Autumn in Bookland
I suppose the title here is another pun of sorts. Autumn, leading up to Christmas, is a major, often a defining season for publishers, booksellers and, obviously, authors. Seasons matter a bit less...
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Cover up
Well, the cover is up online, so the title of the post works, right? Right? At least it is a better pun than one I saw today in the National Post: ‘For Whom the Bell Tolkiens’. Meh. Up with that I will...
View ArticleSweet words
No pun this time in the header. Crossing everyone up. As longtime surfers of these journals will know, I started way back when with the underlying intention of sharing some aspects of ‘how books get...
View ArticleAppearing near you…
Readings, interviews, signing appearances are complex and widely varying things for an author – and for those hosting. They are also receding from the book landscape to a degree, as marketing moves...
View ArticleTo Market, To Market?
Help me out, everyone. Comments this time will be useful. I wrestle sometimes with my own nature, and the changing nature of the book world and our culture as a whole. As I have said before, the...
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Against: Violence Against Women
I am aware that everyone is always being pushed to donate for charitable efforts (or for Kickstarter!). But I’ve agreed to support and promote a cause I believe in, and I hope readers will share my...
View ArticleA post about my father
This morning I went to the cemetery where my dad is buried. I always go on the weekend of his birthday, and I had some nice news this week (which I’ll share when I can) and I often visit his grave at...
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China, and the cover for Under Heaven
Book covers are such chancy, variable things. Over all these years and books, I’ve been delighted and, well, aghast at different times. It gets even more uncertain when it comes to foreign-language...
View ArticleOrder of Canada, the morning after
Sometimes it is just silly to affect being blasé. It will appear false, contrived. So I’ll repeat what I said yesterday on Twitter: I am feeling honoured and humble, both. I am also truly touched by...
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Party in Fionavar
So, there seems to be a party afoot. Blame Chris Szego, the manager of Bakka Phoenix Books, Canada’s oldest Science Fiction and Fantasy bookstore (since 1972!). And blame HarperCollins Canada while you...
View ArticleSeasonal note
Depending on your perspective, I’ve either been remiss, or doing what I am supposed to be doing. Focus on the new book, primarily, has led to few posts here through the fall. Of course these journals...
View ArticleSummertime
I could live with Ella Fitzgerald singing the soundtrack to this post… It has been a while, and I’m just gearing up again here. I tend to use Twitter now for short comments on things that matter...
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Not-a-slow news day
Yes, we did – for those who think something looks different hereabouts. Changed the banner to show the cover for Children of Earth and Sky. Had to wait until today for the cover reveals to take place....
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One Book’s Cover
I don’t know many topics that engage authors and readers as much as do book covers. Blood on the tracks, sometimes. The debates can be fierce, and the authorial cries of pain resound from bars and...
View ArticleIt gets late early out there…
(Yes, a Yogi Berra quote. You’ll see what I mean about timing and accelerated schedules as you get into this one!) Because my last few books have been spring releases, it seems that each time as the...
View Article6, 5, 4, 3 …
There is a strange, stage-by-stage aspect to finishing a book. One feels done so many different times. Obviously when the last word is typed (for the first time). Then when the manuscript is revised...
View ArticleThe George Burns entry
So, George Burns was glorious comedian (along with the equally glorious Gracie Allen for years and years). Late in life he developed a running joke about a sequence of ‘Farewell Tours’. I’ve been...
View ArticlePutting the ‘tour’ in Tour Journal
I’ve always described these as ‘tour journals’ since my early model, back with the first one, was writers on tour offering insights (usually funny) as to the vagaries of life as a writer on the road....
View ArticleThe snow before the storm
So, we spent January through mid-March working down south (San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, then northern California) to cleverly dodge the worst of winter and come home to spring – and it is freezing!...
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Tour Schedule
So, Trish Bunnett, my publicist at Penguin Random House Canada (I still prefer ‘Random Penguin’, probably always will), coordinating with Alexis Nixon who does the same thing in NY, has laid out and...
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