings to man's imagination the pictures of actuality that pass upon the screen, he would have seen this drama evolve.
 

Can't win 'em all!  And what he fails to vision is the teenage queen of Poland not wanting to marry him, because "It was her life, not theirs." Short, and to the point.

Books I acquired through other means:

LINNETS AND VALERIANS by Elizabeth Goudge (1964)
The most perfect book in the world.  Found it in Malvern(? or was it Sussex?) school library when I went to daycamp there in 3rd grade, lost it for awhile, then found again and never let it go.  This copy - deaccessioned library hardcover! -  courtesy of my Cousin Els, who sent it here as a birthday gift to Delia.  ETA:  Els writes about it here for Tor.com.

WHAT WE KEEP IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT WILL STAY by Amanda Cockrell (2011)
Brand-new! By the director of the Hollins Children's Lit program!  Sooooooo good!  She wanted to call it THE UNTIED CHURCH OF DOG , but the publisher thought that might lead to confusion.  Launched a discussion on the power of books that imply magic without actually crossing the line into hardcover fantasy....  And the family dog in it is named The Todal.

THE KINGDOM ON THE WAVES:  THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING, TRAITOR TO THE NATION: VOLUME II   by M. T. Anderson (2008)
2008?! Can't believe this has been out this long and I managed to miss it!  I was wracked with cramps of unfulfilled yearning when I finished Book One!  So distractable.  Volume 2 has been stop-and-start for me, but when he hits it, he hits it hard & true.  Some gorgeous passages in here that I'd love to type out and share with you in their entirety.  But why don't you just go read the book?

And now, books you can't read yet but trust me you'll want to:

THE INQUISITOR'S APPRENTICE by Chris Moriarty (October, 2011)
Cory Doctorow told me I would love this, and he was so right!  A middle-grade fantasy adventure about a Jewish kid from a working-class family on the Lower East Side (that includes Talmud scholars, radicals, playwrights & traumatized pogrom victims) ca. 1900 that is full of Big Love for old New York, and crazy magic, including powerful families named Morgaunt & Astral . . . and plays totally fair with the institutional bigotry that was the social norm then.

SERAPHINA by Rachel Hartman* (2012)
I wish you could read this right now!!  It is soooooo good!  I don't want to torture you by telling you how good it is when you won't be able to read it til next year!  But tomorrow I will pull myself together and write a blurb for it, and then maybe I will post that to whet your appetites.
*(Yes, she is also the author of the comix Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming  and Return of the Mad Bun.  Which I only just realized.)
ellenkushner: (FurCoat)
When you write historical/ historical fantasy novels, you need to be able to imagine looking at the world through very different eyes.   One of the best ways to do this is by reading source material:  text from an earlier period, in which cultural suppositions are clearly stated - and usually unexamined by the writer . . . Unless, that is, he is the great Anthony Trollope!  

This passage from  his  Phineas Finn (1867-9)  caught my attention, as it describes a young woman, an aristocrat from a powerful political family*, who is not universally admired - in part because what we now call her "body language" confuses people:

She was...about five feet seven in height, and she carried her height well.
There was something of nobility in her gait, and she seemed thus to be taller than her inches.
Her hair was in truth red -- of a deep thorough redness..... But in these days we have got to like red hair,
and Lady Laura's was not supposed to stand in the way of her being considered a beauty.
Her face was very fair, though it lacked that softness which we all love in women....
Her complexion was very bright, but in spite of its brightness she never blushed.
The shades of her complexion were set and steady.
Those who knew her said that her heart was so fully under command that
nothing could stir her blood to any sudden motion. As to that
accusation of straggling which had been made against her, it had
sprung from ill-natured observation of her modes of sitting. She never
straggled when she stood or walked; but she would lean forward when
sitting, as a man does, and would use her arms in talking, and would
put her hand over her face, and pass her fingers through her hair,-
after the fashion of men rather than of women;
-and she seemed to
despise that soft quiescence of her sex in which are generally found
so many charms. Her hands and feet were large,-as was her whole frame.
Such was Lady Laura Standish,,,,

Shades of Jo March!*


*Daughter of the Earl of Brentford and sister of Lord Chiltern. Greatly interested in politics, she maintained a distinguished salon in London" -- anthonytrollope.com 

** Little Women published 1868-69 as well!
ellenkushner: (gargoyle)
Yesterday's NYTimes ran an article on the swift and dramatic rise in e-book sales of children's and YA titles - pretty clearly tied to the surge of e-readers given as holiday gifts to kids. And apparently, some kids don't really differentiate between different kinds of Screen Time, and find themselves reading instead of watching TV.

All of which makes me very pleased to consider that all my novels are currently available in a number of e-book formats (platforms? whatever) . . . and so are [livejournal.com profile] deliasherman 's delightful, delicious "New York Between" kids' books Changeling and The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen. MMoMQ hardcover is also currently on Big Dog Sale right now...plus Kindle.. Come buy, come buy!
ellenkushner: (Madame J. (closeup))
Because I am a lazy vaux-rien, I will not write here the love letter that Kathe Koja's new novel, Under the Poppy, deserves.  Instead I pass you over to the capable (and infinitely productive) hands of  my beloved colleague, Cory Doctorow, with whose review on BoingBoing I entirely agree.  Especially the Tom Waits part.

Delia & I both read this a few months ago in ARCs, and we've been sitting on our hands waiting to tell you about it once it was actually possible to get a copy.  Which you should do Right Now, as it is hot hot hot - your bad slashy self will thank you, if you've got one - and if you haven't. you can just go swimming in the prose.

This book is hot like chocolate, rich & dense & bittersweet.

Also, check out the Book Video on the Small Beer Press page!
ellenkushner: (MWK cover)
 I am astonished at how many of you have read the Upfield books - I'd never heard of them til Henry thrust a couple into my bag.  Speaking of which, I was just over to his place (on tony Madison Avenue - and on my old rustbucket of a bike, which to my utter amazement, still runs, despite the winter it spent out in the courtyard - I just need to find some duct tape for the split vinyl on the seat, that's all . . . but had a glorious ride through Riverside & Central Parks!! no, Mom, I'm not riding in NYC traffic - not much, anyway) - and am now the proud borrower of his biography, Follow My Dust! (I'm not making this up, you know!).  1 glance at a random sentence makes it perfectly clear that he did, indeed, write it himself.  It's Alice B. Toklas all over again . . . kind of.

All of which is to say:  Went over to Henry's, signed a bunch more The Man with the Knives chapbooks, most of which are going to Readercon, next weekend to be sold at the Small Beer Press table, because Gavin Grant is a real stand-up guy.  Henry also mentioned that he'd left a stack to be sold on commission at St Marks' Bookshop here in NYC (E.Village), and had either sent some or was about to, to McNally Jackson (SoHo). I think there are about 100 left floating around, if you want one.  I'll be taking a handful with me to Finncon (July 18) & Aussiecon (Sept) - if you'll be at either one, and you want one with your name on it, please let me know to reserve (and schlep) for you.
ellenkushner: (SWORDSPINT)
In preparation for our trip to Australia, I've been reading the "Bony" (Inspector Bonaparte) mid-century mystery novels by Arthur Upfield, lent me by Mr. Henry Wessells of Temporary Culture (& James Cummins Booksellers).

They include such memorable passages as:

"While one counted ten, the sky at zenith above the ridge to the graveyard of the sun was a soiled pink drape, becoming as the wrapping of a five-thousand-year-old-mummy before night came to obliterate the obscenity."
and
"'My old man!  He could do anything with nothing but his sweat.'"

But I must admit my favorite bit is the Times Literary Supplement  quote on the back cover flap, which begins:

"Arthur Upfield has an extraordinary gift.  In many of the most elementary ways, he writes badly; and yet somehow in all his long series of books he conjures up, more vividly perhaps than any other popular writer, the feel of the Australian outback...."

Yep.  Go, TLS - tell it like it is.
ellenkushner: (Bessie McNicol)
Oh. My.  

We took what was essentially the redeye back from London to Newark last night, arriving around midnight (5 a.m. UK time) - add 1 hour to get through passport/baggage/customs, and another :30 to get home . . . . I slept some on the plane, but also took great joy in staring out the window at the hours & hours of sunset over the clouds - if I were mathematically inclined, I would have a nifty little formula for how our speed relative to the earth's meant that sunset lasted 5+ hrs . . . . Woke up to see a crescent moon posed precisely over the evening star right over our wing with a streak of pale blue &  a flush of pink on the horizon below.  Sometimes I am one very lucky human being.

Also read all of Katherine Langrish's Dark Angels (published here as The Shadow Hunt), which is just amazing (thank you, Terri, for the perfect parting gift!) - and this is also a good place to recommend her blog, Seven Miles of Steel Thistles, which is smart & thoughtful & deep about the sorts of things we really care about.

Woke up at 6, but to my amazement, went back to sleep 'til now!  Hurray, body - I think you're finally getting the hang of this International Travel thing.  Of course, feel like creamed chipped death on toast . . . . I guess I'll catch up on all the e-mail I missed in the past 24 hours.  It's hard being back from the country, but Riverside Park is gloriously full of the scent of blooming linden - I could even smell it as we came up from the West Side Highway at 1 a.m.!

One thing I do know:  I'm having SUSHI for lunch!
ellenkushner: (MWK cover)
I guess Temporary Culture's first mailing of pre-orders for my new Riverside short story, "The Man With the Knives," has gone out. Because thank you, friends, for your lovely - and very kind - personal notes about it.  (If you see/post a review, please let me know & I'll pass it on to Henry & Tom.)

The live recording of Delia & me reading the story aloud at NYRSF is still up at WBAI.org Archives under "Hour of the Wolf" - but there are only 3 days left to play it there.  (Tech-savvy folk may know a way to capture it for permanent listening.  HotW producer [livejournal.com profile] jfreund  points out that  it would be terribly, terribly wrong for you to PM and ask about this.)  The show opens with about 45 minutes of music & chitchat (plus short reading of Henry's work-in-progess), and then you hear MWK, which runs about :35.

There are still plenty of books left, so don't hesitate to order if you want one.  I have signed many copies (just my name) of existing stock; if you want me to personalize it for you, I'll be glad to do so when next we meet (or when next I stop by Henry's shop - but given my upcoming schedule, that may not be for some time).

I've also offered an inscribed book at the [livejournal.com profile] debsliverlovers auction, which runs to May 23. In addition,Thomas Canty is offering some of his original art (!!!) from the Subterranean Press limited edition of George R. R. Martin's A Feast for Crows  (hit the tag for Offered:  original art - that way, you'll also see the Vess & Windling pieces, and more!) . . . And Temporary Culture has donated a signed print of the folding plate (not folded) of the MWK art (try Offered:  art prints or Seller:  ellen_kushner).  (If the print goes for the Buy It Now price this week, I will put up another one for auction.)  You can also read mod posts about Deb's potential transplant's progress there.  This auction is really cheering her up - and me, too!
ellenkushner: (Madame J.)
First of all, thanks to all the lovely wonderful people, old friends & new, who came to celebrate with us on pub day for The Man with the Knives, my new chapbook from Temporary Culture.   (I'm going to get your names/tags wrongs, so please do "sign in" below so I can thank you personally!.)  Here's everyone partaying at the elegant James Cummins Booksellers on Madison Avenue (full of delectable rare books - yes, that is a first edition of Keats' poems under the glass case) while I slave away signing books:

  

And here is the Thing Itself - the first copy I held in my hand - note the raised type of the cover, which is real embossing [check the back - see? raised!], and the page with the number count  (only numbered in the hand-bound version - note Henry's red fingerprint [one in every book, even the paperbound]!)

                 


There are still plenty of books left, so click here to find ordering information.  

And if you'd like your book signed and/or inscribed, I'll be happy to do that for you if you let Henry know before Saturday noon (when you order), as that's when I'm seeing him next.  I inscribed about 8 of them today to people who'd pre-ordered - you know who you are - and thanks!  If you don't like the story, you can simply enjoy the Beautiful Object you will soon be holding in your hands.  The weight & surface of the paper . . . the texture of the cover . . . the interior illo's . . . . ahhh!  Bliss in 32 pages.
ellenkushner: (2French Swordspoint)
Has anyone else read George MacDonald Fraser's novel The Candlemass Road?

What an amazing book.

Found it in a used bookstore in Oxford last fall, mistakenly shelved under Children's (oh, my!). 

(Yes, I've read his The Steel Bonnets.  And Flashman, natch.  And all of Dunnett -- this is a pretty different side of that coin, I can tell you!  Fraser also wrote the screenplay for Richard Lester's Three Musketeers, a huge influence on me [not to mention Octopussy. which was not].  His ear for language is incredible.)
ellenkushner: (Joan of Arc)
OK, yeah, I do remember dimly now posing in that Chinese restaurant on St Marks' Place with a wee teddy bear & copies of my books which I then signed with something rude about saving breasts . . . mind you, there was a lot of tea-smoked duck involved, and those crunchy little sweet-and-sour lotus roots I love, and maybe some pea shoots . . . . but, yeah, photos were taken, books were signed . . . and now they are being offered for auction to raise money for Avon Walker Lisa Spodak, who, with her minions, have made it their business to gather photos (and books & signatures) from People We Love, including Jasper Fforde, Ellen Datlow, Pat Rothfuss, Lev Grossman &  David Anthony Durham (same night! same restaurant!), N.K. Jemisin, Idina Menzel, Vanessa Williams (just saw her in "Sondheim on Sondheim" - what a performer!), Jim Butcher, & Amber Benson.   Go, Priscilla (who took my photo)!  

Please bid early & often
, friends, for this cause.

Kage Baker

Jan. 15th, 2010 07:58 pm
ellenkushner: (Default)
I saw her in a wheelchair at World Fantasy, talked with her about her cancer, and meant to post about it as soon as I got home; was ashamed to have forgotten, only I see here that she was not eager to have it known; but still . . . . .

Kage Baker is one of the living F/SF authors whom I most admire. I am polite about a lot of writers, but there aren't many I admire.

It is just appalling to me that she is not rich and famous with a shelf full of Hugos and Nebulae and those incredibly ugly busts of H.P. Lovecraft (World Fantasy). Not that she isn't a frequent nominee, and doesn't get brilliant reviews. But she seems to fly under the radar of general popularity. Maybe she's too smart? Too funny? Too wry? Too knowledgeable on history and language? Maybe her characters suffer too quietly, have sex too realistically? Maybe the world was not waiting for several well-written series and a huge net of short stories that all, amazingly, turn out to be interwoven even though at first you'd deem it impossible?

When I saw her at WFC, she said she wasn't able to sit up and write, but that her sister (a million blessings on her head) was taking dicatation on a new work. I hate the idea of a world without a new Kage Baker story or novel.

The word is out, now, on just how ill she is. Her caregiver has posted e/address for cards etc. They are not asking for money to cover health care. Which doesn't mean we shouldn't all give something back. Please, do yourself a giant favor - and let the world of publishing know she's valued - by buying some of Kage Baker's work.

I'd love to see your comments here on what Kage Baker book or story you'd recommend. Me: For a long and enjoyable ride, I'd say start with In the Garden of Iden, and run right through the entire "Company" series - and how I envy you not having to wait a year or two or seven to find out how it all comes out! Don't want to commit? Try Empress of Mars (it's the name of a tavern. In a mining town. On, yes...) , or The Anvil of the World (think "Thorne Smith meet Fritz Leiber and they go on a road trip").

Here's a recent interview, mostly about House of the Stag. Here's one from 2005 that delves into the complexity of her series. Here's another good one from 2002.
ellenkushner: (DREYDL)
KesselsKramer's New Tapestry is an updated version of the Bayeux Tapestry, a huge medieval work of art showing the current affairs of its time. Where the Bayeux Tapestry told the news stories of 1066, New Tapestry tells the news events of 2009. It's 30 meters long and illustrated by 44 international artists.

"My" artist, Ilene Winn-Lederer, who did the glorious cover & illustrations for my book The Golden Dreydl (see Userpic), is Weeks 14 & 15: "The Blessing of the Sun" and "Galileo Galilei." (And, yeah, I do wish they had run a pop-up of the actual names of the artists who were good enough to contribute art, don't you?)

While we're on the subject, Winn-Lederer's newest book is Between Heaven and Earth: An Illuminated Torah Commentary (Pomengranate Press). Pure glory. Take a look at this Slide Show, and you'll see why it's the perfect wedding/ba(r/t) mitzvah gift forever.

Or maybe you'd prefer her self-published The Alchymical Zoodiac: A Celestial Bestiary ?

I also want to thank her for generously contributing some really nice spot art to the all-new, all-revised IAF website.
ellenkushner: (TPOTS SmallBeerPress (Clouet))
Small Beer Press (Gavin Grant & Kelly Link) is holding a crazy once-in-a-lifetime sale on all its books, in support of Franciscan Children's Hospital in Boston, where their baby - virtual goddaughter to dozens of their loving friends - Ursula Annabelle Link Grant - has been residing for some months.

I'll let them tell you the whole story here.

The sale is here. $1 off their already crazylow prices on orders through Dec. 31, 2009 goes straight to Franciscan Children's. (And if you choose to order anything at full price, the difference also goes to Franciscan!)

All sale books are labeled "Remainder." You want them. They include:

• the limited edition hardcover of my The Privilege of the Sword - yeah, the one on my icon, here! (it's a detail from a Clouet portrait of Charles IX) - reg. price $35, sale/remaindered for $9.95 including shipping!!!

* Interfictions & the new Interfictions 2, both co-edited by our own fair [livejournal.com profile] deliasherman (also available as e-Books, same deal)

* books by Liz Hand, Laurie J. Marks, John Crowley, Geoff Ryman, Joan Aiken, Maureen McHugh, and many others who make life worth living and books worth reading.

Go look. Then give yourself and everyone else a present - including the kids at Franciscan.

* * *
ADDED: And while we're shopping - howbout 1/2 off an original Terri Windling painting?

And for those who've been wondering who The Golux is - or where I got those weird quotes at the beginning of Swordspoint ("We all have faults....and mine is being wicked") & TPOTS (“What a gruesome way to treat one’s niece [!]”) - there's a great new edition of my favorite book, also on sale, from NYRB Classics.
ellenkushner: (IAF)
The Interstitial Arts Foundation's Shameless Commerce Division (well, OK, it all goes to support a non-profit dedicated to tearing down genre boundaries, but I couldn't resist), headed by Auction Guru [livejournal.com profile] ktempest Bradford, is making an offer you'd be mad to refuse:

1. Browse the images of art and jewelry we’re auctioning off and pick 1 – 3 favorites. Then share these favorites on your blog or social network of your choice. Tell your friends and family why you chose the pieces. Don’t forget to include a link back to IAFAuctions.com.

2. To enter, post one comment in the AUCTION'S POST HERE (not my LJ post) for each of the places you mentioned your favorite pieces.

3. Recipients of the free books must promise to review them (honestly & without bias) on their blogs/websites.


For more details, links & instructions: Read the Fine Print in this Auction post - and while you're in there, check out all the amazing pieces coming in every day!
ellenkushner: (TPOTS SmallBeerPress (Clouet))
I know this means nothing to those who were not smitten at an early age with Alison Uttley's A Traveller in Time - but I am, I was, and (as reported earlier in this Journal) I am hoping to stay at "Thackers" in mid-September, as the original house is now it is a Bed & Breakfast! My heart was in my throat as I wrote to The Manor Farmhouse, Dethick, Derbyshire - especially when they told me there might not be rooms available for our dates - but behold me dancing now that things have sorted themselves out! Such a lovely letter back from them, too - wanted to share it with other enthusiasts:

We have a double room available.... It... has a wash-handbasin in the room...plus a small sitting room.... We give you breakfast in the original Elizabethan kitchen – very atmospheric. [OMG!!!- that's the kitchen in the book where - where - O, I'd gladly eat dry breadcrusts & sawdust there. The letter goes on:]

I note your comments about the reviews [of Uttley's recently-pulished journals]. Alison was a very complicated character and there was a very dark side to her. I’m sure there’s a balance – her love and understanding of the countryside was prolific. It’s difficult to equate how a physics graduate could believe in fairies all her life. [It is?] Have you read Denis Judd’s biography? He met her several times, as did a local writer and expert who lives very close to here.

We are hoping to run some 2/3 day Alison Uttley events here each year at which Denis Judd has offered to come and speak. It’s a shame you don’t live in the UK – there will be ample time for open discussion about her life.

If you need to know anything else about the B & B which is not on our website, please get in touch. We hope you will want to come and stay with us.

Very best wishes
Gilly Groom


I'll be there in 2 weeks.

October 2014

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